Citizens Unite! Join a Demonstration at City Hall This Tues at 3:30! Bring Posters & Signs!
Citizens Unite!
Join a Demonstration at City Hall
Tuesday 3:30pm!
Bring Signs, Posters, & Banners! Come prepared to explain to the media your concerns!
This is a key meeting for the City Council! We must stop the City Council’s decision to bring in a Hearing Officer with the power to determine the fate of The Old Mill!
They are not listening! The Cottonwood Heights City Council &The Planning Commission continue to move forward with plans to bulldoze The Historic Old Mill!
Let’s bring this to the attention of the media by meeting at Cottonwood Heights City Hall at 3:30 pm, 30 mins before the start of the next 2 City Council Meetings Tuesday Sept 10 & Tuesday Sept 17.
Need some ideas for your sign? All you clever folks out there, share if you come up with a great slogan! Here’s a few I thought of!
Ideas for Signs:
Shame on Leadership for Allowing the Dilapidation of The Old Mill!
No Hearing Officer Can Stop Free Speech! Scrap this plan!
Stop Railroading Us To Accept Papermill Village
Preserve! Don’t Destroy The Old Mill & Our Natural Area
Save our Natural Area! Stop Changing Protective Codes!
It’s Unconstitutional to Silence Public Debate with a Hearing Officer!
Public Debate = 1st Amendment Right!
What Kind of People Destroy Historic Ruins!
Shame on the Owners! Shame on the Mayor!
Stop Your Defamation of Our Old Mill!
Cease & Desist Dishonoring The Old Mill!
Stop Changing Codes! Start Enforcing Them!
We Elected You! We Can De-elect You!
Stop Representing Them and Not Us!
Citizens Unite! Taxation Without Representation!
Start Listening or Pack Your Bags!
Fire the Mayor!
Hire a Hearing Officer & Silence Free Speech? NO Way!
A Word of Explanation:
The mayor, the majority of The City Council, & the majority of The Planning Commission have decided that The Old Mill is too dilapidated to be saved, and the owners are trying to prove that it is not salvageable.
However, the reality is that the building was all set to be developed into a brand new Community Center for the Arts in 2019, but the owners pulled the plug and refused to sell to one of the most outstanding developers in Salt Lake Valley, who, out of the goodness of his heart, had donated his time and the time of his staff to draw up architectural renderings for what he felt would be a wonderful project to benefit the entire community and honor the early pioneer’s ingenuity in building such a wonderful building as The Old Mill!
Former Mayor Mike Peterson was 100% behind the project and was instrumental in encouraging the City Council’s support. We all waited through the covid years – 2020 – 2021 - in hopeful expectation for the owners to notify us. But the notification never came!
In the meantime, Mayor Mike Weicher was elected along with a new slate of City Councilmen, and the project was silenced. Since that time the City Council has failed to enforce the city’s code requiring “Protective Maintenance” of a Historic Building by the owners, and have allowed the owners to get away with not replacing windows, nor repairing the roof, nor putting a stop to vandalism of the building. City Code 19.86.045 (see picture above) strictly forbids owners to allow a historic building to fall into a state of dilapidation. Now they all want to say The Old Mill is not worth saving, so their plan is to replace it with Papermill Village and a small monument.
“Shame on the owners! Shame on the Mayor! They are intent upon packing our natural area along Big Cottonwood Creek with high density housing.
Last Wednesday the Planning Commission sought to overturn a 2nd Riparian Zone Ordinance, requiring no more than 30 impermeable surfaces near a stream. All but one member of the Commission agreed with the proposal to limit the ordinance to vertical surfaces where it would cause erosion. When it was contested with well-researched facts which showed that the real issues were not just about erosion from a slope, but also about the long-term effects on ground water and the health of the stream and its habitat. In spite of the fact that all of the Planning Commission is made-up of volunteers, all but one ignored our public comments.
This is the 2nd time! The 1st time happened early 2024 when the Planning Commission passed a change in the setback requirements which had been put in place the previous year to protect the Riparian Zone next to Big Cottonwood Creek.
Likewise, all but one of the City Council members have ignored our pleas to “Save the Old Mill!” This petition now has over 1400 signatures! Over100 homeowners who live next to the creek, have signed a hard-copy petition! Many of us have attended most of their meetings! And yet, they continue to try to railroad us all into accepting their Papermill Village Project which will require a re-zoning of the area and tearing down the Old Mill. But just like in Olympus Hills Peugeot Dealership fiasco, our mayor and a majority of the City Councilmen plan to vote to re-zone the canyon, in order build apartments rather than single family homes.
It might be a great idea if it weren’t for the narrow winding road and the beautiful natural area we all use for our walks and our bike rides, and to commune with nature, all of which will eventually be destroyed by building so close to the Big Cottonwood Creek. Please, Owners, if you are reading this, sell your property in the canyon and build your apartments in a location that wants and needs them!
Citizens Unite! Come join the Demonstration this Tuesday at 3:30 in front of The Cottonwood Heights City Hall. This is a key meeting for the City Council! We must stop the City Council’s decision to bring in a Hearing Officer, who will be given the power to determine whether or not public discussion of the fate of The Old Mill should be cut short and only given one month of discussion, rather than the required year-long public discussion required by the current city ordinances. One must question –“Is this an effort to Silence Free Speech!”
This is a key meeting for the City Council! We must stop the City Council’s decision to bring in a Hearing Officer, who will be given the power to determine whether or not public discussion of the fate of The Old Mill should be cut short and only given one month of discussion, rather than the required year-long public discussion required by current city ordinances.