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Posted: 2:11 PM- BEAVER - Jammed streets, packed classrooms, dwindling water supplies and vanishing recreation access.
Those were some of the concerns voiced in court Thursday about a posh resort proposed for a canyon east of Beaver in southwestern Utah.
Residents fighting the exclusive Mount Holly Club - planned at the now-closed Elk Meadows ski area - are arguing in 5th District Court here that the development agreement reached between CPB, LC, and Beaver County is illegal and that county residents should be able to vote on the accord in a referendum.
Carol McCully testified today that she, like many residents, fears the multibillion-dollar project will threaten long-established access to area trails and popular Puffer Lake.
"I'm also afraid they will use the airport to shuttle Mount Holly people to the club [by] going over my house [in helicopters]," she told Judge John Walton on the first day of what it is expected to be a two-day trial. "It's an immense problem. The county sees it as tax-revenue gold. But this is a big problem."
McCully said residents have gathered 845 signatures - hundreds more than the 505 needed - to put the issue before county voters. She noted the county clerk has disqualified 40 signatures and still is reviewing the rest.
Salt Lake City attorney Jay Peck, representing the developer, said his client plans to show that the proposed referendum fails to meet the standards set in a Utah Supreme Court case.
The proposed Mount Holly Club would include 1,200 houses and town houses on 2,000 acres. It also would boast a private ski resort and an 18-hole private golf course. The baseline price for a house and lot is pegged at $4 million.
The two-phase project would take about 10 years to complete.