Apache Junction secures $44M flood control project, approves 11,000-home Superstition Vistas expansion

all right good evening everybody it looks like we we've run out of some chairs which is awesome we got a couple of chairs up here couple of chairs over there so if you got or if you just want to stand in the back that's cool too it's really awesome to see this many people coming to participate in their community in their CI so I'm very glad you all came my name is Aaron mcdermid and I serve as a proud uh member the board of directors for the Apache Junction Chamber of [Applause] Commerce I was told to buy a suit for this event so I did I have never had so many people tell me you clean up well in one evening so on behalf of the entire leadership of Apache Junction and the community I'd like to extend a warm and heartfelt welcome to all of you that made the point to come here tonight we're grateful grateful for your presence as we come together to reflect on where our city stands and to Vision a path forward before we proceed with today's program however we have a very very special treat detective son n now is going to perform the national anthem for us and folks I I heard him warming up and he is amazing so if we could all stand with gentlemen removing your hat oh say can you see but by the dawn's early light what so proudly we held at the Twilight last gleaming who Brad stripes and bright stars through the pess fight or the r and parts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rocket red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet way or the land of the free and the home of the [Applause] praise I told you that was amazing thank you very much thank you today is an important occasion is the mayor's state of the City address this is a time to review the city's progress celebrate our successes and identify opportunities that lay ahead including a proper teleprompter as we move I didn't think it was that funny but thank you as we move through today's program we'll have the privilege of hearing from our esteemed mayor chip Wilson who will share insights on the key initiatives and accomplishments that have defined the past year as well as the Bold steps he and the city council are taking to build a better brighter future Apache Junction is a city that thrives on collaboration Innova Innovation and resilience and today we celebrate the collective efforts that make this city a city we're all proud to call home before we begin with mayor Wilson I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the elected officials and dignitaries present today if you could please stand as I introduce you we have David Romney representing the office of Congressman Andy bigs Taylor Rogers representing the office of US senator Mark Kelly we have Kevin Harkey the mayor of the city of Chandler [Applause] you have Kathy Adam the vice mayor of the town of [Applause] Florence we have Bobby buili vice mayor of the town of [Applause] Gilbert and Kenny Buckland council member of the town of Gilbert Mila bessich the mayor of the town of superior we have Jeff CI the Peno County Board of [Applause] Supervisors Brad Miller panal County Attorney's Office April Pinger torist and Barbara SEO from the central Arizona project [Applause] Dr papalardo I know I saw you superintendent of the Apache Junction Unified School District we have also have their governing board members Dina Kimbell Cammy Garcia Gail Ross and Judy Williamson thank you all for coming I would also like to invite our guests who serve on a city board or commission to please [Applause] stand a very important part of keeping the city running well and we appreciate you doing it if you're attending the uh current class of the city's citizen Leadership Academy could you please stand [Applause] [Music] and of course it seems I'd be remiss not to introduce the city of Apache Junction's assist man assistant city manager Matt Busby stand the back and of course our city manager Bryant pow [Applause] and now as a special acknowledgement to our Apache Junction City Council Members who you will hear about more um during our video presentation just a moment we have council member Daryl cross council member Peter [Applause] heck council member Bambi Johnson council member Tess nesser and council member Brian [Applause] Soler and of course our vice mayor Robert [Applause] Schroeder and without further Ado it is both my privilege and honor to introduce the proud leader of the city of Apache Junction as he delivers the 2025 state of the City address mayor chip [Applause] Wilson well good evening everyone thank you all for being here this is a uh great opportunity to uh let us know let you all know what we're doing and what's going on and uh it is something that uh I'm enjoying doing for the past few years and uh looking forward to next year as well one of the things I wanted to say is you know like in any city of ours where the horses are as common as pickup trucks we take our pride in our Western roots in fact around here horsepower isn't just what's under the hood it's sometime found in the Drive-Thru at the Burger King getting his more morning cup of coffee joking aside in a sense we really enjoy this opportunity to speak to you all getting blinded by that wonderful light up there too so kind of it is one of those things that uh is unique in the aspect where we can talk about what's going on in our community and what we need to do in the future uh one of the things I also want to acknowledge is my dear wife Peggy [Applause] Wilson she's put up with me for 54 years so that's something that's an accomplishment thank you excuse me we want to uh invite you to look at many different things that are on the horizon as we look into the future and highlight just a few of them one of the things I wanted to talk