The UTA wants to develop the 70 acres adjacent to the Front Runner Station. UTA's proposal was for a 4000 unit apartment complex. It was reject in whole by mayor Don Wood.
I think that both sides are unrealistic. True, you can not put a city of 8,000 new residents in 70 acres and not expect any negative consequences. Especially next to a commuter's parking lot. These cars will be empty and unattended most of the day. It is just asking for trouble.
However, a commercial site like Don Wood wants is also a bad idea. Even in better economic times, there are dozens of empty commercial sites littering the old highway from Roy to Kaysville. It does not take a genius to figure out that there are way too many such sites in the area. We have a surplus of strip malls.
One prime example is Antelope square, just to the south in Layton. This was the home of an Albertson's and is still the home of K-Mart. Most of the sites at the north end of this strip mall are empty. Ditto for a similar location in Roy. Vacant strip malls are just as much of a problem for a city as apartments. The difference is that they do not vote.
However, given the state of the economy, this may not be the right time to develop that property. I said in a comment at Deseret News that the UTA should leave it underdeveloped to show the city. They should actually leave it undeveloped because now is not the right time to move forward. There is not the demand for either a commercial or residential property at this time.
When the time comes, I hope for a mixed-use property. Some retail would be nice, but not an entire seventy acres unless a grocery store or something like it can be put on the property. Then have some professional offices. Finally, residential. Some sites work with retail on the ground floor, professional above the retail and residential on top. Maybe even some class-A office space would be nice as well. Finally, to please Mr. Wood and all of his cronies, the residential would be condo. But, it needs have something that will attract buyers, like a private pool or gym membership or both.
Now, just because a neighborhood is rentals does not make it a bad neighborhood. But if you want a mature neighborhood to have owner-occupants instead of land lords, you need to put something into it so that people will want to buy those properties to live in them. Street lights well repaired roads would be a start. This is something that my neighborhood does not have. We lack adequate street lighting and our road is not in good repair And what do we have? Landlords and renters.
The city of Clearfield has not been smart in it's planning for decades. They have relied way to much on the revenue from the Freport Center. Now, when Layton annexed all of the good revenue-generating land, Clearfield is behind. They need smart planning from now on.
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