It’s a view that neighbors of the former Taylor Canyon Elementary School don’t want to lose.

So when they heard that the Ogden School District had declared the site as surplus property, they crowded the Ogden City Council chambers on Sept. 2 to give their elected officials an earful.

More than 50 people showed up wearing green shirts to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting, asking the council to find a way to buy the property and turn it into a permanent park.

“We ask you to recognize the immeasurable value of this green space to our community’s well-being,” Elsa Bowman, one of the neighbors, told the council. Noting she was a mother of two and an Ogden native, she asked, “I beg you to buy back our park and to keep Ogden green. To lose it would be a massive hit to our community.”

Jean Reid Norman, Weber State

Neighbors talked about the park’s heavy use, from soccer games and basketball to sledding in the winter. They said they would love to see the park improved to add restrooms and other amenities.

“It’s one of the only spaces in our neighborhood that is up to date and safe for children to play at,” said Hannah Wagner, who noted her roots in Ogden go back three generations.

Chelsea Alexander, another neighbor, said Taylor Canyon is one of the safe places for her teenager.

“I don’t let my teenager have a phone, so I can feel rest assured that she’s going to make it there and back without harm or incident coming to her,” she said.

Ogden City and Weber County by law have a 90-day right of first refusal on the surplus property, said Ogden School District spokesman Jer Bates. If that deadline passes, the property can go up for sale on the open market, but the deadline can be extended if a deal is in process, he said.

Mayor Ben Nadolski told the crowd those talks have already begun, and he has been assured that the city will have more than 90 days to strike a deal.

“They’re in no hurry,” Nadolski said of the school district. “We are in a hurry to get it right.”

Neighbors expressed deep concern that the parcel would be turned into high-density housing if it were sold to a private party. The old Grand View Elementary School, at 39th Street and Jackson Avenue, was sold to a developer and is now the site of construction of single family homes, Bates said.

Stacia Ryder, a neighbor and sociologist at Utah State University, said she has been surveying residents in the area.

“A lot of folks have made it clear they don’t really want to see any sort of high-density housing,” she said, though there was some openness to single-family homes. She asked the council to include the community in its decision-making on the parcel.

Council Chair Marcia White said a lot of high-density housing is going up in Ogden in certain areas, such as around the Frontrunner station and other public transportation hubs.

Bates noted the current zoning at Taylor Canyon would prevent that. “The good news for residents is that that property is not zoned for high-density housing. It has been zoned for single-family homes,” he said.

Residents said it’s urgent to ensure the park remains a park.

“You cannot put that green space back into the community,” Josie Wilkinson, a neighbor, said. “That green space is what brings life. It’s what makes people want to move here. It’s what makes Ogden, Ogden.”

This story was a collaboration of the students in the News Reporting and Writing class at Weber State University: McKinna Baird, Erin Drollette, Grayson Freestone, Sofia Fuenmayor, James Gordon, Tenaya Hyde-Harrison, Haven di Atene Miller, Jared Mitchell, Elmer Peña and Mia Salgado.