Sandbags For Free

Joey Stocking
Rich Civic Times

Mother Nature has lost her mind... From freezing temperatures, to 2 feet of snow, to nasty winds and mega amounts of rain... you ask what's next? Flooding. Flooding. Flooding. The City now has sandbags and sand available at the City Office. You can get the bags  inside the office from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Let's all pitch in and help fill bags when we see someone in need.

33 Hours Without Power

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  February 9, 2017.  Gusting winds over 60 mph took down four power poles above Garden City and seven in Montpelier, Idaho causing the longest power outage in over 30 years.  Lance Bourne, Rocky Mountain Power said that his crews worked through both nights without sleep in harsh weather conditions.  The rain melting snow made some roads and trails impassable.

Photos by Joey Stocking, Garden City

Home Town Drive In and Quick and Tasty had signs damaged by wind and snow. Fire crews were sent to a fire in Meadowville.

 


The Special Service District personnel, under the direction of Mark Stringham, also were awake all night making sure there were no backups because the pumps could not work.

The outage was felt in Garden City and Laketown with pockets of outages in Montpelier.  Garden City residents were urged to come to the LDS Church which had power or the Bear Trapper Steakhouse and Pizza for warm meals if they could not cook.  Neighbors checked in with neighbors to make sure everyone had a warm place to sleep.  Many people checked their 72 hour kits and learned that some were not as complete as they had hoped and were using this as a incentive to become more prepared.

In addition to the power outage, snow and mudslides closed the Logan Canyon for several hours and many people had to take Emigration Canyon which added another 1 1/2 hour to their trip from Logan to Garden City.

Several homes had water damage from leaking roofs and a home near Pickleville Playhouse sustained significant damage from a tree which fell on the roof.

Loretta Fidler, Beloved Garden City Neighbor. 1926 -2017

Loretta Jean Scovel Fidler, 90, born October 15, 1926, died February 4, 2017 in her home of 56 years, in Scottsdale, AZ, of natural causes. 

She was the only child of Earl Wright Scovel and Olive Belle Thomas Scovel, granddaughter of George and Carrie Thomas all of Kalispell, MT. 

She was a graduate of Flathead High School in 1944; attended business college in Spokane, WA. Married Charles Royal Fidler; divorced in 1954. Moved to Scottsdale in 1961 and owned Executive Letter Service for many years. Retired from R.W. Beck and Associates. 

For 28 years Loretta owned a home in Bridgerland Village, Garden City, UT, overlooking Bear Lake. Served as Secretary/Treasurer of the HOA, volunteered and cataloged 30,000 books for the library, gave her time to the city, and was a member of the Garden City Cutups and Quilt Guild producing quilts for charity. 

In Arizona she volunteered for Scottsdale SW Village Neighborhood Association, First Baptist Church of Scottsdale, Valley Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Maricopa County Hospital, and The Phoenix Zoo. Loretta traveled Europe, Australia, Hawaii, Rocky Point, and completed a 12 day game viewing tour of five animal refuges in Kenya, Africa.  She was an adventurer. Card games, dice games, and fun were enjoyed well into her 80’s. She loved life and everything about it. 

She loved animals of all kinds, was a gardener, seamstress, baker of muffins, dancer, lover of the world around her and people of all races and creeds, but her family was most important. She always came from a place of unconditional love. No person or animal in need was ever turned away. She had a smile and fun, kind nature that lit up a room. 

Loretta is survived by son Randy Fidler and daughter in law Trish Fidler of Hinton, Alberta; grandson Jason Fidler, wife Kathy Fidler, and great grandchildren Madison Fidler and Talon Fidler of Edmonton, Alberta; Colin Fidler, wife Jenn Fidler, and great grandson Kevin  Fidler of Hinton, Alberta; daughter Marcia Fidler Heard and grandson Tyler Heard of Scottsdale, AZ; granddaughter Courtney Heard of Cedar Park, TX and her boyfriend Stephen Glanville of Pflugerville, TX. 

At her request there will be no services and she will be returned to her beloved Garden City, UT at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT, any hospital or organization that benefits children in need, The Phoenix Zoo, or the Alzheimer’s Association. Remember to Live Well, Laugh Often, and Love Much.  Loretta lived a phenomenal dash. Until we meet again and forever, we love you. Thank you for being in our lives. Gone but never forgotten.

