UPDATE – July 26, 2022: The public hearing for this issue will not be on August 4th. The City sent out notices in time, but The Spectrum did not publish the notice when requested to do so. Therefore, we do not have the required 10-day notice. As a result, this item will just be back on the agenda for continued discussion.
There will be a public hearing on August 4th to consider rezoning 113-acres from single-family/5-acre lots to let Rize Capital build about 550 homes, townhomes, etc., with about half of them being short-term rentals. The property is just east of Puerto Drive and south of Mesa Vista Drive. (Download their Project Plan.)
Ivins changed the land use on this property from Low Density Residential to Resort Mixed Use in September 2019. There was also a small amount of Neighborhood Commercial land use prior to the change. It was tucked into the southeast corner of the property next to Santa Clara.
Some residents have told me we should leave this property zoned RA-5. That won’t work. Although RA-5 sounds great to a lot of residents because it would allow only about 20 homes, that was never the intended use for this property or other locations in Ivins that are also zoned for 5-acre lots. For many years, the land use map showed the vision for this property was primarily for low density residential development (LDR). Low density means lots that are at least 15,000 square feet. Using LDR, the total site could technically accommodate about 250 homes, but probably fewer because of the wash running through the property and some sensitive lands issues.
Other residents tell me the City should leave this as open space or a park. That’s a beautiful idea, and if the City owned the land that would certainly be something to consider. But we don’t own it. In many cities, citizens vote to approve funding a bond to buy land to preserve as open space or parks and the bond payments are made with increased real estate taxes.
I have no idea what the SITLA property is worth. Let’s say it’s worth $200,000 an acre. That means the total site would cost $22.6 million to acquire. The bond payments would be over $100,000 a month. That would add at least $300 a year to our real estate tax bill for 30 years. Not likely. Even worse if the land is worth a lot more.
Plus, it’s my understanding that SITLA is looking for long-term revenue from any development on the property, so a park or open space won’t work for them. On top of that, I also think that Rize Capital has a long-term agreement with SITLA to develop the property. Again, that rules out the park or open space idea.