Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

EDEN — As plans for a proposed ski village around the Nordic Valley ski resort morph and evolve, many of those living around the site are uniting against what they see as its excessive size.

“Something very quaint, absolutely,” said Robi Kunz, alluding to the sort of development he’d favor. “What they’re proposing is actually monstrous.”

Skyline Mountain Base, which owns the ski resort and much of the land where the ski village would be built, is proposing hundreds of housing units, commercial space and more, catering to skiers, visitors and others. The plans have generated alarm among Kunz and other area residents, worried the development, clustered along 3850 East and Nordic Valley Way, would detract from the peace and quiet of the scenic, mountainous area, the big draw for many.

“We like the mountains. We like to ski. We like the quiet,” said Bruce Magill, another area resident, speaking with Kunz a short distance from a wide open area, now undeveloped, where a series of housing units would take shape.

“It’s nature and peace and quiet — that’s why everyone’s here,” added Kunz.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Both Kunz and Magill have been in touch with other area residents and say the general sentiment they sense is concern. The new housing units — condos, townhomes, cabins, a hotel, perhaps — would hinder the natural vistas of the area and bring in a transient population, altering the tight-knit neighborhood feel.

“I’ll give you 100 bucks if you find someone who likes the idea,” Kunz said. A handful of signs reading “Way too big,” the work of foes, are posted along roadsides in the area, underscoring the critics’ contention that the proposed village is too big.

Many of the critics and concerned residents spoke out at a March 22, 2022, Ogden Valley Planning Commission meeting, voicing their reservations about the plans and asking questions. Skyline Mountain Base representatives, in response to those concerns and feedback from county officials, publicly unveiled a series of changes at a planning commission work session on April 5.

The South Village area of the development southwest of Viking Drive, home to many local residents, would be removed from the plans, according to Scott Perkes, a planner in the Weber County Planning Division. Likewise, the maximum height of buildings in the development would be reduced from 55 feet to 50 feet and the height of some structures on the edge of the development would be limited to 35 feet to minimize the adverse impact to the view for nearby residents.

Furthermore, the number of residential housing units, per Skyline’s adjustments, “could be limited to approximately 525 units,” Perkes said, though the precise number would depend on other development factors. Skyline had previously pinpointed “up to 720 residential unit entitlements,” according to Perkes, and, in planning documents, had proposed as many as 763 housing units of varied types across its development area.

Photo supplied, Weber County

The changes seem to demonstrate Skyline’s openness to residents’ concerns, Magill said. “We just want it to be in a proportion that doesn’t kill Nordic Valley,” he said.

Nonetheless, concerns and skepticism persist. Magill worries there’s wiggle room for future developers to skirt around the concessions put forward by Skyline. Many worry the plan changes “won’t add up to much,” he said.

The 525 or so units, per the revised plans, are still too much relative to the size of the Nordic Valley ski resort, Kunz said, more than the “boutique” sort of development touted by Skyline. “It’s still a village. It’s way too big,” he said.

Magill pointed to the Ogden Valley General Plan, the Weber County document that guides development in the area. “The Ogden Valley community desires physical development to complement, not overwhelm or compete with, the rural character of the Valley,” the document reads.

The Ogden Valley Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled to take up a pair of zoning changes sought by Skyline, key before the plans can move forward, at its April 26 meeting. The commission is an advisory body to the Weber County Commission, which would have ultimate say on the zoning questions.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Skyline representatives, meanwhile, have emphasized all along that county planning policies allow for the sort of development they envision. Moreover, by clustering the proposed housing rather than spreading it out, they keep the mountain below Lewis Peak, where the Nordic Valley ski resort is located, relatively open and pristine.

Preliminary development of the plans dates to 2014, when Skyline Mountain Base acquired Nordic Valley and the land around it. Village plans publicly emerged last October and now developers are engaged in talks with county officials to sort through the process of properly zoning the property so development can move ahead.

Development, if plans proceed, would be gradual, perhaps stretching over 10 to 15 years or more.