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Show 1 A2 Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Vernal Express I""UT Blue Mountain Vista development concept plan approval postponed ( '. " ,'t- IT . ... r 2500 WEST ALMOST COMPLETED It took all summer long of waiting, but residents using 2500 West can now enjoy the benefits of modern, smooth asphalt road. Asphalt shortages almost kept the road from being paved this year, but the needed asphalt was found in Wyoming and trucked to the Basin to complete the project. Photo by Lauire Crawford. Chamber Continued from Al saidAUred. "This is an important issue that was addressed." The new money will also be used to pay for other economic development expenses including includ-ing travel, printing, fact finding processes and other. Business owners and managers man-agers asked if this was not the same setup between the city and county and the chamber when it was the chambers responsibility to handle economic development issues in the 1990s. Allred explained that at that time the convention bureau was also involved and issues got to a point where the county felt it was in their best interest to keep economic development and the convention bureau under the wing of the county. "This time, a lot of the needs may be the same but the volume of information needed has increased," in-creased," said Allred. "I believe that with the new arrangements it will be good for businesses and . the residents in the areas. Another big change in the by-laws reduced the number of chamber directors from 15 to seven. With the vote, the board of directors was dissolved and new elections have been set to take place in 30 days. The members mem-bers did approve to retain Dale Allred as President and Tyler Rasmussen as past president for continuity sake on the new VERNAL (USPS 0892-1091) Periodical postage paid at Vernal, Utah Published weekly at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Vernal Express at 54 N. Vernal Ave., Vernal, UT 84078 OFFICE HOURS: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: 435-789-351 1, Fax: 435-789-8690 DEADLINES: News, legal notices, classified ads and display ads must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication PUBLISHER: Kevin Ashby - kashbyvernal.com ADVERTISING MANAGER: Byran Marshall - bmarshallvernal.com ADVERTISING: Jacque Hobbsjhobbsvernal.com CLASSIFIED: Tonya Muse classifiedsvernal.com OFFICE: Harriet Harding WRITERS: Mary Bernard mbernardvenial.com Ryan Allen - sportsvernal.com PRODUCTION: Heather Crosby Michele Roper On the Web: http:www.vernal.com Email: editorvernal.com I Subscription Rates: I Clio and Send to: In the Uintah Basin Vernal Express S4 in. v ernal Ave Vernal, Utah 84078 Name Address City Cash or Check only. X Tirfntirfrtrl H ilrtiifUrir7Mj 2QQ8 IVIODEL YEAR CLEARANCE pi-x 'Stk 2567. 180 Months at 8.5 APR, credit. $0 down includes tax and All unrti subject to prior s. . - i- 3 .'if '13 board. The seven member board will be made up of an elected official from both the county and the city and five members at large that will be chosen from the chamber membership. An election committee has been organized to receive the nominations and in this first election, elec-tion, the top three vote getters will be inducted to the board to join the two elected officials and the two who were retained. "This has created a lot of excitement ex-citement within the membership of the chamber," said Allred. The chamber will also be taking tak-ing resumes for the new Vernal Area Chamber and Economic Development Director and an office manager to get things going. go-ing. "With change always comes adjustments and challenges and we are prepared to meet them well," said Allred. "People want to belong to a good thing and this new direction is the right direction for the chamber." A question regarding the chamber's foundation was raised and Gorum explained that this will continue to operate in the same way as it has under the direction of John Beaslin, chairman chair-man of the foundation board. The Impact Mitigation Special Service District Chairman Rob Behunin further explained why the shift was needed from the district to the chamber. Behunin stated that the district is involved in economic development from f, i . . I 'Ml.;. . -rr, i jr. !i lYr.$26-2Yr.$48 Out of the Uintah Basin 1 Yr. $42 - 2 Yrs. $70 Out of State -1 Yr. $46 2 Yrs. $80 Zip4 Sorry No Charges J JjVtySl' NORTH iii 2008 Cruiser CF30SK Fifth-Wheel Reduced Over $8,000 Off MSRP MSHP $44,049 PER MO on approved license. Stk '34154, credit. 