Apache Junction approves 129-unit Diamonte townhome subdivision, raises CFD assessments, advances $44.5M flood project

I'd like to call city of Apache Junction council meeting of April 21st, 2026 to order and ask everyone to put their cell phones on silent. Brian, the invocation will be led by Cong Congressman, excuse me, by council member Solar and the pledge by Councilman Hec. Our Father, who art in heaven, we ask thee bless this meeting, endow us with thy spirit. May all our actions and decisions be guided by thy hand that we may be fair and just to all.

Bless our council police fire emergency medical, military personnel, city employees, and our citizens. We ask this in thy name. Amen. Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Mayor Wilson here. Vice Mayor Schroeder present. Council member Cross here. Council member Hec here. Council member Johnson here. Council member Ner is excused this evening.

Council member Ser here. You have a quorum, your honor. Thank you. As a reminder, under the consent agenda approval with one motion, if a council member wishes to remove an item for further discussion, requests will be made prior to approving the consent agenda and will be moved to new business, your honor. Yes. I move that the consent agenda be accepted as presented with the exception of items number 7 through 12 being pulled for further discussion. Moved and seconded. Roll call.

Council member Ser. Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council member Cross. Yes. Council member Hec. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Excuse me. I apologize. At this time, I'd like to address the agenda item number 22 and 23 under new business and call Zach to come up forward and do a presentation discussions of resolutions number. Excuse me, your honor. Uh we're going to uh discuss items 7 through 12. They were pulled from the agenda.

So, we need to have call on Mike Loggins to come up and explain that. We have to do those first before we can move on. Thank you. All right. So, we're going to be doing 7 through 12. Mike, mayor Wilson, council members, Mike Loggins, public works director, city of Apache Junction, 300 East Superstition Boulevard, Pache Junction, Arizona 85119. Uh, just want to get up in front of you. We pulled a couple items from the consent. I just want to make sure you're aware why we pulled those tonight.

Uh the first two uh items that we left alone was the beginning which was 2614 and 2617 which no language changed in those. Those those were the formations of districts uh that we were changing and the language in those stated that what we're changing is in the next one is in 2015 2615. There's language in there saying that we are forming a district again. Well, we're not forming a district. We still are doing the scrier's error, but we are stating where the street lights are added.

And I provided that detail in the information to you guys in a redline comments I gave here earlier. And also 2616 again is whereas clause that we have in there. It needs to change from formation of a district to adopting the budget of that the final budget for that district. So we we had to make those corrections. We want to make sure we had a clerical call and we got those cleaned up before we had the final resolutions result in those.

These also took place in 2618 resolution and then resolution 2619 on the final budget for those also. So all those were changed but I want to make sure those clerical errors you guys seen ahead of time. They were redlined and then they are in the final resolutions presented to you tonight. So Mike, if I can just ask a clarifying question. So nothing changed from what the present what was presented last night as far as the scriveners errors.

It was just the documents attached to the agenda had some incorrect language that's now corrected so they can vote on the correct language. That is correct. Any questions? No. Yeah. Yes. Is the correct language on the computer on the website now? I don't think so at this point. Once the agenda is published, we can't change what what was uploaded. Okay. But what you will be voting on and approving tonight will be corrected language. Okay. So, do I have a motion on this?

This is seven or your honor? Yes. I move that resolution number 2614 amending the correcting amending and correcting resolution number 2306 and resolution number 26-17 amending and correcting resolution number 23-23 be approved. Second moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Johnson. Yes. Council member Cross. Yes. Council member Hec. Yes. Council member Ser. Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Now for 8 through 12 are 8, 9, 11, and 12.

Items numbers. Mayor. Yes. You want a resol or a motion? Yes. Okay. I move that resolution number 2615 amended and corrected. Resolution number 23-07. Resolution number 26-16 amended and corrected. Resolution number 23-08, resolution number 26-18, amending and correcting resolution number 23-24 in resolution number 26-9. Amending and correcting resolution number 23-25 be approved with the clerical changes as announced by the public works director Mike Loggins. Second. Moved and seconded.

Roll call. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council member Hec. Yes. Council member Ser. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes. Council member Cross. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Now that we got consent agenda all cleared up, I uh would like at this time address the agenda items number 22 and 23 under new business and call on Zack. Presentation is discussion of resolution number 26-11. Mayor, councel, good evening. Zach Sikis. I'm uh an attorney at Greenberg Troy.

I serve as bond counsel and CFD counsel to the city. I also serve as special district counsel to each of the CFDs. Uh mayor, with your permission, I'll address both both items if that's okay since they they're essentially very similar. Um, at the time that these two community facilities districts were formed, an agreement was entered into between the city, each district, and the respective developer or homebuilder for the district.

And that kind of spelled out the rules of the road for the district, including how uh infrastructure would be acquired, target property tax rates for each district, um assessment amounts per lot, and other other provisions regarding how the districts would function and interact with the city and the developer.

Um, in light of some recent uh plaintiffs class action lawsuits, the county assessor has changed how it assesses uh new homes when they're put on property on the property tax roles, resulting in lower valuations and therefore reducing the bonding capacity of these districts. The developer in or home builder in each group has requested an increase to the CFD property tax rate. No city property tax rate, just to be very clear.

the CFD property tax rate um in each district from in the case of district one from $3.30 to $5 and in the case of district 2 $3.85 to $5. Each district will also continue to levy a 30 cent operation and maintenance tax for district operations. So the the total property tax levied again solely within each district would be $5.30. Uh each developer has also requested an increase in the assessment amount per lot to increase that to $12,500 per lot.

Uh and in the last portion of this the proposed amendments in front of council tonight, uh the at the time that the land was auctioned by state land, the state land department imposed some some heavy uh requirements that the winning bidder constructed some significant infrastructure improvements. Right now, the CFD development agreements permit uh payment for projects completed and you have to sort of submit them for CFD financing within a 10-year period.

Some of these projects are so large um it's referred to as the backbone infrastructure in the agreement from state land that the backbone infrastructure only would be permitted a 15-year submittal period for CFD financing. Uh representatives of both Dr. Horton and Brookfield are here tonight to speak to CFD number one or CFD number two as applicable. Um, and then happy to answer any any questions that council may have.

I would like to know if the if they would be willing to amend that 12,000 to 9,000 and look at it again in the future should they decide that that is not enough in the future after actually deciding where those costs are rather than anticipating what they're going to be for five full years. I'll I'll let the developer group respond to that. Council member, thank you. Mayor, members of the council, Patrick Brown, city manager with Dr. Horton.

The address is 7689 uh North Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale, Arizona. Um, Council Member Johnson, at this time, we wouldn't be here if we thought further ahead when this was originally uh formed and gave us the wiggle room. As uh as we do special assessment um issuances, we will come to the CFD board for those approvals based off of those amounts.

The other thing I've failed to mention uh during the CFD board meeting was we still have to have the property valuation in the district in that you know this the special assessments in smaller areas. It's the individual lot assessments um and to issue up to those dollar amounts you have to have either a 4:1 or a 6 to1 valuation on the property to meet those as well. So there's an other governor on the ability of us to issue up to that 125.

