ROY — The city of Roy is growing and the six contenders for City Council are making clear their visions for how to handle it.

On Wednesday, the Weber County League of Women Voters presented a debate in Roy for the City Council candidates. This included incumbents Ann Jackson and Joe Paul along with challengers Bryon Saxton, Benjamin Pearson, Jeremy Thompson and Claude Payne. Saxton has previously served on the council. Incumbent Diane Wilson opted not to seek reelection in 2023.

Housing needs

Candidates were asked about their thoughts on affordable housing standards and how the city should handle them.

Saxton said he’s firmly against having too many apartments along the city’s main thoroughfare — 1900 West.

“It’ll eliminate a lot of commercial property,” he said. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, you can put commercial on the bottom.’ But some commercial doesn’t want to be stuck on the bottom of a complex. I opposed the rezone and I feel like affordable housing, sometimes that’s a label that developers use in order to charge $1,700-$2,000 per month for rent. I know that the interest rates are high, but I’m just not sure that this is something that Roy should turn its commercial Main Street into.”

Thompson, however, said the area is ripe for development and that mixed-use spaces work.

“Having that commercial space underneath, (Saxton is) right, not every commercial entity is going to want to be under that,” he said. “But you could put walkable stores, restaurants, quick service food. … It is not appropriate for the entire city. That is probably the only part of the city that it is appropriate in.”

Pearson said he’s afraid that Roy is losing a bit of itself with the proliferation of apartment housing.

“We talk about this preservation of the feeling of Roy,” he said. “That is not going to include adding high-rise apartments and congesting our roads even more. I was a traffic officer and I know the congestion we experience in Roy City. Just imagine having hundreds more units in the city. … The feeling of Roy City will be lost, in my opinion, if you go out and bring in the mixed-use development — the high-rise apartments with storefront on the ground.”

Development

When the candidates were asked about the most important item in the newly passed strategic plan, many cited the need for Roy to continue to with economic development of many facets.

Paul said that mixed-use developments will actually cut down on traffic rather than proliferate it.

“Bringing mixed-use creates an environment where people can live, work and play,” he said. “It’s not going to increase traffic congestion, as stated, because it’s in a central area of the city between two freeway entrances. If the majority of those people are Northrop Grumman (workers), they’re going to be able to walk or bike. They’re not the families with three or four vehicles.”

Payne said development is needed in order not to lose more residents.

“We need to get companies to come into Roy,” he said. “We also need places for them to live. We want that hometown feeling, I agree, but we’ve got to progress. Someone once told me, ‘If you’re not up to the table, you’re going to be on the menu, and Roy’s not going to be able to bring those companies in.'”

Jackson said there’s a great need for housing space as certain businesses move in nearby.

“Northrop Grumman is going to bring 6,000 jobs to Hill Field, and we have to have some place for these people to come,” she said. “What better place than to come to Roy? We have a developer who would put 339 townhomes (in). We’re not taking any of the businesses off of 1900 to put these in. Most of these are privately owned in a trust, and they would be back next to the freeway.”

Candidates were also asked about code enforcement, the Roy Recreation Complex and the Good Landlord Program.

A replay of Wednesday night’s forum can be found on the Weber County League of Women Voters Facebook page.

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