Guest Post from Sandi Tuck - updated

Board of Appeals scheduled for Thursday @ 4:30 PM

I have been unable to obtain a postponement of the BOA hearing scheduled for Thursday, January 26th. I need a commitment from each of you that you will be able to attend the hearing and give testimony about your experience with the butcher shop. Although I have no current information, the last time the BofA met, the meeting convened at 4:30, at the Weber Center (2380 Washington Blvd).

I am asking residents of the Valley why Rulon & Richard Jones are able to put a Meat Cutting Packing business in our neighborhood . Their Commercial business name is Prime Cuts Meat. Description Meat Cutting Information given to Weber County Was that Water was optained from a private Well.

State of Utah Division of Water rights states records indicate well drilled in1965 from which water is diverted for a Domestic residence watering of livestock appears to be WATER RIght 35-1634 allows one single family unit & stock watering of 18 head of stock. The current records do not indicate a valid established water right. I have the full letter. The frontage of the dock is not 70' from Poulter's Home They ( Jones) have brought Semi trucks that block the entire road Also one large 53 ft. semi that could not turn around The children walk by full carcasses and Heads being delivered etc.

They do not have parking but employ 2 to 3 people. Last but not least, The State of Utah Department of Commerce Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman says that the countys interpretation that as it stands prohibits certain agricultural industry or business in the AV-3 zone

The business undertaken by the Landowners guided hunting with cutting & processing WILD ELK obtained off of the lot (which lot ?) is inescapably of the type and Prohibited in the Zone

This Board of Adjustment meeting seems to be pointed at overturning the recommendation of the Ombudsman's opinion that has been supported by the Weber County staff.

We need everyone possible at the meeting on the 26th to speak up on this issue.

I do have more info please call 745-6687 Sandi

UPDATE: 1/23/2012 @ 8 pm

We have received notices from several concerned neighbors and one included this Notice of the hearing  from the Weber County Planning Office.

For More information on the application you can visit the Weber County Miradi at:

https://miradi.co.weber.ut.us/projects/view/154

Guest Post from Ron Gleason

At the January 3, 2012 Weber County Commission meeting the Commissioners approved changes to the CV-2 zone to eliminate the conditional use possibilities for Heliports, added a Heliport to the definitions chapters and the FV-40 zone to include a new definition for a Heliport and specific guidelines for where a Heliport can be situated, 6,200 feet MSL or higher, and set back guidelines from property lines, building etc. These came about after the a conditional use permit for a Heliport was denied in a CV-2 zone by the Red Moose Lodge in Eden. Everyone was happy to see any uses off the valley floor and focused on Heliport use with Designated Resort Zones.

The Weber County Planning group has received an application for a Heliport above the Green Hills Neighborhood on property owned by Tim Charlwood of Park City. Many of you will remember that this property has a preliminary approval for six parcels that has extended two times. You can find the details of the conditional use application on the county web site at https://miradi.co.weber.ut.us/projects/view/213 (copy and paste if link does not work)

This application is scheduled to be heard by the Ogden Valley Planning Commission on January 24, 2012. The strength, or lack of, of the new changes to the zoning ordinances will be tested.

Will we experience another case of unintended consequences?

Ron Gleason

Huntsville, UT

Weber County Commissioners Vote Unanimously for New Ordinances re Heliports

Hooray!!

Weber County Commissioners Vote Unanimously for New Ordinances re Heliports

Guest Post by Lee Schussman, Eden, UT                                                    Jan 4, 2012

On Tuesday, January 3, 2012, the three Weber County Commissioners voted unanimously to codify changes in the Weber County Zoning Ordinances that govern the siting of Heliports in the Ogden Valley.

These new ordinances will help to protect the life style of Ogden Valley residents while simultaneously maintaining the opportunity of helicopter-based businesses to be established and to grow in the Ogden Valley.

Please see previous postings here on this web site for details of the processes over the last 18 months and for more details of the changes. (Or, soon these new ordinances should be posted on the Weber County web sites.) These are some of the main points of the new laws:

“Heliport” has been removed from CV-2 Zones in Ogden Valley.

Heliports may operate only as private commercial facilities, not for use as general public-access heliports.

Heliports will be conditionally permitted only above 6200 feet elevation.

Heliports will be conditionally permitted only in DRR-1 (resort) Zones or F-40 (forest) Zones.

All Heliports will need to have set backs from property lines, appropriate surfaces, and necessary FAA approvals.

