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Weber County buys Pleasant View stormwater pond, mulling rec options

By Tim Vandenack - | Feb 2, 2023
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Horsehoe Pond, as it's known, is photographed Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Weber County acquired the 16.3-acre Pleasant View parcel containing the pond, used for stormwater detention, for $400,000.
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A gazebo aside Horsehoe Pond, as it's known, is photographed Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Weber County acquired the 16.3-acre Pleasant View parcel containing the pond, used for stormwater detention, for $400,000.
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An abandoned restroom on the grounds of Horsehoe Pond, as it's known, is photographed Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Weber County acquired the 16.3-acre Pleasant View parcel containing the pond, used for stormwater detention, for $400,000.

PLEASANT VIEW — Weber County now owns a pond in Pleasant View.

County Commissioners on Tuesday approved the final touches on the paperwork related to the $400,000 acquisition of the 16.3-acre parcel containing what’s informally dubbed Horseshoe Pond, a small body of water that helps with stormwater retention.

Most significantly, perhaps, the purchase of the property from Pleasant View Pointe, a development company managed by Howland Partners of South Jordan, gives the county more control over the small body of water, important in flood control. The acquisition has been a topic of debate for several years, according to Sean Wilkinson, the Weber County director of community development.

Pleasant View Mayor Leonard Call says the horseshoe-shaped pond collects stormwater runoff from Pleasant View, North Ogden, Harrisville, Ogden and unincorporated areas of Weber County.

Weber County Commissioner Gage Froerer, similarly, emphasized the pond’s import as a collector of water in light of the above-normal snowfall this winter, which raises the possibility of flooding in western Weber County when the mountain snowpack thaws and drains in the spring.

Beyond those functions, officials talk of turning the parcel, located in an industrial area of Pleasant View in sight of whizzing traffic on Interstate 15 just to the west, into a new recreation area. “That sounds like a great plan,” said Call.

Indeed, an abandoned restroom, overgrown parking lot and gazebo sit on the property. “We do plan to make it a park or a recreation-type facility. We don’t know what it will look like. That’s the future,” Wilkinson said.

More immediately, Wilkinson said the county is considering making the pond bigger so it can hold more water. There’s no development potential immediately around the lake given its role in controlling flooding.

The land had an assessed valuation in 2022 of $225,000, according to online county property records. The $400,000 sales price, Wilkinson said, was negotiated between county reps and the former landowners, who also own land immediately to the west in what is Farr West.

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