Land auction may hinge on access

A 356-acre parcel on the Green River near the Little Hole fishing area will be sold at auction in January, if a controversy over road access to the property can be resolved.

The state's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) recently scheduled the auction for Jan. 5, but SITLA officials say the auction date is tentative until they can guarantee road access to the property on the Green River east of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. SITLA is currently debating whether it has a claim to access the property through a road on adjacent land owned by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Kim Christy, who oversees land auctions for SITLA, said the property would bring in more money if road access is secured. SITLA director Kevin Carter had previously said the agency would auction the land regardless of the road dispute.

"We believe it's in our best interest to resolve the access issue before auction," Christy said, because that access "will stir a stronger competitive climate."

After SITLA announced earlier this year that it might lease the parcel to a Georgia-based developer to build a small summertime fishing resort, DWR officials argued that SITLA does not have a right of way through the DWR land. The division in a July 18 letter to SITLA said that it would not allow a road to pass through DWR land to the proposed lodge site.

The road on the DWR land near Little Hole ends several hundred yards from the parcel the developer wants. In the letter, DWR officials said that expanding the road would require it to run through lands given to DWR by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as mitigation for the wildlife habitat lost in the construction of the reservoir, which would violate the deed on the land.

Even if the DWR land weren't restricted, the DWR said it was reluctant to see the adjoining land developed for a lodge, because the DWR property is important wildlife habitat that the agency wants to preserve.

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