CLEARFIELD, Utah — Utah has seen explosive growth in many cities across the state, including Clearfield, where officials are now addressing the growth with affordability and housing availability.
Mark Shepherd has been Clearfield's mayor for the past 12 years. While in office, he’s focused on reimagining the city and transforming it into a desired place to live.
“It’s fun to sit in our council room and look over the city and say, 'Wow,' and to hear people say, 'This isn’t the Clearfield I knew,’” the mayor said.
In the past five years, the city has entitled, permitted or built 4,000 housing units, including townhomes, apartments, condos, and single-family homes.
However, some residents don’t love the area's growth or in Davis County overall.
“You don’t have traffic all the time, people banging on your doors all the time, neighbors yelling and screaming. It’s just nice peaceful and relaxing,” said homeowner Rob Nolen.
Nolen claims over the last 30 years, more people have migrated to the area to get away from the noise.
“It’s crazy right now with interest rates where they are," explained real estate agent Nathan Poulsen. "The thing is people still need a home. We have a lot of big companies, so yes this is a hot spot. An area where everyone wants to live but there’s only so much space between the mountains and the lake.”
While the market can be tricky to navigate, Mayor Shepherd is taking his ideas to the national level. He will be co-chair two national committees: The Mayors and CEOs for US Housing Investment and America’s Housing Comeback.
“People want to come here, and we need them to come here to fill these jobs. They’re coming but so much of that isn’t coming from out, but our own kids,” Shepherd said. “And we’re not providing enough homes for our kids to purchase, and the ability to even buy them.”
Shepherd says housing is about the people and he hopes to help provide the stability of housing to those in his community.
