City Council Chairwoman Laraine Swenson, a supporter of the controversial proposal, said she doesn't see any other immediate solution to the problem - consumption of open space by urban sprawl in northern Utah.

Utah state law requires a 4-1 vote in order to get the ordinance back in play, according to Logan City Attorney Kymber Housley. On Thursday, a weary Swenson said she doesn't have much hope of swaying the votes of either of the two council members who have been adamantly opposed to the open space ordinance and support the mayor's veto. Still, Swenson said, she will persist.

“I'm not seeing it as totally dead,” Swenson said, adding that she wasn't willing to compromise on the amount of money to be dedicated to open-space preservation. “There might be some other options.”

In his second veto of the ordinance, Thompson said he continues to support open space and enhanced-gateway development, but he finds fault with the method outlined in the proposed ordinance.

Adding to a long list of concerns about the measure, ThompÂson said federal law already protects open spaces east of Cache Valley, such as a designated wilderness area, Logan Canyon and forest service lands. To the west, he said, wetlands and sloughs make development impossible.

Thompson, who has maintained that the city's strained budget is pressed with infrastructure needs, suggested elected officials use the city's general plan, zoning, design review and tighter ordinances, if necessary, to protect and manage corridors within city limits.

“And I do not think it is appropriate for the City of Logan to purchase land outside its boundaries for open-space preservation,” he said. “I would, however, support action that would enable transfer of development rights.”

Swenson said few of the city's high priority needs are as imminently pressing as this one.

“These next few years are a defining time in our growth, and I'm disappointed that today's needs have outweighed the more critical concerns of the future,” she said, vowing to utilize a separate resolution passed by the council to dedicate 1 percent of capital project funds for open space.

“I think we'll continue to see our gateways becoming festered with commercial and residential developments without some other funded plan of action by Logan City and other communities in Cache Valley.”

ajbrunson@comcast.net