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Show Volume XXII Issue IX The Ogden Valley news Page 3 July 1, 2014 Guest Commentary Huntsville Town Toll Booth . . . Again?! About four years ago, the initially offering instead to reduce the fee they Town of Huntsville asked pay the town to $.25 per car. After weeks of American Land and Leisure unsuccessful negotiations, the town posted (AL&L) to help with the public notice and at its regularly scheduled maintenance of First Street (100 South) in Town Council meeting on June 19, 2014, the Huntsville. This road sees over 25,000 round Huntsville Town Council unanimously voted trip visits each season between Memorial Day to enact the toll booth, again, for the use of and Labor Day by out-of-town visitors who First Street by those who use it as access to use the road to access the U.S. Forest Service the Forest Service facilities. This toll will boat dock and beach facility at Cemetery Point, be collected in a separate tollbooth on First which is managed by AL&L. At that time the Street, east of the American Land and Leisure town asked AL&L to collect $2.00 per vehicle tollbooth. The fees will be kept in a special on the town’s behalf to help with the costs of account and used solely to help defray costs of maintaining First Street. After road maintenance and dealing many painful negotiations, and with illegal parking, trespassafter a second toll booth was ing, garbage collection, and erected to collect a separate sanitation. fee for the town, AL&L finally AL&L is currently chargagreed to collect $1.00 for the ing $13 per car. Last year, they town, and promptly raised their had just fewer than 25,000 cars fee by three dollars per car! enter their facility during the Now, four years later, the summer season. That means town has widened a portion of they collected approximately First Street and will have the $325,000, not including the Huntsville toll booth road chip-sealed in July. This money they made from their would have been impossible without a signifi- store and from rentals of boats, wave runners, cant grant from the state and the funds ($1 per and equipment. AL&L uses the collected car) collected for the town by AL&L to cover money for maintenance of bathrooms, picnic a portion of the costs. tables, lawn mowing, garbage collection, and In the past several years, there has been a other miscellaneous jobs associated with mansignificant increase in the amount of illegal aging a recreation site. However, AL&L does parking by beachgoers on town and private not have the expense of maintaining the road property in an effort to avoid paying the fee that leads to their facility and they don’t have at the American Land and Leisure tollbooth. to pay for law enforcement to patrol that area. During this time, coincidentally, many of the If you compare AL&L’s obligations in formally free parking areas around the lake, operating the marina to those of the town’s in outside of the town, have been posted as no dealing with the overflow from that facility, parking zones. There has also been an increase the town is dealing with almost all of the same in the amount of trespassing on private prop- issues (on a smaller scale); however, in addierty to gain access to the beaches. tion, the town has the considerable additional The amount of garbage left behind by visi- costs of maintaining the road leading to the tors and other nuisance issues on landowner’s recreation site and contracting with the Weber private property have, therefore, increased County Sheriff’s office for law enforcement. substantially, with the entire burden of dealing While the amount of money collected by with these issues falling on the town and the AL&L to deal with all of these visitors is reaWeber County Sheriff’s office whose services sonable, it is also reasonable for the town to are paid for by the town. The town must now collect a fraction of that amount to deal with consider employing parking enforcement offi- its portion of the impact felt by these same cers, additional law enforcement for speeding visitors. It is still the town’s intent to negotiand criminal activity, and hiring crews to ate with American Land and Leisure—to have clean up all of the garbage left by the visitors. a single fee shared by the two entities—but Currently, the job of cleaning the beaches is until such time as this can be negotiated, the left to the unlucky neighbors of those beaches town will charge a separate toll. and parking areas. Huntsville Town is not a for-profit entity The Huntsville Town Council has attempt- trying to finance the town’s budget on the back ed to renegotiate the fee from American Land of the beach-going public; however, we are and Leisure to defray some of these increas- unable to continue to bear these costs alone. ing costs, and is working with the Weber County Sheriff to deal with the illegal usages. Huntsville Town Council Member Mike American Land and Leisure has now refused Engstrom, on behalf of Huntsville Town to continue to collect the town’s $1.00 fee, Council & Mayor Jim Truett Wasatch Front Regional Council Announces Public Comment Period & Open House The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) has released its draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and is seeking public comment on projects identified for the program. The TIP is updated every year, with the current program outlining proposed new construction projects to be funded from 2015 through 2020. To view the draft program plan, visit <www. wfrc.org/new_wfrc/index.php/plans/transportation-improvement-program> Projects identified in the TIP come from the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The RTP identifies the long-range transportation needs for the region, including transit, roads, bicycle, and pedestrian projects. Amendments to the current RTP are also being considered and are available for public comment and review. The corresponding air quality conformity analyses will also be available. Proposed amendments and the RTP interactive map are also available online. These plans, programs, and projects are subject to public review and comment prior to consideration and possible adoption by the Regional Council. The public review and comment period began June 28, 2014 and will run through August 2, 2014. An open house will be held Wednesday, July 9 at the UTA Intermodal Center Plaza (outdoors), 250 S. 600 W. in Salt GARAGE SALE cont. from page 1 through Thursday of that week. Please go to our Facebook page (Ogden Valley Charity Garage Sale) and like us for updates and notifications, and please support this wonderful cause with your own donation. Contact people are Liz (801-710-7221), Leslie (801-564-5137), and Dave (801-458-2737). Items can be dropped off at the Hillstroms, beginning July 1. And don’t forget to come and buy something too! Mark July 25 and 26 on your calendar, and follow the signs to a great sale for great charitable causes! Lake City, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, the open house will be moved into the adjacent Intermodal Center. Further information is available on the Regional Council’s website at <www.wfrc.org> Comments may also be given to Sam Klemm at sam@wfrc.org or by calling 801-363-4250. They can also be mailed to: WFRC 295 N JIMMY DOOLITTLE RD SLC UT 84116 To assure the open house is available to all members of the public, accommodations for effective communication, such as sign language interpreters or printed materials in alternate format, must be requested at least five (5) working days prior to the date of the scheduled event(s). Requests should be directed to WFRC during business hours. Utah Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame The Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Fame will be part of the kickoff for Ogden Pioneer Days, and will be held on the plaza in front of Ogden’s Union Station, 2501 Wall Avenue, on July 11 at 7:00 p.m. Inductees this year represent several fields of endeavor, and include the following: • Bar T. Rodeo, a company formally established over 60 years ago by cowboy Hall of Famer D. A. (Swanny) Kerby and his wife Verda. Four generations later, it is still going strong, producing rodeos throughout the Mountain West. • Ron and Ginger Brown, a duo who, when not teaching, spend their summers traveling around the country performing a Roman Riding act. They now provide horses for guided horseback rides on Antelope Island, and train and provide animals for various documentaries and feature films. • James W. Fain, a former cowboy and a professional rodeo photographer who has been snapping photos for over 50 years. He has provided pictures for his own books as well as those written by others, and is recognized as one of the outstanding photographers of the American West. • Dale Pendleton, a member of the Old-Time Fiddlers and Country Music Association, started performing when five years of age. He is also a gold mine of information about the music of Utah’s early settlers, and through his recordings has helped preserve the history of music in the state. • James B. (Jim) Smith believed in giving back to the community, and was an ongoing supporter of community events, and was especially generous in helping youth programs, particularly those involved in agricultural/rodeo events. He gave his time, as well as money, to Ogden Pioneer Days, becoming the “Water Boy” each year at the rodeo, and serving on the Ogden Pioneer Days Foundation Board. • U. Grant Speed became one of Utah’s most prominent western sculptors, and won numerous awards for his work. His equestrian bronze “Night Ridin” is in the permanent art collection in the historic district of St. George, Utah. His sculpture of legendary Texas cattleman, Charles Goodnight, is housed in the Square House Museum in Panhandle, Texas. Entertainment for the evening of the Hall of Fame inductions will be provided by the Old Time Fiddlers and Country Music Association. Admittance to the entertainment and induction event is free. The community is invited to attend. Traces of the West Art Show - This year, the Traces of the West Art Show has been reinvented by chairman of the event, Steve Johnson of Huntsville, Utah. It is an invitational show that has drawn premier artists from throughout the Western United States, and will showcase work in four areas: drawing, painting, sculpture, and cowboy gear. Jennifer Dennison, chief editor of Western Horseman Magazine; and Meg Glazer, Director of the Museum at the Folk Life Center in Elko, Nevada, together, with three others, will form a judging panel that will determine who the winners will be, and with the exception of the Judges Choice Award, which will be presented in the arena the evening of the 24th of July Rodeo, the winners will be announced Friday Evening, July 11, as part of the Hall of Fame activities. The show, which opens that evening, will be in place at The Gallery 21 in Union Station throughout Pioneer Days. Subscriptions available for out of area residents at $18.00 annually. 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