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COSAC reviews outreach responses, eligibility questions and recent landowner inquiries
Summary
Committee discussed responses to a recent outreach mailer and several inquiries — including a proposed lit soccer complex in Wellsville (not eligible for an easement), the Mendenhall parcels along Highway 91, Birch Canyon habitat proposals, and a completed UDOT purchase at Wallsville Canyon — and agreed staff should follow up with interested landowners and seek council coordination on funding.
At the April 6 Cache County Open Space Advisory Committee meeting, members reviewed results from a recent outreach mailer and discussed several landowner inquiries and small projects that may or may not qualify for the county easement program.
Staff reported seven to eight recent inquiries since the mailer and walked the committee through a status spreadsheet of pre‑applications and contacts. Chair said the response was a good sign and the committee discussed how to follow up with landowners who had not completed applications.
One inquiry, from Shelly Gilbo regarding a proposed lit, commercial soccer complex off Route 89 in unincorporated Wellsville, drew eligibility questions. "It wouldn't be a developed property...it doesn't really have anything to do with our program unless they decide not to develop their property," the Chair said, explaining that a lit sports complex would be treated as development and typically would not qualify for a conservation easement unless the owner forwent development.
Committee members reviewed the Mendenhall parcels along Highway 91 and noted the parcels' frontage, slope and visibility affect conservation scoring and value. Staff said they would follow up with the inquirer and suggested a site visit or outreach to gauge interest.
The committee also heard from a Birch Canyon landowner who described more than a decade of restoration work on a roughly 5–6 acre parcel and said their priority is wildlife habitat rather than funding. Members encouraged a formal application and discussed possible partnerships with local trail and habitat organizations.
Members briefly discussed a 30‑acre Gleason parcel and the committee's outreach strategy for pre‑applicants that have gone quiet. The committee also noted a recently completed UDOT purchase in Wallsville Canyon that appeared to have been handled quickly and involved open‑space funds.
The committee agreed to ask the council to consider funding options — including the Green Belt rollback tax mechanism — for small, county‑only projects at a future council agenda slot, and directed staff to continue follow‑up contacts and to seek site visits where appropriate.
No formal votes were taken on any of the inquiries during the meeting.
