An important Letter to Residents of Powderville and a warning to Potential Powder Mountain Investors

Fellow Valley residents and friends, The Ogden Valley Forum is just shy of two years old, but this is probably the most important post ever to appear on this forum. Certainly the greedy Powder Mountain Incorporation scheme is the most important issue to ever face Ogden Valley residents.

With that in mind, disseminate this post freely to everyone while encouraging them to join in the President's Day morning Power Mountain Rally. Also encourage them to sign the Petition.

Happy President's Day!



Here is Mr. Wheatley's incredible post:


By Kimball L. Wheatley, Citizen of Ogden Valley and the United States of America

Dear citizens of Powderville,

I see you have begun calling your town Powderville, a place with a puppet government explicitly designed to bypass the laws, rules and regulations all of the rest of us have agreed to live by. In this incredible conflict-of-interest circus, the Powderville town council is appointed by a few men who stand to make hundreds of millions if the town laws are just right, who dole out the town budget in the form of a loan, and who have their lawyers write all the laws. Only after the new laws are in place and the town is approaching bankruptcy do the residents of Powderville get to vote. In respect for the sentiments of valley residents forced into Powderville, I will refer to these few men as the perpetrators, or ‘PERPS’ for short, rather than one of the more unseemly names I have heard them called.

I have sensed that many of you are getting discouraged and feeling helpless at the hands of the PERPS and my purpose here is to rally the troops. In fact, we are only in round one of this fight and things are not nearly as hopeless as they may seem. We clearly own the moral high ground and valley residents are uniting…these are good assets to have.

The PERPS got real greedy when they decided they could make a couple hundred million dollars more on their Powder Mountain deal if they could sell two or three times the number of homes, condos and hotels allowed on the property they just bought. Never mind that the allowed density was based on decades of solid reasoning and zoning rules to balance development against what our roads, water and pollution circumstances can support. Never mind that ten years earlier the residents of Ogden Valley gave up their own development rights (via down zoning) to stay within the carrying capacity of the Valley. When UDOT, DWR, the Ogden Valley Planning Commission and loads of valley residents expressed serious reservations about the impact of such a massive increase in density, the PERPS found a loophole they think will allow them to get their excessive density by forming Powderville and ignoring the planning issues of Ogden Valley.

We now know thatHB466 was flawed enough for the Utah Senate and House to change it, allowing residents in future new Utah towns to vote. But, given that some important people in the Utah State Legislature and the Utah League of Cities and Towns are on the payroll of one or more of the PERPS, we have to assume they will let Powderville slide through. Our own representative Gage Froerer is pursuing retroactive application to Powderville in his house bill; good luck Gage, but the law firm owned by the speaker of the house is on the payroll.

However, there is at least one big issue left that the PERPS have to deal with to finish squeezing through the loophole. Wolf Creek Resort has filed a petition to withdraw 160 acres of their resort that the PERPS included in Powderville. If the county commissioners grant the withdrawal, the boundaries will have to be redrawn and they may not reach the 50% valuation criterion of HB466; a citizen watchdog group is monitoring the situation. Even so, we have to assume the PERPS will figure out a way to bypass more rules and Powderville will become reality.

It may appear that all is lost, but residents of Powderville should take heart. All we know for sure is the PERPS are some particularly bad actors, driven solely by greed, who could care less about your rights and your votes, let alone your opinion. They used a mistake in the law to run over your way of life and your beliefs about democracy, asserting they have every legal right to do so. They sent letters and PR people to tell you about Powderville, describing in excruciating detail how your opinion simply does not count. But I think they have overreached. Despite the loophole HB466 put into the law allowing the PERPS to do this to you, they are not able to completely abridge your rights as citizens of Powderville, Weber County, the State of Utah, and the United States of America.

