The Ogden Valley news Your Community Newspaper Idea Orbit By J.D. Knowlton 6th grade reporter Valley Elementary School sixth grade students participated in Business Day on April 2. Business Day is a part of EconoME, the economic virtual reality world that 6th graders live all year long at Valley Elementary. But where does a kid go after EconoME? Now that students have good ideas, they are ready to start taking their finances and futures seriously! That’s w h e r e IdeaOrbit c o m e s in. Valley sixth graders came up with the great ideas that they wanted to market, and IdeaOrbit stepped in with the resources to help. The award ceremony for Business Day was April 8. Every young entrepreneur received a certificate from IdeaOrit. All students can now receive free training from them regarding how to develop their ideas into businesses because the ideas were GREAT according to CEO Shaye Larsen. The three students who won trophies were Issy Leo for a chapstick/marker pen, Molly Satterthwaite for a “baby’s in water” sensor, and, the grand prize, went to Wyatt Harrop who made a mustard, catsup, and salt and pepper stand that could be a real winner at a food franchise. IdeaOrbit will now lead him step by step to help turn his idea into a real money-making enterprise! While we congratulate Wyatt, hopefully Snow still on the ground and water temperatures hovering around 45 degrees couldn’t keep water-lover we will all become successful. Marshall McGonegal off of Pineview Reservoir once the ice melted. On April 22, he spent time doing what he loves with his father Scot and sisters Lynnsey and Kassie, all of Eden. Thanks and congratulations to all. May 1, 2008 PRSRT STD POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 11 EDEN UT POSTAL PATRON EDEN-LIBERTY-84310 HUNTSVILLE-84317 OGDEN CANYON- 84401 HCR 843AO Flat Tax Opponents File Initiative Petition A coalition of citizens, tax analysts, and community leaders filed an initiative petition on April 15, 2008 with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office. Sponsor Matt Frandsen filed the initiative on tax day to notify all the taxpayers in the state that Utah’s single rate individual income tax (commonly known as the flat tax) should be repealed and replaced with a graduated tax code. The initiative, Single Rate Income Tax Repeal and Graduated Tax Rates Revision, replaces the existing single 5% rate tax code with three tax brackets and repeals the Single Rate Individual Income Tax Act for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010. The initiative does the following: • Enacts a three-bracket income tax code that mandates tax bracket indexing to prevent hidden tax increases on the middle class taxpayers of Utah; • Repeals the Single Rate Individual Income Tax Act for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010; • Codifies true income tax reform, rebalancing the tax burden on middle class taxpayers with an average 30 % tax reduction for about 90 % of all taxpayers while increasing taxes by an average of 30 % on the wealthiest, top 10 % of taxpayers (which corrects the hidden tax increases on the middle-class for over 35 years); • Restores public school funding at an estimated $100-150 million in FY 2010; and • Raises the tax-exempt threshold by $10,000 for lower income couples and families and by $5,000 for individuals. Initiative Sponsor Matt Frandsen, Utah’s 2008 Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate, FLAT TAX cont. on page 10 Eden’s Historic Blacksmith Shop to Postal Rates Increasing in May— be Preserved, Protected & Placed “Forever” stamp will still get your letter delivered The price for a one- Stamp for consumers to ease the transition duron National Historic Register— ounce First-Class stamp ing price changes,” said Postmaster General Owner requests commercial zoning change Compiled by Shanna Francis Ogden Valley News On March 25, 2008, the Ogden Valley Planning Commission heard and approved a petition by Horseshoe LLC to rezone property, located at approximately 2145 N. 5500 E. in old town Eden, known as the old blacksmith shop. Representatives of Horseshoe LLC state, “Currently, the blacksmith shop is in a very vulnerable state of repair. The owner plans to restore the historic blacksmith shop to preserve and protect it. Once restored, it will be placed on the national historic register so residents and visitors to the Valley can enjoy this historic landmark for many years to come. The petitioner has requested an amendment to the Weber County Zoning map extending the existing CV-1 zoned property to accommodate all of the parcels under their ownership so they can legally accommodate a broader variety of commercial uses. In addition, the petitioner claims they have requested the rezone because they believe that extra commercial revenue can help defray the significant costs associated with renovations to the properties. According to Weber County, the project was originally presented and tabled on August 28, 2007 by the Planning Commission with a motion directing the petitioner to prepare an updated concept layout showing an expansion of the existing CV-1 Zone and an updated list of uses that