North Logan preparing to open city cemetery within a year

By Emily Redfield

April 27, 2007 | NORTH LOGAN -- Following the trend of other cities in Cache Valley, North Logan is developing a city cemetery so its residents can be buried in "the best place to call home."

Terrel Huppi, facilities manager, said the cemetery commission hopes to have plots available by end of summer to sell to the public, but more realistically, it will not be until spring. This cemetery has 50 acres, but will start selling plots on only two of these acres.

"The cemetery will be built in phases. Phase one will be two acres of land, and then we will move to phase two and three. It is all part of the master plan that we have," he said.

The budget for this project changes every year, he said. In the future, the city hopes to put together a cemetery district committee, where they receive a set amount of money each year from the city, he said. Right now they have used on average $110,000 a year since they have started building the cemetery. All the maintenance is funded by the city parks, he said.

"The rates can change anytime the council wants to vote to change it," Huppi said.

This cemetery will be named North Logan Memorial Park, and parts of the 50 acres of land will have paths for people to walk around on. Currently the roads are being paved around the cemetery. Huppi asked for the location to remain out of print until the cemetery is built. He said that he does not want people going up there while it is still a construction zone.

Cost of the plots will be $250 a plot for residents the first year, and $350 a plot for the following years. The non-resident cost of a plot will be $500. The city wants to give a deal to residents looking to buy a plot here, he said.

Nancy Potter, chairman of the cemetery advisory committee, held a public hearing last week. She said that the committee planned for this park to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible. She said that the species of trees that are to be included in this park are golden ginkgos, sycamores, flowering trees and evergreens.

"This should add a lot of color in the Spring time and the evergreens will keep color through the winter," Potter said.

Huppi said that this public hearing only heard good feedback from the public. Many people were excited to hear that the first shipment of trees was already in, he said.

Potter also presented changes to the master plan at this meeting. The committee added parking so people can have a place to park that isn't on the new grass. They also made plans for the future to add an ampatheater and water features. They also added benches and picnic tables to the master plan.

"I really like it [the plan]. It is money well spent," said Elaine Nelson, city council member.

Potter said that the committee tried to do as much as they could not to impact the city budget too much. She also said that the committee needs to make some decisions on how the personnel of the park will be paid. She says that the cemetery committee can collect $99,000 in taxes, and also bring in money from selling plots as well.

"Keep a look out for our plots being advertised, and that's when you'll know we are done building it," Huppi said.

MS
MS