North Logan Mayor Lyndsay Peterson , Dell Loy Hansen and a host of others involved parties break ground for a new city complex on Monday July 18, 2022.
NORTH LOGAN – Mayor Lyndsay Peterson of North Logan City stood on the north side of the city’s library to announce plans for a library addition with new city offices and a community center at a Monday, July 18 groundbreaking ceremony.
The Dell Loy Hansen Family Foundation donated $2 million for the new city building and the James P. Thorne Endowment, sponsored by the Hansen family, will increase its annual contribution to cover a bond supporting the core cost of the library expansion.
“What I’ve noticed is that North Logan prioritizes gathering,” Peterson said. “We have the highest recreation program of utilization in the valley.”
The City Office and expansion of the library will be about 18,000 square feet at a cost of $6.1 million and the 20,000 square foot community center is estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $8 million.
“The bids on the community center are still coming in so the cost could change,” Peterson added. “North Logan has more parkland per capita in the state and the parks are used by individuals and families across the state.”
North Logan claims to have the longest-running and most widely-attended pioneer celebration in the valley and the library is filled with a robust array of programing.
“As a city, we are ecstatic that we will be able to build these new city offices without raising taxes or issuing a bond that will indebt our city,” the mayor said. “We plan on doing work in-house to reduce the cost of this building and we have had some long painful meetings to ensure that we stay under budget.”
The current city offices are in a converted hotel and do not meet the needs of a growing community of 11,000 residents.
The James P. Thorne Endowment was set up by Dell Loy Hansen and has grown significantly over the years. Money from that foundation will be used to expand the library.
“The money to build the city offices was generously donated by the Hansen family and we are also using the funds from selling our existing city office building to offset some of the cost,” Peterson said. “North Logan has benefitted from a long line of remarkable mayors and we are beyond grateful for their leadership and are thrilled to be part of this new vision for North Logan.”
Peterson is also hopeful for continued community support in the form of donations of all sizes so the multi-purpose community center can become a reality.
“The Friends of the Library have been crucial in achieving the goal of creating a gathering place without issuing taxpayer-supported bonds or increasing taxes to fund the building,” she said. “We couldn’t do any of this without the generous donors that truly love our community.”
James Britsch, the North Logan library director, is also excited about the upcoming changes to the library.
“It is a huge thing for the library; it will give us more space for our collection and, more importantly, it will give us more space for our library programs that are being well attended and growing. We are super excited for the expansion.”
As president of the Friends of the Library, Peterson has been involved in planning the new city buildings for years.