UPDATE: 8-8-08 @ 11 PM
Rudi from the Weber County Forum has expounded upon this posting. He spoke with Commissioner Dearden yesterday and offers this:
We'd like to add one additional call to action. If you, or someone you know is eligible to serve as mayor or council member for the soon to be appointed Powder Mountain Town government, now's the time to submit names and brief resumes to the Weber County Commission. The Commission will be compiling and vetting their own expanded candidate list; and as of our last conversation with Commissioner Dearden a day ago, the Commission had received only one single citizen application.
The residents of Ogden Valley and Weber County have been bombarded with endless information on petitions from Powder Mountain for first a rezone, and then for the incorporation of the town of Powder Mountain.
In our opinion, the town incorporation will not be a good thing for Ogden Valley and most of the residents that live here. If the incorporation moves forward, the owners at Powder Mountain can choose their own town council and mayor with the approval of the Weber County Commission. They will establish their own planning commission and will be able to grant any zoning they choose without oversight by the Weber County Commission. This means no limit to dwellings (density) and therefore unacceptable increases in traffic up the single Powder Mountain Road that is not safe now. Traffic will increase 8 to 10 times over current levels on S R 158 and other Valley roads. Their plan for two 18 hole golf courses that will use millions of gallons of water every summer and the magnitude of the resort will negatively affect all residents and wildlife in the Valley with the increase in traffic and pollution.
Many citizens may be asking, what can I do to help express my feelings and concerns about the town and it’s possible impact on Ogden Valley and all citizens of Weber County.
Here are some options to consider:
1. Write or call to the Weber County Commissioners and express your
feelings about this so called “World Class Ski Resort”. Let them know if you approve of the slate of town council members and mayor submitted by Powder Mountain being all company people or Cobabe family members, or should the Weber County Commission continue to demand that Powder Mountain provide a more comprehensive list to include members of the homeowners group that were forced into this incorporation in violation of their constitutional rights.
2. If you feel that an Ogden Valley Planning Commission member violated the conflict of interest rules by working for the Powder Mountain town interests at the same time she served on the OV Planning Commission, demand a full internal hearing and the involvement of the Weber County Legal staff to investigate.
3. Write letters to the editor of The Standard Examiner, SLC Tribune, The Deseret News and the Ogden Valley News. Ask for a guest commentary spot and make your views known.
4. A legal fund may be established in the Valley to deal with the legal issues of the affected homeowners. The fund will need your financial support. More information will be made available on this later.
If you have any doubt that this is important, please consider the long view on what this size of development will do to the rural characteristics and charm of our Valley. Most people do not want another Park City in Ogden Valley.
You may go to the VCRD Web Site http://www.vcrdutah.org/ and under Resources and Contact local decisions makers, are the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers for the Weber County Commission members. If not online, call 801-399-8406 to express your concerns to
the Weber County Commissioners.
Use the Ogden Valley Forum blog to stay current on Valley news if you are online, or follow events in the Ogden Valley News.
“Speak up for what you want, or take what you get”
Your VCRD Staff
3 comments:
All of us in Weber County and the Ogden Valley should consider what roads will be like with the tremendous increase in traffic that will impact the Valley and county roads if this resort is constructed. If you like inching along to get somewhere, you may like it. If you are a little impatient now leaving Powder Mountain in the late afternoon during ski season, think about a possible tenfold increase on that road from Powder Mountain to Eden.
With incorporation, Powder Mountain has no intention of building the second access road and expects the county should do it when required. Nothing like the taxpayers picking up the tab for the road while the developers just make money! That is the kind of people you are dealing with from Powder Mountain.
Investors should be aware that other developers tried this same idea a few years ago, but woke up in time and left the area. It's the road stupid!
The ONLY suggestion about - what any who agree that Powderville violates every possible and conceivable notion of what our great Country and its Constitution stands for is the last one. Namely to get ready for financial support of a Federal Lawsuit against the State legislature for passing HB 466 which is patently unconstitutional on its face. And thus against the Realtor/developers who lobbied for, wrote and had delivered passage of HB 466.
Just think about the opportunity that exists for those who are lawyers residing in Ogden Valley to step up to the "pro bono" plate and defend the rights of disinfrancised Powderville and all Valley residents. And we all get to see just who these brave attorneys actually are in the process. (Or NOT?)
Some have already seen the light and are "voting with their feet". Betting there are no such lawyers in the entire Valley.
A lengthy lawsuit will cost into the tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds) so get your checkbooks ready. Any of the other suggested options are a near total waste of time, given the circumstances ... of having Realtor lapdogs as your legislators, commissioners, mayors, print news editorial staffs and municipal staff in general. To "whine" to those who benefit from a Statewide scheme is only an amusement to those who arrogantly scoff at these blog entries, Guest Commentaries, Letters to the Editors, Commissioners, legislators, etc.
The prospect of a Federal Lawsuit, which could (and very likely would) uncover the Statewide "racketeering" led by the Realtor Association and promulgated by their legislative and commissioner lapdogs is about the only weapon left in the private citizen arsenal. They know it and they fear only it....the pure light of day shining in on their decade long reign profiteering off the backs of the good, the trusting and the naieve.
Right now everyone is winning; municipality staff and administrations, County staffs, Commissioners, Fire Districts, Water Conservancy Districts and there administration, Libraries, State employees, Health and Human Services, 911, Assessors,,,their staffs and their collections, Police/Sheriff Departments, and the biggest are the School Districts, who are bottomless pits. There are many more of course. Add your own. List them from your Property Tax Notice where "other Taxing agencies" can be found.
Then consider how the Realtor Association and Developer's pay tens of millions a week into the print news media. The print news media are so dependent upon this Realtor Association media advertising money that the business owners rather obviously have put out the word that any expose on this disgraceful practice and widespread Utah Real Estate Scheme is strictly off limits.
So don't expect Marshall Thompson, Joe Doughtery or any other reporter to tell you the truth about how Utah is being run. Do not expect the news media to "bite the very hand which feeds and fuels them all".
No Sir!!
Isn't it sad that the only credibility left for the print media and media in general has been tossed aside. Isn't it sad that the "mother's milk" of business (money) has been allowed to choke and strangle objectivity and independence. Objectivity and independence...once the journalistic idealistic holy grail. And at one time, long ago it seems, we subscribed to newspapers trusting them to actually do investigative research and objective reporting.
Shame on the Utah News print media for whoring out to special interests and abrogating journalistic responsibility, their independence , trust and confidence for 40 pieces of silver (7 page color spreads of Realtor/Developer advertisements) and the easy way out.
Meanwhile, we citizens truly need to appreciate and celebrate those among us (like "Val" of the Ogden Valley and "Rudi" of the Weber County blog sites) who represent the very finest traditions of what great print media journalists have failed to deliver to the public. The simple unmitigated truth. If only we could have them as the editors of the Desert News, Salt Lake Tribune, and Ogden Standard Examiner. If only we can find a way to thank them. One way is the fork over the money for the lawsuit as best you can. In the long run it will be an investment well worth it and save significant tax dollars. Who knows, maybe a Federal Judge will order the Realtor Association to pay all legal fees as part of a settlement. That is unless they have already begun buying off judges too. MM
I suggest you tie Powder Mountain up in court or any way you can to buy enough time until a legitimate, elected council and mayor are in place.
Then, let the new mayor's new planning commission and zoning board play games with and afflict Powder Mountain until they long for dis-incorporation and Weber County rules of days gone by.
You could have the newly elected officials dis-incorporate, but why do so, when you, at that point, can have so much more fun with the Powder Mountain SOB's?
Think: "Payback Time."
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