City Council Notes: Ogden City Proposes the Construction of Another Parking Garage - Updated

This folks, is a project which must be closely watched

Amidst this weeks excessively slo-o-o-w local news, we've received a "hot" tip from a gentle reader concerning an Ogden City Council agenda item which, until today has been a mite "below the radar." Specifically, at tonight's Ogden City Redevelopment Agency meeting, "[t]he RDA Board will consider a Resolution authorizing the Executive Director to execute a Real Estate Purchase Contract with H&P Investments for purchase of three parcels of property located between Kiesel and Grant and 24th and 25th Streets for $1.1 million. The City hopes to construct a parking structure on the property."

Here's the RDA agenda item:

4. Reports from Administration:
a. Property Acquisition – 2423 Kiesel Avenue. Proposed Resolution 2014-11 approving the terms and conditions of a real estate purchase contract for property located at approximately 2423 Kiesel Avenue.
(Adopt/not adopt resolution – roll call vote)
b. Land Transfer and Development Agreement – 2250 Kiesel Avenue. Proposed Resolution 2014-12 approving the terms and conditions of a land transfer and development agreement for property located at approximately 2250 Kiesel Avenue. (Adopt/not adopt resolution – roll call vote)

And here's this evening's full council packet, for those who'd like to read up:

• 07/01 City Council-RDA Special Session

Curiously, this proposed  project is situated within one block of another parking structure which Ogden City blithely "gave away" to Marketstar Corporation in late 2008:

• Ogden Gives Away Parking Garage

Similarly, the City built a parking garage on Lincoln Avenue between 20th and 21st, and then promptly gave it  away to the American Can owners:

• The Junction: What Next?

Sodden questions: 

1. Is there another private company standing in the wings to benefit from a similar demonstration of Ogden City largesse? 
2. With Ogden City's new public transit plan nearing fruition, does it make sense at this juncture for Ogden City to be committing millions of dollars toward building yet another automobile-centric parking structure?
3. What's the projected cost of the final buildout?  

So many questions... so few answers.

This Ogden City Lumpencitizens, is a project which must be closely watched.

Update 7/2/14 8:15 a.m.:  The Standard's Mitch Shaw provides this post-meeting story, which reports that the RDA Board  approved the purchase of the three subject parcels last night, and that the bulk of the purchase price will be borne by the taxpayers of Weber County:

• Ogden, Weber County teaming up to buy land for parking garage

The projected cost of the final buildout? This "minor" story detail still remains a mystery.