Final shape, status of Weber townships murky If propositions pass, the county must still decide many issues INSIDE: What township candidates think about growth/6B By GREG KRATZ_ Standard-Examiner staff Richard T. Maughan of Ogden thinks townships are a good idea, to a point. But Maughan, who owns land in Ogden Valley, said he is worried that some proponents of the six townships on Tuesday's general election ballot may be trying to take too much control of Weber County's future. "Townships can serve a very good purpose, and that is to create the buffer so there's not encroachment of towns into the unincorporated area without some reasonable discussion," Maughan said. "It is not, in my view, intended to govern the land as fur as its use, planning and zoning. And yet, that's what these people appear to DECISION 1996 want." Maughan is referring to representatives of the Weber Area Council of Townships, made up of several county residents and proponents of townships that are up for consideration in Tuesday's election. Those areas include East Huntsville, Marriott, Hooper, Slaterville, Warren and West Warren. A law passed by the 1996 Legislature allows areas to form townships, which keep county services but can avoid annexation and get their own, seven-member planning and zoning boards. The law does not give specifics about how township boards should be set up or paid for, leaving that to county commissions. WACOT members approved a resolution they hope will guide Weber County commissioners in that decision. Among their requests, WACOT members said: Township boards should report directly to the county commission "without oversight by the county planning commission or any other entity." No new taxes should be assessed on township residents to pay for creation or operation of the townships. All applications for planning and zoning in township areas should be transferred to township boards immediately after they are received and reviewed by county planning staff. Deyonne Walker, the WACOT chair who is also running for a position on a possible East Huntsville township board, said WACOT members want more local input. "It's just a resolution that will let us work more closely with our county commission in development and growth that we're experiencing," she said Thursday. And Walker said she does not think the township boards will be expensive, because their members will all be volunteers. "It will be a wash," she said. "You take the agendas for the (county) planning commission as it stands now, that agenda will be split up among all the townships. And probably their time can be better spent, because right now the county planning commission has such long agendas that they can't get to everything." But Maughan said WACOT's proposal would give untrained people too much control over planning and zoning decisions. "I don't want people telling me, or anyone else, what they can and can't do with property that doesn't have an impact on them," he said. "It just seems to me that they're asking for a whole lot more power than, one, we ought to give, and that, two, they even realize." "... We are not just going to take WACOT's recommendation carte blanche. It's nice that they recommend and tell us what their feelings are, but we don't take those as mandates" -Weber County Commission Chairman Joe Ritchie County commission chairman Joe Ritchie said the county legal department should have a proposed ordinance to set up the rules for townships prepared shortly after the election. "We'll consider all proposals and all angles and then make our decision," Ritchie said. "But we are not just going to take WACOT's recommendation carte blanche. It's nice that they recommend and tell us what their feelings are, but we don't take those as mandates." And although he supports the concept of townships, Ritchie said they may cost the county more money. "What we don't support is the township attempts at gaining their own autonomy," he said. "They're still a part of the county. We are not interested in setting up a bunch of separate kingdoms in the county." November 3, 1996 56