2350 West Highway 40 Vernal, UT 84078 IT'S DIFFERENT HERE 1435) 783-6477 (000) C52-4197 Slindanccrv.com Mon Frl: 9 am - B did I Sat: 9 am 5 om sale. Prices plus tax, title, and license on Approved Credit. All , -? jt, i V ,t.. r; if the standpoint of promoting the community through advertising, meeting with developers (retail, commercial, industrial, housing, hous-ing, financial), and by providing contact points and connections. "What the district cannot do is use mineral lease funds to support private enterprise," said Behunin. "The Chamber organization is a private 501 (c) (3) comprised of private businesses. busi-nesses. It is the "private sector" association that the District must watch." "The District will continue contin-ue to be a strong economic development engine through fundraising, funding studies through government agencies, and meeting with investors and developers interested in the area," concluded Behunin. "The new Chamber organization with the city and county as part of the funding mechanism will create great strength for the community, commu-nity, especially the District, and give the district the necessary distance and immunity from the private sector." Tax Burden Continued from Al Uintah County's "tax base is dominated by centrally-assessed oil and gas properties," according to theUtahStateTax Commission. "When oil prices declined several years ago, the assessed value of those properties declined as well," the commission noted. There has been no provision for the recent rise in corporate incomes to adjust these values. Indeed, several entities that operate across county and state lines have successfully lobbied tax commissioners to further reduce their tax liability. "The state says that the county does not collect enough in property taxes," McKee said. "But with only 15 percent of the county held privately there is not much we can do." . The median property tax rate in Utah is 1.0943 percent compared to Uintah County's tax rate of 0.9951 percent. The recent rise in homebuild-ing homebuild-ing has pumped tax income into the county and raised the taxable values of existing homes. And property tax increases have sometimes some-times doubled over the course of a few years. "We are required to collect and analyze home sales data on properties to arrive at the market mar-ket value," said Uintah County Assessor Rolene Rasmussen. "But residential property is only taxed at 55 percent of the market value." Little consolation for the homeowner ho-meowner whose residential value has shot up, said one attendee at the meeting. "We can't take anymore tax burden, our saddle horse is packed and saddle-tight," said homeowner Dale Snow. "Fifty-seven "Fifty-seven percent of the natural gas in Utah gets produced here, and gets piped out of here. My solu- COUNTRY TRAVEL TRAILERS 2008 Komfort 283TS H Travel Trailer Reduced Over $11,000 Off MSRP lV ' ' ' pph Mn 180 Months at 8.5 APR, on approved $0 down includes tax and license. otters expire 8272006. n by Mary Bermard Express Reporter The Thursday Aug. 12 meeting meet-ing of the Naples planning and zoning commission lacked a quorum quo-rum and therefore, was unable to approve the concept plan for Blue Mountain Vista's proposed development. Because the commission was unable to vote on the plan residents and developers spent the remainder of the meeting in discussion of the proposed project. Chris Ballings, Blue Mountain Moun-tain Vista development, described de-scribed the plan to construct high density housing and commercial property near the corner of U.S. Hwy 40 and 2500 South in Naples. The locality is made up of about 30 acres of land primarily primar-ily used for livestock grazing, although it is zoned residential. Proposed is high density housing with 30 4-plex units, 4 duplex units and 10 6-plex units for a i tr- Blaine Hunting of Naples discusses potential high density housing with Scot Jones, Naples City planner. tion is that we have a carbon footprint tax on that 57 percent of natural gas that leaves the area." His comments reflect a growing grow-ing sentiment among taxpayers. Energy producing counties in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are looking to increase revenue to cover the cost of extraction impacts. Rio Blanco County in northwestern north-western Colorado, for example, is considering impact fees for gas well placement. That county is also in the middle of an energy boom and like Uintah County does not have the infrastructure or tax base to meet its needs. Uintah County officials stated that "legislative approval might be necessary for such action," but assured meetingparticipants that they are pursuing all their options. State law specifically authorizes autho-rizes local government "to charge one-time impact fees for the purpose of raising revenue for facilities like water, power, roads