Green Valley Academy and Red Moose Lodge Heliport on the agenda
Ogden Valley Planning Commission Meeting
January 25, 2011 @ 5:00 PM
Weber County Commission Chambers, Weber Center,
2380 Washington Blvd., Ogden UT
Click Here for Agenda and Details
Tonight is the night. Remember to "SPEAK UP FOR WHAT YOU WANT, OR TAKE WHAT YOU GET!"
I would like to thank Commissioner Laura Warburton for telling it like it is. She admitted that the individual commissioners operate in fear of personal lawsuits and nobody else on the Ogden Valley Planning Commission disputed what she said about that (although they seemed very uneasy about the fact that she said it). So the cat's out of the bag. The effectiveness of the commission to do the right thing is clouded by their fear of being personally sued. Something to chew on.
ReplyDeleteTonight's meeting proved to me just how broken the zoning system is if one person, Ben Hadfield (just doing his job), makes the defining decision on whether a business is a school or not and I think we all agreed it is not a school by any stretch of the imagination. This was over before it got to the planning commission, which is a sad fact.
ReplyDeleteSo, it is incumbent upon us residents to take the next step and petition to have the zoning and/or process changed so that these types of determinations are not made by a lone individual. The planning commission should have the right to question and overturn "staff's" interpretation of the business entity definition.
Thereby, I propose the "Green Valley NO MORE" initiative to change our county processes and zoning to tighten the definition of what a school consititutes. Dr. Balmer, his smug lawyer, and their combined ilk will be exploiting this to the hilt unless we act quickly.
What you can do:
1. Write your county planning commission and county commission to protest the process and demand that it be changed. To be classified as a school, a for profit business should have extra hoops to jump through than just one person. Green Valley NO MORE!
2. Write your state representative. Investigate what can be done at the state level to prevent further exploit of this gray area. Green Valley NO MORE!
3. Look for ways to decrease the attractiveness of the current location. Making up Green Valley NO MORE! signs to greet their customers perpetually will have some effect. We have a right to state our opinion.
4. Neighbors, don't let them get away with visually appealing fencing! Consider insisting on high privacy/security walls that cost way more and make it seem more prison like. Green Valley NO MORE!
5. Finally, whatever can be done to increase their cost should be explored. The less profitable the site is, the less attractive it is.
I'm going to start working to get the process changed so that Ben isn't charged/stuck with making these types of decisions that cannot be changed by the planning commission. It's not fair. Will you do the same?
Green Valley NO MORE!
Fred Smullin
East Huntsville
I think you underestimate Ben's culpability. When I conversed with him last week, he made it clear that this process would only go to the OVPC. He did his job to please the petitioners, while we believe he should work for the good of the valley. What I think shocked him was the vast amount of concern from citizens. He stated to me that he thought that our only concerns from the first proposal was the road and the existing home being made into an administrative building. And according to him, he resolved those issues. The process tonight was a joke. I keep going back to the town meeting and Mrs Balmer pretending they only wanted to find a way to be good neighbors. After that display tonight, my head is about to explode.
ReplyDeleteThe suggestions Fred makes are good. This isn't over.