Moab Council Puts Six-month Moratorium on UTV Business

Council enacted the extension while officials work on a permanent solution.

Gibson Performance exhaust.UTV Driver

The Moab, Utah, city council earlier this month gave itself another six months to figure out what to do about businesses that want to provide UTV tours, according to the Moab Sun News. Last year, the council put a moratorium on new business licenses for UTV-based tour businesses after residents complained about noise from street-driven UTVs.

On January 12, the council extended the moratorium for another 180 days, while city zoning staff and the council work toward a permanent solution. Current UTV tour businesses are grandfathered in, meaning their licenses will stand, but the city could use zoning code to limit their fleet size.

Two counselors at the meeting said they were worried that a permanent rule against new UTV tour businesses would encroach on private property rights, according to the Sun. Councilor Karen Guzman-Newton said she hopes the city can find a way to lower UTV impacts on residents of Moab without throttling UTV businesses too severely.

At the same meeting, the council approved a letter thanking San Juan County, Utah, for denying a permit for Rally on the Rocks to hold an event in Spanish Valley. Grand County, where Moab is located, had previously denied the event a permit.

According to the Sun, the Moab City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 7 p.m. Their agendas are available on the Moab city website, and meetings are streamed on the city’s YouTube channel.