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OGDEN - Residents of the Mount Ogden neighborhood on Tuesday praised a draft community plan they hope will preserve east bench open space and keep out gated communities.

The plan, which will become part of the city's General Plan if adopted by the City Council next month, sums up the values and hopes residents have for the 924-acre neighborhood.

Chief among those values, residents said during a council meeting Tuesday, is the preservation of open space and acquisition of even more, if possible.

The plan calls for the neighborhood's biggest feature, the Mount Ogden Park and Golf Course, to remain zoned as open space. It also calls for no gated communities, more signage and traffic control in front of the park and possible creation of a historic district.

It was forwarded to the City Council by the Planning Commission after more than a year of study involving steering committees comprised of 41 residents.

Neighborhood interest in the community plan galvanized in the spring of 2006, when Mayor Matthew Godfrey advocated selling the golf course and other city-owned land to entrepreneur Chris Peterson, who planned a gated community.

Godfrey this summer reversed his position, saying residents' opposition persuaded him not to pursue a sale of city hillside land.

This week, he said he asked the city's attorneys to draft restrictive covenants that will protect the city-owned land from housing developments in the future.

The restrictions will require the land, including the golf course, park and hillside open space, be used for public purposes, he said.

The Planning Commission's recommendations put such a premium on open space, they go beyond the Mount Ogden Community Plan.

The plan suggests development of a city-wide open space plan, an inventory of open space and purchase of more open space through land trusts, conservation easements and other measures.

The plan also calls for the city to buy more open space or easements across private land to protect existing trails and add to the trail network.