So I can tell you that is our request is to go to the 125. I think as I mentioned earlier, we are going to take it step by step. In our case, section 19, we are not increasing those um amounts because we think that that's going to be a a challenge from a sales perspective to say one parcel right down the street from the other. But when we go north of Warner, that's when we anticipate those additional costs to be levered. Um, we are the homebuilder.

We are very focused on making sure that our property tax rate is not out of line. We are here to try to sell 500 to 600 units a year. And the last thing I'm going to do is try to turn it off by taxing those residents more than that is their fair share. Mayor, council, any other questions where I could be helpful? Anyone else? Thank you. Okay. Do I have a motion on resolution number 2020 26-11? Your honor. Yes.

I move that resolution number 26-11, resolution of the mayor and city council of the city of Apache Junction, Arizona, approving and authorizing the execution and delivery of a first amendment to district development, financing participation, waiver and inter intergovernmental agreement for superstition business community facilities district number one and authorizing other actions in furtherance of this resolution whether hereto for or hereafter taken. be approved. Second. Moved and seconded.

Roll call. Council member Cross. Oh man. I do agree with Council Member Johnson and the jump is excessively high, but I also know that we need to move forward. So, I'll say yes. Council member Ser. Yes. Council member Hec. Yes. Council member Johnson. I'll vote no because I think 5 to 12 going from 5,000 to 125 it's too high. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes 5 to one. I'm going to ask a question on a side. Our next one is the resolution and the number is 2613.

You are correct. Okay. because it's wrong in our notes here. All right. Uh, I have a motion for resolution number 2613. Mayor, yes.

I move that resolution number 2613, a resolution of the mayor and city council of the city of Apache Junction, Arizona, approving and authorizing the execution and delivery of a third amendment to the amendment and restated district development financing participation waiver and intergovernment agree agreement for the Superstition Vista's community facility district number two and authorizing other actions in furtherance of this resolution whether here to or here for or hereafter be taken be approved.

Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council member Hec. Yes. Council member Ser. Yes. Council member Johnson. No. Same reason as before. Council member Cross. Yes. Mayor Wilson? Yes. Motion passes 5 to one with one abstained. Okay, now we'll go on to presentations of awards and proclamations. And I have two here. First one's going to be National Arbor Day. Whereas in 1872, Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for planting of trees.

And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with planting more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cutting heat and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing lifegiving oxygen, providing habitat habitant for wildlife.

And whereas trees are a renewable source for giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, countless other wood products, trees where they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now therefore, I, Chip Wilson, mayor of city of Apache Junction, do hereby proclaim April 26 as National Arbor Day. I was just going to ask who I give it to. They are. Thank you, Mayor Liz Langbach, parks and recreation director for the city.

Um we just wanted to share a couple of quick um points with you. So we've celebrated this week um our staff had a tree planting at Desert Vista where they also did a major education opportunity for the students there. About 60 students got to join in.

And um additionally, previously on April 11th, we had our um annual Earth Day and Ladybug release where staff shared a lot of really great information about um tree care as well as tree recommendations that folks can do in their own homes um as well as guidance and planting of those.

Uh this week on Friday, we will be um having our read and wreck with the fabulous library and the parks and wreck department will team up um where they'll be learning more about Arbor Day and then um also doing planting activities at Prospector Park. That's from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. And then myself and staff will be at the state capital um this Friday as well accepting our um renewal of our Tree City USA recognition that we're super proud of.

again for the second year in a row we also received the growth award which is doing um above and beyond activities and events um in the categories in order to be able to get that. So thank you so much for this. Thank you very much. Okay. Youth week.

Whereas relevant and protective order uh of the Elks has designated May 1st through 7th, 2026 as Youth Week to honor Americans junior citizens for their accomplishments and to give fitting recognition of their services to the community, state, and nation. And whereas Apache Junction Elks Lodge number 2349 will sponsor an observance during the week to in tribute of junior citizens of this community.

And whereas no event could be more deserving of our support and participation than one dedicated to these youth, young children or young people, excuse me, who represent the nation's greatest source and who in years ahead still assume the responsibility for advancement of our free society.

And whereas our youth need the guidance, inspiration, and encouragement which we alone can give in order to help develop these qualities of character essential for future leadership and to go forth to serve as serve America. And whereas to achieve this worthy objective, we should demonstrate our partnership with youth, our understanding of their hopes and inspirations and sincere willingness to help prepare them in every way for responsibilities and opportunities of citizenship.

Now therefore, I, Chip Wilson, the mayor of city of Apache Junction, do hereby proclaim the week of May as excuse you week 1 through 7th. May May week 1 through 7. That's who I was expecting. I speak. I did not speak. Go ahead. Thank you. Okay. Uh, regional intergovernment updates, regional meetings from updates from council.

Yes, I know it's going to be brought up probably several different ways this Sunday, but I just wanted to thank everybody that participated and put together the uh Boys and Girls Gala event this uh last Saturday for it's our major fundraiser for our Boys and Girls Club and u it was a huge success with at this point over $196,000 have come in with still more monies trickling and and so hats off to everybody that participated and all the hard work that went into putting it together. So, thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? All right. I've got a few in the aspect on it. Uh today we did the uh uh Apache Junction Water Festival out at uh excuse me, keep getting a tickle here at uh Prospector Park and uh we had an opportunity to see well over a hundred kids out there and I have a short video showing them getting a wonderful spray down. And the kids love it.

And it's something that's fun to watch in the aspect on it for the kids, but it's something for them to to learn about how we, you know, basically get and treat our water, how it happens. And uh it's fun to even listen in on some of the the classes as the kids are going through. And uh it is uh we had uh the unified school districts here and then also superior was in as well.

And uh it was a a great and I forgotten now how many you said for number of kids but uh there was a lot of kids there as you can see. Okay. Now then, uh this past week we had the uh Americanism Awards dinner from the American Legion and we were presented a check for uh grand total of $6,000. It's going to be given to uh the uh uh friends of Apache Junction. Um, and there 2,000 for parks and wreck, 2,000 for the wounded officer and 2,000 for the AJ Police Department.

And if I can get park and police, you have to give it to friends of Junction. It's not It's not the big cardboard one. Does that doesn't he? You may all cover up. Oh well. Then the uh at the awards we had the three award participants or award uh people that were awarded. We got a person for uh education, Tara Williams, and uh firefighter paramedic from uh the uh Superstition Fire District, uh Matt. And uh police officer of the year was uh Richard Rivera.

And uh it was uh really unique in the aspect of you know what was going on there. And they were talking and what all they were involved in. uh would have had a long speech for each one of them as to what they were doing but uh it was a unique aspects of recognizing outstanding uh performance as well. And one of the things that uh I unfortunately I guess was singled out in this one and uh I can't say unfortunately it was surprisingly okay and I did not know it was coming.

Uh I was recognized for my service and I was given this wonderful cane that I'm going to be using here in a few months any aspects on it but it's showing my service in the military in a number of years that I had and eagle handle is fantastic and it was really a surprise guys.

