[ad_1]
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
Kent Singleton stands at the new fence that closes off the traditional takeout section for Reiter on the Weber River Hen-Tag section on Jan. 21, 2022 in Taggart. The fence, he said, was meant to keep people away from what he was saying. The property and arising from liability issues. The fence was later removed by Morgan County after it was found to be illegally built on public land.
TAGGART – As of mid-2019, Kent Singleton owns land that includes a popular take-off point that thousands of rafts, rafts and kayakers use to get out of the Weber River on hot summer days.
But so far, he has struggled to manage and earn any money from the popular space.
That’s not for lack of trying, but Singleton’s interactions with government officials and employees have left him mostly frustrated and disillusioned.
Singleton recently tried to get a Morgan County sheriff’s deputy to enforce the “no trespassing” sign on the pickup, but instead Singleton’s wife received a violation citation for trying to change the batteries in the cameras posted on their door across the river.
In May 2019, Singleton — a real estate broker who lives in Midvale — bought 6 acres in Taggart that included this singles magnet.
He had earlier dreamed of upgrading the area with toilets, a double-decker bus to a food truck and even a bridge across the river to the larger part of the property on the south side.
On summer days, an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 rammers float the 6- to 7-mile “Hen-Tag” that starts near Hennefer in Summit County.
Many pay to use a rating company like Destination Sports to book their adventure, but some simply buy some equipment and figure it out on their own.
So far, Singleton’s proposal to redevelop the property has been dogged by ups and downs with government officials. Last May, a Morgan County public works crew tore down a fence Singleton had built to block the exit after a survey determined he had built outside the property’s boundaries.
Difficult terrain
Mike Newton, chairman of the Morgan County Commission, described the challenges of developing any part of the singleton land, which “crosses the river a little bit, in an off-line way.” The rest is across the river and behind it is the railroad property.
“For everything, it’s like an island, with no physical access from the county road,” Newton said.
The land — cut off in the 1950s when the river was diverted for construction of Interstate 84 — has been zoned for multiple uses at 160 acres.
“It’s a farm,” Newton said. “In order to do anything on the property other than agricultural use, it would have to be rezoned.”
Although Newton urged Singleton to pursue Rizzo, Singleton has yet to submit any paperwork to begin that process.
And for Singleton, that effort can be time-consuming and costly. Newton said part of the land is in a floodplain, part of it faces directly into an undeveloped mountain, and near two large gas lines that run from Wyoming to the Wasatch Front and a high-tension power line. It runs in the area.
“It’s a tough property,” Newton said.
Instead of filing paperwork for the county’s rezoning, Singleton took the fight elsewhere, spraying public records requests along the way.
“From the health department to the governor’s office to local counties, the state Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Wildlife Resources — I’ve contacted every state agency you can think of — I’ve gotten calls from everyone,” Newton said.
But those actions left Singleton and the rest of his allies skeptical of the government’s practices.
Singleton previously sought help from the government’s private property ombudsman, which led to the formation of a Hen-Tag working group made up of various government representatives. According to a memo from Morgan County Prosecutor Garrett Smith, that group disbanded in January 2022 after meetings became unproductive.
With outdoor recreation on the rise this summer, Singleton Weber-Morgan is targeting the Health Department for answers, help and action.
In late July, Singleton asked Weber-Morgan to close the outlet “until solutions are made available to the public.” Among the concerns are littering, drunkenness, drug use, public urination, defecation and portable toilet problems.
Who is in charge?
Last Monday, Singleton presented his views to the Weber-Morgan Health Board on behalf of the Public Health Agency to intervene.
Singleton found that after years of regular complaints to board members, Health Department management and staff “have no interest in doing any research or testing because of the thousands of people who come up and down the Weber River from Summit County.” Property in Taggart.
Jeffrey Glum, a former compliance officer for the city of Ogden, said Singleton was part of Taggar’s estate.
“Are your mass gathering laws sufficient? Six thousand people floating on the river – what is the effect? Glum expressed his frustration at the board’s unwillingness to scrutinize and “think outside the box.”
Brian Cowan, executive director of Weber-Morgan, said the health department is legally responsible for regulating mass gatherings, but the activity at the entrance does not meet that definition because no single entity is responsible.
Cowan compared the flow of visitors to that at Causey and Pineview reservoirs on summer weekends.
“We have a lot of recreation areas in Utah that are public land, and when we look at those activities, it’s generally the individual’s responsibility to pack up and pack up,” Cowan said.
Issues raised by Taggart’s exit include a range of government powers and responsibilities, Cowan added.
“It’s our responsibility to understand what falls under the Weber-Morgan regime and how we respond to that,” Cowan said, noting that public health emergencies remain in their sights.
“We’ve looked at data and practiced,” Cowan said, adding that Weber Basin Water and the state’s Division of Water Quality regularly take samples in the area. And Weber-Morgan employees sometimes did the same thing.
“They don’t really show a degradation or an increase in coliform[bacteria],” Cowan said. “So we don’t have a public health emergency.”
Recreate responsibly
Despite Singleton’s wishes, he continues to use what he calls his “driveway” for heavy entertainment.
And Morgan County provides some services to support those activities, Newton said, though the county gets very little revenue from all the visitors. Most remain in Summit County.
Morgan County currently provides and provides two portable toilets and three jumbo dumpsters for the area. And Newton said they’ve taken steps to transfer ownership of the UDOT-owned road and north of the exit.
“The county spent about $10,000 adding some space along the side of the road to provide parking for ambulances and emergency vehicles,” Newton said.
“Right now it’s county-managed property, not county-owned,” Newton said.
Newton acknowledged that concerns about littering and sanitation were legitimate, and urged people to take personal responsibility for their waste and use houses instead of relieving themselves in the bush or the river.
“This will definitely go a long way toward keeping the area accessible to the public,” Newton said, “Morgan County has no problem using the single property, but it has to go through the proper process to do so. Like every landowner in the county.”
Kathy McKittrick is a freelance journalist based in northern Utah.
Newspaper
[ad_2]
Source link
