NORTH OGDEN — Work on a 32.9-acre housing development surrounding a planned stormwater detention pond and park in North Ogden that had sparked heated debate should start next spring, according to project developers.

First up will be 197 town homes in 38 separate buildings, to be built in three phases over the next five or so years, depending on market demand, according to John Hansen, who’s helping develop the land for Orluff Opheikens, owner of the property.

Ultimately, depending on the market, plans call for another 24 twin homes contained in 12 structures, six apartment buildings containing 144 units and two acres of commercial space. That’s 365 housing units in 56 structures, according to city planning documents, or 11.1 units per acre, though the number of units could be bumped up to 389.

“The demand is here for sure,” Opheikens said. Hansen helped develop 79 additional town homes immediately east of the site over the past two years, the Ranches development, and the last of the vacant units there was rented out last February.

The planned new development, called Patriot Pointe, is on largely open land south of 2550 North and west of 175 East. Parallel to that, city plans call for development of a stormwater detention facility/irrigation pond and city park in the middle of Patriot Pointe on a 6.6-acre parcel acquired by North Ogden from Opheikens. Those plans had been focus of heated debate stemming from questions and concerns about the pond plans, but the North Ogden City Council ultimately signed off on them last August.

The City Council approved the Patriot Pointe development plans, focus of less controversy, according to Hansen, last Tuesday. The planned expansion comes as another large development, the Village at Prominence Point project, moves forward off the west side of Washington Boulevard, north of 1700 North. Village at Prominence Point calls for 600-plus housing units — town homes, apartments and more — spread over 33 acres, about the same geographic footprint as the Patriot Pointe project.

Opheikens said plans for Patriot Pointe and the pond and park in the middle of the location started taking shape during the administration of Mayor Brent Taylor, a proponent of the project. In fact, the development’s name, Patriot Pointe, is a nod to Taylor, killed last year in Afghanistan while on a yearlong deployment there with the Utah Army National Guard.

The proposed pond would replace the city’s stormwater detention facility off busy 2700 North, land that the city thinks has potential for commercial development. It would also hold secondary irrigation water meant for residents in the growing area and potentially serve kayakers and paddle boarders. The park element preliminarily calls for a shelter, trail and playground. City officials are still awaiting formal word on receipt of a federal grant to help pay for the project, but work on the pond and park is tentatively slated for 2021, according to Jon Call, the North Ogden city attorney.

The Weber-Box Elder Conservation District, a provider of secondary irrigation water, is partnering with the city on the pond plans. The project, including the park element, has a rough price tag of $7.1 million, with around $4.4 million of that coming from the feds.

Hansen said he expects the Patriot Pointe project to be fully built out within eight years.