Review mixed on Ogden resort

OGDEN — A plan to "ignite" this city as a tourist stop by building luxury homes and a mountain resort was met with mixed reviews by over 2,000 residents Wednesday.

During an open house at Weber State University, developer Chris Peterson gave the public its first official look at a plan to build a gated community on the city's golf course and to buy land at Weber State University for a gondola hub. The gondola is designed to connect people to a "South Tyrolean style" resort in Malan's Basin, located midway up Mount Ogden.

"I think it would absolutely ignite Ogden as a destination for tourists and a great place to do business," Peterson said.

He pledged Wednesday that no public money would be used for the project.

But some residents said they have little faith in that promise, especially after seeing the Salt Lake developer present his plans during the six-hour open house.

"He doesn't give a lot of information as far as the money," said Hayden Karr, a Weber State student. "As far as I can tell, he's putting a lot of stuff on the side of the mountain. And what happens to the mountain? What happens to the environment?"

Susan Matt, a Weber State history professor, called the meeting a "gondola promotion session."

"It was a PowerPoint version of pie in the sky," she said.

Specifics of the project were limited. Peterson said he wanted to build about 400 homes on the city's Mountain Ogden Golf Course, and condominiums in Malan's Basin. People who purchased the properties would help subsidize the costs of building a gondola system, he said. About 200 Ogden residents have signed a petition urging the city not to sell the golf course.

But Peterson said that selling the course would give the money needed to run the gondola through the city. It would connect to a transit hub, where the Utah Transit Authority's commuter rail system, the FrontRunner, is planned to stop.

Peterson hopes to have the gondola running by early 2008, when work on FrontRunner has finished. It will make Weber State the only university in the nation that is connected to a ski resort, he said. Snowbasin, owned by Peterson's father-in-law, billionaire Earl Holding, is on the other side of Mount Ogden from Malan's basin. The gondola would also connect to Snowbasin.

Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said Wednesday that providing a connection to the ski area will help bring business to the city. "We have to commit our community to the mountain and make that our asset," he said. "What will help us is creating access to our mountain."

Some at Weber State say that idea is somewhat offensive, particularly if university land is sold to Peterson. At least 250 WSU professors and staff have signed a petition asking that the university not sell any land to Peterson. The president is still reviewing any proposals, said a university spokesman.

"The idea of taking what is a state of Utah, higher education resource and turning it into a private development that benefits Chris Peterson is offensive," said Matt.

---

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com