Trentelman Advises That We "Fight Like Badgers"

Your blogmeister however thinks stronger words are in order

The highly-talented and Emerald City community-minded Charlie Trentelman contributes yet another wonderful column to the Standard-Examiner this morning.

Today's topic: Dealing with self-serving (and often devious) real estate developers.

Mr. Trentelman begins his very instructive narrative with two Davis County examples of instances wherein developers have recently "baited" local officials into projects originally sold as trendy "walkable villages" -- and then subsequently "switched" -- into proposed plans reminiscent of the urban Big-box monstrosity, Riverdale, Utah.

Giant asphalt parking lots ARE "walkable," after all.

Mr. Trentelman has extensive experience reporting on the behavior of developers in northern Utah, having covered the "real estate developer beat" since the 1980's; and it's in this context that he offers some free and useful advice:

My advice to ... cities: Be ready to fight.

If worse comes to worst, be ready to tell the developer “No!” even if it kills the deal.

Because, believe it: Your cities’ futures are at stake, and developers watch out for
themselves first.

Mr. Trentelman then executes a smooth segue, and launches into a discussion of the past performance of one Emerald City developer wannabe who has a grand (and entirely self-serving) "community-friendly" plan for the revival of our heretofore sleepy Emerald City. Yesiree. It's "gondola boy" Chris Peterson he's talking about:

In October 1999, three years of negotiations on a multimillion-dollar land swap between Snowbasin Ski Resort and the U.S. Forest Service were just days from completion.

Peterson was Snowbasin owner Earl Holding’s real estate manager, so he was handling the negotiations.

This was huge.

Congress had ordered the swap; the fate of Top of Utah’s role in the 2002 Olympics rested on it.

When it looked like nothing could stop the deal, Peterson filed easements for a gondola line up Taylor Canyon.

What chutzpah.

Of all the properties in the deal, Taylor Canyon, with its commanding view of Ogden, its key links in the mountain trail system, was the jewel.

During talks, the Forest Service had insisted, repeatedly, that Taylor Canyon have no easements, no liens, no nothing.

Peterson filed the easements anyway, then told the Forest Service what he’d done.
Forest Service officials were blindsided, but reacted swiftly. The day the news broke, Wasatch-Cache Forest Supervisor Bernie Weingardt and Intermountain Regional Forester Jack Blackwell told Peterson and Holding that, without Taylor Canyon free and clear, there would be no land swap.

Both sides stared. Peterson and Holding blinked. The easements came off.

Did Peterson and Holding act illegally? No. Ethically?

You tell me.

Although the the Standard-Examiner editor who wrote the headline tried to "soften" Mr. Trentelman's point slightly, with the article title "Trouble developing? Reagan said it best: Trust but verify," we do not believe that Mr. Trentelman intended to convey the message, (in light of the reminder of Peterson's past performance,) that anyone should ever again "trust" Mr. Peterson.

Mr. Trentelman advises Farmington, Layton and Emerald City officials that they should be prepared to "fight like badgers." Mr. Trentelman however is a very nice man, and we think he was being overly polite.

Emerald City is an old blue collar town; and we're thus going to take the liberty of saying in old fashioned blue collar terminology what we think Mr. Trentelman really meant:

"A pox on you, Mr. Peterson -- and the horse you rode in on."

"The horse" in question... by the way, is Boss Godfrey.

And what say you, Weber County Forum badgers?