May 2017 | Vol. 17 Iss. 05
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CANAL TRAIL RESOLUTION APPROVED, city to provide primary trail maintenance By Mandy Ditto | m.ditto@mycityjournals.com
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Community members address the Murray City Council at the April 4 meeting in regards to the city’s involvement in development of the Canal Trail along the Jordan and Salt Lake Canal. (Mandy Ditto/City Journals)
improvement,” said councilman Blair Camp. The most prominent concerns came from people whose properties border the already existing dirt trail, and regarded personal privacy, noise and crowd management and safety. Because many people use the trail already to walk their dogs, one concern is that dogs are often left off their leashes and dog feces aren’t cleaned up.
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he Murray City Council passed a resolution to move forward with an interlocal agreement between the city and Salt Lake County to further develop the Canal Trail, which will begin at Fontaine Bleu Drive and follow the Jordan and Salt Lake Canal to Wheeler Historic Farm. More than 25 citizens shared their opinions, concerns and ideas at the council meeting on April 4, with many for further development of the trail, and many against it. The interlocal agreement means that Murray City will be primarily in charge of maintenance and development of the trail, instead of Salt Lake County, and they will have three years to begin improvements since it passed. Much of the money used for trail development comes from a Utah Department of Transportation grant of $200,000 in which the first $100,000 must be used by September 2017, and the second $100,000 by September 2018, said Doug Hill, the public services director. The council voted 3-2 in favor of the agreement, though most council members hoped to keep the resolution from being completely turned down so that nothing was completely off the table. “As we’ve gone through this process I believe there is room for compromise on both sides of the issue, and opportunities to solve some of these problems. What we’re being asked to do tonight is consider a resolution of the execution of the interlocal agreement, and that is all we are doing. If we vote that down tonight then this issue is done, there will be no trail
Laurie Hagland, who lives east of the canal, said her family originally was excited for basic care taken with the trail to keep it clean and secluded, but, she said, “The boards displayed at the open house, though, showed just the opposite with the trail running right against our property and this causes great concerns relating to privacy, security, liability and the enjoyment of our own yard.” continued on page 20…
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