With land running out, Utah city seeks to ban most new apartments in key commercial zones

When it comes to housing, Ogden’s picture is flipped compared to other cities along the Wasatch Front.

Its residential mix skews heavily toward mid-rise apartments, city officials say, and many of them have gone up in areas lacking in walkable streets, park spaces, grocery stores, schools, bike lanes and other amenities vital to supporting a quality neighborhood. Available land for future homes and businesses of all types, meanwhile, is running out.

Against that backdrop, Ogden has another 2,550 mid-rise apartment units under review, approved or headed to construction, compared to 797 low-rise apartments and town homes, and some 83 single-family homes, according to permitting records.

“That’s our housing crisis,” said Ogden Planning Manager Barton Brierley. “We don’t have enough land to accommodate the needs for single-family housing, and that’s not a healthy way to develop a community. You need a good mix of everything.”

In a move backed by first-term Mayor Ben Nadolski, Ogden is seeking to limit new multifamily housing construction — apartments, row houses and duplexes — in several of its main commercial zones. The idea drew a generally positive reception late Wednesday in an initial public airing, though the proposed ordinance got sidetracked for additional tweaks.

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With land running out, Utah city seeks to ban most new apartments in key commercial zones

With land running out, Utah city seeks to ban most new apartments in key commercial zones

With land running out, Utah city seeks to ban most new apartments in key commercial zones

With land running out, Utah city seeks to ban most new apartments in key commercial zones

With land running out, Utah city seeks to ban most new apartments in key commercial zones