Powder Mountain Update: Two Northern Utah Newspapers Throw in Their Own $.02

The Salt Lake Tribune and Standard-Examiner editorial boards finally chime in on the Powderville brouhaha... at long last

By Curmudgeon

There appeared, Sunday and Monday, two editorials regarding the recent Powder Mountain Putsch. The first appeared in the Standard Examiner on Sunday, entitled "A Broken Process Displayed." [Yet oddly, it does not come up under "Editorials" on the paper's free site. Saturday's editorial appears, as does today's but none for Sunday. Curious.]

Here's how it opens:

On Tuesday, Top of Utah residents finally got to see up close and personal how big an egg their legislators laid in 2007. The Weber County Commission OK'd the incorporation of a town at Powder Mountain --- because, they said, the Legislature forced them into it.
Maybe. Then again... At the very least, it would be interesting to see what might have happened had the commissioners, each of whom expressed grave misgivings about the creation of a Powder Mountain town, refused to OK the incorporation."

Indeed it would have.

The editorial also notes that not a single incumbent Northern Utah legislator voted against the Developer's Dream Bill [HB 466] --- not one. Interesting editorial well worth reading and pondering. Too bad it's inexplicably not up on the paper's free website.

The second editorial appears this morning in the Salt Lake Tribune. Headline: "John and Jane Does should govern resort town". It too is well worth a look. From the editorial:

But the Weber commission members, when reviewing the resort's proposed list of council members last week, understandably balked at what could be an attempt by the resort to stack Powder Mountain's first town council with resort supporters. The list contained the minimum number of names to fill the council and mayor seats, denying the commission a choice.
Elections won't be held for two years, so the composition of the first council is important. It will lay the foundation upon which the town is built, enacting planning and zoning regulations and putting municipal services in place. So the County Commission is determined to seat a council that represents all residents, not just the resort owners, and is inviting residents to apply directly to the county for a council position....
So circle Aug. 19 on your calendar. That's the day of the showdown in the Weber County Commission's corral, when commission members may choose a council and mayor. The commissioners need to stick to their guns, and give the John and Jane Does of Powder Mountain control of their town.

The developer's hand-picked list of town council members and a mayor that the Commissioners [under the law] must pick from "could be an attempt by the resort to stack Powder Mountain's first town council with resort supporters." Could be? Gee, ya think?

The Trib's editorial board apparently believes that the Republican Weber County Commissioners have spines, despite all evidence to the contrary --- after all, they voted to deprive their constituents in the new Powder Mountain of all right of representation and the right to vote for two years. They whined a lot when they did it, but they did it. By unanimous vote. Have to wonder if the Trib reporter told the editors of the Commissioners hymns of praise for public-spiritedness of the developers' hand picked list of town officials.

But hey, miracles do happen. ['69 Mets for example]. Maybe this Halloween the Great Pumpkin will appear and visit the land's most sincere pumpkin patch. And who knows, maybe Trib's editors think the Tooth Fairy is real too.

We shall see.

Editor's Addendum: Our friends at Ogden Valley Forum also posted a thoughtful article on this topic yesterday. Be sure to check out the reader comments.