EDEN — Boosters pushing the idea of incorporating part of the Ogden Valley have submitted petitions with more than enough signatures to further the process to state officials, they say.

They’ve also created tentative boundaries for the city, which would contain Pineview Reservoir, the Eden area, the Nordic Valley ski resort, the Liberty area and the Wolf Creek area. It surrounds the town of Huntsville, but Huntsville would remain a separate locale.

“In general, I think the public is very much in favor of it,” said Nick Dahlkamp, who lives in the Liberty area and is helping lead the incorporation effort.

Still, creation of the proposed city, if it ultimately happens, has many hurdles to pass.

The Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office processes incorporation requests and reps from that office will verify whether there are enough legitimate signatures on the petitions submitted to allow the process to move ahead. Signatures of private landowners representing at least 10% of the area of the proposed city and controlling 7% of the property value are required, and Dahlkamp, at least, said the boosters surpassed the threshold.

Presuming there are enough signatures, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office would then pick a consultant to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether the potential tax base in the proposed city is large enough to cover the cost of the municipal services that would be required. That may not be complete until December, Dahlkamp said.

Then, presuming a new city is financially viable and boosters want to keep up the effort, they’d need to conduct another petition drive to collect signatures to get a question on creation of the new city to voters, probably on the November 2024 ballot. “It’s a bit of a long, drawn-out process,” Dahlkamp said.

The boundaries of the proposed city contain the areas with the heaviest concentrations of people, key in creating a tax base that could finance a municipal operation. Around 8,000 people live in the area, Dahlkamp estimates.

Incorporation boosters said the new city, if created, would likely use the Ogden Valley General Plan, approved by Weber County commissioners, to guide development.

County commissioners now govern the Ogden Valley, like other unincorporated areas of Weber County. Incorporation boosters, though, say creating a new city would allow residents to elect local people to serve as leaders, ostensibly giving them autonomy and local control.

County commissioners take a broader countywide view and they may not always represent the interests of those in the Ogden Valley, Dahlkamp said.

A contingent in western Weber County pursued incorporation in 2020 in the unincorporated West Weber and Taylor areas, north, roughly, of West Haven and west of Marriott-Slaterville and Plain City. The incorporation proposal ultimately went to a vote of the public that year — as required in state law — and was shot down by a 56%-44% margin.

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