About

This blog is edited by Kim Wheatley, an Ogden Valley resident of Weber County.

I began the blog August, 2018 with the purpose of informing the people of Ogden Valley about the forthcoming change to an "optional" form of Weber County government. Of course, it concerns all residents of Weber County but beware the posts are from an Ogden Valley perspective.

Wheels are in motion to change our form of county government, beginning with a petition underway since the spring of 2018. The options are complex, the process for change is complex, and already the whole is thing is being driven by current and former politicians. Hopefully this blog will help you understand the issues because you will soon be asked to vote for a study, then to vote for a change.

Kim

Popular posts from this blog

County Commissioners put study question on the ballot

At the September 12, 2018 Weber County Commission meeting our commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to put the "whether to study" question on the November, 2019 ballot. In December 2017 the commissioners committed to put the study question on the ballot if the Weber County Forward citizens petition failed to get enough signatures and yesterday they followed through.  Here is a link to the SE article covering the historic event. What happens next? This means Weber County voters will vote next year on "Shall a study committee be appointed to consider and possibly recommend a change in Weber County's form of government?" This question failed with 52% of the vote against in 1998, the last time it was on the ballot. If voters approve going ahead with a study of county government, an all-important "Study Committee" will be chosen to conduct the study. Here is how they are selected. First, an "Appointment Council" is designated; th
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Land use planning in an optional form of Weber County government

Over the decades, different County Commissions of our three-commissioner form of Weber County government have dealt with land use planning in Ogden Valley quite differently. Prior to about 1998, we were allowed to elect our planning commissioners and I don't recall the county commissioners ever overriding a decision of our "Township Planning Commissions" (we had three). Then around 2000, the county commissioners eliminated the township scheme and created a single appointed  Planning Commission for Ogden Valley (another one for the rest of unincorporated Weber County). Now for almost two decades of this approach we have seen County Commissions sometimes agree with the decisions of our Planning Commission (most of the time) and sometimes reverse them entirely. I certainly remember the recent override of our General Plan...from "NO bonus density" to "bonus density if...". Currently, it works like this: Our Planning Commission makes recommendations to th
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