They also presented me with the award for a you know commitment to the city and to the military in or this US uh service in the aspect on it and it was uh very unique in the aspect on it and it totally surprised me and got the little bit of the war story and then the speech was that they had to go to China to get my DD4 214. Well, come to find out, they made a telephone call to my wife and she hid it from me. So, I didn't know it occurred that they wanted a copy of it.

And uh when I went out on one of the meetings I was at, she snuck away from the house and gave it to them and everything. So, that's how they got my service record. You want to say something? Yeah. One other thing we all attended was most of us attended was the Lost Dutchman Days uh marathon dinner and it was really nice and at that dinner they give out uh uh checks to everything from sports youth sports to the food bank and I think they do parks and wreck. Uh it was really nice.

They bring in money all year long and then they generously give the money back out to the community and the the groups that support our community and our residents and it was really nice to to attend that again this year.

So it's a really really worthy cause and it was a lot of fun and it's something that's really unique in the aspect of the amount of money that they have gone given back to over the was it 25 years they've done this is slightly over a million dollars that they have given to our different uh youth groups and involvements throughout um our community. So it's been something that they have really been fantastic with in the aspect on it.

So this was something that was really fantastic to see and continuing on for some more in the near future. Okay, city manager report. Thank you, your honor, Brian Pal, city manager. And just a huge thank to the parks and recreation department, police department helped make this happen so well and without any injuries and the amount of support is just incredible. And then I just wanted to highlight one of our own um in economic development.

Brock Sepherson was honored within his own peers and we did not submit this. his own peers submitted him to be the um bias peers of the neighboring Arizona municipalities in Arizona Association for Economic Development as the um young professional of the year. So, I wanted to highlight him and he and he and Ryan are doing great work in the world of economic development. And then I'd like to turn the rest of my time over to Eli for uh current events. Okay. Good evening, Mayor, City Council.

Uh two things to highlight tonight. First being it's free dump week. Again, this is going to be um May 4th through 9th on those dates at our Apache Junction landfill. This is a quarterly event. Um most people pretty used to the requirements here. It's one uh truckload of refuse and few other things to make sure safety equipment um proper identification.

So, if this is your first time attending, take the time to go online and and make sure you have a plan um to take advantage of this and have everything straightened out so that you can um get one free uh truckload of dump at our landfill. Um this next event, something that um a lot of staff are excited about. I believe this is our third year of this construction expo. Um third year, third venue. It's It's going to be this year just behind the Rusty Buckle near Flat Iron Park.

Um there'll be a better map that comes out here in the next uh few days, but just to give everyone a rough idea of what we're looking to do with parking. Um some of that land south of the event space will be actually um some heavy equipment will come in and flatten it so that there'll be some parking there. We're hoping people can enter and off of the trail. um keep things nice and smooth coming in and out of the event.

As for the event itself, um Leslie, who's kind of our mastermind here, told me that, you know, this is a flyer. We wish it was we could put more on here. There's a lot that she's doing here for this day and and some new sponsors, some new activities.

Really the goal is to um engage youth all the way from you know toddlers to teenagers and and also to to give people a chance to be informed a little bit as to um um as you know what what we do safety um within the community with construction and and how we create partnerships to um to better Apache Junction. So, a lot here to look at and consider, but a really a favorite event among staff. Um, and that is it for current events this week. Thank you, your honor. Okay.

Um, public hearings consideration application for a new series 10 beer and wine store liquor license for a Circle K store number 9288. Evie. Thank you, your honor. Evie McKenna, city clerk. This evening, we have a new series 10 beer and wine store liquor license application that was submitted by agent Maria Burgess uh representing the Circle K store number 9288. This is a brand new Circle K on the northeast corner of Ironwood and Ray Road.

The Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control received the application on March 16th and forwarded it to the clerk's office the same day. The applicant was notified by a first class letter and email of the public hearing tonight and was encouraged to attend. We also posted the public hearing notice at the establishment on March 23rd, 2026 to comply with state law requirements.

I would like to add that because this is basically a dirt lot, there was no fence, no structure, there was nothing there to post our public hearing notice on. By statute, it does have to be posted. And so we had to contact the um the business and ask them to go out and put something up for us. And so that's the first time that we've had to do that. It was interesting. correspondence related to inspections of premises from our four safety entities.

The police department, building and safety, planning and zoning, and the fire district all uh responded with compliance within their inspection requirements and recommend this for approval. Uh tonight, you have the option to make the recommendation for approval or denial to the Arizona State Liquor License and Control on this application. It does need to be submitted back to the liquor board by May 15, 2026. and I'm happy to answer any questions. I am not certain if there is anyone here.

Doesn't appear to be anyone here for representation. All right. Any discussion from city council? There is. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Mayor and Council, Jordan Ridberg, Circle K stores, 1130 West Warner Road, Tempe, Arizona 85284. Uh before you tonight is our series 10 beer and wine application uh for a brand new store at the northeast corner of Ironwood and Ray. It will be a 5700 square foot convenience store uh with seven fuel dispensers.

Happy to answer any questions that you have about the project. Any questions? No. Welcome to the area. Okay, since we have no questions from you. Thank you. I will now open the public hearing. There's a fivem minute time limit with a one minute warning that you will hear. Please state your name and address for the record. Anyone want to speak on this? And I see no movement. I will now close public hearing and ask for a motion. Mayor, yes.

I move the application for a new series 10 beer and wine store liquor license for Circle K store number 9288 located at 10351 South Ironwood Drive, Apache Junction, Arizona be recommended to the Arizona Department of Liquor Licensing and Control for approval. Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Hack. Yes. Council member Cross, yes. Council member Johnson, yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder, yes. Council member Ser, yes. Mayor Wilson, yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Welcome.

Presentation discussion public hearing, and consideration of ordinance number 1574. Nick. Thank you, your honor. I'm Nick Leitch, planner of the development services department of the city of Apache Junction and I'll be presenting the staff presentation for P2559PZ, the Diamonte Homes Adacia project and the relevant ordinance 1574 tonight after which the applicant is also here and they have an applica they have a presentation as well to be able to answer questions.

The subject property of this resoning is approximately 8 acres located between southern acacia star and old west highway which Diamonte Homes intends to develop with a 129 lot town home subdivision. As a matter of clarification, as I've gotten some questions, uh this is not apartments. This is not a builder rent community. Each of one of these uh town homes would be on a individually platted lot for individual ownership for ownership. uh occupancy um the property.

This, excuse me, this is a uh zoomed out image just showing a little bit more context. We have Goldfield on the east side. The property is is eight parcels that are currently split between three different zoning districts. There is on the west side four parcels that are zoned highdensity resident multiple family residential by plan development RM1 PD which was approved for a town home subdivision about 20 years ago that was ultimately just never developed.

And there are three vacant B1 general commercial properties that have never been developed. And then there is the last parcel is a RSGR general rural lowdensity residential property that previously had a single family home on it that had since been demolished. Shown here is the general plan land use designation with what was previously noted about the zoning.