Dale Bradley 1943 - 2017

"A True Gentleman"
Apr. 17, 1943 ~ Jan. 31, 2017

Dale Bradley (Polar Bear) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to B. Dave Bradley and Thurma Eyre Bradley.

He spent his early years participating in sports and especially excelled at football, skiing, and water skiing at Bear Lake. Dale was a proud graduate of Highland High School in 1961; later graduating from the University of Utah on a full athletic scholarship. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and made and kept life long friends.

On September 9, 1967, he married his wife of 49 years Barbara Birch Bradley. They raised their two children, Michael and Heather in the East Mill Creek area of the city. Dale took over the family business…Dave's Body Shop at a young age and continued to expand the business into West Jordan. As a business leader, he served in many capacities in Rotary International, director of The Better Business Bureau, President of the South Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and on several boards within the automotive Industry.

Dale loved golf with a passion especially at Hidden Valley Country Club and The Classic Club. He was a tireless supporter of the University of Utah's Crimson Club and had some 50 years of tickets to the football games. Recently, he was able to take a dream golf vacation to Ireland.

He will be best remembered as a loyal, fun loving family man. Barbara, Mike and Heather enjoyed all his travel, skiing, golfing and boating adventures. He made their lives fun. In later life, his grandsons Conner and Keegan were his number one priority. He had two boys to watch grow and mature and of course, he rarely missed any of their games. He taught them to be gentlemen and they adored their Papa.

Our gratitude goes out to the many friends and family who supported us, prayed for us and came many miles to say goodbye, during this difficult week. Dale was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his faith empowered him to meet his health challenges. At Dale's request, a celebration of his life will be held in the Spring in Salt Lake City. He will be buried in Bear Lake (Garden City) next to his son Michael Dale. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughter Heather Bradley Wright, son in law Greg Wright; grandsons Conner and Keegan Turner, and brother Jay De Bradley and sister-in-law Stephanie.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Habitat for Humanity or a charity of your choice .
Published in Salt Lake Tribune from Feb. 3 to Feb. 5, 2017

Cisco's Sonar

South Eden Canyon

By Bryce Nielson, The Cisco Kid  
It is interesting to observe things you never had the time to do before. My brother Dale, called me the other day and said that he had found a patch of phragmities about four miles' up South Eden Canyon. 

Dale lives in River Heights and retired from the Federal Agricultural Research Station at USU. He is ten years younger than me and has a keen interest in a variety of subjects. When he gets on something,he becomes obsessed with it to the very, minute detail. His obsession leads him to research all of his questions. They have been many and varied over the years. He is a true collector and has extensive collections of shot shells, insulators, and train lights, etc. He is an expert on butterflies, frequently raising and crossing individual butterflies to the delight the Lepidoptera society in Utah. He is also a specialist in mushrooms, frequently taking family vacations to hunt for them. Suffice to say, Dale is an interesting person that knows a lot about many different things.

He and I have been researching native, phragmites around Bear Lake, in addition to mussels. Extensive efforts have been made to eradicate the invasive  species along the shoreline. We believe that most of it is native and should be left alone, even if others don't want it.

So back to the story. We headed up South Eden to get samples of the phragmites. Dale had found it near South Eden Reservoir when he was looking for viable seeds from the Utah juniper trees. There are plenty of seeds from the Rocky Mountain juniper, but viable Utah juniper seeds are extremely difficult to find and germinate. Scientists from the west has asked him to collect samples of seeds in the area. Limbs inside junipers were typically cut for fence posts. It was fun to see where the old timers had cut "cedar posts" years ago for many of the barbed wire fences around the area. He was also looking for potential bonsai trees. Apparently there is a market for juniper "bonsai" trees.

Along the north side of the canyon he had located an area where water was flowing out underneath the Nugget Sandstone formation. There were a number of them, like oasis's in the desert. The phragmites was there, along with wetlands, ancient willows and huge hawthorne trees that were slowing slipping down the slope due to land movements below the water source. We collected some specimens and compared them to specimens we collected around the lake. They appeared similar, suggesting native phragmites is in the lake. So how did they get there? This reed cannot reproduce by seeds due to the short length of the growing season here. They expand their "clones" by sending out rhizomes which can create new plants at each joint. Animals could have carried them up the canyon but I prefer to believe that a Shoshoni Indian had made a basket at the Lake out of green reeds and carried it to the site. We will never know but it is fun to speculate.

