The Mountain Accord: Taking Utah County water and land with no representation!

June 28th 2015

The Mountain Accord: Taking Utah County water and land with no representation!

June 28th 2015: An open Letter from Utah County

Dear Mountain Accord,

Things just aren’t working out for us here. We need to call it off. We don’t want to dance with you in this dysfunctional relationship anymore. You keep wanting to come over and play with our 416 acres of land in American Fork Canyon, and we said no, go home. We asked nicely, we’ve had friends ask nicely, we are starting to worry about your pattern here.

You looked pretty good for awhile, until we learned you have burned through $3.2M and have nothing to show for it. Now we understand why you want to hang your hat on our bed post and why 416 acres are so important to you. But sorry for your toxic mess, we think it best you stay on your side of the mountain… wish you the best of luck with that and success but just not with our land.

The more we get to know you, your extended family and past history, the more we realize, its time for us to have a clean break. We can still be friends, but there are too many red flags, so sorry, I must call it off. I will wish you well. Don’t call us, we’ll call you after we’ve had some open public meetings with our elected officials, conflicts of interests declared, and regular citizens added to our steering committee. We hope our elected officials who have accepted money from Snowbird will recuse themselves from our processes going forward.

You can read my diary entry below, its sordid and convoluted and kind of hard to understand, but there are videos, links to GRAMA requests and much more. Hope you will at least know we will launch our public processes this coming week.

We have Utah County Commissioner Bill Lee and State Auditor John Dougall that will help us clean house and put order to the chaos you have created for us. Please don’t climb over our mountain again. We will get back to you if we think someday, we might negotiate a deal with Snowbird, we have some smart folks on our side of the mountain… show em a little respect is what I guess I am asking. Truly.. I once thought you were so handsome and charming, but now, it seems you are a bully. Telling many that if I don’t wed with you, that the sky will fall, the chicken will stop laying eggs, the mailbox will fall over and that somehow it will be my fault.

Sorry, not going to play that way. Turn your dial back from when you decided you wanted my 416 acres, and thats where you can start your negotiations with Mr. Snowbird. We will figure out how to protect our canyon and then if Mr. Snowbird wants to visit with our elected leaders he can do so through the front gate, don’t just walk in, but remember to ring the bell.

I’ve met another suitor, but things aren’t looking to good there either. His name is AFCVision and truly he seems to be a cousin of yours. I’m not sure that is the gene pool that would be best for me in the long run. He was funded by Snowbird for $50k. Our County Commissioner received his largest contribution for re-election from Snowbird. AFCVision is allowing Snowbird on their steering committee.. we don’t think this is looking very healthy either.

You might want to see how Suzy Solitude, or Bertha Brighton are doing they might want to play. We are weary of your games.

No hard feelings, but keep it on the other side of the mountain.

Sincerely,

Protect and Preserve American Fork Canyon
Mountain Accord is trying to negotiate taking water from your cities, and land from our canyon. We need you!

Our mailing address is:
Protect & Preserve American Fork Canyon
Po Box 1928
Orem, Ut 84059

Protect and Preserve American Fork Canyon

P.S. My real diary of sordid events can be found here.. but you will need a snack while you read it.. on second thought it might make you sick to your stomach.. it has mine.

Website:www.americanforkcanyon.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAmericanForkCanyon

PPS. Meeting details are here for meetings that are important
https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAmericanForkCanyon/events

Please attend if possible. Let your concerns be heard.

Monday 8am-10am AFCVision Cedar Hills
https://www.facebook.com/events/575994229208496/

**Wed night American Fork High School 6pm-10pm details below
https://www.facebook.com/events/436856399825992/
Copyright © 2015 Protect & Preserve American Fork Canyon,
All rights reserved.

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Dear Citizen,

My name is Mark Allen, I started a grass roots Facebook group that is 6 weeks old and nearly 6000 strong. Utah County lands are at risk and elected officials didn’t see this coming, or the ones who did, have pretended its business as usual.

