North Logan residents unhappy about proposed road to Smithfield
By Diana Hurren
February 21, 2006 | NORTH LOGAN -- Local landowners
attended last week's City Council meeting to fight the
most recent plan proposed for the North Logan-Smithfield
corridor.
An alternate route to Main Street has been proposed
as a more efficient way to get from one end of the county
to the other. The proposed road is called the Logan-Smithfield
corridor and would run from Millville to Smithfield.
The road is being individually addressed by each affected
city, and while the North Logan City Council seemed
to approve of the idea, citizens did not.
"Plan 6B in its original form should not be accepted
or supported," said affected landowner Ted Nyman.
Plan 6B is the most recent proposal for the corridor
which the council has been asked to review and approve.
According to the plan the corridor would run along 200
East, but take a detour to the east for two blocks to
avoid a residential neighborhood. The proposed detour
would run directly through a few pieces of property,
which property owners said would decrease the value
significantly.
The landowners that would be affected directly by
the corridor said they don't like any of the plans for
the corridor that have been proposed so far.
"Unfortunately the road is probably going through,"
said Councilman Scott Galbraith to the dissatisfied
citizens.
Citizens at the meeting told the council that if the
road is going to be approved they want the best option
to be picked, and suggested that the council make revisions
to plan 6B. Nyman told the council to do what was best
for North Logan and all of its citizens, and not simply
what the Utah Department of Transportation has proposed.
"Don't sell out for those federal dollars. That's
not right, in fact it's morally wrong," Nyman said.
At the last city council meeting, the council appealed
a planning commission decision to allow a conditional
use permit in the Rocking Subdivision for a landowner
to build a barn. The council overruled the commission's
decision because they said the proposed barn did not
agree with the city's open space ordinance.
Last night city attorney Scott Wyatt advised the council
to reconsider that motion. Wyatt said the decision the
council made could not hold up legally and they would
have to change the ordinance if they wanted to stick
with their original decision. Wyatt said the law overrides
the resolution because there is no proof that the structure
in question would bring any harm to neighbors.
"In retrospect our ordinance should have been crafted
more carefully," Mayor Cary Watkins said.
The council voted to uphold the planning commission's
original decision and then voted to review and adjust
the open space ordinance.
Also last night, a public hearing was held so the
council could receive public input on a newly proposed
ordinance dealing with storm water, such as rain and
snow. The new ordinance would create regulations on
storm water practices and would require people to have
permits in order to put water into local canals. The
council listened to citizen's questions and concerns,
but decided to take more time to look at the information
before making a final decision.
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