As I left South Eden Canyon I thought about the hundreds of times I had been there. The phragmites was the reason I went up but I had seen so much more that I had never observed before. Usually I am looking for animals. It is just like Logan Canyon. Every once in a while I will see something new, even though I have driven it thousands of time. The power of observation is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, we're losing it in our new society.

Moose On The Lake

Photo by Cindy Winter, Garden City

Garden City Planning And Zoning

Randall Knight, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. February 1, 2017.  The Planning and Zoning Public Hearing meeting began at 5:00 PM and several residents were in attendance.    The board members present were: Lance Bourne (Chair), Joey Stocking, Susan House, Jim DeGroot, Tom Stevens and Jared Hislop.  Zack McKee was absent.  

There was a discussion about ordinance 16-07 in regard to the rental of RV units as short term rentals.  Sweetwater trailer park was used as an example because there is a person renting an RV pad.  The Ordinance officer wanted this concern to be brought to the attention of commission because there other areas in the state that are dealing with this issue.

The next discussion was in regard to ordinance 16-08 dealing with a fence being built on a berm.  The code is a maximum fence height of 6 ft from the normal grade, so a 6' fence on a berm would not be in compliance.

Mark Smoot requested a rezone along 200 N. from C3 to PUD.  There is a concern with the traffic limitations to vehicle size if the street is a one-way street because this would impact some of the current businesses on the road that has large trucks.  Dan Fisher stated that the trucks delivering propane need to enter his lot from both direction because the propane tankers unload from both sides.

Mark Smoot also requested approval of a PUD development plan along 200 N.  There was no additional discussion on this request.

The Planning and Zoning meeting began at 5:30. 

Tom Stevens was sworn as a returning commission member.  The first discussion in regard to 16-07 was tabled while 16-08 was approved.  The board approved Mark Smoot’s the 200 N. rezone request from C3 to PUD.

Mark Smoot requested approval for a PUD plan along 200 N. that would include 5 commercial buildings and 27 vacation rental houses on the 6.09 acres.  The units would have a general separation of 10 feet so the Fire Chief will require noncombustible siding. The board asked for more detailed information to be provided for the preliminary plan and specifically asked for parking, traffic flow, building material, restaurant type and parking, guest parking location, landscaping, etc. 

Public Hearing On County Short Term Rental Ordinance

Short Term Rental Ordinance  Public Hearing

RANDOLPH, Utah.  February 1, 2017.  Mitch Poulsen, Bear Lake Regional Commission Planning Administrator, said that the planning commission made a few changes to the proposed short term rental license ordinance which is patterned after the Garden City ordinance. 

However the planning commission did not want the county to make short term rentals a conditional use as it is expensive and complicated.  They suggested that if there were problems they could require it later.

Mayor John Spuhler, Garden City, said, “This industry is going fast through the nation.  Conditional use permits are cumbersome.  We find that neighbors make emotional comments with little data. Garden City has been able to mine data to see what the facts are re complaints, water usage etc.   The software we use helps to track data and keeps residential harmony.”

“For example,” Spuhler continued, “water usage, Garden City homes were measured.  The top 100 water using homes had lawns and used 46% of water.  But looking at homes without lawns, the water usage difference was about 1000 gallons a month between short term rentals and single family homes.” 

Joey Stocking told commissioners not to require conditional use permits.

George Peart, County Building Inspector, said that the Beach Development Zone  in the  county still requires a conditional use permit to build upon it because of the uniqueness of the zone.  “Some of that zone directly abuts Ag Zones so those areas need to be considered. “ 

He said. “A lot of short term rentals will be in recreation residential zones and as a county it is good we support rentals but we should also support adjacent land owners who have a use that is not permitted in those zones.  It is a duty of the county to advise the abutting land owners.   There could be short term rentals in Monte Christo, those renters also need to know there are few emergency services.  The county is different than the city And it is only a one time effort to get a conditional use permit.”

