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Uintah County approves easement and $4.5 million UDOT-backed agreements for Service Canal Trail
Summary
The Uintah County Commission approved easements and a package of agreements with Utah State University, UDOT, the Utah Trail Network and Vernal City to build the Service Canal Trail, which is funded through a $4.5 million state trail program and will be transferred to county ownership when complete.
Uintah County commissioners on Nov. 25 approved a set of agreements to build and maintain the Service Canal Trail, including an easement with Utah State University, construction and funding agreements with the Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Trail Network, and an interlocal maintenance agreement with Vernal City.
Matt Kazier, community development director, told commissioners the easement covers trail sections south from 500 North and portions running along 500 North east and west and that signed copies were ready for the commission chair's signature so they could be recorded. “USU was great to work with on this. They didn't charge us anything for the easement,” Kazier said, adding the university welcomes the trail as a campus connection.
Kazier said the active-transportation cooperative agreement identifies project value and funding and that the statewide trail program has allocated $4,500,000 to the project; the presented documents list the county's local contribution as $0. Under the agreements, UDOT will be authorized to construct the trail within county easements. Kazier said the county will accept ownership of the trail after construction and will be responsible for ongoing maintenance unless another entity assumes that role later.
To address upkeep, the county approved an interlocal agreement with Vernal City that divides routine tasks: Vernal City will empty trash bins along the trail and perform weed and vegetation control (those costs to the city), while the county will pick up other garbage along the trail and handle snow removal. The agreement establishes an annual joint walk-through by the trails manager and Vernal City's streets supervisor to identify maintenance needs and apportions other costs by jurisdictional mileage.
Commissioners also noted public interest in volunteering to help maintain the trail. The agreements were approved by motion; recordings and signature steps were described as the next administrative actions.
The county did not provide a construction timeline in the documents presented at the Nov. 25 meeting; the contracts will be recorded and executed per the documents submitted to the commission.
