Notwithstanding a year's worth of The Cult's stealth marketing, monthly revival meetings, rah-rah word of mouth promotion, foamy-mouthed letters to the editor (here's a classic,) promotional CD's (and other local-floor-covering-retailer-produced audio-visual aids,) Chris Peterson and his slavish and frenzied gondola cultists remain faced with sizable pockets of Ogden citizen-resistance which still haven't been convinced that Chris Peterson's "plan" is the best thing since the coming ofPetitions oppose east-bench project for Ogden
By Kristen Moulton
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
OGDEN - Two petitions are being circulated to try to thwart a Salt Lake developer's attempt to transform Ogden's east bench with luxury homes, a gondola and a mid-mountain resort.
Weber State University history professor Susan Matt says she and others have gathered close to 300 faculty and staff signatures of those opposing the sale of WSU land for developer Chris Peterson.
And Ogden resident Theresa Holmes said she had gathered close to 200 signatures by last Friday on a separate petition to Ogden City, urging that the Mount Ogden Golf Course also not be sold for private development.
"We want to keep the most beautiful Ogden public park and recreational asset available for future generations," the Holmes petition reads.
Peterson has not made any formal offer to either WSU or to the city, but his vision has ignited a landslide of interest - pro and con. Mayor Matthew Godfrey, who backs the plan, has called it the biggest thing to hit the northern Utah city since the railroad.
The Salt Lake area developer plans to unveil details of his project April 19 at a six-hour WSU open house.
Those who have attended Peterson's meetings with opinion and business leaders say he wants to buy and redesign the city's golf course and build a gated community of luxury homes there and on 160 acres of largely undeveloped hillside.
The gondola, which would begin at the downtown transit center, would turn up the mountain from a base on the WSU land. He plans housing and a ski resort in Malan's Basin, where he owns 1,400 acres, and envisions the gondola extending to Mount Ogden and the top of Snowbasin Ski Resort on the east side of the Wasatch Range.
Matt said there has been "tremendous" support for her petition at WSU, which employs 688 faculty and more than 1,200 staffers.
"It offends a lot of people that it's public land that this developer is trying to get at a bargain-basement price, and then he's going to build the most private of all: a gated community," she said.
Early on in the discussions that began about a year ago, Peterson did not say he wanted land that now belongs to WSU. Recently, that changed, although the number of acres Peterson wants appears to be "evolving," Kowalewski said.
The acreage above the campus is largely undeveloped, although it has two buildings that house facilities management, the mailroom and shipping and campus stores.A 20-year campus master plan, written five years ago, did not contemplate developing or selling the land, Kowalewski said, adding "This land is in a land bank. No presumed use of the land has been determined by the university."
kmoulton@sltrib.com
Open house scheduled
What: Open house on project proposed for Ogden's east bench.
Who: Developer Chris Peterson presents plan.
Where: Weber State University's Shepherd Union Building, Ballroom C.
When: April 19 from noon to 6 p.m., with Peterson making presentations at 1 p.m.,
3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
And what say our gentle readers? Have the townsfolk finally grown restless enough to start riding a few of these perceived greed-head Ogden carpetbaggers outta town on a rail?
Let us hear the wisdom of our gentle readers forthwith.
