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Show "f"-- .. i- v ' - ,V, v - , 1 i - H ' : ' - vw - .... l- vr- x 4 K: I i-:''r, i r, - v , zJ&z- ; T -v rr" FLOOD CLEATiUP Crews use muscle power as well as large equipment to begin cleanup operations following Bountiful's now-famous "Flood of 1983." Cleanup operations throughout the citv should be completed bv the end of July. Photo by Roger Tuttle. Flood Payment Plans Gelling By MARK FOTHERINGHAM FARMINGTON - Davis County officials are moving ahead with plans to develop a multi-million dollar bonding proposal to pay for flood control con-trol projects throughout the county. THE COUNTY has authorized autho-rized Com. Harold Tippetts to contact various bonding companies com-panies in connection with developing de-veloping fiscal procedures for the bond issue. The bond would be used to-finance to-finance "county-wide flood control measures," said Com. Tippetts. He emphasized that the projects would be for the entire county, not just for areas affected by the ravages of nature's recent excesses. "WE ARE hoping the replacement re-placement of culverts and such will be handled through federal assistance programs," he said. The bond issue would be used for "expansion and betterment" better-ment" of flood control facilities facili-ties throughout the county. v "This spring has shown the .' need to get moving on these projects. I think the recent flash rainstorm has convinced people of our vulnerability. If we don't have the facilities to handle snowpack or storm water wa-ter runoff, over the years it could result in heavy local costs," he added. THE COUNTY is already in the process of evaluating preliminary pre-liminary studies into the physical phy-sical facility needs for county flood control. "Now we're looking at the financial aspects," said Com. Tippetts. "First we need to identify each project and estimate amounts for them," he said. He indicated that the various projects would have to be built in progressive stages. . BEFORE THE issue reaches the public on the November ballot, the county hopes to have a master plan ready that will outline the different projects pro-jects and assign priorities to them. Although the projects will likely cost millions of dollars, the county does not plan to tack on extra tax levies. Com. Tippetts said the county hopes that the recently passed one mill flood control levy will be adequate to service the bond indebtedness. HE ADDED, however, that Mother Nature would have to cooperate for a while if the flood control assessment was to remain stable. "If the incidence inci-dence of storms increases and we have to accomplish the projects pro-jects quicker, then that could change," he said. "We don't want to add to the financial burden on people with added taxes, but we have got to get going on these projects." pro-jects." He said that the present flood control levy along (without (with-out bonding) would be inadequate inade-quate to handle projected flood control needs. COUNTY Flood Control officials have identified eight major drainage basins that they will analyze and set priorities on. Com. Tippetts said that the majority of the effort would be focused on expanding ex-panding the retention capabilities capabili-ties upstream of these basins. Specifically, he stated that the projects would include building more debris basins, check dams and retention ponds with controlled releases, re-leases, increasing the capability capabil-ity of existing channels to handle storm water and snow-melt, snow-melt, and installing new channels chan-nels and pipe conduits. ALTHOUGH maintenance costs are higher for closed pipe conduits and they are more prone to become blocked during dur-ing heavy runoff, the county still recommends them in residential re-sidential areas because of the hazards to children playing near open channels. Even with these major improvements, im-provements, no one is promising promis-ing that all flooding dangers would be abated in the county . "I don't know that it is possible possi-ble to build enough to handle a major snowmelt like we had this year," said Com. Tip- petts. He added that the costs of building for a once-in-100-year phenomenon couldn't be justified. THE PROJECTS will likely' take several years to complete. The county hopes to get county-wide support throughout the life of the projects. Even though the Northwest part of the county was not severely affected by runoff problems this year, cities like Clinton, Sunset, Syracuse and others won't be left out of the improvement im-provement plans. "There are no major drainage drain-age channels in those areas," said Com. Tippetts. He added, however, thaUhey do need improved im-proved storm drainage systems. sys-tems. "WE WILL extend invitations invita-tions to all the major bonding agents to come up with proposals propos-als for a general obligation bond. The bounty has an excellent ex-cellent bond rating at present," pre-sent," he said. |