The PERPS have also underestimated the power of the rest of the residents of Ogden Valley. They seem to think we will just sit back and accept a development the size of Brigham City on Powder Mountain just because they found a legal loophole allowing them to do it. The Huntsville Town Council was the first elected body to stand up to the PERPS and say NO. Why did Huntsville say no? Because their oversize resort will exceed the capacity of both Ogden Canyon and the intersection at Pineview dam, where “frequent traffic disruptions will be experienced” (UDOT jargon). So the backed up traffic has to take the county road around the east side of the reservoir, through Huntsville, to get to Trappers Loop. Huntsville residents were simply shocked to see plans for two stop lights in their town to handle Powderville traffic. Then they started thinking about inversions and pollution from 10,000 SUV trips a day.

And we can be heartened by citizens hitting the streets over President’s Day weekend to carry signs of protest, making sure the PERPS’ customers know what is happening. I am hearing some pretty interesting ideas from these folks about how to get the PERPS to listen to reason. One is a full-blown BOYCOTT POWDER MOUNTAIN movement, certain to shine the spotlight of regional, if not national attention, on the shameless activities of the PERPS.

As the residents of Powderville stand up to the PERPS, as you surely will, you will not be standing alone. The rest of the valley is in this with you and we have resources and skills to help. In that spirit, here are some thoughts on what you (and we) can do.

To form the government of Powderville, the PERPS will have to find six adult permanent residents of the town willing to become their puppets. This may be harder than they think since they will be directing their appointees to ignore the advice of UDOT and the Ogden Valley Planning Commission and increase density to a level certain to kill lots of people. An incorporated town provides certain protections for officials, but malfeasance in office, conflict of interest, and corruption/ collusion are not among them. Which six of you want to be left hanging with the liabilities associated with pushing Powder Mountain Road beyond capacity just so the PERPS can make a lot of money? Which six of you will join the ranks of the PERPS and defend their immoral methods to your neighbors and used-to-be friends? Which six of you want to be in the line of fire and ultimately take on the blame for any bad consequences of a resort 2-3 times the size it should be? However, for the moment let’s assume the PERPS can find six of you willing to assume their liabilities and do their bidding.

Assuming Powderville comes into existence with its puppet government, you residents still have lots of power and it will be a long time before the resort will have enough permanent residents to outvote you, maybe never. Various people are still studying your rights as residents, but it appears you have some powerful options worth considering.

You can dissolve the town and revert to unincorporated Weber County; this sounds good, but has some faults. First, the PERPS will hold the town hostage by putting strings on the start up money to insure they get the excessive density approved. Then they will claim any attempt to take away the density the town gave them is taking away their rights. So dissolution may not work.

The more likely scenario is the town will be established, the PERPS will appoint the town council, their lawyers will write the zoning laws to give them the excessive density, and they will ask the town council for approval. The PERPS will attempt to make it look like their town council acts independently and in the best interests of its residents. They have to do this to move liabilities resulting from excessive density from them to the town council and town residents (“all those dead people are not our fault; the town council approved our plan after studying the issues; if anyone is at fault it is the town council who were acting independently and in the best interests of town residents when they approved our plan”). Fortunately, I have been told Utah law gives town residents a safeguard against the creation of bad laws; apparently you can use a referendum process to reverse law you find unacceptable.

So, here are some ideas to stop the PERPS from taking away our right to vote and destroying Ogden Valley with their excessive density.

1. Take the moral high ground. Residents of Powderville should ignore HB466, duly elect six people under the terms of the revised law, and submit their names to the county commission for the first town council as an all-or-none deal; let’s name it something like the elected, or legitimate, or true council. This puts the PERPS in a position of having to defend their choices over the will of the people, exposing the puppet government created under the loophole law for what it is. The PERPS will attempt a divide-and-conquer approach by offering to accept some of the elected people, but don’t fall for it…keep it all-or-none.

Meanwhile, make sure any of your neighbors who may be considering a PERP appointment to the council, understand the consequences of joining up with them; personal liability, appearance of corruption, and used-to-be friends come to mind.

