OCR Text |
Show A-14 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, June 1-4, 2019 The Park Record Meetings and agendas More dogs on Main TO PUBLISH YOUR PUBLIC NOTICES AND AGENDAS, PLEASE EMAIL CLASSIFIEDS@PARKRECORD.COM A man and his truck AGENDA Summit County Board of Health Meeting June 3, 2019 4:00 – 5:30 PM Summit County Health Department 650 Round Valley Drive Park City, Utah 84060 PUBLIC MEETING 4:00 – 5:30 1. Welcome and Approval of Minutes (4:00 – 4:05) 2. Public Comment (4:05 – 4:10) 3. Three Mile Landfill update (4:10 – 4:20, Tim Loveday, Phil) 4. UALBOH update (4:20 – 4:25, Marc) 5. Director’s Report (4:25 – 4:35, Rich) 6. Lisa Yoder award recognition (4:35 – 4:40, Lisa, Rich) 7. County Audit discussion (4:40 – 4:50, All, Rich) 8. BOH Bylaws discussion and recommendations (4:50 – 5:15, All) 9. Board Member Comments, Questions, Observations (5:15 – 5:30, All) 10. Adjourn NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ( HIDEOUT ANNEXATION POLICY PLAN) Notice is hereby given that the Hideout Town Council will hold a public hearing on Thursday June 13, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at the Hideout Town Hall, 10860 N Hideout Trail, Hideout, Utah. The purpose of this hearing is to receive public input on a request to modify the Town of Hideout’s Annexation Policy Plan to align more closely with the recently revised General Plan. In accordance with the provisions of 10-2-401, et seq., Utah Code Annotated, all municipalities within the State are required to adopt an Annexation Policy Plan. The Annexation Policy Plan is intended to guide decision making regarding future annexations. It also helps the Town plan for future expansion in conjunction with neighboring political entities. Open communication between the Town and other political entities, particularly the neighboring Counties, is a priority in the process of developing the Annexation Policy Plan. The Town of Hideout adopted its first Annexation Policy Plan over a decade ago. Earlier this year, the Town a dopted a revised General Plan. The changes in the General Plan led to the revision of the Annexation Policy Plan which will be discussed at the hearing. A copy of the proposed revision to the Annexation Policy Plan may be seen on the Town of Hideout’s website at www.hideoututah.gov, or can be seen at the Hideout Town Hall 10860 N Hideout Trail, Hideout, Utah. Interested individuals or entities may provide comment in writing prior to the hearing, or in person at the hearing. All Hideout public meetings are available via ZOOM conference call and net meeting. Interested parties may join by dialing in as follows: Meeting URL: https://zoom.us/j/4356594739 To join by telephone dial: US: +1 408 638 0986 Meeting ID: 435 659 4739 Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals needing special accommodations during the meeting should notify the Mayor or Town Clerk at 435-659-4739 at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. HIDEOUT TOWN COUNCIL 10860 N. Hideout Trail Hideout, UT 84036 Phone: 435-659-4789 Posted: May 30, 2019 Continued from A-12 Mountain Town comes at a premium. But the idea of the virtual reality preview seemed to have some wind at its back. Ida got legislative traction, but will it help I-70 traffic? SILVER PLUME, Colo. – Colorado has a new law that boosts the requirements of all cars and other vehicles driving on Interstate 70 during winter across the mountain barriers. The old law said 1/8th inch tread depth was sufficient. The new law, which was signed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in the ceremonial bill-signing held at the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel recently, requires a minimum of 3/16th will be needed, along with all-wheel drive. Legislators who proposed the law say it will improve safety and reduce traffic jams. Traffic on I-70 has steadily increased, somewhat proportionate to the population of Colorado. This compounds the problems during winter storms, when cars lose traction and block traffic. The Summit Daily News reports that some with a direct interest in Interstate 70 mobility question just how valuable the new law will be. “Enforcement could be an interesting issue,” said Colin Remillard, a spokesperson for the Colorado State Patrol. In other words, how do you tell somebody driving from, say, Florida of the law until they get into troiuble? Owner of a rental car firm in Summit County blames car-rental companies in Denver. “I think it’s just an ongoing issue of people not knowing the area,” said Peter Griff, of Breckenridge Rental Car. “They don’t know the laws or how they work. They think they’re all set with that four-wheel drive car, even if they don’t have the right tires. I think the intention is in the right place, but it’s a matter of how enforceable that I is.” With memories of stabbing, Whistler breathes sigh of relief WHISTLER, B.C. – The weekend in Whistler went without much note. Some people drank too much, but it was not accompanied by the violence, vandalism, and public drunkenness that had marked the Victoria Day holiday in some years past. Whistler knew things had gotten out of hand in 2015 when a 19-year-old was stabbed to death in a public area. Three of the man’s four assailants were juveniles. It was part of a summer-time pattern, says Pique Newsmagazine editor Clare Ogilvie. “When my kids were small, I stayed out of the village at night on summer weekends. There were too many drunks, people smoking weed, spouting profanity and making poor choices played out publicly in front of family outings,” she writes. In response to that stabbing, Whistler organized programming that Ogilvie describes as “part family, part-adventure-activity-fueled.” When it was first announced six years ago, many in Whistler thought it was a wishywashy idea. They thought more Draconian measures were needed, including a refusal by lodges to accept underage vacationers or pricing that would preclude the younger crowd from visiting Whistler. This compromise, she suggests, seems to be working, at