Half of the site is already designated for highdensity multiple family residential and this resoning would just convert the commercial portion to be highdensity residential as well to accommodate this resoning. Shown here is a site plan. Again, it is 129 lots. Each home would have a twocar garage. The site itself provides amenities such as and providing good. This is a challenging site to develop as we have looked at it. There has not been much commercial Washington field Commissioner question.

Just wanted to ask did they are we looking at the entrance now being on stars since you could turn on to 60 I mean on to both options are provided for the city council's discretion tonight.

Uh the applicant is prepared to talk about why it was origin the idea was that there could circulation as it goes northward on there is a med lighting star as it goes northward that will allow a turn around and be able to divert traffic further north back into town but the plan was thinking that most traffic would just head south uh in order to get to the freeway but the original intent was so that more of our residents would be able to more easily access uh the rest of the city so either option is available Uh the applicant is prepared to advocate for their preferred plan, but uh it is a matter of the council's discretion.

Mr. Mayor, real quick, I'm sorry to interrupt. Just make sure your mics are on. We had a little reset again. So if they're showing red, just click it again. So do we have to make a stipulation as to it being on Acadia in the motions or what? Yes.

So, uh the two site plans have been dated the original proposal and as it was presented to the planning and zoning commission within the staff court and the conditions of approval as noted in ordinance 1574 uh was with the original January 26, 2026 site plan in mind. Now, condition 9 did indicate that they would work with staff to provide an ultimate plan and that is still the case. They did so.

Uh but if if the April 7 plan is to be adopted, then it would need to be done by amendment to the recommended conditions of approval on the ordinance so that it is worded to include the approval of this site plan. So, ADI is the one from January what? January 26. That is correct.

And that is what the conditions of approval were to and on that one you can only go when you're going out the the highway you can only go right on star only go right which is the one that you can cross over y no the original plan the January 26 plan has the primary access being on acacia which would allow for movement would go northward But they would be able to access the turnaround on star.

But if we look at the if we look at the star access on the second plan because it doesn't align and right now there is currently a drainage structure right here. So we looked at uh at the at the questions that we received from the city council at the work session two weeks ago. We looked at what could be done with a different median break. But we see that there there are a lot of traffic conflicts that occur right here where we need to introduce a second median break.

There's currently drainage structure. Uh that is what routes this wash through. And um so with this star with the second site plan, if they were to exit out onto Star, they would need to go southward towards Goldfield in order to turn around. The same Goldfield area that we've had so many issues with. That would be correct. Thank you. So Acacia, they're going to put the road all the way through and up. No. Or you're going to have to go south. You're have to go south.

No, it goes all the way up with Acacia. There is currently access on Acacia. And so they would be able to go northward and to be able to turn around at the star median break, which just because of the alignment and the way things are is further west than where the star axis would be able to get to. So it's not dead end right there. It's going to go all the way up the old west highway. That's correct. Yes. Okay, your honor. Yes. Automation.

So, on the March 24th meeting, the 4 to3 vote to approve, was that approved on the star entrance? No. The entrance or is it either one we're fine with? They they had proposed a condition to consider the star entrance, but they recommended the approval as it was being presented that night with the acacia entrance. So they recommended approval with the acacia entrance and then now that acacia road that goes up is that not an extinguished rightway does that not fall into someone's private property?

There is an extinguished rideway as we uh on half of the road and we have worked with our public works department in order to to determine what would need to be done to so to say they can use that road to go up is not accurate. Right at this time it has been we we went through the documentation to find it's been in use for 40 years. Um even with the the status of the extinguishment.

So there is still active roadway right ofway uh that extends northward to old west highway but there are some ownership issues that need to be worked out with the city as we as we look at acacia road right there. Okay. So, the the planning and zoning commission um recommended to change change the layout to have the Star Road entrance um to use Star Road as an entrance and the developer created that that layout for them. But you're saying now that approval is based on the Arcadia entrance.

They provided the planning and zoning commission introduced a stipulation a they they added a recommendation that the applicant would work with staff in order to create a second site plan. It was not something that they had seen and voted on that night. But they they provided this as an alternative. And the way it was worded in their forwarded recommendation is that they would at least they would consider they would work with uh to show uh what alternate access on star would be.

But the plans that were presented and uh that were voted on in condition one would have been the original January 26th plans. But the applicant did comply with that recommendation to create another plan to see what what could be so that that could be forwarded to the city council tonight and that was presented at the planning zoning meeting. Both options. No. No. The second option had not it had been prepared. Could you allow him to answer me? Vice Mayor Schroer.

the the second option had only been created after the planning and zoning created their or forwarded their recommendation of approval in compliance with the recommendation of condition 9. Thank you. Now that section can we go back to that picture Matt? That road that goes up from where it stops here. What's the condition of it and who's going to fix it so it can support all the traffic coming up and going north? Right there. And it doesn't look like it's a wellmaintained road to me.

Who's going to fix it? And who's going to make it a well-maintained road for all these people coming out that want to go north? You mean this portion? Yes. That portion right there. Who is who is going to be in charge of that? We have our our city engineer, Emil Schmidt. I've driven that road myself and I know it is it needs some work, but it has been maintained by the city and so if I could bring up public works is Emil Schmidt to be able to more properly identify and answer that question.

Mayor, uh, council members Emil Schmidt, city engineer. Um there is uh an existing road surface on acacia. It is on the west side which would be technically in trespass on private land. I believe that rightway was vacated back in the 1980s if uh if I can my memory serves me correctly.

Um, one of the comments that we typically have for developments is that they build their half streetet improvements along their frontages, which in this case would mean Star Road, Southern, and Acacia on the east side of what would be the ultimate road center line. I also asked as a uh as a comment that they extend that off-site improvement on Acacia north to Old West Highway.

We required the same of the Gold View subdivision years ago on Star Road where they extended the east half of Star Road north to Old West Highway uh in anticipation of that traffic from that neighborhood being used. So same uh condition, same requirement was being applied here. that road that they would build would be on the right side of Aacia where we do still have an existing federal patent easement that we can use for road purposes and that could be wide enough for two two-way traffic.

Um we could make it work for two lanes of traffic. Yeah, we would need a minimum of 24 feet uh of pavement width for two-way traffic in either direction, but we can make that work. So that might uh you know help eliminate or alleviate that uh trespass problem on the existing road. Thank you. So it will be the city that that takes care of that road. To my understanding it has been operated as a city road and under city maintenance. You're on. Oh, sorry.

Mayor Cindy Rice, development services director. Sorry, I'm a little bit sick. Um, Brennan has an additional insight. Uh, he is the attorney who is representing his client for this development. It probably be helpful to have him up here and uh present uh what they are proposing. Your honor, still would like to ask Nick a couple questions. On Star Road, from this picture right here, you have a a turn to the right. so that it's obvious you're going to make a right turn from that point there.

