Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times
RANDOLPH, Utah. October 3, 2018. Frank Corgiat, president of the Bear Lake
Water Company and Sweetwater Hillside HOA, and Terry Allen, Bear Lake Water
Company, asked commissioners to put a temporary moratorium on short term
rentals in the Sweetwater HOA. This
request came from the Golf Course HOA, the Trailer Park HOA, the Hillside HOA and
the Bear Lake Water Company.
Allen said that the water usage since 2016 has shown a tremendous
increase in usage. In 2016 the yearly use was 204 acre feet. In 2017 the use
was 300 acre feet. The only thing that
has changed is the addition of short term rentals in both the Golf Course and
Trailer Park.
There are twenty new connections proposed for 2018 and most
are for large short term rentals. Allen said
that the Water Company is in a mitigation process now, buying canal shares, but
the short term rentals are growing so fast the water company cannot keep
up.
“We would like to slow things down till the mitigation is
done and then we can work on a pending water right.” Allen said.
“In the 1980’s we had a huge water right, then it was dropped, but the
state said we can file for the 1600 acre feet underground water when the mitigation
is done.”
“We are getting so far behind that the state will step in and
take over. We have 204 acre feet of
water right now, we go over that allotment in the summer alone. Just one short
term rental has fifty people in it.”
According to the water company data, 60% of the use goes to
outside watering. Each house and trailer
is metered. When they read the meters at least 4 rental homes had used over
700,000 gallons the other houses used about 350,000 gallons and in the summer
the pumps are working about 20 hours a day.
The CC&R’s do not allow outside lawns but there are people who
ignore the rules.
Allen said. “We are changing the rates to make high water
usage very expensive.”
Commissioner Norm Weston asked if the commission granted the
moratorium how long should it be in place.
Allen thought it would depend on when the water rights were
granted. Commissioner Bill Cox said that there needed to be a time limit. Corgiat suggested two years and then
re-evaluating it. He said that they have
purchased canal shares and are filing with the state to transfer the shares
into ground water shares for another 100 acre feet. A new well is being drilled. Corgiat argued that this affects fire
suppression as well.
Currently there are 29 nightly rentals in the Golf Course
HOA. They are not allowed in the Trailer Park HOA or Hillside HOA. This year, 20 new building permits have been
issued for large short term rental units.
They are not permitted as commercial buildings but are built ostensibly
as private homes. When finished, they
then apply for licenses for them to be used as nightly rentals.
Corgiat suggested that the ones permitted at this time with
existing business licenses be “grandfathered in”. Weston said, “Better do the moratorium today or there
will a rush on permits.”
Chuck Stocking, Garden City Council, said that Garden City did
a study to see if short term rentals use more water. They don’t. It is the landscape watering that uses the
most water; he suggested that Sweetwater should enforce the CC&R’s that prohibit
lawns.
Mayor Mike Leonhardt, Garden City, said the property managers
are willing to work with the HOA. The only
difference is that people are making money on their property, the rest of cabin
owners have just as many people with their family and friends.
Stocking said that Garden City will have the same problem
because “you can’t use more than you have rights for. That is why we ask developers to bring water
rights to the city when they request a new development.”
Stocking said, “You
could look at what the water usage was for the property before it became a short
term rental for an idea on how much more water is really being used.”
Corgiat said that the HOA is going to enforce watering guidelines.
There will be a meeting in November about outside watering. “The last thing we want is for the state to
come in and take this over.” Allen asked
Commissioners to put a time limit on a moratorium and then as the problems are
solved it could be eliminated.
“The system is engineered for single family homes for water
use and fire fighters. We are pushing
our pumps 20 hours a day.” Allen said.
Joey Stocking, Property Manager, asked if Allen had seen the
copy of the study Tiffany Wahlberg did on water use. He said that the data shows that short term
rentals don’t use much water unless you count landscape water.
Allen said that nothing has changed in the last two years
other than the 29 new rentals, but there is a huge increase in water use.
Commissioner Norm Weston said they would table this until the next meeting while the water
company gets more data. The County will
stop issuing short term rental licenses in Sweetwater for a month until the data is
gathered.
Commissioner Cox said that it is a problem because
everyone’s access to water is compromised.
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