On Tuesday, Logan Mayor Craig Petersen announced the cancellation of the land swap proposed in last week’s city council meeting.
“It’s a political decision in the sense that we have two candidates running for mayor,” Petersen said. “Neither one of them are supportive of the land swap and the city council would have had to approve it and it doesn’t appear as though there is a majority of the city that would have been in favor of it.”
The land swap would have traded properties between the city and the Needham Family Partnership, which is owned in part by Gene Needham, a current member of the city council. This conflict of interest was met with concern from not only the mayoral candidates, but other Logan residents as well.
“There is no sense in jousting at windmills and being Don Quixote when the political support just isn’t there,” Petersen said.
Petersen also said although the swap would benefit the city, he isn’t sure it is the best option.
“As I’ve continued to do additional analysis, I’m a little more uncertain about the outcome,” Petersen said. “I’m not quite as sure that it would have been as beneficial to Logan City as I initially thought.”
A large reason for the land swap was to acquire the V1 Grizzly Station site and Wonder Bread building along 100 West so the new Logan library could be built at that location. Petersen said moving forward the city will work to obtain the property through different means.
