Moab rezoning fight could reshape Sand Flats recreation landscape

A 235-acre rezoning above Sand Flats could one day support as many as 1,175 units under Resort Commercial rules, a scale that has turned a zipline expansion proposal into a fight over Moab’s adventure gateway.

About 20 speakers pressed the Grand County Commission at an April 7 public hearing to reject or delay the change, warning that the land above the Slickrock trail and Sand Flats could lose the open-desert feel that helps define the recreation area. No vote was taken that night, and the public comment period remained open through April 15. The Grand County Planning Commission had already voted 5-2 on March 23 to recommend rezoning the Steen family property from Range & Grazing to Resort Commercial.

The applicant, Minnie Lee Ventures LLC, said the project would expand Raven’s Rim Zipline and add a guided rappel course, a climbing zone, an OHV-accessible event space and a food truck. Opponents argued the zoning question goes far beyond those immediate uses because zoning runs with the land. They said the district could invite much denser development later, with more traffic, altered views, tougher drainage problems, trail crowding and a different access feel at one of the best-known recreation gateways in the Southwest.

The numbers driving the backlash are hard to ignore. Resort Commercial zoning allows up to five residential units per acre, which works out to roughly 1,175 units across the 235 acres. Some opponents and planning commissioners pointed to Resort Special zoning as a lower-density alternative that still allows outdoor recreation uses but caps density at 0.2 units per acre, or about 47 units on the same land. They also raised a cautionary precedent from Kane Creek, where land rezoned in 1992 for what was understood to be a 10-acre campground later helped enable a proposal for nearly 500 housing units and 67,000 square feet of commercial space.

The Sand Flats Stewardship Committee formally recommended denial. Andrea Brand, who directs Sand Flats Recreation Area and chairs the committee, said Sand Flats draws more than 250,000 visitors a year, generates more than $25 million in economic activity and supports 99 businesses operating under BLM permits. The Bureau of Land Management describes the 9,000-acre recreation area as home to the Slickrock and Porcupine Rim bike trails, almost 30 miles of jeep trails, 140 first-come, first-served campsites and six group campsites. Brand and others also warned that Resort Commercial zoning could trigger a requirement to pave Hell’s Revenge to commercial road standards.

Nearby, McKay Edwards, owner of Moab Springs Ranch Resort, said the resort shares roughly 1,000 feet of boundary with the Steen property and did not receive notice of the application until two days before the hearing. With Sand Flats sitting near Arches National Park and the Grandstaff and Mill Creek Canyon wilderness study areas, the decision now carries weight far beyond one parcel: it could help set the future edge of Moab’s trail country.