FARMINGTON — Enthusiasm for and the usage of the city’s expanding trail system continues to grow, the head of the city’s trails committee says.
George Chipman, director of the city’s trails committee, took time to rave about the city’s system during a recent city council meeting, at which he gave a yearly progress report on the activities of his trails group. He said the system added more than a mile of trails during the past year.
“It’s fun to serve and see these things to come to pass,” Chipman said.
The city currently has more than 107 miles of trails, including the recent additions, Chipman said. He said there is an additional one-third of a mile of the Legacy Trail, which is paved and provides easy access under Park Lane to future residents of Park Lane Village. He also mentioned changes and improvements at nine other trails during the past year.
Nature enthusiasts and a plethora of local Eagle Scout projects have aided the rapid development of a trail network.
During the past year, one Eagle Scout project connected a trail in Fruit Heights to a trail at Shepard Creek, while another project involved rerouting the Bonneville Shoreline Trail around a new reservoir in the Shepard Heights area.
Besides expanding the trail system itself, the number of people providing oversight for the trails has grown, the leader claims. He said there are now 42 people who monitor trails as trail chiefs.
At the behest of City Manager Dave Millheim, Chipman said, the committee has identified the group’s top five priorities for trails. He said the trails group meets regularly with the public works department to coordinate the trail needs between the committee and city crews.
Chipman claims Farmington has an elite trail system and is behind only Moab in the total trail miles within the city. He said Moab has 188 miles of trails in a 1,800-square-mile area while Farmington’s trail system is contained within a 60-square mile region.
Mayor Scott Harbertson praised the trails group for its ongoing work and cited the efforts as one of the reasons the city was named one of the 12 top communities in the United States to live in 2011 by Money Magazine.
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