2022 in review: Development dominates as GSL worsens, community institutions struggle | News, Sports, Jobs
1 / 10
The WonderBlock area in Ogden, as envisioned in a redevelopment plan crafted by J.F. Capital, working with the city. This image shows a proposed pedestrian walkway extending between 25th and 26th streets.
Image supplied, City of Ogden
2 / 10
Weber State students exit the new Wildcat Shuttle bus that serves the university campus on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The shuttle route is the first operable portion of the Utah Transit Authority bus rapid transit system taking shape that’ll eventually link the downtown Ogden FrontRunner station, the Weber State campus and McKay-Dee Hospital.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
3 / 10
A first-floor schematic of the new Marshall White Center shows an indoor pool, indoor field house, gymnasium, multi-use community areas and additional features such as a “child watch” area for users.
Image supplied, VCBO Architecture
4 / 10
Children help cut a ceremonial ribbon during an open house for the renovated Polk Elementary School in Ogden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.
Deborah Wilber, Standard-Examiner
5 / 10
The Great Salt Lake, photographed from Antelope Island on April 23, 2022.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
6 / 10
The Ogden-Hinckley Airport terminal is pictured Friday, May 20, 2022.
Jamie Lampros, Special to the Standard-Examiner
7 / 10
From left, Northridge High School senior Hannah Frost, Woods Cross High School seniors Hannah Richardson and Brielle Hall and Clearfield High School junior Joshua Flores participate in a press event Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, at Clearfield High School in Clearfield to unveil the Davis School District’s new “No More, Not Here” video series targeting racism.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
8 / 10
The Wolf Creek Resort area in the Ogden Valley, north of Eden, photographed Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. A development plan in the area has sparked controversy.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
9 / 10
Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon, left, and Chief Deputy Phillip Reese pose outside the sheriff’s office in Ogden on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
10 / 10
The Hilltop apartment development at 4400 South and Washington Boulevard in South Ogden, photographed Friday, April 1, 2022.
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
❮
❯
The WonderBlock area in Ogden, as envisioned in a redevelopment plan crafted by J.F. Capital, working with the city. This image shows a proposed pedestrian walkway extending between 25th and 26th streets.
Weber State students exit the new Wildcat Shuttle bus that serves the university campus on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The shuttle route is the first operable portion of the Utah Transit Authority bus rapid transit system taking shape that’ll eventually link the downtown Ogden FrontRunner station, the Weber State campus and McKay-Dee Hospital.
A first-floor schematic of the new Marshall White Center shows an indoor pool, indoor field house, gymnasium, multi-use community areas and additional features such as a “child watch” area for users.
Children help cut a ceremonial ribbon during an open house for the renovated Polk Elementary School in Ogden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.
The Great Salt Lake, photographed from Antelope Island on April 23, 2022.
The Ogden-Hinckley Airport terminal is pictured Friday, May 20, 2022.
From left, Northridge High School senior Hannah Frost, Woods Cross High School seniors Hannah Richardson and Brielle Hall and Clearfield High School junior Joshua Flores participate in a press event Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, at Clearfield High School in Clearfield to unveil the Davis School District’s new “No More, Not Here” video series targeting racism.
The Wolf Creek Resort area in the Ogden Valley, north of Eden, photographed Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. A development plan in the area has sparked controversy.
Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon, left, and Chief Deputy Phillip Reese pose outside the sheriff’s office in Ogden on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
The Hilltop apartment development at 4400 South and Washington Boulevard in South Ogden, photographed Friday, April 1, 2022.
Another year has come and gone — but hasn’t yet been forgotten.
As the world turns its attention to the promise of 2023, we look back on the news that made headlines in 2022. Here are some of the biggest stories from the past year, as determined by the Standard-Examiner:
DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
Although any potential payoffs would come in future years, a constant theme in 2022 was chatter in city circles about new developments in and around the 25th Street corridor in Ogden.
The two biggest projects that were floated involve the creation of a cluster of new buildings occupying the “WonderBlock” site north of 26th Street between Grant and Lincoln avenues that would mix residential, retail and office space, and a revamp of the “campus” surrounding Union Station after the Ogden City Council approved purchase of the land on which the local landmark sits from Union Pacific Railroad.
Neither proposal is fully fleshed out yet, and the public will have opportunities to weigh in, but some residents have already openly expressed varying degrees of concern about both — as also proved to be the case with a new five-story housing structure going up between businesses on Historic 25th Street.
BUILDING THE BRT
Ogden drivers spent much of 2022 navigating orange cones and barrels set up to facilitate work on the city’s new bus rapid transit system.
The Ogden Express, or OGX, is anticipated to be finished and ready for passengers around August. But before then, construction crews have had to prepare city streets for the new fleet of electric buses that soon will be ferrying riders around town, from the Utah Transit Authority FrontRunner station in downtown Ogden to the Weber State University campus — where a new shuttle service is already operational — and McKay-Dee Hospital.
That’s often meant rerouted or restricted traffic along Washington Boulevard, 25th Street and Harrison Boulevard. Starting in January, work is expected to be focused near The Junction, with UTA issuing a recent warning to the City Council that “disruption” is coming to 23rd Street.
MARSHALL WHITE CENTER
After holding public open houses early in the year to gather community feedback, architects unveiled the first conceptual floor plans for a new community center in April.
Early plans have shown a nearly 68,000-square-foot, two-story structure with an indoor synthetic turf field house, a running track, pool and gymnasium, among other features. That would double the size of the existing facility, which has been on a downswing since its pool closed in 2018 after a crack was discovered.
The project, at an approximate price tag of $30 million, could get started by April, city officials have said.
