LOGAN — Former state representative Jack Draxler has stayed busy since leaving the Utah Legislature about seven years ago. He recently spearheaded successful efforts to get an Open Space Initiative approved by voters to begin preserving open space in Cache County.
On KVNU’s For the People program this week, Draxler said that, in most cases, the county will not purchase land outright.
“They will, in most cases, purchase the development rights to land, through what’s called a Conservation Easement. The family will still retain ownership, it will stay in their ownership or they can even sell it. But the one thing is, the county has purchased the development rights, so that in perpetuity that ground will not be developed. And it’s purely at the decision of the property owners,” Draxler explained.
He said it’s totally voluntary and there’s no government pressure involved. This past weekend, a meeting was held entitled “Priorities for Cache County,” it was held on the 3rd floor of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office complex.
Draxler said it was a good discussion with Representative Casey Snider talking water rights, among the many experts and officials who attended.
“We had Sheriff Jensen there talking about law enforcement, we had Taylor Sorensen, the county attorney there, talking about sentencing guidelines and those kind of impacts on the community.
“And then, of course, Mayor Bryan Cox of Hyde Park talking about local municipal issues. It was really well done, and I was there, basically, as a citizen and just thoroughly enjoyed it, and I thought some really good things came out of it.”
Also, with talk out there of a possible Inland Port coming to the valley, Draxler said, as he understands it, the discussion about that is merely exploratory at this point, to see what benefits might come and also what the impacts would be.