Preserving Our Foothills

The undeveloped lands along Ogden's east bench are a priceless treasure that set our city apart from so much of the Wasatch Front. Thousands of Ogden residents make regular use of the foothill trail system. Hundreds of volunteers have invested their labor in maintaining the trails. For many years, the Ogden City government has supported the trail system with funding for trail maintenance and trailhead construction.

Many trail users don't realize that the lands traversed by the east bench trail system are divided among numerous owners, public and private. The development of the trail system would not have been possible without the cooperation of the U.S. Forest Service, Pineview Water, Weber State University, Weber County, and Ogden City, all of which own land along the east bench. Among the private landowners, Utah Power and Rainbow Gardens have been especially generous in permitting the construction of crucial segments of the trail system. Other trails were established on privately owned lands many decades ago, and are today considered public rights-of-way under common law.

Although trail-based recreation may be the most important use of our undeveloped foothill areas, they also serve as valuable habitat for native plants and a variety of wildlife. Leaving foothill areas undeveloped has spared Ogden the expense of providing costly services such as water and fire protection to these locations. Many Ogden residents also value the unspoiled view of so much open space along the foothills.

At the heart of Ogden's foothills lies Mt. Ogden Park, a city-owned tract of open space totaling approximately 200 acres.^* Much of the park has been developed as a golf course, which also provides opportunities for cross-country skiing and sledding in the winter. The northwestern corner of the park includes soccer fields, tennis courts, and a picnic area, while the steeper terrain along the park's southern and eastern boundaries has been dedicated to natural areas with native vegetation. The park's lands take in nearly all of the Mt. Ogden loop exercise trail and the Strong's Canyon trail, plus a crucial segment of the Bonneville Shoreline trail. These trails connect to others on land owned by the Forest Service and Weber State University.

Throwing it all away?

After months of rumors, the Ogden City administration announced in April its desire to sell approximately 175 acres of Mt. Ogden park lands (namely, the golf course and the natural areas east and south of the golf course) for private development. The prospective developer is also seeking to acquire all of the undeveloped foothill lands owned by Weber State University. Tentative plans for the development include stretching the golf course eastward and southward so that gated residential streets and approximately 400 luxury houses can be inserted between the fairways. The prospective developer has also promised to build a gondola climbing from the foothills to a resort in Malan's Basin, and to operate a second gondola, to be built by the city, between downtown and the foothills.

Whether such a plan is technically and economically feasible remains to be seen. Much of the undeveloped foothill property has slope angles exceeding 30%--the limit above which building is prohibited under Ogden's municipal code. The redesigned golf course would require large-scale terracing and retaining walls in many locations. The development would have to avoid two deep stream channels, the Pineview Canal, and the Wasatch Fault which runs through the middle of the area. Once all these constraints are taken into account, the amount of remaining buildable land may not be enough to justify the cost of the development.

As of this writing, the prospective developer has produced no detailed plans for this project. Ogden City staff, however, have drawn the conceptual plan shown at right. This plan does not yet seem to take slope angles or fault lines into account, so it should be considered extremely tentative.

What would become of the trail system if this project goes forward? It's hard to say, because the plans are sure to change. In the conceptual plan shown at right, about five miles of existing foothill trails would be eliminated, including the heavily used foot and bike trails that currently traverse above the golf course. The Bonneville shoreline trail would be moved several hundred feet above the Bonneville terrace. The plan shows several new trails going through the midst of the development, but most of them would appear to be unsafe to use when golfers are playing. Some of the proposed new trails run alongside roads; others are unrealistically steep. Overall, it appears that this development would leave very few usable trails in this part of the foothills.

If you are concerned about this proposal to sell our publicly owned open space for commercial development, we urge you to contact one or more of your City Council members:

• Jesse Garcia, Municipal Ward 1, 603-8522, citycouncil@ci.ogden.ut.us
• Brandon Stephenson, Municipal Ward 2, 399-1419, youstu1@juno.com
• Doug Stephens, Municipal Ward 3, 393-9796, dougstephensone@hotmail.com
• Rick Safsten, Municipal Ward 4, 392-2842, rcsafsten@juno.com
• Bill Glasmann, At-Large Seat A, 628-1799, citycouncil@ci.ogden.ut.us
• Dorrene Jeske, At-Large Seat B, 782-5827, jeske4ogden@comcast.net
• Amy Wicks, At-Large Seat C, 622-7047, amywicks@yahoo.com

(The affected area lies within Municipal Ward 4.)

For more information about the proposed development, be sure to read our frequently asked questions page.

^*As should be clear from this description, we're using the name "Mt. Ogden Park" to refer to the entire 200-acre tract of city-owned property, including the golf course and natural areas. As far as we can determine, this usage dates back to the city's acquisition of the property in 1941. Since the golf course was constructed in the 1980's, some people have begun to use the name "Mt. Ogden Park" to refer to just the narrow strip of soccer fields and picnic areas west of the golf course, along Taylor Avenue. This alternate use has led to accusations that SmartGrowthOgden is misleading the public about which land the city administration is proposing to sell. We apologize for any unintentional confusion that has been created, and urge readers to consult the map of the proposed development rather than debating semantics.