I have tried to condense 18 months of happenings into one email. Its a bit long, but perhaps will help you understand some crazy dynamics.  Snowbird wants to expand in Mineral Basin- that is fine. They have private land. What is not fine, will take a bit to understand. We try and get those who have been in the midst of the issues to go on camera to tell the stories, they decline, but our team of volunteers has done the best we can, no malice, volunteering to get to the truth and to allow Utah County to have a clean break from Mountain Accord and also AFCVision- the child process from an bad / conflicted marriage.I believe that there is a dysfunctional relationship between Mountain Accord and AFCVision.
  1. Snowbirds money funded AFCVision $50k.
  2. Snowbird was Commissioner Larry Ellertsons largest donor in 2012 $3500.00.
  3. Snowbird is on the AFCVision steering committee.
  4. Mountain Accord allowed no Utah County representation, but is now working to encumber 416 acres of Utah County lands into what is called a federal NEPA study.. at the end of our processes we are working to put in play, perhaps the 416 acres will be rolled into a NEPA study, but it should be the choice of Utah County citizens, not Mountain Accord- which is not even a legal entity.
  5. Utah County needs to break free from Mountain Accord and perhaps AFCVision and have a clean start.
  6. In my view AFCVision and Larry Ellertson should return the money Snowbird gave to them and then recuse themselves from participating in any events, meetings, opportunities to influence the outcome for Snowbird.Take the survey after you have studied up a bit. What should we do from here forward?  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SDTM2Q7
  7. As you read along, just keep the story of Br’er Rabbit in mind. This is my opinion as founder of Protect and Preserve American Fork Canyon. I do believe I speak for the majority, but there are a half dozen who have said, they love the idea of Snowbird expanding into Mineral Basin. The cost/analysis of that idea needs to be determined down the way. Perhaps down the way, there will be a hundred high end homes in the canyon, but if it happens, it should happen with an integrity based, democratic process where citizens can protest, or participate. Snowbird is not wanting to allow that to happen. That is basically why I got involved. The more I have learned the more I realize this could be the largest land grab in the history of skiing. We want open public process. We want our elected officials who have taken money from Snowbird to have no influence in outcome for Snowbird.
  8. $500k ask for Gondola  Cedar Hills Mayor Gygi, Representative Kennedy-http://americanforkcanyon.com/watch-video-2/500k-pitch-american-fork-gondola-eis-study-mayor-gygi-representative-kennedy/
  9. County Commissioner Larry Ellertson – Snowbird $3500 campaign contribution http://americanforkcanyon.com/grama-request/possible-conflicts-of-interest-in-mineral-basin-snowbird/
  10. AFCVision process in Utah County $50k funded by Snowbird [item #3] http://afcvision.com/faq/ 
  11. Snowbird is on the steering committee in Utah County, but our people were excluded from their processes in Mountain Accord http://afcvision.com/faq/ 
 .
What is at stake? Pristine viewsheds – the last un-commercialized canyon along the Wasatch
Watch Willie Holdman video which showcases why we fight https://youtu.be/m1bxhsYWoUI The Crown Jewel Video
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We suggest Snowbirds expansion into Mineral Basin is a bad idea – married to a bad process- which happened when someone left the back door open in the middle of the night –Snowbird you fell in love public lands help us protect them.  You have a big resort. We can go to 8 resorts within an hour drive. What we only have one left of.. is a pristine canyon where people hike, bike, ride horses, 4×4, fish, hunt, canoe, camp.. and they do it for free. What can you add to this? 
  • View this to help understand what is at stake. Bob Bonars big plans one day, the next they are different. Take 2 aspirin and call us in the morning. https://youtu.be/R5JhJ9xnkVg
Now we are really confused. Which is it Bob Bonar?
 
Bob Bonar telling us to get involved in the process

Bob Bonar telling us he wont stop the process
Tell us why this is a good idea again-Bob Bonar responds?

