| OCR Text |
Show Volume XIV Issue XIX The Ogden Valley news Page July 15, 2007 Guest Commentaries Ogden Valley Planning Commission I thought it well to italicize planning just as reminder that that is what this body is: a group whose function it is to PLAN for the future of the Ogden Valley, not just to sit and have presentations made to it about yet another big development from someone from outside the Valley, to be told by the County planners that the developer appears to have met the requirements for a subdivision, and then to be told by the county attorney Monette Hurtado in yet another of her frequently questionable legal opinions that the Commission, therefore, has no choice but to approve the application. If that were this Commission’s only function, then why bother? Just let the planning department and Ms. Hurtado make all the decisions. What more, then, does and should the PLANNING function entail besides rubberstamping recommendations of the County planners? For one, it should include the ability, indeed the duty, to take a long-range look at what is happening in Ogden Valley and to recommend, no, to insist, that the County Commissioners make it possible for your thoughts to be heard, understood, and followed. You are, after all, residents of the Valley and the Canyon. You are closer to what is happening here than the planners, the legal department, and the Commissioners combined. You are in dayto-day contact with other residents of the area you serve, and you, therefore, know their thoughts and concerns, what it is like to live here, what will be lost if current trends continue, and what should be done to prevent that loss. You have a broader perspective of how much more tax money a development will generate, which seems to be all the County Commissioners can focus on, to the exclusion of focus on the costs and burdens to the Valley that the profusion of developments creates. You owe it to your Valley to insist upon the adoption of ordinances that allow you to reject or to limit subdivision proposals in the best interests of the Valley and those who already live here. The bank accounts of developers are not the only important factor to consider. For another, your function should include the duty to remind the County that residents here determined their own future direction by means of the Master Plan about ten years ago, and that that Master Plan should not be ignored willy-nilly by the Commissioners, as has been their practice, simply because our antiquated state laws permit them to do so. It should include the duty to remind the County at every opportunity that paid consultants quite properly determined some ten years ago that this Valley could only support 6,200 dwelling units, and that under cur- rent ordinances and regulations, the Valley is racing toward density of almost 17,000, such units not counting “bonus density,” which will take the total well over 20,000. Just how will we deal with density three and one-half times as large as was determined to be the maximum? The County seems either not to understand or not to believe that the problem exists. They don’t even appear to know how many dwelling units exist in the Valley now, and how many are in the system for future construction. What a shame. Parenthetically, on the subject of bonus density, it is noted that virtually every new subdivision proposal seeks bonuses of no less than 35% and perhaps more. It is also noted that the TDR ordinance, which is currently under review by the county, provides in its current draft for similarly huge, unwarranted bonuses. County representatives have the opportunity, right now, to recommend removal of ALL bonus densities from the TDR ordinance, and to recommend the repeal of all other ordinances that provide for bonus densities. It should be obvious that this Valley needs no incentives to attract developers. We already have more than we need! If the County refuses to fix this error, which will result in overbuilding this Valley by a function of three to four times its capacity, then the only limiting factor on development will be the chaos, gridlock, water shortages, foul air, and fouler water in Pineview which will keep anyone from wanting to live here at all. Thanks County. Nice vision. Fine planning . . . . As members of the Ogden Valley Planning Commission, you have obviously earned the trust of the County Commissioners who appointed you. I urge you to use that trust to awaken the County government to the very real threat that unbridled development poses to this Valley. Once its beauty is gone, replaced by row, upon row, upon row of ticky-tacky houses and condominiums, it is gone forever. If the rules need to be changed for the benefit of the Ogden Valley, the changes must start with you. You need not be relegated to the passive role of development proposal rubber-stampers. If you believe that what is left of the positive elements of living in Ogden Valley needs a plan for their conservation and preservation, then formulate that plan, because it appears that no one else can or will. Please. Frank Cumberland, Huntsville Moonlit Gondola Rides & Star Parties During the full moon of each month Snowbasin Resort offers a moonlit gondola ride and Bavarian world class accordion music by Janet Todd at Needle’s Lodge. Join us for Snowbasin’s stellar mountaintop Star Parties in conjunction with the Ogden Astronomical Society. Join us for a fun and romantic event and enjoy the evening-scape of Snowbasin. Closing time will be extended to 9 p.m. Food and beverages will Adults $12 be available for purchase Children 7-12 $8 at Needles Lodge. Children 6 & Under FREE Needles Lodge Dining Schedule Hours — 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays Friday: Lunch: Dinner: At Needles 11 AM - 3 PM Burgers, Beers & Brats 4-9 PM Earls Plaza “Needles at Night” 5 PM - 9 PM Saturday: Breakfast Buffet - Served 9:00 to 11:00 AM Saturdays and holidays Lunch - Served 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Fridays, Saturdays and holidays Sunday: Rates Sunday Brunch - Served 10:00 AM to Sunday Brunch & “Needles at Night”: 3:00 PM Sundays Lunch - Bar-b-que on the Plaza 1:30 to 5:30 PM Adults $35; Youth (6-12) $25; Children (2-5) $15 www.snowbasin.com ~ 801-620-1000 Take the Pledge—Bottled water an environmental disaster By The (Salt Lake) Tribune Editorial Board mental regulations are lax, causing more air and water pollution as the materials are Ok, admit it. Once upon a time you reprocessed. All of this might be understandable if chuckled at trendy twentysomethings who sipped chi-chi bottled water as bottled water were superior to what comes they bounced, spandex-clad, to their spa out of the tap. But in Utah, as in most of workouts. But now you’re doing it too. the United States, that’s not true. Sure, it may taste a bit different, contain Guzzling bottled water, that is. Oh, it may not be Evian or even fewer or different minerals or be carbonPerrier. It may be Arrowhead or the bud- ated. But the EPA standards for tap water are actually stricter than the FDA standards get Kirkland brand from Costco. for bottle water. But you’re hooked. Bottled water grew up in places elseWhich, from one perspective, is good. Doctors say most of us don’t drink enough. where in the world where tap water was not Bottled water is convenient, whether you’re healthy. But that’s not the case here. And by far the best way to deliver on the go or just sitting around the house. But, dear readers, it’s an environmental healthy water to people at the lowest cost is to invest in systems for public drinkdisaster. ing water, not in overpriced bottled water, Who would have thought it? Making all those plastic bottles con- which often costs more per gallon at retail sumers millions of barrels of oil a year. than gasoline. Bottled water makes huge bucks for Transporting all that water, sometimes halfway around the world, consumes even Nestle, Coke, and Pepsi, which together own most of the leading brands, but from more oil. Tapping natural springs for the water the perspective of the common good, it makes no sense. itself can harm aquifers and rivers. Which is why we salute Salt Lake City And most of those plastic bottles find their way to a landfill, where they will rest Mayor Rocky Anderson and his colleagues in near-perpetuity. Many of those that are at the U.S. Conference of Mayors who recycled end up in China, where environCOMMENTARY cont. on page 17 |
