Will canal changes end water recreation?

Published in the Utah Statesman August 30, 2012.

Logan residents have been engaged in a debate over the last several weeks about a proposed plan to enclose the Logan canal in steel pipes, removing the feature and potentially creating a hiking or mountain-biking trail over the piping.
    Water flows freely through the open canal, supplying water to trees and vegetation. Canal reconstruction plans have been in the works since a canal break in the Island killed three people in 2009.
    Holly Daines, a member of the Logan Municipal Council, said with the city’s original piping plan, canal water, which is used for storm drainage and irrigation, will be displaced underground. The piping will then be covered by large berms.
    Residents upset that the proposed plan will ruin the aesthetics of their yards and neighborhoods voiced their concerns at the Cache County Council meeting Tuesday night.
    Daines said the decision to enclose the canal, which was made months ago, is upsetting to residents just hearing about the changes.
    “The project started, they were ready to dig to put parts in, and neighbors became aware of this and said, ‘We don’t want it enclosed,’” Daines said. “That decision was already made a long time ago, but we were really too far down the road in the process to change.”
    Daines said the council has tried to be accommodating to Logan residents’ concerns. Logan City postponed the city’s planning commission meeting Aug. 23 to allow residents to voice their opinions at the Cache County Council meeting on Tuesday.
    Daines said many residents were in attendance at the standing-room-only meeting. With the input of Logan residents, a new plan was designed to direct water into three smaller pipes buried at ground level. The pipes will be placed deeper in the ground to minimize concerns of eyesore dirt mounds, with a proposed plan to add a water feature to the side of the piping and a hiking trail over the piping.
    “The water feature would include a lined channel with rocks and would run alongside the trail and collect storm water,” Daines said.
    Daines said the cost to install this water feature and hiking trail would go over the budget allocated for the canal reconstruction project, and the council is working to secure shares to make the water feature, desirable not only for it’s aesthetic value but to assist in storm drainage, and hiking trail possible.
    “My goal is to move forward with plans (for the hiking trail). It’s not approved but we’re working towards hopefully getting funding in next year’s budget to move forward with the plans,” Daines said.
    Daines said the piping installation should be complete, with hopes of the additional water feature and hiking trail, in the spring of 2013. Construction on the piping will begin immediately.
    While many students utilize the canal for recreation, Daines said they are technically trespassing.
    “There wouldn’t be enough water to tube, but there would be a great trail,” she said. “Technically the canal is private property, so the idea is to turn it into a trail with official public access.”
    Daines said the council hasn’t seen any reaction to the plans from USU students. The canal has been a popular tubing location for students and residents for many years and Daines said the plan would discontinue this long-time student hobby or tradition.
    Jeremy Schumann, a junior majoring in marketing, uses the canal another way. Schumann and his friends have been wakeboarding by connecting ropes to a bridge over a section of the canal in the Island.
    “I’ve never tubed the canal, but we surf it,” Schumann said. “We do it two or three times a week and we love it. If it was closed, that sucks.”
    Although the portion of the canal Schumann and his friends utilize won’t be affected by the enclosure, Schumann said creating a trail wasn’t a good idea.
    “There’s tons of trails in Logan,” he said. “With the water there’s so many options. We can run anywhere. We prefer the water.”
    Daines said she knows residents aren’t happy with the plans, but said they hoped the revisions would address some residents’ concerns.
    “People still aren’t happy the canal is enclosed, but the canal company has the right to do that,” she said. “I know the enclosure disappoints people, but the revisions will make it much more esthetically pleasing and level for a trail, and basically just less intrusive to people’s backyards.”
Tom Jensen, another member of Logan city council, said despite residents heated feelings about the enclosure ultimately the water company owns the rights to the canal. Jensen said a Supreme Court case gives them the rights to the waterways.
    “There is a Supreme Court case saying they can bury it anytime they want,” he said. “No one has rights to it except the water company and they literally have the right to do what they need to do to the end of the ditch.”
    Jensen said some residents do own property affected by the canal but the canal company has an easement on the property allowing them to make decisions about the waterway.
    “The canal company has had a waterway there for over 100 years, since the time of the pioneers,” Jensen said.
    “It’s a hard thing, it’s a dramatic thing, but the whole purpose of the canal is not a beautification thing but for getting water to farmers,” Jensen said.  “But we’ll try to do the best thing for the locals.”

– karlie.brand@aggiemail.usu.edu