Moab's Echo Canyon Project Stirs Controversy Among Developers, Environmentalists, and Officials

Echo Canyon, a proposed 176-acre mixed-use development near the Colorado River in the Kane Creek canyon corridor southwest of Moab, became the first project in Utah to receive a "preliminary municipality" designation last June — and it now faces two separate lawsuits that could shut it down before a single housing unit is built.

Two advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit on Feb. 10 in Utah's 7th Judicial District Court seeking to overturn the state's new "preliminary municipality" law and invalidate the certification of the proposed Echo Canyon development southwest of Moab. That filing came on top of an earlier water rights forfeiture case filed in June 2025, alleging the developers misrepresented their water rights during the incorporation process.

The most recent project plans call for roughly 478 housing units, 102 overnight accommodations and about 67,000 square feet of commercial space. Developer Craig Weston, who leads the project through Kane Creek Preservation and Development and G&H Miller Family Holdings, released a public statement framing the development as an economic fix for a cash-strapped county. "Grand County is facing budget challenges due to declining transit and sales tax revenue," Weston said. "Echo Canyon has the potential to generate new property tax revenue from both primary residences and second homes. This additional revenue will be used by Grand County to support schools, libraries and medical facilities."

The project's path to that point ran through a controversial piece of legislation. Senate Bill 258, a 2024 Utah law, created a pathway for large developments on unincorporated land to form what the state calls a "preliminary municipality." After hitting roadblocks in talks with Grand County officials to secure support, the developers opted to create a preliminary municipality, using SB 258 to bypass the scrutiny of local leaders and instead process their development plans through the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office. The Echo Canyon developers filed their initial request with state officials on May 1, 2024, and on June 9, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson formally incorporated Echo Canyon as a preliminary municipality, the first in Utah.

Opponents say that maneuver was the whole point. "This law appears to be intended specifically for Echo Canyon," said Laura Long of Kane Creek Development Watch. "The project faced strong local public opposition and major obstacles under county review. SB258 sidesteps local land-use laws and cuts residents out of the process."

Plaintiffs argue the law unconstitutionally shifts zoning and land-use authority from elected county officials to a governing board largely appointed by private landowners, creating what they describe as a form of municipal power that lacks voter accountability and grants special legal privileges to developers. The complaint was filed by Friends of the Abajos, doing business as Kane Creek Development Watch, and the environmental nonprofit Living Rivers. It names Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre M. Henderson in her official capacity, the project's developer Kane Creek Preservation and Development LLC, the Echo Canyon preliminary municipality, and developer Craig Weston, both individually and as incorporation sponsor and governing-board chair.

The water rights case carries equally serious stakes. The plaintiffs argue all eight water rights claimed by the developer have been forfeited through decades of nonuse, including one that permanently expired in 2019 when the developer missed a state filing deadline. "The developer lacks valid and sufficient water rights to serve a municipality and made misleading claims to the Lieutenant Governor and feasibility study consultants about water availability," said Living Rivers founder and Colorado River Keeper John Weisheit.

The water issues did not begin with the lawsuits. The state shut down a well on the property in May of 2024 after learning the developers were unlawfully using the water for dust abatement. Grand County had already denied the developers' sewer request in 2022 and a subsequent utilities request in 2024.

The developers have pushed back on both fronts. A spokesman for Kane Creek Preservation and Development described the water rights claims as "just simply not true, frivolous," and said the company had met every statutory benchmark: "We've held our first meetings, appointed a town clerk, town attorney, town engineer, all of the things required by statute." The company's formal statement added that the project "complies with all applicable requirements of SB 258 and other governing laws."

The constitutional question of whether the state can delegate municipal powers to unelected private entities could affect all five projects currently in the preliminary municipality pipeline. Those include Park City Tech in Summit County, Nine Springs in Morgan County, and Willow in Kane County. For the Colorado River canyon corridor just southwest of Moab, where visitors come to mountain bike Kane Creek Road and hike the surrounding redrock benchlands, the outcome of those courtrooms may determine whether that stretch of river stays public or becomes the address of Utah's first developer-governed town.