Ogden, Clearfield efforts to boost housing draw House Speaker Wilson’s praise
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- Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson speaks to the House of Representatives kicking off the 45-day 2023 legislative session at the Utah State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in Salt Lake City.
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- Clearfield Mayor Mark Shepherd chats with lawmakers on the floor of the Utah House during the opening session on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. House Speaker Brad Wilson referenced housing development in his remarks to launch the session.
OGDEN — While efforts to encourage more housing development in Ogden remain a continued focus of debate and deliberation, they’re getting a thumbs up from at least one high-profile observer — Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson.
In his remarks launching the 2023 Utah legislative session, the GOP lawmaker from Kaysville alluded to efforts here to create more housing stock via a pair of initiatives. One proposal calls for conversion of surplus Ogden School District property into housing developments, while a zoning ordinance proposal still in the works would allow for conversion of motels into multifamily housing.
“In Ogden, Mayor Mike Caldwell … is taking an innovative approach to affordable housing. Already, nearly 65% of all affordable housing in Weber County is in Mike’s city of Ogden,” Wilson said in his remarks on the Utah House floor on Tuesday. Wilson — zeroing in on the city’s moves in the context of the state’s housing crunch — also referenced housing initiatives in Clearfield, led by Mayor Mark Shepherd, and South Jordan, led by Mayor Dawn Ramsey.
“Mayor Ramsey, Mayor Shepherd and Mayor Caldwell — this session, we’re going to take a long look at how you’ve approached your respective housing challenges and see how we can extend your success and your leadership to other parts of the state,” Wilson said. “Thank you for your leadership.”
Wilson’s praise notwithstanding, the proposal from the Caldwell administration to acquire surplus Ogden School District property for housing development remains the continued focus of sometimes sharp debate.
Caldwell initially proposed acquiring about 13 acres of school district property — the ex-Lynn Elementary property and two school district parcels off Jackson Avenue in northern Ogden — for development of up to 60 homes.
Steve Van Wagoner, leader of Ogden Soccer, a youth soccer club, had already been pressing city officials to acquire the land for conversion into park space. And after Caldwell’s initial proposal emerged, he and many others addressed the council anew last December, redoubling calls to use the land instead for parks.
The City Council subsequently stepped back from the Caldwell proposal, asking for more scrutiny of the topic, and administration reps on Tuesday presented a reworked plan scaling back the housing element of their proposal. Now the city is proposing acquisition of the two parcels in the 600 block of North Jackson Avenue for housing development and acquisition of the ex-Lynn Elementary property at 625 Grant Ave. for future park expansion.
None of that history came out during Wilson’s comments. But Caldwell, speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the Ogden City Council, referenced the House speaker’s remarks and apparent naysayers who think his administration isn’t taking the right approach on the issue.
“That was a great honor,” Caldwell said. “So any comment saying that we’re not doing our part, we’re not at the table, we’re not taking this seriously are absolutely false.”
Council members took no action on the reworked school district land proposal.
The zoning ordinance proposal Wilson referenced, meantime, still has to come up for formal consideration by the Ogden City Council. Ogden planning officials didn’t immediately respond to a query Wednesday seeking an update on its status.
Broadly, the zoning initiative here would create new standards for conversion of motels — which frequently draw long-term, lower-income residents — into multifamily housing.
“The city has received some proposals to convert these motels into multiple-family dwellings,” reads a Dec. 13 review of the matter by Ogden City Council staff. “Staff is concerned that if these conversions are not done carefully, the resulting housing could result in undesirable living conditions for residents and create various crime and social issues.”
Among other things, the proposed ordinance update aims to encourage a mix “of incomes and household types” in converted hotels and motels and “attractive and livable facilities.” The Ogden Planning Commission recommended approval of the zoning update in a 7-1 vote on Nov. 2.
‘VERY INTENTIONAL’ EFFORTS
As for Clearfield, Wilson — singling out the shortage of affordable housing as one of several issues that will get lawmakers’ focus during the 2023 session — referenced construction of 1,700 new homes in the city in the last three years. “Mayor Shepherd, we applaud the work you have done and we thank you for serving as a strong example and an effective case study as we address this issue,” Wilson said.
Clearfield officials welcomed Wilson’s remarks but offered a larger number. Developers and city officials have “built, planned or approved 4,000 units” since 2018, reads a Clearfield press release, “the most in Davis County.”
Clearfield City Manager JJ Allen said efforts to spur growth, which include planned development around Clearfield Station, the city’s FrontRunner stop, have been “very intentional.” Adoption by city officials of a new form-based code in 2018 have helped spur expansion.
Clearfield, surrounded by other cities and Hill Air Force Base, is largely built out, so the only way to expand is “to go vertical, grow up,” Allen went on. “That’s what we’re doing.”
The 4,000 housing units include 3,200 apartments or condominiums, 500-plus townhomes and 250 single-family homes.