Grand County approves $200,000 Moab Information Center renovation

Grand County Commission unanimously approved about $200,000 on June 16 to renovate the Moab Information Center, putting money into the part of downtown Moab that greets hikers, bikers, climbers and off-road travelers before they ever reach a trailhead. The work will focus on aging public restrooms, accessibility improvements and new entry doors, a practical upgrade aimed at the first 15 minutes of a trip, not just the look of the building.

The Moab Information Center sits at 25 E. Center St., on the corner of Main and Center streets, and Grand County and Canyonlands Natural History Association describe it as the official multi-agency visitor center for southeastern Utah. CNHA says it is staffed with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, and it serves as a front desk for recreation information, maps, road conditions, weather, lodging, campground availability and trip planning. The center also offers interpretive displays, a large gift shop, free Wi-Fi and the 4K theater film Welcome to Moab as an introduction to the area.

The county chose to pay for the project from its capital projects fund instead of using restricted transient room tax revenue. That mattered because county officials had questions about whether the renovation qualified under state law, and Utah State Tax Commission materials say transient room tax is meant to support tourism, recreation, cultural, convention or airport facilities. Grand County’s own tourism funding materials describe TRT as a tax visitors pay on lodging to support tourism-related spending, so the funding switch kept that revenue stream intact while still moving the project ahead.

The renovation also lands on a building that has been central to Moab’s tourism machine for decades. County historical materials say the need for a central visitor information center was being discussed as early as 1989, when the local economy was shifting from uranium to tourism, and Grand County agenda documents describe the MIC as a central information source and one-stop-shop since the early 1990s. The current building dates to 1993, and Sharon Kienzle said the restrooms stay open until 9 p.m. during the season and are the only public restrooms in town, which makes the upgrade more than cosmetic for anyone arriving in the middle of a busy Moab day.