OGDEN, Utah — Though an actual northward extension of FrontRunner and an ensuing transit station at Business Depot Ogden is likely still years in the offing, Ogden City now has the puzzle piece that will allow it to happen.
On Tuesday night, the Ogden City Council approved an agreement between the city, the Utah Transit Authority and Weber County that will fund the purchase of an approximately 5-acre piece of property on west 2nd Street, immediately east of the Union Pacific rail tracks. The UTA board signed off on the agreement in September 2020, but the Ogden City Council had final authority on approving the purchase.
Negotiations are currently taking place with Nelson Intermountain Crane, which currently owns the site. Ogden Engineer Justin Anderson said the exact date for when the property transaction will actually take place isn’t known yet.
As part of agreement, Anderson said UTA will reimburse Ogden for the purchase of the property, once the agency’s northward expansion of the rail line begins. The money will ultimately go back to Weber County’s transportation fund, because that’s where the dollars originated. In late 2018, the Weber Area Council of Governments approved $3 million in county funds to be used by Ogden to preserve the land.
Mark Johnson, Ogden’s Chief Administrative Officer, has said acquiring the property is one of the first, and most important, steps of the rail line’s future expansion. UTA currently owns exclusive track for FrontRunner up to only about 12th Street, but the agency wants to expand FrontRunner service north into Brigham City. UTA is currently looking to acquire property that would be needed for the extension, but there aren’t any hard dates for when the expansion could begin.
“I do know they’re interested in making it happen as fast as they can,” Anderson said Tuesday. “And I know this (property acquisition) is important.”
Lisa Stout, Ogden’s comptroller, said the council’s Tuesday night approval also included an amendment to to the city’s 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Plan, adding a project that involves the city conducting surveying work at the site.
A project to build the FrontRunner station at the BDO has been identified on the Wasatch Front Regional Council’s Transportation Improvement Program. The $32 million project calls for the installation of a new, dedicated track to the station from the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center. Local funding of $16 million, likely to come from a variety of state, county and city sources, will be put toward the project with the remaining $16 million being requested from the Federal Transit Administration.