A question regarding the ownership of a road in Spring Glen and the possibility of piping the Carbon Canal represented two of the main topics on the agenda of the county commission meeting on June 19.
The commission listened to a presentation from Shane and Stacy Parkin about the couple’s claim to the Spring Glen water tank road.
“We have looked into this situation and the road is on our property,” commented Stacy Parkin, referring to a survey the couple hired a civil engineer to complete. “All we want to do is establish that it is our property and put up our fence.”
The commission chambers were full of people, many of whom were there from Spring Glen to see what was going on. As the Parkin’s presented their point of view a number of them were talking amongst themselves about the situation.
The road leads directly to the culinary water tank that serves part of the town as well as a shut off for the newly piped Spring Glen Irrigation Canal.
Fencing the road would not stop access to the area. But constructing the barrier would mean a possible delay in canal officials being able to get to one of the major shut off valves for the irrigation pipeline.
“I am concerned about the situation of not being able to reach the shut off quickly,” pointed out Lynna Topolovec, a member of the county planning commission and a resident of the area. “A few weeks ago, we had a break in one of the lines near my house and, even with being able to get to the valve quickly, the water flooded a number of yards and clear down to Spring Glen road.”
“The problem is that all our neighbors tell everyone that they can use the road and as far as we can tell it is on our property,” indicated Stacy Parkin.
The discussion became rather heated at times during the commission meeting because, apparently, the subject involves personal feelings and the history of the road.
The primary concern seems to lie with whether the lane is a prescribed road.
A prescribed road is one that has been used by the public on a regular basis in the last 10 years. According to several residents, the road in question has been utilized on a regular basis.
Commissioner Mike Milovich indicated that the best way to resolve the situation is to gather all related documentation, examine the issue and make the decision.
County Attorney Gene Strate pointed out that he had looked into the matter and it appeared the road very well could be a public road. Strate cautioned the Parkins not to put up a fence until the situation was resolved.
Regarding the Carbon Canal, Nick Sampinos asked the commission to consider using the money budgeted for a county water coordinator position to hire an engineer to start plans for the irrigation company’s piping project.
“There is a real problem with doing that,” said Milovich. “The canal company is a private concern and this is public money. We can’t mix the two. In addition ,the coordinator needs to work with all the entities in the county and an engineer in this position would not serve everyone.”
Milovich pointed out that other canal companies had hired technical expertise for piping projects with agency money or grant funding.
Hal Lemon of the Utah Bureau of Water Conservation was on hand at the meeting to discuss the coordinator’s duties and how that position benefits the county.
“We have seven individuals we hope to be interviewing for the position next week,” said Lemon.
Sampinos advised the commission that the canal company’s main concern was getting the preliminary work for the piping completed and submitting applications for federal money on time.
“After the engineer was done, we would still want a coordinator to take over,” said Sampinos.
The discussion turned to how a coordinator could help various entities get money for projects and the fact that much of the money the Carbon Canal would need for engineering could probably come from grants.
In conclusion, the commissioners agreed to have the new coordinator meet with the canal board on a regular basis to keep the parties on the same page and moving in the right direction.
Acting on an unrelated business matter, the commission approved two conditional use permits for gas line projects.
One request was from Klabzuba Oil and Gas Inc. concerning a 12-inch steel buried pipeline that will be 4.32 miles long between Trail Canyon and Second Water.
The other permit was for Questar to put in a 24-inch pipeline from the company’s present carbon dioxide plant to Gordon Creek. Plans include connecting up with the line that goes across the mountain that was installed last year.
The line is 34,000 feet long with almost 16,000 feet of it being on private land.
•Opened bids for a self propelled sweeper unit for the county. The first two bids were from Cate Equipment of Salt Lake for a brand new machine at $33,268.75 and a used unit with 500 hours for $25,175. Another bid came from Rasmussen Equipment of Salt Lake for a new unit at a price of $28,363.
Commissioners decided to have road supervisor Ray Hansen review the bids and make a recommendation.
•Approval of a conditional use permit for the Pinnacle Canyon Charter School to add new modular classrooms to the campus.
•Appointed Anita Bruno and Chuck Buchanan to the board of adjustment to replace two outgoing members.
•Approved the cooperative agreement for dispatch services .
•Approved hiring Shinji Ichida as the moderator for the board of equalization hearings, scheduled on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27.
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