OGDEN — Ogden officials are proposing creation of another community reinvestment project area off the west side of Wall Avenue in a bid to spur redevelopment in the area, characterized by a mix of industrial and new residential development.

The change, if plans proceed, would pave the way for use of tax funds as an incentive to new development.

The proposed Gibson Community Reinvestment Project Area, or Gibson CRA, extends between 12th and 21st streets off the west side of Wall Avenue and goes west, at least in parts, to the city boundary. The strip mall containing Winco, the 21st Street Walmart, the Utah Transit Authority Mount Ogden Business Unit and the 21st Street pond abut the proposed CRA zone but are carved out of it.

“It’s kind of a transitional area,” said Glenn Symes, senior policy analyst for the Ogden City Council, which reviewed the plans at a work session on Tuesday. “It’s transitioning to a little bit more residential. It has been manufacturing for a long time.”

A report to the City Council on the area describes it in somewhat stark terms, saying it’s “in significant need of improvement and additional investment.” Fresenius Medical Care operates a large medical supply manufacturing plant in the area, though the facility would likely be removed from the CRA boundaries if the plans move forward.

The area “has been subject to years of disinvestment or investments into things that are not conducive to the area or vision of the city. Without strategic economic focus and investment, it is unlikely that would change directions,” Brandon Cooper, Ogden’s community economic development director, said in a statement to the Standard-Examiner.

Turning the area into a CRA would pave the way for generation of tax-increment finance, or TIF, funding to help cover the cost of infrastructural improvements in the footprint area. TIF money is essentially deferred property tax revenue brought on by new development. “Our goal is to provide investment in the area that would encourage diverse residential neighborhood development along with suitable commercial uses,” Cooper said.

The potential availability of TIF money, Symes added, can make development “a little more appealing” to the private sector. As is, Ogden is home to 13 CRAs or development zones that are similar to CRAs.

The first step in the process would be approval of a resolution by the Ogden Redevelopment Agency, or RDA, authorizing a study into the creation of a new CRA. The RDA board is made up of Ogden City Council members and the body is tentatively set to formally take up the matter next Tuesday, Symes said.

If the study is authorized and completed, city officials would then formally take up creation of the new CRA. The study would determine potential projects and TIF revenue-generating possibilities in the area.

New apartment buildings and townhomes are currently taking shape in the proposed CRA zone off the west side of Wall Avenue north of the 21st Street Walmart and off the west side of the store.

If the plans proceed, Cooper said city officials would work with residents of the area in crafting redevelopment proposals.

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