Could they make a dedicated crossover to go north or westbound on Highway 88? Cheaper option than rebuilding the road all the way up. Email back up. Excuse me if I may question. It is an item that we discussed with the public works department as it's one of their development items. Um if I could ask him to help answer that one. Uh mayor, council members. Um yes, it would appear that that possibility is there.

uh the way that uh that Star Road northbound lane is aligned, we wanted traffic to approach Old West Highway in a perpendicular manner so that you're not at a whoops skewed angle, not being able to see oncoming traffic. Uh the intent with this arrangement was uh Star Road northbound traffic would take a ride on Old West Highway.

uh when the Gold View subdivision came in and developed that part of Star Road, there there weren't any uh wasn't any discussion either way, you know, for or against of having a median break or crossover at that location. Uh but technically, as we look at it now, yeah, it would be possible to do that. And if we choose not to do that because of the way the the ground is right there, anybody in a high clearance vehicle can just drive right across that.

Or are we going to put up, you know, guardrail or cable barrier to pre prevent people from crossing over the median ill? Sure, we we could prevent uh we we could put up some type of a traffic control device to prevent that crossing movement. Do we have to as a city or is that something that we're going to have the the contractor do? Um, so is that our standard to do? Let's be careful how we answer that exactly. I think we're going down a path that we're not sure of.

I would have to drive out there to see because typically on a situation like this, when you're approaching uh an intersection where you can only go one way, there would be a sign posted on the other side, one of those black and white that says one way with an arrow direction pointing to where you should go. That should be there at a minimum.

If we look at Tomahawk and Old West Highway, we have put up a lot of cable barriers along there because a lot of people were forever in their day cutting across the median going to the restaurant that used to be on the southwest corner there. Um, you know, now that the cable lings up and the restaurant's gone, it's not an issue, but I could see that becoming an issue here. Or we put a dedicated crossover. Yeah.

And there and depending on how we wanted to uh mitigate that particular issue, you know, there there's a thousand ways to skin a cat. I could think of a hundred. Thank you. You bet. Want to bring up Yeah. If there's any more, no more questions for staff. Uh, good evening chair chair, sorry. Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Brendan Ray, 2329 East Camelback here on behalf of Diamonte Homes.

We're certainly very excited to be able to talk to you tonight about a forale owner occupied um platted development. Um we believe that this is um providing another ownership opportunity within the town within the city, excuse me. I know you guys have been uh request I've stood before you and requested for um rental product, but this is again 129 owner occupied product as we look at it. certainly grateful for staff and their work with us.

Um, I know things got a little bit jumbled there and so I'm going to try to do what I can to kind of talk about access. I won't talk about the zoning. I can if I need to. You're all familiar with the site. I can talk about the site plan in detail if you would like. 129 units, huge drainage channel running through the middle of the site that affects its viability.

Um, I can go into a lot of depth to the extent that you all would like me to about the development itself, but I think Nick and uh has done a good job describing it. I can certainly talk about the architecture as well, but what I really want to focus on is where I think the discussion ended relative to access as we look at access and what it is. So, this you're all very familiar with the site today.

Um this is kind of a zoomed up closer view of it taken from the panel county uh assessor's website uh with the site being in the lower hand uh side of the screen the right hand side and so as you look this is aacia road that goes north and one of the things that I'll point out is there is a roadway there but as you all are very familiar just because a roads there doesn't necessarily mean it's legal doesn't necessarily mean that it's legal for the public to use.

There are various uh roadways that can be obtained whether it's through public rights of way or whether it's through prescriptive easements through use of private property but with a prescriptive easement that runs to um and over the property doesn't necessarily give the public per se a right as you look at it. So when you look at this site what I've illustrated here is where there is public rightway.

That area that's grayed out with a black box that's on the assessor's website is public dedicated rideway. what you see to the north, that is private property. Um, that is to the north of there. Um, I certainly can't speak to any federal patent easements and access and stuff. All I know is that's private property today. I can't speak to the title of what might exist on it.

Uh, we understood as as your engineer stood up that that rideway had been vacated a while ago and that there was no access that was planned to ac um from this site as far as public rights of way. the property that little triangle that's immediately east of it that too is private property as well as you look at it. So let's talk about the different access points because at the commissions um the discussion was kind of focused on with acacia road again being a road that's there.

There is a pavement surface that's there but people wanting to drive out of there. We don't have any problem agreeing uh or via another stipulation to put signage. Uh if I can go back one uh give me one second. We have no problem stipulating agreeing to signage that says private property uh at the edge of this line. Um you know public right away this way kind of thing to help the public know what the city owns and controls versus what actually is private property today.

So again, as we look at Old West Highway and Star, you can see there that it's kind of this interesting configuration. As was pointed out, there is what I will call a pork shop there that forces the traffic to the uh east that right-hand turn. Um people are able to make a right in uh heading southbound OnStar or they can make a right out. There is no full movement access.

And as you look here, it'd be uh quite a feat, an engineering feat, complying with standards and safety regulations to try to make Star Road a full access movement. Um, again, notwithstanding people driving across center medians, as I heard Council Member Cross say, or someone else might have said it, but I I can't speak to that. But I know that what you've got is you've got a road coming in from the north, you've got another road uh over in this area.

And so when you talk about road and access and full movements, um you want to make sure everything lines up. And so there is a number of conflicts here that would um not impossible but greatly impede making this a full movement access because part of the discussion at the commission was how do we get also people back to uh city uh center and and and back west as well. So let's just say somebody takes a ride out of there on Star Road because legally that's what they're supposed to do.

Then it comes down to uh I'm not even sure how you would describe this intersection. I believe council member Johnson pointed out the perils of this intersection and how it operates as it comes off uh in there. I I can't even call it a three-legged intersection because there's so many legs and so many angles to this thing that uh conceivably having an access on Star Road thereby might encourage people to take Star Road and then come down here.

Your only opportunity to take a Uturn uh really if you wanted to make a U-turn, which would probably be inadvisable at this location, uh would be here at Old West Highway and Goldfield. And you can see uh it's pretty fraught with people coming north and making that uh you know, following the bend in the road to get on to Old West Highway as you look at it and head that direction. So, a lot of challenges there.

So that as we look at this um if we say hey everybody go to star uh and that's your best chance to get to the city center. Uh you can kind of see here I've kind of mapped out kind of the natural path of least resistance if somebody wanted to go um back to um the city center. Um again using Star uh road and you can see there there's one options you head down to Goldfield and then you're on the 60 and there's no guarantee that anybody's going to get off at the 60 to be able to head north.

The other option for them would be to head south and then you're going to come across 28th Avenue uh and then jump on Goldfield to be able to head back north. That certainly is a viable option when we're talking access in Star Road. But as we looked at it, we kind of felt that there's a better option, which is why we initially had lots of discussions with staff about the Acacia Road entrance because it gives us a number of different options.

The first um option for somebody to make a movement at a full uh to make a left-hand turn at a full movement access would be at Old West Highway and Cortez. You can see there there's a full median break that's there. Someone could very easily head out of of our Acacia entrance, head south, then go west on southern. And if they wanted to go north, they could easily go up to Cortez uh and make that lefthand turn at an already established existing full movement intersection.

Um from there, you can kind of see bigger picture-wise.

