Construction Moving Ahead On City Projects

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  May 14, 2015. Zan Murray, Town Engineer, told Garden City Council members that the construction projects on 150 S parking area are doing well.  All the underground utility work is done.  Water services are relocated, and more material is being added to bring the road up to grade so it will drain correctly.  It should take one more week because of the rain and because the road was so soft.  They had to import more material to correct it and that will cost $10,000 more than expected.  A blowout of the water line made the area soft.  The city may request the private water company and sewer district to help pay for some of that damage.

With the wet weather the pavers will be paving the week after Memorial Day.  Local access only should be completed by the second week in June.  The city park parking is all striped.  Riley Argyle and Murray are watching the 350 S re-vegetation before they decide if it should be seeded again.  The new asphalt at the park has had some damage and the contractor needs to be contacted about fixing it.  

Anita Weston mentioned that there was handicapped parking is by the lake but there was not a spot by bathrooms and bowery.  The council agreed to set aside a handicapped area near the bowery.

Bess Huefner said that she was applying for a wetland permit for the boardwalk extension.  It will cost $1000 and it will take 3 months at least to get the permit.  The 150 feet to connect to the existing boardwalk would cost $60,000 if aluminum is used for surface.  Mayor Spuhler asked how long wood lasts and how expensive it would be.  Murray said that it would be at least ¼ of the cost and last at least 15 years.  There may be some money left from the parking lot development which could start that project and maybe finish it if wood is used.  The council agreed that they would like to use wood rather than aluminum because it is four times cheaper and looks more natural and is not as hot on bare feet as aluminum.

Murray has had regular conversations with Swan Creek about a contract for irrigation shares.  Jim Riley, water rights engineer for Swan Creek, suggested that Garden City pick some well sites in a joint contract for Swan Creek and Garden City, which would make it easier for Swan Creek to sell water rights to developers who would then give the water to the city as part of their development fees.  There are three or four possible well sites on property Garden City owns now which could be called points of diversion.  Swan Creek will file for the water rights.  Bruce Warner said “you can’t rely on the recording of water rights.  Real estate transactions can be tricky.  We need to be very careful that the water rights we get are valid.”

Could the Pickleville well be reactivated?  Murray said, “there is sand in it and is not deep enough for culinary water.  We already have established water rights there so the city can do a replacement well within 150 feet of that well.  Put a pump that will move the water to a higher tank to service Cherimoya.  The pump in the existing well is not powerful enough.  A well has to be down 100 feet for culinary water.  

Mayor Spuhler said, “there needs to be a GIS  of all pipes going in and the city needs to try to GIS the rest  because we didn’t know where the old pipes were.  With GIS we can go within inches of a pipe and we have all the software.  If it is done on a regular basis it will be less work.  Pinpoint every fix.”

Currently no one knows how to run the program because of the turnover, so after the summer it will be critical to train since the city already has the expensive hardware and software.  Fire hydrants were put in the system but nothing has been put in since.   It was suggested that the city hire an intern from the Univesity and have them work on it. JUB can train the person, and training will be video taped so that more can be trained as needed.

Shudahai agreements were discussed.  Norm Mecham discussed the real estate purchase contract , the original expense of the tank over $950,000  but Mecham has reduced it to $841,000 for the city.  USDA is helping with the funding.  Mecham said he has talked with USDA and said that they wanted the city to move ahead with their advertising of the purchase etc. even though the money may not be there until fall.  There has to be notification to governmental agencies.  The city needs to define the project.  Murray asked, “do we want to add some other components to the funding requests such as the Elkridge tank, Harbor Village Tank and the Cherimoya booster station.  They should be listed as a statement of the phases in the environmental documents.  “Are we comfortable listing these projects in the USDA application?” said Mayor Spuhler.  The council agreed to that.