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Show ""SU JL il Park City, Utah 25 Vol. VII, No. 25 Thursday, March 11, 1982 Two Sections, 28 Pages Pipeline from Peoa Water by Morgan Queal Plans for a water distribution system that would saturate the Snyderville Basin with enough water for some 16,000 homes were revealed this week by a group of private investors. The proposal calls for pumping underground water from the Peoa area through a pipeline running along Brown's Canyon Road to Keetley Junction and extending in a 16-mile loop encompassing the Snyderville Basin. If it materializes, the system "would eliminate water problems in the Park City and Snyderville Basin area," according to Newell Dalton of Bountiful, Bounti-ful, spokesman for Great Basin Mutual Water Co., originators of the plan. The project was described Monday to the Snyderville Basin Sewer Improvement District board of directors, direc-tors, who agreed that the project "probably will have more impact upon the future of the district than anything we have ever considered." Those involved with giving the plan the ultimate approval appear to be in agreement that the plan is feasible, but not without complications. "We are in the process of meeting with area agencies to get their input to find out what problems exist and to work with them to solve those problems in advance," Dalton said. The biggest concern to all, Dalton admits, is the potential impact on the Snyderville Basin sewer district which will have to deal with the additional load on a system already operating at close to capacity. Simply stated, the proposed water distribution system involves buying water wholesale from the Weber Basin Talks continue State, county still at by Rick Brough The State Department of Health and officials of the Summit County Hospital are sitting down to work out differences over health problems at the Coalville facility. But state officials are still insisting they were justified in calling for restrictions on the hospital last week. And county officials stand by their opinion that the state acted too soon. A dramatic reversal took place last week, which began when the county commission announced on Tuesday, March 2 that hospital services were being drastically curtailed at the urging of state health officials who presented what they called serious Impound turns 1 MWHUiHwiimin '"" m muni! uiuiiJiiiiMiimwwu i m mm ) n wniijiiiu. .inuimi.i . ,j j iiinn i , , ' 0 i '' ' ' J W K' - w"''C X fS W J ' ! - rZ A 4W ''I ' yj ( They found the signals gone, the battery removed, mres hanging from the engine compartment, the body covered with mud. It looked like a wreck. diversion plan revealed Water Conservancy District and selling sell-ing it retail to users in the Snyderville Basin. Dalton explained that water would be pumped from the Peoa wells, thus making use of the earth's natural filtration system and eliminating the need for purification facilities. However, the water actually would be allocated from the expanded Smith-Morehouse Reservoir which currently holds 1,000 acre feet but it slated for expansion to 7,000 acre feet. The basin's natural underground flow system would replenish the Peoa wells with reservoir water. State water engineer Dee C. Hansen said he believes such a plan has great "Lack of water is the main thing holding back development, and the best way to solve it is to bring water in. potential although the state has not issued any endorsement of the group's plan. "I would endorse any project to get water to the Snyderville Basin. It's a beautiful area and should be developed," he said, adding that it is possible the Weber Basin Water District possibly could want to deliver the water itself. Hansen explained that all the water in the Weber Basin currently is appropriated, but the expanded Smith-Morehouse Smith-Morehouse Reservoir would make another 6,000 acre feet available. If the Great Basin Mutual Water Co. were to purchase the rights to that water, it would have to gain state approval to exchange surface water for under- deficiencies at the hospital. The following Thursday, a perturbed commission rescinded the order at a public meeting and challenged the state's findings. Meanwhile, other questions are being asked about the events of last week, such as: Was the Summit County Commission Com-mission kept in the dark until the state's accusations hit them on March 2? Did County Health Director Frank Singleton inflame the situation by aiding the state? Was he keeping information in-formation to himself about the state's complaints? Was the state heavy-handed in moving against the hospital. Hubert Seigfanz and Andreas Haupt taillights missing, the front turn ground water. Hansen noted that the state had imposed a moratorium on granting water rights in the Snyderville Basin, hence limiting development there, because it was determined the water just didn't exist. The moratorium has since been lifted and filings for water rights are considered on a case-to-case basis. But delivering water from Weber to Snyderville, he said, would be a "feasible scheme." Keith Jensen, manager of the Weber Basin Water District, said the Great Basin group came to his board last week with the proposal to retail Smith-Morehouse reservoir water, but the board has made no commitments. Historically, he said, the Weber district has been a wholesaler, not a retailer, in its distribution of water to some 35 cities encompassing a population of some 250,000. The Great Basin group's proposal, however, is slightly different because it requires physically