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Commissioners approve MOA on historic properties for Warner Valley Reservoir transfer, subject to legal review
Summary
The commission approved resolution R2025‑3454 authorizing a memorandum of agreement to address historic‑property treatment tied to a Bureau of Land Management acquisition and proposed transfer of lands for the Warner Valley Reservoir project; approval was subject to final legal review and minor edits requested by UDOT.
Washington County commissioners approved a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that sets out how historic properties will be treated in connection with land transactions required to advance the Warner Valley Reservoir project. The resolution (R2025‑3454) passed after staff asked that final signature language be subject to county legal review and minor edits requested by UDOT.
The nut graf: the MOA implements federally required cultural surveys and treatment plans tied to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acquisitions and transfers that are part of a long‑running water‑supply effort; the agreement assigns payment of treatment plans to the water district and has the county in a facilitator role.
Devin (county staff) summarized the land exchanges: BLM plans to acquire about 90 acres of private land in a tortoise reserve (Zone 3) and to transfer roughly 900 acres to the water district for the proposed reuse reservoir. Federal law requires cultural surveys for affected parcels; those surveys have identified historic sites that the MOA directs how to treat. Under the agreement the water district will pay for archaeological treatment plans, and the county will participate as facilitator as needed.
Devin also told commissioners that one of the signatory agencies, the Utah Department of Transportation, requested incidental changes to language and asked that the commission’s approval allow the county chair and legal counsel to accept minor edits before final signature. Commissioners approved the resolution with that condition.
Commissioners placed the MOA in a broader context, noting that the county’s Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) obligations are part of the reason the county is involved in exchanges out of the reserve. Staff characterized the project as the product of a lengthy multi‑year federal process and called the MOA one step toward completing land transactions needed for water infrastructure.
Ending: The MOA was approved subject to legal review and chair sign‑off on minor edits; commissioners said additional steps and signatories remain before the land transfers are complete.
