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Show Bountiful, Contorvillo, w Cltorfitld, Clinton, Farmington, Fruit Hoightt, Koyivillo, Layton, Roy, South Wobor, Suniot, Syroeuw, Wait Point, Wait Bountiful, Woodi Cron Serving 44,026 Families From Roy Through Bountiful Vol. 2 No. 12 Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1981 Redevelopment Director Seays Agency 'No Monster' Bettilyon, who often finds himself in the center of controversy because of his job as executive By RON KNOWLTON director of the redevelopment Roviow Staff agency, leaned back in his chair as No doubt most BOUNTIFUL he talked about the agencys role in Bountiful residents have heard abcity government and about some of out it, this creature called the redethe rumors he said have been cirvelopment agency. culating lately. Some rumors say it devours He talks about the story of the whole areas of town, condemning elderly lady downtown whose proproperty at will, raising taxes and perty has been condemned and who has been threatened with physical paying property owners unreasonremoval from the premises if she ably low prices for their condemned property. doesnt move out immediately. And now so the stories go, this Certainly were not in the agency has grand designs to build a, business of condemning little old downtown mall and throw half the ladies homes, he said. downtown business community out He said he has heard that story of business. three times now, and it just isnt do true. to It somebody ought appears " Although the agency does have something about this situation if all the above is true. Which V.A. (Kit) the power of condemnation, he said he wont use it unless theres no Bettilyon insists is not the case. This la tha fint In tariat of ortidai radavalopmant In Bountiful. on By RON KNOWLTON Rovitw Staff BOUNTIFUL The Bountiful City Council has passed an ordinance which would pave the way for medium industry to locate in the city. The council chambers were almost filled to capacity, as the city continued a zoning hearing from the last city council meeting. The ordinance at that time was tabled. Tom Hardy, city manager, said he felt that changes made in the ordinance now made it a very tight ordinance. The most noticeable change in the ordinance is that a business license is now required. This gives the city the power to refuse to issue a license, or to suspend or revoke any license issued. A hearing must be held before the city council if a license is suspended, revoked, or the city simply refuses to issue a license. Hardy also noted that provisions on noise, odors, vibration, emissions and glare were also now very tight in the ordinance. The Bountiful fire department will monitor compliance to fire and explosion hazard provisions in the ordinance. The lineup this time speaking out on the ordinance included a number of state and county oficials, as well as representatives from Air Products and Chemicals Inc., a company which is considering locating a plant in Bountiful. Much of the discussion centered around the possible location of the Air Products plant, with company officials responding and often defending their company. . The plant, if it were built, would probably be located at 1750 N. 400 W., and would produce liquid nitro- -' gen, oxygen and argon. The approximate size of the plant is not yet known, Sandy Johnson, Utah manager of the company, said. But the plant would produce about 300 tons a day of the three chemicals. He said the plant would be located about 400 or 500 feet away from any homes. But the company has not made a definite commitment to locate in Bountiful yet, although the zoning ordinance clears a major roadblock. Johnson said the chances of locating a plant in Bountiful are' for only about 5050 at this time. The company is also considering sites in Murray and in Provo. Should the company decide on a Bountiful location, the next step is to submit a petition that a specific piece of property be rezoned, Reed Boothe, Bountiful planning director, said. A decision will come very soon, he said probably in the next few weeks. If it were built in Bountiful, the plant would probably not be finished and operating until late 1983, he said. Many expressed concerns that the company might decide the plant to be inefficient and cease operations in Bountiful sometime in the future, creating an eyesore. George Baker, production manager for the company, said that only three plants have ever been shut down since the company began operations in 1956. And in all cases, the company was able to find a market in other countries for the old equipment and the land was restored to its original state in all cases, he said. We would never walk away and leave an old plant. Johnson said that the plants have an average lifespan of 15 years after which they are usually