Moab approves plan for townhomes

The Moab City Planning Commission has approved a concept plan for the construction of several new townhomes that will be located at 720 West 400 North, despite concerns from several members of the commission.

The Entrada at Moab Master Planned Development will include 45 townhomes, a clubhouse and a pool, according to Moab City Planning Director Jeff Reinhart. Reinhart said the plan includes private streets, additional landscaping and two-story tall buildings. Reinhart said he anticipates there will be nightly rentals in the development. Moab Times-Independent

New Student Housing Underway at USU Eastern Blanding

The recent dedication of USU Eastern’s Blanding Campus Administration Building was done with the rumbling of heavy equipment in the air. Excavation is already underway for new and much-needed housing on the 600-student campus.

Front-end loaders are carving out a site that will eventually room up to 74 students and more than double housing capacity on the 150-acre campus of Utah State University-College of Eastern Utah. Plans are to start moving students in by spring of 2013. And it can’t come soon enough, said Kol Conway, housing and food services director.

The campus has experienced a housing overflow for the past four years. Early on it began to reach out to local motel owners to house students in their rooms.

USU Eastern uniquely draws some 65 percent of its student body from the nearby Navajo Reservation. “We have reached our capacity,” Wilson said. “Parents want their children to be able to live on campus, and we want them to be able to as well. There is tremendous value, particularly with freshmen students, having a positive campus life experience.”

Wilson said the campus has exceptional facilities and resources. Students who are able to live on campus stand the most to benefit from those offerings. And word has gotten out as the waiting list continues to grow.

The 17,200-square-foot building will break from tradition and consist, instead, of suites, common areas and kitchenettes. Housing units will either contain three or four bedroom units with two students per bedroom. Private room suites will also be available, Conway said. San Juan Record

Cinema Court affordable housing complex celebrates grand opening

Local officials and residents celebrated the official grand opening of Moab’s new Cinema Court affordable housing development during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 20.

“You wouldn’t have guessed it, but yes, where once there stood a drive-in movie theatre there now stands a new 60 unit multi-family apartment community built to help meet the widening gap and demand for workforce housing in the city of Moab,” said Marion Willey, executive director of Utah Non Profit Housing Corporation (UNPHC), during his introductions.

The Cinema Court complex features 15 one-bedroom units, 30 two-bedroom units, and 15 three-bedroom units. All but five are already occupied by renters, officials said. The final building had just been released for occupancy within a week of the ribbon-cutting event, according to UNPHC officials.

The project was a joint effort by the UNPHC and the Housing Authority of Southeastern Utah (HASU), which serves Grand and San Juan counties, along with involvement of several other governmental entities including Moab city and Grand County. Moab Times-Independent