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Show Thursday, April 26, 2007 Page 2 OREM TIMES 4 - T ! " NEWS AtJD NOTES TO KEEP YOU Big ticket request Reva Bowen ( )t cm has received over $ IK million in applications for the Cultural Arts and Recreation l-.nhancement ((."ARK) tax funds, and the City Council must now decide how to apxr-tion apxr-tion the $2 1 million to le spent in the first round of grants. The council heard presentations presenta-tions Tuesday from applicants lor major grants - in amounts exceedinn .W.IHKI. Earlier this month, applicants for the mini-grants mini-grants $5,000 and under, and facilities grants were heard. Applicants for the major grants include: Hale Center Theater Orem. $:l!),M5; SCERA, $5t;!t.()00; Utah Valley Val-ley Symphony, S't.XOO; Utah Regional Ballet, $fi7.0W); Utah Storytelling iuild, $fi,5K0; Utah Lyric Opera So icty (two applications), ap-plications), $1 1,000, and Utah lYemiere Urass, $9,000. The City Council is scheduled sched-uled to make its decisions on the CARE tax expenditures after af-ter a public hearing May S. By law, the facilities category catego-ry of grants must go to publicly-owned facilities, so the applicants ap-plicants were all city-affiliated organizations or departments. The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival applied for an amphitheater amphi-theater ($220,100) and parking lot ($200,900) for the home of the festival Mt. Timpanogos Park. The Orem Recreation Department applied for $16 million to purchase and develop de-velop additional athletic fields. The department also requested Expansion Continued from I'ugc 1 make sure there's ample time so they can" understand the 1-15 Environmental Impact Statement (EES). Based on current growth patterns and transportation demands, UIX)T is closely looking at a plan that would create six lanes of travel in either ei-ther direction on 1-15 from the University Parkway exit to the Bangerter highway access in Salt Ixike County. One lane in each direction would be dedicated to High Occupancy Vehicle and express use. Although most of the 1-15 interchanges in Orem and north Utah County would be reconstructed, the biggest question in the 1-15 study for the city appears to be an option between a new inter- NorthCounty NEWSPAPERS 399 E State St. Pleasant Grove Marc Haddock 443 3268 North County Editor mhaddock heraldextra.com LLU- ,0333 Cathy Allred 443 3262 Lehi, Saratoga Springs, PI Grove callredheraldextra.com Barbara Christiansen 443 3264 American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Hills bchnstiansenheraldextra com Mike Rigert 413 3265 Orem, Vineyard mngerthoraldextra.com Beky Beaton 443 3267 Sports bbeaton heraldextra com iYMi.liMITESSS Josh Walker 443 -3260 Advertising Account Executive walketheraldextra.com Volume 134 Orem timer. Daily He'rald Edition USPS 411-700 a awHv newspaper published at 399 E State St Pleasant G'ove Utah 8-106 3 Periodicals postage paid at Pleasant Grove. Utah 84062 and at additional mailing, ottw-es Poitmatr: Send address changes to Orem Times PO Bo 65 Orem Utah HVb9 00fi5 Published Thursdays 0v Lee Publications, which is a division of Lee Interposes inc Mtmbw; Audit Bureau ot Circulations YOUR ONLINE SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS $295,000 for soccer field lights at the lakeside Sports Park; $.'),500 for scoreboards at the Orem Elementary ball fields; and another $295,000 for sports lighting at the Orem Elementary El-ementary softball fields. The Public Works Department Depart-ment applied for several projects at Mt. Timpanogos Park $105,000 for a caretaker care-taker home; $53,000 for a playground, and $30,000 for an epoxy coat on the park's hosting host-ing center floor. Rounding out the facility requests were the Orem Arts Council, $95,436 for an Orem cultural arts awareness campaign; cam-paign; the Historic Preservation Preserva-tion Advisory Commission, $13,700 to install a statue of Jorgen Nielsen at Nielsen's (irove; and the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, $106,692 for the design and development develop-ment of "The Center for the Story." The mini-grant applications totaled $36,725. and ranged from $3,000 for a "Save the Steinway" campaign being conducted con-ducted by an Orem High Schxl alumni group, to two separate grants of $5,000 each for operations opera-tions and a production by the Nauv(X) Theatrical Society. OREM BRIEFS Open house for new Orem public works building An open house and ribbon cutting for Orem's new Public Works facility at 14.50 West 550 North will be held May 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the ribbon change at 800 South just north of the Utah Valley University campus or the modification of the existing University Parkway Park-way Interchange to separate traffic destined for UVU and points east. The 800 South interchange option would provide quicker access to 1-15 to and from those neighborhoods while the reconfigured University Parkway interchange with a flyover bridge would jump across the interchange and connect east of Sandhill Road with the Parkway greatly reducing congestion at the interchange and the intersectionentrance intersec-tionentrance to UVU. Southbound South-bound 1-15 traffic traveling to UVU would use a separate collector exit from east-bound vehicles. Mayor Jerry Washburn, who attended an 1-15 EIS presentation pre-sentation to both Orem and Phone:756-7669 Fax:756-5274 DAILY HERALD PUBLISHING CO. Jennette Esplin 756 7669 Office Manager Erin Stewart 344 2558 Project Coordinator, DesignerCopy Editor Julia Fullmer 344 2570 DesignerCopy Editor Jeremy Harmon 344 2585 Photographer Issue 68 INFORMED AND for CARE BEETLE SPRAYING ASHLEY FRANSCELLDaily Herald Volunteer Joyce Bell left and Trish Cutler with the USU extension office give information to Lyman Young on the schedule of spraying the infestation of the Japanese Beetle, April 21 in Orem. