Ogden City Council

OGDEN -- Smoking has long been banned at many indoor locations, but in Ogden, the ban might soon involve some outdoor locations as well.

The Ogden City Council is considering an ordinance to regulate smoking outside.

The draft ordinance states that tobacco smoke is a form of air pollution and is a danger to the public health that also discourages some residents from using public facilities.

OGDEN -- The Ogden Redevelopment Agency board adopted a resolution Tuesday night that will extend the Ogden River Project tax increment collection period by eight years.

The tax increment collection period for the Ogden River Project was set to expire June 30, 2019, but the extension allows the RDA to collect tax increment through June 2027.

Tax increment financing is a tool that captures projected property tax revenue created by a development and then allows those funds to be invested for improvements associated with the project.

Thursday I had coffee at Grounds for Coffee on 25th Street, then wandered past the shops, restaurants and businesses to Ron Inkley's Imaging Depot for a roll of film I had developed.

Read that paragraph again. Twelve years ago the walk I took was vastly different.

Sadie Clifford's coffee shop didn't exist. Ron Inkley's place was a run-down bus station. Almost none of the shops, stores and restaurants in between were there.

OGDEN -- The city administration wants to create a redevelopment area to provide tax increment to John Watson Chevrolet as an incentive for the construction of a new $3 million showroom.

The proposal calls for the dealership, located at 3535 Wall Ave., to receive $10,000 to $20,000 in tax increment annually for 10 years, said Tom Christopoulos, the city's deputy director of community and economic development.

The exact amount of tax increment provided to John Watson Chevrolet would depend on the property tax generated by the new showroom, Christopoulos said.

OGDEN -- Representatives from Weber State University's Student Senate told the city council Tuesday night they are hopeful the school's administration will make the campus tobacco-free by 2013.

"Courageous leaders need to step up," Brady Harris, a student senator representing Weber State's Davis County campus, said following a council work session.

OGDEN -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey plans to employ a rarely used executive privilege to call the city council into a special session, forcing them to address his proposal to lower Ogden's water rates.

LAYTON -- The erosion of personal property rights and the need for more user-friendly Ogden city ordinances in helping Realtors sell homes before they are foreclosed on were just two of the reasons Ogden mayoral candidates Mike Caldwell and Brandon Stephenson debated at the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors luncheon Friday.