about of course is uh my favorite one of course is like weeks wash you know it is something that we got on the books that we're talking about doing and uh we have just finalized the federal studies that were required for archeologically animal environmental impacts and uh we're still awaiting the uh evaluation of them and uh once they complete these uh evaluations and the studies then we can actually start doing some uh I'll say some pre-work in the aspect out there to uh and of course with FEMA it has to do the reviews as well and uh look at uh the design aspects of it so that we can get going and uh it's taking a lot of time and uh we uh already have acquire acquired over $44 million from the federal government and I want to say a special thank you to uh our Senator Kelly for his assistance in getting that done for us as well it is something that uh is going to affect over 4,000 homes so it's something that we need to do and need to keep moving on forward on uh we have new developments like the Superstition Vistas down to the South um It's a grand total of over 8,000 Acres that were annexed into the City and uh they have planned over 11,000 homes in that area uh so far we've completed uh they have completed and people have moved in over 1500 homes right now today uh it is something that's uh you know unique in that aspect for the community of Apache Junction uh we also have a wonderful park down there uh with uh you know plenty of activities for kids and uh or activity areas I should say for kids and uh they also have this wonderful fishing lake I still call it a fishing pond but that's my upbringing from Back East but uh right now it's a catch and release uh one of my St stories is the aspect is we were down there for the ribbon cutting on it and they were having you know a bunch of children out there and adults were assisting their children in fishing and this young girl C catches a fish it's all excited and dad keeps telling her giving her instructions on how to reel it in well when the fish cleared the water and came out she screamed dropped the pole and took off running dad convinced her to come back and said you know we got to get a picture of you with you're standing beside your fish he's holding the fish out she's standing beside it and all a sudden the fish fish does this she took off a second time but it's an opportunity it's something that we have not had in our community and it's something that's going looking forward to it and I encourage you to go down there and enjoy the the area and the wonderful enies that are going to be down there uh that that's in the cars uh paint Sky Park which is in uh U Blossom Rock subdivision down in that area uh we've just recently purchased some land downtown in uh the old uh I'm going to say I call it the bashes or the Grand Hotel area and uh we're in done some studies and some openhouse uh meetings with the public because one of the things that we want want control over what goes in down there and we want to put in some things that uh we want for the community and this is our way of doing this um you know like a a hotel in there in that Center area of the city and some uh you know nice shops and things along this line and one of the things I think would be fantastic is having an open venue just like this but have the restaurant outside so you can enjoy The View of the superstitions and I think it is something that's a major attraction and it's something that we can work towards uh one of the things that include is a future leadership in our room I don't know if there's anyone from the youth advisory uh commission here but uh it is something that I'm very proud of to be involved with and if you're here go ahead and stand up so we can recognize you yeah there we are they're the Future Leaders of our community and one of the things that uh I'm am going to challenge them in the aspect is you know look into the future and maybe one of these days you can be up here doing this as mayor of the city of paty Junction as well uh one of the things that uh you know has just occurred um those of you that were uh on Meridian Corridor study that just had their first open house yesterday and uh it was uh they're trying to extend Meridian Road all the way from uh uh Baseline all the way down to uh 24 and uh it's going to open up another Corridor in the aspect down and it's something that's uh really we feel is needed and uh last night there was over 176 people that showed up for the meeting this is the first uh several meetings that they're having and right now the comment period of time is open so if you wanted to uh make comments concerning it it is something that you can go on the website and get uh comments and comments concerning it and I encourage everybody to be fully involved in it and it's going to be open until March 11th uh CAC campus has done some improvements and some major new buildings out there they've removed a few older buildings as well and uh they have opened up uh things for doing the I say building in uh uh I say jobs that are related to uh the building industry uh Electrical uh PL Plumbing uh and then also in the health side as well and uh it is something that's uh it was really you know impressive to see the new buildings and everything that's going on and uh I I did notice it in the aspect in for the wiring uh they have pre-board set all up they have to run the wire and make put the switches in and I was talking to one of the people there was doing the instruction they said yes and it has to work if it does it work you don't get a grade uh as you all know we recently purchased the rodeo grounds is rodeo grounds are now ours they're no longer [Applause] BLM this is this is going to open up you know additional venues that we can have while there and uh is something that uh We've