Ben Dorger, Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — The proposed ski village abutting the Nordic Valley ski resort comes up for public review on Tuesday, and it seems to be rubbing some residents the wrong way.

“In the most simple terms, it’s just way too big for what we have here,” said Bruce Magill, who lives in the area. He suspects most living in the Eden area, where Nordic Valley is located, have concerns.

Scott Perkes, a planner in the Weber County Planning Division, has also received feedback, but he says he’s heard a range of views. The long-range plans of Skyline Mountain Base call for development of a ski village containing up to 763 condominiums and other living units, hotel and commercial space and more over the next 10-15 years — or even longer.

“Generally, the comments have been inquisitive in nature as the public has been introduced to the project,” Perkes said in a message to the Standard-Examiner. “I’ve received very few outright detracting comments of the proposal. Several property owners adjacent to the project have offered very positive feedback and are excited for the changes.”

Wherever sentiment lies, the ambitious Skyline proposal comes up for formal public review for the first time on Tuesday. There have been public informational meetings on the plans since Skyline unveiled them last October, but now it faces official review as county officials mull Skyline’s reqests for zoning changes so the proposal can proceed.

Photo supplied, Ogden Valley Planning Commission

A public hearing on the zoning requests will be held during Tuesday’s meeting of the Ogden Valley Planning Commission, an advisory group to the Weber County Commission. That meeting is set to start at 4:30 p.m. and will be held at the Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd. in Ogden.

“The Planning Commission may make formal recommendations on both these items to the County Commission if they are comfortable with the proposals,” Perkes said. If and when the body does offer up a recommendation, the matter will then go to the Weber County Commission, which has final say.

Skyline is asking to amend the county’s form-based village zoning ordinance to allow for the design flourishes it proposes for the village. “Specific to the Nordic village, the design theme requested by the applicant is a ‘modern interpretation of alpine design including a balance between modern alpine and classical alpine design features,'” Perkes said.

Skyline is also asking that the 510 acres where the development would sit be rezoned in line with the proposal. The village portion of the resort would cover only a fraction of the 510 acres, with most of the land remaining untouched or reserved for recreational activities.

The rezone would allow Skyline to focus the proposed housing, hotel and commercial elements of the village, “into a more consolidated pedestrian-oriented village core,” Perkes said. “Without the rezone, existing zoning would allow development to occur in a more sprawled-out pattern.”

Skyline owns the land where the Nordic Valley ski resort sits as well, as much of the 510 acres that’s the focus of its development plan, though not all of it. Nordic Valley Land Associates and Solution Enterprises also own portions of the land.

Though Skyline officials are eager to move forward, their plans have generated questions among some area residents like Magill, likely to emerge at Tuesday’s public hearing.

Notably, he thinks the quantity of proposed housing is just too much for the area. “We just want to make it a size that doesn’t destroy the area and that’s compatible with the infrastructure,” Magill said.

More specifically, he worries the development would create excessive car traffic and questions whether there’s enough water to supply such an operation. He also wonders how wastewater will be treated, and whether the resort will get the snow it needs in the future to accommodate skiing.

“Is it even going to have snow in 20 years?” he said.

Though the proposal is a long-term initiative, a description of the planned village put forward in Skyline documents submitted to the county paints a picture of a bustling resort.

“The village core will include hotels and resort-oriented condominiums for overnight accommodations at the existing base of the mountain as well as a mix of townhomes and mountain chalets for full- or part-time residents,” one of the documents reads. It goes on to describe “walkable streetscapes with various shop frontages, outdoor dining and landscaped plazas and gathering spaces to give the Nordic Valley area a true ski village mass and energy throughout the year at the heart of the Nordic Valley project.”

Newsletter