Council hears options on Parker South water system

What should be done with portions of the water system that was built in Parker South? That was the question brought to the Parker Town Council by Public Works Director Tim Edwards and Engineer Kevin Murphy at a work session Nov. 3. They offered options ranging from doing nothing to completing a loop from the water treatment plant to the former Tierra Buena site on Wayside Drive and back.

Edwards said the system was capable of meeting current demand, which comes mostly from the La Paz County Public Works facility. However, he said production and line capacity would need to be increased to deliver water to the new La Paz County Fairgrounds and to any future developments.

Among other things, Edwards said the 8-inch water line from the water plant to the 12-inch line along Hillside Drive to the county's facility is a "bottleneck" that will need to be eliminated if the town is to extend water service to the fairgrounds.

Edwards also said the 8-inch lines along Wayside Drive to the former Tierra Buena site were inadequate to provide water for domestic use and fire protection. This is something the council has known since soon after the lines were installed in 2006.

Edwards and Murphy offered four options. The first would be to do nothing, and deal with capacity issues as new developers come along. The second would be to install 1,000 to 1,400 linear feet of new 12-inch lines from the water plant to Wayside Drive. This line would tie into the line to the county facility, bypassing the current 8-inch line. A third pump would have to be installed at the well.

The next option would be to install 2,700 linear feet of 12-inch lines, on the same route as the current 8-inch lines. The final option would be to lay 7,000 linear feet of 16- and 12-inch water lines, creating a loop from the water plant along Industrial Drive to Central Avenue, north on Central to Wayside Drive, and then west on Wayside to create a loop with the existing 8-inch lines.

The question arose as to how this would be paid for, as the town has an outstanding debt with the Greater Arizona Development Authority that was supposed to be paid for through impact fees. The council members noted they've had no development, so they've had no impact fees.

Town Manager Lori Wedemeyer said the GADA funds by law must be paid back through the general fund. She said they still have $350,000 in GADA funds left.

Murphy said it would be nice to have new infrastructure in place before a development starts, but added it could be built as the new development is being built. He said given the length of the permitting and other construction processes, the town could build infrastructure before a new development is completed. As an example, he said Lake Havasu City built water and sewage lines to The Shops at Lake Havasu mall development near the airport while the project was under construction.

Mayor Steve Madoneczky said the town didn't need to rush to do anything at this time.

"What's the rush?" he asked. "Given the hard economic times, why spend money on something we already have?"

Councilwoman Christine Boatwright said the water system was a project the town needed to finish.

"It's an improvement that needs to be done," she said. "That's what we got this money for. We're already paying it back."

Councilman Frank Savino said he saw two issues, the first of which was production. He said production needed to be increased before any new development could come in. If production were addressed, Savino said that would give developers something to hook up to.

"We need to upgrade our source of water," Savino said. "We can't do anything until we do that."

The second problem, Savino said, was the town has no way of getting water to the county's facility if the pumps fail. He suggested the county could build their own storage tank as a backup to the town's water.

Savino said the town should deal with the 8-inch lines to the county building and the fairgrounds. Other improvements could come when a developer comes in.

This was a work session, so no action was taken.

The water system in Parker South was built with grants and loans from the Economic Development Administration and USDA's Rural Development.

In 2005, Tierra Buena had plans to build a large housing development in Parker South. The town was building the water system at the time, and the plan was to install 12-inch water lines to the site. However, when grant funding came up short because of the rising costs of materials, the council decided not to install the lines at that time.

Late in 2005, then-Town Manager Lanny Sloan told the council the town needed to install those lines or they risked losing the Tierra Buena project. As a cost-saving measure, he said the town could use 8-inch lines. Funds for installing the lines were taken from the town's contingency.

In 2006, after Sloan had resigned, the town's engineers on Parker South, the Holt Group, told the council the lines were inadequate for fire protection and 12-inch lines would have to be installed.

The Tierra Buena project became stalled over the state permitting process and who should pay to install the 12-inch lines. In October 2008, the town council declined to renew Tierra Buena's temporary plat for the project.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****