Friday, November 30, 2007

North Logan Downtown

I just ran across a reference to a development plan for a North Logan "downtown" in the Herald Journal. So I looked into it and found this plan online. Basically, there's an area along 200 E running from 1800 N to 2500 N that is charted to have mixed development including a hotel and luxury condos.

It strikes me as a bit odd because I associate mixed development with the near city communities in Arlington, VA (where I just moved from). I have a hard time understanding how a Ballston or Shirlington would work in Cache Valley. Looking at the plan, one big difference between the mixed development of Arlington and North Logan's is the vast amount of land devoted to parking lots. It's essential for that intensity of land use when parking garages don't make economic sense. It looks like they've done a decent job of hiding the parking lots except for a stretch along the east side of 200 E and the west side of 400 E. I just don't buy that the trees are going to hide much, not here.

I can't decide if it's completely ridiculous to plan mixed development here or if I should look into one of the condos. I do miss some of the conveniences of the arrangement.

This is such a huge change. I run down 200 E from 1400N to Hyde Park because it's relatively flat and there aren't too many cars to deal with. I guess that's going to change. No more horses and fields either. It's sort of neat to see a "downtown" being established. I generally think of them as just springing up naturally. I'm sure in some cases they did.