Weber County development plan tabled as master plan rewrite continues

Image supplied, Weber County Planning Division
This rendering shows some of the elements of plans to redevelop a piece of property in western Weber County off 1200 South. Weber County Commissioners on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, tabled action on the proposal.OGDEN — A proposal to develop a big parcel of land off 1200 South in western Weber County will have to wait.
The plans call for single-family homes, multifamily homes and commercial development, maybe even a grocery store, according to Charlie Ewert, a Weber County planner. At any rate, Weber County Commissioners tabled action on Tuesday on the proposed rezone sought by the developers, in part due to ongoing efforts to rewrite the antiquated master plan governing development in the area.
The master plan rewrite governing western Weber County has been in the works for a year and should take another two to three months to complete, estimates County Commissioner Scott Jenkins.
The 87-acre parcel at the center of the plans put forward by Lync Construction sits off the north side of 1200 South, bounded by 2700 West to the west and the Weber River and Marriott-Slaterville along the diagonal side to the north and east. The area, now zoned for agricultural use, is largely undeveloped and, as such, the potential mix of homes, townhomes, apartments and commercial would represent a big shift.
“The purpose of the rezone is to develop the site for commercial uses along 12th Street and residential uses behind the commercial uses and along the Weber River,” reads a Weber County Planning Division summary of the proposal.
The land was earlier eyed as a site for a movie studio, but that proposal, which drew a lot of attention from neighbors, was ultimately shelved. The latest proposal has also sparked attention, with one speaker who addressed county commissioners during a public hearing on the plans lamenting that the “family feel” of the area would be lost in such a relatively dense development.
Brent Hipwell, who also spoke, cited the ongoing master plan rewrite as well as the lack of specifics on how the land would be developed.
“Right now, we don’t know what they’re building there,” he said. The plans allow for a range of development types, but, as presented, they don’t precisely put forward a cohesive subdivision.
The land sits in unincorporated Weber County but abuts Marriott-Slaterville. Les Syme, who belongs to the Marriott-Slaterville Planning Commission, also addressed commissioners. The proposal, he said, doesn’t fit with the city’s vision of maintaining open spaces. Most police calls in Marriott-Slaterville, he added, go to areas with dense development, as is proposed in the parcel.
“I worry about what’s going in there,” he said.
In tabling the rezone question, Jenkins cited ongoing efforts to redo the county master plan. He doesn’t seem to have major issues with the proposal, though. “My feeling is this is going to fit right into the master plan,” he said.
Commissioner Gage Froerer cited “unanswered questions” about some of the aspects of the proposal, including the potential for flooding and how that would be managed. Still, he also hinted at the eventuality of change.
“We know that growth is not going away. That’s something we all have to deal with,” he said.
The Western Weber Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezone to allow for the residential and commercial development, with conditions.