Cooperation, not competition
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ou don't have to spend much time reporting on government before you realize that very often the meanest, ugliest politics are played on the local level. It's true everywhere, and the Top of Utah is no exception. If city councils aren't bickering with mayors, communities are waging pitched battles with each other over schools, streets, storm drains or development deals with retailers. It gets to be a nasty, personal business sometimes.
That's why it came as such a welcome surprise to hear the cities of Clearfield, Syracuse and West Point are cooperating on a master plan of about 1,000 acres of farmland situated between them. Though the cities are still early in the process -- they have not yet drafted an interlocal agreement to guide their efforts -- they nonetheless have set an example for other communities up and down the Wasatch Front. By engaging in regional planning to benefit themselves and -- this is important -- each other, they could, if successful, provide a positive legacy that will last generations in northwestern Davis County.
Western Davis County has been experiencing a land rush by developers. Homes are being built and sold for outrageous sums compared to just a couple of years ago, and so all available land is increasing in value; residential and commercial developments are springing up faster than the casual observer can keep track.
But that 1,000 acres surrounded by Clearfield, Syracuse and West Point presents a rare opportunity. There's really no other place like it in the county -- smack dab in the middle of where people are living. It's all under cultivation, and bordered by the Freeport Center, the Union Pacific railroad tracks and lots and lots and lots of subdivisions. Being approximately the same size as the 1,100-acre Business Depot Ogden, the potential of the so-called Davis Economic Development Cooperative is tantalizing for those interested in forward-thinking development.
The thinking, so far, is to master plan the area for mixed-use development, including commercial, "clean" industrial, retail shops and residential components. An overriding idea is to create lots of jobs over time, so that residents of the area won't have to commute long distances to work -- employment, entertainment and shopping will be closer to home.
Granted, it's all a dream right now. There are no deals in place with landowners. But if agreement can be reached between the cities on the master plan, it will avoid competing developments of the type we currently see all over the Top of Utah. Most cities plan for themselves, and neighbors next door do likewise. The result is a hodgepodge of retail, commercial and housing developments that ignore logic, duplicate services and pit one city against another unnecessarily.
If approached imaginatively, the Davis Economic Development Cooperative could provide a blueprint for a convenient and prosperous standard of living for decades to come -- a roadmap for the same sorts of developments in Weber and Box Elder counties in the decades ahead.
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