Assuming the elected town council will be unacceptable to the PERPS, and assuming they can find six willing puppets, the official Powderville Town Council (the puppets) will come into existence and begin to rule on the zoning laws submitted by the PERPS. As each of these laws is proposed, the elected town council can evaluate them, accept public input, and decide whether it is a good law or a bad law. If it is good law, they can bless it. If it is a bad law, they can start the referendum process to reverse it. For example, the puppet council may rule that increasing density to the level their masters want is ok, even if it kills a few more people. The elected town council may say the toll is too high and rule the PERPS should stick to the density they had when they bought the property. Then, to put teeth into their ruling, they launch the referendum process to reverse the bad law. The elected council can’t make any new laws, but they can certainly stop bad ones until they get to take over as the official town council.

This appears to mean you can challenge and reverse every bad or self-serving law the PERPS try to force on you. At the very least this will drive off the investors we don’t want, those interested only in a PERP-controlled town with an unfettered path to excessive density.

Another thing the elected council should do soon is to name the town to your liking. The PERPS think it should be called Powder Mountain because they think it will make marketing their resort easier. They think names like Eden and Liberty are quaint, even embarrassing when they talk to the sophisticated investors and buyers they envision. But sooner or later you residents get to vote and you can vote to name the town anything you want, however embarrassing to the PERPS. So let’s not let “Powder Mountain” take hold as the name of your town, instead referring to it as the sham “Powderville” until an elected town council is in place and decides on a name the residents want.

2. Look to the future of the town. In no more than two years you residents will be allowed to vote to replace the puppet government and change the town’s laws and ordinances to your liking. Your first matter of business will be to keep the town afloat since the feasibility study commissioned by the PERPS is based on a two year loan (from them) and an unrealistic rate of subdivision development and property sales to fund the town. So you will begin with a financially bankrupt town that you can easily dissolve and return to the county, which is just what the PERPS intend…they make their millions and the problems revert to county and the rest of us.

But you can decide to continue the town and use your rights and obligations as a town to find the money you need to run it as well as the money needed to improve the lives of its voting residents. Utah law gives a town a fair amount of authority, including taxes, liquor rules, building codes, impact fees and annexation. You will be in an excellent position to get back some portion of the hundreds of millions that made the PERPS rich at your expense. For example, the very idea of a dry resort or blue laws or annexation will bring them to the negotiating table. The PERPS will no doubt call this over regulation and unfair taxing, even extortion. But the voting residents of any town pretty much get to make up the rules and are obligated to make decisions in the best interests of their voting constituencies.

3. Bankrupt the PERPS. It is sad to say, but the excessive density the PERPS want is driven purely by greed and risk to their money is the only thing that will cause them to listen to reason. The good news is they are motivated by greed, not all that bright, in shaky financial circumstances and actively looking for a buyer for the resort before the whole house of cards come down. Daniels (the main money guy) thought he would get his money out by now and is getting concerned. The PERPS are fighting among themselves about who knows what. Some may even be questioning the wisdom of their loophole assault on valley residents and governing bodies.

Importantly, the PERPS never had any intention of developing Powder Mountain Resort per their excessive plan; in fact, they have neither the capital nor the know-how to go about it. Instead, they are known in the industry as “flippers”, people who buy property in leveraged deals with an angle getting zoning concessions (density) and/or breaking it up into small pieces for sale. Now they are including a new angle: they own a town that will grant all the density and corner cutting they want.

But anyone thinking about spending the hundreds of millions the PERPS want will go through an elaborate due-diligence process to ferret out any risks to their investment. Their last buyer bailed out on them after taking a close look at their master plan. We need to find every single spark of risk and make sure the buyers are aware. If enough risks stack up, no credible investor or creditor will touch it. So let’s get started listing the risks:

• This letter is a beginning. We will make sure it comes up high on any web search regarding Powder Mountain, Powder Mountain town, Powderville, Ogden Valley, etc. Of course the search will also bring up pictures of residents in protest.

