OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Eloy City Council Water Resources and Infrastructure Update (January 29, 2024)

Meeting Portal — Monday, January 29, 2024
BodyEloy, Arizona
SessionMeeting Portal
DateMonday, January 29, 2024
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:23:26

Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

All right.

0:04

Good evening, everybody.

0:06

I'd like to welcome you to tonight's work session here at the Eloy City Council Chambers.

0:09

It is Monday, January 29th, 2024.

0:12

The time is approximately 501.

0:14

I call this meeting to order.

0:16

Mary, can I get a roll call, please?

0:18

Councilmember Seton.

0:20

Here.

0:20

Vice Mayor Curtis.

0:22

Here Councilmember Wanowatha Rodriguez.

0:26

Here.

0:27

Mayor Powell.

0:28

Here.

0:28

Councilmember Schneider.

0:30

Here.

0:30

Councilmember Garcia.

0:31

Present.

0:32

Councilmember Taranko.

0:33

Here.

0:34

If we can all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:45

One nation under individuals and justice.

0:54

All right.

0:55

Any unscheduled public appearances tonight?

0:58

Probably no.

1:06

Thank you.

1:10

And if anybody has any questions or during the presentation, I'll allow that as well too.

1:15

Next we'll go to item five discussion of City Council Water Resource and Infrastructure Development Update.

1:22

David Farton.

1:35

I'm the clerk for tonight.

1:37

I'm Mr.

1:37

Mary Myers.

1:39

David Myers.

1:42

Okay.

1:43

Um, let's jump right into this.

1:46

Uh thank you all, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council for meeting on a work session tonight to go over our current water situation and where we're at.

1:54

We have been working diligently over the last two years, year and a half, two years with our water attorney, Mr.

2:00

Michael Pierce, who's in the audience with Gaming June Burnham to help with our modified designation of assured water application that we submitted to ADWR to revise an original 6,000 acre feet back to our 48,545 acre feet that we've held for for many many years.

2:17

So we've been working with development community, we've been working with landowners to try to put together a package that would suffice ADWR's requirements to keep our 48,500 acre feet to continue to move forward with our growth.

2:30

Um as you know, everybody's looking for water as they grow in Arizona.

2:34

So we had held a meeting similar to what you're gonna hear tonight back in September with the development and landowner community to go over exactly what we're gonna be going over tonight.

2:46

Just to talk to them, get their opinion.

2:48

It was going to help us to formulate a better response back.

2:51

We've also have an agreement that Mr.

2:53

Pierce has helped draw, which is a CAGRD, Central Arizona Replenishment and Groundwater District agreement that focuses around getting water for development.

3:05

You remember we did those DAs about 20, 25 years ago, back in the early 2000s, mid-2000s.

3:11

A number of those have since expired without any progress happening on those.

3:15

We've got a number of them that are still active right now that will be expiring either within the year or within five years or a little bit more than five years.

3:23

So we're we'll get we'll touch base on some of that later here in the agenda.

3:27

But uh this agreement was again to resolidify our position with the landowners in the development community that that would help us understand better where development is, how we can get water to it, how much water is going to be part of these projects, and also build in a factor that would so show some type of cost sharing so that the city didn't bear the entire brunt of having to pay for the water expansion, the water lines, the additional upsizing, etc.

3:56

So that has a component within that agreement that you saw that was in your packet that does have the developers paying a portion of that and committing to help the city with infrastructure development because as we know we just haven't had that flush of cash to put forth towards infrastructure development.

4:11

We've made good strides in the last couple of years.

4:13

One of the things I passed out at the beginning of the meeting was that exhibit that shows uh water rate increases both to our water system and our wastewater system over the next five years that will help continue to advance our ability to expand both wet infrastructure well all inf wet infrastructure throughout the city or in areas more directly related to where we anticipate growth or where growth has occurred.

4:36

So that's kind of the overarching introduction of what we're gonna be talking about today.

4:42

Well our first thing to discuss first is having our attorney, Mr.

4:45

Mike Pierce with Gam Engine Burnham come up and basically give you an update of where we are.

4:50

You know, what's happened in the two years since we got our MDOS with ADWR and what we're doing right now to continue to work for that forward with that process, and then we'll jump into review development agreements.

5:01

And then we'll jump into review development agreements.

5:03

We'll talk about a real silver letter that we finally have finalized that we've sent out to some development.

5:08

We've got uh one in the works right now.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Water And Wastewater Management█████████████████████████████████████████████71%
Planning And Development███████11%
Economic Development███████11%
Procedural█2%
Solar Energy Development█1%
Capital Improvement Planning█1%
Budget Equity Analysis█1%
Engineering And Infrastructure█1%
Agriculture And Urban Development█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Eloy City Council Water Resources and Infrastructure Update (January 29, 2024)

The Eloy City Council held a work session on January 29, 2024, to discuss the city's critical water resource situation and infrastructure development strategy. The primary focus was on the ongoing effort to secure a 48,545 acre-foot Assured Water Supply designation from the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) and the financial and policy challenges involved in supporting future growth. The session featured presentations from City Engineer David Farton, water attorney Mike Pierce, and staff, followed by extensive public testimony from the development community. (The meeting was scheduled for 4:30 PM and called to order around 5:01 PM.)