would not detract from the present historic nature of the surrounding neighborhood. As originally presented, the proposed amendment covers an area of approximately 1.31 acres and would change its current zoning from Agricultural Valley- 3 (AV-3) and Commercial Valley-1 (CV1) to Commercial Valley-2 (CV-2), which expands the legal uses. The areas located within the AV-3 and CV-1 Zones consist of approximately 1.10 and 0.21 acres respectively. The petitioner has plans to renovate and restore the historic buildings, and use the property as a small commercial center incorporating the old-town flavor of the The property was zoned entirely AV3 until October of 2000 when a previous petition was approved created the existing 0.21 acre CV-1 Zone. This previous rezone is bound by a Zoning Development Agreement that describes the land owner’s commitments, and specifically limits the site to the following uses: blacksmith shop, museum-type display of antique blacksmith shop, gift shop, and antique shop. The existing Zoning Development Agreement states that the intent of the previous re-zone was to “protect a historic site known as the Blacksmith Shop.” By re-zoning the 0.21 acre site to CV-1 and limiting its uses, the Blacksmith Shop became a “conforming” use and did not stand to significantly impact the Eden park area and surrounding neighborhood because the above uses would not draw patrons on a large or regional scale. Some of the uses proposed during the original presentation (clinic, school, and lawn mower sales & service shop) exceeded a “neighborhood” intensity; therefore, those uses were eliminated and the square footage and levels (number of floors) of the proposed commercial structures were restricted. It was held that, by limiting the uses and restricting the size or scale of the proposed commercial buildings, the characteristics of the surrounding area could BLACKSMITH cont. on page 12 will increase from 41 to 42 cents on May 12. Prices for other mailing services, such as Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services (including single-piece Parcel Post), and Special Services will also change (see chart below). The average increase by class of mail is at or below the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. “The Postal Service developed the Forever Notice is hereby given that the Weber County Commission will hold a public hearing on May 6, 2008, 10:00 a.m., Commission Chambers, 1st Floor, Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd., Ogden, Utah, to consider rezoning the Eden Blacksmith Shop property located at approximately 2145 North and 5500 East from Agricultural Valley-3 and Commercial Valley-1 to Commercial Valley-2. Copies of the proposal may be reviewed prior to the hearing in the Weber County Planning Commission Office, Suite 240, in the Weber Center. By Board of Commissioners of Weber County - Jan M. Zogmaister, Chair ATTEST: Alan D. McEwan, CPA, Weber County Clerk/Auditor POSTAL RATES cont. on page 8 It’s Now Time for Ogden Valley Residents and Businesses to “Valley-up” Jim Truett, Huntsville Town Council As most of you know, in January of 2007, there was a collapse of some monastery out buildings due to heavy snow loads. These out buildings are rather large and housed Tracy Woolsey’s farm equipment, which was damaged as well. We are now looking for community support to help separate and remove debris from this site. In the next issue of The Ogden Valley news, we will have a date set for an upcoming Tractor holds the roof in tact. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING John Potter. “We encourage Americans to buy Forever Stamps now for 41 cents, because like the name suggests, they are good forever.” The price goes up to 42 cents on May 12. The Postal Service has sold 5 billion Forever Stamps since the launch last April and plans to have an additional 5 billion in stock to meet the expected demand before the May price change. Saturday to be announced so we can get together and “Valleyup” to help the Monastery and the Woolsey’s accomplish this goal. What’s involved is separating the metal and wood. The wood will be gathered and burned (or given away), and the metal will be scrapped out. What we need is backhoes, dump trucks, large tractors, some cutting torches, and wood cutting tools along with capable drivers and a lot of community support to help with this project. We are also looking for support personnel Damage at Monastery. to direct parking, and organize lunches and water, and to assist elsewhere as needed. You can see from the pictures that there is a lot to accomplish. With the support from our troops—our wonderful Ogden Valley residents and business owners—we can help both the Monastery and the Tracy Woolsey family. If you have any questions, please contact Howard Schuyler at 801-209-4547, Jim Truett at 801-540-2083, or Richard Sorenson at 801-791-7004. OVBA MAP If map is missing, youmay obtain a copy by visiting the OVBA office at the Great American Realty Building located at 5460 East 2200 North, Eden or at other local Valley businesses. O u t o f a re a re s i d e n t s m a y o rd e r a copy by visiting <www.ovba.org>