Weber County, population 231,236 (2010), lies 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, The county extends from the shores of the Great Salt Lake on the west to the Wasatch Mountains on the east with Ogden and other fast-growing Wasatch Front communities in the center. Weber County’s Ogden Valley Destination and Recreation Resort Zone includes a TDR mechanism designed to preserve rural character, wildlife habitat, hazardous hillsides and prime farmland while promoting compact, walkable recreational resorts.

The DRR-1 concept promotes resort development concentrated around village cores surrounded by open space. The level of development in the DRR is not determined by the site’s current zoning. Instead, applicants with parcels totaling at least 1,000 contiguous acres begin by assembling Transferred Base Units (TBUs) representing preserved land. Weber County then matches the TBUs with Transfer Incentive Matching Units (TIMUs) based on six categories of significance assigned to the land preserved by the TBU. For example, Weber County provides a match of up to 2 TIMUs for each TBU transferred from specified shorelines, important wildlife areas and ridge lines. The match is 1.5 TIMUs per TBU when the TBUs preserve land does not meet any of the other criteria but lies at or below 5,500 feet of elevation. The match is 1 TIMU for each TBU transferred from sending sites at elevations of 6,600 feet or higher.

Weber County also awards Density Bonus Units (DBUs) by multiplying the combined number of TBUs and TIMUs by various factors representing the achievement of the following nine goals: 1) sustainability (10 percent), 2) an 80 percent decrease in potential traffic congestion (10 percent), 3) an additional 10 percent of open space (5 percent), 4) developed access to public lands (5 percent), 5) preservation of at least 50 acres of farmland (10 percent) or more than 100 acres (20 percent), 6) preservation of historical landmark (up to 20 percent), 7) community program (up to 30 percent), 8) public facility site donation (5 percent) and 9) cultural/recreational facility (up to 20 percent). However, the total of bonus percentages from all 9 categories cannot exceed 60 percent.