FARMINGTON -- A solution to maintaining the Legacy Parkway Trail is proving elusive, despite a special Monday afternoon meeting involving Davis County and city officials.
The Davis County Commission met with city officials to discuss the 14-mile trail system and how best to maintain it.
The Utah Department of Transportation built the trail during construction of the Legacy Parkway, which was completed in September 2008.
UDOT maintained the trail for more than a year, but the 12-month warranty period the department included on its trail construction ended in November. As a result, the trail has been without maintenance for several months.
Woods Cross City Administrator Gary Uresk said UDOT, Woods Cross, Centerville, West Bountiful, Farmington and North Salt Lake -- the five cities that share land space on the trail -- have been working together, but a solution doesn't seem close.
"We are working on another interlocal agreement between the cities," said Uresk, who also heads the Legacy Scenic Byway Committee, which is made up of city officials from the five cities.
UDOT rejected an interlocal agreement submitted by city managers last year.
"UDOT kind of balked away from it," Uresk said.
UDOT Region One spokesman Vic Saunders said the state would advise local governments on the trail maintenance but would likely not provide anything beyond that.
"The time for us to maintain that trail has ended," Saunders said.
Nearly all of the city officials in attendance Monday said they were never properly informed by UDOT that the cities would eventually have to take over management of the trail.
"We were always under the impression that this was a state project," said Farmington City Manager Max Forbush.
He estimates it would cost the cities $150,000 a year to maintain the trail, and that figure doesn't include drainage maintenance that has already created flooding problems.
The byway committee is also reapplying for Federal Highway Administration money that would pay to build four restrooms along the Legacy Parkway's 14-mile trail system. Those facilities would also need to be maintained on a regular basis.
Uresk said restrooms would cost approximately $480,000 and be placed strategically along the trail, with locations near Center Street in North Salt Lake, 1275 North in Centerville, 1200 North in West Bountiful and 500 South in Woods Cross.
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