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[#0000FF]Jeff Salt...founder of the "Friends of Utah Lake"...has an opinion article in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune. He is urging our guv'ner to not sign the narrowly approved bill for "redeveloping" Utah Lake.
[url "https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/03/21/commentary-hb272-should-be-vetoed-because-utah-lake-is-not-for-sale/"]LINK TO ARTICLE[/url]
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Wow That is scary to even think of loosing the land under the lake for payment of there debt to "Renovate" the lake. Wonder if letters to our local representatives would help?
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[#0000FF]Our "representatives" have already been put under the hype ether of the pseudo-restorationists. They already passed the bill. The question now is whether or not our governator will sign it.
My personal belief is that even if it is signed there are still some almost insurmountable obstacles to that private entity getting what they want. First they have to produce a believable environmental impact report. Then they have to get individual permits for each phase of the work they want to do. And not to be ignored is the financing. They don't got the money themselves and are relying totally on private investment...not taxpayer dollars.
AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I hate to disagree with you Pat, but if the Governor is stupid enough to sign this bill (which is not a stretch), it WILL happen. Maybe not soon enough for either of us to see it, but it will happen.
And trying to get your government reps to listen to ANYTHING they themselves didn't think of first is as fruitful as banging ones head against a concrete wall; it hurts like Hell and accomplishes absolutely nothing. [mad][/#][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
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[#0000FF]Sadly, I have to agree with your disagreement.
Still a long road from signing to lakefront property in the middle of Utah Lake.
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A few comments.
1. With Herbert's background being in real estate, I would be very surprised if he vetoed this. Additionally, during his administration, vetos have been fairly rare.
2. While I  ly admit that my "activism hat" has been in cold storage and I didn't talk directly to any legislators about this, I was told by some that even some of the legislators that voted for the bill don't believe it will happen, due to the obstacles involving environmental concerns. it is still concerning to me though that they are more than willing to cede away public lands to any smooth talking speculator. Says something about larger public lands issues that sportsmen face.
3. As for whether the project will eventually occur, I agree with Pat that it likely won't. The op-ed piece was well written and worth clicking on. The writer outlines a host of constitutional and legal challenges that would derail the bill. Opposition is already forming and legal battles will inevitably ensue. In addition to what the speaker talked about, the environmental issues presented by this project are enormous. The most obvious is the June sucker and the endangered species act. There is no way that dredging half of the lake, along with all of the other projects, will not negatively impact them. This alone would probably stop this project dead in its tracks. Other environmental issues can also be brought up and successfully litigated. Concerns about engineering are also profound and challengable, but Utah does have a track record of ignoring inconvenient truths to press forward with a building project, as evinced by all the houses sliding off of hillsides the past few years.
The thing about this though is that while I don't see the project happening and messing up UL as a fishery and recreation site, I do see passage of the bill wasting a lot of taxpayer (and private) money in long lasting court fights which enrich only the attorneys.
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Guys - this is highly unlikely. No one has even mentioned (forgotten?) that another little agency called the Corp of Engineers also has a bit to say. It’s called a 401 permit. If you MUST fill a wetland, last word was that the corps was asking for a 5 to 1 replacement.
The developer wants 10,000 acres of fill, so 50,000 acres of new wetland. That’s about 78 square miles (640 ac / sq mile).
So someone has to believe that this developer is going to buy 78 square miles somewhere near Utah Lake and then excavate that land to convert it to wetlands. Really?
That’s aside from all of the other obvious concerns.
Seems like a waste of staff time to even bother with this kind of nonsense.
The last time this came up was the non-economic sense toll bridge. The most basic calculations on traffic volume to cost, vs the developers projections showed utter nonsense.
How dumb would the State look with a partially built bridge or half started island development.
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"How dumb would the State look with a partially built bridge or half started island development."
[#0000FF]Rhetorical question?[/#0000FF]
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Well, the darn governor signed it. One domino down.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Well, there ya go; it would appear that Utah Lake actually IS for sale then. I guess the opinion of the Salt Lake Tribune doesn't count for squat.[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][mad] [crazy] [:p][/#800000][/font]
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Cynical me says some politicians are going to need steel suspenders. Because their pockets are a lot heavier now.
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[#0000FF]Here is an excerpt from the Tribune...saying that the signing was a permission...not a mandate.
I still think that it will never come to fruition.
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Also in the latest batch of bills, the governor signed [url "https://le.utah.gov/~2018/bills/static/HB0272.html"]HB272[/url], which could end up giving large sections of Utah Lake to developers if they can show creation of island subdivisions would improve the quality of the lake.
“Environmental rehabilitation of Utah Lake has long been an elusive but important goal,” the governor’s office said of the decision by Herbert, a former longtime Utah County commissioner.
“This bill is permissive, rather than mandatory; by signing this bill the governor is not endorsing a particular project, but he does not want to stand in the way of an innovative approach to improve the condition of Utah Lake.”
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[quote TubeDude][#0000FF]Here is an excerpt from the Tribune...saying that the signing was a permission...not a mandate.
I still think that it will never come to fruition.
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Also in the latest batch of bills, the governor signed [url "https://le.utah.gov/~2018/bills/static/HB0272.html"]HB272[/url], which could end up giving large sections of Utah Lake to developers if they can show creation of island subdivisions would improve the quality of the lake.
“Environmental rehabilitation of Utah Lake has long been an elusive but important goal,” the governor’s office said of the decision by Herbert, a former longtime Utah County commissioner.
“This bill is permissive, rather than mandatory; by signing this bill the governor is not endorsing a particular project, but he does not want to stand in the way of an innovative approach to improve the condition of Utah Lake.”[/quote]
[quote I earlier][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Well, there ya go; it would appear that Utah Lake actually IS for sale then. I guess the opinion of the Salt Lake Tribune doesn't count for squat.[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][mad] [crazy] [:p][/#800000][/font][/quote]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I rest my case.
P.S.: Pat - I have the boat all loaded and ready to go. Be gone most of April, but May is wide open for using your expert guide knowledge on said body of water. Provided, of course, that it isn't completely under private development by then. [cool][/#800000][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
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[#0000FF]I look forward to assaulting the denizens of Utah Lake in your new boat. It should be getting good by the time you get back.
Be sure to lay in a supply of C4 to help "navigate" around or through any new island obstacles...and maybe some RPGs to discourage paid for developers who want to challenge our enjoyment of "their" lake.
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