OGDEN — A master plan for the long-awaited Ogden River Project received rave reviews from several people who attended an open house Thursday night to review the proposal.
The $50,000 plan was developed this week by six architects and designers with Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates.
On Monday, UDA staffers began assembling data and meeting with residents, city officials, business owners and developers to gather input for the 60-acre Ogden River Project.
The Ogden Redevelopment Agency board, made up of the city council, has not yet approved the master plan.
The project area straddles the river from 18th to 20th streets and Washington Boulevard to Wall Avenue.
The master plan calls for the development to have about 750 housing units, including lofts, apartments, townhomes and single-family dwellings, said Eric R. Osth, a principal architect with UDA.
As many as 1,400 people could ultimately live within the project area that would also accommodate about 25,000 square feet of retail space, he said.
The master plan also recommends that the project be built in multiple phases by several different developers so that housing has a variety of architectural styles, including traditional and Victorian.
The development would also feature green space along the Ogden River and a half-acre community garden, Osth said.
It would also have an abundance of productive landscaping, such as chestnut trees.
It is projected that the development would be particularly popular with young families that want to live in the downtown area, Osth said. The development also aims to capture Ogden’s heritage while taking advantage of the city’s burgeoning reputation as an outdoor-recreation mecca, he added.
Kathy Lorenzen, who attended Thursday night’s open house, said she is impressed with the master plan.
“It incorporates the history of the city with the future of the city,” she said. “It uses the old and makes it new.”
Travis Pate, another resident, said he likes the proposal because it ties in well with an ongoing city effort to clean up a polluted stretch of the Ogden River downtown.
“Overall, I would say I’m very pleased,” he said.
The Ogden River Project has been in the planning stages since 2002.
About 50 parcels in the project area, encompassing 10 acres, are owned by Ogden Riverfront Development, a firm affiliated with developer Gadi Leshem.
The RDA owns about 18 acres; the remaining land in the project area belongs to existing businesses.
Among the RDA’s holdings is a vacant 8-acre parcel at the corner of 20th Street and Washington Boulevard.
South River LLC, a Salt Lake City-area company, has a contract with the RDA to buy 6 acres of the parcel for the possible construction of a condominium complex and small retail businesses, said Jonny Ballard, the city’s community development manager.
He said construction on that part of the Ogden River Project may begin this summer and finish next year.
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