Dear Gov. Cox,
I do not represent any company or industry. I am just a concerned citizen. I have heard your recent ads on television, urging everyone to build more homes and apartments, and to relax our building codes to allow more easily for additions and expansions.
While the thought is good, to make more housing available, which allows for our children and grandchildren to live nearby, it is not practical. Why? There is only so much water available here in the desert. That water has already been allocated to existing homes and farms. To give shares to new homes, we must take away from existing ones. To give to new businesses, such as data centers, we must restrict current users. To ensure that everyone receives water, our Great Salt Lake must be denied.
The lack of water is felt most severely in these times of drought, when everyone must cut back. However, when the weather patterns return to normal, farms will plant their hay and homes will tend their grass and trees. Water already allocated will be envied by the construction industry, which will surely boast an abundance and hence an opportunity to expand our housing. This is wrong.
Please consider my plea. We need grass and trees to help replenish the oxygen we breathe. We need the lake levels to rise so we are not breathing toxic dust. We need the building industry to show restraint so our future is not traded away for some short-sighted greed. Please stop pushing for unsustainable growth in this great state of Utah!
Norm Angerhofer, South Jordan