On June 1st, 2010 at 6 PM, a public hearing regarding the Powder Mountain rezone and development will be held in the Weber County Commission Chambers, 2380 Washington Blvd. in Ogden.
We submit that it is important that all concerned Northern Utah and Ogden Valley residents attend this hearing in substantial numbers to be heard and to demonstrate to the County Commissioners that a reasonable and fair resolution is an important issue to all of us.
We know that recent negotiations between Commissioner Dearden and the Powder Mountain owners/developers were encouraged by a minority of the Utah State Legislative leaders who, for some unfathomable reason, would not undo the egregious civil rights damage of HB466 passed in 2007.
Ogden Valley residents are concerned about any “deal” between the County Commissioners and the developers that would exchange the town incorporation for increased density (dwellings) numbers for Powder Mountain that would destroy the Ogden Valley General Plan‘s density numbers produced in 1998.
We are also concerned that such a deal will ignore the need for a second road access and the 17 other conditions regarding the development and rezone outlined by the Ogden Valley Planning Commission during the initial petition process.
Click here to read the call for involvement from Kirk Langford, longtime Valley resident and activist
UPDATE: May 17, 2010 @ 5 PM
Be sure to read today's Weber County Forum where Rudi encourages his humble readers to attend the meeting.
UPDATE: May 17, 2010 @ 5 PM
Be sure to read today's Weber County Forum where Rudi encourages his humble readers to attend the meeting.
5 comments:
What is process for getting the details of the rezone request? Can we call the planning or commissioners office to get a copy? Does anyone have a copy with the details?
Thanks
Ron, we have been told that the details of the rezone request should be posted on the Weber County web site by Monday or Tuesday of next week, possibly in the Ogden Valley Planning Commission's section of the web site.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is so bad about the general idea behind Powder Moutain being developed. I know that there are certain restrictions and limitiations but those are arbitrary, right? I mean, they can be undone just as easy as they were implemented. In fact, some people would argue that the current zoning rules regarding Ogden Valley are biased or skewed toward a thype of unfounded protectionism.
I also, find it interesting that people don't seem to look at how this will benefit the local and general Utah economy. The quintessential objection to any type of development (helipad etc...) is "NIMBY" (not in my back yard). I think that holding such as stance reduceds the objector to a mere hypocrite, as per the objector argues that the developers are egotistical yet is he not being equal?
I would like to know, economically and morally, why the basic idea of allowing Powder Moutain is reprehensible.
JRP, the Powder Mountain issue is centered around the request to radically change the zoning. Powder Mountain could now be developed under the existing zoning, but that zoning would not allow for two golf courses, and thousands of units (dwellings). The zoning changes would ignore the density numbers for the Ogden Valley master plan and the resulting traffic increases would clog our roads in the Valley. The main issue though is the Powder Mountain road that cannot be modified to be safer according to UDOT. It has four areas that are over a 12% grade and cannot safely handle the increase in traffic that would result from the developers' plans.
What happened is the developers did not do the proper research on the single road, the safety issues and the existing zoning before they bought the land.
4 years ago, the Ogden Valley Planning commission developed 19 conditions in their recommendations to the Weber County Commissioners. The major conditions were a second access road, much less density numbers and a less ambitious golf course plan.
When the developers saw that they were not going to get what they wanted from the Weber County Commission, they used a new, poorly conceived incorporation law (HB466) to try to incorporate the area into a town, thus bypassing the Weber County Planning commission so they could create any zoning they wanted. The flaw in the new law was that it canceled the civil rights of the the homeowners they required in the town by not allowing them to determine if they wanted to be in the town or to vote for their initial town leadership.
Powder Mountain can go ahead right now and enhance their development without any zoning changes, but they cannot build a "World Class Mega Resort" as they called it, without the zoning changes they want.
These changes will change the lifestyle and ambiance of the Ogden Valley and many residents that don't object to some growth, recoil at the thought of another Park City in our Valley.
On the Weber County web site at
http://www.co.weber.ut.us/commission/public_hearings.php
I found this text
Public Hearing Notices
Notice is hereby given that the Weber County Commission will hold a second public hearing on June 1, 2010 at 6 p.m. to consider and/or take action on Zoning Petition #18-2006 involving a request to rezone property located at Powder Mountain Resort. The hearing will include consideration of a proposed Memorandum of Understanding as a precursor to a more comprehensive development agreement. The proposed rezone covers approximately 4,234 acres within Weber County and would change the existing resort zoning from Forest Residential-3 (FR-3), Forest Valley-3 (FV-3), Commercial Valley Resort Recreation-1 (CVR-1), and Forest-40 (F-40) to Forest Valley-3 (FV-3), Commercial Valley Resort Recreation-1 (CVR-1) and Forest-40 (F40)The meeting will be held in the Commission Chambers, 1st Floor, Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd., Ogden, Utah.
Copies of the proposed zoning petition may be reviewed prior to the hearing in the Weber County Planning Division Office, Suite 240, in the Weber Center.
By Board of Commissioners of Weber County
Commissioner Bischoff, Chair
Attest: Alan D. McEwan, CPA. Weber County Clerk/Auditor
It looks like we need to get the county building to see the details.
In reading this I wonder why Powder Mountain is not utilizing the Resort Zone Ordinance?
Ron
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