The Commissioner — Summer 2006

Commission Profile

Thinking Outside the Box

Ogden, Utah, Planning Commission

The planning commission provides an avenue for citizen input into what is happening in the city," says Ron Wheelwright, vice chair of the Ogden Planning Commission in Utah. "We listen and respond, all the while helping to ensure the beautification and livability of the city," he says.

Located 30 miles north of Salt Lake City, Ogden has seen better days. For more than a century it was Utah's second largest city, with nearly 71,000 residents in 1960. Then, many residents and the retail base moved to the suburbs. By 1990, the city had 63,000 residents. Today, with a population of 78,000, it is the seventh largest city in the state.

There is, however, a renaissance of sorts underway in Ogden and planning commissioners have a ringside seat. A number of economic development and transportation projects promise to transform and restore the city's vitality. The nine-member planning commission helps determine whether and how some of these projects get built.

"It's important that the commission is not beholden to any organization," says Wheelwright. "And because the planning commission is above the politics, it gives us true objectivity. We get to listen to the developer and any opponents and then make a decision based on facts, not the passions of either side," he says.

"For the most part we work as an advisory group," says the planning commission's chair, Robert Herman. "All proposals for changes in land use or regulations or ordinances that affect how development is shaped in Ogden are reviewed by us and forwarded to the council and mayor for formal approval," he says.

The commission does have final say over conditional use permits, according to Ogden Planning Manager Greg Montgomery, AICP. Such permits are generally considered at the first of two monthly meetings. "The second is more of a work session where we talk about issues," he says.

Commission members are actively engaged in plan development — both at the city and neighborhood levels, says Montgomery. Neighborhoods are the focus of many planning efforts and, informally, play into the composition of the commission.

"We've got 14 neighborhood plans in place," he says of an effort that began in 1986, "and a few still to go. Our goal is to be able to revisit each of these plans every seven years."

As a result of the neighborhood planning process, there has been a lot of downzoning, according to Montgomery. Over the years, high-density zoning has led to deterioration of neighborhood character. "We have some potentially great homes and great neighborhoods and we're working to bring them back," he says.

Neighborhood representation often plays into the appointment of commissioners. "We like to have members from as many planning communities as we can," says Herman. "Geographic diversity is important. We try to hit the four corners of the city and both older and newer neighborhoods," he says.

There also is a tradition of having an architect on the panel, according to Herman, who fills that slot. The current commission includes a landscape architect, real estate agent, sales clerk, businessman, and jewelry maker. Several are self-employed; one is retired.

Planning commission members are appointed by the mayor and ratified by the city council. Until 2002, commissioners could serve an unlimited number of six-year terms. Now they are restricted to two consecutive four-year terms.

To help create continuity between the commission, the general plan, and other commissions, a planning commission member serves as a voting member of the Landmarks Commission and the Trails Committee, says Montgomery.

While continuity is important, occasionally it makes sense to break the mold. "We've had instances where what's required by ordinance didn't make sense for the circumstances," says Wheelwright. "Rather than approve or deny, we'll ask staff to go back and research it. Often, they come up with unique solutions," he says. "What's great about the planning commission is that we get to look at things objectively and say, 'Are there any other options?' We help staff think outside the box."

A City at the Crossroads

Transportation is an important part of Ogden's history and future. Nicknamed "Junction City" in 1869, Ogden was once a bustling rail center, the hub of western freight and passenger operations. In mid-2008 passenger service will resume when a 44-mile commuter rail line connects Ogden with Salt Lake City and Provo.

The advent of commuter rail "is forcing us to look at transportation issues within the city," says Ron Wheelwright, vice chair of the city's planning commission. "If you come to Ogden by commuter rail, you'll have to have a way to get around." he says.

"A year ago, our regional transportation planning group presented a report that showed a big demand for transportation between commuter rail downtown and Weber State [University] and the [McKay Dee] hospital," says Robert Herman, the planning commission's chair. While streetcars were recommended, gondolas — the idea of Ogden's mayor — ranked second, largely because federal funding seemed unlikely for such a unique system.

Ogden has not given up on gondolas, which some consider a less-expensive, pollution- and noise-free option. The gondola is included in a recent proposal by the mayor that would create a destination resort on the west side of Mt. Ogden, according to Greg Montgomery, AICP, the planning manager.

The city proposes to sell its Mt. Ogden Golf Course to a private developer who would reconfigure it and sell lots along the course for 400 luxury homes. The money raised would finance a gondola between downtown and Weber State.

"This is going to be a really, really interesting issue for the commission," says Herman. "It not only gets at the fundamentals of land use, but goes to the core of the community's values of how we should use our land." Calling the proposal "complicated," Wheelwright notes that the commission will have a host of issues to consider — transportation, economic development, aesthetics, public health and safety, and even adequate water pressure. "We also need to decide just how high up the mountain we want to allow development," he says.

Herman wants to ensure ample time for project review. "This development is occurring in one of our planning communities that does not have a neighborhood plan," says Herman. "There's a real interest on the part of the community to get a plan in place so that their interests are represented if development moves forward."

The gondola, as currently envisioned, would pass by one of the city's most ambitious downtown redevelopment projects on the site of the now-demolished Ogden City Mall. "It was built in the '80s as a downtown pedestrian mall and by 2002 it was vacant," says Montgomery.

The planning commission has been heavily involved. "We did a community charrette to come up with a new design," he says. "In the end we razed the site but left the parking structure intact."

Some $45 million — representing a high-adventure recreation center, movie theater complex, and retail, office, and residential buildings — has been committed to the redevelopment project. Says Herman, "every month something comes before us. It's fascinating to watch it take shape."