introducing new water into an expanded reservoir in order to pump it out to another basin. Jensen said his board also is concerned about the potential impact on sewer treatment plants. "We'd cut our throats if we sold 6,000 acre feet, it wasn't treated right and came back and polluted the Weber River. We need to odds over What happened last week? "The county didn't lie down and play dead," said County Clerk Reed Pace. "The state had acted very hastily." Administrator Mike Shaw of Advanced Health Systems and other hospital personnel came to the Thursday commission com-mission meeting with a point-by-point response to the state's charges, Commissioner Com-missioner Bill Wallin told The Newspaper. (Shaw had been out of state on March 2.) When faced with these arguments, the state health officials of-ficials at the meeting minimized their complaints, Wallin said. Shaw said that policies and procedures were being prepared to solve administrative defects cited by dream vacation be assured the water will come back clean so it won't put a heavy burden on our own treatment plants." The ultimate decision on the exchange and replacement of water and how and where it is used lies with the state water engineers, Jensen emphasized. The Great Basin group went to the Weber Basin board with a request for 7,000 acre feet, but Weber Basin is discussing the 6,000-acre-foot figure as the amount of water that may be available from the expanded reservoir, reser-voir, according to Brent Rose, attorney for Great Basin. Rose, who is associated with the firm of Clyde, Pratt, Gibbs and Cahoon, specialists in water law, said Great Basin may negotiate with other water-right holders hold-ers for additional water, if it's available. "It is feasible that this water exchange can be accomplished, and legally this is a viable plan," Rose said. He noted, however, that Great Basin Mutual Water Co. is not yet an officially incorporated organization. organiza-tion. The plan is feasible legally and logistically, and the group believes is viable financially, Rose said. Although no similar water distribution systems exists in the state, "no other area in the state is under such pressure to develop" he said. "Lack of water is the main thing holding back development, and the best way to solve this is to bring water in." If the distribution system is successful, success-ful, the problem remains of what to do with all this water from people's sinks and washing machines, Rose added. "But all these problems can be dealt with." Dalton, president of Swan Creek hospital the state. He also said a remodeling program was already under way to correct structural defects in the hospital. State health spokesman Lee Shaw said the state would be getting working plans for the remodeling from AHS. "We feel good about the hospital being open," said Lee Shaw. He was given a tour of the facility on Tuesday with health officials Jay Croxford; "Jay is satisfied the hospital is moving in the right direction." Nevertheless, he said, the state was satisfied about its actions. "Dr. Mason, (director of the Utah Depart- Hospital to A3 by David Hampshire If you like stories with happy endings, then don't read any further. This is a story about two European visitors who wish they had never heard of Park City. Andreas Haupt and Hubert Siegfanz made their first mistake when they bought a 1968 Chevrolet Suburban from a Los Angeles used-car dealer last November. Oh, the vehicle was all right. The trouble was, no one could find the title. -After looking in vain for five days, the pair went with the dealer to the California Department of Motor Vehicles Vehi-cles and picked up an "application for duplicate ownership certificate." It wasn't the title, but it was a start. The pair then left California for Utah, intending to stay in Park City only a few days before driving on to South America. That was their second mistake. They soon found that to take a vehicle into South America required a $3,000 deposit to insure that they wouldn't sell it while they were there. So they decided in December to sell the truck. They parked it in Swede Alley with signs in the windows. On Christmas Eve the truck was towed away and impounded because the California license plates had expired. Mistake number three. Their efforts to get it released from impound led them to the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles. They were told that, before it could be released, it had to be registered in Utah. And before they could register it in Utah, they needed the California title. For several weeks Haupt and Siegfanz struggled to get the California title. One effort was fouled up because of a missing signature. Finally, with for Snyderville Village, land developers in Bountiful, emphasized that it is the group's intention to build the water distribution system and turn it over to a public or governmental entity for continued operation. "It is not our plan to be in the water business for a long period of time," he said. Possible operating entities, he suggested, could be Park City, and existing Snyderville Basin District or even the Weber Basin district. "We want to get the project off the ground and into operation, and we could do it more rapidly (than a public pub-lic entity)." he said. "It's my guess that we're looking at a cost of around $5 million." Dalton believes, "if it goes together right," that construction could start as early as this fall. He said the group has substantial backing for the project. PS Associates of Salt Lake City are the engineers working on physical