Residents here frequently refer to "west Layton" or "east Layton," but the exact areas they mean varies greatly.
Because of a current growth study and a past annexation, city officials mean the area west of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad tracks when they refer to west Layton.However, resident references to west Layton differ a lot. Some residents feel west Layton is the area west of I-15, while for others it is west of Main Street, or west of the new Main Street commercial growth, or even just west of City Hall and the mall.
The U.S. Post Office definition has Fairfield Road as the dividing line for its two ZIP Codes.
Mayor Jerry Stevenson, who lives on West Gentile Street, said he believes west Layton is indeed west of D&RG tracks, where a farming atmosphere still prevails, where hunting is still allowed and where the city is hoping to manage a potential growth explosion.
There never has been a separate west Layton city, but there was an incorporated Laytona community on the west side for many years.
Real estate advertisements list west Layton as west of Fairfield Road.
East Layton can also be a debatable location in Davis County's largest city. Besides the postal code separation, there are the original boundaries of the former East Layton City (merged with Layton City in 1980), also anything east of U.S. 89, anything east of Fort Lane and likely other definitions, too.
Stevenson said it took many years for the East Layton City reference to die out after Layton annexed the area.
Victor DeCaria, a longtime Layton resident, believes east Layton is the area east of Fairfield Road.
For neighboring Kaysville, things are less muddled, with most residents seeming to believe the city's west side is west of I-15.
Other cities, like Clearfield, seem to have no prevalent references to west or east sides of the city, like Layton does.