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Show Page 2 The Ogden Valley news Volume XXI Issue VII July 15, 2013 The Ogden Valley news Staff: Shanna Francis Tel: 801-745-2688 Fax: 801-745-2688 Cell: 801-791-4387 E-Mail: slfrancis@digis.net Jeannie Wendell Tel: 801-745-2879 Fax: 801-745-2879 E-Mail: crwendell@digis.net crwendell@msn.com Opinions expressed by advertisers, columnists or letters to the editor are not necessarily the opinions of the owners and staff of The Ogden Valley news. guidelines for Letters to the Editor Letters should be 300 words or less. Letters must be signed and the address of the writer submitted. The Ogden Valley news reserves the right to edit or decline printing of any submissions. Announcements Sought As a community service, The Ogden V alley n ews will print local birth, wedding, obituary, anniversary and missionary farewell & homecoming and Eagle Scout announcements free of charge. We invite residents to send their announcements to: The Ogden Valley news PO BOX 130 EDEN UT 84310 If you would like your submitted items returned, please send a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. The Ogden Valley news , while respecting all property received, will take no responsibility for lost or misplaced items. Please remember to keep a copy for yourself. Invitation for Articles The staff of The Ogden Valley news welcomes the submission of articles by our readership. We invite you to submit local historical accounts or biographies, articles pertaining to contemporary issues, and/or other material that may be of interest to our readers. We also invite you to submit to the paper, or notify the staff of local events. Awards that have been earned by the reader, family members, neighbors or friends are also sought. While the staff of The Ogden Valley news invites the submittal of information and articles, we reserve the right to select which material will be considered for publication. All material, to be considered, must be submitted with the full name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the material. The OgdenValley news’liability on account of errors in, or omissions of, advertising shall in no event exceed the amount of charges for the advertising omitted or the space occupied by the error. The Ogden Valley news does not endorse, promote or encourage the purchase or sale of any product or service advertised in this newspaper. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. The Ogden Valley news hereby disclaims all liability for any damage suffered as the result of any advertisement in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news is not responsible for any claims or representations made in advertisements in this newspaper. The Ogden Valley news has the sole authority to edit and locate any classified advertisement as deemed appropriate. It also reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Note: The contents of The Ogden Valley News are copyrighted. To protect this publication and its contributors from unlawful copying, written permission is required before any individual or company engages in the reproduction or distribution of its contents, by any means, without first obtaining written permission from the owners of this publication. The deadline for the OVN August 1 issue is July 18. Letters to the Editor Kick Cancer Risks to the Curb! We know it’s a bad habit. Study after study has shown that it’s linked with cancer. New research just released from the American Cancer Society has tied it with an increased risk of death after diagnosis. Some people just partake socially, when they’re with friends or at a barbecue. They think just one every so often won’t hurt. But why do it at all? Why take that chance with your health? Surprisingly, this bad habit isn’t smoking, it’s hot dogs! Processed and red meat is a risk factor that’s been silently increasing our chances of colorectal cancer for decades. This summer, many Americans will turn a blind eye to the research and consume over 155 million hot dogs followed by an untold number of hamburgers. It took years and countless deaths before the attitude towards cigarettes shifted. Be a factor for change this summer. Read the research, stand up for health, and make your celebrations processed-meat-free zones. Joseph Gonzales, R.D. Staff dietitian Physicians Committee for Medicine, Washington, D.C. Responsible Residents of Ogden Valley Should Take Action to Protect Quality of Life Residents of Ogden Valley, you need to take action to protect and maintain the quality of life you have acquired here in the upper valley. Our neighborhood is experiencing an extreme change. It is sad that three people who have been entrusted to look at planning with objectivity allowed bias to create a commercial business under the label of Protection of Agricultural Lands. The County Commissioners have created a Conditional Use Permit for a commercial meat rendering business, Prime Cut Meats, in our 50-year-old residential neighborhood. The building was built almost 30 years ago. No building permit was issued, no address assigned and county departments were not involved. At the time of construction, the building was built to look like a small tool shed but opens to a 1200 square foot room. The building is now a complete eyesore and a mess with no upkeep or maintenance. Thirty years ago and today, any building over 1000 square feet MUST have a building permit. Why not this building? Additionally, the front of the building is 29 feet from the county right away the side yard is 15 feet from the property line. The Valley Citizens for Responsible Development (VCRD) considers this application for a commercial business in a residential neighborhood to not conform with the General plan. Specifically, portions of the General Plan are: Vision: Maintain Valley’s Rural Atmosphere and Rural Lifestyle Goal: Promote Agricultural Land This is a purely commercial business and not an agricultural business. The VCRD advised the planning commissions that stringent conditions can and should be required of any commercial business. The Agri-Tourism ordinance and other county ordinances require: - 200-300 foot distance from the nearest dwellings - 25 and even 50 foot side yard setbacks - 100 foot building set back from public roads Why did country planning staff not apply even these minimum conditions/standards on a Commercial business? A long time neighbor near the proposed meat cutting operation is horrified that this kind of activity can get approved in a 50 year old strictly residential neighborhood. Traffic safety is obviously a concern but there is a long list of additional very serious issues including the fact that animal blood and possible other tissues will end up in a septic drain field and domestic water aquifer/wells. As part of the approval process the operator must demonstrate a validation of the proposed process. The purpose of the validation is to guarantee that operational parameters are compliant to regulatory and zoning guidelines. So how did this happen in a residential AV-3 zoned property? It all began back in the spring of 2011 when people began to clean out the building. When they asked the building inspector to perform an electrical inspection, the project was red tagged due to a lack of proper permits. An exemption from the county building commissioner was quickly obtained but the building was red tagged again due to the fact that the land use permit was issued without having all the proper permits because the septic permit had not been issued at the time the land use permit was issued. This was again quickly expedited through the planning office and health department and work resumed. The concerned citizens of Liberty then filed an appeal to the land use permit and got the Office of Property Rights Ombudsman involved. The Ombudsman issued an advisory opinion that the use was not an allowed use of the property in AV-3 zoning. Finally, the land used permit was rescinded by the planning office. Prime Cuts Meats then applied to the Weber County Commission to change the zoning to allow custom exempt meat processing as an allowed use. The County Commissioners added this to the zoning as a conditional use. Prime Cuts Meats then reapplied for a conditional use permit which after a year of discussion and negotiations, the Ogden Valley Planning Commission has now approved. So this is how you get a commercial business approved in residential/agricultural AV-3 zoned area rather than placing your business in a commercially zoned CV-2 area (where this type of business has always been permitted and allowed). In conclusion, let us be clear that Prime Cuts Meats is a commercial business. However, it seems the county planners deem it honest and ethical to classify it as an agricultural enterprise, but in doing so, do not want the true LETTERS cont. on page 10 |