City Council Work Session 4-Sep-2014: Park Usage

The primary purpose of this meeting was to review and discuss the types of activities that would be appropriate for each city park.

Work Session 

1. North Utah County Aquifer Association Project.
   The engineer involved in creating a report discussed the aquifers in N. Utah County and how they can be recharged, reviewed with us his report, and discussed a pilot recharge project being conducted in the AF debris basin. It was an interesting report.
   
   
   

   On slide #4 of his PowerPoint presentation the engineer shows a table that indicates that total average surplus flow of water per month out of the canyons in N. County for May and June is over 8,500 acre feet/mo. The goal of the project is to identify how we can capture some of that surplus and use it to recharge the aquifers from which we pump water. The process they recommend is to store surplus water in basins that are located in areas where standing water drains readily into the local aquifers. One of the best locations for these basins is near the mouth of the American Fork Canyon, which is why they are proposing that the AF Debris Basin be used as a pilot project.

2. Park Use Discussion
   We reviewed each of the city parks. Looked at them online using Google Maps and Google Earth. Based on parking and restroom availability, size, and location made a determination what the potential uses for the parks were. Dedicated parking and restrooms were the primary factors in excluding a park for use as a “game field” by organized sports. Size and parking were factors in designating unscheduled practice fields. We will discuss use policy in terms of times available for parks to be used as practice fields, scheduling methods and costs (if any) at future council meetings (I don’t believe this will be settled in one meeting).
   
   Click here to see the table of parks and their current designated use.

Links:

• Description of North Utah County Aquifer Storage and Recovery Study from the website of the firm conducting the study.
• North Utah County Aquifer Association Aquifer Storage and Recovery Feasibility Study Report
• Google spreadsheet version of the city parks and proposed designated uses.