torn apart and some of the materials scrapped. Some were also concerned about increased traffic near the plant. Mayor Elmer Barlow said the plant would be using a frontage road for vehicles to exit and enter the plant. Other comments to the council included: Dale Carpenter, director of the Utah State Community and Economic Development Department, said that to encourage development, an area must have a good business climate. He said that Air Products has been a model , ' company and would add more jobs to the Bountiful area and encourage more business to locate in the area in the future. Industry offers jobs. Rex Riley, chairman of the Davis County Economic Development Board, said he had seen aerial photographs of the area for the proposed site and is in favor of Air Products locating a plant there. Weber Basin Tax Reduced by Agency A tax levied by LAYTON the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District has been reduced by 20 percent by the State Tax Commission. The tax had originally been set at 1 mill but was reduced to .80 mill, the districts attorney, Neil Olmstead, said. The district cannot contest the decrease because we didnt become aware of the reduction until it was too late to change, Olmstead said. v . Use Dinidliy)sS'riil ITBCT6 city was able to collect about $30,000 in taxes. This is money that do not have to pay out of outstretched arm adding residents increased property taxes and utiliemphasis. The agency attempts, though, to ty franchise taxes, he noted. But it goes right into the citys coffers find an area where there is no and is area the where or people say were going to raise going growth downhill. The agency then creates property taxes. He said that the utility franchise a redevelopment district. In this for one, would not be needed if tax tax, goes money district, property sales tax received. directly to the redevelopment it were offset by If people were spending their agency rather than going on the general tax roles. The money must money here in Bountiful, all this could be eliminated, he said. then be used by the redevelopment But thats part of the problem. for agency redevelopment Residents are spending much of purposes. Money from new businesses or their money in Salt Lake City or in improved existing businesses can other communities which are colalso help to generate tax revenue lecting the sales tax that could be by an increase in sales tax which going to Bountiful, he said. Which brings us to the downtown goes to the city and by an increase mall. in jobs. He noted that out of the new (Nixt Wook: Th pm and coni of a downtown mall.) Alpha Beta store for one year the velopment agency cannot tax anybody for anything," he said, his ( rdoinisiiniee lte owner doesnt like the offer, he may be tempted to take the agency to court, which may cost the city more than the 15 percent difference anyway. We will never, under any condition, pay over that 15 percent. But, also, Bettilyon vowed that he will never hold up the development because of a homeowner that insists on an unreasonable amount. I would not allow one property owner to stop a project that is for the good of this community," he said, but we will negotiate and deal with anyone. If someone gets greedy and wants two times what their property is worth, well go in and say, hey, youre not being fair. Then theres the issue of taxes. Bettilyon said his agency does not have the power to tax. The rede Ks ioyiratfofcl ' other way. He notes that Ogden did not have to condemn a single piece of property when the downtown Ogden Mall was built. But problems sometimes come with greedy property owners, he said. The city will get two appraisals on a piece of propertry to be used for a development like the proposed downtown mall, Bettilyon said. The city will then offer the highest of the two appraisal? to the property owner, if the two offers are within 15 percent of each other. Appraisals are done by certified, independent appraisers and can stand up in court, he added. Why doesnt the city offer the lowest appraisal? Two reasons. First, Bettilyon said, property owners deserve the highest offer. Then, if the property This is the first year that the tax commission has gotten involved in the budget of the dis-- . trict, he said. They became involved because the escalating value of property creates more revenue per mill than it did last year, he said. The reduction will not af- fect the dollar amount of the district budget, Olmstead said. The district will be able to protest any reduction next year. , . Photo By Don Ml Her down like the stone man he created, he makes the rock image more visible to the untrained eye. LITTLE Man of Many Talents 'Different Drummer7 Calls Harry Weir By MAGGI HOLMES Roviow Staff CENTERVILLE The elderly man scurried up the ladder tacked to the massive