COULMN: ‘Box businesses’ evidence of Logan’s trend towards urban sprawl

Lowe’s, Home Depot, PetSmart.

These national chain stores have recently or are about to find a new home in Cache Valley. But are they welcome and will they make it?

Cache County Council Chairman Darrel Gibbons said he wonders if the population of the valley can support such a flurry of new businesses. The valley’s population has reached 100,000, but is that enough to make them viable?

Gibbons said such companies must have done some “number crunching” to foresee staying afloat in this environment, otherwise they wouldn’t have come. But he said he doubts they all will be able to make it.

Does Cache Valley need two more hardware stores? Counting the one in Preston, the valley is already home to three Anderson Lumbers.

Do Cache Valley residents want to look at more and more concrete boxes? Will the valley be victims of the urban sprawl going on in most of the Wasatch Front? How much do valley residents value their precious open space?

Logan and Cache Valley leaders should consider these kinds of issues before deciding to give the go-ahead on building permits to these businesses.