IVINS CITY — The Ivins City Council gave its approval Thursday evening to permit a developer to begin work on a destination resort that would include a hotel with convention space, golf course, culinary school and a “family village” with a 1,200-foot lazy river.
The council approved in a 5-0 unanimous vote during its meeting a conditional use permit for the Black Desert Resort at Entrada, which is planned to take up a 247-acre site on Snow Canyon Parkway south of the horse roundabout.
Enlaw LLC owner Patrick Manning, the developer of the site, told the council the resort is meant as a contrast to the mostly residential Entrada development just to the east of the Ivins City boundaries.
“If that was the private residence side, this is the fun side. The public resort side,” Manning said.
The plan drew universal praise from the council, with members applauding what they said was the planned resort’s inclusiveness to the rest of the community and also its adherence to the city’s dark sky initiatives.
“It’s great to have spaces that will be open to our local residents as well,” council member Miriah Elliott said. “It’s a substantial development with a substantial number of employees.”
The plan for the resort is separated by the golf course and 133 acres left as open space, the hotel and a shopping, restaurant and entertainment area.
Manning said for the lazy river and other water features, he has acquired 450 acre-feet of irrigation water and also has an agreement with St. George to extend the Gunlock Pipeline to the resort.
The approval of the resort was just the start of what would prove to be a marathon session for the council Thursday night that started at 5:30 p.m. and ended just shy of 10 p.m. The council discussed 12 items, including an amending of non-residential zoning that took nearly 90 minutes, and voted on eight.
“We got a lot of work done,” Mayor Chris Hart said to close the session at 9:57 p.m.
City renews bus route with St. George
The council unanimously approved an agreement to continue the city’s transit agreement with St. George for a fixed SunTran bus route between the two cities.
St. George Public Works Director Cameron Cutler provided data to the Ivins City Council showing 414 riders used the Ivins-St. George route in June with an annual ridership at 8,660.
“There are those who may be critical if the numbers aren’t extremely high, but sometimes you have to look at the needs of the few,” Hart said. “We have residents whose freedom was enhanced dramatically when this service came to town.”
Stopping the noise fire
After a unanimous 5-0 vote to establish a new noise rule, the council was looking for a little more quiet at Fire Lakes Park.
The new rule, the same as one already in place at UNITY Park, will not allow amplified music at Fire Lakes Park without a permit.
Council member Sue Gordhammer said it wasn’t only about too much noise from loud music sound systems, but also other loud, continuous sounds that can seemingly be amplified more across the water impacting nearby residents.
“When the ice cream truck was going on for an hour, you know it’s there and don’t need to hear it anymore,” Gordhammer said. “Fire Lake Park was intended to be a nature park. It’s not fair to impose your music on everyone else. There are 64 parking spots and if everyone brought a boom box, it would be untenable.”
Gordhammer won the support of her fellow council members, though Dennis Mehr said enforcement should have a middle ground between those with massive sound systems and absolute silence.
“ I grew up around lakes in northern Wisconsin and you bring your picnic, your frisbee and your music,” Mehr said. “It’s hard to police the decibels, but if someone has a Bluetooth speaker, I would hate to harass those people.”
Editor’s note. July 18, 3:50 p.m.: Statements by council member Sue Gordhammer were corrected.
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