Happy 25th, West Valley City

In 1978, the first attempt to incorporate West Valley City failed by more than 1,000 votes.

A year later, then-House Majority Leader Norm Bangerter submitted a petition for a new vote. It passed — by a mere 72 votes. After one more failed attempt to reverse the incorporation vote, Bangerter and other incorporation proponents were vindicated. Twenty-five years later, West Valley City is celebrating a major milestone in its existence. It's a noteworthy, history, indeed.

What was once a mishmash of suburban development has benefitted tremendously from master planning and a commitment to community involvement. West Valley City commands respect for its aggressive economic development efforts. What other relatively new community in Utah can boast a major indoor sports and concert arena, an established theater company and a massive cultural center?

The $54 million E Center put West Valley City on the international stage when it hosted hockey during the 2002 Winter Games. The new Utah Cultural Celebration Center has become home to many of the Salt Lake valley's biggest multicultural and charitable events. The addition of Hale Centre Theatre was yet another feather in the city's cap. The city's industrial park, which will be home to Newspaper Agency Corp.'s new press facility, has become a powerful economic engine for the community. (The Deseret Morning News is a partner in the new press facility that is benefiting from redevelopment agency money.)

Not bad for a town that, in its first year of existence, ended the fiscal year with a $500,000 deficit in its $4.7 million budget. The city of about 112,700 people (believed to be about 58,500 people at the time of the first incorporation vote) now boasts a $124 million budget.

For the past decade, city officials have worked with residents to develop ambitious plans to reduce crime, foster economic development and beautify their community. Many of those goals have been reached, while others remain a work in progress.

More challenges are coming down the pike. The city plans to give itself a literal facelift, transforming 150 acres of rundown multifamily housing and a struggling shopping mall in the area of 3500 South and 2700 West into a transit-oriented development. Plans envision housing, diverse shopping choices, public art, sit-down restaurants, cafes with patio seating and other business uses. Best of all, the plans call for tree-lined streets and public plazas with lots of open space.

Considering West Valley City's vast progress the past 25 years, the city's new goals would appear well within reach.