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Show OUR SUBURBS. The population of Logan is increasing steadily, and as a consequence our borders are gradually enlarging. There is growing demand for city lots and building spots, and parties owning farms immediately adjacent to the settled portions of the city, are, in many instances, dividing them up into city or building lots, and laying off new streets. In some instances the lots and streets thus laid off do not correspond with the blocks and streets of the city, or are not uniform in dimensions with them. If this is allowed to go on unchecked, any man who owns land adjacent to the settled blocks of the city will be at liberty to cut it up into parcels of any size he may choose, and sell them to whoever will buy. These parcels may be made to contain a few feet, yards, rods or acres, according to the whim of the owners or the wishes of the buyers. On this land there may also be laid out streets and alleys of all widths and lengths, and running in all directions. In short, our suburbs may, in the space of a few years, become a perfect Babel of confusion and disorder in respect to the proportions and symmetry of the blocks, lots and streets. Section 28 of the Act of the Legislature incorporating Logan city, confers upon the City Council power "to exclusively control, regulate, repair, amend and clear the street, alleys, bridges, sidewalks or crosswalks, and open, widen, straighten or vacate streets and alleys and put drains or ditches and sewers therein, and ???UNREADABLE???. What are the streets of the city? All thoroughfares designed for public use that do or may exist within its corporate limits. Power to locate the streets is of necessity implied in the power to control them. To say that streets may be located at random and without the sanction of the City Council, or in despite of its ordinances, is simply to defy a valid law, as we view the matter. It might be urged that a party who has obtained a government patent for his land has a right to dispose of it as he pleases. Not so. Though he holds a patent for it his land is still subject to law. It is not placed beyond the jurisdiction of the courts, nor the reach of municipal legislation. It is still subject to tax laws; and its owner cannot transform it into an immoral resort, &c (etc.). In short, he cannot do with it as he may please, if his pleasure conflicts with the law. Reasoning thus we claim that he cannot cut it up in odd shaped parcels of irregular sizes, and open streets and alleys upon it, as long as the present ordinance upon the subject remains in force. Granting, for argument's sake, that the owner of land lying next to the city, may lay it off in irregular parcels and streets, to do so would greatly detract from its value. Who would keep such streets in repair, and in passable condition? No one would be responsible for the state they might be in. Who would wish to buy a house on such a street, or who would wish to live in a quarter of the city where the lots, blocks and streets were arranged in a haphazard sort of way, as if all had been shaken up in a bag together and dumped out at random? Owners of land adjoining the city will consult their own best interests in this matter by complying with the law. Let the beauty and symmetry of our city be preserved. |