Flip Flop, Flop Flip.. if your head is not spinning by now.. well.. buckle up.. there is more.
Snowbird, save us all some time. What are your intentions with Utah County lands, and water? 
Why do you deal via backdoor approaches, bring it through the front door. Why do you double talk and flip flop?

HEY FOREST SERVICE – HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST TAX PAYERS?
PLEASE DO A STUDY BEFORE ENCUMBERING UTAH COUNTY RESIDENTS and before the NEPA decision.
Please require Snowbird to submit formal built out plans to the Mountain Accord teams before any land swaps are even considered being rolled into any NEPA study and stop wasting our time guessing what card you hold behind your back.
 
For those who are already hammered from reading.. here is a short cut. Simply put, if you want to come to meetings and piece things together yourself- sign up for our email list / newsletter and we will invite you to meetings that we really think citizens need to attend.If you want answers.. go directly to the sources. This is an email list of 300 of the influencers from Mountain Accord
http://americanforkcanyon.com/email-my-elected-officials/mountain-accord-email-list/

If you want to alert your city leaders here is an email list of elected Utah county officials
 
If you think Commissioner Ellertson should recuse himself, email him and the other Commissioners as well as the news media.
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Larry Ellertson
larrye@utahcounty.gov
801-851-8133.If you want to ask the media to dig deeper and do an investigative report we think there interesting stories to be told
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Torin Koos tkoos@ksl.com

Debbie Dujanovik ddujanovic@ksl.com
NCrow@abc4.com 

Barbara Christiansen <BChristiansen@heraldextra.com>,
Cathy Allred <callred@heraldextra.com>,
Danny Crivello <crivello@me.com>,
Deseret News <news@desnews.com>,
Salt Lake Tribune <newsroom@sltrib.com>,
KSL News <news@ksl.com>,
KUTV News <newsdesk@kutv2.com>,
Fox 13 News <news@fox13now.com>,
KTVX News <news@abc4.com>,
BYUtv <byutv@byu.edu>

To sign up for our email list . www.americanforkcanyon.com

 . 
 LESSONS FROM UNCLE REMUS
The Tar-Baby is a fictional character in the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881; it is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br’er Rabbit. The more that Br’er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes.
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About 6 weeks ago we heard rumors of plans that Snowbird had to commercialize American Fork Canyon. What we know now and In our opinion and to do so, in a cost effective manner they need contiguous land which affords easier access. Past County Commission suggested that Snowbird operate from the Little Cottonwood Canyon side we agree with this. Momentum from a processes called Mountain Accord has created a perfect storm for Snowbird.
 .
EVER HEAR THE STORY OF The Br’er Rabbit fighting the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes. In modern usage, “tar baby” refers to any “sticky situation” that is only aggravated by additional involvement in it. In one tale, Br’er Fox constructs a doll out of a lump of tar and dresses it with some clothes. When Br’er Rabbit comes along he addresses the tar “baby” amiably, but receives no response. Br’er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the Tar-Baby’s lack of manners, punches it, and in doing so becomes stuck. The more Br’er Rabbit punches and kicks the tar “baby” out of rage, the worse he gets stuck. Now that Br’er Rabbit is stuck, Br’er Fox ponders how to dispose of him. The helpless but cunning Br’er Rabbit pleads, “but please, Br’er Fox, don’t fling me in dat brier-patch,” prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Br’er Rabbit escapes.