Um we believe the path of less resist least resistance uh is actually southern uh and that you can someone takes southern uh all the way and you can see there's a number of of north south roads that would allow them to get up to old highway in a safe manner where we're not worried about U-turns um where there's existing full movement uh median brakes uh on old west highway you can see there with Cortez with Royal Palm with Tomahawk and then of course uh obviously Idaho road to be able to get you to the city center as we look at it.

One of the things that we talked about and I noticed this as I come uh to city hall and you drive up Idaho road there's a number of signs that designate various things. Uh the top one is the rodeo arena. The next one deals with the college and then obviously Lost Dutchman's historic monument.

And so as we've looked at this and contemplated it, we think it'd be great and we're happy to agree to a stipulation that we put signage uh coming out of our development on Acacia that we put signage on Southern similar to what you see in the picture that says downtown that way uh and point people in the best direction, the best path to be able to get to downtown along Southern.

again various options, safe options for people to get north, south, um, through any number of roads to be able to get there where it exists today. So, I've spent a lot of time talking about the access and I got a feeling we might have some more questions relative to it, which we're happy to talk about, but we think the acacia road is more appropriate. We understand why the discussion occurred at the commission.

um we did not have the ability to present this information to the commission and that was something that came up during the course of that hearing about possibly shifting our access to Star Road. Uh and since that time have had an opportunity to look at it a little bit deeper. Uh and had we had I known this was an issue or potentially an issue before the commission, I certainly would have briefed them on this as well so that we could have had that discussion before them.

Nevertheless, we're grateful for their recommendation for approval, grateful for staff's recommendation for approval, and we would request your approval again with the kind of two additional stipulations that I talked about about putting signage of private property and signage of a downtown that way. Happy to answer any questions that you guys might have. Any questions? More of statement. the Cortez alignment.

Um, where it crosses Highway 88, it's a very dangerous intersection because of the way it's laid out. You're having to look over your shoulder possibly if you know if you don't have um, you know, side window here, like if you're in a van or something, uh, you have to square up on that in order to turn and make that turn. And by nature, those kinds of intersections are very dangerous. I mean, so I don't see that as being a a better option. I just see it something.

And also, I noticed that you're um that one slide shows that it's not a dedicated right away on both sides of the road. uh through the mayor. Um council member Cross, I presume if I go back to this slide, is that the one you're talking about? Go forward. Keep going. No, right there. So, Cortez Road, it looks like those properties come out to the center line of the road or not. The west side of Cortez.

um through the through the mayor um council member cross without looking at the assessor's website I couldn't tell you definitively if I was to to guess which I could get in trouble for guessing it looks like there is public rightway on the east half of what it looks like to me for a portion of it and then when you get into the new community uh newer community I guess up on the left it looks like there is rest of that half street is is dedicated uh up there um coming off all this highway.

So there is a stretch. I think I know how to do this. And no the um it's this stretch kind of right here. Actually, it's probably just these one, two, three, four. Yeah, call it four and a half lots where there's not right away. Again, if I was to guess, I think this may be right of way down here, but for certain I know that there is the east half of Cortez. It looks like judging from what I know of assessor's websites. Okay. Yes.

So I I guess looking at this I um the the access or egress from Star Road to me seems not an ideal scenario. Um because you're making the right turn, then you're heading east on Old West Highway and then you got to make that rather dubious lefthand turn or go on to 60 and head west to get back down back to town. And yet it do you had mentioned that if you come out of aac on aacia the exit and then you make the left on aacia up to um southern you make the right you have you have access.

I mean it's it's a straight shot all the way down to shoot you can get all the way down to signal feud at that point. So it seems to me without without creating a lot of without creating a dangerous situation that seems to me the way you could do this and if you're willing to put signage in where it would would clearly demonstrate what the you know what the plan would be. I don't know.

I that seems to me like the way that would be most would be achievable and certainly uh pretty simple you know up to southern go west on southern and you have access to downtown you know any number of routes so I don't know that just seems to me to be the a better choice. Thank you, mayor. If I may, Council Member Cross, what Sydney whispered to me is that Cortez is a fully dedicated right of way. Okay. Anyone else? Thank you. So, this is a uh public hearing.

There's a fivem minute time limit with a one minute warning that you will hear. Please state your name and address for the record. Anyone like to speak on this? Oh, good evening, Mayor Council. Uh, great to have a project where you can actually buy a house. the placement of it way back in a corner access iffy but you know you got southern there and you can take southern tomahawk and go wherever you want.

Uh if Cortez is a full rideway and it's time for a traffic light, Cortez just like Tomahawk and uh you know that way that area that's undeveloped there that'll get people's eyes open and they'll start developing it and they'll put more houses in there. So, you know, I mean, yeah, it's uh it's a no-brainer. Need it done. And I think that uh yeah, the star about all you could do is do a frontage to get you over to the crossover and then deal with it there.

Then acacia, but you have to deal with the property owners there. Now, if you know the uh applicant was able to purchase that triangle, well then, you know, that'd be the end of the question right there. he could just make his own route. But, uh, as far as as that plan sits, uh, you know, as far as access to the place, uh, if if you were going to access like ingress and egress of the plan, I would do both star and acacia. Acacia is going to be shut off.

But what that gives you is, you know, you're not all packed up trying to get out of one exit. But I hate those neighborhoods where you get in and you know you're driving around and around and around trying to get out and you can't do it. Well, if you had two exits, two entrances there off of Star and Acacia, great. But they got to dump onto Southern and just head west from there and, you know, figure it out from that point.

But I mean, you know, once that place goes in, once like I if Cortez can be developed, that's great because all that stuff that's right next to it, you know, people going to start putting stuff in there and it's going to just it's going to take care of the infill going to get more houses and uh I think it it's a good plan, you know, if you straighten out how you get in and out and you know, I mean, so what if you got to drive down Tomahawk to Southern to get there, you You know, that's great.

It uh well-developed, you know, access at that point cuz you get a ride off of 60, you know, 2 minutes, you're home. And or, you know, go down Tomahawk or head, you know, it doesn't matter. Is a good place. But, uh, it's my opinion. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak? Good evening, mayor, council members. Uh, Alisa Cressillic, 476 South Ironwood Drive.

Um, I'm really excited about this project, too, because I was doing a little looking into uh town homes and they are the second most popular form of housing in the United States. Very um e affordable, easy to maintain. It's a very modern urban lifestyle. And I'm excited to see a lot of these developers come to Apache Junction with a housing alternative to what we have a lot of mobile homes.

And it's nice to see something that'll give people home ownership and bring in a little bit higher average income to um bring more people to Apache Junction. So I'm very excited and I hope you are as well. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. See no movement. So I'll now close the public hearing and ask for a motion. Your honor. Yes. I move that ordinance number 1574 be read by title only and the reading of the entire ordinance be waved. Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Hec. Yes.

Council member Cross. Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes. Council member Ser. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes. Your honor. Wait. No. I'm going to read the ordinance first. Thank you. Although Yeah. She hasn't read that. Ordinance number 1574, an ordinance of the mayor and city council of the city of Apache Junction, Arizona, amending the Apache Junction, Arizona zoning ordinance by amending the zoning district map. City of Apache Junction, Arizona.

