Clearfield dissolves 35-year-old RDA 8 with about $1 million left to spend

The Clearfield City Council voted 4–0 on June 9, 2026, to approve Ordinance 2026-09 dissolving Redevelopment Project Area 8, according to the meeting's approved minutes. Councilmember Danielle King moved to approve and Councilmember Dakota Wurth seconded. Mayor Pro Tem Nike Peterson and Councilmembers Karece Thompson, Wurth and King voted yes; Councilmember Megan Ratchford and Mayor Mark Shepherd were absent. ^[3]

The agenda summary says the project area "was created in January 1991 with 165 parcels" and "expired as of December of 2025 and no further tax increment funding will be collected." ^[1]

What staff said remains

A memo to the Community Development and Renewal Agency for its May 26 work session, prepared by Assistant City Manager Spencer Brimley, says the area, also called Northgate/Eastside CBD, was created Jan. 22, 1991, through Ordinance 91-2. It says RDA 8 "does have approximately $1M in remaining funds" and that "state law will require that we spend those funds within the next few years." ^[2]

The June 9 agenda says "there is a remaining balance of tax increment funds that are required to be distributed within five years of the expiration date." At the meeting, Brimley said the city would have five additional years to use and distribute the remaining funds for redevelopment purposes, the minutes say. ^[1][3]

The memo quotes state law: a project area that began a dormancy period before May 6, 2026, shall "be dissolved five years after the day on which the project area began the dormancy period" and distribute any unexpended funds. An agency with funds remaining at the end of the dormancy period "shall return a proportionate share of the unexpended funds to each taxing entity." ^[2]

A separate memo says SB 228, passed in the 2026 legislative session, took effect May 6, 2026, and that staff established that RDA 8 will be regulated by the dissolution rules that applied before SB 228. Staff said a resolution confirming that was not required by statute but was recommended by the agency's consultant. ^[2]

The agency's other money

The draft fiscal 2027 agency budget in the May 26 packet shows no tax increment for RDA 8 in 2025 or 2026 and none budgeted for fiscal 2027. It budgets $1,834,066 of tax increment from the agency's other project areas. ^[2]

The agency-wide fund held $13,079,700 at June 30, 2025, including $12,370,195 restricted for redevelopment capital improvements. That figure covers all project areas; the audited report does not break out RDA 8. ^[4]

Update, Oct. 17, 2026: the signed ordinance

The signed Ordinance 2026-09, posted on the Utah Public Notice Website on June 17, 2026, says Project Area 8 "is hereby dissolved" and that "any remaining funds will be distributed within five years from the end of the collection period ending December 2025." It is signed by Mayor Mark Shepherd and City Recorder Nancy R. Dean and lists Councilmembers King, Peterson, Thompson and Wurth voting aye, none against, and Councilmember Ratchford absent. ^[5]

The agency's June 9 packet contains a matching Resolution 2026R-01 with the same five-year language. The copy in the packet is unsigned and its vote lines are blank. The staff memo in that packet also recommended a resolution "establishing the collection and dormancy period for RDA 8 applicable Utah code, prior to changes made during the 2026 legislation session." ^[6]

S.B. 228's enrolled text says the dormancy period ends six months after the funds collection period ends, but that a project area that began a dormancy period before May 6, 2026, is dissolved five years after that period began and must return unexpended funds in proportionate shares to each taxing entity. The ordinance does not cite either provision. ^[7][5]