Farmington Mayor Brett Anderson says the city needs a new I-15 on/off ramp even though Bountiful, North Salt Lake and a Davis County commissioner oppose it.

Anderson addressed the dispute at the Farmington City Council's Sept. 1 meeting, according to draft minutes included in the council's Sept. 15 meeting packet. He said Bountiful, North Salt Lake, Davis County Commissioner Lorene Kamalu and the Wasatch Front Regional Council all oppose the proposed ramp. But Anderson said Farmington needs it, and both the Utah State Legislature and the Utah Department of Transportation support it.

The ramp has been on Farmington's radar for at least two years. At a Dec. 17, 2024, work session, Anderson said UDOT was aware of Farmington's request for a $40 million off-ramp to the West Davis Corridor.

No on-record responses from Bountiful, North Salt Lake or Kamalu were available in public meeting records.

Greenway trail clears a milestone

At the same Sept. 1 meeting, the council voted 4-0 to accept the South Davis Greenway Final Report. Councilmember Scott Isaacson was excused. Councilmember Amy Shumway moved to accept; Councilmember Melissa Layton seconded.

The greenway is a proposed 10.8-mile multi-use trail stretching from Farmington to North Salt Lake through Bountiful and Centerville. It would be 12 feet wide, built for biking, walking and rolling.

Madison Simboli, a transportation planner with Kimley-Horn and Associates, presented the report. She said similar paths in Provo and Salt Lake City are popular for recreation and expressed hope the greenway could extend to Fruit Heights in the future.

Community Development Director Lyle Gibson told the council the vote "is not binding the City to a budget, but getting documentation on the record so that Farmington can apply for grants that will assist future funding to the tune of $42 million."

Farmington's two-mile portion would cost an estimated $1.314 million. Much of it would be covered by the planned widening of Interstate 15. The four-city feasibility study took 11 months and cost about $145,000, funded largely by a $115,000 Wasatch Front Regional Council grant. Each city contributed $7,500 in local match, according to a Bountiful staff report.

At a May 12 Bountiful work session, consultant Brent Crowther of Kimley-Horn said the project could be fully funded through Governor Cox's Utah Trails Network, which requires no local match. The next funding window opens in March 2027, and construction likely would not begin until 2030 or 2031.

Phoenix statue and zoning changes

City Manager Brigham Mellor told the council he has been working with the Farmington High School principal and career and technical education teacher Mike Call to design a 28-foot bronze phoenix statue for the center of a city roundabout. The next step is building a three-foot model. UDOT's $550,000 allocation may help pay for the statue; about $100,000 of that money has already gone toward planting trees, according to the Utah Public Notice version of the meeting packet.

The council also unanimously approved a text amendment to the Business Park zoning district. The change keeps the existing three-story height limit but lets the Planning Commission grant up to nine extra feet for architectural features on a case-by-case basis.

In a separate unanimous vote, the council removed all references to the Site Plan Architecture Review Committee (SPARC) from the city code. Mellor said the committee has not met in his five years with the city.

The council approved the Sept. 1 draft minutes at its Tuesday, Sept. 15 regular session. Residents can attend council meetings at City Hall, 160 South Main, Farmington, or listen live through the city website.