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How I got involved?
One day 6 weeks ago, life was slower paced. I read an article found here.
http://www.thecrossroadsjournal.com/American-Fork-Canyon-Invaded-by-Snowbird.htmlAfter which I thought.. thats a bummer, beautiful canyon is going to be invaded and there is nothing we can do about it. An hour later I re-read the article and set it aside. An hour later I wondered if I might do something to cause change. I started a FB group that took off, invited Willie Holdman and others to help get the word out about what looked to potentially have very high impact to the last pristine viewshed in the Wasatch. Our FB group we quickly grew. Within a very short time we had 600 people, now 6 weeks later we are nearly 6000 strong..We started to ask elected officials what was going on in Mineral Basin and with Snowbird, we quickly learned we knew more than every mayor we contacted.. that was problematic. Our team put together some social media outreach tools.
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People love AF Canyon. People want a voice in planning the future of AF Canyon. Mountain Accord has overstepped their charter and geographical jurisdiction, and its plain wrong. Read on please.
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BACKSTORY- The best I can piece together.. perhaps not perfect but we are doing our best.
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From what we can piece together. About 18 months ago there was a group formed called MountainAccord – they are not a legal entity, just people who now wield tremendous influence by nature of their occupations or positoin. They were given about $3M in funding to create some plans .. more can be learned here. www.mountainaccord.comGood men, women, well intentioned non-profits and business leaders came together from three counties, {Salt Lake, Summit, and Wasatch ] for noble reasons and to craft long term boundaries / visions – a framework to protect lands and to put fences around the resort sprawl and one off land trades by resorts etc. that have been highly problematic to watershed and recreation. [They didn’t know what a mere 416 acres Snowbird would ask for late in the game could become.. we will give them the benefit of the doubt and so they went along, beyond the point of no return many have expressed.]
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Mountain Accord has worked diligently and earnestly to protect some vital lands in Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood canyons. We salute this. They have very sharp people involved, they have spent est. $3M over this timeframe to lead all the entities to “accord”. What has evolved is Mountain Discord and some middle ground..The MA charter /  jurisdiction only included Salt Lake, Wasatch and Summit counties. Utah County was excluded. Elected officials in Utah county didn’t pay attention to the processes to the north from a non-legal entity. Well, why should they right?.From the best we can gather, late in the negotiations [perhaps Feb. 2014 time frame ] Snowbird indicated they would give up to 1400 acres that the backcountry users value highly, in trade for a mere 416 acres. The catch.. the land is in Utah County. A net loss of 1000 pristine viewshed acres.. one must wonder why. I did..

How I see it. My opinion only… but I am not alone in this. I have mayors and other high level elected leaders that have encouraged me to get the story out. I feel it my obligation to do so, but in all honesty… I’d rather take a nap its Sunday afternoon and I’ve been on this now for weeks on end. Yet.. AF Canyon needs protections. Once the process is in play. I will step back, take my naps. Our team will go back to our regular lives, but will participate if asked to join in, or we will support those who are elected and nominated to help protect the canyon.
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Problem #1.
Mountain Accord Executives in my opinion failed at that moment in time to put the skids on their processes. For reasons we don’t understand those on the Mountain Accord steering committee allowed these terms to be rolled into negotiations. In my view this is the root of all problems flowing forward.
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Problem #2.
They didn’t reach out to Utah County elected officials to be part of the negotiations. They have had 6 months in which to do so. Why exclude Utah County?
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Problem #3.
Its now been 6 months and still the MA executives persist on including Utah County land in their recommendations which will soon be rolled into a federal NEPA study.. we don’t want to be in that until our leaders understand what that means. The executives seemingly continue to lay low, advancing the march forward.. Why so?
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Enter in Problem #4.
At some point in time [unknown] Snowbird then gave $50k to start an outreach process in Utah County called AFCVision by way of MAG, Mountainland Association of Governments. We have heard Snowbird led out on this, we have heard Snowbird was approached for the money. We don’t have that data point locked down yet, but when asked about it even Bob Bonar wasn’t sure.
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MEET SNOWBIRDS BOB BONAR
Gondola funding / recommended viewing

.AFCVision started some canyon surveys for usage etc. but their narrative was missing one thing- Snowbird wants Utah County lands. Also missing was an effective outreach.. they continue to cancel events. They have 150 on their FB page. They started their outreach the same time we did.  http://afcvision.com/schedule/

.One would think that employees of MAG would have an obligation to alert our elected officials that they would inform citizens at their public outreach that  Br’er Fox was a coming. 

