Friday, September 25, 2015
Ogden Canyon Transportation Use Study
Good Afternoon,
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has completed Phase I of a Transportation Study in Ogden Canyon. The purpose of Phase I was to gather physical information and opinions concerning transportation through Ogden Canyon so a plan can be formed for future canyon uses and needs.
In Phase II, the study team will meet more extensively with people and groups who care about Ogden Canyon. The study team will use information collected in Phase I to develop concepts that solve and mitigate controversy and that are feasible. Stakeholder groups made up of people who live, work, travel, and recreate in Ogden Canyon will be formed to evaluate these concepts and give input. Representatives of local government and other agencies will also participate in evaluating the concepts and giving feedback.
Please visit our website to read about our findings from Phase I. We will keep you updated in the coming months as work progresses in Phase II.
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Project Overview
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is conducting a Transportation Study in Ogden Canyon. The Transportation Commission asked UDOT to conduct the study and look at all modes of transportation in the canyon. The purpose of the study is to gather and share information in an interactive and transparent process to develop an understanding of the safety and mobility needs in the canyon.
The study analysis includes existing and future safety concerns, traffic volumes, resident needs, economic needs, multi-modal uses (biking, truck traffic, pedestrian, transit, etc.), recreational uses, and environmental and geotechnical/geologic concerns.
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Contact Us
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Thanks! |
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Fall Full Moon Wildlife Wander (Migration) with DWR
Saturday, September 26 at 7:00 pm in North Fork Park
Follow signs at South entrance to corral area
Free and Family Friendly
This Fall’s Full Moon Wildlife Wander will be led by DWR specialist Clint Brunson with a focus on migration and will feature live birds from HawkWatch International. Migration is nearly universal within the animal kingdom; mobility is a defining animal trait in animals across the globe. Come take a gentle stroll under the full moon in the world's 21st International Dark Sky Park and learn more! At last Spring’s Wildlife Wander, a moose appeared as if on cue. What will we see and hear September 26?
Sponsored by: Ogden Valley Starry Nights. Call 917-385-6555 for more information.
Ogden Valley Community Harvest Dinner
Invitation From Summit
Dear Neighbors & Friends,
at 7:00 PM
for the First Annual Ogden Valley Community Harvest Dinner
at The Hearthside in Eden, Utah.
Free dinner will be provided by Jeff Sanich and we will be entertained by local musician, Christian Scheller!
Complementary shuttle service is also available.
Your help forwarding this invitation is much appreciated!
Please RSVP to kimber@summit.co or 801-389-5077
See you there!
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Ogden Canyon Siphon Update
Pineview Water Systems is preparing to replace the irrigation water siphon at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. Project details are noted below. You have been included in the project update list from a previous database of Ogden Canyon projects. Periodic status updates will be sent via this project email. If you wish to be removed from this list, please indicate by replying to this email.
PROJECT PURPOSE and DESCRIPTION
· The Ogden Canyon siphon is the pipeline that is suspended between the canyon walls at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. The pipe is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and operated by Pineview Water Systems. It has been in use since the summer of 1937, providing irrigation water for almost 80 years. It currently serves 10,000 customers in the Ogden area. · The siphon is at the end of its operational life and needs to be replaced. A new pipe and support system with seismic upgrades will be installed. The new siphon will look very similar to the existing pipe.
CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE
Construction schedules are dependent on weather conditions, emergency situations or equipment/supply issues and are subject to change.
· Preparations are being made to remove the existing pipe. A protective highway cover has been built over SR-39 beneath the siphon and crews have begun construction of a set of towers that will facilitate the safe removal of the existing pipeline. · The siphon will be drained and irrigation water will be shut off beginning October 1, 2015. Removal of parts of the existing pipe could begin as soon as October 2, 2015.
· The existing pipeline is scheduled to be removed by the end of November 2015 and construction of the new siphon will begin immediately thereafter.
· The new siphon is scheduled to be operational by early April 2016.
TRAFFIC IMPACTS
· Crews generally plan to work Monday through Friday, however, weekend work is likely as much of the work is weather-dependent.· Traffic impacts could begin as early as Oct. 2, 2015 and are expected to continue through early April 2016.
