"It's a good piece of legislation. We're not ready to give up on it yet," said Eardley. "If it becomes clear that the bill would become unrecognizable (because of proposed changes) then we would simply pull it and wait for another day."

Changes to the bill could occur once the county finishes compiling results from a series of public planning meetings that were held last year. The meetings, part of an effort called Vision Dixie, were orchestrated by Envision Utah and supported financially by The Nature Conservancy Group, Washington County and the State Institutional Trust Lands Administration.

"We are experiencing all kinds of growing pains in the county," said Drake. "If we're not allowed to stay ahead of the curve, then our quality of life will suffer. Remember, this is a general visioning process to help develop growth scenarios."

Nearly 1,200 people participated in Vision Dixie brainstorming sessions that focused on how and where residents want the county to grow in the future. More public meetings are being scheduled for late April and early May in which the county's potential growth scenarios will be unveiled for public review.

Although the results of Vision Dixie won't hold the force of law, they will give county and city officials a good idea of the direction residents want their communities to grow, said Eardley.

"We have put a lot of effort into getting this public dialogue started and we hope we have a goodly number of people show up for more civic dialogue," he said.

Bennett and Matheson are also waiting to hear the outcome of the Vision Dixie process, although it is unknown at this point whether any language in the bill will substantially change because of it, Heyrend said.

"Certainly there's still a very strong desire on the part of Congressman Matheson to get a handle on the unchecked growth in Washington County," she said. "Both Matheson and Bennett remain committed to the legislation and to trying to get something done. It makes sense to Matheson to wait until the Vision Dixie scenarios are completed and to take that public input into consideration."

Bennett reiterated his support of the bill in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News, stating he "knows that Congress must act soon to address Washington County's growing pains."

"He is doing everything he can to move this proposal forward," said Emily Christensen, Bennett's press secretary.

Scott Groene with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said the bill remains troublesome.

"There were so many interests that thought the bill lacked balance. There was enormous opposition to it," he said. "With the change in Congress, it would be even more difficult to move that legislation forward without significant changes made to it."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com