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Saturday, October 18, 2014

Garden City Water Issues


Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  October 9, 2014. The other agenda item was a discussion concerning the proposed Revised Impact Fee Ordinance/Impact Fee Enactment and to adopt, enact, or modify; a revised written Impact Fee Analysis and an Impact Fee Enactment for Culinary Water.  This item is contained in Ordinance #14-16.

It was noted that the State of Utah requires each area that has a culinary water system to have a certain percentage of water in storage in case of an emergency—a fire, a break in a main line, and so forth.  Garden City does not meet this requirement in the summer because the water system is maxed out.  It was suggested that a way to solve this lack of stored water was for the City to buy the Shundahi’s million dollar tank.  This would provide additional water to the City during the summer as well as provide the necessary amount of storage water required by the State.  Mr. Norm Mecham indicated that he would be willing to sell the tank on a 30-year payment period.  He is willing to sell the tank for the amount of money that he has spent to install and get the tank connected to the City’s water system.

The location of the tank makes is possible that if the main line is broken coming from Swan Creek, much of the City would still have enough water for a day or two’s consumption.  In other words, the City would not be completely out of water.

Because of the cost of this tank, there will need to be a change in the water impact fees to help in paying for this water storage tank.  This tank will become a great asset for the City and bring the City up to the State’s water requirements.  An additional water source is already planned for 2020—the digging of a new well to add to the current system.  This will also be a very costly item that the City needs to begin preparing for.

The water impact fees were raised last spring to $4,420.  However, with this additional tank, the fees will have to be raised a second time to $5,670.  Impact fees become effective 90 days after adoption.  A MOU with Mr. Mecham will need to be finalized and financial arrangements made. 

Most of the individuals who attended the public hearing were interested in the gun range and had left the meeting.  There was very little input as a result.  The hearing was closed.

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