silver leaf maple. His clever fingers found secure holds with the familiarity of an old woman in her kitchen. At the threshold, 20 feet up, the man stood with an air of mischievous triumph, his smile betraying his pride and nervousness. He grasped the rope he had carried with him and jumped. The rope, securely lashed to a much higher branch allowed the man to swing down toward the earth, his feet nearly touching the lawn and to swoop wide and high over the rest of his back yard. ...Harrys Maple stands singing before the blades terrible mobility that races over our greater body like leaves already fallen. of our Local poet Jose writes about the huge tree that grows in Harry Weirs back yard at 56 W. 400 S. in Centerville. The poem is included in a book of Joses poetry. The swing was set up for the Weirs children to enjoy when they were younger. Now, their grandchildren enjoy the tree. Weir said that children as young as 4 years old have been encouraged to swing the rope. Weir occasionally does it with the kids just for fun. Weir has no idea how old the tree is; it was there when he bought the house in 1955, he said. Even then the tree was huge, he said. It was part of the reason he purchased the home. rebirth of junk, it also works to make interesting forms of stone. Weirs garage has stone He loves trees, Harrys wife Eloise said. work that has been cleverly set in the exact The Weirs have had two trees hit by lightnposition of a man. He has made alcoves and ing. The first time it was on one of the large extensions in the walls of his home. evergreen trees that grew in the front yard. He has combined both his junk collecting and Harry had decorated the tree for Christmas his rock work to create an interesting storage and had used a long metal pipe to hold up a shed, behind his garage. The shed is still in huge aluminum star. After the holidays he had construction and features a small spring that taken down the star but had left the pipe and drizzles icy water across the unfinished floor. lightning hit the pipe and it weakened and The building was constructed of the boards eventually killed the tree. and frame taken from an old home in Bountiful The other lightning strike was to the old which was being tom down. The old paint is still maple tree itself. One of the Weirs five chilvisible inside. The exterior of the shed is being dren or one of the neighbors children had used rocked to include two alcoves. a spike for the tail of a kite. The kite with its tail The cellar is another creation of was caught in the tree. During a late night Weirs. The sloping door unique utilizes a set of car storm lightning hit the tree sending a bolt down trunk springs. The door doesnt bounce open the side which scattered bark to the other side like a car trunk does because the door itself is of the street more than 20 yards away. The bolt too but it does help, Weir said. heavy, grounded out on the tire of a bicycle blowing it Another interesting thing about the cellar is out. It blew out windows and awakened the the fruit tree that seems to be growing out of the Weirs with a start. roof. The tree was there before the cellar was The Weirs bedroom is just a few feet from and Weir said he just built around it. The cellar the tree. Their upstairs balcony has a wonderis smaller than its roof so the storage space ful, close view of the tree; in fact if you are does not interfere with the trees root system. more than 5 feet tall you might crack your head The interior of the Weirs home is just as on one of the branches. as the outer buildings. The bathroom is original of Harry is always creating things out junk, in what was once a small pantry. Wise use has he says, and a tour of his property will prove it. been made of the little bit of space that is His front door is uniquely heavy because it is available. constructed of someones old oak floor. The The illusion of depth has been created with grooved flats of the floor boards are glued opposing mirrors and a collection of door mirtogether leaving the grooves exposed to the eye rors fold out of the wall. The kitchen cabinets of the curiosity seeker. have a novel flare. Like the front the Weirs creative mind does not stop with the cabinets are made of an old oak floor.door, Thanks! Index gifted academically are getting special instruction in Davis ID, 2D Business ChurchSchool Classified . 1C-5- C .... 2D, 3D ic .4 'v', St off creative thought, Harry Weir has made an intriguing home for his family. At the right he playfully swings from the huge tree that grows in his back yard. Crouching WITH A Challenging Students who are program. & 1 Coach Waite of the Home Living Obituaries Sports Bountiful Braves . . 6C-8- C .... 5D, 2D B Section seems to doff his hat to the Granger Lancers. The Braves move on to the qua- rterfinals IB r v |