It was a full house on Tuesday at the Ashley Valley Water & Sewer Improvement District board meeting held at the District Office in Vernal. The topic of Uintah County’s Via Ferrata project launched at the onset of the meeting during the public comment time allotted. Multiple community members came to the podium and shared their support for the project and several comments of citizens not in attendance were read into the record. There were also concerned citizens in attendance who expressed opposition to recreation opportunities taking place near Ashley Springs as the valley’s main water source. An informal poll was taken by show of hands and about half of those in attendance were in support of the Via Ferrata project while about half were not. The first business item on the agenda was presented by Uintah County Community Development Director Matt Cazier on the topic of Uintah County General Access in the area of the District’s water treatment plant. Options were presented for potentially vacating certain roads and working towards an agreement for emergency, maintenance, and possible non-motorized access through the District’s property to Uintah County property where the Via Ferrata project is proposed. In response, the board voted 4 to 1 to keep the District property fully locked up and deny any outside access. The next agenda item was to discuss the Via Ferrata project itself and Uintah County Economic Development Director Travis Campbell gave a presentation on the project’s history and comprehensive plan moving forward. Safety and security measures, parking and trash mitigation, and the Via Ferrata routes and access were all discussed. Board member David Hatch initially made a motion for the board to move forward in discussions with the county with a focus on protecting the water source and received a second from Brownie Tomlinson. Upon further discussion among the board members the second and motion were withdrawn and no vote was taken. Additional news stories will be shared in the coming week on the topics related to the Via Ferrata project.