.Enter in Problem #5

.Representative Kennedy and Cedar Hills Mayor Gygi- hit up the state legislature for $500k to do a Gondola Study in American Fork. The pitch made it sound like all the elected officials thought it a good idea. They got $100k from the ask. That money went to help fund AFCVision, in that pitch they speak to interconnected resorts, gondolas, and as they are speaking for a the majority. We would like to understand who they were referring to in their pitch as “we”. They got $100k of tax dollars, which has leveraged the process to keep moving forward, kind of like a tar baby I proffer.
.Enter in Problem #6
Those in charge of the AFCVision process didn’t sound the alarm that Mountain Accord – with millions spent- nothing to show- were now hungry for Utah County lands. The silence from AFCVision has afforded Mountain Accord time. Why did they not rise up, speak up, and help protect Utah County lands?  Ask them http://afcvision.com/contact/
.Problem #7.
The Upcoming Mountain Accord vote on July 13th to include Utah County Lands into a NEPA study… If you don’t like that idea. This link will take you to 300 of the influencers in Mountain Accord. I recommend you email every one of them and tell them to cut Utah County lands free.On July 13th Mountain Accord will vote on whether or not to include 416 acres of Utah County lands into the next phase, a federal phase called NEPA. That phase will limit, hamper or eliminate our local leaders from steering the boat.
.That is Problem #8.
We believe in local control..On June 16th, our group invited Snowbirds Bob Bonar to present his “vision” of American Fork Canyon. He shared ideas that ranged from a 5 mile gondola at Tibble Fork to that of a build out of homes on Miller Hill. With nearly 3,000 acres of land in the canyon, and with recent zoning changes – one house per 20 acres. Snowbird could potentially build up to 150 mansions up in the most pristine viewshed, watershed in the Wasatch. We cherish these lands, they draw 1.2M visitors each year, and that has value beyond mere commercialism..Bob shares some ideas here that really alarmed our County Commissioner Bill Lee. Public Works Director Dale Goodman from American Fork and then users of the canyon.  Snowbird is the largest private land owner in Mineral basin, yet the public has the other 99% of the lands..
https://youtu.be/O3vi9e434Z4.Why would Snowbird be willing to downtrade from 1400 acres, to 486 acres? We believe that would reduce development costs for the land. Its much easier for garbage truck, septic trucks, cement trucks to drive up American Fork Canyon to the jobsite, than it would be for them to come over the top of 11,000′ Hidden Peak.

.So.. that small acreage has tremendous potential – its appears to be the trigger piece for a [potentially estimated in our minds[ billion dollar expansion. 150 homes x $8M= lots of money. We are not sure American Fork Canyon can afford Bob Bonar and Snowbird.

.We have heard Snowbird now say, that they would retire some lands, or down trade again for a small 100 acre parcel.. hmmm.. why would a business man, down trade from 1400 acres to 416 to 100?  Well, Bob said in his video at Fox Hollow that a tram has been done before. How much land is needed for a tram base? Perhaps about 100 acres?

.June 23rd Utah County Commissioners listened to concerned citizens. County Commissioner Larry Ellertson was dismissive and hard on citizens trying to get concerns heard. Commissioner Bill Lee engaged with the public and afforded them time to share concerns. Commissioner Ellertson was in my view a real disappointment to public process. I was horrified how he treated his peers, it made no sense why he was so oppositional to his peers, to the subject at hand, to clapping in the audience. He did all he could to divert, deflect and quash our concerns.
.Commissioner Bill Lee, a new Commissioner injected himself into the equation, took some unnecessary harshness from Ellertson, and then turned the time over to the citizens..This showdown during public comments was puzzling.. until the following week when a document surfaced showing Snowbird was Commissioner Ellertsons largest campaign donor in 2012. http://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/ClerkAud/Data/Minutes/CANDFINDISCCOMMISSC/2012/Ellertson102912.pdf.
.Tell your elected officials how you feel about Commissioner Ellertson engaging in Snowbird related efforts from 2012 to present. What advice would you give Commissioner Ellertson? make it part of the public record. We are concerned that public perception and trust will go to a new low in Utah County unless Larry Ellertson does three things [1] Return the money [2] Recuse himself from being on the AFCVision steering committee [3] Pass the baton to Bill Lee to take the lead.  [4] Pass a resolution to protect County Borders [5] Turn County attorneys loose to protect our borders. 
.Greg Graves

