Logan to Review Impact Fees for Developers

The Logan Municipal Council is reviewing impact fees charged to those developing in the city.
Mark Nielsen, Logan’s public works director, said Thursday that the fees are typically set for a five- to six-year period and are then analyzed again.

“The previous fees were in 2005; it’s been six to seven years,” Nielsen said. “We’ve been studying it for about a year, and the impact fees ... look at future growth and allocate costs to growth that provide for that development to continue.”

Impact fees charged for a single-family unit, for instance, would go from the existing total of $4,833 down to $4,791 —a bit less than a 1 percent decrease.

“The reason is that the development pressure now is less than it was seven years ago,” Nielsen said. “We’ve recalculated everything, and based on going through the analysis, there’s less there than there was.”

A public hearing on the issue is set for 5:30 p.m. Jan. 8, and the council could approve the new fees that night. The Municipal Council meets at 290 N. 100 West in Logan. Herald Journal

Box Elder County Wants its Piece of the Pie if Feds Turn Land Over to State

If Utah’s House Bill 48 isn’t challenged by the federal government, it could have a big impact on Box Elder County. The bill was passed in the legislative session earlier this year and requires the United States to transfer federally owned public land to the state by December 31, 2014. Box Elder County includes 2,312 square miles of federal land. Box Elder County has a total of 6,729 square miles.

Some federal property would be exempt such as school and institutional trust lands, national parks, Golden Spike National Historic Site, national monuments, areas that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System and federal property within any city limits.

A statewide citizen commission will be created to manage the transfer of title and address management issues, such as multiple uses of public lands, open space, access, local planning and sustainable yield of natural resources. Box Elder News Journal

Expanding USU Supported by Board

Expanding the campus of Utah State University in Brigham City will be of great benefit, not only to students who attend, but to the city as well. Ron Frandsen, District business administrator, explained to the school board members the expectation of continuing the Interlocal Cooperative agreement with the Redevelopment Agency of Brigham City.

Five local entities are involved in the agreement, including the school district, Brigham City, Box Elder County, Mosquito Abatement and the Water Conservancy District. They provide financial support for development of the Old Indian School property for USU expansion through continuation of the tax increment program.

Also included in the agreement is the proposal to use the majority of taxes paid by any future development on the property to help provide matching funds to construct the building. Hopefully funds will be available through future legislature allotment.

Despite a district-wide policy stating otherwise, the Box Elder High School wrestling team will be taking a trip to Reno, Nevada, for a tournament there.

Policy 5323 concerning out-of-state travel limits high schools to two trips per year. Box Elder high principal Darrel Eddington has awarded those trips to the Drama Club and to the orchestra.

Coach Mike Ripplinger called this team the best he has ever had and this trip would bring an opportunity for them to wrestle in front of coaches from colleges and a possibility for wrestling scholarships. The Leader

Utah's Thirst for Water Comes with $13.7 Billion Price Tag

The ability to turn on the tap, flush the toilet and water the garden over the next 20 years will be a multibillion-dollar challenge in Utah because of new water and sewer systems that state officials say must be put in place.

A statewide list of water projects, including their costs, is being shopped to Utah lawmakers, along with the warning that it is better to plan now and pay now, rather than wait until dams fail or taps run dry.

The numbers are staggering, adding up to $13.7 billion. And that doesn't include billions identified for controversial projects such as the Lake Powell Pipeline or the Bear River Development project.

The Utah divisions of water quality and water resources and other public agencies compiled the list of water infrastructure needs in Utah that provides just one glimpse of a national problem decades in the making.

A roundtable highlighting the water infrastructure challenges across the country estimated the cost to maintain and replace drinking water systems alone at $1 trillion. Hosted by the Conservation Leadership Partnership, the discussion earlier this month took on new urgency as most of the nation continues to recover from the worst drought in 50 years.

The partnership is an initiative seeking to broker new alternatives to persistent conservation problems, emphasizing the need for public-private partnerships and entrepreneurship and "ground-up" solutions. Deseret News

Brigham City releases more hotel loan detail

Two weeks ago Brigham City Council voted to approve an application to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to facilitate a $1 million interest free loan for an as yet unnamed hotelier to locate at the city's Academy Square. If the application is approved and the loan is dispersed, the city will be effectively on the hook to ensure its repayment.

"This is not a grant – the money has to be paid back," said Paul Larsen, Brigham City's economic development director.

The USDA's Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program offers and provides zero percent interest rate loans or grants to qualifying rural telephone and electric cooperatives for use in economic and community development projects. The fact that Brigham City has a population of less than 25,000 and an electric utility cooperative initially qualifies the city for the loan program, according to city officials and the USDA's rural development website.

