From the 9-15-11 Ogden Valley News
By Shanna Francis
Community members are still in the process of fighting the proposed Green Valley Academy, which developers want to build west of Huntsville Town off of Highway 39 at approximately 9091 E. 100 S.
A complaint with the State of Utah Division of Water Rights was filed earlier, asking the state to lower the amount of water filed on—13-acre-feet that will be drawn from the digging of a new well if the state doesn’t intervene. A hearing on the issue was held August 30, and a decision by the state should be announced by October.
At the hearing, residents explained that the owners of the parcel already own 12 shares of irrigation water, and that 13-acre-feet of water from a newly proposed well is excessive, since the parcel the well would supply water to is no larger than seven acres.
At the hearing with the state, representatives from Huntsville Water Company and the Green Hills neighborhood were in attendance, along with several other concerned neighbors whose wells may be affected if the new well is pursued. Neighbors contend that they have two main concerns. First, they are concerned about the proposed depth of the well, and volume of water that the developer wants to pull from the aquifer. They are concerned with how 13-acre-feet of water drawn from one groundwater source would impact their existing wells. At the hearing, neighbors also commented on their concern for groundwater contamination from the volume of sewage that will be generated from the proposed facility, and how this may also affect surrounding wells.
A legal battle is also being pursued by members of the community against Weber County regarding local government’s decision to approve the center for troubled juveniles, which could house up to approximately 36 youth plus supporting staff members for a total of 52 individuals on site at any given time.
The lawsuit stems from a procedural issue; at the time the county approved the proposed Green Valley Academy, petitioners claim there was no provision in Weber County’s ordinance for this type of center, as described by the developer. According to petitioners, if a specific use is not addressed in the county ordinances, it is not supposed to be allowed. Instead, the county approved the residential facility for youth, approving its construction on grounds that it was a “school,” which is allowed in an agricultural zone.
Kathy Peterson, a petitioner in the lawsuit, stated, “If this center is built, it won’t only change the complexion of the neighborhood where the developer wants to build the center, it will change the complexion of the entire Valley; this is a communitywide issue.”
Peterson continued, “I’m not against this type of facility, per se. But I am against this type of youth center being built in a residential area; it belongs in a commercial zone. I’m also against people coming in and bullying a community in an effort to get what they want through the use of threats and lawsuits. They also took advantage of a weak link in the county’s ordinance, and ran with it.”
A statement on the Ogden Valley Utah Forum blog site asks for the community’s support in fighting the construction of the Green Valley Academy in a residential area in the Valley. Peterson remarked, “If construction of the center is allowed in Huntsville, know that it could then happen in any other neighborhood in the Valley; the path will have been cleared for similar facilities in other Valley neighborhoods.”
