Clearfield Rezones 1000 East Antelope Drive for Offices and Townhomes on a Split Vote
The corner of 1000 East and Antelope Drive in Clearfield is cleared for a different future. On Sept. 22, the Clearfield City Council adopted Ordinance 2026-17, which rezones roughly 7.6 acres at the corner (parcel 12-074-0033) from Manufacturing (M-1) to a mix of Commercial (C-2) on the front 2.6 acres and Residential (R-3) on the roughly 5 acres behind it.
The council itself was split. The signed ordinance records Councilmembers Nike Peterson and Dakota Wurth voting yes and Councilmembers Danielle King and Karece Thompson voting no, with Mayor Mark Shepherd listed among the ayes to break the 2-2 tie. Councilmember Megan Ratchford is not listed in the vote. The rezone takes effect once the city posts it, but the ordinance makes the zoning-map change contingent on the city and the property owner approving and signing a development agreement.
What is planned for the corner
The property today holds a house and commercial storage, mostly camping trailers, according to the staff presentation in the council’s Sept. 8 work-meeting minutes. The concept plan shown to the council includes a two-story commercial building of about 28,000 square feet near Antelope Drive, with a medical office named as a possible use but no tenant lined up, and about 67 townhomes on the lower portion of the site at roughly 13.4 units per acre. Access would come from two driveways on 1000 East.
The applicant told the city the townhomes are intended to be sold rather than rented and said it was willing to address owner-occupancy rules, timelines, site layout and design standards in the development agreement. The Planning Commission recommended approval with that agreement attached. Staff said the mix of commercial and housing fits the city’s General Plan and Station Area Plan, which steer this area toward uses that work with the nearby Clearfield FrontRunner station rather than manufacturing.
Why the vote was close
Councilmember Peterson said she could support mixing homes with businesses on the site but did not think the concept offered enough commercial space to justify the housing, comparing it with development north of Antelope Drive where larger commercial projects accompanied new homes. Mayor Shepherd said the site has real grading and engineering challenges near Antelope Drive, supported housing on the lower portion and said three-bedroom, for-sale townhomes are in short supply. Councilmember Wurth said the traffic impacts looked manageable.
Residents from the adjoining Layton neighborhood raised traffic concerns on 1000 East during morning and afternoon peaks and when trains block nearby crossings, along with gaps in the sidewalks on both the Clearfield and Layton sides of the road. The Davis and Weber Counties Canal Company also submitted comments about an irrigation line along Antelope Drive and a pressurized line along 1000 East. Clearfield staff noted that Layton has funding for a pedestrian bridge intended to connect Gordon Avenue and Antelope Drive, with Layton staff anticipating completion around the end of 2028.
The council held its public hearing on the rezone the same night it voted, after the city posted notice in early September. Final site design, building sizes and phasing are not decided yet. Those come through the development agreement and later approvals.
Two more ordinances passed the same night
Garage, parking and minimum-size rules. Ordinance 2026-16 passed 4-0. It updates Title 11 of the city code to match Utah Code 10-20-618, a state law that limits what cities can require for single-family and two-family homes. According to the staff summary, the minimum finished floor area drops from 1,200 to 1,000 square feet where it applies, the city can no longer require a garage for homes that meet the state’s affordable-housing definition, and two-car garages must now provide two clear parking spaces of at least 10 by 20 feet instead of a fixed 440-square-foot floor plan. The ordinance also adds a formal definition of a townhome and treats townhome projects like multifamily developments for site design, open space and landscaping. Staff said the city otherwise kept its general requirement for attached two-car garages.
Trailer sales leave the downtown zone. Ordinance 2026-15 passed 3-1, with Councilmember Thompson opposed. It removes trailer sales as a permitted use in the Town Mixed Commerce (T-C) zone downtown and makes it a conditional use in the Manufacturing (M-1) zone instead. Any trailer-sales business lawfully operating in the T-C zone before the change becomes a legal nonconforming use and is not required to close.
All three ordinances are posted on the city’s public notice page, and the full Sept. 22 agenda is on the Utah Public Notice Website. Earlier this fall the council also paused new data centers for 180 days while it writes permanent rules.
More Clearfield coverage is on the Clearfield hub and in DCU News.
