Sandwash landowners refuse to sell property

ALTAMONT — Officials involved with enlarging the Sandwash Reservoir say the process of buying the land they need to create a sufficient buffer zone around the 24,000-acre-foot lake in Duchesne County has taken at least a year longer than anticipated, and they won't say how many property owners are refusing to sell their land.

Some of the property owners say they don't plan to budge.

"We want to keep our land," said Jim Brady, a Sandwash property owner and real estate agent who represents four Sandwash landowners who have a total of 18 lots. "We feel that our civil rights have been violated. We are being discriminated against."

Larger parcels with nicer homes that are on the same level as Brady's and his neighbors' aren't being claimed by the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, Brady said. Appraisals that have assigned a low monetary value to the lots of an acre or less — which have cabins or trailers parked on them — also give him the impression that the little guy is getting the shaft.

But that claim is in dispute, along with other factors, such as how much the land is worth. Brady insists just a small corner of his one-third-of-an-acre parcel would be under water when the lake is filled, and he maintains that easily could be rectified.

According to Sandwash project manager Kirk Beecher, topography maps and recent digital data show the access road to Brady's land, as well as 50 percent of his property, will be submerged.

Christine Finlinson, press officer for the water conservancy district, said that along with finding appraisers willing to assess the properties' values, finding comparable pieces of property for appraisals has been a problem. The district is assisting in purchasing the property for the Bureau of Reclamation, which will turn the property over to the Moon Lake Water Users Association.

"We are probably moving slower than we should have on acquiring (land) because we are trying to work with people," Finlinson said. "We understand that property owners want the most for their property, but we are spending taxpayer money. We are trying to be as careful and as cautious as we can."

Brady complains that the offers aren't close to what land is selling for at other reservoirs and lakes.

"At Schofield, it is selling for $6.51 a square foot, and Utah Lake is $5.41." he said. "They have only offered us 40 cents a square foot. They don't use waterfront properties (for their comparisons); they take comparable sales that are 10 years old."