What’s Happening in Powderville?

The Town of Powder Mountain… Our Take of the Neighborhood Meetings
or
What’s Happening in Powderville?

I was talking to a friend from Eden yesterday and he asked me how the incorporation of Powderville was going. The name kind of stuck on me because it sounded like the area of town that was located on the other side of the tracks. You know, that part of town where the services were not quite so good and those people live there. So forgive me but there it is: Powderville.

This is where a series of meetings was held last weekend in our neighbor’s homes with one of the investors of Powder Mountain and here’s my take on it:

The meetings were organized by Maura Carbello of the Exoro Group, a public relations firm representing the investors group. Attendees were Maura Carbello, Paul Norris and Nicol Cottle, project managers for the investors and Mark Arnold, one of the investors. They gave a short presentation explaining that they wanted to share their point of view, one on one, with us and to listen to our concerns.

One of the points Mark Arnold made was that this fight was for the investor’s property rights. He explained the county refused his requests for rezone and the letter from Huntsville Town saying they didn’t like the rezone; this was the straw which broke the camel’s back. We pointed out that the county never turned him down for the requested rezone; as a matter of fact the Ogden Valley Planning Commission had on December 10, 2007, approved their request for new zoning providing they comply with 19 conditions. (A condensed version of the conditions is attached.) The county commissioners were scheduled to vote on the rezone this winter. Mark said he felt that was well and good but since the law gave them an opportunity to incorporate and take complete control of their own destiny, they chose to incorporate. We pointed out that, if successful he would have his property rights but he would be taking ours away. He said that was sort of true but we would, in a couple of years, be in complete control, only after we elect our own town council.

At this point we should look at the property rights that the investors currently have and try and understand why they feel they had to fight for their property rights. As purchased today, the existing zoning would grant them 1,223 units with no cluster bonus, or 1,477 units with the maximum cluster bonus. NO ONE HAS TRIED TO TAKE AWAY ANY OF THESE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS FROM THE INVESTORS. The fact is the investors have been trying to change the property rights to include the following:

· A ski resort expected to service 8,500 skiers on a typical peak day and have an overall skier capacity of 10,000 skiers per day (at build out over the entire resort in both counties).
· 805 single-family dwellings
· 2090 multi-family units (town home, condominium and/or condo-hotel).
· 1-4 Hotels consisting of 500 hotel rooms.
· 11 corporate retreats/community clubs (a total of 180 rooms).
· 60,000 square foot recreation center/facility.
· 300,000 square feet of commercial uses (primarily retail, restaurant and
resort village).
· Ski resort facilities including 2 lodges in Weber County, 1 (40,000 sq. ft.)
lodge in Cache County, support facilities, maintenance etc.
· Two 18 hole golf courses with club house and maintenance facilities.
· A fire station and public safety building (planned to be a Weber County Fire District facility that also houses Weber County Sheriff services).
· (40,000 sq. ft.) Equestrian Facility.
· An airport with a transportation facility (40,000 sq. ft.) and emergency heli-pads.

All of the above will be built and serviced through the road which passes through our little lower town of Powderville.

After the presentation, one of us asked what the benefits to the incorporation for the residents were. Mark said one of the most important benefits would be LOCAL CONTROL. We explained that we understood the investors would be hand picking the first town council, and fully expected they would do exactly what the investors wanted. Mark said they would be totally independent and act in any manner they thought right and prudent. In that case we asked if we could elect our own council and Mark said no. One of us asked if the law was changed so that we could elect our own council would he still incorporate and he said no, he would then take his chances with the county commissioners. It sure sounds like LOCAL CONTROL really means CORPORATE CONTROL for the first three or four years. Please note the law provides that we could elect our own town council eventually but by that time zoning of this massive resort complex would be fixed and almost impossible to change.

