Dear Editor:
At the June 5 Grand County Council meeting, Kiley Miller addressed the council during the “Citizens to be Heard” portion of the agenda.
After thanking the council for their service to the community, Ms. Miller described the problems being caused to Mill Creek and the neighborhood below it. I know Kiley well and have seen the problems myself.
Powerhouse Lane leads to Mill Creek and the parking lot at the termination of the dead-end road which was redesigned to accommodate a whopping 33 cars. Horrendous crowds of people this Memorial Day weekend parked along the entirety of Powerhouse, including underneath “No Parking” signs, on private property and in Ms. Miller’s driveway. People even took the liberty of sitting on Miller’s front porch, seeking shade. More and more, local law enforcement are called in and tax dollars are being used to provide crowd control at the corner of Mill Creek and Powerhouse Lane.
I realize that the hundreds of cars and thousands of people (and their pets) that are seeking the highly publicized “Hidden Oasis” in Moab are not just flocking to Mill Creek during the major holiday weekends, but because heavy tourism has increased on all weekends (beginning in March), visitor impact is capable of doing immeasurable and possibly irreversible damage to the resources in the canyon.
Ms. Miller was not addressing the council just to complain. She offered possible solutions: move access to Potato Salad Hill; Sand Flats managers take over fee collection so that Mill Creek can be managed and regulated; use TRT funds to build infrastructure; limit parking to 50 cars, and no trucks, trailers, RVs or buses.
In conclusion, she said, “We as a community need to take drastic and radical measures to protect ourselves and the public lands surrounding us. Please, let’s not kick any more cans down the road. Mill Creek Canyon deserves better, and so do the public lands that we love so much.”
Carol Mayer
Moab
