Weber County officials presented details of a proposed Nordic Village redevelopment in Ogden Valley and asked the Weber School District board to consider participating in a tax-increment share for 15 years to help fund public infrastructure tied to the project.

Stephanie Russell, representing Weber County, described the project as “an overhaul of the entire Nordic Valley Ski Resort” that would develop about 512 acres owned by the resort and create a mix of commercial and lodging uses. Russell said the plan would include roughly 56,008 square feet of commercial space, about 230 hotel rooms, 428 condominiums, 159 European-style chalets and 50 employee housing units. She described an estimated total economic impact and investment of about $471,000,000, including $23,000,000 in resident spending, $160,000,000 in new job wages and $28,000,000 in construction wages and materials.

The county told the board it intends to use public financing tools to support major infrastructure needs the development requires. Russell said the county plans to help establish a public infrastructure district (PID) to fund on-site and nearby public improvements, then use a community reinvestment area (CRA) with tax-increment financing (TIF) to pay off PID bonds. “We put a couple heavy lifts in. One is the public roadway improvements ... The other part is the on-site road and ski lift improvements and then public sanitary and sewer,” Russell said.

Russell said the site currently lacks a sewer system and the developer will reactivate a sewer district and install a new system that would serve the project and additional nearby housing proposals. She estimated public infrastructure costs “around close to $85,000,000.” The county is also proposing culinary (potable) water infrastructure and private on-site improvements tied to resort operations.

Russell presented an illustrative revenue share request for the school district: 50% of the tax increment for 15 years using a 2024 base year. The county’s projection shown to the board averaged “just a little bit under $2,000,000 a year for that 15 years,” with an estimated post‑TIF annual collection of roughly $4,200,000 after the 15‑year period.

Board members asked questions about who would reside in the new lodging; Russell clarified the residential units are intended as vacation second homes, not year‑round units with school‑age children: “You will not have any school, children residing in those residences.” Board members also asked about road standards and emergency services; Russell said the plan includes commercial‑grade road work and a proposed donation to the Ogden Valley Fire District, including purchase of a ladder truck that the county indicated the project would fund.

Russell said the county has negotiated customary splits among participating taxing entities — Weber County, the school district, the Water Conservancy District and the fire district — with an 85%/10%/5% style allocation referenced for project purposes and noted that, in this case, the 10% “housing increment” would be used on the developer’s property for employee housing rather than being placed in a general county housing fund. She also said the county intends to include internship and career‑education conversations with the school district in the interlocal.

Timing and next steps: Russell said the county will prepare an interlocal agreement, which county and district legal counsel will review, and that it will be presented “next month at our December board meeting as an action item for the board to approve.” She said the county expects to use 2024 as the base year and build a trigger window to start the TIF between 2026 and 2029.

Discussion only: the board did not take a vote at the meeting. Russell described the county’s planned financing approach and asked for consideration; the board asked technical and service‑delivery questions. The county said it will return with an interlocal agreement for formal board action.

Why it matters: the project would add substantial lodging and commercial activity in Ogden Valley, create new public infrastructure needs, and use TIF and PID mechanisms that would divert a portion of incremental property tax collections to repay infrastructure bonds for a set period. Board members will need to weigh prospective near‑term foregone tax increment against longer‑term increased revenue once the TIF period expires.