The Stansbury Park Service Agency is going through some growing pains as it considers policies that dictate use of the community’s lake and where food vendors will be permitted to operate.
During its meeting last Wednesday, the service agency board tackled more of the issues with use of the private Stansbury Lake, which has become increasingly popular with residents permitted to use it, and some unauthorized non-residents. Margo Huddleston, the co-owner of Stansbury Lake Paddlesports, brought up her concerns with nonprofits and other groups who were coming to her with requests to rent equipment to use on the lake.
According to Huddleston, the Tooele County Chamber of Commerce reached out to her about holding a kayak competition on Stansbury Lake as part of the organization’s Corporate Games.
Board chairman Neil Smart said he was supportive of local nonprofits using the lake, like local Boy Scout troops, but had questions about the chamber’s planned use of the lake. He said the chamber of commerce should speak with the service agency board about the specifics of the event before it could be hosted at the lake.
Board member Rod Thompson pointed out that the Stansbury Days triathlon uses the lake for the swim portion of the event. He also said the Corporate Games are primarily for Tooele County residents.
“I think we should look at it on a case-by-case basis,” Thompson said.
The service agency board addressed the lake use issue at several past meetings in the last few months. The current use policy only dictates that the lake is private and should only be used by residents and their guests.
Huddleston said that after Food Truck Fridays last year, which were hosted at the Stansbury Park Clubhouse parking lot, trucks loaded down with kayaks were coming to the lake. She said she didn’t believe they were residents but were people outside the community who came for the food truck event.
Huddleston also said high schools from Riverton and Park City reached out to her after Food Truck Fridays to rent equipment and go out on the lake, but she did not rent equipment to them.
Smart said the service agency will continue to work on crafting a policy that addresses who can use the lake and under what conditions.
“We definitely have it as something we’ve got to start figuring out because it’s going to get more and more popular,” Smart said. “So we want to control it for our residents and the nonprofits where it makes sense.”
The board also discussed limiting fishing near the more popular swimming areas on the lake due to safety concerns. While no final decision was made, the board specifically considered restricting fishing in the area from the gazebo to the boat ramp behind the clubhouse.
Concerns about food vendors in the community were also addressed during Wednesday’s meeting. Stansbury Park Service Agency manager Randall Jones said he had to ask a food truck to move after it set up on service agency property without permission in the past month.
The service agency allows a shaved ice shack to rent space in the clubhouse parking lot during the summer, with a daily rent of $25. While the arrangement has been in place for several years, it is renewed annually and doesn’t address other food vendors using service agency property.
“The issue that you have is you’ve allowed a food cart,” Jones said. “So you’ve opened a door. You’ve got to be careful about how you proceed.”
Food trucks set up on private property or a public easement are not prohibited as long as they are located along public access, like a sidewalk, and do not impede traffic, Jones said.
Smart suggested determining which parking lots could hold a food vendor based upon the number of parking spaces available.
“If you want to move ahead and allow this sort of thing, you could set a policy and we will allow one per site, so that we don’t have five trucks pulling up,” Jones said.
Thompson said Stansbury Park may be at the point where the service agency sets a number of places for vendors and they are bid out at the beginning of the year.
Further discussion on the food vendor policy was tabled until the next meeting for the service agency, which is June 8 at 7 p.m. in the Stansbury Park Clubhouse.