· Lane closures and flagging operations should be expected on SR-39 at the mouth of the canyon throughout the project. Traffic will be stopped intermittently in both directions for up to 15-minute intervals to accommodate construction equipment access. Emergency access will be maintained.
· Full road closures will be periodically scheduled with advance notice to motorists.
· Drivers are encouraged to follow all signs and flaggers through the work zone to promote public safety.
MORE INFORMATION
Pineview Water has employed a project-dedicated public involvement team to keep the public informed and help address concerns throughout project construction. Residents with questions or concerns may contact Marcus Murdock:
· Phone: 801-888-3159· Email: email@ogdencanyonsiphon.com
Monday, September 07, 2015
Annual Star Party and Dedication of North Fork Park as the World's 21st International Dark Sky Park
Saturday, September 12
@ 8pm,
North Fork Park (Mustang Flats Bowery, enter Middle Gate)
Commissioner Matt Bell and student Zach Thomas will dedicate the park at 8pm with star party to follow. In attendance will be the Weber State University sky-quality monitoring teams. The Ogden Astronomical Society will provide high power telescopes and, weather permitting, participants will see the Milky Way and be able to understand the many reasons the International Dark Sky Association accredited North Fork Park as the world's 21st International Dark Sky Park - ahead of Capitol Reef (number 22) and Canyonlands (number 23) National Parks. Accreditations of Grand Canyon and Glacier National Parks are expected soon. North Fork Park is in undeniably exceptional company.
Please bring your friends and children to recognize this signal achievement of North Fork Park and enjoy the stars and night sky.
Call 917.385.6555 for more information.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Summit Sucks...Water
Our apologies to our faithful readers as we have had a busy summer of travel and have neglected some important Ogden Valley events and issues. We will strive in the coming weeks and months to catch up.
There has been much on the Summit Water front. In mid-August, Mark Saal penned this article in the Standard:
There has been much on the Summit Water front. In mid-August, Mark Saal penned this article in the Standard:
'Summit Sucks Water' signs spring up again for balloon festival
In response, Eden resident and advocate Lee Schussman offered this well thought out rebuttal:
Dear Mr Saal,
Thank you for reporting on the growing divisiveness in the Ogden Valley over Summit’s water exchange application and the processes surrounding that application. (Ogden Standard, August 16, 2015).
Please dig deeper into this issue. Doing so, I think you will find why valley residents are still concerned, confused, and frustrated by both Summit’s actions and the entire process.
As you well know, Summit owns water in Pineview and wants to move the point of diversion to Powder Mountain—a diversion point that will actually use Cache County water and may decrease flows in Wolf Creek by about 25%.
1) Regarding Summit’s using water that would normally flow to Cache Valley (in which drainage Summit holds NO water rights):
Page 2 of the Order of the State Engineer states that, at Summit’s “anticipated flow rate 30% is a reasonable estimate of the water diverted that would naturally be tributary to the Cache Valley drainage.”
Page 3 states, “It is unlikely that there are and will be any significant periods of time where a diversion of water form the applicant’s proposed source(s) will not interfere with an existing right on the Bear River.”
“Any diversion of water from the applicant’s proposed underground points of diversion must include some compensating mechanism to the Cache Valley tributary drainage. … compensation could include releasing 30% of the water pumped from the Hidden Lake Well to the Cache Valley drainage or pumping at times when all rights on the Bear River and its tributaries downstream of the points of diversion are fully satisfied.”
These rulings by the State Engineer do not seem to give Summit the green light to use the water as they claim.
2) Regarding the concerns on the Ogden Valley side of the drainage:
Page 4 of the Order of the State Engineer states, “if interference will occur with any of the Weber County protestants, it will manifest itself first in the flows of Wolf Creek,” and
“no diversion of water should be made under the subject exchange during times of the year when WCIC [Wolf Creek Irrigation Company] water rights are not being fully satisfied. WCIC owns Water Right Number 35-7188 which has a priority date of 1861.”
