More HB 477 "Brouhaha"

There is more HB 477 "Brouhaha" as the HB 477 train seems to pick up steam each and every day.

We will toss the ball to the Weber County Forum where Rudi shares his compilation, complete with our post from yesterday with Representative Froerer's explanation.

We will also highlight an earlier comment from Ogden Council Women and activist Amy Wicks:

We need to mobilize quickly to try to preserve reasonable and affordable access to government records. If you would like to help, please sign up here: www.savegrama.com

Have at it humble Valley-ites!

Snowbasin Development Update

Our friends at the Weber County Forum provide us with an update of Snow Basin's development plans

From the June 12 post at the Weber County Forum, we read:

As a followup to our June 4, 2010 article, wherein we reported the Snow Basin has now gone public with plans to follow Powder Mountain's lead, and to commence its own massive new development on the southern edge of Ogden Valley, one of our alert readers has transmitted to us some supplementary data which will no doubt be of great interest to those readers who are concerned about overdevelopment in and around Ogden Valley.

Take a look at the Snow Basin proposal online here (caution, gentle readers; this is a 140 MB file, and thus takes a while to load):

• May 6, 2010 Snow Basin Plan

And for a quick overview, check out this graphic, which characterizes what they want to do where Trappers Loop ends in Ogden Valley:

As usual, Rudi has outdone himself once again.

Public Hearing on June 1st about Powder Mountain --- UPDATED

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.

Is the ACLU relevant in Utah?

Whilst sitting down this morning to post a  story about this morning's Standard Guest commentary by Larry Zini, we realized that Rudi had gotten up a bit earlier this morning and penned this most excellent rant.

Standard-Examiner Guest Commentary: Is the ACLU Relevant in Utah?

Where the hell has the Utah ACLU been during the entire several year pendency of the Powder Mountain matter?

We can't say it any better than that; however, Zini makes many good points and we will highlight just a couple:

In many other areas of the United States this would be just the kind of issue the ACLU would be ready to actively support, but despite repeated attempts to get them involved on the side of the affected Powder Mountain homeowners, the ACLU has made no effort to investigate or help.

There could be reasons that the ACLU has ignored the plight of the Powder Mountain homeowners. First, the affected homeowners are not minorities, but simply citizens who have been denied equal protection under a flawed law passed in the Utah State Legislature.

It is also possible that the ACLU is intimidated by the power structure in the State of Utah and is reluctant to get involved in a high profile case that may embarrass some state politicians. Either scenario is unacceptable.

 We note that the ACLU has jumped right in on the high profile Arizona immigration issue.

What say ye Ogden Valley-ites - Is the ACLU relevant in Utah?

THERE IS NO DOWNSIDE TO ETHICS REFORM IN UTAH!

Go to Weber County Forum and check out the excellent post entitled Utahns For Ethical Government Update