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Show The OGDEN June 1, 2000 VALLEY NEWS BULK RATE POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 11 POSTAL PATRON EDEN-LIBERTY-84310 HUNTSVILLE-84317 OGDEN CANYON- 84401 HCR 843AO Your Community Newspaper Snowcrest Losing 20 Year Veteran Inside This Issue: Guest Commentary Are We Anti-Growth? Page 3 By Barbie Sunderland Ogden Valley News Staff Mountain Men Step Back in Time Page 4 The total value of Holding’s side of the swap was reduced $40,000 to reflect utility easements discovered on a key parcel, Taylor Canyon, a popular hiking trailhead near Ogden. The contractual obligation to allow building a water tank and flood control catch basin in the lower edge of the canyon was a deal breaker on April 19, when neighboring landowner Jack Behnken recorded the 1990 agreement with the county after being alerted by Sinclair executives. The Forest Service refused to accept the parcel with the encumbrance, leading to speculation Holding was loathe to give up Taylor Canyon because it could be the site for an envisioned tramway from Ogden to his resort summit. But in a rare concession for the notoriously shrewd real estate mogul, Holding backed away from trying to keep Taylor Canyon, one of the parcels identified for federal acquisition in the 1996 Snowbasin Land Exchange Act passed by Congress. In the deal cut Tuesday, the Forest Service decided that 2 acres of Taylor Canyon could be affected by the developments, docked the parcel value $20,000 an acre and made Sinclair agree to pay for any future financial obligations to Behnken if the property ever is developed. “We determined we could accept the easements if the value of Taylor Canyon was adjusted to reflect their presence,” said Regional Forester Jack Blackwell, noting the canyon was their top priority in any trade. “Our goal was to keep Taylor Canyon in the exchange as originally configured.” An Ambivalent End: Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he is “somewhat ambivalent” about losing the chance to keep Taylor Canyon private for construction of an overhead gondola or tram. He said he will gauge public opinion about finding another route up Mount Ogden — one that would require lengthy environmental analysis — by including a few questions about the gondola project on a citywide survey of Ogden’s recycling program. “Now it becomes a 10- to 15-year project, which is OK if that’s what people “I will miss the company of vibrant young people and the intellectual stimulation of working with the creative people who have been my co-workers all these years,” said Sharon Holmstrom about leaving her position at Snowcrest. After 20 years of teaching she has decided it’s time to move on to other priorities in her life. The ninth grade English teacher wants to spend more time with her children, grandchildren and her parents. “I will go to school, travel, write, and do some physical things now that I may not be able to do when I’m older,” she said. “Her creativity, positive attitude and enthusiastic energy will be missed most,” said teacher and colleague, Nancy Lowe. “She will leave a large void to fill.” A love for teenagers and for literature and language drew Sharon into teaching even before she graduated from college. “What better job than to teach subjects I adored to young people, some of whom might love the subject as much as I.” One of her favorite parts of teaching is the kids. “Ninth graders are so at the brink of what they will be as adults that it is exciting to teach them,” she said. “You may give them something important that can influence their future.” Sharon says her greatest achievement in teaching has been when she was able to “turn a student on to reading.” She “When Sharon Holmstrom said, [students] come up to me with their faces glowing and announce that they have learned to love to read and that reading has become so much easier for them, I am thrilled.” “We will be the lesser from her leaving,” said Jeanne Atkinson, head secretary at Snowcrest. “She has started some programs which will be her legacy.” Sharon served on the first Centennial Board at Snowcrest that developed the plans to meet the requirements of becoming a Centennial School. In 1993 Governor Leavitt introduced the Centennial Schools program which involves restructuring schools from top to bottom, including curriculum and education philosophy. Sharon stresses that “the philosophy behind the site-based management model we attempted to design was the idea of teamwork.” She says that with a team of teachers she has helped design and implement programs that use innovative methods of teaching, and opportunities for students to learn new skills. Volunteer work has always been a big part of Sharon’s life. She says it’s important to give something back to the community. During a 14-year break from teaching LAND SWAP cont. on page 5 HOLMSTROM cont. on page 4 Ogden Valley Library Hosts Local Art School Exhibit Page 6 Feng Shui Today Page 7 On Being a Mother Page 7 Steve Johnson Showcased at Rainbow Gardens Page 8 Calendar of Events Page 9 Announcements Page 10 Huntsville Resident Earns Award Page 11 Student News Page 12 Go Take a Hike This National Trails Day Page 14 Valley Residents Encouraged to Do Their Part in Eradicating Dyers Woad Page 15 The Wetland and Migratory Bird Connection Page 15 The Ogden Nature Center - a Wildlife Sanctuary and More Page 16 Ogden Canyon Clean-up a Success Page 17 Who Wants to Burn The Flag - Just Ask Permission Page 18 Have You Considered Opening a Roth IRA Yet? Page 18 Classifieds Page 19 Preschoolers Sam Good, Michael Wendell, Jence Nilson and Ethan Fuller enjoy ice cream cones after story time at the Eden General Store. Snowbasin Land Swap Finally Signed By CHRISTOPHER SMITH and LINDA FANTIN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The ski resort land deal that has seen more ups and downs than a bunny hill was finished late Tuesday, as Earl Holding gave 11,575 acres of property he owns in northern Utah to the Forest Service to get 1,377 acres of public land around his Snowbasin ski area. Created by congressional fiat after more than a decade of wrangling between the oil tycoon and the Forest Service, the swap will allow Holding to build a premier mountain village at the base of his Ogden Valley resort. Snowbasin will be the venue for the Olympic Downhill and Super-G ski races during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Independent appraisers valued the public land around Snowbasin that Holding will receive at $4,134,000, or about $3,000 an acre. The appraised value of the 11,757 acres Holding provided was $4,269,600, or about $363 an acre. Under the policy of “cash equalization” — in which either side can use cash to cover a shortfall or overage up to 25 percent of the target value — the Forest Service will pay Holding $135,600. The Forest Service decreed 10 years ago that Holding needed only 200 acres — not the 1,300 he wanted for condos, a golf course and other amenities — to upgrade the ski hill. Under appeal, that acreage grew to 700 acres, an amount still unacceptable to Holding. He eventually lobbied Congress — Gov. Mike Leavitt and the state delegation contended a 1,320-acre land trade was crucial to the success of the Olympics — and got a congressionally mandated deal that was nationally criticized as pork-barrel politics. Further surveys added 57 acres more, for a final total of 1,377. “Snowbasin is the poster child of bad legislative land deals,” said Janine Blaeloch of the Seattle-based watchdog Western Land Exchange Project. “It’s the perfect example of how any powerful landowner can approach his or her favorite legislator and get a land exchange slammed through Congress.” |