By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Levan Town Council is having a problem with the
traffic on the streets of the city and they would like the
county commission to do something about
it&emdash;specifically, they want the county to build a road
around the community.
Robert Shepherd, mayor of Levan, and Paul Mangelson,
council member, think the county should assume that
responsibility.
However, Robert Garrett, county road superintendent,
said the county and city should include, in addition to the
trucking and mining companies, the major player&emdash;the
state road department.
"As long as the company meets the weight and speed
limits, there is not a lot that can be done," he said.
However, if all parties were to meet together and
discuss the problems and solutions, perhaps something could
be done to help.
Commissioner Neil Cook suggested commissioners look at
the road in question when they visit Levan this week. "We
need all the information on the table," he said.
There are two gypsum mines located in the mountains
east of Levan. One of those mines used to belong to Robert
Steele, county commissioner, but he has sold it.
"There are 10 to 15 trucks a day running through our
town," said Shepherd. "It is a safety hazard."
He said the truck traffic is also dangerous for the
children who play in that area. The area in question, he
said, was the area on the east side of Levan from 100 South
to the highway, which is Levan's Main Street.
Steele told them the allowed tonnage, recently
advertised in the Times-News, for the enlargement of the
mine would not amount to more than 8 trucks per day.
Of course, he said, on any given day the truck traffic
might be 10 trucks but that would mean that on some days
there would not be any trucks coming from the mine.
Shepherd said the city had filed a protest to the
increase in truck traffic which enlarging the mine would
allow. The protest was entered during the time such action
was allowed&emdash;during the protest period.
"We could impose a load limit on Powell Lane," said
Mangelson.
Steele said he thought improving the street which
handled most of the traffic inside the city would be
helpful.
"There is no question but that the truck traffic is
tearing up the streets of Levan," he said. The companies
involved, H. E. Davis and Birmingham trucking company, may
be willing to help the city.
Steele said he suggested, when he first began
operating the mine and before he sold it that his company
pay the city 5-cents per ton hauled through the town which
would have gone into city coffers to help with streets. He
said the city officials at the time refused the offer.
That money, he said, could have been used for city
street improvements such as curb and gutter which would have
made the situation better for residents.
Shepherd said he thought the solution to the problem
was to have an alternate route constructed around the city
and thought the county had some responsibility for the
alternate route construction.
One of those roads would travel north and the other
route that had been discussed would follow Paxman Lane.
If nothing else would work, said Shepherd, the city
would impose a weight limit on the trucks which would limit
the tonnage that could be hauled at a single time.
"Tell me what economic benefit there is to Levan,"
said Shepherd. "There is an economic benefit to the county.
There is a tax base."
However, the tax benefits that the county might reap
are not as much as the people from Levan might believe.
"We don't get the tax on equipment which is not used
in our county," said Wm. Boyd Howarth, commission chair. If
the raw material is hauled to a different site and is then
processed, Juab County does not get that tax.
They do get property tax money.
Tax collection for most of the business goes to the
place where the company is headquartered.
Trucks doing the hauling are not based in Juab County
but come and go. Most of them are from Utah County and from
Idaho State.
H.E. Davis is the owner of mineral rights on the top
of the mountain east of Levan and can haul the gypsum from
that site. The mine claim could last as long as 100
years.
Garrett said the group needed to consider one other
item&emdash;the state of Utah is one of the major players in
decisions where roads are concerned.
"The state issues the B and C road money," said
Garrett. "We need to see what the state will let us do. You
can't put a weight limit on the trucks if the companies
agree to improve the road and upgrade it to meet the traffic
demand."
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