Standard Examiner Article - Powder Mountain Rezone Conditions - Ogden Valley Planning Commisison Meeting 11/29/2007

Publication:Standard Examiner;

Date:Nov 30, 2007;

Section:Front Page;

Page Number:1A

BY MARSHALL THOMPSON Standard-Examiner staff mthompson@standard.net 

    OGDEN - The Ogden Valley Planning Commission set down a list of conditions Thursday that Powder Mountain developers would have to meet before getting approval for a massive rezoning.

    One of the conditions stipulated by the commission was the creation of a second, permanent, all-season road to the resort. Currently, only one two-lane road from the Ogden Valley services the Powder Mountain area.

    The resort covers about 8,000 acres in Weber and Cache counties. The proposed rezone would allow for 805 singlefamily homes, 2,090 multiplefamily units, 500 hotel rooms, 11 corporate retreats, a 60,000-square-foot recreation center, a 40,000-square-foot equestrian center, a 40,000-square-foot air station, three lodges, two 18-hole golf courses and a fire station.

    Brooke Hontz, a Powder Mountain project manager, suggested in a previous meeting that the second road could head out of the resort from the east and connect eventually with State Road 39.

    To do that, however, it would have to cross through a conservation easement owned by a private group named Vista, said Commissioner William Siegel.

    Even though the county has a right of way, going through easement would mean litigation, he said.

    "Dealing with a conservation easement just gives me the willies when you think of putting a road through there."

    Ron Karpenko, of the Vista landowners association, said members opposed any kind of road or development on the land.

    "There has to be a road through Cache Valley," Siegel told Powder Mountain developers. He added that they should apply pressure if necessary.

    Cache County Commissioner Cory Yeates said there will not be a road to the resort from Cache Valley because its residents are so opposed to the idea.

    Mark Arnold, one of the owners of Powder Mountain, told the Standard-Examiner in an earlier interview that his group would "absolutely not" try to put in a road to Cache County.

    At the meeting Thursday, however, Hontz told Siegel, "There's no reason why we shouldn't look at that as well."

    Another condition of approval the commission discussed was a required buffer zone between any resort residential properties and the resort boundary where it is adjacent to state wildlife and federal lands.

    Commissioner Jamie Lythgoe is a member of the Cobabe family, which founded Powder Mountain and sold most of the resort to the current developers, Western America Holdings LLC, last year.

    However, the Cobabes retained about 215 acres of land within the resort boundaries. Although the rezone application does not affect the Cobabes' land, the buffer zone might.

    Lythgoe said she saw no reason to recuse herself.

    Because Powder Mountain is asking the commission for increased density on the land, it has agreed to keep open space and make conservation easements, Hontz said. The 215 acres of Cobabe land did not figure into those openspace areas, she clarified after the meeting.

    According to the Weber County Geo Gizmo, the online property database, another 40-acre parcel owned by Elkhorn, one of the Cobabes' companies, is within the resort boundaries.

    Hontz said that 40 acres did figure into the easements to justify the added density, but said the Geo Gizmo must be outdated. Lythgoe said she thought her aunt and uncle owned the land, not Elkhorn.

    Neither Hontz nor Lythgoe pointed out the disputed land to the rest of the commission. After the meeting, Scott Mendonza said he would doublecheck the ownership.

    "It has been represented that it's part of the project," he said.

    News of Lythgoe's possible conflict of interest caused her to make a full disclosure of land ownership last month. Without consulting a map or ownership records, Deputy County Attorney Chris Allred and the rest of the planning commission informally agreed not to ask Lythgoe to recuse herself.

    A conflict of interest occurs when a commission member benefits from the commission's actions, according to the Weber County Planning Commission Rules of Procedure and Ethical Conduct.

    Its rules state, "Benefit may be direct or indirect, create a material, personal gain or provide a distinct advantage to relations or to friends ..."

    During the public hearing on the Powder Mountain rezone Tuesday, Richard Webb, of Liberty, said he was still concerned about Lythgoe's independence. Commission Chairman Louis Cooper told him the matter had already been discussed.

    Despite residents' concerns, Arnold said in an earlier interview that he appreciated the fact Lythgoe will not skip this vote because of her unique expertise.

    "She knows about the ski industry," he said. "She knows about real estate, and she's driven that road (Powder Mountain Road) more than anyone else."

    The commission will reopen the public hearing on Powder Mountain during its next meeting, Dec. 10, at the Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd., Ogden.

    Commissioners will consider e-mails and letters received before 10 a.m. Tuesday.