Queen Creek Town Council Regular Session – October 1, 2025

The Queen Creek Town Council met in regular session on October 1, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. in Community Chambers, Queen Creek, Arizona. After an executive session, the council approved routine consent items, heard a public comment, reviewed a proposed wastewater capacity fee increase, and recognized the outgoing town attorney. All formal votes during the open meeting were 5-0.

Ceremonial Matters

• Presented the QC Neighborly Award to Encontera, chosen by public voting from three nominated neighborhoods for its Community Service League programs serving neighbors in need.
• Recognized Arizona Cities and Towns Week; Councilmember Benny noted that Arizona has 92 cities and towns and highlighted municipal services such as police, fire, EMS, parks, utilities, and street maintenance.
• The agenda also listed proclamations for Fire Prevention Week and Domestic Violence Awareness Month; the available transcript does not show their presentation.

Committee Reports

• No formal actions were taken. One council member thanked Councilmember McClure for an extremely busy month of community meetings and engagements.

Consent Calendar

• Approved the September 17, 2025 regular session minutes.
• Closed out the Pay-As-You-Go Fund for FY 24-25, including paying a $2,700,000 interfund loan to the Water Operating Fund, transferring $12,588,272 to the General Fund and depositing it into the Infrastructure and Debt Management Reserve, and reversing FY 25-26 transfers from the eliminated fund.
• Accepted a $60,000 Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety grant for DUI/impaired driving enforcement overtime and employee-related expenses, with a $60,000 budget adjustment.
• Accepted a $64,000 Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety grant for Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) overtime and employee-related expenses, with a $64,000 budget adjustment.
• Approved Project Task Order 03 under Contract 2023-004 with WSP USA, Inc. for water and wastewater projects WA308, WA310, WW061, and WW065 in the total amount of $950,242, plus related budget adjustments.
• Approved one-year bedding/shavings contracts, with up to four possible one-year renewals, with Winner's Circle Soil Products, Queen Horse Bedding of Texas, Bay Horse LLC, and Klassen for up to $175,000 annually on an as-needed basis.

Public Hearing Consent Agenda

• The public hearing was opened and closed with no public comments.
• Approved a Sampling Privilege application from Ryan Witner Anderson on behalf of Target #2920 at 37854 N Gantzel Road.
• Approved the requested continuance of P25-0106, a Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to Design Standards, Section 3, requiring buffering adjacent to utility facilities, to November 19, 2025.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Noah James Markham, a Tempe resident, said he had several encounters with Queen Creek police officers and, as a person with a lifelong disability, should not have to fear for his life. He said political violence should never happen in Queen Creek, referenced a case he believed should not have occurred there, and called for continued police education about people with disabilities. He also asked the town to hire more women police officers, provide 8-12 weeks of paid maternity leave and paid leave after miscarriage or abortion, improve firefighter pay, build more Section 8 housing, and address sewer odors.

Discussion Item: Wastewater Capacity Fee Increase

Town staff and consultants presented a proposed update to the town's wastewater capacity fee. The fee is a one-time charge on new development paid at building permit to fund infrastructure needed to serve growth; it is not paid by current residents. The last update was in 2019. Under the proposal, the fee would rise by 112% to approximately $6,100 per equivalent residential unit (ERU).

• Demand and cost context: Using a 10-year state-law planning horizon, staff projected 14,600 additional ERUs across all land uses, equating to about 2.5 million gallons per day (MGD) of new wastewater flow; the current plan funds 2 MGD of treatment capacity. Single-family homes account for 70% of that capacity need, multifamily 17%, and the rest commercial/industrial. About 10,200 single-family homes are expected over the next decade.
• System context: The wastewater system currently has roughly 20,000-25,000 customers, expected to double at buildout. Existing infrastructure is about $165 million, and total buildout is expected to approach $300 million. The Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant currently has 4 MGD of capacity, with a planned expansion to 6 MGD; staff indicated this is likely the last expansion of that facility.
• Cost offsets included: The calculation includes about $2.6 million to lease capacity from Mesa/Gilbert partners, $6.6 million for buy-in to existing infrastructure supporting growth, an assumption that only 80% of the plant expansion is growth-related pending design, and a $10 million Title 42 state lands contribution that reduces the fee. Staff also noted council previously approved moving water replenishment/recharge costs from wastewater to water and a $15 million EPCOR exchange-agreement payment to true up capacity fee revenues for about 4,800 accounts in Ironwood Crossing and Encontera.
• Multifamily methodology change: Staff recommended changing multifamily fees from meter-size-based to 75% of the single-family fee, based on data showing multifamily density/wastewater generation is about 75% of single-family (census data about 79%; town research about 74%). Examples showed a 175-unit project and a 264-unit project paying about the same under the old approach, and a 400-unit project paying less than a 175-unit project. Multifamily projects were paying 4-19% of the single-family fee while generating an estimated 50-94% of single-family flow; the change would significantly raise multifamily fees. Staff credited utilities employee John Vandevorch with identifying the multifamily inequity.
• Large-meter methodology change: For commercial/industrial uses with meters of 2 inches or larger, the town would use project-specific flow analysis and charge the higher of the capacity-based fee or the actual-use-based fee. An example showed a two-inch meter previously charged at 5.33 ERUs/$32,000 that would be re-rated at about 6.7 ERUs.
• Stakeholder input: James Ashley of the Home Builders Association acknowledged that neighborhoods cannot develop without wastewater capacity, thanked the town for transparent stakeholder engagement, and said discussions are continuing on implementation details and the effective date. Councilmembers asked about how past under-collection had been subsidized and how industrial users are handled; staff said the system self-corrects through future fee updates, and discharge standards and pre-treatment requirements apply to large users.

Key Outcomes

• Approved, 5-0, the 60-day Notice of Intention to increase wastewater capacity fees, setting the public hearing for 6:30 p.m. on December 3, 2025, with an intended effective date of January 5, 2026. The notice will be posted on the town website and social media and published in the newspaper for at least 20 days before the hearing.
• Recognized Town Attorney Scott Holcomb's final meeting after seven years as town attorney and 36 years with Dickinson Wright and predecessor firms; Cliff Mattis will begin as the new in-house town attorney at the next meeting.
• There were no other final actions; the meeting adjourned after town manager remarks.