Larsen acknowledged the concern of a developer defaulting on a loan that could leave taxpayers to foot the $1 million bill and explained that the city has plans to protect against this risk. The city would create a "community development project area" in the vicinity of the Academy Square as well as utilize tax increment financing to back the loan in the event of the hotel defaulting. 

The tax increment, Larsen said, would act as collateral for the loan as part of the inter-local participation agreement. This would serve to hold the developer accountable and ultimately ensure that any incentives, such as a $1 million loan with the city's name on it, be performance based. Box Elder News


Related post: If you build it, will they come?

If you build it, will they come?

Brigham City Council voted last week to approve an application to facilitate a $1 million interest free loan that would pass through the city to the developer for the development and funding of a hotel in conjunction with the Academy Square project.

"There is need and room in the market for an additional hotel in Brigham City," said economic development director Paul Larsen.

However, some local business persons feel that this might be an example of putting the cart before the horse. Tim Haderlie, general manager of the Logan and Brigham City Crystal Inns, says that by helping to fund hotels and restaurants in the area the city is setting an "unfair playing field."

The downtown Brigham City project has been a long time coming and the Academy Square building has been vacant since the early 1980s with Brigham City purchasing the building over 15 years ago. Many city officials, including the community and economic development department see the opportunity to create jobs and thereby increase the tax base. One agent who has been involved in securing properties for the Academy Square project has said that he has "strived to be fair and advise in a professional way to provide elected officials with the keys to make the decisions." Box Elder News

Contention growing over canal replacement

The Sept. 13 meeting of the Logan Planning Commission could be interesting. JUB Engineers and Logan City, Hyde Park, and Smithfield Canal agents will request a permit to replace an open ditch canal including piping, adding a storm water channel and an access road.

One of many Logan residents protesting the permit is Tony Wegener who told the Logan Municipal Council Tuesday that he owns property on both sides of the canal and property along the canal bed along with other residents.

Wegener said the breach in the Logan Island canal in 2009, which resulted in the death of three people, was disastrous. However, he said the current $25 million response to that disaster, the Cache Water Restoration Project, is unreasonable.

At Tuesday's meeting, Councilwoman Holly Daines said she's upset about the fact that changes have been made since she signed documents giving her approval. Daines said what she signed involved a boxed culvert along 1500 North. Cache Valley Daily

Cache County OKs road funding

Six road projects in Cache County will collectively receive $5.4 million from the county’s road tax.

The County Council on Tuesday approved the allocation — exactly as the valley’s mayors and county executive, or Council of Governments, had recommended — but not before some disagreement over Logan’s 200 East project between 450 North and 1250 North, which will receive $3.1 million.

A motion made by Councilman Val Potter to wait on funding 200 East failed by a 4-3 vote.

“I wanted to hear the input from Logan city on that, and my concern was the safety issues,” Potter said later in the week. “We as a council had heard a number of complaints from residents about the safety of the roundabout being right next to the middle school. I wanted to put the funding for the project on hold until we heard back from the results of their evaluation.”

Councilman Craig Petersen argued that the council should not get involved in a “technical issue about how we build a road.”

“I just find it odd that we would substitute our judgment for the city’s,” Petersen said. “Based on the preferences for how a road should be built, I just don’t think that’s an adequate reason for us to micromanage.” Herald Journal

Cache County mulls mandatory smog checks

The Cache County Council is pursuing plans for a mandatory vehicle emissions testing program to comply with federal air quality standards.

The Herald Journal of Logan reports a group  comprised of representatives of the county, Bear River Health Department and Utah Division of Air Quality held its first meeting last week to discuss how to implement the program.

In December 2009, Cache and Franklin counties were designated a single "non-attainment" area by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violating a federal air quality standard related to particulate-matter pollution. Standard Examiner

Cache County sales tax revenue up in 2011

Cache County's sales tax collection continues to show signs of improvement. For the first three quarters of this year - the most current data available as the fourth quarter is ongoing - monthly figures have outperformed 2010 levels in eight out of the nine months.For the month of September, for example, the 2011 sales tax figure came in at $359,014, compared to $314,696 in 2010. The first nine months of this year totaled $2,849,089, up 4.5 percent from last year. Herald Journal

Postal Service may shutter two Cache Valley offices

The Postal Service is considering closing more than 1 in 10 of its retail outlets, and two Cache Valley offices are among those that may be shut down. Post offices in Trenton and Weston are two of the 3,653 nationwide offices, branches and stations the financially-troubled federal agency announced Tuesday it may close. Before deciding to close any office, the agency will conduct a study, taking into account community feedback, cost savings, the ability to continue to provide mail service and other factors. Herald Journal