Zack McKee said that a letter sent to neighbors would be enough notice rather than the cumbersome conditional use permit.  George Peart replied that short term rentals change the nature of the residential area.  Mayor Spuhler thought a letter was a good idea to educate neighbors about the rules. 

Commissioner Norm Weston asked the commission to review this ordinance for another month.

Snow Buries Rich County

Photo by  Brian and Analesa Bell, Woodruff, Utah

Deer And Elk Herds Looking For Feed

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH,  Utah.  February 1, 2017.  Over 1500 deer and elk are heading to Utah  from Wyoming for food.  “It has been a rough year,” said Justin Dolling, Division of Wildlife Resources.  In the middle of January they started emergency feeding of mule deer in the Bear Lake Valley west of Garden City and Round Valley.  Last week they expanded the feeding program to Woodruff and Randolph.  Deseret Ranch and Livestock is also feeding elk so DWR is pushing the elk towards Deseret.

Commissioner Norm Weston said that there were a lot of elk on the Crawford Mountains and over 150 were on his farm and eating his hay. Commissioner Bill Cox said on Woodruff Creek there were 350 elk, he said there are also 2000 antelope near Deseret.

There are over 15 feeding sites in the county.  DWR is feeding over 750 deer in Garden City which is more deer than in 2007 which was another emergency feeding year.  Over 600 tons of special pellets costing $250,000 have been spread.  Once the snow is gone the deer go back out and browse.  The pellets are just a supplement.

DWR asks people not to feed in the neighborhoods because they become nuisances and don’t do well on their own. The DWR feeds high up, so they are in the natural feeding grounds.

Shed Antler gathering has been suspended until April  because people have been harassing the deer and elk to get them to drop their antlers.  They will take snowmobiles and chase them through the woods to have the branches pull off the antlers.  At a time when deer and elk are already stressed because of the cold winter, this could kill them.  The financial reward for antlers is such that people are acting recklessly.

Spotlighting predators spooks wildlife and livestock.  Box Elder County has a special permit which allows spotlighting but to get that permit you have to be trained to do it with the least damage to non-predators.  There needs to be a county ordinance to allow it but Rich and Box Elder are the only counties which allow spotlighting hunts.

Dolling also presented a Payment in Lieu of Taxes check for the 312,000 acres DWR manage.  The funds are generated from hunting and fishing licenses. 

Bike Path Funding

RANDOLPH, Utah.  February 1, 2017.  Mitch Poulsen, Bear Lake Regional Commission, gave county commissioners a Bike Path Grant update. Funding from the Tourist Transportation Program (TTP) of about $500,000 will extend the path from Ideal Beach to the Epic Recreation Entrance. 

Commissioner Bill Cox said that if it ends at Epic it will bring in revenue for them.  It would also be good for the Sweetwater Trailer Park residents to bike to town. The goal is ultimately to get around the lake with a bike path.  An additional $25,000 from Tourist Room Tax (TRT) will be used to lengthen the path.

Cox told Poulsen to contact UDOT to see if they want to be a partner in the bike trail.

The County Resource Management Plan is also being worked on, using Wayne and Kane county plans as a template, Poulsen reported.  These plans will be used to obtain grants. 

Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

RANDOLPH, Utah. February 1, 2017.  Commissioner Tom Weston told Joseph Coles of the Bear Lake Brawl Triathlon planned for the 9^th and 16^th of September, that recreation and agriculture don’t mix.  He said that landowners in Round Valley were rudely told to get off their roads.   

Coles said that that may have come from a runner, but not his staff and that they would do more to notify landowners about the race.  He also asked if Weston would give him the names of the landowners who were upset so he could talk with them.

“It is too late for that.” Weston replied and then made a motion to eliminate the Round Valley part of the race.  He said he would actually  like to eliminate the whole race.  “This first race was supposed to be a trial run.”

Sheriff Stacey said that they had no problems with the race or runners and that the Utah Highway Patrol oversaw the race.

Coles said there were only 18 finishers so there are not a lot of people on that road.  Commissioner Norm Weston said the county could look at an alternate route up Mill Canyon. 

Norm Weston said  he wouldn’t second the motion but that he would recommend that Coles get with Mitch Poulsen, Bear Lake Regional Commission, to look at an alternate route.  The issue was tabled.