Another benefit of the incorporation is BETTER SERVICES. Mark Arnold assumed that our plowing services from the county are sub-standard and we explained that we were quite happy with the response time and the quality of plowing. He said we would have a police and fire substation in our town. One of the residents of Powderville pointed out that the Eden Fire and Sherriff substation was currently only two miles away, not five and one half miles and four thousand vertical feet away. So much for BETTER SERVICES.

NO NEW TAXES is also touted as a benefit of the new town. How can Mark Arnold promise there will be no new taxes? He claims he will be giving the town $750,000. to operate until resort related sales tax revenues are sufficient to support town services. He said he would give us the money but the Feasibility Study says the money will be a prepayment in development related permits and fees. In other words we will be borrowing the money from future income to pay for our start up costs. Mark said all of the operating costs for the resort would come from the resort but don’t you think they will try and turn over the plowing and road maintenance responsibilities to the town sooner rather than later? Has anyone really figured the costs of plowing over five hundred inches of blowing snow from 10 or so miles of mountain roads? And what about outfitting and staffing of the emergency services facilities on top of the mountain? The developer promised a building for police and fire, but according to sources at the fire department about three million dollars will be needed to purchase the equipment.

I am skeptical of this whole project. The developers admitted we are included only because the Powder Mountain investors needed one hundred bodies to achieve this loophole incorporation. We are told that the investors are in it for the long run but the resort is up for sale. We are told the investors are only doing it to preserve their property rights but we find that their property rights have never been in jeopardy. What other half truths and misinformation has been given to us? I am a proponent of profit and I believe businessmen have the right to maximize their opportunities. What I am against is irresponsible development and taking away our rights to choose our elected officials. Can you imagine what adding 3,575 homes, hotel rooms and condos will do to our valley? That would effectively double the number of residences currently in the valley and what would that do to the traffic in Ogden Canyon and Trappers Loop Road. And why would they limit the rezoning to only 3,575 when they could add another 3,000? What would stop them? During construction traffic will increase by at least ten times on Powder Mountain Road compared to what we experience today. What will happen to the rural lifestyle we all enjoy and want to retain? And no one wants to talk about future plans for the land in the lower valley included in the incorporation bid owned by Rulon Jones, the Cobabe family and the Yamagada Group. Doesn’t it make sense that while they are rezoning the top of the mountain they would throw themselves a bonus and rezone this land as well? Let’s say they add another 4,000 home sites to the town. The county already admits that the potential zoning for the entire valley is 15,000 homes. By adding 7,500 homes to the zoning Weber County already has would mean approximately 50,000 residents? Can you imagine a Park City sized community with no Interstate highway running through to handle the traffic? Ogden Canyon will be permanent gridlock.

What you ask, are our options? Very little, it seems, right now. There are two bills currently being written by the House of Representatives and the Senate down in Salt Lake City in order to amend the laws concerning this type of town incorporation. We were told last week that the Speaker of the House Curtis said he wouldn’t allow the laws to be brought to the floor for a vote. Why? Your guess is a good a mine, but it seems that deep pocket developers like the loophole law which allows this type of incorporation and might have influenced Speaker Curtis. An e-mail campaign of local Powderville voters to Speaker Curtis apparently has changed his mind at least temporarily. The new laws are HB 164 and SB 25 and they will still allow the incorporations to proceed, but will give residents a chance to vote for their own representatives.

What if we are indeed dragged in to this situation where we can cannot vote for our own elected officials and have no control of our welfare and taxes? It appears there is a law in the Utah code which will allow 30% of voters in a town to call for a referendum to prevent and recall unacceptable laws that might be forced down our throats by a puppet town council. For land use law concerns, we would need five sponsors and then a petition of only 35% of all registered voters that voted in the last major election. The referendum will them go on the ballot on the next scheduled major election for a simple majority vote to overturn any law we find unreasonable.

Stay in touch with your friends and neighbors. If anyone has any ideas, let’s pass it around so we can work together to prevent this miscarriage of our rights as citizens of the United States of America.

Ed. note: This most excellent article was unceremoniously lifted from Ogden Valley Forum, the site of its original publication.