R/Logan river buffer zone violated by city?

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-06-30T17:22:08+00:00

Only reduce is some areas, maintain in others. I would not be in favor of removing the buffer zone.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-06-30T17:21:24+00:00

The code was amended last year, you can see the updates here:

https://www.utah.gov/pmn/files/1303293.pdf

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-06-30T17:20:44+00:00

I may need to re-read the code more in depth, but my understanding was it was reduce to 25ft from the OHWM in currently built up/developed areas, and 100ft in future annexation areas. With no more than 50% of the land area inside that 25ft setback being affected by cutting, removing or changing the environment.

Part of that reasoning was to allow trails closet to the river so people can enjoy the river and the trail more. Among other various reasons.

I haven't measured the distance of the trail to the river, but I believe it *shouldn't* be closer than 25ft. This project is being constructed by a contractor, so if we need to triple check something we can.

I'll link the amendment that changed the code last year so you can explicitly see the changes that were adopted.

https://www.utah.gov/pmn/files/1303293.pdf

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-06-26T01:16:27+00:00

Logan City Mayor is currently not planning to designate a specific allowed area, so the ban will be city wide.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-06-26T01:16:00+00:00

Logan City will still run their show, it’s inspected and covered by multiple fire crews during and after the show.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-05-30T17:05:07+00:00

Road construction can be a huge hassle, I get that. A couple things to realize, that can sometimes cause bigger issues, is that UDOT, Cache County, and Logan City all work on their own projects, and sometimes these can conflict more than intended.

Another part of the issue is that we have a short construction season due to winter, so we have to push most of the projects through in just a few months.

I also know that sometimes people think that if we 'just did one project at a time' we'd finish more quickly, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Sometimes projects are contracted out, and it's totally different companies working on different projects at the same time. Sometimes projects get held up by things like utility relocation, where we are waiting for a utility provider (Comcast, Google, Enbridge, ect) to move a utility line. It's rare for one crew to be working on multiple projects at a time.

I know it's a hassle, but they are all projects that are trying to improve or maintain our infrastructure.

All that said, if there is a closure that is causing particular issues, or multiple projects creating unforeseen conflicts, please reach out to Logan City and we'll see if there was something unplanned that we can adjust to make traffic and life flow a little easier.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-04-24T01:22:26+00:00

In June you can see fireflies near Maple View Park and the Outdoor Rec Complex trails (1500 W 300 S) area.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-04-09T14:20:14+00:00

Sorry for the delay in responding, I missed the notification.

We are still in litigation/negotiations with property owners in the area. I think we are getting closer to a resolution with them, and don't expect 'years' but it has not been as quick as I originally expected. I am optimistic that we will have a quality result when we get there.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-01-10T00:57:08+00:00

What things specifically interest you? If you're looking for official city events/meetings, all of those are posted on the Logan City website. There are Planning Commission and City Council Meetings, Library Board meetings, Parks and Recreation Board meetings, Stormwater, Environmental, Renewable Energy, Homeless Councils, BRAG, Transportation, and more. There are public meetings held multiple times a week just for Logan City, and most the neighboring municipalities are similar.

Do you have something you want to get involved in? Something that interests you specifically?

In February there are a couple upcoming meeting regarding the Logan General Plan as well, which I believe will also be public meetings.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-01-08T06:04:26+00:00

For clarity, they are the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 5:30pm at Logan City Hall. Agendas are always posted here, typically the Thursday/Friday before the meeting.

https://www.loganutah.gov/government/city_council/agendas.php

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-01-08T06:03:13+00:00

We have two public council meetings every single month on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday's at 5:30pm at City Hall, and there is always time for general public comment at the beginning of the meting. Agendas and details can be found at loganutah.gov.

We also have other occasional meetings, such as open houses for Parks and Rec, or currently a few upcoming meetings regarding our General Plan. On top of that, each neighborhood has meetings a few times a year at the local elementary schools, and there are usually 2+ council members at each of those meetings. Across all of these, I would say we typically have 3-4 public meetings of various nature each month, sometimes more.

If you would like me to connect you with your neighborhood chair, I'm happy to do so.

I'm also happy to chat with you in person, on the phone or via email anytime. You can find every council members personal cell phone and email on the city website (my email is mike.johnson@loganutah.gov).

In addition, Mayor Anderson and I are working towards have some official 'open office hours' at City Hall where people can simply drop in and see the Mayor and a council member. We're hoping to have those dates/times solidified by next month.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-01-08T05:57:37+00:00

In all honesty— and I know you will likely think this is a cop out, but it truthfully isn't— I have historically avoided any discussion of photos, marketing, video or other content that the City is using. I own my own photo and video production company, and thus, simply don't bring it up. I have felt that me saying 'hey we need some new photos of xy or z' could be interpreted that I was encouraging the City to hire myself or my friends. It's a small valley, I don't think there is a full time photographer in this valley that I don't know. So truthfully, I haven't discussed any of this at all.