also done the study of on some of the improvements that are needed the amenities uh infrastructure and everything that's needed on it to continue this on and it's something that uh I know I I have been into Washington DC and talked to several of our legislators over the years trying to get them to have BLM give this property to us and found out no they can't give it to us you have to buy it so it was a stumbling block on my part but uh we find finally got through the all the studies that were needed to get done to continue it on and uh we're now the proud owners of the rodeo grounds and one of the other things I want to uh talk about in the aspect is uh I recently actually today I recently had the opportunity to represent you to our state legislators we were talking about a bill and how it would impact your community and uh this morning I went before the state legislators the st capital and addressed how this would affect us and uh they they did listen they did make comments concerning it and uh we'll see how it all comes out in the aspect on it Unfortunately they passed it but they passed it from with a a vote of 5 to four and uh they're talking about a huge amendment to it that will basically in a sense remove some of the the I'll say negative effects for our community which is fantastic and I also want to say the aspect of one of the things I noticed Brian O'Neal's back here in the back standing up he's from the uh Mesa Gateway Airport and uh we're we're heavily involved in that with our community and uh it is something I'm proud of in the aspect of seeing that this has gone into a situation where is growing is you know employment is expanded demend tremendously and is something that is great for our community it's a neighbor and uh it's great to for future employment and future opportunities for our entire community and uh Brian I want to say thank you for your leadership in this as well now need to start looking at the aspect of the roots to kick this thing off for the video that's going to be shown this year the video is uh go I want to say is centering around the council member uh this helps you uh get to know your elected council member their passions how they R are making community so special and continuing to keep the Apache Junction this is the special place and we all enjoy and want to keep maintain it so now we'll show the video thank you want to welcome everybody and thank you for attending the state of the city for Apache Junction you're with me today out here in Superstition Basin which is a water retention area we partnered with the the county panel County to help us uh fund this this is going to uh be an area where when we have our heavy rains it's going to uh be able to hold the water actually some it's going to be getting into the aquafer from right here instead of flowing through the city out if you remember the news reports of the lady that was rescu out of her car up against one of the uh um in one of the washes come here hurry hurry get up get out of your thing here wrap this around this there's also a period of time we've had in the past where we've had the police go in and have to rescue a an individual that was trapped along the fence and holding on for dear life because uh the flood waters were going through his uh [Music] property the water retention Basin at the weeks wash uh which is on the Northern edge of the city is still in the planning aspects on it we got this uh $45 million a grant from uh our federal government to help us uh develop this and make build this retention basing we have to secure some BLM land as well as securing some state [Music] land one of my Prime goals is to get the weeks wash retention Basin under construction and breaking ground and get it going hi I'm vice mayor schroer and here I am at the great rodal grounds of Apache Junction right now it looks a little desolate but I'll tell you what in a few weeks this place is going to be going crazy we all invite you to come out for Lost Dutchman days and have a great time so recently the council just unanimously approved a multiphase plan for the rodeo ground the parks and recck department has created a master plan that is going to create an event center for people all over this city and cities all around to come enjoy themselves and have a great time it's going to include more bleachers covered stalls a stage AV infrastructure upgrades everything that you would possibly need to have this to be a premier Event Center this is something the city has been utilizing for many many many years and it's uh it's awesome that we're finally able to call our own shots here create things um have events and just just host a multiple of things to do here at the rodeo ground uh now we can have rodeos throughout the year um any sort of concert events we can have there it's the sky the limit with this property that we have here to be able to um enjoy Southwest life here in AJ the dark sky project is coming along very well the the lighting at the prospector Park is phenomenal it is literally you look at it and you can't believe why haven't we done this before I wanted to bring Dark Skies to Apache Junction because we needed to uh really enjoy where we live we live in a very unique part of the valley we have open Skies desert Landscapes and we wanted to protect that from light pollution when I originally brought this up I was looking for a Citywide initiative um slowly but surely realize that that's just too big of a bite U but we decided as a mayor and Council and the staff to really narrow our Focus to affect the areas that really would benefit from dark sky lighting and I'm very pleased with that good evening everyone Tess nesser uh Patchy Junction City Council we're here at the uh Superstition Mountain Campus of Central Arizona College Apache Junction