Springdale town council candidates meet the public

The Springdale Lions Club hosted a “Meet the Candidates” night on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in the Town Hall for the three candidates running for two four-year seat on the Springdale town council. The opportunity to hear all candidates state their positions on the same questions is a traditional one-time event before the election on Nov. 3.

After each candidate gave an opening statement, Mark Chambers, Lisa Zumpft, and Mike Alltucker responded to four questions from the Lions Club and written questions from the audience. Chambers and Alltucker are current members of the Town Council, and Zumpft is running for public office for the first time. Both Alltucker and Zumpft are retired residents of Springdale, and Chambers is the partial owner of two businesses in the town.

As the gateway community to Zion National Park, all of the candidates emphasized the management of the foundation of Springdale’s economy as an important responsibility of a member of the town council, and three of the four questions from the Lions Club were about different areas of that responsibility.

The first question from the Lions Club asked about ongoing negotiations between the Paiute Tribe of southern Utah and Springdale concerning a “controversial proposal” for the development 174 acres of land on the east side of the town that the Paiute Tribe now owns. Alltucker pointed out that the Paiute Tribe has applied to have to land placed into a trust that would “remove all of the conditions and ordinances of Springdale for development” because the Paiute Tribe is a sovereign nation. Alltucker said that because the tribe has “undergone a leadership change, the town is now back to beginning talks.” All of the candidates favored working with the Paiute Tribe to develop the property but all said that the property should be developed using the carefully worked out rules that other developers use.

When the Lions Club asked the candidates how to improve citizen involvement, the responses were generally “Try harder.” Alltucker, for example, started his response by saying, “That is a good question.” Chambers described initiatives being tried by other cities to solve the same problem that Springdale could adopt and said that the town website should be improved. Zumpft said that “there is a lot of information out there. All people have to do is go to the Internet and look it up. “

Improving the town’s parking was the Lions Club’s third question. Alltucker said that all gateway communities have this problem and that Springdale is working with them to find solutions. He said that, “long term, the Park is going to mitigate the problem.” Alltucker said that in the short term, the only answer is “private property. People putting in parking lots and charging for them.”

Chambers pointed to improved management of the parking that the town has now. Chambers noted that the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) will rebuild the main street through town starting next year and that a lot of improvements will be made as part of the project. He also said that designating the pioneer ditches that are still in Springdale as historic will ensure that UDOT doesn’t widen the street into a four-lane road. Zumpft said that she was a member of the Historic Commission in town and that they are actively looking at the designation of the ditches as historic but that in the discussions with UDOT she believed that they would not widen the road if Springdale doesn’t want that. Zumpft said that along with concerns about more parking, safety should be emphasized since tourists jaywalk across State Route 9, creating a clearly unsafe situation. Zumpft suggested that restricting parking to just one side of the street should be considered.

Finally, the Lions Club asked about the relationship between the town and Zion National Park. Each of the candidates gave a lot of credit to new park superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh for a clear improvement in relations already. He said that Bradybaugh would be open to a wide variety of new ideas.

“I don’t know what’s broken. If it is broken, please tell me,” said Chambers. Zumpft said that the advice of the park service could be used as Springdale creates solutions to other problems, such as the street light project. Zumpft also emphasized that people should work on telling the park what they want using comment cards, letters, or email. She said that Zion National Park relies on support from the community to convince the rest of the federal government about the importance of Springdale issues.

The first community question was submitted by several people. They wanted to know whether candidates thought that the Zion Music Festival had been a successful venture and whether the town should continue to sponsor it. All of the candidates wanted to see the festival continue, but all agreed that the town should lower their exposure to risk associated with the festival.

Zumpft said that “a lot of towns support different kinds of community events, and I love the idea that Springdale [wants] the music festival.” She said that she wasn’t sure if the town would continue to support the music festival as they have in the past but that there are other ways to support it. Chambers said that he has always thought that the music festival was a great event and that he thought people in Springdale benefited from the festival and it was manageable. Chambers said that the “core functions of the town should come first” in deciding how to go forward. Using his background in putting on similar events, he said that the town should not be the “presenter” of the music festival but could continue to be a “sponsor.” Alltucker said he voted in favor of the “realignment” of the relationship of the festival to the town this year and that he had heard a lot of criticism of that decision. He said that the decision to provide fewer town resources to the festival seemed to be successful because volunteers “pulled it off” anyway. Alltucker said that he thought the festival should continue and that there should be some level of community support in the future, although the management of the festival  “should shift to some other entity.”

A community question about whether zoning should be changed to commercial zones in the future generated emphatic responses.

“I am on record about this one,” Zumpft said. “I do not want to see any more residential property converted into commercial. I say that because I do not want SR9 turned into a strip of commercial from the national park to the other end of town.”

Rather than more commercial property, Zumpft used her time to advocate less impact of the existing commercial properties, such as noise from recreational facilities, on neighboring residential properties. Chambers emphasized Springdale’s General Plan as the guide to follow and said that the plan says that it “should be almost impossible to change a zone from residential to commercial.” Chambers said that he will continue to fight to make it almost impossible. Alltucker agreed with Chambers that the General Plan does not support this kind of change he would also support the plan.

The final question from the community asked how important “lodging” is to the town. Chambers said that almost 80 percent of the town’s operating budget comes from taxes on lodging. Chambers said that the most important question is to decide what the ratio of residential to commercial should be. Chambers said that a new General Plan is being written right now and that is where this decision is being made. He also noted that much of the authority of the town to control the growth of lodging is restricted by the results of past lawsuits such as those involving Hilton, the Hampton, Quality Inn, and Desert Pearl. He said “quality of life” for Springdale residents made his preference less lodging and more residential. Alltucker wasn’t as willing to control the growth of lodging through town ordinances. He said, “I’m a free market kind of guy. I think … I know … the market will regulate the growth.” Zumpft favored working with lodging owners to “do the right thing.” She conceded that lodging provided the largest part of the revenue of the town but said, “that doesn’t mean we have to bow down to them.”

Each of the three candidates closed with a final statement about their candidacy. Chambers emphasized his experience and the advantage of continuity of a “very good working council right now.” Alltucker noted that he was appointed to the council a little more than a year ago but that his “on-the-job training” and his background in business will be a big advantage in managing the “ultimate buildout” of the town. Zumpft pointed out that one of the most common fairy tales starts with the words, “If I am elected, I promise. …” She said that if she is elected, she will do the very best she can to represent the interests of Springdale.