Council hears updates on fall festival, subdivision

Successful Gardens greenhouse owner Gary Emmett spoke to the Lovell Town Council at the August 11 meeting about a planned Fall Festival to be held Saturday, Sept. 26, in downtown Lovell, a week earlier than last year, when cold weather marred the event.

Part of the festival will entail vendors and shopping downtown, but the festival planning committee would like to add a pumpkin event, Emmett said. Worland had held a popular pumpkin growing contest and a pumpkin drop from a crane, so the Lovell committee is planning a pumpkin throw he called “pumpkin chucking” using catapults to heave pumpkins across a field, perhaps constructed by shop classes at the high school.

Emmett suggested the fling could take place just west of his greenhouse and noted that Western Sugar is OK with it if some pumpkins land on their property. Some brush and trees might have to be cleared, he said. Event insurance was discussed.

“The idea of the whole thing is, ‘What can we do to bring more people to town, and for businesses and such?’ more than just having some vendor tents on Main Street and saying it’s a fall festival,” Emmett said. “We see this expanding into a larger area, and people who actually want to can participate. … It could really turn into something.”

At a chamber of commerce retail committee meeting the following day, it was suggested using the large area west of Lovell Middle School where the Mustang Days fireworks are held for the pumpkin chucking. That idea is being looked into.

Don Davis subdivision

With developers still trying to figure out how to provide water to the proposed Don Davis subdivision west of town – promoted as the Sugar Farm Estates – public works director Adrin Mayes reported on a just-received water pressure report that he said incorporated results of a 2012 hydraulic study plus storage tank levels, the elevation of the property and more.

Davis is considering whether to tie into the Town of Lovell water system, which would require boring under Wyoming Highway 32 from the east or tying into the Northwest Rural Water District, which would require tap fees for lots to be paid up front, Davis has informed the council in the past.

Mayes said the water pressure report author suggested looping the water line into the subdivision twice to circulate the water better.

“It (the report) says the Town of Lovell may want to consider requiring this development to loop the pipe back into the system to provide redundancy and higher fire flows. Looping the line would also keep the water fresh in the subdivision,” Mayes said.

Davis attended the meeting and noted that boring under the highway once is already expensive, let alone twice. Mayes said the water pressure for fire hydrants would be low but acceptable under DEQ recommendations for fire flow.

Mayes said he would work with town clerk/treasurer Colleen Tippetts to get the pressure report out to all of the interested parties for study.

In other action August 11:

• The council voted to approve the annual special use permit for the Mountain Construction building.

• Upon a request from Jane Mitchell, the council added her daughter Bailey Yarger to her cleaning contract for Lovell Community Center.

• The council approved a revised fee schedule for records requests to reflect current technology.

• The council approved a catering permit for Aud’s 4 Corners to cater the Big Horn County Search and Rescue fundraiser at Armory Park on Friday, Aug. 28, from 6 p.m. to midnight.

• Town Administrator Jed Nebel announced that the town is partnering with the Bureau of Land Management on a project to install vault toilets at the Darnell Hills Off-Highway Vehicle area northeast of Lovell. Lovell would sponsor the grant for the BLM but would not need to provide a match other than some in-kind work, Nebel said.