Bill Lee

Larry Ellertson

.Please cc us at protectAFCanyon@gmail.com what you think needs to happen to make the public have trust in the processes forward. 

.After other business, the public was allowed to comment. American Fork Councilman Brad Frost lead out and stood with courage on this day, imploring County Commissioners to engage with the enemy and to protect our borders.  https://youtu.be/TnbmMtepK3U
.All three Commissioners agreed in principal to look into this and to craft a resolution.June 24th American Fork City passed a resolution to protect American Fork Canyon
.http://americanforkcanyon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2015-06-17R-Environmental-Stewardship-of-AF-Canyon.pdfWhere we are today?.Mountain Accord just released their draft 3.0, which even after tremendous outcry from citizens and elected officials, this plan still includes Utah County lands 416 of em. Why?.Our view is.. there has been in excess of $3M spent to bring “accord” to processes and negotiations in SL, Wasatch and Summitt Counties. They presently have nothing tangible to show for this. Snowbird is not willing to have Utah County truly involved in a Utah County democratic process. See Video-.AFCVision has not been effective in Utah County outreach- their storyline absent that Snowbird is hungry for Utah County expansion. http://mountainaccord.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/AFCV-Funding-Request.pdf.AFCVision wants more money suggesting that Protect and Preserve is problematic to their successes. We’ve not seen anything tangible produced yet by AFCVision, they have told us they will produce something this coming week . AFCVisions has 150 people they don’t engage with on their FB page. We have steered our group to fill out their surveys and engage with them to help them be effective, now they whine about engagement. IF you want to engage with them you can do so at http://afcvision.com/ 

.http://americanforkcanyon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Steering-Agenda-and-Packet.pdf.

 .Our elected officials are now on alert and taking measures to protect our county borders and rights to decide what happens in our back yard. They began by asking SL mayor Ben McAdams and others to reign in Mountain Accord.. no response. The Mountain Accord Tar Baby persists in including our lands in their NEPA process against the will of the people. Mayor McAdams, should you ever run for Governor, we will remember how you responded with wilflul neglect to the pleas of Utah County citizens and elected leaders. Get the Hell out of our backyard. Pull your team out of our county. Why does he allow the process to advance at the expense of Utah County elected officials, citizens and American Fork Canyon.WHAT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED- IS SIMPLE
.Mountain Accord hit the rewind button to moments before the 416 acres were added to the negotiations. Remove Utah County lands from your recommendations for the NEPA study. FAILURE TO DO so might become the basis for our county attorney to take this to a new level. This feels at times like environmental blackmail and a forced marriage. Many good men and women, who have fought to protect lands in their drainages to the north of us, now have a decision to make.
.Problem #9.
How to vote. Do they vote to ensnare 416 acres of Utah County lands in the upcoming July 13th meeting / vote and attach themselves to Utah County.
.Problem #10.
What will that mean to Utah County tax payers, families who like to recreate in the canyon?
Snowbird Utah County might not be able to afford to date you. You look too expensive and too hungry.
.Problem #11.
No elected officials were part of the negotiations, so Ben McAdams is in a position to quickly resolve things. We hope he will. He should pull Mountain Accord back. No elected official has the right to encumber their downstream neighbor. We are calling upon Mayor McAdams to step up and show some leadership. If he won’t protect Utah County, how can he aspire to be governor? What some are suggesting and we agree. Get back in your yard. Lets build a better fence.

