Mammoth New Resort to Spoil Powder Mountain?

Powder Mountain is many different things. If you're an elk, it's your summer habitat. If you're a water-user turning on your tap in Ogden or Hyrum, it might be where that water came from. If you're a hiker looking for a place to walk in July, it's paradise.

If you're Brent Ferrin, a Park City developer, it looks like a great place to put luxury houses, golf courses and condominiums. Click here to see the beautiful meadows and forest that might be lost if Ferrin's dream comes true.

Ferrin asked both the Cache County Council and the Weber County Commission to approve a zoning change to allow a massive Deer-Valley-style resort on 12,000 acres straddling the Cache County/Weber County line northeast of Pineview Reservoir. Even though its own planning commission recommended against the re-zoning, the Cache County Council approved the re-zoning on October 8, 2002. Although Ferrin has since withdrawn his proposal from consideration by the Weber County Commission, he has been quoted saying he will revive his proposal when the economy improves. The Weber County Commission appeared to believe many questions and problems caused by his proposal would have to be resolved before they could approve it. After Ferrin withdrew the proposal, the commissioners said they want to re-examine recreation planning guidelines for the Ogden Valley. They plan to look at the consequences of expanding the ski resorts and how much expansion can be reconciled with the valley's way of life.