North Ogden – About a year ago, Mayor Harris informed the Council that the City wanted to apply for a grant to purchase property for the future Monroe Boulevard. According to City Manager Ron Chandler, “This money comes from a tax that is added to your vehicle registration fee and restricted to the purchase of right-of-way for future road construction. Monroe Boulevard is listed in our transportation plan and is part of the regional plan. The tax is collected and distributed at the County level. We estimated that the cost of the land for the right-of-way is $2 million and applied for that amount. We received support from the other mayors in the county and the County awarded the grant. The purpose of the grant is to purchase the right-of-way. Construction of the road will most likely be done by developers as it has been done in the past. The road improvements, as stated in the transportation plan, are not scheduled to begin until the 3rd phase of improvements – 2026 to 2040. The City Council gave us some ideas and asked for additional information which the staff has begun working on.”
Citizen after citizen stood during the public comment portion of the January 22nd City council meeting giving their input on the matter. City administration is trying to look ahead and plan road improvements and developments that will prepare the city for increasing traffic as the city continues to grow. The population in North Ogden has almost quadrupled in the last 40 years to arrive at the current 17,357 residents.
Numerous citizens, including Council Member Wade Bigler who lives near the planned Boulevard, expressed great apprehensions including concerns that the road would run next to 2 elementary schools, which raises safety concerns. When asked, Mayor Harris stated that the speed limit would probably be around 40 mph. Others shared their fears that crime rates would dramatically increase if a major road created “a direct corridor from Ogden into the very heart of North Ogden City.” Some expressed anxiety over property values decreasing, and the difficulty in selling a home on a major road. One property owner was unhappy that his property would be completely eaten up by the 80-ft. wide road, which would include the sidewalk, park strip, curb and gutter, and 3-5 lanes.
The questions was put forth time and again, “Will this even alleviate the problem?” It was pointed out that there are no businesses, or real destinations on Monroe in North Ogden or Ogden, so eventually most people would have to drive to Harrison or Washington Blvd. to get where they were going. One last thought expressed was that if there were to be new lights added, which Mayor Harris confirmed would likely be the case, it would create new bottlenecks on current East/West roads like 1700 N., 2100 N., 2600 N., 3100 N., etc.
Mayor Harris reiterated that the plans to finish the Blvd. aren’t likely to come about for many years still, but the idea is to start using some $2 million in grant money awarded for the project to begin buying up the land from residents. Even with this understanding around 40 residents clapped several times for their neighbors, expressing their agreement with the concerns expressed at the microphone throughout the discussion, especially when the idea of looking at other options was put forth.
The extension of Monroe Blvd. has long been part of North Ogden’s traffic management plan. However, given the number of residents who have expressed valid and important concerns, I support putting the plans on hold in order to re-evaluate the long-term traffic plan. The City has to be responsive to residents. In this case we have many years before construction would begin, so it costs us nothing to take a second, closer look at the plan and to confirm whether Monroe Blvd. really is the best answer for the City in the future or not.
Author’s Note: The City is considering conducting a review of the North Ogden General Plan this year. I hope that taking a second look at the Monroe Blvd. plan will be part of this so we can carefully evaluate traffic planning options.
