The time is short. I encourage all Summit County voters to sign the petition to get the question of the Dakota Pacific project on the November ballot.
Signing the petition will not nix this ill-conceived project, but it will provide Summit County residents with the opportunity to override the misguided decision of our unresponsive County Council. The deadline for the gathering 4,554 signatures is March 3. The good news is that we are halfway there.
“Protect Summit County” (protectsummitcounty.org) is the valiant grassroots organization spearheading support for the referendum. The website explains: “A ballot referendum refers to a process where citizens can vote directly on whether to approve or reject a specific law that has already been passed by the County Council.”
If you overbuild it, they won’t come. Opposition to the Dakota Pacific over-development plan is likely the most galvanizing issue across the political spectrum in our county. Yet our unresponsive County Council has presumed that they know what is best and have co-opted the scheme under the gossamer of “fairness and equity.” For it that seems one can propose construction of a nuclear waste facility, a dog and cat meat processing plant or a HAMAS training camp in our county, and it would be approved providing that there was a set-aside for subsidized housing.
The Faustian bargain of subsidized housing is that in many cases the owners are prohibited from enjoying the chief benefit of home ownership: appreciation. Oftentimes, profit is annually capped at 3%. Appreciation is the rung required to move up the property ladder. How big is the appreciation?For example, recently I did a Zillow search of our first home. Our $47,000 starter home of almost 40 years ago is now Zillestimated at $289,000. That’s a sixfold increase of what you won’t get.
I attended several council meetings concerning Dakota Pacific. Then the council moved to closed sessions followed by council’s epiphany of orchestrating additional open public meetings as the council wanted to get the pulse of We the People. Were the meetings in good faith or was it just theater to pacify the masses? Meanwhile, back in the smoky room, state legislators intervened, let home rule be damned and sought consensus by edict, thus fast tracking Dakota Pacific’s approval.
KPCW reported on “sabotage” of the referendum momentum. There is a counter group: the Wasatch Back Future. The Wasatch Back Future is a political issues committee advocating residents not to sign or remove their signatures from the petition.
The Wasatch Back Future is herbicide to the grassroots upswell. It is the unholy alliance of the developer, former County Councilor Glen Wright, veteran Councilor Chris Robinson and affordable housing advocate/single issue councilor Megan McKenna and others. With AOC-like logic, Wasatch BackF uture tries to convince the peasantry of the attributes of this housing leviathan.
1. As a result of a massive increase of traffic, the Utah DOT will widen the road. Net gain zero.
2. The housing density will be so concentrated that there will be little space left over to shoehorn in parks and bike paths.
3. It could have been worse; so the council steadfastly acquiesced to the out-of-town state legislators who forced the debacle.
4. It was agreed that the developer would pay for infrastructure improvements. However, according to KPCW, Dakota Pacific’s contributions are capped at about $3.75 million; beyond that we the people, pick up the tab.
So please get up and get out and sign. For signature locations email [email protected]
Jerry Heck
Oakley