NORTH LOGAN, Utah (AP) - Shareholders of a canal company have backed a plan to join with another canal company and move forward on a $25 million project to rehabilitate the two waterways.
Shareholders of the Logan, Hyde Park and Smithfield Canal Co. voted 1,647 shares to 47 shares on Wednesday in favor of merging with the Logan and Northern Irrigation Co.
On July 11 a mudslide killed a mother and her two children in their Logan home. The Logan Northern Canal broke during the slide, prompting discussions about how to manage the waterways. The canal that ruptured is managed by the Logan and Northern Irrigation Co.
Jim Huppi, a board member with the Logan, Hyde Park, and Smithfield Canal Co., said he was surprised but pleased the proposition passed so decisively.
The shareholders of the Logan and Northern also have to approve the plan. A vote is scheduled for Nov. 23.
The project for the waterways involves plans to pipe and line one canal and connect it to the Logan and Northern canal. Surveying is still ongoing.
Approval will allow the formation of a new nonprofit corporation called the Cache Highland Water Association, which would be made up of the boards of the two canals.
Canal board members hope the federal government will provide at least 75 percent of the money needed for the project.
The plan also will be subject to another shareholder vote if it will incur debt of more than $100,000 for the organization. It likely will, said Keith Meikle, president of the Logan, Hyde Park, and Smithfield Canal Co.
And some are opposed to the plans.
Lucy Peterson-Watkins said she and her husband, North Logan Mayor Cary Watkins, voted their six shares against the plan Wednesday.
"There is too much unknown to go forward," she said.
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Information from: The Herald Journal.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
