Plan tackles sprawl
Local business leaders recently unveiled a plan to help Cache Valley batten its hatches against urban sprawl.
The threat isn’t new – Cache Valley’s population has grown steadily by 2.5 percent every year for the past 20 years, and business, government, civic and Utah State University organizations have been working to keep development from getting out of control. But nobody has been in charge of directing the vision for Cache Valley as a whole until the Cache Chamber of Commerce decided last year it was in the best position and wanted to try.
“We have for a long time put a lot of effort and resources into controlling development,” said Nevin Limburg, director of economic development for Logan City. “It’s great now that the business community is stepping forward to help solve some of these problems.”
A volunteer committee of chamber members formed more than a year ago and has been working with government and business leaders all over the valley to come up with a plan that valley residents and businesses would support.
The result: The Cache Valley Initiative, a five-year plan to bring further economic vitality to Cache Valley and preserve the quality of life by controlling future development.
The first order of business will be to make cache Valley accessible – for convenience and, more importantly, for safety, said committee member Richard Smith. Three major problems were isolated during the year of research – air and land transportation and telecommunications.
“There is only one way to exit the valley – by road or through telecommunications,” Smith said. “It’s just not safe.”
Hwy. 89 is the only connector between Cache Valley and the Wasatch Front, and currently only one cable exists for telecommunication between the valley and the outside world. A few years ago that cable was accidentally cut, and the valley was disconnected from 911 services until it was repaired.
“We stand at a critical crossroads in time,” said Tom Jensen, committee member. “With continuing growth, we must make a choice to either allow development to continue without considered thought and have our children and future generations suffer the consequences, or we can intelligently review the options and take action to preserve and enhance our quality of life.”
If all goes according to plan, the initiative’s aggressive goals will all be met by 2005.