Ogden City Tackles Blight Head-On

Tuesday the Ogden City Council, acting in the capacity of the Redevelopment Agency, voted 5-2 to declare a blighted part of Ogden city as just that...blighted. 

This declaration opens the door for Ogden City to create incentives for new development and also re-investment into existing buildings. 

The City's focus for now is on commercial structures on the east side of Washington Blvd.  In the coming years, I am sure residential development will come. 

Here is a map of the new RDA zone:

Although declaring blight in an area is controversial, this legal step opens the door for redevelopment to occur.  Although there are pockets of nice housing and commercial in this area, the majority of the area has exhausted its useful life and now flounders in economic obsolescence. 

The next step is for developers and city planners to make a proposal for the next project in the area.  The one that has already been discussed is a new parking terrace on the 23rd block of Washington.  Parking is sorely needed there. I bank at Zions Bank on the corner and there are 4 good parking spaces and 10 really bad ones.  Parking will also help ease growing demand for parking near The Junction. 

Most of the commercial on the 20th and 21st blocks of Washington are a detriment to the community due to vacancy, abandonment, or unsavory use.  I anticipate most of it will be demolished and new structures will be built to suit current economic models.  I wouldn't be surprised to see mixed use retail/residential go there.  There is also a pocket of squalid housing on Oak Dr. and Warren Ct. that will likely be demolished in the future as well.

In all, this is a good move for cleaning up Ogden and it will be exciting to see the projects that are proposed.