aspects of laying a 24- or 30-inch water pipe from Peoa to Park City, around to Kimball and Silver Creek Junctions and back to Keetley Junction. Engin- Here are the latest Snowfall measurements and ski conditions reported by the three Park City-area resorts. Deer Valley Thursday, March 4 Friday, March, 5 Saturday, March 8 Sunday, March 7 Monday, March 8 Tuesday, March Wednesday, March 19 2" trace o o ctimcsnr conditions Locals enjoyed another beeootiful weekend rf skiing last weekend, with more than two leet of new snow dumped oft area resorts to ft lonr-iay period last week. Temperature at Parley's Park Elementary School ranged from 1$ degrees last Friday morning to a balmy 50 degrees Ttev day afternoon. On Wednesday, Deer Valley reported It Inches at the summit, with alt runs open. Park City also reported everything open, with 195 inches in Jupiter Bowl. ParkWest reported U inches at the 8,200-loot level, with five lifts operating Slaughterhouse and Tumoleweed open only oo weekends). week-ends). FORECAST The winter-long weather pattern which has been bringing mid-week snowstorm to Utah may be shifting. Tfc National Weather Service is calling for occasional snow Thursday, with a high near 40 degrees, and the snow level gradually dropping to the ,Wfl-foot level, Snow is expected to continue Friday, decrease on Saturday, then Increase again Sunday, High temperatures over the weekend are expected to be in the oud-Jos, into nightmare some help from a friend in Los Angeles, they got the California title and registration. On Feb. 23, almost two months to the day after the truck had been impounded, Haupt and Seigfanz returned re-turned to the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles with the California paperwork. They also had located a buyer. According to a spokesman for the department, they could have had the truck released that day if they paid for the Utah registration and a "registration "registra-tion penalty". They didn't. They decided to wait a week and come back with the buyer, so that the vehicle could be registered directly in his name. That was their biggest mistake. When they returned a week later at 9 a.m., on March 2, they got the shock of their lives. A routine check of the serial number revealed that the truck had been sold at auction an hour before. They headed immediately for Mike Speers' impound yard where they found the new owner and their old truck. But it wasn't quite the way they had left it. They found the taillights missing, the front turn signals gone, the battery removed, wires hanging from the engine compartment, the body covered with mud. It looked like a wreck. The truck which they bought for $1,500 only a few months before had been sold at auction for $410. Haupt and Siegfanz offered the new owner $600 for the truck. He turned them down. Later that afternoon they came to The Newspaper with their story. It took eight phone calls, but The Newspaper finally got in touch with Ronald Posseli, director of the Motor Vehicle Division. Posseli shed some light on the issue: eers, Dalton said, are studying the possibility of building the system backwards so delivery of water could begin sooner using available water sources in the Snyderville Basin. Engineers will be working on such matters as determining sizes of water storage facilities along the pipeline, and determining the size of the trunk and distribution lines themselves. In the meantime, Dalton said, the group will continue meeting with area government agencies including Park City on Wednesday, March 10, to explain the proposal and seek endorsement endorse-ment of it. The Snyderville Basin Sewer District took no action on the presentation Monday, and board members apparently ap-parently exhibited mixed opinions on the plan's merit. Jan Wilking, district board member, said those members involved in real estate and land development reacted with enthusiasm, while reservations to the plan was apparent among those who look less favorably upon more growth in the valley. IE MPdMT , Park City Park West " 1" 3" trace 0 9 4 The division has a policy that any impounded vehicle not claimed within 30 days is to be sold at auction. A notice that the truck would be sold at auction was published in the Salt Lake Tribune Feb. 23. The division contacted the State of California in an effort to get the name of the current owner, but the latest name on record was that of the Los Angeles car dealer. The Newspaper also spoke with Mike Speers, the owner of the impound yard. Speers acknowledged that the vehicle had suffered some damage while at the lot, but blamed it on theft or vandalism. Speers also acknowledged that the new owner of the vehicle, Rick Mutcher, was a part-time employee at the impound yard. Speers said he had not been in contact with Haupt or Seigfanz since before he received notice that the truck would be put up for auction, and had no way of notifying them that the sale was imminent. Haupt and Siegfanz dispute this claim. They say that their phone number was written on the "For Sale" signs still in the window of the truck, and that they had left their phone number with Speers' wife on more than one occasion. A check with the state reveals that neither Speers nor one of his employees could legally have submitted sub-mitted bids for the vehicle if he had been legally under contract with the state. But no contract existed. The state has promised to look into the conditions under which the auction took place. But, at this writing, Haupt and Siegfanz are still stranded in Park City. And they're out $1,500. |