Developers feel snubbed by geologic-hazards panel

A group whose task is to find ways to prevent geologic hazards from laying ruin to future developments in Utah is hearing complaints from developers, builders and professional engineers who believe they have been left out of the process.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s Geologic Hazards Working Group is made up of representatives from the Utah Geological Survey, the Utah League of Cities and Towns, the Utah Association of Counties, the governor's staff, the Utah City Engineers Association, the American Planning Association, the state Division of Homeland Security and a number of municipal governments. The group is preparing to finalize its recommendations on ways state and local governments can regulate growth in geologically unstable areas.

The governor convened the group in response to flooding and landslides that have damaged homes and injured people in communities across Utah, as well as the constant threat of earthquakes along the Wasatch Front.

The group's draft recommendations include the development of better maps showing where hazards lie, the creation of a model ordinance cities could enact to regulate growth near those hazards, and the formation of processes to investigate what went wrong when instability causes damage.

But Bruce Baird, an attorney who represents Draper's hillside SunCrest development and who spoke at a public hearing Thursday on behalf of the Utah Property Rights Coalition, said builders and developers are a major part of the equation and have been left out of the discussions so far.

"What there isn't on this committee is a representative of some of the key stakeholders," he said.

Group members did not respond directly to Baird's comments Thursday, but at an April meeting, group chairman Gary Christenson, manager of the UGS' geologic-hazards program, said allowing developers to participate is not part of the normal regulatory process.

Baird on Thursday told the group that its recommendations need to focus on clarity and specificity, that developers and builders need to know what is expected of them and exactly what role the government plays in the process — a process that he said needs to be consistent statewide.

"Developers are very flexible creatures," he said. "If you tell them what the processes are and you tell them what the standards are, they'll make it work."

Francis Ashland, senior geologist in the UGS geologic-hazards program and a member of the working group, agrees with the need for uniformity.