.Mountain Accord, pull your people back into your jurisdiction. Rewind your past negotiations to 5 minutes before someone put 416 acres on the bargaining table. That is where you begin your Draft 4.0 proposal for your lands to go into a NEPA study. Leave our lands out.

.On July 1st 2015 at American Fork High School 6pm-10pm.

.Commissioner Lee and State Auditor John Dougal. What we hope will become the cleaned up, honorable process -like what was done to clean up the winter Olympics in 2002 begins. A clean start, refocus on American Fork and the whole drainage. This will set the stage for Snowbird to negotiate with our steering committees, comprised of our elected officials, business leaders, and citizens. Problem #8
.Problem #12
Its been suggested that AFCVision should return the $50k that Snowbird gave to being the vision process. Well intentioned or not, it does not pass our sniff test.
.Problem #13
Its been suggested that Utah County Commissioner Larry Ellertson should return the $3500 that Snowbird contributed in 2012 to his campaign and recuse himself from any and all Snowbird, Mineral Basin, AF Canyon, North Utah County rezoning issues. Areas that have been rezoned which could benefit Snowbirds expansion in Mineral Basin or in Alpine should potentially be looked at by fresh eyes. https://youtu.be/O3vi9e434Z4 Commissioner Bill Lee video comments
.Problem#14
In our view – the persisting hesitation on the part of Mountain Accord to do the right thing, to withdraw lands from their proposed NEPA process is highly problematic. Akin to a forced marriage and if we don’t go along with it, the sky will fall, the neighbors chicken will stop laying eggs, the mailbox will fall over and it will be Utah Counties problem that Mountain Accord imploded. This is not a fair position for anyone to take.  This passive aggressive bullying tactic is out of place and goes against all that is right in American.. it is so very wrong. Why do they persist?Well.. now we are hearing that if the 416 acres is pulled out, the Mountain Accord processes might implode. That is not what we want to see happen. Stephen Covey “Win-Win, or no deal”. Perhaps the moment integrity in the Mountain Accord process was compromised was the moment in time 416 acres was rolled into their paper trail. Someone should hit the delete key.
.Simple really. Remove about 10 sentences from your draft, hit the reset button on where you were at in time, and complete MA negotiations, absent Utah County Lands. After Utah County has gone through the processes here, perhaps then Snowbird can negotiate with our Utah County task force and executive steering committees.TAX PAYER BUDGETS CAN’T AFFORD SNOWBIRD
Snowbirds invasion is perhaps more than Utah County can afford. Water masters have been contacted, Irrigation companies have been contacted. How would our communities develop if we sell water off? Who would pay for infrastructure for roads beyond Tibble Fork. What about the increased traffic in a narrow corridor that is already having 1.2M visitors per year.
.The physical features of the canyon, narrow road, might be the best asset in saving the canyon, a natural gate that protects it from being loved to death. These questions need critical conversations. We hope that you will join with us. Sign up for our newsletter and email list. www.americanforkcanyon.com
.We may not be 100% accurate with details of what has transpired in the previous 18 months in the land to the north but we think we have a pretty good idea and we can say resolutely -Mountain Accord we don’t want to date you. We have been seeing redflags along the way and you have been abusive to our community, bullish, disregarding our County elected officials to back off.
.Your outreach and processes are akin to the Tar Baby, so very toxic and sticky so.. please don’t throw us into the briar patch. In due time, we can negotiate with Snowbird on our own accord, we might then barter some to your benefit if you can grow up and behave properly and with integrity. Mayor Ben McAdams, under your leadership this is out of control. Your leadership and legacy will be attached to how you reign in your people or they trample our rights under your watch. You best move quickly on this. Utah County has a tremendous effect at election time. We will fight to protect our borders and your name will be known for good or bad as this moves forward.
.Simply solve this problem. Remove about 10 sentences from your documents that involve lands in Utah County.
Rewind your negotiations to the moment in time your teams blew it. That was when you included our Utah County property in your negotiations. Use that as a starting point. We encourage our elected officials to sign conflict of interest forms, to recuse themselves if needed to allow public trust to be established going forward. We will do our own process. We don’t want you to court us anymore. We need to take a break and look at things with fresh eyes, we hope you will understand.
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COMING EVENTS
.AFCVision – meeting tomorrow Monday June 29th 8am-10am

