We find three particularly interesting tidbits in the news this morning; and once again the Standard-Examiner sets the pace.
On the front page, Bryon Saxton reports that Governor Huntsman's Geologic Hazards Working Group, is nearing completion on the drafting of a model ordinance to assist local governments in writing their own ordinances for landslide-prone hillside development projects:
SALT LAKE CITY — A geologic hazards task force hopes to make available to city and county officials a model ordinance they can work from to prevent or mitigate building on potential landslide areas.We believe the timely intervention of the Governor's task force in this arena is a very good thing, inasmuch as it will create a coherent document with potential applicability throughout the state. We believe Emerald City planners, who have been fumbling with their own revisions to Emerald City's existing Sensitive Zones Ordinance, ought to stand back and table any proposed hillside ordinance revisions, until the governor's task force has completed its project in June.
Some recommendations in the draft include requesting that leaders become educated in land-use regulations, a stricter enforcement of grading codes in building on sloped lands, and updating and making more accessible to the public geologic hazard maps.
Next, Scott Schwebke reports that a completed Mt. Ogden Neighborhood plan document is now in the hands of the city council. This document, which represents the efforts of the hundreds of community-minded citizens who served on neighborhood committees over the summer, appears from today's article to fairly embody the expressed desires of the Mt. Ogden neighborhood community:
"... a citizen committee that studied community identity calls for the city to revise its ordinances to prohibit new gated communities and subdivisions in the Mount Ogden area.We look forward to having this matter added to the council calender at the earliest available date.
"... [A] committee assigned to look into park and open space issues, determined Mount Ogden Park, including the golf course and adjoining land, should be kept undeveloped.
'The golf course and trails that wind through the park and nearby properties are a regional amenity that is enjoyed by a larger area than just this community,' according to the committee."
Finally, as noted in a lower comments thread, Councilman Safsten, a "Gang of Six" council holdover, and one of the more reliable Boss Godfrey supporters on the city council, announces this morning that he will not seek re-election to his Ward 4 council seat.
Best wishes go out to Councilman Safsten and his family -- and especially his wife Christine. Your blogmeister himself has a family member suffering from the ravages of multiple sclerosis. The expression of our sympathy is thus particularly heart-felt.
Take it away, gentle readers.
Update 4/26/07 11/;53 a.m. MT: Gentle Reader Ozboy provides us a helpful heads-up on two excellent Kristen Moulton articles from the Salt Lake Tribune website, discussing the Governor's Geologic Hazards Working Group project. See: Panel crafting to-do list to prevent damage from slides, quakes, floods and Stricter rules on housing debated.
