Ogden mayor keeps Mount Ogden golf‑course trail closed after residents allege survey manipulation

Mayor Benjamin K. Nadalski said Jan. 6 that the Mount Ogden Golf Course trail will remain closed for the moment, after residents filled council chambers and delivered a string of public comments alleging the city’s third‑party survey was biased and that raw data was withheld until a decision had effectively been made.

In a more than hour‑long public‑comment period, trail users and community members including Chloe Reynolds, who identified herself as a lifelong Ogden resident, said an initial grassroots response showed strong support for reopening the trail but that a later influx of responses from golfers flipped the survey to a narrow majority opposing the proposed reroute. “Everyone, including the golfers who submitted their responses, should be upset by this obvious manipulation of data,” Reynolds said, adding she would provide the raw dataset to the council.

The dispute focused on how the survey was distributed and analyzed. Speakers cited two phases of responses:…