The Order goes on to describe an incredibly complex process under which Summit could use Wolf Creek water:
“The Ogden River Decree provides [to WCIC] a high flow rate of 20.0 cfs and a low flow rate of 9.85 cfs for this right.” “No water shall be diverted under this exchange if the above identified flows are not available at that intake.” However, if WCIC can not show that it puts every gallon of that water to “beneficial use,” Summit can pump an amount equal to that unused water out of its wells at Powder Mountain without being “required to mitigate or compensate senior water right holders for water they divert but allow to pass through their system without use to Pineview.” “The Ogden River Commissioner is responsible to determine the amount of water that may be diverted.”
Many of us do not even know in which branch of our government the Ogden River Commissioner is located, let alone who that individual is. And it appears to us that he/she is the person who will decide how much water Summit may pump!
And how will the Commissioner decide how much water Summit may pump? We are very unsure, but we do know that all those pumping processes will be monitored by whom?
Page 5 of the application: “The applicant(s) [Summit] shall install and maintain measuring and totalizing recording devices to meter all water diverted from all sources pertaining to this application and shall annually report this data to the Division of Water Rights Water Use Program.”
Summit is actively selling properties to individuals who are being told there are no water problems. (Hence the signs in the valley.) It is our understanding that the State Department of Environmental Quality Division of Drinking Water (which previously requested that Weber County NOT issue Powder Mountain building permits until Summit could supply proof that it actually had the water) can only approve the granting of building permits when YEAR-ROUND water is available. Can Summit then proceed to get building permits now when the State Engineer has put restrictions on the amounts and timing of the pumping at Powder Mountain?
Mr. Paul Strange has oft stated, “We have a right to the water we purchased with our land.” No one can dispute that statement. However, the water that Summit owns is located in Pineview; and they are trying to leverage their investment in that water to gain immensely more valuable water resources -- pristine water located at Powder Mountain. That water already belongs to other citizens.
With Brad Peterson (Director of Outdoor Recreation for the State of Utah) working hard with Summit and putting pressure on the State Water Engineer; with Commissioner Bell (as the Chair of the Powder Mountain Water District) on record as being able to supply Summit with water; with Summit itself in charge of monitoring water use and reporting once a year; with a separate agency (the Ogden River Commissioner) responsible to tell us how much water Summit can have; with Summit sales reps telling prospective buyers that there are no water problems; with another state agency (Department of Environmental Quality Division of Drinking Water) demanding Summit not be issued building permits for those same Summit buyers; and with all of the water users dependent on the Wolf Creek drainage; is it any wonder that valley residents are concerned, frustrated, divided.
Thank you for your interest in this critical issue. Water is a limited resource. It is our opinion that it should also be A LIMITING resource. Our situation is a microcosm of water rights and water shortages all over the western US where developers continue to speculate that there may be enough water in the face of obvious limitations of that resource. As those processes continue, we will continue to run a “debt economy” –trading a long term water debt borne by all the community for a short term economic gain accruing to the developer--just as other areas and other states in the west have done for so long. We can do better than that by responsibly developing and using water that IS available—in Pineview--and not giving away underground water, the amount of which is certainly limited and in much debate.
The battle of signs many of us are waging may seem entertaining and humorous, but it an attempt to call attention to an extremely important issue that should be a core determinant in the growth of this entire area.
Please investigate and write more.
Thank you,
Lee Schussman
Eden, Utah
CC: Cathy McKitrick, Ogden Valley News, Ogden Valley Forum, GEM group. Ron Tymcio, Ogden Standard Editorials
What say ye our Ogden Valley faithful??
From Saturday's Standard: As Summit home construction nears, water worries rise
Due to importance, we have published this Standard Examiner article written
By CATHY MCKITRICK Standard-Examiner staff
In its entirety.
EDEN — As Summit Mountain Holding Group approaches breaking ground on its first few homes near the top of Powder Mountain, the issue of available water continues to fuel opposition in the upper Ogden Valley and beyond.
“Summit Sucks Water” signs periodically appear and disappear alongside Eden roads and at area events to alert potential Summit investors of local discontent with the resort owner’s actions and plans.
Eden residents David Carver and Jeff Guthrie attended the Powder Mountain Water and Sewer Improvement District board meeting Tuesday, Aug. 25. All three Weber County commissioners serve on that board, which is chaired by Commissioner Matthew Bell.