The establishment of these ordinances is a HUGE deal. There are many areas of the country where the use of commercial helicopters in residential or business areas has become very problematic. Safety, noise, lighting, dust control, and other issues are often extremely hard to mitigate while preserving businesses’ private property rights and the rights of businesses to successfully operate. Thanks to much work and long efforts on the parts of our Ogden Valley Planning Commission, Sean Wilkinson in the County Planning Office, and many dedicated Ogden Valley residents, and thanks to the recent vote of the Weber County Commissioners, we now have in place a set of ordinances that go a long way toward balancing the needs of Ogden Valley residents and the needs of potential Ogden Valley helicopter-based businesses.

Ogden Valley Residents Urged To Wave Flags In Honor of Officer Jared Francom

It's been a tough week for our neighbors in Ogden in the wake of the tragic shooting last week.  The impact has spread well beyond the city's borders to the rest of Weber County, the State of Utah and across America.  Our friends at the Weber County Forum have done a masterful job (as always) of reporting on all aspects of the case, so we urge you to snoop around and get up to date by clicking below:

Ogden Shootings Story Update: The Latest From the Northern Utah Print Media

Today marks the funeral and memorial service for Officer Jared Francom and Ogden Valley residents have been asked to help honor Officer Francom by waving flags during the funeral procession.  The flag waving has been organized, and as we understand it, Ogden Valley-ites are asked to line Harrison Boulevard along the route between the Dee Events Center (about 4400 Harrison Blvd.) and 30th Street.  Bring flags if you have them.  The Trapper Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America will also be handing out miniature flags at various locations along the route.

The funeral procession is expected to begin at about 12:30 PM and will run North on Harrison to 30th Street, then turn west to Washington Boulevard.  From there it will turn right (north) and proceed to 12th Street, then will make a right turn eastbound to Monroe before finally turning South on Monroe for Officer Francom's final resting place at the Ogden City Cemetary.  A map of the route can be found by clicking here.

It is difficult to find good out of such a tragedy, but the events have brought the community together and have strengthened bonds.  Today we honor those law enforcement officers who routinely put themselves in harms way to keep the streets safe.  From a simple traffic stop to a complicated drug bust, cops have to constantly be wary of bad guys.  Today we thank, salute and honor you.

Rest in peace Officer/Agent Jared Francom.

Breaking News: It Appears That The Infamous Snowbasin Ski Patrolman Has Been Reassigned

This breaking news just in.  Enjoy and Have a Happy New Year from the Ogden Valley Forum.

Via Adv365 from the Standard comments section:

Ski patrolman, Tim Taylor, has since been reassigned to another Earl Holding property and is now a lifeguard at the jacuzzi at the Grand America in SLC.

Snowbasin Video Goes Viral

Not the PR they would hope for.

We hope your Christmas was Merry and we at the Ogden Valley Forum wish you and yours a Happy and prosperous 2012.  We have been taking a well deserved literary break for the holidays, but could not pass up on a video that has been making the rounds in the backrooms of Facebook and beyond.

Harassment at Snowbasin from Garden Stories. on Vimeo.

To set up the video, a local Snowboarder from Layton is stopped by a Snowbasin Instructor and Pro Patroller on what appears to be the speed trap known as Bear Hollow.  Without so much as a warning, the patroller pulls the season pass of a teen who, to us, didn't seem to be going all that fast or out of control.  In fact, he was able to stop abeam the Instructor with ease.

The teens politely queries the patroller, who at one points tells the second teen to "Shut the F--- Up."  He then threatened the second teen would lose his pass too if he didn't shut up.  

Of course, Barney Fife didn't know that the local kids were wearing a Go Pro and that they had captured the entire exchange on video.

We are guessing Barney should be walking the unemployment line.  What is your take? 

UPDATE: 12/28/11 @ 9:44 PM 
Fox !3 is running the story tonight. 
And from KSL.com 

And The Standard Examiner has this story.

European Experience Trip with Ralph Rowley Pre-Trip Seminar December 14

A pre-trip seminar for the "European Experience" trip escorted by Ralph Rowley is planned for December 14th.  The seminar will be held at the Roy City Weber County Library located at 1950 W. 4800 S. in Roy (just west of 1900 W. on the north side).  The seminar will begin promptly at 6:30 pm in the auditorium and anyone who would like to learn more about this trip of a lifetime is invited to attend.

The trip will be in June 2012 for a duration of 2-4 weeks, depending on your chosen trip options.

Ralph Rowley is a retired Weber High School German teacher who has taken thousands of guests on this fabulous trip over the years.  This is his 40th and final year.

The minimum enrollment of 45 has been met and a limited number of openings remain.   The early enrollment discounts have been extended for those who enroll soon.  This means substantial discounts. 

To ensure adequate seating at the seminar, please RSVP by leaving a message at 801-458-0945.  You may also send an email to rsor@msn.com  Be sure to include "Europe Trip" in the subject line and list your name and number of attendees in the message.  If you would like more information or a brochure, then please include your mailing and email addresses.

