Deseret News, March 20, 1999 The winners and the losers Deseret News editorial *Winner: Advocates for open space are interested to watch the development of Utah's first open-space pilot city, Marriott-Slaterville. (That's a mouthful -the longest municipality name in the state.) About three-fourths of the 7.3-square-mile community is zoned for agricultural use. Leaders of the 1,508 residents who live there are determined to develop a zoning-ordinance model that preserves the open feel while respecting private-property rights as farmers sell off land for development. We wish them luck. The Salt Lake Tribune FRONTPAGE WORLD UTAH SPORTS OPINION CITY LIGHTS UT BOUND Monday, March 22, 1999 Tiny Town Takes on Big Neighbor BY BRANDON LOOMIS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE OGDEN Less than a year after making history by incorporating as Utah's newest city, tiny Marriott-Slaterville is fighting to preserve a much richer but less-tangible heritage. Long gone but not forgotten are the original transcontinental railroad tracks, a spur of the Oregon trail heading north into Idaho's Snake River Valley, a World War II prison camp and a pioneer Mormon fort. The problem for the Weber County town and area history buffs who want to commemorate the sites is that all of this lies in or around Ogden's best hope for economic resurgence: the Army's now-defunct Defense Depot Ogden (DDO). Decades ago the Army bought the western half of the depot's 1,100 acres from residents in what now is Marriott-Slaterville, just west of the depot. This year the Army sold the entire site to Ogden, at $5.9 million, for what is hoped will be a business and industrial park attracting 10,000 jobs. "The Golden Spike is part of Ogden's very symbol," said Marriott-Slaterville City Attorney Duncan Murray, referring to the Central Pacific-Union Pacific railroad connection at Promontory, to the northwest. "Why would they want to just throw that away?" From Ogden's perspective, though, the land is more like a golden goose: -- 300 new jobs already; 7,000 to 10,000 expected within 15 years. -- 144 durable brick military buildings with 5.5 million square feet of reusable storage space, waiting for new tenants. -- A nearly new office building that has attracted the planned headquarters for the city's newspaper ~ The Standard-Examiner ~ and a $20 million investment in a new printing plant. "It's an opportunity to diversify the regional economy away from dependence on government jobs," said Mike Pavich, Ogden's executive director of redevelopment. That need is especially clear now that DDO has closed, taking 2,500 military jobs from the city. The city will offer space to the Internal Revenue Service for a new regional office, and hopes to attract more high-tech manufacturing firms such as TRC Composites, which already is on site making composite wrap that is used for everything from structural support during bridge repair to aerospace applications. All of the old track and practically all of the pre-WWII buildings and tracks are gone. DDO is a bland arrangement of yellow-brick rectangles and newly stuccoed boxes to house the likes of America First Credit Union and a Planned Parenthood clinic. And military officials say the old commander's quarters, to be moved off-site, lost its historic significance through previous remodeling. 219