Changing the zoning district classification for the property described in reszoning case P-25-59-PZ. A request by Diamonte Homes Incorporated represented by Brennan Ray of Ray Law Firm.

from highdensity multiple family residential by planned development, general commercial and general rural lowdensity single family detached residential to highdensity multiple family residential by planned development and a minor general plan amendment from commercial to highdensity residential repealing any conflicting provisions and providing for severability. Your I have made motion now.

I move that ordinance number 1574 as read by the so city clerk be approved with the following added um that we go on the 12626 site plan that was approved by PNZ with the addition of the directional signage. Do I have a second? They make it clear that's the one with the entrance on acacia. Correct. Okay. Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Ser. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council member Cross.

With apologies to Vice Mayor Schroeder for stepping on his toes. Yes. Council member Hec. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Excuse me. Old business presentation, discussion of status of weeks wash project. Emil, thank you. Wait. I promise it's good. like rats jumping off a ship. Uh, good evening, Mayor Wilson, Vice Mayor Schroeder, Council Members, Emil Schmidt, city engineer, and the public works department.

Um, I've been invited here this evening uh to provide you an update to our efforts and desires to build a large flood structure along Weeks Wash in the northeast corner of the city of Apache Junction. Over the years in past presentations, I provided uh a somewhat detailed summary of events starting shortly before 2022 towards this effort. I just want to provide a brief summary uh for tonight.

We are all aware of the severe flooding events and the uh that occur here in the city and the havoc and the damage that they can create. Uh we know that Weeks Wash is the largest source of flood waters for the city. It's roughly a 10 square mile watershed area that you see on the left side of the image there in blue.

Uh after pursuing several FEMA grant opportunities with the help of Panal County and their engineers, we were awarded flood mitigation assistance or FMA funds in the amount of $44.5 million. And this was in August of 2023 with a preliminary design that looked something uh something like this. Our primary goal with this project is to remove many properties as possible downstream from the structure from flooding, protect protecting the lives and properties of our residents.

Initial estimates by the design engineers project that over 4,200 parcels of land will benefit from this flood protection that this structure will provide. Uh in addition to that, this project will also enhance uh public safety, reduce risk to utility infrastructure, reduce the burden of poststorm cleanup not only for us at public works but also for residents on their properties. uh and it'll also provide future opportunities for multi-use uh public amenities or features.

Uh the structure uh will be roughly uh 30 ft tall uh with about a 70 acre storm runoff surface area upstream or behind it. It will hold or detain about 1,100 acre feet of water. And to kind of uh help visualize what that looks like, um 1100 acre feet is about 358 million uh 500,000 gallons or 543 Olympic sized swimming pools or 2.7 trillion bottles of water. So your 16.9 ounce bottle of water, 2.7 trillion of those to to kind of give you an idea of how much water uh this could hold.

We've seen that amount of water and even greater come into the city uh without this kind of a structure in place. Land ownership at this point uh the the green area shows what was used to be owned by the Arizona State Land Department. Uh in June of last year, we were successful in uh at an auction in Florence for purchasing 76 acres, roughly 76 76 acres, which is what you see in the green. And that's one of the big changes from uh on this map here.

And the city is working with the Bureau of Reclamation on the east side of the Goldfield Road alignment. That would be the area that's in purple. We're working with the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, and the Salt River project. They each have an interest in this purple area for permission to use parts of the purple area for portions of the flood structure. So, it wouldn't be a purchase outright like the state land area.

It would be permission to use, and this will be achieved with a signed long-term lease document. Uh, a draft of that document has been prepared already and has been uh submitted to FEMA for uh for their review. You've seen this image before. It's a timeline uh that I've used in the past marking major milestones for this project. I don't want to go through this entire schedule, but I want to focus on the area in the yellow box and uh some of the items below that.

The green the yellow diamond on that timeline is where we are uh today roughly. I'd like to talk a little bit about uh funding. We are aware of the funding gap between the grant amount of $44.5 million to the current construction cost estimate of 90 to $100 million. And that is a conservative uh cost estimate.

We will approach regional partners when final design for the structure has progressed to the point where the design is substantially complete and we are confident with what the actual con construction costs may be. right now would be too early to approach them because we really don't know what the final construction cost is.

But in order to start the final design, FEMA needs to complete their environmental historical preservation review that has been underway since the grant was awarded in August of 2023 so that we can get on the land to do a soils analysis, which is critical to the design of this structure. So, we can't go out there and turn a teaspoon of dirt and we need to dig and do soil borings to analyze what's underground to really know how to uh to design this thing. I'd like to talk about FEMA a little bit.

In my October update, I reported there that there was no time frame or indication where FEMA was at with their EHP review. Um, this morning I spoke with uh the state hazard mitigation officer with uh the Arizona Department of Military uh Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, AZ DEMA, and that is a state department that administers federal funds for mitigation pro projects such as this.

And she reported that the EHP is almost complete and we'll expect a notice later this summer that FEMA has completed their EHP review. She also reports that she hasn't heard of any changes or holdups for the f FMA grant funds that we've been awarded and that everything in the queue for this grant fund has is expected to be awarded. Uh a few comments about Panal County, our regional partner with them.

Uh a week or two back, Mike Loggins and I had a long chat with assistant county engineer and flood section chief Joshua Plum. Uh among other things uh two of the uh major points that we discussed were the timing of the procuring and starting of the final design which uh will begin after the FEMA EHP is done.

And we also discussed procuring a construction manager at risk or a semar which means getting contractors on board very early in the final design of the project to work closely with the design engineer and the final design would proceed and construction will be started simultaneously in order to meet the aggressive schedule requirements of the FMA funding which is two years plus a built-in one-year extension.

to design and have everything done and have the last piece of equipment removed from the site. Very aggressive schedule. But having the engineers and the contractors work together will serve two purposes. Uh the working side by side, they will provide value engineering.

The engineer might pro propose a design element and the contractor might say, "Ah, it's kind of tough to build." Uh the contractor might say, "Hey, we've done this before in the past." and the engineer might might say, "Uh, okay, that would work, but let's tweak it a little bit." That kind of sidebyside coordination and working together will accelerate uh the design and the construction process. It'll shorten uh the overall process.

Uh Joshua Plum has been coordinating with Panal County procurement folks to make sure that every single rule is followed for procurement. We don't want to do anything with the procurement of design and the procurement of construction that would jeopardize the $44.5 million that we've already been uh awarded. I'd like to talk a little bit about the engineering team. Uh I met with members of the engineering design team at the site in February.

Uh and that what they're working on now or have been for the last couple of months is they are updating the geotechnical or soils investigation plan so that when the FEMA EHP review is done that we can hit the ground running immediately and uh get the d the data that we need to start the final design. They are also updating the Arizona Department of Water Resources to f facilitate future reviews. Why ADWR?

Because of the size of the structure that this is and the amount of protection that it will provide, that puts this structure in a whole another jurisdictional level with additional federal requirements uh that we as a city will need to follow. So, they're already anticipating that and working with ADWR ahead of this final design.