AMERICAN FORK CANYON VISION IS HAVING A STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING. We were not invited, but we had a mayor alert us to this. We asked if we could come and so we have invited all of our FB group to join in the conversation.  THEY WANT MORE MONEY

.Cedar Hills
Monday June 29th 8-10 AM
CEDAR HILLS COMMUNITY CENTER
10640 N CLUBHOUSE DRIVE

.WE THINK THIS IS IMPORTANT and ask that you attend, help maintain transparency and openness. We would like to see the members of the AFCVision vetted. AFCVision was funded by Snowbird. There should be none on the steering committee in our view that have been recipients of Snowbird money in the past, this includes our County Commissioner Larry Ellertson who we suggest recuse himself and allow Commissioner Bill Lee to take the helm forward.AMERICAN FORK CITY RESOLUTION HERE
American Fork Councilman Brad Frost has led out in holding our County Commissioners to protect our borders. American Fork Mayor and the council passes a resolution recently to help fortify community resolve to protect the canyon. 

.NEWSLETTER SIGN UP HERE
To stay informed of future meetings related to American Fork Canyon you can look here.
https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAmericanForkCanyon/events [there are a handful or really important key meetings this week listed here]

 .TAKE ACTION NOW
If you are upset about what is taking place. We have compiled the email list for the decision makers in SL. You can email 300 people with a few clicks of your mouse.
http://americanforkcanyon.com/email-my-elected-officials/mountain-accord-email-list/  

  • Ask them to respect the county boundaries. Simple
  • Ask them to allow us to have our elected officials engage the public. Simple
  • Ask them to not negotiate Utah County lands. Our officials can negotiate with Snowbird at some future time.

.MOST IMPORTANT MEETING FOR THE AMERICAN FORK CANYON

PLEASE JOIN WITH COMMISSIONER BILL LEE AND STATE AUDITOR JOHN DOUGAL

Wed. July 1st 6-10pm Commissioner Bill Lee and John Dougal Utah State  Auditor 
Please come and participate.American Fork High School

  1. 510 North Caveman Blvd, American Fork, UT 84003Lets get this process heading in the right direction.
    Thank you for your support. Bring your families, neighbors, lets fill the high school.
.ATTACHMENTS / LINKSUtah County lands are still listed in draft 3.0 of the Mountain Accord recommendation. Those in SL really want Utah County lands. http://americanforkcanyon.com/press/mountain-accord-documents/draft-3-0-mountain-accord/
AFCVision is wanting more money. They are troubled that the citizens are awake now and they have to listen to us. Well done. Their FB group is 150.  We are nearing 5500 yet need to double in size as they are not listening to us.
.Please invite your friends to join in the conversation..https://www.facebook.com/ProtectAmericanForkCanyon 
.Mission accomplished on our end. We have done what we set out to do. Elected officials are now aware of back door deals – they are taking the helm..Lets keep going and make a great plan for AF Canyon, but on terms of those in Utah County.
.Protect and Preserve American Fork Canyon
.To sign up for the newsletter go to www.americanforkcanyon.com
 .To volunteer to help us – please contact us at protectafcanyon@gmail.com
.Mark Allen
.Co-Founder Protect and Preserve American Fork Canyon
.BTW Bob Bonar, I have given your tram to Solitude, hope you don’t mind. Duh!
.Take the survey after you have studied up a bit.
.What should we do from here forward?  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SDTM2Q7