Green space or homes? Ogden officials debate future of vacant school property

OGDEN — Six months after Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski announced plans to convert the grounds of a former school into a park in the name of assuring an abundance of green space, his administration has inked a contract to buy the land.

The Ogden School Board accepted the proposal last week.

Still, the Ogden City Council, which had a preliminary discussion on the matter on Tuesday, has yet to formally chime in, and with the state facing a housing shortage, the future of the plans isn't a sure thing. While Nadolski has stressed the importance of maintaining open space, others note the need for more housing, among other things, setting up a potential debate across the Wasatch Front about the merits of increasing green space versus filling open parcels with more homes.

"I know there's a split," City Council Chairman Rich Hyer, skeptical of the mayor's park proposal, said Wednesday.

Some $700,000 is included in Nadolski's 2026-2027 budget proposal to help cover the $950,000-or-so cost of acquiring part of the 4.23-acre parcel where Taylor Canyon Elementary once stood on Ogden's East Bench, so it can become park space. But City Council members have final say on the budget and could remove that funding, halting the plans. The school building was razed in 2022, though the playground remains, and neighbors use the property to run their dogs, play basketball and more.

"These are the deliberations that they're going to have over the next couple of weeks to decide if they want to keep it in or leave it out," said Glenn Symes, executive director of the City Council and the top administrative staffer for the body. Echoing Hyer, he said some favor Nadolski's proposal; others have their doubts.

A contingent of neighbors around the former school site has pressed the city to buy the land and keep it open for public use, and group members are monitoring the situation.

"I think what is clear is that not all council members ... will support this, so we still have some work to do in order to try and ensure support for the project," reads a public post on the organization's Facebook page from Wednesday. Nadolski's proposal calls for using just 2.6 acres of the former school site for public open space, not the entire thing as originally proposed, so "we are going to need to keep working to even get this part of the park saved."

Under the mayor's plan, the city would buy the eastern 2.6 acres of the former Taylor Canyon Elementary property from the Ogden School District and keep it open. "There are not solid plans for now other than preservation for future use as a public asset," said Mike McBride, the Nadolski administration spokesman.

Presuming the land deal goes through, school officials last Thursday instructed the remaining 1.6 or so acres of the property to be put up for sale. The property is zoned for single-family homes on lots measuring at least 6,000 square feet, which means perhaps as many as 10 or so homes could fit on the 1.6-acre parcel.

Questions and skepticism

Discussion at Tuesday's Ogden City Council work session was filled with questions — whether the land buy would impact the future of other nearby parks and what additional costs the city would incur if the deal goes through. City staffers said plans at other parks wouldn't be impacted by the deal and that installing an irrigation system to keep the land properly watered would cost $100,000, on top of the acquisition price and ongoing maintenance costs.

Councilman Dave Graf expressed hesitancy about moving forward with the plans, noting, in part, other nearby parks around the ex-Taylor Canyon Elementary property. People living in other sections of Ogden "would love access to park space and trailheads as this neighborhood has," he said.

He also noted the ongoing costs the city would incur in maintaining the space, compared with the property tax revenue the land would generate if the space were instead used for residential development. The full 4.23 acres of the property could possibly accommodate 20-plus homes.

Selling the land for private development "would increase housing availability in the city of Ogden," Graf said. "It would fill those households, perhaps, with kids that could in turn fill our school buildings in a school district that has seen consistent, year-over-year declines for about a dozen years."

Hyer also noted the preponderance of parks in the East Bench area around the former school site and the need for mid-range housing. If the former school property were turned into homes, "that would be really nice for Ogden," he said.

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