• These days the biggest and best companies talk a lot about corporate social responsibility and most have made a public commitment to do what is Right, not just what they can legally get away with. They are the bankers, the auditors and worlds leading companies. Unfortunately, the best won’t touch the Powderville deal because it is founded in corruption and the PERPS stirred up a hornets nest among the locals. But we can easily paint the PERPS as a good example of corporate irresponsibility. We have good material here for the kind of case study business schools use to teach important concepts. We can write up and disseminate the case in installments…the last chapters yet to be written.

• We will bring regional, if not national attention, to the quickly-corrected loophole law and the corrupt puppet government.

• We will place a few hundred signs between Mountain Green and Powder Mountain, making sure investors and customers are aware of our concerns, and ask them to avoid complicity by boycotting Powder Mountain until the PERPS listen to reason.

• We will make sure the investors understand who the sixty or so residents are who will be making decisions about their taxes, building codes, zoning, liquor, and how frequently their streets get plowed.

• We will make it clear that we will do everything possible to make sure any and all liabilities associated with the people who are injured or die on Powderville roads will land squarely in their lap. For example, two-to-three times the density means at least two-to-three the accidents. Based on the PERPS own traffic analysis, the excessive density will result in a lot of dead and injured people (based on the last six years, we can expect 40 dead people every six years from brake failure alone). UDOT and the Ogden Valley Planning Commission have weighed in on the risks of exceeding the capacity of the roads when there are limited options for improving safety (especially in Ogden Canyon, at Pineview dam and on Powder Mountain road), so it should be relatively easy to put the death and injury liability on the PERPS or its puppet town council where it belongs.

• We will help them to understand that even during the era of puppet-government rule, the valley will be fighting them every step of the way, through every means possible. The PERPS need to understand that this is a moral issue for many and acts of civil disobedience will be among the viable options. Just last night someone talked about clogging Powder Mountain road on President’s day, a rather easy thing to do if someone gets a little crazy.

• We will help them to understand that we can recruit allies to our fight. The two golf courses in the resort are located at the headwaters of Geertsen Creek which contains a rare and genetically pure sensitive species protected by a conservation agreement; 500 inches of snow, golf course fertilizer, and a developer with a puppet government in charge of regulations is a death warrant for our population of purebred bonneville cutthroat trout. These golf courses and housing around them are in the calving grounds of one of Utah’s largest elk herds and their activities will most certainly affect the herd. It should be easy to recruit the likes of DWR, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Sierra Club and Save Our Canyon, to help us paint Powder Mountain Resort as a text-book example of corruption and greed running amuck over the environment.

• We will help them understand that the resort and town probably does not have enough water to satisfy its ambitions (only 1400 acre feet of water for 36 holes of golf at 9,000 ft with daily 30 mph dry winds and a town the size of Brigham City). We will help Ogden City understand the PERPS have eyes on the Ogden’s aquifers.

• We will help them understand that virtually everyone who knows anything about skiing in the Powder Mountain area thinks the master plan the PERPS have drawn up is impossible. NO ONE seriously thinks it can actually be built or that it would be viable if it was. It may be a large area, but it is simply not a world-class ski or boarding mountain. It lacks vertical and has few concentration points for placing efficient lifts. The investors need to ask Powder Mountain skiers if they would continue to ski there if there are 8,500 skiers and 18 lifts on the mountain (so far, I haven’t found any).

• We will help them understand Powder Mountain Resort IS viable as a smaller resort, sized within the constraints of current zoning laws. The PERPS have argued they must have 4,000 beds to get the skiers they need, but don’t count or even consider the 4,000+ being built just a few miles down the road. A half dozen acquaintances of mine, who know the ski and resort business, think Powder Mountain could be a gold mine if done right.