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is coordinating eradication efforts of the destructive hugs in Orem beginning in June after it was first detected in the west-central part of the city last August. The department and the Utah State University extension office arc currently trying to confirm a report that a beetle may have been found in American Fork. cutting at 11 a.m. I Planning Commission report Last year, Orem issued 494 building permits the most since 1999, said Jay Henrie, chairman of the Orem Planning Plan-ning Commission, during a report re-port to the Orem City Council Tuesday. Henrie told the council that although commission members mem-bers come from a variety of Provo officials, sees great benefits ben-efits with either option. The 800 South interchange concept benefits south Orem neighborhoods neigh-borhoods while the modified University Parkway option removes heavy traffic congestion conges-tion from the Parkway itself. Until the EIS is more fully developed and technical aspects as-pects weighed, Washburn isn't sure which option would be best for Orem. "I think we have a real need to relieve some of the pressure on that (the University Parkway) Park-way) interchange or it will fail as the population grows," Washburn said. And because Utah County voters approved the quarter of a cent sales tax to fund commuter rail, UTA is planning plan-ning on extending the Odgen to Salt Lake City line of diesel commuter trains to stations at Lehi, either American Fork The other side of driving the UK perspective I spent about four days on the wrong side of the road recently as part of a vacation in England. Here are a few observations. Observation No. 1: Driving on the left involves more than adjusting to sitting on the wrong side of the car and driving driv-ing on the wrong side of the road. That's the easy part. Just remember to keep the center line next to you. The problem is that such driving requires re-quires a paradigm shift that goes way beyond where you sit and which side you drive on. The rear view mirror, for example. It's hard to remember to look left for the rear view mirror. When you do remember, it's hard for your brain to process the information, because it is coming from the wrong place. It took several attempts before I could actually use the mirror, although the side mirrors were relatively relative-ly simple, since they were basically the same as driving on the right. And just try making a right turn that requires re-quires you to cross lanes of traffic it's completely com-pletely unnatural. This basic sense of differentness makes it difficult to make the change. Everything just feels so wrong at first. Observation No. 2: It takes time to get comfortable com-fortable in your new skin. After years of driving, you take for granted some of the skills you have acquired. Such as estimating where the opposite side of your car is relative to the road. My biggest problem was running up against the curb on the left side of the car, because I didn't know instinctively where it was. I heard on a radio program once that it takes five years to learn to drive. That's why teenagers teenag-ers are involved in so many accidents they just haven't had time to learn the skill. But you really don't appreciate how much you know until you throw it all out the window and do everything differently. Getting the feel for exactly where the opposite side of the car is, however, is crucial to avoid running run-ning over curbs when making a left turns or rub- INVOLVED funds presented if; t - :S,, Jf - 1 Vi L r " y ( I backgrounds, they are united in a common goal: To retain quality of life in Orem. Four of the Planning Commission Com-mission members were able to attend a conference in San Antonio, Texas, this past year, Henrie said, and were able to benefit greatly from the training and from seeing how other cities deal with the same issues Orem faces. Public meetings The public is invited to attend at-tend from 6-8 p.m. There will be a formal presentation at 7 p.m. May 2: Barratt Elementary, 168 N.90C East, American Fork May 3: Draper Elementary, 1080 E. 12660 South, Draper May 9: Westmore Elementary, Elemen-tary, 1150 S. Main St., Orem May 10: Brockbank Elementary, Elemen-tary, 340 W. 500 North, Spanish Span-ish Fork or Pleasant Grove, Orem and Vineyard, said UTA spokesman spokes-man Chad Saley. The Orem station would be located just west of UVU while the Vineyard Vine-yard station would be near 800 North on current Geneva Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN ; v 71 1 I fit " The commission is looking forward to working with city staff on the upcoming fifth year revision or update of the General Plan. Other concerns for the commission, Henrie noted, are the availability of affordable housing; preserving open space; finding ways to prevent at-risk neighborhoods from deterioration; and, in general, gen-eral, maintaining quality of life. Steel property. The lines would be fully operational between 2012 and 2015. The goal is to have the Utah County commuter rail line done for residents to use as 1-15 reconstruction begins, Saley said. "I'm pleased they're also looking at the UTA component compo-nent because we need