North Logan planners review draft Main Street Commercial Gateway zoning for Highway 91 corridor

North Logan Planning Commission members spent their work session reviewing a draft zoning classification aimed at shaping development along Main Street (Highway 91), including permitted uses, storage limits and possible increases to allowable building height.

Scott, a city planning staff member, said the Main Street Commercial Gateway Zone is intended to “implement the community's vision as outlined in the city's general plan, create a vibrant cohesive commercial corridor along Highway 91 that serves as one of the city's major gateways and transportation corridors.” He described the proposed zone as narrower than the city’s current general commercial classification and focused on higher-activity commercial uses rather than warehousing or outdoor storage.

Why it matters: commissioners said the corridor functions as a gateway and contributes sales-tax revenue; the draft seeks to protect that commercial value by prioritizing retail, hospitality, restaurants and recreation uses and limiting storage-heavy operations that generate little pedestrian activity.

Staff showed the geographic scope targeted in the draft: roughly the blocks between 3100 North and 2500 North along Main Street and Second West, plus a half-block east of Main Street. The draft would add a new column in the city’s land-use matrix for the MSCG zone, removing or making conditional a number of heavier-intensity uses (for example, used-car lots and large outdoor storage). The text would require that “all uses in the zone shall be conducted entirely within a fully enclosed building except those uses deemed by the Land Use Authority to be customarily and appropriately conducted in the open.” Staff also proposed limiting indoor storage in the primary building footprint to no more than about 10 percent of floor area so that a storefront is not merely a front for large warehouse operations.

Commissioners discussed height limits at length. Current general-commercial height is 35 feet (commonly two stories under a gabled roof). Staff asked whether the north Main Street corridor should allow three stories (45 feet) or even higher. Commissioners raised several practical considerations: parking supply, design compatibility with adjacent development, emergency access and the FAA’s airport-surface restrictions. Scott noted the FAA’s Part 77 “surfaces” affect allowable heights without notice and that the map creates a vertical limit that varies across the corridor; he said, without FAA notice, roughly up to 45 feet is commonly available in parts of the area, but the limit differs east-to-west and parcel-by-parcel and developers would be required to notify the FAA if they wanted higher structures. Commissioners asked staff to research the FAA notification thresholds and the highest heights that could be achieved without FAA mitigation or with developer-led FAA coordination.

Commissioners also discussed transition zones adjacent to Wolfpack Way and nearby residential areas. The attendees generally favored stepping heights down toward residential parcels and explored asymmetric height rules by side of Main Street (for example, lower heights on the east side where airport surfaces are more restrictive and higher allowances on the west side if FAA coordination is possible). Several commissioners said parking and structured parking options would naturally limit extreme vertical expansion, but others warned that a permitted maximum height should be explicit in the code and that fire and emergency apparatus access must be considered.

Other details discussed: restaurants, hotels and recreation/fitness facilities would remain allowed; municipal facilities and essential utilities would also be permitted. Staff reiterated that residential uses are not proposed west of Main Street in this zone and that mixed-use residential was not intended for most parcels within the MSCG area. Commissioners asked staff to return with consultant analysis on FAA constraints, a clear maximum height recommendation, and suggested edits to the draft’s step-back/transition language.

Next steps: staff will follow up with the city’s consultants to quantify FAA/airport overlay impacts on height, refine the permitted/conditional-use lists, and bring revised draft code language back to the commission for further comment. The commission was also reminded that a draft form-based code for the city center will be available for initial review at the July 10 meeting.