The nonprofit's mission is to protect southern Summit County’s natural beauty and agricultural lifestyle, according to its website.
KVPA founding member Jeramy Bristol said there’s a lot going on in the area: a town seeking to incorporate on the west, Summit County buying farmland for open space and Francis building up the center of town.
“We felt like there wasn't a way for residents to really get involved. It feels like so many of these things are bigger than just one person,” Bristol told KPCW. “So we, a few of us as residents in the valley, have been talking and communicating.”
A lot of those residents live around West Hills, a proposed town residents within its boundaries will vote on in November.
KVPA said its first initiative is advocating against the incorporation. The 3,600-acre town has its supporters and its detractors, but the latter have been louder.
Supporters have said county zoning has stifled “modest new growth”; Kamas City has previously turned down a request to annex part of the area.
At the second and final public hearing about West Hills in January, Bristol noted how the whole process brought together like-minded residents against development.
“Many of them, I didn't know beforehand, and even some of them have different ideas when we've had our board meetings and things that we've been talking about how to move forward,” he said in April.
KVPA is soliciting donations to build a legal fund that will “defend the Kamas Valley against unbridled development and ensure open, transparent government practices.”
Public records confirm KVPA incorporated as a nonprofit March 31, but it doesn’t have tax exempt status yet. It says its 501(c)(3) application is pending with the Internal Revenue Service. So those donations aren’t tax deductible until the IRS signs off.
Bristol declined to talk specifics but said the group of volunteers is forming an action plan on West Hills in weekly board meetings.
