North Ogden council approves annexation, adopts social-media policy, updates animal, parking and fee rules and OKs transportation funding

The North Ogden City Council on May 27 voted unanimously on a package of land-use, code and administrative items including an annexation, two land-use amendments affecting animals and parking, adoption of a social media policy and updates to the city’s consolidated fee schedule. The council also authorized staff to negotiate a Verizon lease of city property for a cell tower and approved a local transportation funding agreement for the Mountain Road corridor.

Why it matters: The votes change the city’s land-use and municipal code on backyard animals and parking, set a new social-media appeals process, update many user fees and finalize the city’s next steps on several capital funding items. Several votes were technical updates; the Mountain Road funding agreement and annexation have longer-term planning and infrastructure implications.

Votes at a glance

- Ordinance 2025-O-08 — Annexation (approx. 19.56 acres at ~1050 East and 2400 North): Motion to approve annexation and to zone the area R-1-10 passed unanimously. Motion: approve ordinance 20 25 O 8 annexing ~19.56 acres and zoning the area R-1-10. Mover: Council member Dalpez; Second: Council member Pulver. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous).

- Ordinance 2025-O-09 — Amend North Ogden Code Title 11-9M-10 (animals and fowl): Council approved amendments that clarify setback distances and remove a now-unused chicken permit; the land-use code will treat coops as accessory buildings and require coops and accessory structures to be constructed of all-weather exterior materials. Motion: approve ordinance 20 25 O 9 amending Title 11-9M-10. Mover: Council member Barker; Second: (amendment second) Council member Dalpez. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous).

- Ordinance 2025-O-10 — Amend Title 14 (maximum animals allowed in a home): Council approved changes to clarify the maximum number of household animals and to align Title 14 rules with the Title 11 land-use provisions. Motion: approve ordinance 20 25 O 10 amending maximum animals kept in a home (14-1-10). Mover: Council member Dalpez; Second: Council member Watson. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous).

- Ordinance 2025-O-11 — Amend 11-19-3 (parking location and drive-aisle distances): Council approved a change that allows drive aisles in commercial parking lots adjacent to Washington Boulevard and other collectors/arterials to be measured differently from permanent parking stalls (drive aisles may be as close as 14 feet from the back of curb; permanent stalls remain 20 feet). Motion: approve ordinance 20 25 O 11 amending 11-19-3. Mover: Council member Watson; Second: Council member Pulver. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous).

- Social media policy (administrative policy): The council adopted a social-media comment policy that identifies types of removable content, establishes an initial review by city staff and an appeal path to elected officials (as amended in the meeting the mayor or a designated senior council member will be part of the appeal review process). Motion: adopt social media policy and enable comments. Mover: Council member Pulver; Second: Council member Dalpez. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: adopted (unanimous). Key clarifications: the policy will note that the mayor and council are not obligated to respond to every comment; removal appeals will be handled by a short review process to avoid a public-meeting requirement.

- Resolution 08-2025 — Consolidated fee schedule changes: Council approved the amended fee schedule. Highlights: aquatic-center fee increases (e.g., base $9.50 adult admission referenced in staff discussion), removal of certain fire-department-collected fees from the schedule, modest increases in police and administrative fees to cover administrative costs, and incorporation of impact-fee updates scheduled to take effect July 1. Motion: approve Resolution 08-2025 amending the consolidated fee schedule. Mover: Council member Barker; Second: Council member Dalpez. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous). Staff note: some line items will be revisited administratively.

- Resolution 09-2025 — Truth in taxation notification: The council approved a resolution to notify the county and state of the city’s intent to hold a truth-in-taxation hearing on Aug. 12, 2025, consistent with state deadlines and new notice rules. Motion: adopt Resolution 09-2025 indicating intent to hold a truth-in-taxation hearing on August 12, 2025. Mover: Council member Watson; Second: Council member Dalpez. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous).

- Local transportation funding agreement — Mountain Road corridor preservation project: The council approved a local funding agreement with WACOG for an allocation of approximately $1,280,000 in regional funds for right-of-way acquisition and agreed to a city match of roughly $280,000 (impact-fee funds) for the project’s first phase. Motion: approve the local transportation funding agreement for Mountain Road Corridor Preservation. Mover: Council member Dalpez; Second: Council member Pulver. Roll call: Pulver — yes; Watson — yes; Barker — yes; Dalpez — yes. Outcome: approved (unanimous). Staff note: additional funding requests may follow in subsequent years; right-of-way purchases and purchase agreements will return to council for approval.

What the council authorized but did not finalize: Staff was authorized to continue negotiations with Verizon Wireless about a potential lease to site a cellular tower on city-owned property in the equestrian-park area. Council gave staff direction to proceed with site assessment and lease negotiations and said staff should avoid placing a tower within areas dedicated to permanent open space (staff will return with a draft lease). No final lease was approved that night.

Discussion versus decision: Several items drew short, technical discussion (animal setbacks and parking-stall language, social media appeal mechanics, fee adjustments). The annexation, each ordinance and each resolution were adopted by formal motion and roll call vote; all recorded votes were unanimous.

Clarifying details taken from the meeting record: the annexation area was described as approximately 19.56 acres; chicken-coop rules will treat coops as accessory buildings with a 25-foot separation from adjacent dwellings for coop structures (large-animal structures such as barns remain subject to 50-foot setbacks in the code); fee-schedule changes incorporate an aquatic-center base fee change to $9.50 and reflect impact-fee updates effective July 1; the Mountain Road agreement covers roughly $1.28 million in outside funds with a $280,000 city match (impact-fee source).

Ending: All council votes on the night’s agenda items were unanimous; staff was directed to return contracts and detailed purchase/lease agreements to council for final approval.