On Tuesday, the Ogden City Council and Ogden Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to amend the budget to transfer $1 million from the Business Depot Ogden lease revenues to the Quality Neighborhoods Initiative earlier than normal.

“As part of the BDO lease revenue ordinance that we have is one of the items that we have funded over the years has been $1 million towards quality neighborhoods,” Deputy Comptroller Justin Sorensen said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Each year, as part of our proposed budget, we normally include that in there. That was included in the fiscal year ’25 budget. This proposal tonight would be to appropriate funds received this year that normally we would appropriate next year and recognize that this year.”

City Council Executive Director Janene Eller-Smith told the Standard-Examiner on Thursday the action was taken to help facilitate expected developments.

“Really, they’re doing it four months early,” she said. “That was just to make the money available for some development opportunities. It will help the city to take advantage of any opportunities that come in the next four months. They are anticipating some and just requested that the money come a little bit sooner.”

She did not elaborate further on what potential opportunities may be coming in the next few months.

She said the Quality Neighborhoods Initiative was enacted in 2015 as a means of accelerating the east central neighborhoods of Ogden.

“The city has been rehabbing houses and building new ones in the east central neighborhood since the 1990s,” she said. “They just wanted to accelerate that.”

In response to a resident’s concern that the Quality Neighborhoods Initiative doesn’t put much focus on other areas, Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski said separate initiatives are being explored.

“We are working on some broader initiatives for the north end of town,” he said. “Also some planning on the west Ogden side.”