City and county officials, as well as other local stakeholders, met on Thursday in the
Uintah County Commission Conference Room and discussed the hot topic of water in the
Ashley Valley. Vernal City Manager Quinn Bennion presented an overview of the issue.
He explained that because the Ashley Valley Water and Sewer Improvement District no
longer has water shares available for new water hookups, home construction and business
development have come to a halt in their jurisdiction which has impeded growth in the
community and economy. Bennion stated that a short term solution that Vernal City is
offering is annexation of adjacent properties into Vernal City. This will allow those
properties to utilize the available Vernal City water connections rather than wait to find
water shares to bring to the Ashley Valley Water and Sewer Improvement District. Bennion explained that Vernal City already has one annexation request for an 8 acre
parcel on North Vernal Avenue which submitted the annexation request so they can get a
water connection through Vernal City. The City has also been approached by multiple
businesses wanting their property to become part of Vernal City for the water connection.
Bennion stressed that annexation can help address some of the short-term problems but
Vernal City’s available water is limited as well. Uintah County Commissioner Sonja
Norton was asked if the county will support the proposal of annexation of some
properties in order to relieve the water issues. She stated that she didn’t see a problem
with supporting annexation but the county would need to meet and discuss the topic
before an official decision could be made. On the topic of annexation, City Council
member Ted Munford explained that annexation is one of the few ways Vernal City can
grow as it is landlocked. Bennion also stated during the discussion that one of Vernal
City’s motivations is that all involved benefit from new construction and development in
the entire area. A second news story on the topic of water shares discussed during
Thursday’s City/County meeting will be shared on Evans Family Media radio stations
and BasinNow.com on Wednesday.
