Ogden Valley Votes to Become Utah’s Newest City Amid Nordic Village Resort Controversy

Facing a $121 million ski resort expansion, Ogden Valley residents voted to incorporate as a new city — a move driven by fears of overdevelopment and a desire to preserve local control.

Bob Sawatzki

May 8, 2025

The Shoshone called it Ink-ah-we-in-da, “Red Pass Basin.” The first recorded history of the valley occurred in 1825 when Peter Skene Ogden, leading a troupe of fur trappers for the Hudson’s Bay Company, descended from Cache County via what is now known as Avon Pass.

New River is now known as the Ogden River. Since the construction of the dam in 1937, the center of the valley has become Pineview Reservoir, home to a 110-berth yacht club. Beaver trapping was displaced by farming, which in turn is now being displaced by recreation as the valley’s primary industry. Last year, valley residents voted to incorporate.

Nordic Valley Village

Nordic Valley Ski Resort is about two miles due east of downtown Eden, marked by Valley Market, the only grocery store in Ogden Valley. The Drip Coffee and Soda shop shares the same parking lot. Across the street sits the valley’s only gas station. Getting in and out of the Valley Market parking lot on a bluebird ski day or a summer weekend afternoon is always an adventure in driving. There are no traffic lights in the valley. When and if Nordic Valley Village is finally built, a traffic light at Valley Market will be the least of its unintended side effects.

Nordic Valley has a relatively low base elevation of 5,365 feet and about 500 acres of skiable terrain serviced by five lifts. It’s an affordable, family-centered place to learn how to ski — little sister to the two glamorous resorts ringing the valley: Powder Mountain and Snowbasin.

The original red barn that served as Nordic Valley’s operations center was still in use when I learned to ski there thirty years ago. It burned down two years ago, but operations continued this past season in temporary structures. Plans for a major expansion have been in the works since 2021, and last year the Weber County Commissioners finally gave their approval.

Nordic Village will be a year-round resort spanning 512 acres, including a 230-room hotel and 56,000 square feet of commercial space. Plans also include 428 condominium units, 159 chalets, 50 employee units, new ski lifts, trails, tubing hill, ice skating rink, summer amphitheater, parks, and a pond with a boathouse.

It is expected that the vast majority will be secondary homes with no permanent residents.
— Nordic Valley Village Plan (author’s italics)

Total cost: approximately $121 million.
Source: Weber County Ordinance on Nordic Village Project Area Plan

Ogden Valley Inc.

You’d think valley residents would be proud to have a destination resort literally in their backyard. Such is not the case. Opposition to Nordic Valley Village was so strong that a ballot initiative was passed last year to stop the development by incorporating most of the valley.

The election was held on November 5, 2024: 2,927 voted for incorporation and 1,597 voted against. Ogden Valley Inc. is the operative name for now until further elections are held and administrative officers duly sworn in. It will achieve full legal status on January 1, 2026. Until then, Ogden Valley Inc. is a city in embryo, with a population of 7,583 spread across 49,000 acres.
More info here.

The valley has been divided into five districts of approximately equal population. There will be five city councilors and a mayor. 150 people volunteered to form teams to establish city departments and stage elections. Candidate declaration is now open. Candidate training will be held on June 19. The primary election is set for August 12, and the final election on November 4. (See attached Ogden Valley Districts MAP.)

Nordic Valley Village — if and when it comes to fruition — falls within District 5, the Eden area, which currently has a population of 873. The impact of the Village on local residents is not hard to imagine. Fear of becoming “the next Park City” is what drove last year’s valley-wide incorporation.

Realizing they would have to act quickly to prevent locals from scuttling the deal, Weber County Commissioners acted fast. Two weeks after the election, they approved the creation of three Public Infrastructure Districts for Nordic Village, granting resort owners tax authority over the land. At their final meeting of the year, the commissioners granted Nordic Village the status of a Community Reinvestment Area, endowed with tax increment financing.

In response, local residents led by David Carver formed a nonprofit called Ogden Valley Smart Growth and filed suit on January 28 against the county and its commissioners. The suit, seeking judicial relief, states:

“Any exercise of such power which overturns the will of the voters to reform the governance of Ogden Valley as established in that Ballot Initiative, is invalid.”

The county has yet to respond.

Reed Hastings Buys Powder Mountain: Is Utah’s Ski Gem Still for Locals?

Shanna Francis & The Ogden Valley News

What is known for sure: every two weeks, another issue of The Ogden Valley News is published— the main driver behind the incorporation initiative along with Mark Allen Ferrin – principal sponsor, Nick Dahlkamp – project manager, Richard Webb, and Brandi Hammon.

The front page of the May 1 issue includes an opinion piece supporting a City Charter, and above the fold, a blurb announcing:
“OV Incorporation Update: Virtual Townhall Meeting Slated for May 13.”

The Ogden Valley News is an old-fashioned broadsheet community paper — the kind you’d think no longer exists. Published since 1998 and largely written by unpaid valley residents, it’s run by Francis and Jeannie Wendell. Four thousand copies are printed and distributed for free. The first section features local news and announcements, including a lively Letters to the Editor page. The second section includes local history, pioneer family stories, a calendar of events, obituaries, and classifieds. The last page is a patchwork of small business ads.

In 2022, Francis ran unsuccessfully for Weber County Commissioner. When I asked by email if she would try again or serve on the Ogden Valley Planning Board, she responded:

“I will, most likely, run for mayor.”

Meanwhile, life in the valley continues. A series of events is planned to commemorate the 200th anniversary of its “discovery” in 1825. Four historical roadside markers will be installed on May 21, marking the sequential campsites of Ogden’s trappers. Each marker will be a seven-foot Douglas Fir post with an informative plaque and topped with a statue of a beaver.

The seventh annual In Search of Ogden Hole lecture by Brigham Young University professor Jay Buckley will be held that evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Hearthside Event Center in Eden.

On May 24, at 10:00 am, a historic reenactment at Deserters Point will be staged at the I-84 westbound rest stop near Mountain Green. An existing statue of Ogden and a descriptive plaque already mark the location. This event offers a chance to meet descendants of Peter Skene Ogden.

Finally, a rendezvous of “mountain man” enthusiasts will be scheduled for an encampment in the valley sometime in early fall. For more information, contact David Martin at: OgdenHole@gmail.com

CLARIFICATION:

The author regrets seeming to imply that Shanna Francis is personally responsible for the 2024 valley incorporation. The newspaper itself is the primary driver.

The recent history of Ogden Valley can be traced online in the Valley News via the University of Utah’s Utah Digital Newspapers website. The failed attempt to incorporate Eden in 2003 and, twenty years later, the beginnings of the successful incorporation of Ogden Valley can be studied in blow by blow detail. The eternal battle of developers versus residents is plain to see.

Community Submissions, Development Projects, Ogden, Online Exclusives, Politics, Utah History, Utah Stories

Bob Sawatzki

Bob Sawatzki was an employee of the Weber County Library System for 22 years. He served as editor of its quarterly newsletter, the rough draft, for 15 years and in 1996 published The WORD from Weber County: A Centennial Anthology of Our Best Writers.

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