• We will make sure they know what a brush fire would mean and that it is only a matter of time before the area burns, as it has many times before. Part of the resort is in Cache county, with no access for any help from Cache. The rest is in Powder Mountain town, which lacks the wherewithal to battle a major brush fire among 5000 dwellings, where 30 mph dry winds are a summer daily occurrence. Any problems on Powder Mountain road means no evacuation options.

• We will help them understand why school buses are not allowed to go up and down Powder Canyon road.

• We will make sure they understand the burdens the town will be taking on. For example, it will have to devise its own plan for affordable housing within its boundaries and the people at the bottom of the hill (the voters) will get to decide where it goes.

Fellow citizens, take heart and let’s stand up to these PERPS. We lost a battle in the Senate, but we have just begun to fight.

Your friend, neighbor and ally,

Kimbal L. Wheatley, Citizen of Ogden Valley and the United States of America

Powder Mountain Rally Monday and News Update

UPDATES BELOW

Saturday's Powder Mountain Protest made it to the Top of Utah front page of the Standard this morning, and even more news coverage is scheduled for Monday's rally. Don't miss the photo's of our Powderville Heros tirelessly "working" the picket lines.

Be there or be square Monday with signs in hand to show your support for residents who are being forced into "Powderville" with no vote and no representation.

Monday, February 18th

8:30AM until 10.00AM

just north of Wolf Creek and below Juniper Ln.

While we are at it, we will offer a reminder to encourage EVERYONE to sign the Petition to Utah Legislators urging their support of legislation to repair the ludicrous HB 466 that allows a developer to force their neighbors into a town. The petition will be delivered Monday so there is still time to call and email friends to encourage them to sign.

Here is a sample email to send to your contacts.

Also, be sure to get your spouse to sign. Numbers speak volumes!

One of our humble readers so eloquently pointed out the issue of Fascism when they commented:

What's that called when the corporation and the government are the same thing? Oh, yeah, FASCISM!

So if the corporate interests that are trying to incorporate Powderville are the ones who are also naming all the officials of Powderville, and will insist that the nominees do their bidding, that would make them FASCISTS, wouldn't it?

That would make an interesting sign for the protest, too.

They went on to say:

The last time we saw a power grab like this with no input from the people was
when the Nazis took over Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

The con artists at Powder Mountain will tell you this is for the greater good, sound familiar?
It's for their greater good. Hang on to your hats!

"The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power"
--Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Fascist Dictator of Italy

FASCISM a political system in which all power of government is vested in a person or group with no other power to balance and limit the activities of the government. Fascist governments are often closely associated with large corporations and sometimes with extreme nationalism and racist activities. Modern fascism is often called "CORPORATISM".

We will conclude with the 14 traits of Fascism, as written by Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt
("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.

Pay close attention to number 9:

Corporate Power is Protected

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business /government relationship and power elite.

And number 13:

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

UPDATE @6:45 PM

Thanks to the Weber County Forum for supporting our cause - be sure to read their latest.

Powder Mountain Protest

UPDATES BELOW

Valley residents, we had a good turn out this morning for our protest along Hwy 158. Given the weather and short notice, the energy of the people was obvious. There will be a second protest on Monday the 18th at the same time, 8:30AM until 10.00AM just north of Wolf Creek and below Juniper Ln. Bring your signs of protest. There will be a lot of traffic and the more people that know and understand this heavy handed incorporation move, the better.

If you don't know, the protest is about the incorporation of of Powder Mountain into a township and dragging many residents of the Eden area kicking and screaming into the town without any say if they want to be part of the town. This is money, greed, and power at work with zero regard to anyone's personal or civil rights.

Show up on Monday and we will have press coverage and photos from all the newspapers as well as a possible TV spot. We need to get these people from Powder Mountain in the spotlight and have them explain why they are forcing some Eden residents into this incorporation.

Larry and Sharon Zini

UPDATE: 8:00 PM

Be sure to read the detailed posts regarding HB 466 at the Weber County Forum and the Utah Wingmen for Property Tax RE-Forum sites.

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.

Powderville Protest Saturday Morning - be there!