least in the kick-off-to-summer weekend. Will jail for pair who started wildfire help build a new house? BASALT, Colo. – Last week two individuals pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from the wildfire they started last year when firing tracers rounds in violation of regulations at a shooting range. The fire they started in a year of drought raced across 12,600 acres, destroyed three houses, and forced thousands of other residents to flee. The fire also very nearly caused portions of Aspen, 20 miles upvalley, as well as Snowmass, to lose power. The plea agreement calls for the two individuals, a 24-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, to be jailed for 45 days and to perform 1,500 hours of community service. Each was ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution. Formal sentencing is scheduled for July 1. The Aspen Times asked Cleve Williams, a firefighter who lost his home in the blaze, what he might tell the judge at the sentencing. “I know they did wrong, but I don’t know what 45 days in jail will do,” Williams answered. Taxpayers, he added, will just be footing the bill. And assuming they can come up with the restitution, it will have to be shared and under the best of circumstances will not compensate him for his losses. “It was two years of my life that they’ve taken,” he said, explaining that he is now recon- By Tom Clyde The relationship between a man and his truck is unique. There have been several trucks in my life (at this point, cue up the Willie Nelson tunes), and they have all been, well, trucks. I’ve always wanted to have a really cool old truck. I had a ’53 Studebaker, that qualified as a cool old truck, but also was a certified death trap. I couldn’t keep it running long enough to make a round trip to the auto parts store to fix what broke the day before. I sold it, and it’s always been the one that got away. There were a couple of Toyotas along the way, the small, tinny ones before they built them with springs and started calling them Tacomas. They were trouble-free and reliable even under pretty awful conditions on the ranch. And boring. I drove one of them right into the ground before turning it into the farm truck. It did what it needed to do, but it didn’t spark joy. I plowed snow for about 25 years with a Dodge Power Wagon that was junk when I bought it and didn’t improve over the years. Pack rats in the barn ate the wiring so I had to disconnect the battery when it was parked. It never left the ranch. It was stuck in the low gear range in 4-wheel drive, and when I drove it on dry pavement to get it across the street to plow the other road, it bucked and complained. It got the job done for a long time at almost no cost. When I sold it, the floor had been replaced with a sheet of plywood, and there where big holes rotted clear through the corners of the doors—hence the rodents in the dashboard. If it could leave the property under its own power, it was an asset, barely. If anything broke, it would have been expensive to have it towed away. I got $1,800 out of it, including the snowplow. The guy who bought it said he would have paid $1,900 for the plow alone. He took it to Pocatello and plowed a big parking lot with it, confident that none of his employees would be remotely interested it taking it for a joy ride. You can’t run a ranch without a truck. That seems obvious, though I have clear memories of my father driving around the ranch in a top-ofthe-line Mercedes with a bale of hay in the trunk and irrigation dams rolled up and sticking out the back. I’ve been unwilling to do that to any of my cars. So there’s always been a truck. This 1999 Ford, from the jelly bean design era, was never going to be a cool truck.” The most recent was a 1999 Ford that I bought from Summit County. It had been a Sheriff’s cruiser pickup (those were the days), then the building inspectors drove it for a year, and finally it was delivered to Search & Rescue to finish it off. I didn’t know about that last assignment when I bought it, but some of the local guys who are on the S&R crew recognized it and told me stories about where and how they had driven it that I would have been better off not knowing. Still, I’ve had it for 15 years or so, and it’s mostly done what it needed to do despite being a bucket of rust. It got about 10 mpg going downhill with a fully loaded trailer. Which brings us back to the idea of owning a cool, old truck. This 1999 Ford, from the jelly bean design era, was never going to be a cool truck. It became an old truck, but the only thing cool about it was the air rushing in around the rotten door gaskets. All four corners of the bed were rotted out. The seats were good, and $99 Walmart stereo worked perfectly. Bluetooth and everything. But it was not a candidate for restoration. It was time for it to go to old truck heaven. Shopping for a replacement was a shock. For the use it gets, I needed something several years old. What I wanted was a basic, stripped down work truck. They exist. You see them all the time. But they get driven into the ground in fleets. Everything on the market was larded up with every imaginable option and power feature. Spending $50,000 on a new truck appears to be very easy. Spending only a third of that on a used truck was surprisingly hard. I found one that will work, but it has supple leather seats and a concert hall sound system. The little sliding rear window is electric. It’s a full four door set up with a limo-sized back seat. It’s going to take some courage to throw a couple of spools of barbed wire and fence posts into the 10-year-old, but completely un-scratched, bed. Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986. structing a home. Total firefighting costs exceeded $20 million. Pitkin County still working on how to cut energy use ASPEN, Colo. – Pitkin County continues to wonder how it can reduce the energy consumed by its luxury homes. Last year, there were proposals to cap the size of new homes in the unincorporated areas around Aspen at 10,750 square feet, down from 15,000 square feet now. Instead, reports the Aspen Daily News, an advisory group composed primarily of individuals associated with the real estate and development sector have proposed a “whole project budget.” The idea involves setting a threshold for energy consumption by both interior and exterior amenities such as ovens, snowmelt driveways, heated pools, and the like. Builders, explains the Aspen Daily News, would be required to integrate renewable energy or energy savings systems into their projects. The goal would be a net-zero impact. Is it possible? The Daily News cites the comments of County Commissioner George Newman, who cited studies that show that in homes over 7,500 square feet, energy use goes up exponentially. Pitkin County downzoned in the 1970s, and it might be time now to downsize houses. The commissioners, though, have made no decisions. Aspen is not part of the same debate, nor is Snowmass Village. Another Colorado town goes to 100% renewables GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. – Glenwood Springs this week joined an elite group. A new contact with the city’s utility provider, the Municipal Energy of Nebraska, will allow the resort town of 10,000 people along the Colorado River to declare itself powered 100 percent by renewable sources, mostly wind generated on farms in Nebraska. By the calculations of Glenwood Springs, there are now seven towns and cities in the United States that can make this claim of being 100 percent renewably powered. Aspen Electric joined that elite club in 2015, when there were just three, and it established the pathway that Glenwood Springs is now using. Aspen has a variety of energy sources. The Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported that the cost with renewables will actually drop, saving the city $500,000 per year. It had previously been powered 35 percent by renewables. A sobering trend We’re over a third of the way through 2019, so I thought I’d share some information on the planet’s land and ocean temperatures and how these warming conditions are impacting the physical and biological conditions of our natural world. According to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, April of 2019 was the planet’s second warmest April since record keeping began in 1880. March was its second warmest, February its fifth warmest and January its third warmest. As a whole, the January-through-April time period was the third warmest on record with only the 2016 and 2017 time periods warmer. Additionally, the five warmest January-through-April stretches have all occurred since 2010. The NCEI also tracks global ocean temperatures and during April the average temperature of the collective sea surfaces was the second warmest April on record. For the first four months of 2019, global ocean temperatures are the third warmest on record, behind only 2016 and 2017. Warmer air and oceans contribute to sea ice conditions at both poles. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Arctic sea ice extent CHRISTOPHER CHERNIAK Park Record contributor during April was the lowest recorded for that month in the 41 years of record keeping. What’s more, the top five “lowest” Aprils have all occurred in the past five years. The rate of loss for Arctic sea ice continues to be on a record pace, with sea ice extent observed in the third week of May what is typically observed in mid-June. The abundance of native plant and animal life has fallen by some 20% over the past century.” With respect to Antarctica, the NSIDC reports that this April marked the third consecutive April that the Antarctic sea ice extent was below average — nearly 17% below the 1981–2010 average. This was the third smallest April extent in the 41 years of record keeping, behind only the Aprils of 1980 and 2017. On the biological front, the United Nations recently released a report on biodiversity and ecosystems that is sobering to say the least. Compiled by hundreds of scientists and based on thousands of separate Climate change by the numbers 5: Percentage of species at risk of extinction with a 3.6 degree Fahrenheit global temperature rise 16: Percentage of species at risk of extinction with an 8 degree Fahrenheit global temperature rise 20: Percent loss of biodiversity over the past century 75: Percentage of the world’s land area that has been significantly altered by human activity 85: Percentage of the world’s wetlands that have disappeared since the 1700s Source: United Nations studies, the report is a comprehensive look at not just the decline of biodiversity around the planet but the rate at which that decline is occurring. According to the report, the abundance of native plant and animal life has fallen by some 20% over the past century. And with the human population approaching 7.8 billion, large-scale activities like farming, logging, fishing and mining are altering the natural world at a rate “unprecedented in human history.” Approximately 75% of the world’s land area has been significantly altered by human activity, the report found. More astounding is the fact that approximately 85% of the world’s wetlands have disappeared since the 18th century. Most of them drained to make room for farming, logging and development. This is most troubling as a number of studies show that wetland and estuary-type systems remove and sequester tremendous amounts of carbon. Finally, warmer lands, atmospheres and oceans could accelerate changes and declines to biodiversity as well. The report estimates that the fraction of species at risk of climate-related extinction is 5% at 3.6 degrees of warming and 16% at 8 degrees Fahrenheit. We rely on the planet’s ecosystems for our own health and wellness, be it physical, economic, cultural, emotional or spiritual. Any loss of biodiversity, whether by a changing climate, overconsumption, overharvesting or sources of waste will be a loss for us as a species as well. Christopher Cherniak is a professional civil/environmental engineer who has worked as an environmental consultant since 1985. |