and law enforcement required by new development." " In St. George, impact fees on a new home of a $200,000 home are$10,000," said Uintah County resident Lloyd Barton. "We need to assess builders, developers, and industry for the impacts they creating right now." Unlimited Motorola W510 Sound Quality Music Player with nilcroSD Slot Stereo Bluetoolh $79"' 1 Activated price FREE with Talk, Text & Internet Plan "Union Jim iiiinii iinniiiMii RfiAEQE i i L I AUTHORIZED AGENT SBT Cellular-1525 West 5GB per month limit on Internet ccesi Union calling plans begin at $29.95 and feature nationwide calling & long distance, unlimited night & weekend calling, unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling and a FREE phone, Unlimited "Text and Picture" messaging and 'Mobile Internet" are available on select plans. "My Top 10" calling is FREE on plans of $54.95 or higher. Some restrictions apply. total of 188 residential units. Before the commission is also a proposed zoning change for the propoerty to R-2 residential zoning, zon-ing, which is established for family fam-ily homes, but can also sustain light commercial development. "Blue Mountain Vista residential resi-dential units would be constructed con-structed on the back (east) side of the property," said Scott Jones, Naples planner. "Highway 40 frontage will consist of 5.3 acres of commercial property for the development." Members of the public on-hand on-hand for the meeting expressed concerns for the high density housing. "We are concerned about the increased traffic at the intersection," inter-section," said nearby resident Debbie Wilkins. "Are you going to work for a stop light at 2500 South and Hwy 40 or ask the Utah Department of Transportation Transporta-tion for a new traffic study?" Ballings indicated that the traffic study as well as the light was the responsibility of UDOT, Currently, no impact fees are assessed by Uintah County to cover increasing costs including maintenance of Class B county roads in the oil and gas fields. "Maintaining the 1,400 miles of the county's roads in the fields is a challenge," said Uintah County Commissioner Dave Haslem. "Daily traffic on these roads has gone from 84 cars to 2,000 heavy trucks a day in just the last five years." Given the continued impacts under the current tax system, the county's income outlook Chief Resigns Continued from Al "We have a strong desire to get our staff back up to seven officers," said Watkins. "We are getting behind with only four." "It is my view that we need this done as quickly as possible," said Watkins. "We need the new officers hired and and get them on board and trained." Watkins explained that it is hard finding new officers to work anywhere in the Basin right now. "Our wages are competitive but slightly down right now," said Watkins. "The new chief needs to address how to retain new officers rather than being YOUli CALLING Unlimited Talk - $99 95 .. .. .-. n r 644M.BS Talk, Text & Internet- I- ( 7 ' HTC Touch r -Touch Screen Navigation -Windows Mobile 6 Professional Email & Calendar Anywhere $299:99' PActivated price with Talk, Text S Internet Plan Wireless iTiini ii a 1 1 i however, Blue Mountain Vista "planned to add curb, gutters and widen the egress from the housing area." "There will be more traffic but we plan to make access and egress areas as visible as possible," pos-sible," Ballings explained. Another resident Blaine Hunting asked Ballings whether "the shareholders on the seepage water from the property were informed in-formed of the zoning change." Ballings responded to this and other issues regarding the residential density, design layout and commercial development. "We tried to lure a grocery store onto the commercial property, but none of the five we contacted were interested," he explained. At this juncture, no recommendation recom-mendation from the planning and 'zoning commission can be forwarded to the city council in Naples, until such time as sufficient suffi-cient members of the commission hold a meeting. in the 2500 South neighborhood remains at best revenue neutral. Whether or not impact fees are the answer, county officials must assure that mineral lease monies are not negatively affected. : r In the meantime, help for property owners 65 and older is available under the'Utah Circuit Breaker program. There are also tax exemptions for disabled veterans who were have a service-related service-related disability. Contact the Uintah County ClerkAuditor's Office at 435-781-5363 for more information. used as a stepping stone for the officers to start out and then go somewhere else. In the end money is the issue." 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