Looking Glass Rock could get more dedicated space for campers and glampers as a primitive campground operator sought a conditional use permit from the San Juan County Planning Commission on March 14.
The commission voted to table the proposal, which would effectively bless a campground already operated by Moab resident Steven Alba on private property south of the iconic rock formation. Several commissioners said they lacked necessary information about the business and how much maintenance the site would receive.
“It comes back to policing,” said Planning Commissioner Cody Nielson. “We don’t know how many people are there, how often they’re there.”
Representatives of the Utah Trust Lands Administration (formerly SITLA) also aired concerns about how the primitive 16-space campground might not prove harmonious with a nearby luxury glamping development that holds a lease with the agency.
Per county code, conditional uses cannot injure the “health, safety or welfare” of people or property in the area and must remain “harmonious” with neighboring uses.
Bryan Torgerson, the assistant managing director of TLA’s Monticello office, said he wants to see the camping “done to a certain level” to not disrupt the year-old Under Canvas development, which lies on state land just east of Looking Glass Rock and about a quarter mile north of the campground.
The 50-tent development, nested within Under Canvas’s luxury “Ulum” brand, currently offers nightly stays for upwards of $600.
“If they’re looking to continue the same thing, I wouldn’t think that that’s harmonious at all,” Torgerson said.
But Nielson noted it could be unfair to expect that new businesses mesh with a luxury development, particularly in an area that’s otherwise almost completely undeveloped.
“It went from nothing to Under Canvas and Under Canvas is five-star, and so now you want to say two-star isn’t harmonious with our five-star even though … there was just dirt there before,” Nielson said.
Nielson and other planning commissioners also raised questions about how the 96-acre property, currently zoned agricultural, would be taxed. Alba said he only plans to use 25 acres of the parcel, which is owned by a La Sal-based livestock company and otherwise used for ranching.
Several planning commissioners said they needed that information and more before they could reconsider the permit application. Without subdividing the property, all 96 acres would be taxed as commercial rather than greenbelt if the campground is approved, said San Juan County Chief Administrative Officer Mack McDonald.
“Maybe [tabling] would be a good opportunity to pause, breathe, talk to the applicant, talk to the landowner, so that they really, truly know the implications,” McDonald said.
Torgerson also noted Alba has already been hosting campers without approval through Hipcamp, an Airbnb-like service that allows property owners to rent out their land to people parking RVs or pitching tents.
San Juan County Planning Administrator Kristen Bushnell, however, said “a lot of people don’t know” they need a conditional use permit for such kinds of overnight accommodations.
“We do want to try to work with people who are attempting to become compliant,” Bushnell said.
Alba, who leases the land from the livestock company’s owner J. Redd Lowry, said he’s trying to go “by the book.”
“I’m not trying to dodge anything,” he said.
The campground, called “Where the Wild Things Camp,” is basic, Alba said — most sites just include a fire ring and a table or benches. The campground also provides trash cans, port-a-potties and non-potable water for fire suppression.
Alba said he educates guests about cryptobiotic soil, wildlife, vegetation and cultural resources but added that he doesn’t mind if they park outside designated spots.
“That’s OK with me as long as they’re not trashing things,” Alba said.
Planning commissioners also wondered aloud about the campground’s maximum capacity, trash pickup and toilet pumping, public safety and road access.
“You’ve commercialized it, so it does change everything,” said Commission Vice Chair Lloyd Wilson.
Nielson made the motion to table the proposal until the commission’s April meeting; the motion passed unanimously.
This story was first published by The Times-Independent.