Sell the park?

By Sandra L. Crosland
Standard-Examiner Guest Commentary
Original publication: Thursday, April 13, 2006
Standard/NET

Like so many American youngsters, I grew up with a soft spot, even a sense of guilt, about American Indians. After all, they had once owned the spacious skies, amber waves of grain and purple mountains' majesty.

Still, they lost almost everything, not because they didn't value it, but because their sense of common ownership rendered them inadequate as protectors of their treasure. If we do not learn from history, we Ogdenites could easily fall prey to this same fate. Our foothills, our park and golf course are our common treasure.

Once we created a General Plan placing the highest value on this asset. Our city has won national accolades because of its convenient public access to our outdoor spaces.

Today public ownership of this treasure is under siege. An aggressive, wealthy developer has joined forces with our mayor in an attempt to convince us that we should sell out our children's most valuable public inheritance.

A spokesman for Lift Ogden has stated that we should help Mr. Chris Peterson develop his land. Mr. Peterson recently bought mountain property in Weber County with trails that had been used for generations. His land is zoned as open space, and he is charged with constructive knowledge that the Ogden community placed great value on the open space designation of its foothills.

Because Utah respects both individual property rights and development rights, Mr. Peterson may follow legally prescribed processes to request a change in zoning that, depending upon the feasibility of his project, might allow him to construct his proposed resort. However, Mr. Peterson has expanded his vision for an exclusive, gated community onto our public property, and this part of his plan stands on different footing. We, the public, are going to be asked to sell the crown jewel of our community -- the open space along our foothills where Ogdenites golf, walk, run, bike, cross-country ski, sled, tube and snowshoe alongside the beauty and solitude of nearby canyons.

Before we acquiesce to such a sale, we should evaluate the benefits and the risks of trusting our park lands and public golfing facility to a developer whose primary goal is private gain rather than public good. If we will sell out ownership and control of this land, 400 homes may fill that space. In your long-range vision for your community, is Mr. Peterson's development the highest and best use for your park land? These are critical issues for all of us to consider. Positive economic development is not simply a "yes" or "no" decision in helping Mr. Peterson.

Worse yet, if we give up ownership and control of our park, what does our city administration propose that Ogdenites get in exchange? The rumor is that we get an urban gondola, which would cost at least $25 million to construct and millions more to operate each year. No one expects that this gondola would function as effective public transportation for our community. At best, the gondola would be a high-risk tourist attraction. At worst, it would be both a community eyesore creating neighborhood voyeurs and a money pit, not only for its construction costs but also its maintenance costs, and incalculable shortfall costs if it does not attract the hundreds of thousands of riders needed to break even.

Would an urban gondola be what you would want in return for the sale of our park? Once again, we, the public, need a voice in crafting our future.

If the sale of the park generates millions of dollars, what is the highest and best use of these funds? After all, much of what has not been done in Ogden has been forgone for lack of funds. Would you prefer to help fund a Latino market, or the Union Station, or pave more of our trails, or provide grants or loans in our historic downtown?

Because this new money would be public, any proposal, including Mr. Peterson's, should undergo a rigid risk-benefit analysis to demonstrate to the public that potential gain outweighs potential losses. Rumors pairing the sale of our foothills and golf course in exchange for an urban gondola sound too much like selling the island of Manhattan for baubles and trinkets of the tourist trade. History tells us who came out on top in that land deal, but the New Yorkers who descended from the purchasers did learn something: At the end of the 19th century, they agreed to set aside a chunk of their city as Central Park. Preserving that park has had to withstand hundreds of challenges. Early on, a small group of wealthy New Yorkers wanted a speedway to race their carriages. Another plan was conversion into an airport. But always the public good has triumphed over the private gain.

Is there a lesson here for Ogden?

Crosland lives in Ogden. This thoughtful article was brought to our attention by an alert reader, and is re-published here with the author's consent.