Cave Creek Town Council looks at traffic

The Cave Creek Town Council meeting on June 4th was unique, not one person came forward with any public comment.

Council members unanimously approved a liquor license for Prickly Pear Inn and a community grant of $10,000 to the Cave Creek Museum. The Council was told that the Museum is looking to do increased fundraising to make the Museum less reliant on the Town Grant. The grant has been provided by the Town for almost 20 years.

A proposal to purchase a new water truck had to be pulled as the dealer had sold the truck that was in stock and would not be able to get another one until after July 1st, the start of the new fiscal year. This would require the funds to come from next year’s budget. Thus approval would have to come after July 1st.

In a housekeeping type of business, two resolutions were reviewed and approved in a step to codify the resolutions,

The Council voted to lower the speed limit from 45 to 40 miles per hour between the Carefree Town Line and where there the speed limit is already posted at 40, near Oregano’s.
Previously, at the May 21st Town Council meeting, Town Manager Carrie Dyrek said in addition to candidates’ nomination packages having a filing deadline of May 30th at 5pm, those wishing to file statements pro or con for the voter information guide regarding the General Plan Amendment have the same deadline.

The April 16th Town Council Meeting minutes were sent back to have town employees create more detailed minutes that are verbatim of what was said at the meeting.

The Council approved allowing MCImetro Access Transmission Corp. dba Verizon Access Transmission Corp. to update the fiber optic lines infrastructure by using existing APS poles
and burying underground lines where APS poles were not available.

Town Manager Dyrek introduced Yung Koprowski and Chris Williams of Y2K Engineering who
presented a report regarding the intersection of Cave Creek and Schoolhouse Roads as well as speed limits in the town and pedestrian safety in the town core. The study showed that while the traffic data was sufficient to support installing a traffic light at Cave Creek and Schoolhouse Roads, the current system of an all way stop is working. The study does recommend increasing the stop signs to 36 inches and installing a solar powered flashing red light above the stop signs.

Reducing the speed in the Town core would remain the same 30 mph based on the study. Reducing the speed to 25 mph would not provide much more of a safety factor. It was recommended that the 6/10 mile section of Cave Creek Road north of the Carefree border that is 45 miles per hour be reduced to 40 miles an hour to match the recently reduced speed limit on Cave Creek Road within the Town of Carefree.

The Town Council approved a motion to spend $73,969 for engineering services from Quantum Integrated Solutions Inc. for evaluating and preliminary design of the Town’s SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system upgrade and implementation. The Town of Cave Creek intends to implement a new seamless SCADA system to integrate the various wells, reservoirs, booster stations, CAP line, and water treatment facility. Phase I is assessment and preliminary design and could take up to five months.

Also approved by the Council was spending $70,431.99 to purchase a crane truck. The Town spent $17-18,000 in each of the last two years for crane services. Currently, if there is an emergency the Town is at the mercy of outside crane operators to respond and the new truck would be a huge time saver. The vehicle will have an 11 foot boom and will be able to lift up to two tons.