"If it's Layton's problem, why are you bringing it to Clearfield?" asked Councilwoman Marilyn Fryer. "Can't you move it to the west desert?"

Council members were angry that UTA did not tell them of the plan sooner - Councilwoman Kathryn Murray said they learned from a resident of UTA's "land farm" plan just two weeks ago - and they worried that the plan will delay development of the 70 acres of open ground around the Clearfield station.

UTA owns the property and with the city has come up with a master plan calling for a campus of corporate headquarters, entertainment and other mixed-use development.

The FrontRunner commuter rail line from Salt Lake City to Pleasant View is to begin running next spring, and other than Farmington, Clearfield's station has the most open ground for transit-oriented development.

"The council's main concern is not just environmental . . . but the impediment to our competitive stance with other development sites," said Mayor Don Wood.

FrontRunner Project Manager Steve Meyer assured the council the soil remediation will not delay development, but members didn't buy it.

"We've dealt with UTA and we've not got a straight answer yet," grumbled Councilman Doyle Sprague.

UTA does not need Clearfield's approval, but will discuss the issue further with the Department of Environmental Quality, Meyer said.

But the manager of DEQ's underground tank cleanup fund, John Menatti, said Tuesday that moving the contaminated soil from Layton to Clearfield makes the most sense.

The soil was contaminated by a leaking underground fuel tank at a Layton gas station.

Allowing the soil to aerate until it is no longer contaminated would save the state $60,000 over the next-best solution, which is sending it to a private company based at the Salt Lake County landfill, he said.

Land farming would entail spreading the soil about one foot deep over 2 1/2 lined acres in Clearfield until oxygen and soil microbes biodegrade the hydrocarbon now polluting the dirt, Menatti said.

The soil could then be used or sold for construction uses.

Meyer said it's not likely a developer will immediately want all 70 acres.

Farmington, he noted, has been working on a FrontRunner development for five years, and the developer there has yet to turn a shovel.