Mendon fire chief warns of 'mini-Teton Dam' break

By Bryan Hinton

April 15, 2005 | MENDON -- Fire Chief Ray Olsen warned the City Council of a "mini-Teton Dam" break in the Pheasant Hollow neighborhood if a drainage pool caused by a road is not eliminated. A pool has formed where a road was built over a ravine with no way for the water to pass underneath.

"It will take the road out if nothing is done," Olsen said. "[The fire department] has already pumped over 700,000 gallons of water from there. It's been a real fight."

Olsen said the fire department had to borrow a 1,000-gal.-per-minute water pump from Paradise because the 328 gallons-per-minute pump which Mendon owns was not working fast enough. Olsen suggested installing a pipe underneath the road so the water can run through, instead of building up.

The city council was divided over who was financially responsible for fixing the problem.

Councilman Steve Sorenson said the developer of the Pheasant Hollow neighborhood, Paul Taylor, should not be held solely responsible because he met all of the requirements the city gave him for developing. Sorenson said the city should release the bond which Taylor paid in order to develop.

"The majority of his profit is in his bond," he said. "Now we're holding him and his money hostage for doing what the city told him was OK."

The council decided to set up a meeting with Taylor at 8 p.m. Monday to try to reach an agreement.

Sorenson said Taylor has already done up to $100,000 of improvements which the city did not require him to do.

Councilwoman Leslie Larson objected to Sorenson's point of view, saying the city had no way of foreseeing the drainage pool becoming such a problem.

"None of us are engineers," she said. "It's not Mendon City's responsibility. It's the responsibility of the person who disturbs the land. The city tries to help, but it can't foresee everything."

Councilman John Hardman said if the city had known the drainage pool would be a problem, it would not have approved the development. Hardman said the main reason the city did not foresee the problem was because the development was approved during a dry year when runoff was at a minimum.

"It was important to wait out this winter cycle to see if the [drainage plan] would work," he said. "And it does not."

Sorenson said the city was morally responsible to assist Taylor in fixing the problem because the city told him he could do it.

Hardman said, "'Morally' only matters until you get that $100,000 bill."

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