to have a solution as mass transit goes," Washburn said. Though there is not currently cur-rently funding for the 1-15 reconstruction, UDOT 1-15 project manager Merrell Jol-ley Jol-ley said a draft EIS should be completed by the fall and f inal-ization inal-ization in 2008. By 2011-2012, UDOT hopes to have a funding mechanism in place so that construction on the 45-mile project can begin in phases. "We encourage people to come to the public meetings," Jolley said. bing all the rubber off the tyres. Observation No. 3: There is almost no relationship between roundabouts round-abouts in Utah and roundabouts in England. Utah roundabouts are rare, and most people are pretty tentative when using one. In England, roundabouts are the most common traffic features, more common than stop signs and traffic lights combined. Traffic lights are rare. In Utah, almost every intersection intersec-tion involves two roads. But English roundabouts can involve the convergence conver-gence of three, four or more roads, requiring quick reflexes and a good sense of where you want to go before you get there. The exits are all well labeled, but if you are in the wrong lane, you 11 never get there. I jumped off one roundabout exit early and ended up driving 20 miles on the motorway before we could get off and start looking for a place to spend the night. It was an adventure, but not in a good way. Observation No. 4: Even people in England have a hard time finding their way around. There are so many roads, many of them dating back centuries, that a comprehensive road map is essential for natives. Our son, Derek, who has lived in the area of Hednesford, where we visited, for five years, relies on a GPS unit to direct him from place to place. His unit features the voice of comedic actor ac-tor John Cleese, telling him when to "enter the roundabout and take the third exit." His wife, Helen, relies on her GPS unit as well, and she has lived in the area all her life. But when she took us for a drive through the countryside to Bakewell, she turned her GPS on and followed the directions religiously. We managed to navigate the country without with-out it, but just barely. 1'U never forget that one street in Coventry, one narrow lane with cars parked on both sides, and only room for one lane. I pointed the car in the middle, held my breath and moved through as fast as I dared. I figured it wasn't going to get much worse than that, and I was right ... er, left. Budget Continued from Page 1 wage increase to $7 per hour for part-time, non-benef itted employees. The tentative budget also requests new personnel four paramedics to staff a fourth ambulance crew; an assistant librarian (perhaps partially funded through CARE tax revenues); two library employees raised from half-time to three-quarters time; two technicians to assist street and concrete crews; one technician for the water distribution crew; and two technicians for the storm sewer crew. "This is more than I typically typi-cally recommend to you, and I realize that," Reams said of the personnel requests, "but nothing has been recommended recom-mended that is not essential." One increase in operations costs that the city is facing is an estimated $100,000 for optical scan materials for this year's municipal primary and general elections, compared to the $60,000 election costs two years ago. f 0" This is more than I typically recommend to you, and I realize that; but nothing has been recommended recom-mended that is not essential. Jim Reams CITY MANAGER The city will be responsible for the 800 North landscaping landscap-ing when the Utah Department Depart-ment of Transportation road reconstruction project is completed adding about eight acres of property to maintain. Those costs will not be factored into this budget, bud-get, but will be taken into account the next year. No tax increases are proposed pro-posed in the budget. However, a rate increase of $1 per month for a three-quarter three-quarter inch water meter service and proportionate increases for the other meter sizes is recommended, along with a charge increase of five cents per 1,000 gallons of water used. The sewer fund may also see rate increases of seven cents per month, plus one cent per 1,000 gallons of water wa-ter used. There is a proposed $50 building permit fee to help cover the cost of the storm water inspection position. Minor increases are recommended recom-mended for recreation programs pro-grams and fire inspection fees. Capital expenditures in the budget are $628,000 for vehicle replacement; Fire Engine En-gine 1 replacement ($80,000 annually over seven years); library furniture and signs, $8,000; second round CARE (cultural arts and recreation) projects as determined by the City Council, $1,805,000; streetlights in parks and expired lighting districts, $178,445; maintenance and repair of park facilities, $100,000; and reconstruction of the Cherry Hill Park tennis ten-nis courts, $75,000. Uncommitted revenues from the 2006-07 budget may be applied to a number of capital projects, including the renovation of Fire Station Sta-tion 2 ($650,000); additional streetlights for parks and expired special lighting districts dis-tricts ($462,000); and new traffic signals and sidewalks ($750,000). In its other roles, the City Council also adopted tentative tenta-tive budgets for the Redevelopment Redevel-opment Agency (RDA), Municipal Mu-nicipal Building Authority, and Special Services Lighting District, and set public hearings hear-ings to coincide with the June 12 hearing on the city budget. CHE |