City Council approves rezoning for power plant
Logan City Council members voted 3-2 in favor of rezoning the 1.86 acres of the block of 305 S. 300 West from Multi Family Medium (MFM) to Public.
Council members Karen Borg, Tom Kerr and Alan Allred were in favor and Janice Pearce and Steve Thompson were against the re-zoning request.
The council also voted to make the land a permitted use zone in order to build the power plant on the land. The vote was 4-1 with Thompson in opposition. The phrase “power generation facilities” will be added to the table that describes the kind of structures that can be built on land zoned Public.
Bruce Baird, an attorney for the citizens who are opposed to the rezone and the power plant, said he was defending people who thought they had the fortune of living in a neighborhood.
“I’m standing in front of a steamroller,” Baird said. “A steamroller set loose by errors, horrible advice and fictitious reporting – a steamroller that is about to wipe out a neighborhood.”
Baird had three suggestions for the council to consider. First, he said the council should reject the proposal to re-zone the land and leave it as it sits. Second, he said the council should postpone the decision until the next council convenes in order to have “kitchen table discussions” with residents of the neighborhood. Baird’s third suggestion was to make the block conditional use to allow for some restrictions to be placed on the proposed power plant.
Assistant city attorney Kymber Housley said the city is not re-zoning the block to make money, but rather to save money.
Newly-elected council member Tami Pyfer said she hoped the council would not re-zone the land, but would instead relocate the power plant to the city landfill site, which would be “an excellent site for the generators.”
Residents of the neighborhood gathered to express their opinions of the proposed re-zone. Jean Steinhoff, a Logan resident whose ancestor was the first city planner of Logan, said she was attracted to the diversity and historical homes in that neighborhood. She said the city should plan better.
“Ugly communities are cheap to build,” Steinhoff said. “Beautiful cities take courage and planning.”
One resident questioned whether or not there would be a danger of cancer caused by high-power lines.
Ron Seville, light and power manager of Logan City, said there is no conclusive evidence that high-power lines and electromagnetic fields cause cancer. He added that the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for air quality will be met for that neighborhood.
“The Department of Air Quality has already issued a permit that we meet the requirements for the power plant,” Seville said.
Sylvia Hansen, another resident of the power plant’s new neighborhood, asked the council members who have studied the effects of power plants to raise their hands. All did.
Borg said that in her studies of the effects of erecting a power plant, she learned that “the improvement over the status quo is astronomical.”
Kerr said most of the pollution in Logan won’t come from the power plant anyway.
“It comes from the cars being driven and from the wood-burning stoves,” he said.