Tuesday, November 13, 2007

People's Referendum Fails

Regrettably, too many listened to the propaganda by Boyer/Walmart outspending the local citizenry by probably 50 to 100 to one. (as predicted) The valiant effort by the citizens' referendum failed to stop the Big Box behemoth, proving once again that massive advertising campaigns with cutesy slogans seem to work (e.g. $900,000 benefits).

On the positive side there will be some new faces on the Council in January.

HOWEVER, the final decision has not been made on the design of the development. A few things can still be done to soften the blow to the Valley.

Especially with the 20 units per acre (or more) which will be requested under the newly approved zone. Explanations and lobbying must be offered to the Planning Commission and City Council members on at least TWO items:
  1. Planning for the location of the Bypass must be made BEFORE approving the Boyer Project.
  2. A proper fiscal IMPACT analysis must be made on the COSTS of the entire project (including housing) to Wasatch County residents (which all Heber residents are) - including potential education and school construction costs. Any benefits (sales tax) should be based on population - NOT on sq ft of the proposed stores. It would seem likely that a store in a market of 22,000 will not have the same revenue as one in a large metropolitan area.
They also should be reminded that just because MURCZA may ALLOW 20 per acre and 150K sq ft, Heber does NOT have to allow these maximums. The project should be built to conform with the general plan AND the wishes of the community. The vote, while legally binding, represented less than 23% of the registered Heber voters and barely 10% of County voters.

Hardly an overwhelming mandate!!

ALL county residents WILL be affected by this development.

Recommended/required for all concerned:
  • The MURCZ code itself (Voter Info pamphlet)
Previous posting on this blog may also be helpful.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Regrettably, too many listened to the propaganda by Boyer/Walmart ...campaigns with cutesy slogans seem to work (e.g. $900,000 benefits)."

I'm not sure you can claim for sure that walmarts $$$ (advertising) only convinced people to vote in favor of the referendum. The ads seemed a bit smug for me. It's possible they might have worked against as well as for them by informing people Walmart is banging on the door.