June 15, 2007
Chair Jesse M. Garcia
Members of the Ogden City Council
Dear Chair Garcia and Council Members:
I am writing this letter in response to your June 14, 2007 to me regarding your questions about the Ogden Gondola Fiscal Impact Analysis.
First of all, I want to convey to you all my extreme disappointment that these questions and concerns were not raised in our Leadership Meeting held yesterday from noon – 1 p.m., just an hour before the letter went to the Standard Examiner. I can not see how this kind of action fosters good-will and positive relationships between the Administration and City Council.
Answers:
1)I believe this is the one that is referred to as the “lower village”, not the one in Malan’s Basin.
2)To my knowledge the information used in the analysis came from several sources, including the 1989, 1998 Gondola studies and from Telluride.
3)The question is unclear. This was a fiscal impact analysis.
4)Yes.
5)This is totally dependent on Chris Peterson.
6)To my knowledge, Chris Peterson continues to work on refining this project.
7)The route used for the analysis was the same as discussed with the City Council and the public at large. The 1998 study did not include connecting a gondola to Snowbasin, just to the top of the mountain which is Forest Service property and is not owned by Sinclair or Holding.
8)The estimate came from the consultants. We did not provide this figure. If you have questions on this you can contact them on this and any other question.
9)Contact the consultants to see what that number represents. We contemplate that Chris Peterson will do the marketing, not the city.
10)As I recall the $1.35 figure is a mixture of fares ranging from the ED pass to full fare paying customers as outlined in the Baker Study. Generally as price decreases demand increases.
11)The CVB reported in 2006 the annual room occupancy was 62.5 %. This year it is tracking higher than last year.
12)You instructed us that you did not want piece-mealed information about the gondola and resort project, and that you were not going to spend anymore time on it until there was a formal proposal. Moreover, this is not our document – it is UTA’s
13)I have no idea. Ask the consultants.
14)No one yet, to my knowledge.
15)No.
16)No.
17)Yes. UTA has agreed to pay for this study.
18)The City received invoicing and it was mistakenly processed. It was a clerical error. When the error was discovered it was corrected. There was confusion from some about the city’s role versus UTA’s role. There is no nexus between the gondola study and the Crossroads of the West, an obvious error that was corrected.
19)Same answer as 18.
/s/[no signature]