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Kevin Peterson (10-8 Business Park): Argued forcefully against the proposed development agreements. He urged the city to maintain total control over its water allocation rather than tying it up in agreements that could be prorated down to unusable levels, effectively preventing any developer from having enough water to proceed. He recommended the city "keep control of your water" and allocate it based on market readiness.
  • Jack Dowdy (Boule Family): Generally agreed with Peterson, stressing the importance of Eloy maintaining control of its water rights. He expressed support for a lighter agreement or petition to demonstrate community backing to ADWR, rather than the binding development agreement currently proposed.
  • Ken Raycraft (Several Property Owners): Echoed the concerns about the draft CAGRD agreement, citing problematic timelines and clawback provisions. He characterized ADWR as a "puppet of the governor's office" and suggested the current strategy of pursuing signed agreements to prove demand was fundamentally flawed from a landowner's perspective.

Discussion Items

  • Status of Assured Water Supply Designation: Attorney Mike Pierce provided a detailed history, explaining that the city is working to restore its full 48,545 acre-foot designation after a previous application sought a reduction to 6,000. He noted that ADWR requires justification of realistic near-term demand and proof of financial capability to construct infrastructure. Staff stated that current active development agreements represent 30,572 acre-feet of demand.
  • New Development Tools: Staff introduced a new "Will Serve" letter process (modeled on the City of Mesa) to provide developers with financial assurances for banks while allowing the city to review water use. A proposed CAGRD Development Agreement was detailed, requiring developers to pay CAGRD dues and construct infrastructure in exchange for a 10-year water reservation.
  • Infrastructure Financing Challenges: Finance Director Brian Wright explained that WIFA, USDA, and similar loans primarily fund repairs of existing infrastructure, not new expansion into undeveloped areas. The city currently pays approximately $264,000 annually in CAGRD membership dues—funded by water ratepayers—to maintain the designation for future development, a cost staff argued should be shared by developers.
  • Ag-to-Urban Legislation: Attorney Pierce highlighted a proposed state bill allowing agricultural landowners to convert their water rights to municipal use, potentially adding a supply on top of the designation. He asked the council to voice support for the legislation.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes or motions were made, as this was a study session.
  • Staff requested explicit policy direction from the council on whether to: 1) Continue aggressively pursuing signed development agreements as proof of demand for ADWR, or 2) Use a petition of support from the development community as an interim step.
  • Council members expressed general support for the concept of maintaining city control over the water allocation, aligning with the core message from the public speakers.
  • Staff will refine the strategy based on the discussion and the feedback received, returning to the council at a future meeting with a revised path forward for the ADWR application.

Meeting Transcript

All right. Good evening, everybody. I'd like to welcome you to tonight's work session here at the Eloy City Council Chambers. It is Monday, January 29th, 2024. The time is approximately 501. I call this meeting to order. Mary, can I get a roll call, please? Councilmember Seton. Here. Vice Mayor Curtis. Here Councilmember Wanowatha Rodriguez. Here. Mayor Powell. Here. Councilmember Schneider. Here. Councilmember Garcia. Present. Councilmember Taranko. Here. If we can all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. One nation under individuals and justice. All right. Any unscheduled public appearances tonight? Probably no. Thank you. And if anybody has any questions or during the presentation, I'll allow that as well too. Next we'll go to item five discussion of City Council Water Resource and Infrastructure Development Update. David Farton. I'm the clerk for tonight. I'm Mr. Mary Myers. David Myers. Okay. Um, let's jump right into this. Uh thank you all, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council for meeting on a work session tonight to go over our current water situation and where we're at. We have been working diligently over the last two years, year and a half, two years with our water attorney, Mr. Michael Pierce, who's in the audience with Gaming June Burnham to help with our modified designation of assured water application that we submitted to ADWR to revise an original 6,000 acre feet back to our 48,545 acre feet that we've held for for many many years. So we've been working with development community, we've been working with landowners to try to put together a package that would suffice ADWR's requirements to keep our 48,500 acre feet to continue to move forward with our growth. Um as you know, everybody's looking for water as they grow in Arizona. So we had held a meeting similar to what you're gonna hear tonight back in September with the development and landowner community to go over exactly what we're gonna be going over tonight. Just to talk to them, get their opinion. It was going to help us to formulate a better response back. We've also have an agreement that Mr. Pierce has helped draw, which is a CAGRD, Central Arizona Replenishment and Groundwater District agreement that focuses around getting water for development. You remember we did those DAs about 20, 25 years ago, back in the early 2000s, mid-2000s. A number of those have since expired without any progress happening on those. We've got a number of them that are still active right now that will be expiring either within the year or within five years or a little bit more than five years. So we're we'll get we'll touch base on some of that later here in the agenda. But uh this agreement was again to resolidify our position with the landowners in the development community that that would help us understand better where development is, how we can get water to it, how much water is going to be part of these projects, and also build in a factor that would so show some type of cost sharing so that the city didn't bear the entire brunt of having to pay for the water expansion, the water lines, the additional upsizing, etc.

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