Washington County Commissioner Alan Gardner said the legislation is the result of 20 months of labor by a diverse group of people interested in the welfare of southern Utah's future. The members of the Washington County Land Use Planning Process and Working Group, which first was assembled under former Utah Gov. Olene Walker's administration, attended dozens of meetings and visited sites now included in the draft legislation.

"This is an important day for us," said Gardner. "We've worked a long time for this. There were 20 different stakeholders at the table. Other counties in the state are anxious to see what happens with this."

Ron Thompson, executive director of the Washington County Water Conservancy District, said the collaborative effort was a first. "We've never sat down as a group to talk about where we want growth to go and what we want it to be," he said. "This maps out a regional, local plan for growth. It's certainly a coming together of ideas and it's a significant compromise that serves the county well as a whole."

Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said Wednesday he had not yet seen the proposed legislation. "This is new to us, so we'll take a little time to review it before making any comments," he said.

The proposed bill is modeled after similar legislation authored by Nevada senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, which Bennett said passed unanimously in Congress.

"Everything we've done here is modeled after Nevada," Bennett said. "If our legislation gets the same reaction as Nevada's did, then it shouldn't take much time to move it through."

Written statements of support for the proposed bill were sent by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman; Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Gregg McGregor of the Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife; Doug Syphus with the Outdoor Industry Association; and Reps. Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop, both Republicans.

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com