Another Disappointment With the actions of the 1997 State Legislature, the promise of effective townships was gutted. Led by Speaker of the House, Mel Brown, this body ignored the overwhelming voter approval of township status in the entities involved, and changed last year's township law. Townships formed with fewer than 400 registered voters were nullified, with larger ones becoming "planning districts," with the ability to advise commissioners, but no power to protect borders. The Virtual End of Townships-the Path to the Feasibility Study It was a time of great disillusionment, discouragement and frustration for the members of the planning committees of both the Marriott and the Slaterville Townships (and in four other Townships), as well as concerned residents. It was a crash course in Politics 101, as involved citizens met, and tried to meet, with members of the Legislature. They were rebuffed or ignored, and told that "this is the way things are done," as state representatives followed Speaker Mel Brown's leadership and mandates. Behind scenes the Utah Board of Realtors lobbied to have townships eliminated entirely. The only support for our effort came from our State Senator Joe Hull, and that proved in vain. Overwhelming vote for township status in the 15 unincorporated areas involved statewide was ignored. Speaker Brown introduced his bill, HB363, changing the only one-year old township law during the last days of the session, with no time for real debate, or amendments, as it was railroaded through both the Senate and House. Larger townships would be replaced by planning districts, which could advise county planning commissions, but had no power to veto annexations, as the original township law provided. Smaller townships, like Marriott, were outright eliminated. The power to protect community borders was gone. Courageous leaders of the beleaguered communities united as their pioneer ancestors did in crises; they began to pick up the pieces, looked at any and ail options, and started to build again. First of all, township leaders urged Governor Mike Leavitt to veto HB363. He allowed the bill to become law without his signature. At the same time, they developed petitions to have the matter placed on the ballot to allow a referendum vote on this bill. This required the signatures equal to 10 percent of all votes cast in the last gubernatorial election (67,188), coming from voters in at least 15 counties. The petitions had to be turned in by April 14, 1997. As the deadline neared, the petitioners felt confident. However, a shortfall of signatures in the Salt Lake area doomed the drive for the entire state. Hopes dashed again, the impetus turned to requesting a special session of the Legislature. Representative Marty Stephens offered to negotiate a compromise bill and Governor Leavitt agreed to call a special session if a suitable bill could be brokered. May 5, 1997, arrived and HB363 went into effect, bringing about the legislated changes. On May 6, the Weber County Commission showed their support for the erstwhile townships, and restored as much power to these now "planning districts" as allowed under the law, accepted the planning commissions of the districts, and grandfathered in the smaller communities such as Marriott. A meeting with Rep. Stephens that night developed a bill which received lukewarm support from township planners. By May 13, opposition to his proposed bill had grown, with Rep. Stephens reporting feeling very frustrated at township leaders "having no motivation for compromise...thinking they can get whatever they want." Duncan Murray, speaking for local areas, felt it was a bad bill, accomplishing nothing. Governor Leavitt left the matter off his agenda. The Utah Township Coalition met with Speaker Mel Brown, and he drafted a bill, ultimately brought to the special session on July 15, 1997, and passed. It brought back the name of "township," but without the power given in the original 1996 township bill, particularly the power to protect their borders. The future of Marriott and Slaterville was still very much at risk. A good example of the danger was the annexation petition filed by the Frank S. Blair Family Limited Partnership for their Slaterville property to be annexed by Farr West City. The original request dated back to October 2, 1996, but did not meet the requirements at that time, which required refiling. The Township laws had kept annexation in abeyance, but as now amended, the Slaterville Township no longer had that same control. 64a