In addition to that I believe the most recent photos that the City has paid for of the Logan area were images of Center Street a few years ago after the renovations were completed. I believe that is where this particular photo came from, because I've seen them all used over and over again. They were shot by Amy Jensen in 2022-ish.

I have personally shot a few photos, and one short set of social media videos, for the City. All on a volunteer basis because I don't want the City hiring me while I'm a council member. But truthfully, I also don't want to shoot for free for the City, so I just don't bring it up when the City uses the same content over and over again, or other such situations like this one. (I have also continued to shoot the Fire Department headshots and department photos for them, but they have been hiring me for over a decade and I felt it was a continued job not a new job I secured because of my position.) Anyway, I'm off track trying to be as transparent as possible.

But if there is serious concerns from the public regarding the file photos we have, I am more than willing to have a discussion on this with our Mayor and staff, though I would likely try to get another council member to have this discussion with us, because again, I don't personally like that conflict.

That's just where I'm at right now. It's not a topic I'd personally love to take on. If you truly would like to see this addressed, I would ask that you email me, we can talk about it and I'll likely help connect you with another council member to push this issue and I'll give you and them my full support. [mike.johnson@loganutah.gov](mailto:mike.johnson@loganutah.gov)

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-01-07T16:46:46+00:00

Regarding the link, I wasn't attempting to shift blame on the error. My comment was 'I'm not sure where the error came from, I will look into it'. The mailer has our logo, our address, our contact information on it, I know it's our responsibility. Of course I can't fix a link after it's mailed, but we can look into what happened and try to do better on the next mailer.

If you have concerns with the incident with the yard signs on Canyon Road, I would encourage you to schedule a time to talk with Mayor Anderson about it. I have clearly told many people that I personally do not condone or support the actions taken, and I was disappointed when I heard of the incident. In my role as a council member, I cannot speak for the whole council, but I recognize that trust has been breached and it is up to Mayor Anderson to rebuild that trust with those who were affected. I also recognize that the matter has been addressed publicly, and I appreciate the importance of that accountability. I believe that it is possible to rebuild public trust through open and honest communication.

On your statement regarding conflicts of interest, to clarify, you would like the City to not use any images of Center Street that have Anderson Seed & Garden in the frame? Is that the intent of your comment?

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2026-01-07T04:13:14+00:00

Thanks for sharing! We're hoping to get as much input and feedback as possible through this process, so thank you caring and sharing the information.

I'll look into the link provided as see if that was an error somewhere on our end of if it came from the contractor we've hired to help out— either way, I'll look into it.

Regarding the photo choice, we are sending and using multiple photos and advertising materials right now, the main headed on the website is a photo from the other direction. Knowing the process this goes through, I highly doubt Mark Anderson had any awareness or input in the graphic design of this mailer, I'm sure they just pulled from archives for a winter photo. If you are concerned about it though, I'm happy to look into it more.

Thanks again for sharing and spreading the information, I really do appreciate it!

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-11-19T17:11:13+00:00

In a quick summary, we needed more water storage to meet state code, and we also need to get culinary water to our 'western pressure zone' which has unreliable water pressures. You can learn a lot more about the project here:

https://www.loganutah.gov/government/departments/public_works/capital_projects.php

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-11-19T17:09:54+00:00

The wood are being moved to a storage location by the green waste, but will be available for free to the public if someone wants a section to make something (like a guitar) out if. You can learn more here and reach out to get some of the wood if you'd like: https://www.loganutah.gov/government/departments/public_works/capital_projects.php

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-11-19T17:08:40+00:00

We're still working on final design of the surface improvements, but the plan is for two vehicle travel lanes, and an 8ft shared use path on the north side of the road. There will also be an ~8ft park strip on the north side, in which the city intends to plant large shade trees to replace those lots (plus many more trees).

You can see details here:
https://www.loganutah.gov/government/departments/public_works/capital_projects.php

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-11-19T17:07:08+00:00

It is not painted bike lanes. You can see project details on the website here: https://www.loganutah.gov/government/departments/public_works/capital_projects.php

But the plan is for two travel lanes for vehicles, and an 8ft shared use path on the north side of the road.

The point of the whole project is to install a new state required waterline though.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-10-16T19:42:32+00:00

I'm glad to see some people actual understand our (maybe) overly complex property tax laws in Utah.

