By Diana Maxfield

December 13, 2005 | NIBLEY -- Huge growth has Nibley officials looking to bring commercial business into the city, and this move has some nearby communities worried about possible impact on traffic flow and way of life.

"We've had incredible growth," says Scott Wells, a city councilman. "We can't slow or stop it. All we can do is try to manage it."

The city has grown at such a great rate that growth has outstripped the city plan, Councilwoman Dori Peterson said at the Dec. 1 council meeting.

Part of managing growth, Wells said, is balancing commercial and residential growth. He said some residents of Nibley, such as the farmers who have been in the city for years, think of Nibley as an agricultural area but this is no longer true. Nibley has been a bedroom community of Logan for more than 15 years, he said.

Councilman-elect Thayne Mickleson says it is important that business zones be developed, especially along the highway. As more people move into the city, it becomes necessary to bring in some money in order for the city to continue providing services such as roads, water and sewers to residents.

Wells said the council has tried to keep property taxes as low as possible, but city services need to be provided and paid for. Bringing commercial into a city is a way to bring in revenue without raising property taxes, he said.

Bringing in revenue is one thing, but Doug Thompson, major of Logan, is particularly concerned about the potential impact of Nibley's attempts to go commercial. Thompson said his concern stems from the fact that several businesses in Logan, including HyClone which provides many good jobs for people in the valley, have threatened to re-locate if the commute to Salt Lake City lengthens much more.

"Anything that will create greater friction along the highway is a problem," he said. Thompson said Nibley can do what they wish in the interior of the city, but along the highway, commercial growth needs to be managed carefully.

Wells says growth along the highway is being carefully planned and managed, and that access points are being kept to a minimum through the use of frontage roads.

Nibley is not looking to create a situation like the road from Smithfield to Logan, where there are many access points and traffic moves comparatively slowly, Wells said. Businesses built along the highway will face away from the road, he said, and to access these buildings, people will have to use these frontage roads and come from behind.

"Hundreds of access points with everyone getting on and off everywhere would be kind of dangerous," Wells said.

Not only dangerous, Thompson said, but traffic could slow considerably. "We have a great flow of traffic along the highway," he said. "We'd like to keep that."

Thompson said that even a frontage road system, while better than nothing, has to be carefully designed.

"Frontage roads may or may not be a good solution," he said. "The highway already has enough traffic." Problems come in when traffic is encouraged to cross the road, he said.

If all growth has restricted to one side of the highway, it would be a better scenario, he said.

However, Wells, said, that is not really an option. Poulson Trailers is on the east side of the road, and a feed store has already been proposed and approved for the west side.

Another issue with corridor access is traffic lights, Wells said. Traffic lights can slow traffic and lengthen commutes, which is part of what Thompson said concerns him. One traffic light has already been approved for 3200 South, near Ted's Gas Station. There could be as many as two other lights installed along the highway, according to a study conducted by the Utah Department of Transportation as part of a proposed corridor access management plan.

Thompson said the proposed corridor access management plan, an agreement between the cities of Nibley, Logan, Wellsville and Hyrum, with the input of UDOT and Cache County, looks to have accesses be as controlled as possible. He said freeways have most restricted accesses and residential areas the least. U.S. Highway 89-91 should be somewhere in between there, leaning toward the freeway end of the spectrum, he said.

Thompson said although Nibley may not seem like a huge commercial destination, and it may seem all this fuss is over nothing, Nibley could develop commercially in the future.

"If they want to give away the farm, they could attract some business," Thompson said. He said originally the Macey's which is moving to Providence was to be built in Logan, but Providence offered the store a million dollar bonus to build in Providence instead. Also, Thompson said, Nibley has enough traffic along the highway to be attractive to some businesses.

Wells agreed with that assessment. "We need to capture people who are driving through the city," he said.

Wells said Nibley wants to bring commercial in, not just for the tax dollars, but also to bring services closer to city residents. The city is doing its best to keep up with and manage growth, Wells said, but there is no way to plan for everything that is coming at the city.

"People don't like change, but it's coming," he said.

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