Townships make move to be cities New townships proposed ? Residents feel change will save towns from being gobbled up by big cities By CHARLES F. TRENTELMAN Standard-Examiner staff OGDEN - Four townships in northwestern Weber County took a step toward becoming cities Tuesday after Weber County agreed to spend $25,000 to study whether they would survive if incorporated. Marriott and Slaterville townships have petitioned to merge and form one city. Warren and Reese have petitioned to do the same thing. Neither city has suggested a name. Spokesmen for both proposed cities said failure of the state's township law to protect them from surrounding cities is the only reason they want to form city governments. Rob Smout, one of the petitioners for Marriott-Slaterville, said people in the community feel like their townships will be swallowed up if they don't incorporate now. "We've got Ogden City on one side, West Haven on another and Farr West on a third. We feel, in a little bit of time, they are going to be picking off our territory." Smout said Marriott-Slaterville, just west of the new industrial park going in at DDO and straddling 1-15, is in a prime location to grow rapidly and doesn't want someone else deciding how that growth takes place. "We feel like it's going to, and we want to have some control over what goes in there," he said. Duncan Murray, chairman of the Warren Township Planning Commission, said Tuesday that local control is the only force driving the move to become cities. People in Warren and Reese don't want to see their neighborhood annexed by Plain City. "In fact, there were several annexation petitions that were stopped by starting this process," he said. He said residents of Reese and Warren have histories in their communities that date back to pioneer days when LDS Church wards were being formed. Townships were approved by the Utah Legislature in 1996 to give residents of rural areas control of their neighborhoods without having to bear the cost of forming cities. Fifteen townships were formed statewide in No-vember 1996, including six in Weber County. The Legislature gutted the township law in 1997, taking much of that local control away. It left the townships with planning boards that can advise the county, but nothing more. With the construction of more subdivisions in their areas, Murray said, "it just makes sense to have local people making these decisions. It's just basic, elementary democracy." Marriott-Slaterville would be located south of Farr West and Plain City and would have Defense Depot Ogden on its east border and the Weber River on its south and west. Reese-Warren would be west of Plain City, bordered by Salt Creek and West Haven City on the East, the Box Elder County Line on the north, and 3300 South on the south. Its southern and northern borders would extend west into the Great Salt Lake. Neither city would have many residents. Reese-Warren's poplation is 900. Marriott-Slaterville's is 1,350. Murray, who is also attorney for both prospective cities, said the four townships had to join together so they would both have enough tax base to meet state requirements. The populations are low, he said, but the goals of the cities would be limited to planning and zoning issues. Most municipal services such as police and fire protection would be purchased from Weber County. The studies must be completed by Jan. 31. After that, the county commission may schedule public hearings. Then residents of both cities must file incorporation petitions and the county must schedule an election. 94