##1A. Board of Adjustments- Where Snowbirds application falls short and should be denied.

Email the Board of Adjustments and county planning with your concerns

 

The following chart displays the numerous rules and applicable standards not met in Snowbird’s appeal for conditional use. Snowbirds application fails to meet the requirements- click to read

The Board of Adjustment is required to assure all rules and applicable standards are met before conditional use is approved.  The following rules and standards have not been met:

The Board of Adjustment accepted an incomplete application from Snowbird
The conditional use will degrade the public health
The conditional use will degrade the public safety
Bob Bonar said it himself in a letter to Brian Ferebee, Forest Supervisor dated November 17, 2010.  Bob said, “Snowbird has all the pieces of the land puzzle in place to conduct ski operations on its private property in Mineral Basin and Mary Ellen Gulch, except for some additional acreage of National Forest System land needed to use that property safely and efficiently.”
The conditional use will degrade the public welfare
The conditional use is not compatible with the surrounding area
The conditional use is not compatible with the public interest
All land in the area requested for conditional use is not in the same ownership
The risks associated with avalanches, rockfall, and other natural hazards have not been satisfactorily addressed
The conditional use would violate Snowbird’s SKI AREA TERM SPECIAL USE PERMIT dated December 2005 issued by the Forest Service. The overall development would exceed the approved capacity of the permit without further environmental analysis documentation through the appropriate NEPA process.
 
The conditional use does not comply with all of the rules and standards in Chapter 3-46
 
The conditional use does not comply with Chapter 5-5 as it does not preserve the aesthetic appearance and it degrades the mountain environment
 
These are serious deficiencies that do not allow the Board of Adjustment to legally approve the request for conditional use.

Snowbirds application is incomplete, click to read.

 

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Our View.
Legitimate concerns for public health safety and welfare have fallen on deaf ears of the county commissioners, ironically the same ones who have decided the path for Snowbirds application to proceed to the Board of Adjustments. We cry fouls. 
The men on this list who are elected officials seem to be in collusion to fast track Snowbirds application and wash their hands of their responsibility to protect those downstream from known hazards. Studies are insufficient- the county has not had their own studies done, their due diligence has been neglected and the public concern is grave and being dismissed by two county commissioners, both of whom have connections with Snowbird. This should be investigate for collusion, accepting of gifts, failure to file financial declarations and accepting gifts in excess of $50. Those on the jet trip with Snowbird, should be investigated, should resign if found to have been amiss of the law and decisions they have made unwound as pertaining to American Fork Canyon and Snowbird.

Moving tailings, without EPA oversight.. not a good idea. Clean Water Act Violation? Perhaps

 6- Tailings moved 5- Tailings before

Multiple Shell company names to hide ownership, and failure to take ownership of the mine tailings.
Snowbird owns mines and should be required to clean them up irregardless of their resort expansion plans. 
The proposed change of use plans, is highly problematic around the mines and the only sure safe method is 100% clean up.
8-Access Concerns MasterThe unknown? How much acidic water is behind the earthen plug. When will that fail? How do we protect against Failure?
What engineering has been done to verify it won’t fail in the event of a earthquake or howitzer charge, hand charge etc. 
What Seismic studies have been done to verify its safe.
3- Draing Plug
We see no problem with Snowbird using this private land which they own. No hazards are present.
 1- Private land no roads

We do have grave concerns over this private lands, the mill tailings, the impact to the water presently and in the past and why Snowbird has been given a free pass to allow heavy metals into the drainage. They own known points of pollution and should be demanded they clean it up 100% before any land use changes are considered. This is a hazard known, and owned by Snowbird. Clean it up. EPA oversight was lauded in prior news paper articles along with Trout Unlimited. Why now is Snowbird fearful of this oversight? Why is Commission Graves saying he hates and does not trust the EPA? Someone should question Commissioner Graves disregard for public health, safety and welfare.. we certainly wonder why he continues to resist calling a spade a spade. Snowbird has harmed the environment by way of their mine tailings for decades. Its well past time they clean them up. Perhaps AF Canyon water could then be more useful once the heavy metals are removed. 

2- Private land, road, tailings