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OGDEN — Ogden Valley residents favor becoming a city by a wide margin, preliminary vote totals show.

Voters in the picturesque zone along the Wasatch Back in eastern Weber County weighed in Tuesday on a ballot question calling for incorporation of the area encompassing the Eden, Liberty and Wolf Creek areas. Vote totals released Tuesday evening, still unofficial and incomplete, showed most voters favoring incorporation, 2,149 votes to 1,014, a 67.9%-32.1% split.

A separate incorporation question in the small Utah County community of Spring Lake similarly received strong support, according to preliminary vote totals. The early, incomplete results showed the incorporation proposal winning 135 votes to 71 votes, a 65.5%-34.5% split.

The totals came in late Tuesday, with 78% of ballots reported counted in Weber County and 54% in Utah County, according to Associated Press. More complete tallies are expected later this week.

Whether to incorporate the 63.3-square-mile Ogden Valley zone, much of it undeveloped, has been focus of debate since at least late 2022 by a coalition of proponents who say becoming a city would give locals more say in the area's development. Located between three ski resorts, Nordic Valley, Snowbasin and Powder Mountain, and around Pineview Reservoir, the area — home to nearly 7,600 residents — draws many visitors and is increasingly eyed by developers.

If the Ogden Valley proposal passes, the new city would become the 16th incorporated locale in Weber County.

As is, the three-member Weber County Commission has jurisdiction over the Ogden Valley area, the same as other unincorporated areas of the county. Incorporation proponents, though, have charged that commissioners don't always reflect their interests, which spurred the incorporation effort. If the incorporation question ultimately passes, locally elected officials would lead the new city.

Apart from the incorporation question, Ballot Proposition 15, as it's known, asks voters to pick what sort of municipal government form to implement should incorporation pass. The options are five- or six-member council forms of government or five- or seven-member council-mayor forms of government. According to the incomplete preliminary totals, the largest share of voters, 1,407, or 46.2% of them, favored the six-member city council form of government.

Finally, the Ogden Valley ballot proposal asks voters whether city council members should be elected by district. A majority, 92%, favored the question. The other option, though it didn't appear on the ballot, would be for at-large city council members representing the entire city.

If the incorporation proposal ultimately passes, voters in the area would have to hold a separate election to select leaders. Whatever the case, the proposal has sparked controversy and debate. A study into incorporation commissioned by the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office found that funding the city, if created, wouldn't require a tax hike. Critics, though, expressed skepticism, warning of higher taxes and increased development pressures.

Spring Lake, located between Payson and Santaquin, is a much smaller area, encompassing around 2 square miles and home to around 600 people. Boosters have pursued creation of the new locale in a bid to maintain local control as Utah County grows.

Related topics

Utah electionsUtahPoliticsWeber CountyUtah County

Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL.com. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.