Elk Processing Facility Land Use Permit Rescinded

Weber County Planners decide to "comport with the Ombudsman's opinion

In a surprise move, the Weber County Planning Department has rescinded the Land Use permit that allowed the Elk Cutting Facility to operate in Liberty.  The permit is rescinded effective December 6, 2011.

Click here to view the letter from Weber County to the petitioners.

What say ye humble readers about the county's decision to head the Ombudsman's recommendation?

OGDEN VALLEY Planning Commission Meeting Tonight @ 5 PM

Their are a few of items of interest on tonight's agenda of the Ogden Valley Planning Commission:

1. STA 2011-02 Discussion and action on an amendment to Chapter 4 (Subdivision Improvements Required) of the Weber County Subdivision Ordinance
2. Policy Discussion and action on Submitting Information to a Planning Commission Policy 

Later:

5-2. Legal Counsel’s Remarks: Therapeutic Schools

The meeting begins at 5:00 and will be held in the Weber County Commission Chambers, Weber Center (2380 Washington Blvd)

Click here to view the agenda 
Download a full copy of the Ogden Valley December 06, 2011 packet, in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), here. Packets are available only for the current agenda and approximately thirty days after that date.

We invite our expert readers to review the packet and comment on the proposed improvements.  Are they truly improvements or changes meant to make it more developer friendly?  That is the $100 question.

OGDEN VALLEY PLANNING COMMISSION VOTES ON HELIPORT ISSUES

A Final Resolution of The Heliport Issue Should Be Near

Guest Post by Lee Schussman, Eden

On Tuesday, November 22, 2011, the Ogden Valley Planning Commission (OVPC) met and voted unanimously on a number of changes in the Weber County zoning ordinances. These changes will have a dramatic, positive effect in helping to maintain the life style that we enjoy in the Ogden Valley while at the same time providing for the proper siting of commercial heliports in the Valley.

The OVPC voted unanimously to:

1- Remove “heliport” from the CV-2 zoning areas. (All CV-2 areas are on the Valley floor.)

2- Place “heliport” in the zoning ordinances in F-40 (40 acre “forest” areas) and DRR-1 (ski resort) zones.

3- Stipulate that, in those F-40 and DRR zones, all heliports must be located above 6200 feet elevation.

3- Establish setback and building conditions to help mitigate the noise and dust problems and to improve safety issues when CUPs are granted for commercial heliports in those F-40 and DRR-1 zones.

These changes will remove all commercial heliports from the Ogden Valley floor, place them in the most appropriate places (forest or resort areas), and do what is reasonably possible to mitigate the negative effects of their use on the surrounding areas.

The processes for these zoning changes began over 18 months ago. There were, at first, contentious, emotional, and even angry public comments and debates. These were followed by many months of hard work on the part of our OVPC, Mr. Sean Wilkinson, Planner in the Weber County Planning Office, and Ogden Valley residents. This work resulted in a number of well-thought-out compromises and policies.

Ogden Valley residents owe our OVPC (Commissioner Kevin Parson, Chair; Commissioners Laura Warburton, John Howell, Penton Hollist, Dennis Montgomery, Ann Miller, Greg Graves-–all of whom serve voluntarily) and Mr. Sean Wilkinson of the Planning Office our sincere thanks and appreciation for tackling and solving this very complicated issue.

In the near future, the Weber County Commissioners will need to consider, hopefully accept, and then vote these changes into the zoning laws. When they do, it will complete a process that will allow the legitimate use of commercial heliports while balancing that use with the good of the community.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Ogden Valley Friends, 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Ogden Valley Forum!

This holiday season, we are thankful for YOU and your support of responsible development and the sustainable use of natural resources (water, land, wildlife and air) in Ogden Valley.

Ombudsman sides with Liberty Neighbors

In the case of the Liberty neighbors vs. the Elk processing plant, the Property Rights Ombudsman has rendered his opinion in favor of the neighbors.

The Ombudsman was asked tasked with two issues:

1)  Is a custom butchering and meat packing business a prohibited use in the county's AV-3 Zone? and
2)  Does the Weber County code authorize the planning staff to serve as the land use authority in this matter?

Click here to read the document: Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman Opinion

The eleven page document is an interesting read while sipping your cappuccino during commercials of X-Factor, but it boils down to the issue of who is authorized under county ordinances to decide if a use is permitted: planning staff or the planning commission.

We think the planning department should always err on the conservative side by sending any questionable use to the planning commission for review, and the ombudsman apparently agrees.

The Ombudsman concludes:

The County Ordinance language, as it presently stands, prohibits certain agricultural industry or business in the AV-3 Zone.  The business undertaken by the landowners, guided hunting with cutting and processing wild elk off the lot, is inescapably of that type and prohibited in that zone.

It now appears that the ball is in the County's court.