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Show Volume X THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Issue XII Page 3 October 1, 2004 Guest Commentary Thanks for the Feasibility Stady—A Challenge Stephen D. Clarke, Eden Incorporation Feasibility Petition Sponsor I have studied the Feasibility Incorporation study and, as a sponsor of petition requesting it be done, I express thanks to our County Commissioners, County Clerk, to Wickstrom of the my the Economic Consultants, and to all those who signed the petition and made the study possible. I accept the conclusion of the work. It provides a valuable base of data that did not exist before. The $15,000 was well spent. It is important to remember how we came to request this study. In December 2002 a request came to the Eden Planning Committee from citizens concerned about decisions the County Commissioners had recently made requesting the help of the Eden Planning Committee to investigate incorporation as a way to give local citizens more say in their government. The Eden Planning Committee agreed to schedule a public meeting, and if the results of that meeting dictated it, to then assist in organizing a public volunteer group to pursue the matter. The public meeting was held in January 2003 using facilities graciously offered by the Kimber Academy. Approximately 90 people attended. The issues were presented and alternatives were discussed. Those alternatives included (1) lobbying to have 7 County Commissioners instead of 3, giving the Valley a larger say in the election, (2) Creating a Township which would give the Eden area its own Planning Commission, and (3) Incorporation. The first two options were passed over relatively quickly in the discussion, the group indicating that neither would solve the problems since the County Commissioners retained all the decision making power. The first question regarding incorporation was “How much will it cost?” A vote was taken and 53 voted to pursue the answer to that question, 9 against, and approximately 28 did not vote. People were invited to sign up as volunteers to pursue answers; approximately 50 signed, a number to grow to 62 over the next few weeks. With the subsequent organization of the “large land owner committee” the number grew to about 80 volunteers. The Eden Planning Committee trained and organized the volunteers into functional committees and those committees elected representatives to function as members of a Steering Committee. The Eden Planning Committee then withdrew from the process, although some members also served as members of the various volunteer committees. A few were elected chairs of the committees. During 2003, a series of public meetings were held, including boundary issues and other committee updates, meetings with Ogden Canyon residents, East Huntsville and Liberty/Nordic Planning Commissions, Snowbasin, and Powder Mountain. Area mayors shared their experiences, and Craig Call, a State Ombudsman, reviewed property law. These meetings were generally attended by about 70 to 100 residents. With the assistance of the County, a “‘prefeasibility” study was conducted that showed a deficit of over $500,000. This caused the com- mittee to reassess the boundaries and public safety assumptions, resulting in what the committee felt was a deficit of about $70,000 per year. At this point the volunteers felt a study was justified. In August and September the petition requesting a Feasibility of Incorporation Study was circulated with about 200 positive responses. The petition included more than two times the required number of property owners and nearly two times the amount of land required. The petition was certified by the County Clerk on January 15, 2004. The County Commissioners requested and received “opt-out” requests that they consid- ered, eventually commissioning the study with two options. Option | omitted all Wolf Creek property and, in addition, omitted several hundred residences and Wolf Star Condos, and permitted Worldmark the Club to be opted out. Option 2B opted out all of Wolf Creek’s commercial base, Worldmark the Club, and Wolf Star condos. After the public meeting was held to discuss the results of the study, the volunteer committee officially completed its work and answered the question it was chartered to study. All these volunteers have earned the thanks of the community. Now for a sponsors’ view of the study: Any mayor would be comfortable with the results of this study. It provides a new city building, and generous allowances for engineering and planning. Provides generous training and administrative budgets and is equally conservative on the revenue side of the ledger. For example, it assumes the JP court would be handled by the County when it might just as well have provided a net revenue boost to the city. The MarriottSlaterville study assigned net revenue of about $30,000 to the JP court. I can see rent- ing a building and other changes that would reduce the deficit by about $100,000 per year. Still that leaves a deficit to be made up by taxes of more than $100 per $181,000 of market value on a residence—too much for this sponsor to ask his neighbors to assume, although I personally would be happy to pay this much for the opportunity to elect our own governing officers. As a community we have benefited from this research work. All of us have had to search our hearts to understand how we feel about our community and about the exercise of democracy. I have come to feel even more strongly that the community of Eden needs to decide now where the nature preserves should be, where future parks should be, designate historical structures and locations, and invest now to preserve our quality of life for the future. We should be willing to tax ourselves to support the outstanding work the Pathways group has begun, and to purchase land for parks and preserves, and to build a community center that would support our youth and other age groups. We need to acknowledge the fact that we live in a spot that is the playground for northern Davis and Weber county residents. This is a spot seen as a desirable place to live by out of state people who are building second homes here at a rate we’ve not seen before. This means there will be more residential growth, more recreational businesses, ski resorts that will grow into year around recreational facilities, and more traffic, trucks, noise, and pollu- tion. Will we be successful in resisting the wave of growth that will is sweeping over Ogden Valley? I think not. We must take the opportunity and responsibility to manage that growth by ensuring that proper laws, ordinances, and plans are implemented If 2004 isn’t the year we take control of our future, when will be the time? I invite every thoughtful citizen to consider the question. @®ktoberfest Special by, / Free Beer* with order of large pts3a! Special Oktoberfest pissa OsREN Served during the month of October; Sausage and sauerkraut on a garlic Naoustin Y Bi ines wow J SOcutOn butter sauce. Proust! *Two-liter Root Beer with the purchase of any large pizza with this coupon. One coupon per visit please. Celeste C. 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