Utahns creating a sustainable, off grid community

SPRING CITY, Sanpete County — Heaving the flat slate stones into place along a low wall, James Torgersen seems comfortable in the wilder reaches of Sanpete County.

Surrounded by oak shrubs and rough rock on a slanting hillside, Torgersen stands in the midday heat of Utah's summer, miles from any paved roads. This is where he spends his free time, moving dirt or mixing clay to construct the hutlike structures he has designed.

With the help of a small handful of fellow Utahns, Torgersen is working to create an off grid community here.

Living off the grid means getting away from it all — literally.

For a few Utahns such as Torgersen, the idea of no more utility bills and total self-reliance, from growing food to building a home, is on its way to reality.

On the south slope of White Hill, just south of Spring City, the Safe Haven Village has started a self-sustainability project that allows members to really get away from a society they say is broken.

Their biggest complaint: Modern living doesn't take the long term into account.

How long can Utahns grow green lawns in the country's second-driest state? How would modern man cope if a major infrastructure like trucking went away and suddenly supermarket shelves were empty?

The concerns might seem abstract and distant, but these are questions Safe Haven Village is trying to answer. The off grid community was started by Utahns looking to change the way people think about modern living. The group purchased 90 acres of land in March and since has been building structures and teaching seminars on how sustainable living works.

Some states such as Colorado and New Mexico have embraced self-sustainability with building companies dedicated to the zero-energy, green model. And even though cob homes built from activated clay and dirt have cropped up in communities such as Moab, the trend is just beginning to find its footing in Utah.

Living off the grid may be about living simply, but launching such a project is complex. Safe Haven founders will have to convince Sanpete County officials that non-traditional amenities like dry mulch toilets are safe alternatives to septic tanks, and they'll need to come up with enough money to buy the necessary water rights for the 18-home project they envision.

In the meantime, they're buying water rights for four homes and waiting to present a minor subdivision plan for the project's first phase. And they've been hard at work building the structures that don't require permits.