North Logan city officials weigh benefits of boundary change
February 8th, 2013 Posted in OpinionStory & photo by Jonathan Larson
NORTH LOGAN – The City Council met Wednesday to discuss a potential boundary change: a trade with Logan to acquire land along the west side of U.S. Highway 91, in an effort to straighten city boundaries and allow for greater development.
“It makes it so that you just have Logan that goes to a certain point north and North Logan from that point on,” North Logan Mayor Lloyd Berentzen said. “It just cleans up the property line for the entire city.”
A map showing the proposed boundary adjustment between Logan and North Logan. Photo by Jonathan Larson.Logan from that point on,” North Logan Mayor Lloyd Berentzen said. “It just cleans up the property line for the entire city.”
Jeff Jorgensen, city administrator and engineer, presented the council with an estimate of the total revenue that would be lost if the exchange were to happen. He highlighted that North Logan will lose about $12,000 per year if the deal goes through, based on tax information from 2012.
“We would gain on property tax, but they would gain on sales tax,” Jorgensen said. “In the grand scheme of things, I don’t know if that’s really a big deal.”
Jorgensen said that both cities stand to gain because it gives each the opportunity to develop commercial areas two blocks deep instead of just along the highway.
“I think in looking at it from just a logical standpoint that this makes good sense for North Logan and corrects some things that have been skewampus in the past,” Berentzen said.
As currently constructed, the deal will cause North Logan to lose businesses such as the Hampton Inn and Jack’s Tire and Oil. In return, the city will gain Sonic Drive-In, Harley Davidson and development control over both sides of 2200 North.
“Be careful how much we look at the numbers on this,” Berentzen warned the council. “Let’s look at the potential in what this probably brings to the long-term future of North Logan because I think there are some significant advantages.”
While no decision was made, the council agreed to investigate and discuss the matter in greater depth over the next few weeks. They also agreed to take a tour of the areas in question to determine if they are able see the potential they hope future developers will see.
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Tags: boundary adjustment, Jeff Jorgensen, Lloyd Berentzen, Logan, North Logan, US 91
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