A future "Powderville" resident is organizing a protest tomorrow morning along Powder Mountain road and we think it is for a good cause. Please get up early and let your feelings be known.

Here are the details from an email we just received:

I am going to stage a protest tomorrow morning along Powder Mountain road.

8:30-10 am

on the road just past Wolf Creek golf course and
before Juniper Lane where the road is extra wide (so we don't impede
traffic.)

Can you help me get the word out?

We need people to
make signs
and come stand out there.

"NO PWDR MTN TOWN", etc would
be good.

I don't think out of towners will understand "Powderville."

Protests that hit Powderville owners in the pocket may be the only language they know - but we doubt they even speak that language. See you Saturday morning!

UPDATE: Be sure to read the latest post on the Weber County Forum that addresses Powder Mountain's Incorporation proposal.

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.



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"Powderville"

UPDATES BELOW (last update 2-14-08 @ 0700 am)

The petition to the Utah legislators has gained incredible momentum and will be delivered to the Lawmakers on Monday, February 18, 2008. Be sure to sign the petition, but also encourage everyone you know to sign the petition. Spouses, neighbors and friends (and even enemies) are certainly opposed to the ill fated incorporation, so get them to visit our site to take a stand.

Also, The new town of "Powderville" has its first newsletter and we are honored to publish it on our forum. Mark Arnold and his public relations posse (aka project managers) have been meeting with small groups of Powderville residents and here is a run down of one of those meetings as written by a resident of the proposed town - the name Powderville certainly fits.

This is a must read for all!

The Town of Powder Mountain…
Our Take of the Neighborhood Meetings
or
What’s Happening in Powderville?

I was talking to a friend from Eden yesterday and he asked me how the incorporation of Powderville was going. The name kind of stuck on me because it sounded like the area of town that was located on the other side of the tracks. You know, that part of town where the services were not quite so good and those people live there. So forgive me but there it is: Powderville.

This is where a series of meetings was held last weekend in our neighbor’s homes with one of the investors of Powder Mountain and here’s my take on it:

The meetings were organized by: click here for more

UPDATE: 6:00 PM

We have included a sample email many are sending to their contacts. Copy and paste into your email program and send to everyone you know.

Also, Minor Machman provides a rundown of recent happenings at the Capital, and it does not appear the lesislature is on the side of Ogden Valley residents.

Lastly, be sure to read the comments below regarding the perceived integrity of our greedy developors.

2-14-08 @ 0700 am

We just read Marshall Thompson's article about the Ogden Valley Petition in today's Standard Examiner.

More from Powder Mountain

Be sure to read Rudi's informative post today on the Weber County Forum. He includes recent articles about our Greedy neighbors at Powder Mountain as well as the letter to the editor we posted Friday from Deja Mitchell that ran in today's Standard Examiner.

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.



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Letter to Editor from Ogden Valley resident and informational page for SB 25

We are including a link to the State Legislature's web site which includes details on SB 25. From there you will find links to audio files of the floor debates on the bill as well as the full text of the bill.

Additionally, in today's Standard we read that Powder Mountain's Brooke Hontz met with Cache County Planners to explain how the petition to incorporate will affect service agreements with Cache County. It seems like more smoke behind the screen to us.

We are having excellent success with our petition regarding Powder Mountain, but we can do better. Please encourage your spouses, friends and neighbors to sign the petition.

Also, we are posting a letter to the editor from local resident Deja Mitchell that was submitted to several publications. Deja is one of the residents whose property is being swept up in Powder Mountain's selfish scheme to force uninterested and unsuspecting residents into their new "town."

Thanks Deja!

Here is her fabulous letter:

It was a shock to learn about Powder Mountain’s move to sweep my neighborhood and me into a town in order to go around the reasonable building stipulations put forth by the Ogden Valley Planning Committee. I learned that this was not a democratic process. I would not be able to vote on whether to be in or form the township, I would not have a vote on the town officials, and there was no study as to the tax needs or feasibility of the town.