GREAT SALT LAKE
In 2021, Utah’s iconic water body dipped to its lowest level on record. Then in 2022, it set the bar even lower.
After years of drought and water diversions, signs are pointing toward a critical juncture for the Great Salt Lake, one that could have long-term ecological and environmental consequences. That’s why in March, the Standard-Examiner joined with nearly two dozen news, education and media organizations to form the Great Salt Lake Collaborative and dive into the issues that have bought the lake to this point while also exploring what options are available to reverse or correct the trend.
With support of the Solutions Journalism Network and using funding provided by the Knight Foundation, partners spent the year looking at the Great Salt Lake from every conceivable angle. Reporters traversed the U.S. West, visiting California, Las Vegas and Idaho, in search of communities dealing with similar circumstances as Utah, with the hope that some here may be moved by the efforts undertaken elsewhere.
Underlining the seriousness of the situation, Utah’s state and federal lawmakers took steps to examine the Great Salt Lake’s decline. The Utah Legislature approved the creation of a $40 million trust that would focus on how to get more water to the drying lake; House Speaker Brad Wilson organized a pair of summits, bringing together experts to discuss what can be done; and Rep. Blake Moore in the U.S. House and Sen. Mitt Romney in the Senate brought national attention to the matter, helping get legislation passed in Congress — and signed this week by President Joe Biden — that would study saline lake ecosystems.
SCHOOL ADDITION, SUBTRACTION
Aiming to keep a handle on aging facilities and population changes, school leaders discussed or set in motion plans to shake up the look of local districts.
In the Ogden School District, Taylor Canyon Elementary was demolished in October, with students shuffled into the boundaries of nearby schools. Some are now attending the rebuilt Polk Elementary, one of two new schools to open this year. The other is Liberty Elementary.
District officials now have turned their attention to possible future moves, which could include additional school closures and reconstruction projects.
Ogden wasn’t alone, however, as the Weber School District continued work to build a brand new elementary, junior high and high school in the Taylor and West Haven areas. Roosevelt Elementary also is being reconstructed, all with money approved by voters in 2021.
And not to be left out, the Davis School District had a $475 million bond proposal succeed this fall that will allow for the construction of a new junior high in West Point, a rebuild of Sunset Junior High School, reconstruction of Bountiful Elementary, plus remodeling, expansion and other projects at various other schools throughout the county.
AIRPORT TURBULENCE
Ogden-Hinckley Airport watchers were transfixed in 2022 by a tangle of litigation over Ogden City policy changes and their impacts on long-term ground lease holders who have poured money into their hangars. The city also suffered a setback when its two ultra-low-cost air carriers, Allegiant and Avelo, discontinued service at Ogden.
Airport officials said they believe passenger carriers will return when economic conditions improve.
On the legal front, a federal judge in Salt Lake City dismissed a suit filed by more than 70 hangar lease holders who accused the city of unconstitutionally taking their property by not renewing leases. The dispute, which began when city officials rolled out new policies intended to make the airport more profitable by tearing down decades-old hangars to clear a path for new development, is on appeal in federal court in Denver.
RACISM IN DAVIS SCHOOLS
The Davis School District, which settled with the U.S. Justice Department in 2021 after a damning federal investigation into endemic racism in the district against Black and Asian students, saw more criticism, and more litigation, in 2022.
District officials continued to implement programs mandated in the federal settlement, such as more staff training on racism sensitivity and complaint handling. But in November, Brittany Tichenor-Cox, the mother of a 10-year-old Black and autistic student who died by suicide last year after alleged bullying and neglect at Foxboro Elementary School, served a $14.5 million damages claim against the district.
In a separate legal case, a federal judge ruled in early December that three Black students claiming persistent racism against them cannot collect damages from the district’s alleged noncompliance with the Justice Department discrimination settlement.
OGDEN VALLEY GROWTH
Some Ogden Valley residents are studying whether to seek incorporation of a large swath of the area, to give locals more say about development. Sponsors mentioned major housing developments taking shape at the Nordic Valley and Snowbasin ski resorts and at Wolf Creek Resorts. Concerns about water supplies and sewer capacity also have surfaced.
The Weber County Commission recently approved a rezone of property that would pave the way for the proposed Nordic Valley ski village, which could include 565 new dwellings.
JAIL DEATHS — AGAIN
State lawmakers, who in 2018 sponsored legislation to increase oversight of Utah’s county jails after an unprecedented 25 deaths in 2016, hoped the trend would improve. It did — until 2020. Lawmakers are planning new reform legislation for 2023, zeroing in on mental health services. Suicide continues to be the leading cause of death behind bars. Davis and Weber counties experienced a spike in deaths at their jails in 2020.
One of the 2016 jail deaths — Heather Miller, 28, died of a split spleen after a fall from her bunk — resulted in a lawsuit against Davis County and jail medical personnel. A U.S. District Court jury in July found that a jail nurse and the county violated Miller’s constitutional rights by the nurse’s “deliberate indifference” to the inmate’s health after the fall. Jurors awarded $8 million in damages to Miller’s estate, represented by her mother, Cynthia Stella. The county is appealing.
HOUSING WOES
Housing developments, including single-family dwellings, apartment complexes and townhouses, continued to spring up in most communities this year. One of the most recent was a 725-unit development between Plain City and Farr West that got a nod recently from the Weber County Commission.
Officials in several communities said recently they are conscious of a shortage of affordable housing — hence, several projects to address that need have sprouted on 40th Street in South Ogden, among other locales.
A “housing master plan” that identifies possible areas most conducive to housing growth in Weber County is being considered. It also would help with economic growth and address quality-of-life issues like health and community connectivity.
Newsletter
Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.
Comments are closed.