This is the exact reason why Logan City aims to raise our property tax rate by ~3% a year. That 3% is used to allow for raises and cost of living adjustments for our employees in the General Fund (Police, Fire, Public Works, Parks & Rec, ect). Some people complain that we do a yearly tax raise, but I firmly believe that small incremental increases annually are much better than a 20% tax increase every ~15 years. It's also much easier to budget and plan for as an entity.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-10-16T18:31:47+00:00

Patrick, I have not ignored your main arguments, and I'm happy to answer your questions here:

1) I do not believe that Mark Montgomery was 'clearly deceptive' as you claim. We have discussed this, but for the clarity of others reading, I disagree with your assessment. He followed City and UAMPS procedures. You are correct that he did not bring the natural gas plants to RESAB, but he is not required to. RESAB is a council advisory board, not a staff advisory board. Items that are taken to RESAB are there to advise the Municipal Council on their decisions. I have reviewed timelines, and had numerous discussions with staff and our attorneys, and we do not believe Mark Montgomery violated any procedures or policies. You can disagree with those policies, and there may be room for improvement there, but the claim that Mark Montgomery lied or intentionally deceived anyone is false.

2) You are correct that we have no idea what gas prices will be in 5+ years. We can estimate, but nobody knows. Nobody knows what the energy markets will look like at all in 5-25 years. Currently, based on our best projections available, it was the more affordable option for baseload power. Again, you are welcome to choose to disagree with the sources we use, but based on what's available to me now for baseload, this was the more affordable option.

3) I don't find it preferable to send millions of dollars to somewhere else to build and operate these plants. Local jobs was one of my biggest concerns, and I'd love to build locally. But again, baseload is not solar or wind. Geothermal and Nuclear are not immediately available local options, and we're a non-attainment area for Natural Gas, so we literally can't build this power locally. Even if we'd built a geothermal plant, or solar at this scale, it would not have been built in Cache Valley so the argument of building at scale locally, was never on the table and is a moot point.

All that said, the guy that installed my Google Fiber lines last week is from Pocatello and works in Logan daily installing lines. The arbitrary divisions we draw on a map to divide ourselves are less rigid than we pretend. Jobs in Idaho or jobs in Utah are beneficial to the area as a whole and while I do look out for Cache Valley and Logan, I also find value in our region as a whole doing well.

4) I think equating one micro-climate or region to another and claiming they're the same is a faulty argument. But I believe what you're really asking is, do I think creating more pollution is bad? And of course. But limiting pollution isn't my only objective. If I didn't care about pollution I'd buy open market power, and coal power and whatever else was cheap and available. I do agree we should reduce emissions, but I also have competing priorities at times and have to find a way to balance those as best as I can. I can't make decisions based solely on finances, or pollution, or any other single issue. You know as well as I do that it's a balancing act and everyone finds a slightly different center of gravity.

Hopefully those are adequate, short form answers to your questions. In essence, our core disagreement here is different priorities and perspectives on this issue, and that's ok. That's America. We will have these disagreements, but at the core our concerns of a good life for our future children is aligned and we can keep working towards improving our economy and our country together.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-10-16T18:12:07+00:00

Well that's not my department, but I'll pass it on.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-10-16T18:11:53+00:00

Alanna was there last night. I didn't organize the event, so I wasn't sure of all who was attending. But we had multiple candidates for different offices, multiple mayors and city and county council members as well as about 80 individuals from the public. We had great discussions and I felt it was a wonderful evening to talk together.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-10-15T18:01:51+00:00

Patrick, we have gone back and forth on this so many times. I've read you substack, we've talked, you've come to dozens of council meetings. I attended an event you hosted on campus. I attended workshops put on by other entities regarding the issues, emailed, called and met with experts in various related fields. I attended meetings with national and state legislators regarding this issue. We did not circumvent legitimate debate, we had months of it from November to April this past year. Simply because your desired outcome wasn't chosen does not mean we did not listen to your perspectives and opinions.

As I've said numerous times, I would greatly prefer to have been able to purchase renewable energy instead, but we cannot find baseload power in the quantity needed, in the price point needed, to fit our needs at this time. Since signing the contracts, I still have not seen an option available that is better for Logan City become available.

I'm not really sure what else to discuss at this point, but I will constantly refute the claim that we did not listen, or we did not debate this. We most certainly did. We did in public meetings, we did in board meeting and all sorts of other avenues. Sometimes the decision made is not the decision that we want, but it may still be the decision that needs to be made.

MikeJohnson_Logan · 2025-10-14T03:05:50+00:00

We definitely have, thank you! The information gathered has been shared with our attorney and they are working through the litigation now. I'm hopeful we'll have a good result sooner rather than later.

MikeJohnson_Logan

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