As notice of the township move, Powder Mountain invited my neighbors and I to a “friendly meeting” to get our new town off to a great start. The meeting would be just a few days away and the location was changed at the last minute.

I was so proud when my neighbors called an emergency meeting to communicate together about what was happening. They pulled together to set up calling lists and
research groups to let everyone know where and when the meeting would be and to
gain some footing about what was happening.

At the meeting with the PM representatives, they had no answers or information for us. It felt so belittling! Since then, the PM owners have set up small, private meetings with groups of my neighbors. Why would they not provide a public meeting? I can only assume it is to do salesmanship to divide and conquer, pitting neighbor against neighbor.

I have to thank from the bottom of my heart my neighbors for acting quickly and showing each other support in this issue. And to the Ogden Valley Blog team for being proactive and putting all the pertinent information in one place. I would not have had the time or resources to research everything myself so quickly. They had links to background information that helped me to understand how PM could make such a move and what others and I could and were doing to remedy the situation. The blog became my lifeline and a way to not feel completely powerless.

I urge every Valley resident to take a moment to find out what is happening. The potential PM incorporation will forever change and in my mind destroy the Valley and the place I love most. You can each make a huge difference and rally together.


Deja Mitchell

Eden

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.



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Some encouraging news out of Wasatch County

Some encouraging news in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News.

The Wasatch County Council voted 4-3 to let a group of apartment residents out of the boundaries of the proposed town of
Hideout, thereby killing its incorporation.

It also voted 6-1 to table the incorporation of the proposed
town of Independence, after voting to let eight properties in the area
out of the town. The vote was tabled until next Wednesday to give the county time to ask the state to redo its population count for the town.

This may very well provide the ammunition some of "Powder Mountain's 100" (100 minimum residents required to incorporate) need to ask Weber County to "opt out" of the incorporation.

Now this is where the story takes a turn to the darkside.

Following the meeting, Wasatch County Attorney Thomas Low told the Deseret Morning News that he met last week with Utah Speaker of the House Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and lobbyists from Hideout and the Utah Association of Counties concerning Hideout's annexation. Low was asked to tell the council not to delay the town's incorporation to ensure it wouldn't be stopped by a bill pending in the House that would change
incorporation law, he said.

Did you catch that? The speaker of the House and lobbyists attempted to strongarm Wasatch county by instructing them not to delay the town's incorporporation to ensure it would not be stopped by pending legislation, i.e. SB 25.

The tribune reported:

But Council Chairman Steve Farrell, who voted to reject, said the law is unclear. And, in an apparent reference to Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis, he expressed his belief that the county was being "blackmailed."

Back to the Deseret News,

Residents who knew of the meeting among Curtis, Hideout
officials and Low were perturbed at Wednesday's meeting.

"He came here and intimidated our county
attorney," said Wasatch resident Julia Connery. "It makes us
nervous."

It gets worse. Sadly, one of the main lobbyists for HB 466 and against SB 25, the bill to correct HB 466's inequities, is the Utah League of Cities and Towns.

One of the Utah League's lobbyists, Jodi Hoffman, just happens to also be an attorney representing the Independence incorporation.

On the topic, the Deseret News states:

Jodi Hoffman, an attorney for the Independence incorporation, said she helped
draft the controversial 2007 bill in her role as lobbyist for the Utah League of
Cities and Towns. She also said the league doesn't think her representing
Independence is a conflict of interest because, in part, the league never voted
to support the 2007 bill. Also, Hoffman said she didn't meet with the
Independence petitioners until months after the bill was signed into law.

Are you beginning to notice a common thread of corruption and conflicts of interest in our legislature? Hoffman wears the hat of lobbyist for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, but represents a developer attempting to use the flawed bill. Speaker of the House Curtis uses strongarm tactics to bully Wasatch County into hurrying along an incorporation petition.

