On the 3800 block of Washington Boulevard, the Big Lots storefront in the strip mall south of Macey's has been dark since the retailer's national closures. A few doors away, the Ziegfeld Theater at 3934 S. Washington Blvd. is getting ready for its December show. City Hall and 40th Street Park sit at the south end of the same stretch.
On Aug. 18, 2026, the South Ogden City Council voted 4-0 to adopt a City Center Master Plan for this area. It covers about 61 acres along Washington Boulevard from 36th Street south to 40th Street. Mayor Russell Porter told KSL that the Big Lots closure is what got the effort moving. He was also frank about timing: "It's a big, big plan. Now whether it comes about in five years, 10 years, 50 years, who knows." The near-term work is in the city's rulebook, and the plan builds its downtown around a side street.
The Plan Puts the Downtown on Kiesel Avenue
If you only drive Washington Boulevard, Kiesel Avenue is easy to miss. The adopted plan treats it as the spine of the new district. Between 37th and 39th Streets, Kiesel would become a curbless, slow-speed shared street where pedestrians come first. The plan calls for:
- Brick pavers and bulb-outs at the corners
- Street trees, furniture and room for outdoor dining
- On-street parking
- Stretches that could close to cars during events
The street also sets the rules for the buildings along it. The plan wants mixed-use ground floors with housing above, especially on Kiesel. Ground-floor apartments would be allowed elsewhere, but not on Kiesel, 38th Street or Washington Boulevard. Parking moves to the middle of blocks, some of it in structures, with shared parking agreements and a parking study to come before any final numbers.
Kiesel ended up at the center because of public feedback. At an April 22, 2026 workshop at City Hall, people compared two concepts. Each was shown from the same views, including one looking down Kiesel. According to the project's update page, the pedestrian-focused Kiesel rendering was the best-received element of either design.
What the Plaza Is Being Asked to Do
Kiesel ends at its southern end in the Central Plaza. In the planning document's words, quoted by KSL, the plaza is "the civic and social heart of South Ogden," a place for everything "from farmers' markets and festivals to concerts, holiday celebrations and informal gatherings."
The plan sketches flexible lawn and plaza areas, possible dining terraces, a performance space, water features, public art and shaded seating. The conceptual footprint is 33,742 square feet, a bit under one acre. That is a small piece of the 61-acre study area, and the plan expects it to do most of the gathering work. Its planning-level cost estimate is about $13.5 million.
South Ogden has never had a place like this. Its big community days have been held in parks built for other uses. The plaza is the plan's attempt to give those events a permanent home in the center of town.
Washington Boulevard Gets Safer Crossings
The boulevard is part of the plan, but the changes are aimed at walking across it and along it. The plan calls for safer crossings, signal, access and intersection upgrades, sidewalks five to nine feet wide, and a continuous 12-foot shared-use path along the west side. A 14-foot curbed median is also proposed, but it depends on further study by UDOT. Improving connections across Washington Boulevard is one of the plan's four stated goals, which shows how much of a barrier the city considers the road today.
Six Stories Was a Compromise
Building height is where the public pushed hardest. At the April workshop, the first concept ran from two to five stories and drew 9 yes votes and 2 no votes. The second went up to seven stories and drew the same 9 yes votes but 5 no votes, with doubts about whether it was realistic. The adopted plan lands between the two, showing two to six stories overall and lower buildings near the edges where the district meets existing neighborhoods.
The headline numbers need the same care. Across the whole plan area, the illustrative capacity is about 1,000 homes, 380,000 square feet of commercial space and 75,000 square feet of office space. Those figures describe what the framework could hold at full build-out. They are not a project anyone has proposed for the old Big Lots site. The plan arranges its preferred concept over nine blocks with many property owners, and it says the locations, layouts and uses are still conceptual and may change.
Who Would Actually Build It
The plan lays out a step-by-step path. The city assembles key sites, puts together development packages, issues competitive requests for proposals, picks a development partner, and then projects get built. To bring the cost down for developers, the plan lists tools such as Community Reinvestment Area participation and tax-increment financing, help with infrastructure, fee reductions, faster reviews, land write-downs and public-private partnerships.
KSL reported that private developers would likely lead, possibly with city incentives. Porter said the current owners of the former Big Lots site are eager for a development plan, but the zone has many other owners too. KSL also reported concerns raised at the Aug. 13 public hearing about traffic, parking, eminent domain, minimum property size, funding, and businesses and homeowners being pushed out. Porter said the city does not plan to use eminent domain.
This Winter's Work Happens in Meeting Rooms
At the same Aug. 18 meeting, the council also adopted Ordinance 26-07. It pauses all development applications in five subdistricts: City Center Core, City Center General, Riverdale Road General, 40th Street General and Gateway Core. KSL described it as a 180-day pause while planners rewrite the development code to match the plan. If that clock started on adoption day, it runs to about mid-February 2027. According to the council minutes, Council Member Howe said when seconding the motion that the city cannot hold back development and urged the Planning Commission to move quickly. If you own property in one of those subdistricts, this is general information and not legal advice, so confirm the details with the city or your own attorney.
Here's the sequence so far:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| April 22, 2026 | Concept workshop at City Hall; Kiesel rendering best received |
| June 10, 2026 | Preferred concept presented at City Hall |
| Aug. 13, 2026 | Planning Commission hearing; plan sent to Council |
| Aug. 18, 2026 | Council adopts the plan and the moratorium, both 4-0 |
| Sept. 15, 2026 | Council reviews form-based code and Kiesel-specific recommendations |
| Sept. 17, 2026 | Planning Commission discusses code changes and hearing timing |
| Oct. 8, 2026 | Planning Commission agenda lists City Center recommendations |
| Oct. 22, 2026 | Planning Commission work session scheduled on form-based code uses and building types |
The form-based code is the piece that matters most. It decides what can be built on each lot, how tall, and what goes on the ground floor. The Planning Commission scheduled its October 22 work session to take up exactly those uses and building types. Agendas and minutes are posted on the city's site, and the meetings are public.
The Block in the Meantime
Nothing in the plan changes the stretch yet. KSL's August reporting places Macey's and the shopping center with Savers on the boulevard, and the plan lists City Hall and the Ziegfeld Theater among the area's existing community assets. The Ziegfeld has staged musicals and plays since 2012, and A Christmas Story: The Musical runs there Dec. 4–22, 2026.
40th Street Park, just west of the city building at 40th Street and Adams Avenue, has a playground, courts, a skatepark, a pavilion and the Veterans Memorial. Park restrooms and water fountains closed for the season on Oct. 15, and city parks close at dusk.
For now, the next decisions about the ground around the theater are being made in the Planning Commission's code drafts.
If you live near Washington Boulevard and wonder how the City Center plan might affect your street or your property down the road, the Nanci Lifer Team is glad to walk through what's been adopted, what's still being drafted, and where to follow it next. Let's Connect.