is growing and instead uh I look at it personally that instead of sending our students out of Apache Junction to have to go to either Mesa Community College evit or even the CAC campus down in kulage why aren't we training them here in Apache Junction for jobs here in Apache Junction so the college has expanded this expansion will allow for Allied Health classes and skilled trade classes some of these classes are nursing assistance Pharmacy photomy medical assistance Radiology sonography the trades that they'll be able to EXP expand to our mechanical electrical Plumbing ceramic and arts CAC has partnered with the Arizona governor's office called the Workforce Development program and working with that program with LG Energy Solutions in this new plant that LG has built this will create jobs for our residents here at Apache Junction so they need to be trained TR to get these jobs and these are for engineers and technicians for production jobs processing equipment technology and quality control and that will provide jobs for hundreds of Apache Junction residents the skilled trades on my list are extremely important they we need electricians we need plumbers uh you name it the jobs are going to be there and the pay is usually very good money so we need students to look at the skilled trades and not just believe that they have to have an academic [Music] education hello I'm council member Brian Sor with the city of Pache Junction I wanted to welcome all of our new residents that are moving into the two exciting new housing plans we have Radiance and Blossom Rock to our lovely city of Apache Junction and I'd like to talk today about some of the exciting programs and things that are going on that we are bringing to the city to help our new residents fit in with our old residents that are up north of the freeway we have several new city parks and they're open to all residents which is really exciting now at Blossom Rock we have painted sky Park which has a 1.5 acre Lake which is a catch and release they also have a 3.5 acre miners run which is a uh obstacle course for children it has uh rope climbs and swings and everything that children would love to play on and they also have Ru Ranch which is a dog park which has three separate sections one for agility one for socialization and one just to have fun Blossom rock is also a very growing Community as well as Radiance and they're going to have a lot more amenities for all the residents of the city Apache Junction we want to have fire and police really quickly available to respond to calls for service the fire district is going to be building a brand new fire district station in Blossom Rock we also have plans to bring a police substation down here to that's going to be really quick to get to Blossom Rock and Radiance residents whenever they need help and the library is also going to be building uh a facility down here to help bring the Library resources to this area also so it's a really exciting time in the city of Apache Junction we are really really happy to be taking our city forward into the [Music] future so hi my name is Bambi Johnson and I am very proud to say that I am one of your city council members I have always been dedicated to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and veterans in general as I am myself an army veteran one of the best ways that we can stay involved and grow our city in the correct direction is through our boards and our commissions because those are filled by our everyday citizens here in Apache [Music] Junction the public Arts commission there're the people that actually are going through they're out developing ideas for the city just like the utility boxes and one of the things that they did and we've already got three at least three of them installed is they went out and off transed up and allowed people to submit designs and these young artists are the ones who designed these beautiful wraps that you see on some of the areas out here those Parks and Rec board that is one of our strongest boards people are fighting and clamoring to get on that board why let's face it just the name parks and wreck who doesn't want a fun time we have a lot of parks here in the area and now with the new developments down south they've got some awesome Parks down there Planning and Zoning another very important board this is where when a new developer comes in here they've got to go be before them and before it ever comes to a city council you have a very dedicated Board of people that are saying how does it fit in the city does it fit with the zoning is this going to make sure that this is a good development that doesn't just mean that it's it looks attractive but is it the right height is it the right look because regardless of everything else we have a master plan that we are very involved with to make sure that AJ Remains the beautiful city that we all love and care for we have opportunities in all areas and all different age groups one of the best opportuni ities for young people and maybe that's their direction to become more involved as they become adults is the youth admin Council now this involves 8 to 12th grade students and they apply for this and they take up to 25 and they have to commit for a full year they become our advisers our youth advisers to the council to the parks and wreck and they are so involved in our conferences that we go to like the league of cities they also are there when we have community events grand openings they are showing up they are becoming the leaders of tomorrow now we also have the Pache Junction Police Department Youth Academy during the summer we have students that are actually learning and bonding with our police departments they are we had a phenomenal year last year one of the highest what we've ever had in participation