Quigley owners
offer water tank site
Hailey needs 2
million-gallon water storage tank
By PETER
BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer
Hailey
Mayor Al Lindley surprised the Hailey City Council Monday night with a
letter from the attorney for Quigley Canyon Ranch owners, Terry Hogue.
After a
discussion of where the city might locate a 2 million-gallon water storage
tank, Lindley said he had some new information to add to the discussion
and then handed out the letter from Hogue.
The letter
said ranch owners Fred Judd and Stoney Burke "are willing, if the
bond election is successful, to gift to the city of Hailey a portion of
their property" for the storage tank.
"Our
clients also offer to grant the city of Hailey at no cost an easement for
the location of the pipeline which would deliver the water from the
storage tank to the northern boundary of the property owned by the Blaine
County School District."
There has
been some discussion of Quigley Canyon being developed as a golf course
and residential area to be annexed by Hailey, but so far, no applications
have been filed by Judd and Burke.
While not
refusing the offer, the council agreed with Councilwoman Susan McBryant
who counseled caution about the offer until the city’s attorney, Ned
Williamson, had an opportunity to review it.
The letter
was dated March 21, but not marked as received by the city until March 25,
the day of the council meeting.
Hailey
public works manager Ray Hyde and Hailey city engineer Tom Hellen said at
the March 11 council meeting that the tank is necessary for fire
protection and improved water pressure.
Hellen
estimated that a bond for the project would be in the amount of $3 million
to $3.5 million.
Lindley
said a bond election could happen sometime in August.
Carollo
Engineers has been hired by the city to design the water storage tank
system and help determine the best location for it.
Paul
Walker, an engineer for the firm, told the council that he had looked at
four sites up Quigley Canyon and two in Woodside.
Before
Lindley introduced the offer by the Quigley Ranch owners, Walker told the
council that he thought the best location for the tank would be on land
dedicated as a city park at the southeast end of Woodside.
He
described an underground, concrete, square-shaped tank with a pump station
nearby.
Walker said
it was possible to design the tank and the site so that the surface above
the tank could be used as a park area.
In other
business, the council announced that May 18 would be "Clean Sweep
Day," the city’s spring cleanup day.
The city
also passed resolutions supporting three different grant applications by
the Friedman Memorial Airport.
The first
is for $820,000 to be used for airport safety improvements. The second is
for $69,943 for reimbursement for the additional airport security expenses
since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast. The third is for
$180,000 to be used for an update of the airport’s master plan.