OGDEN -- By a 4-3 vote Tuesday night, the Ogden Redevelopment Agency board approved an urban renewal plan for a blighted four-block section of downtown.
The RDA board is made up of city council members.
Councilmen Brandon Stephenson and Doug Stephens voted against the plan because it includes language that prevents the RDA from using eminent domain to obtain property in the project area between 20th and 24th streets from Washington Boulevard to Adams Avenue.
Stephenson said that, philosophically, he agrees that the RDA should not be involved in taking property from land owners but worries about losing the ability to implement eminent domain in rare situations.
"If a situation arises, we can't use it," he said.
Councilwoman Amy Wicks said she opposes the use of eminent domain and voted against the urban renewal plan because there are too many redevelopment areas in the city that are not completed.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he also opposes taking private property but added that eminent domain is a necessary tool in the event that a small landholder attempts to block a large development project or if the municipality is unable to determine who owns a parcel.
"We need to have a tool and the capability to use it if the unimaginable occurs," he said.
Approval of the plan would make the area eligible for tax-increment financing for commercial and residential property owners, which could help revitalize the languishing east-central section of the city, Richard McConkie, who is Ogden's community and economic director, said Tuesday night.
The plan indicates if the entire project area were redeveloped with commercial, mixed-use and residential buildings within the next 20 years, the cumulative value of the investment would be about $99 million.
About $16.8 million in tax increment would be generated if the project area is completely built out, according to the plan.
Redevelopment agencies, commonly referred to as RDAs, have the ability to offer financial incentives to developers in the form of tax increment. Tax increment is derived from the increased assessed value of development property in a designated RDA project area. The tax increment is then used by the RDA to provide infrastructure to the development.
The four-block area was declared blighted by the city council in April. The designation is meant to describe the condition of the area as a whole and is not intended to degrade any single property, according to a blight study by Bonneville Research, a Salt Lake City firm hired by the city.
Bonneville determined the area qualifies as blighted because it meets the following standards:
SBlt It consists primarily of nongreen field parcels.
SBlt It is zoned for urban purposes.
SBlt At least 50 percent of the parcels contain nonagricultural or nonaccessory buildings intended for residential, commercial or industrial uses.
SBlt The present condition or use of the project area substantially impairs the growth of the municipality.
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