To the north, Cache Valley Senator Lyle Hillyard supports HB 466 and also just happens to be a lawyer representing Powder Mountain. And Powder Mountain gets their girl, Jamie Lythgoe, on the Weber County Planning Commission. She incessantly denies any conflict, but when Powder Mountain bullies Weber County residents through incorporation, she is among the first to sign the petition for incorporation.


This is playing on both sides of the fence in its purest form.

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.



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We finally dug out! Don't forget to sign the Powder Mountain Petition

Some local "old timers" are calling this winter the biggest snow year since 1947 or '48. In light of the many dry years, we at the forum would concur that this has been an 'epic' year - the best we remember.

But we are not ready to cry 'uncle' just yet. We love the snow and have made room for more, so bring it on! While we are at it, we may need to have the "Bangerter Pumps" dusted off, as spring flooding seems inevitable.

Ogden Valley's snow is defininitely garnering the attention of the State rags, aka the Standard and the Salt Lake Tribune, as the Tribune procliams "Four Feet in Four Days."

And while we have been busy digging out from our record storms, our old friend Rudi at the Weber County Forum has been busy covering the Powder Mountain incorporation. Yes, the incorporation proposed by ruthless developers who are so concerned about protecting "THEIR property rights," but don't give a damn about OUR property rights.

Long after our greedy neighbors have cashed in and moved on to ruin another utopia, we will be here to suffer through their selfish impact.

Be sure to sign the petition urging lawmakers to approve SB 25 - the bill that will rectify the items supposedly "overlooked" in HB 466.

Time is of the essence!

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.



If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to Ogden Valley Forum's feed. It's free, and you won't receive any spam or more than one email a day. To sign up, go to the Ogden Valley Forum home page and enter your email address under "For email updates, subscribe below" on the right side of the page.

Petition to Utah Legislature regarding S.B.25s02 that will rectify the Powder Mountain incorporation

Good Afternoon Ogden Valley,

Be sure to sign the petition requesting Utah legislative support of S.B.25s02. This bill will abolish the detrimental provisions of H.B.466 and provide a sensible path for incorporation of Utah Towns in the future.

In other words, SB 25 will rectify the issues surrounding the Powder Mountain incorporation application.

Click here or on the signature button to sign the Petition.




Also, be sure to contact all state representatives, especially Senators, and request their support of S.B. 25s02

To view their contact information and to read more about the inequities of HB 466 (the bill SB 25 amends), visit:

http://www.amendhb466.org/

Phone calls are much more effective than emails. If possible, call AND email ALL legislators.

Be sure to pass this on to everyone you know and encourage them to sign the petition and contact their Senators and Representatives.

HB164 will be reconciled with SB25

UPDATES BELOW

SB 25 incorporates all the provisions that Mel Brown and Gage Froerer had in HB164. They will push to get it out of the Senate and then Brown and Froerer can amend on the House Floor if needed. It will need 2/3 vote to make sure we get the effective date where we need it to stop Powder Mt.

We should all support SB 25 in the Utah Legislature. It is important that you write to all your representatives on this bill.

If you need e-mail list of State Reps contact me at dhitman@aol.com

Larry Zini

UPDATE: 1/31/08 @ 2:30 pM

Links to the representatives contact info:

http://www.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/roster2007.pl

http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/Leadership/Leadership.asp

http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/members2005/membertable2add.asp


2-1-08 @ 8:00 AM

You can download a Word or PDF summary of the Senate and House rosters at:

http://www.amendhb466.org/

Phone calls are much more effective than emails.

Contact Speaker Curtis on HB164!

Speaker Curtis has stated that he will hold any bill that is to amend
the incorporation process out of the House for debate. Obviously this
concerns us. We are encouraging everyone to contact his office and to
e-mail him stating support for amending the municipal incorporation
process.

Thank you for your support,
Mel Brown

SPEAKER CURTIS
Office and Phone Number
Work Phone: 801-538-1930
Fax Number: 801-326-1544
Email Address: gcurtis@utah.gov