and these young men and women who knows they may be the next person that comes and helps you when you're in trouble as they're older my name is Peter heck and I'm a member of the city council here in Apache Junction and we are at this beautiful location here that used to be the site of the Grand Hotel which is Iconic in nature just because it was really the focal point of Apache Junction years ago the city developed this master plan back in 2020 and it included and focused heavily on the downtown core so you look back a year ago we were looking at areas and parts of the downtown core that could be explored for development this land this site behind me was an ideal location it provides access uh from residents it's part of our downtown core and it brings with it along with it that iconic nature having been part of the uh the Grand Hotel fast forward one year we had the opportunity and we have since completed the purchase of the 10 acres of this land behind me so now we have the opportunity to explore how we can take advantage of this site to make it a a venue that will be appealing and welcoming to the residents of this city I am I am pleased that our economic development team took advantage of the opportunity to uh look at how we could utilize this site uh there were there were meetings with developers along with me with meetings with all the residents of the city or at least the opportunity to meet with residents and get their input there was a was a consultant swaback and Associates that helped us in this process it's a very uh very comprehensive process takes a long time but it's one that will we we believe will serve us well but one of the reasons that we purchased it and have maintained control is that is just that the city wants to maintain control over this site the city has in its part of its master plan uh a vision for this area that includes uh restaurants shops uh entertainment venues if they sold this site to a real estate developer we would then lose we would lose that control we wouldn't have the opportunity to approve businesses that would come and and set up here in this on this site and that that isn't something that we think would be necessarily be in our best interest we would hope that the developer would would pursue our vision but we want to make certain that that the the vision for this land and this site uh comes with fruition and we'll be at the we'll be in charge of [Music] that well good evening everyone my name is durl cross city councilman for Apache Junction here and welcome to the state of the city [Music] address well the invasive species program that we have going on here in the city is uh in partnership with asu's project cities we've secured grants to help with the funding of being able to go up here into the foothills of the mountain and dig up all the red broom grass that's been uh infiltrating our Mountain Preserve per se and it's a great way to to help eradicate this invasive species another invasive species that we have here in in Apache Junction is stinknet otherwise known as Globe chamomile and everybody will know what I'm talking about it's that really deep green plant that has those little tiny yellow balls on the end of it each plant produces anywhere up to 5,000 seeds so that's why it grows and and spreads so quickly stink net as you know is turns in just to a Green carpet but when it dries out it's just super flammable and it's going to absolutely ruin our um ecos e system so one of the things that we need to do is work with the city and business um Partnerships and formulate a ways to try and eradicate this uh invasive species for those that haven't heard yet we have this new program that's called home sweet home what this is is a a a program in which you can go to the city with um and request a set of pre-drawn blueprints complete set of plans with everything that's needed to build a home from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom with those um this program it substantially reduces the cost to a homeowner and um total cost for permits is less than um $1,500 this is a great opportunity to uh get in and and do some infill in our community well folks this is councilman Daryl cross and I hope you enjoyed the show thank you for coming [Music] [Applause] tonight well I want to say special thanks to all of you for your attendance we will keep moving forward while keeping the small town feel of our great City and enjoying seeing someone riding their horse downtown for their morning cup of coffee tea or uh going shopping at Ace want I say thanks [Applause] again uh thank you again Mr Mayor um want to cover a couple of housekeeping things before I let everybody go for the evening um first the parking lot is very very full so it will probably be a mad house getting out of here if once I let you guys go you could give me a 5 minute Head Start I'd appreciate it um there's a bunch of Swag still left in the back they got some really nice glasses things like that uh so feel free to grab all you need so they don't have to toad it back to the city now this was a great event guys and it didn't happen by accident uh George George goad wave your hands [Music] [Applause] George we got Javier and Matthew over [Applause] here and K Kayla from the city actually sent me my instructions at 1:30 in the [Applause] morning which is another thing that could have been aviated by a teleprompter all right so nice work guys it's been a great event with all that said uh we're going to wrap it up this is what's important this is what makes our city state and Country great is your involvement in your community um so everybody who came tonight thank you for being involved thank you for caring and thank you for for uh for attending with that I'll let everybody have a great evening thank you very much [Music]