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For sale by owner: About 100 properties in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.
If the buildings on them were ever finished, then they are used. Will take best offer, unless a judge decides that's not good enough.
The United Effort Plan has scheduled an auction for noon, Jan. 20, at Statewide Auction Co., 5099 Wheeler Way in Hurricane. The properties consist mostly of vacant lots, but there are some properties with foundations or unfinished homes, plus a few commercial properties that also have residences on them.
One property includes a former auxiliary building for Colorado City's Fire Department. The UEP evicted the fire department last year over its failure to pay fees to use the building. The property is assessed at $126,632.
The most valuable property appears to be 6.86 acres in Colorado City with a cold storage warehouse, grain bins and a service garage. It's assessed at a little more than $1 million.
There's also a former meat packing plant sitting on 8.38 acres in Hildale. A 2,968-square-foot single family home — as complex a term as that may be in Hildale — is also on the property. The home, apparently, has been abandoned. The entire parcel has been assessed at $195,388.
There's 80 acres of agricultural land in what is known as "The Gap" west of State Route 59. It is assessed at $80,000.
There are a few catches. The biggest is that winning bids must be approved by Utah 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg, who oversees the UEP. After a 2014 auction, Lindberg rejected bids on 12 parcels as too low.
Anyone wanting to bid in the Jan. 20 auction must offer a $5,000 deposit.
The properties are being sold as they are. Aaron Shelton, with Statewide Auction, said the company has not had the opportunity to inspect every property. When I asked him whether the meat packing plant still had the necessary equipment to function, Shelton replied: "I doubt it."
There were reports from Hildale and Colorado City residents in October that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints still loyal to Warren Jeffs were hauling tools and equipment from properties that had received eviction notices. The notices were served because residents had not paid back fees or reached an agreement with the UEP.
The property is being sold as part of an ultimate goal to distribute the assets of the UEP — the trust Utah seized in 2005. The trust assets have been estimated at $110 million and include about 700 homes in Hildale and Colorado City, plus properties in Bountiful, British Columbia.
Twitter: @tribunepolygamy