“We’re just valley residents that are concerned about where it’s going and what’s happening,” Carver told trustees. “We want to be able to bring up questions that have to be addressed to move forward.”
To that end, Carver launched a Facebook page to share the information gathered through meetings and research. But he also acknowledged having a specific agenda.
“Our main direction is to push toward getting a pipeline in and not using the (Hidden Lake) well,” Carver said. “If you do that, then all our legal fees can go to help fund that pipeline.”
In other words, Carver would prefer a water treatment plant that would treat Pineview Reservoir water and then pipe it up the mountainside, not only for Summit’s multi-phased development but for other residents as the upper Ogden Valley’s population expands.
“We could not agree with you more,” Bell told Carver. “Those discussions are being had and even more, those discussions are going forward ... that’s where the end of the day is going to be.”
Meanwhile, Carver said he and others plan to “keep the signage up,” and move it toward building the pipeline as an alternative to Summit’s current and potential future wells.
“A lot of people think you need to build it clear to the top (of the mountain),” Carver told the board, “but it just needs to go to the bottom of the road” and tie into an existing pipeline.
The concept of a regional system that would treat Pineview water and pipe it to users up the mountain has been floated for several months and is largely considered to be the only real longterm solution for the Valley’s water woes.
The water system that will serve Summit’s future development — whether wells or pipelines — all will be owned and governed by the water and sewer district, Bell said.
Summit, a youthful collective that draws support from investors around the globe, purchased the 10,000-acre mountain in 2013. While it owns the rights to 1,400 acre-feet of Pineview water, the group aimed to put its new mountaintop Hidden Lake Well into operation, pumping 400 acre-feet of pristine water in exchange for release of the same amount of water from Pineview Reservoir.
On July 31 — after more than a year of protests and dueling hydrogeology studies — the state Division of Water Rights gave Summit conditional approval to do just that, but that approval is being further contested by concerned water-right holders in the Ogden Valley and Cache County.
- RELATED: New twist in Ogden Valley water war
With this year’s construction season quickly winding down, Summit has sought approval to tap a limited amount of the Powder Mountain District’s water in order to obtain building permits for construction of a few homes. Some of that water could flow from Wolf Creek Irrigation Company, depending on which agreements get signed by all parties.
Mark Anderson, who serves as the water and sewer district’s attorney, said that a “will-serve” agreement is under consideration to provide Summit with water to service up to six new homes. Recent information from the state Division of Drinking Water, however, might impact the content of that agreement, he added.
The Valley’s pending growth is forcing stakeholders to seek comprehensive solutions that will sustain the area into the future.
“A pipeline is an element that will be considered,” Anderson said, “but where it will end up, I don’t know. There is a range of possibilities.”
Contact reporter Cathy McKitrick at or cmckitrick@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @catmck.
Monday, August 03, 2015
Summit gets conditional OK to use Hidden Lake Well water
From the Standard Examiner
EDEN — Utah’s chief water rights engineer gave guarded approval Friday to Summit’s exchange request to tap 400 acre-feet of water for its Powder Mountain real estate development.
Kent Jones, state engineer for Utah’s Division of Water Rights, issued the eight-page ruling after an extended protest period where senior water right holders in Weber and Cache counties voiced concerns over potential impairment to their supplies.
The approval includes a dozen complex conditions with which Summit must comply, making it unclear whether the ruling represents a green, yellow or red light for the aspiring mountaintop developer.
Click here to read the expanded story.
Click here to read the expanded story.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Ogden Marathon Saturday
Saturday officially kicks off the 'every weekend let's bombard Ogden Valley with a big event' season, as the Ogden Marathon takes place throughout the valley and Ogden Canyon.
Plan your day (and the rest of the summer) accordingly folks, and avoid Ogden Canyon.
While the Ogden Marathon is one of the premier Marathons in the country, it is just one of the many events that offers lots of impact to our residents and doesn't give a lot in return.
Let us know what you think of the summer full of big races.
Plan your day (and the rest of the summer) accordingly folks, and avoid Ogden Canyon.
While the Ogden Marathon is one of the premier Marathons in the country, it is just one of the many events that offers lots of impact to our residents and doesn't give a lot in return.
Let us know what you think of the summer full of big races.
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