The Trackline Bike Park is an outdoor park created as part of the OBE Redevelopment plan, which includes a trail and features for mountain biking that beginner and experienced riders can enjoy. The goal of the park was to repurpose unused land for something that would benefit residents and the economy. Fifty percent of the bike park funding was through the UORG program, which helps fund outdoor recreation projects around the state of Utah.
“The selection process is typically very competitive for the UORG program,” said Pitt Grewe, the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation director. “The selection committee is looking for projects that have great support from the community, will benefit the residents with new and unique opportunities to recreate, and also provide opportunities for kids to get outside and try a new activity. The Trackline Bike Park met all these criteria, plus it’s great to see Ogden utilize land that has been neglected for so long and give it a new life for active and healthy opportunities.”
Companies that are relocating their place of business look at local offerings such as bike parks and other recreational facilities to sustain employee’s wellbeing, which in-turn helps the wellbeing of the company. Projects like the Trackline Bike Park makes Ogden more appealing to those businesses and helps drive economic development.
“The quality of life is a key component to economic development,” said Brandon Cooper, CED Deputy Director for Ogden City. “Companies want a sense of place that bolsters their corporate culture. The fact that the bike park isn’t in a remote destination but rather built in the foundational scheme of a business park, creates a wonderful working environment that our targeted business industries have fallen in love with.”
Now that Ogden has recognized the success of the Trackline Bike Park, it can be used as a proof of concept for creatively incorporating outdoor recreation amenities in urban redevelopment projects. Many communities in Utah have already taken advantage of the UORG program but the Trackline Bike Park shows how increasing access to outdoor recreation in urban areas can improve quality of life and drive economic development.
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About Ogden City
Nicknamed Junction City in the early 1900s, Ogden was the transfer point between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. After the 2002 Winter Olympics, which hosted events in Ogden, the community began to rebuild itself around the outdoors. Ogden has been nationally recognized for rapid job growth and low levels of income inequality, with a breadth of growth across diverse industry clusters including outdoor products, aerospace & defense, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and software & technology. Learn more at ww.ogdenbusiness.com.
About UORG
In 2013, Utah became the first state to create an Office of Outdoor Recreation. Since then, the office has become a national leader working to broaden the economic value of Utah’s outdoors through collaboration with various business and community partners. In 2015, the office helped communities to build trails and other recreation infrastructure by awarding matching grants through a pilot program. Funding for the program increased the following year. Its success led to the Utah Legislature, creating a longer-term funding source to continue the grant program, now called the Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant.
About OBE Redevelopment Project
The Ogden Business Exchange (OBE) is a redevelopment project, led by Ogden City, which has transformed the historic Ogden stockyards into a 51-acre lifestyle business park. This project won an award in the “Real Estate Redevelopment and Reuse” category at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) 2020 Conference.
