Residents assail plans to incorporate Aspen

Most culinary water rights in the area are owned by Suzanne Goodfellow, who runs the Storm Haven Water Co. Goodfellow said she's concerned that any wells Sellers drills could drain her well dry.

She's also concerned Sellers may not be telling the whole story when he approaches residents.

According to a news release announcing Sellers' plans to build Aspen, "owners representing a majority of resident support within the petitioned boundaries of Aspen, Utah, have joined with Sellers to petition for incorporation."

But Goodfellow said she was part of a petition drive in which at least 90 percent of residents in the three subdivisions said they don't want to be part of Sellers' town.

Among those who support Sellers' plan are Richard and Dianne Leon, who have owned property in Heber Valley for 25 years, according to the news release.

"When we heard Dean's ideas and how the community will be planned, we wanted to be a part of it," Dianne Leon, was quoted as saying. "Aspen, Utah, will be a community where people of all faiths and different backgrounds will belong and live together in a beautiful setting with new job opportunities and decent job wages for everyone."

Sellers filed his petition for incorporation with Wasatch County on Nov. 8, and county officials have just started reviewing his petition to see if it complies with state law.

If Sellers meets the requirements, which deal with population, land area and land value, the county essentially rubber-stamps the petition and sends it to Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert for final approval.

During the 2007 General Legislative Session, HB466 relaxed some of the rules for incorporation, which Sellers saw as a happy coincidence.

Wasatch County manager Mike Davis says the county should have more oversight when a landowner wants to incorporate a town, and legislators are working to amend HB466, which was sponsored by Rep. Mel Brown, R-Coalville.

Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, wants to amend the law to provide a gatekeeper for the town-incorporation process.

On Wednesday, the Legislature's Political Subdivisions Interim Committee unanimously voted to support Stowell's amendments, which include requiring residents of a proposed town to vote on the town's incorporation.

That would benefit residents of the area Sellers wants to incorporate, Stowell said, if most of the residents are indeed unhappy with the prospect of finding themselves in Aspen, Utah.

But Aspen could be incorporated by the time the Legislature gets around to voting on Stowell's amendments in 2008.

Davis also said Sellers could run into problems with residents in his proposed boundaries, because some have filed a petition for annexation into nearby Daniel, a town of 726 residents at the mouth of Daniel's Canyon.

Those petitions have yet to be certified, but if they are approved and the annexation happens, Sellers could suddenly find himself without enough residents to incorporate his town.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com