During the Public Announcements part of the April 16 Cave Creek Town Council Meeting, Councilman McGuire said of the just finished Bike Week, that he heard there were more bikes than ever but he thought traffic was smoother than in the past. Council members Eileen Wright and Mary Elrod also praised how the how Bike Week went.
Town Manager Carrie Dyrek and Town Marshall Adam Stein reported on parking issues on Jack Cartwright Pass, which is the road between the Buffalo Chip and Harold’s. The road has turned into an overflow parking area but is poorly lit and many people do not pull fully off the road and thus restrict traffic. They reported that the Buffalo Chip has hired an additional security person to patrol the area and ask parking motorists to not block the roadway. Dyrek said they are looking into the possibility of installing some solar powered lighting in the area as well.
By a 6 – 1 vote, a Special Use Permit (SUP) was granted to Junction LLC on East Hidden Valley Road to park construction equipment on-site that is used off-site. The lot is in a commercial buffer zone and such use is allowed with a SUP. Lynn Walsh, a 30 year resident that lives just uphill from the lot, spoke in opposition to the SUP, saying the business created noise and was unsightly. Kathy Jones who lives on East Hidden Valley Road spoke in favor of the SUP saying the business has been a good neighbor. Conditions for issuing the SUP include the construction of a wall to screen the property, is specific to the applicant and covers heavy equipment, limits the starting hours of operation with no weekend operation, and will sunset in two years. The applicant would have to reapply if they wanted to continue that use on that property. Councilman Tom McGuire was the lone nay vote. Saying, ‘When one buys a house, in a certain kind of zoning, I think that the owners have a right to expect that zoning will prevail.’
The Council voted unanimously to approve an amended and restated Standpipe Service Agreement for those who will be using water from the Town’s new standpipe on the west side of town.
Also receiving unanimous support were two paving projects awarded to Regional Pavements Maintenance of Arizona Inc. The first will be done on 52nd Street, Zenith Lane, and Rifleman Road within the Saguaro West Subdivision at a cost of $150,689.86. The second project will repave School House Road from Cave Creek Road to Fleming Springs Road. The remainder of the road, to East Cielo Run North will be coated with a Micro Slurry overlay. The School House Road project will cost the Town 289,343.68.
Following the quarterly financial report from the Town’s Finance Director, Robert Weddigan, Water Advisory Committee Chairman Bob Morris voiced concerns about the water and sewer accounting. Currently there is one enterprise fund and the Finance Director does do some break down between the two water companies and the sewer company. Morris stated that each of the three utility companies should have their own set of books. Weddigan said that is in the works, and will be separate by the end of the next fiscal year.
The new Utility Director, Jim Kaylor, who has only been on the job for seven weeks, presented the first ever Utilities Department Quarterly Report. Among the objectives was to interconnect water lines with another municipality, groundwater recharge, identify and quantify ‘non revenue’ water loss (leaks, etc.), and research additional groundwater sources.
His report also said, ‘Water and Wastewater operations should be self supporting with a defined Capital Improvement Program.’ Kaylor said they are looking upgrading the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system to allow better monitoring.
The four water treatment units range in age from 27 to 10 years old. He said all four require major maintenance. The oldest will be repaired first. It will require the unit to be out of service for up to eight weeks. This project is expected to begin in late October of this year. The two oldest units should be completed by the spring of 2019. A water conservation plan is also being explored.
The Water Advisory Committee (WAC) Chairman Bob Morris presented findings and recommendations of the WAC to ‘mitigate potential emergency or drought curtailment of water supplies. The Town currently gets all its drinking water via the Central Arizona Project (CAP). Any failure to that line could be catastrophic. Town revenues, businesses, and residents would all suffer.
Town water comes from a CAP canal 13 miles away. In addition from to the pumps at the CAP facility, three additional pumping stations move the water uphill through a 16 inch pipe to the water treatment facility. Each pumping station has three pumps. But, if even one of the three pumps goes down, the whole system would have to shut down as there could be pressure build up in the pipeline. The town has a holding capacity that may only provide enough water for 8 – 12 hours, according to one town employee. Even routine maintenance may require the whole delivery system to be shut down for a period of time.
Among the recommendations by the WAC; develop interconnect agreements with surrounding water companies, develop new and refurbish existing wells including arsenic removal systems for tainted wells, and create a comprehensive plan using all available resources to protect the community from emergency and drought water shortages and interruptions.
