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Show The Ogden Valley news Volume XV Issue VI Page 15 March 1, 2008 POWDERVILLE cont. from page 3 Mark said no. One of us asked that if the law were changed so that we could elect our own council, would he still incorporate and he said no, he would then take his chances with the county commissioners. It sure sounds like local control really means corporate control for the first three or four years. Please note, the law provides that we could elect our own town council eventually, but by that time, zoning of this massive resort complex would be fixed and almost impossible to change. They a l s o claim that another benefit of the incorporation will be better services. M a r k Arnold assumed that our plowing services from the county are sub-standard and we explained that we were quite happy with the response time and the quality of plowing. He said we would have a police and fire substation in our town. One of the residents of Powderville pointed out that the Eden Fire and Sherriff substation was, currently, only 2 miles away, not 5½ miles and 4000 vertical feet away. So much for better services! No new taxes is also touted as a benefit of the new town. How can Mark Arnold promise there will be no new taxes? He claims he will be giving the town $750,000 to operate until resort related sales tax revenues are sufficient to support town services. He said he would give us the money, but the Feasibility Study says the money will be a prepayment in development related permits and fees. In other words, we will be borrowing the money from future income to pay for our start up costs. Mark said all of the operating costs for the resort would come from the resort, but don’t you think they will try and turn over the plowing and road maintenance responsibilities to the town sooner rather than later? Has anyone really figured the costs of plowing over 500 inches of blowing snow along 10 or so miles of mountain roads? And what about outfitting and staffing of the emergency services facilities on top of the mountain? The developer promised a building for police and fire, but according to sources at the fire department, about 3 million dollars will be needed to purchase the equipment. I am skeptical of this whole project. The developers admitted we are included only because the Powder Mountain investors needed one hundred bodies to achieve this loophole incorporation. We are told that the investors are in it for the long run but the resort is up for sale! We are told the investors are only incorporating to preserve their property rights but we find that their property rights have never been in jeopardy! What other half truths and misinformation has been given to us? I am a proponent of profit and I believe businessmen have the right to maximize their opportunities. What I am against is irresponsible develop- ment and taking away our rights to choose our elected officials. Can you imagine what adding 3,575 homes, hotel rooms, and condos will do to our valley? That would effectively double the number of residences currently in the valley and what would that do to the traffic in Ogden Canyon and on Trappers Loop Road? And why would they limit the rezoning to only 3,575 when they could add another 3,000? What would stop them? During construction, traffic will increase by at least ten times on Powder Mountain Road compared to what we experience today. What will happen to the rural lifestyle we all enjoy and want to retain? And no one wants to talk about future plans for the land in the lower valley included in the incorporation bid owned by Rulon Jones, the Cobabe family, and the Yamagada Group. Doesn’t it make sense that while they are rezoning the top of the mountain they would throw themselves a bonus and rezone this land as well? Let’s say they add another 4,000 home sites to the town. The county already admits that the potential zoning for the entire valley is 15,000 homes. By adding 7,500 homes to the current zoning Weber County already has, this would mean approximately 50,000 residents! Can you imagine a Park City sized community with no Interstate highway running through it to handle the traffic? Ogden Canyon will experience permanent gridlock. What are our options? Very little, it seems, right now. There are two bills currently being written by the House of Representatives and the Senate down in Salt Lake City in order to amend the laws concerning this type of town incorporation. We were told last week that the Speaker of the House Curtis said he wouldn’t allow the laws to be brought to the floor for a vote. Why? Your guess is a good a mine, but it seems that deep pocket developers like the loophole law, which allows this type of incorporation, might have influenced Speaker Curtis. An e-mail campaign of local Powderville voters to Speaker Curtis apparently has changed his mind at least temporarily. The new laws are HB 164 and SB 25, and they will still allow the incorporation to proceed, but will give residents a chance to vote for their own representatives. What if we are indeed dragged in to this situation where we cannot vote for our own elected officials and have no control of our welfare and taxes? It appears there is a law in the Utah code which will allow 30% of voters in a town to call for a referendum to prevent and recall unacceptable laws that might be forced down our throats by a puppet town council. For land use law concerns, we would need five sponsors and then a petition of only 35% of all registered voters that voted in the last major election. The referendum will them go on the ballot on the next scheduled major election for a simple majority vote to overturn any law we find unreasonable. Stay in touch with your friends and neighbors. 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