Rich Civic Times
GARDEN CITY, Utah. June 11, 2015. Canals in the city are leaking which had not been a problem
when the land was in agricultural use.
Now that there are homes in the area, some have been flooded. Garden City had to make an emergency repair on
one of the canals this month and there was a discussion of whether the canal
company should be charged for fixing it.
Mayor Spuhler said that “the city is a shareholder
in the canal so it is our duty to fix it. But it is a shared responsibility.
Norm Mecham, president of Hodges Canal Company, said these issues need
to have the whole canal board input. He
said that the Glamping project was having a leaking problem, but the developers
dealt with it by piping the canal.
Farmers didn’t mind the leaking into their fields, but as development
incurs, there is a problem of identifying who is legally responsible for taking care of this. "The canal has been here since 1890, and you
allowed building. The developers should
be aware of the leaking and be
responsible to fix it before they sell the land. " Mecham said.
Mecham asked if there were there grants to fix the
problem. The canal shareholders don’t
have the resources. Mayor Spuhler said it would take millions of dollars
to pipe the entire canal and that there were many more pressing things that needed to be done in the city first.
Murray stated that a
lot of irrigation companies have agreement about shared costs. The city is a shareholder.
There are grants which are a 50% match grant. There are some leak issue, but
they have been inexpensively pitched in.
Councilmember Chuck Stocking said that the building
inspector and the city need to communicate to the canal company and developers that mitigating things are built into housing
development before building. “ If you
are below the canal it should be communicated to the developer and builders and
citizens that there needs to be liners, sump pumps and French drains.”
The Mayor said that the city can educate the people. A best practices document and buyer beware
document should be attached to building permit because it is a lot cheaper
upfront to build improvements than to retrofit them.
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