Show City discusses water agreement problems The Vernal City after reaching a last minute compromise last January with Maeser Water Improvement District and Ashley Valley Water and Sewer discussed areas of concern at last week's meeting that may jeopardize its water agreement with the Maeser and Ashley The compromise over the water and sewer problems that have plagued the area for years resulted in a signing of an agreement that seemingly ensured the area to be eligible for nearly million in a federal grant for the construction and update of a valley-wide sewer It also enabled the three entities to establish a basis for formulating a concrete water policy designed to meet the needs of valley That policy and the needs of the people may be postponed an additional period of time unless basic disagreements discussed in the council meeting are Ironed major bone of contention discussed centered around the paragraph of the January agreement that provided the city would not require city annexation requests by persons in exchange for city water as long as the city's growth was not hampered by unnatural such ns the Ashley Valley City petition that was filed shortly before the signing of the water and sewer The boundary for the proposed as stated in the extends to the present Vernal City boundary making it virtually impossible for Vernal City to enjoy any One proposal for the council action was to take the issue into the court system and get a legal ruling from a That idea was vetoed by the council even before it came to a It was the consensus of the council that further discussion with Ashley Valley and Uintah County may preclude the need to enter the The council decided to draw up its own service area-area outside the city that would be the anticipated boundaries of the city-and present it to the other entities for House Bill recently passed in Utah's last legislative was also alluded to in the council's That bill provides for a one-half mile buffer zone around all incorporated cities to provide While it doesn't limit a city's service area to be one-half it does provide a starting point for areas such as Vernal to establish The bill also since questions regarding Vernal City's method of annexation have been for an updated manner by which cities can It states after an annexation plan is developed that plan is to be presented during a public hearing for In the event objections are a boundary commission comprised of city and county officials and independent residents would meet to review the situation and make a Unless the problems regarding service areas are solved and agreed upon by the three the possibility of them going back to the drawing board for a drafting of a new agreement is very the Water Policy Committee Is continuing their efforts to construct a water The of Gene Harvey Gilmer Chivers and Garth has been given the task of drafting a policy governing water extensions and the management of the valley wide The in voting their support of the decided the committee in the interim of the policy review all waterline extension requests from outside the city Based upon the committee's on Page City council from Page the council would then act on the extension The council also decided would with the present policy of granting no more than six waterline extension requests a year per In another Phil Harrison charged the council was not equitable with their waterline extension costs and that developers are losing a great deal of money by absorbing the cost involved in installing a Harrison told the council as it stands if the installation of a waterline costs for the developer would only be able to recover half that amount through hookup fees by the The council agreed there appeared to be a disparity in the law that was 1 enacted several years ago and Harrison to approach the Water Policy Committee with his recommendations and suggestions regarding a policy |