Another item that the engineering team is working on is uh applying for the water rights of the week's wash surface water that will be collected by this structure to promote groundwater recharge and that's a whole uh different regulatory animal that uh needs to be maintained after the structure is done. But there we are looking into that and we uh anticipate doing that again you know collecting that water and recharging the ground.

just go back to that 2.7 trillion bottles of water that I was talking about earlier. When the final design is underway, it will include public outreach, public meetings, and continued coordination with partners and stakeholders such as uh FEMA, uh Arizona Department of Emergency Military Affairs, Department of Water Resources, Arizona State Land Department, Salt River Project, um Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

in addition to uh the panel county and Maricopa County flood control districts. So that is a lot of regulatory players that are sitting at the table and have an interest in making sure that this project is is done right for the city. That is what I have for an update for uh for this evening. I thank you for the invitation and for the opportunities I've had to uh come here to talk about this particular project with you uh for it's a very important regional flood control project.

Um, I'd be happy to answer questions. Let me rephrase that. I'll try to answer questions because you may have questions that are pretty technical that I might have to take back to the the engineering team who knows their stuff. Any questions? Statement. All right. Trillion gallons of water is a lot of water. We don't want it to go south. No kidding. We want it to go south. Yeah, that's right. Thank you for uh for your time and thank you very much in the aspect for doing this. I appreciate it.

Okay. Presentation and discussion uh regarding water districts portfolio. I'll just kick this one off. Um Mike, thank you for coming in. We've been asked uh to to come in and not just talk about this water portfolio. We get asked a lot at the staff and at the council level and in the community, where does the water come from? And we just wanted a nice basic slideshow. I don't know if council member Cross wants to add anything to, but we wanted it in a council meeting, right? Yeah.

that, you know, we have a lot of people that complain about our lack of so-called lack of water in our community where they just don't understand that over the years, our city has has done a phenomenal job in securing water rights and continuously looks for additional water rights on a on a almost a daily basis. And um nobody ever comes to water district meetings, right? So, I invited a lot of people on social media over the last few couple weeks to come to this meeting tonight.

You can see the place is packed because they really are concerned about water. And um anyhow, um Mike, let us know what do we have for water? How long will it last? How many more homes can we build? How many more cups of water can we drink? Absolutely. Mayor and Council and Council Member Cross. I know I know you guys have a lot of questions on the community about water resources here. Um kind of give you a little background. Uh brought in our water portfolio here. I'll explain it a little bit.

Originally, uh back when the district was purchased uh came it came along with some central Arizona project allocation uh which is roughly about 2900 acre feet of water, which that would roughly service about nine 9,000 service connections. Um it's a renewable resource. Obviously people have heard some that the Colorado rivers were in a drought conditions but currently we have no restrictions of that water supply we have for that currently.

Uh at that same time uh we applied for a designation of a shared water supply which uh we go to the Arizona Department of Water Resources and they look at your service area and it's not services that you proclaim or anything like that. its service area. Any pipes surrounding your surrounding area within 660 ft is considered your service area for the Department of Water Resources.

So that time roughly 10 years ago when we did our designation, we had available 2372 acre feet of groundwater available to us for the next 100 years. We currently have used very little of that because we have a renewable resource that we've been using. So we still have that one inner bank. Also as part of we move forward uh roughly 10 years ago uh the district brought forward to council and the board at that time to lease a,000 acre feet of Hila River and River Indian community water.

Uh at that point is relatively cheap $3,000 an acre foot compared to what we're talking if we lease it today between 20 to $30,000 an acre foot. City council and the board at that time approved that. We moved forward with it. We added that to our water portfolio at that time. At that roughly a few years later, some non-Indian agricultural water came open that was sitting on the books with the central Arizona project. We went out and showed that we have development coming in the future.

We'd like to have some of this water. Put in our proposal to them. We got 817 acre feet of water. Uh during that procedure, this is all over the last 10-15 years of what the water district has done. Also along with that, well, there's effluent credits. So, as people use water here in the water district service area and in an Arizona water company service area, it is delivered to the sewer district via their collection system and then it's pumped down into the ground. We can earn credits on that.

So, the sewer district earns those credits, the water district purchases those credits and we can use those for future as because there's water in the ground that we can use now. So, in total, we roughly have about 7,500 acre feet of water in our portfolio. What does that mean? So, currently, uh, we mentioned our Arizona Department of Water Resources report that we do annually, we're only using about 2 2400 acre feet of water to service our existing customers.

So, that's our 9,000 service connections, roughly about 30,000 people that we're serving currently. Back up one slide, we have 7,500 acre feet in our bank currently. So this is available for the next 100 years as we move forward. We're only ser servicing about 2 2400 acre feet today. So on average about that is about 2 million gallons a day. Um the district has 7,500. Again our as we discussed earlier in our water board meeting.

Uh we're our demands per capita are going down from about roughly about 105 gallons per capita per day to 98. So our water conservation efforts are working. We're saving that water. We're saving this for future development. The city has planned for this based on the leases we went after, not agriculture water. We went after purchasing effluent credits. We're working with Salt River Project on the Birdie Dam currently to get additional water supplies here for the city of Apache Junction.

We're working with state land on additional cap supplies. And as our service area expands out there and we reach down south to new development, now our groundwater supplies expand also. So within once we receive our new DAWs, we'll be reaching back out to Arizona Department of Water Resources and looking for additional groundwater supplies as part of this also.

So that water portfolio is going to keep growing and what we the city has done a great job doing so far is going after those water supplies so that we can be available or they have the water resources available for those future customers or future development commercial services different things that will happen and it will not affect our existing customers is I guess the biggest key here is we're not taking water away from any of our customers because over the years we have planned for this future growth and we planned for this and we want to make sure that we reserve those rights that we have for existing customers and not take it away from any of them.

Um, again, we reuse our renewable resource on the CAP. So, Central Arizona project or Colorado River water, it's 99% that we delivered. We use 1% of our groundwater currently and that's really just keep our wells ready to go. We were talked about drilling our well earlier. Right now, it's a redundant supply. So if something happens to a renewable resource, which we hope never does, we have that supply to back it up in groundwater.

And again, as we talked a little bit ago, we're constantly looking for additional water supplies. What else can we do out there? Uh council member Solar asked about our direct potable or advanced water purification trailer. We're looking at a pilot pilot program to take that effluent instead of putting it into the ground, possibly bringing it back to our customers maybe 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now as another water resource that we have out there.

So these are all the kind of different developments that we have going on to make sure that we have water for the future and our existing customers. Any questions on on that? Yeah. Yes. um when it comes to multifamily, how to, you know, they're not required to have the 100red-year guaranteed water supply, but how do you um manage that as part of our port our overall pro uh portfolio of water? So, we have a couple different things that happen.

Multif family, we talked about earlier, is a platted subdivision. Even though it's multif family, they still have to get their assured water supply. If they were to master meter that same 129 units as a designation of assured water supply as the district has, we report it at the end of the year. So it goes into our calculation. As a non-desated provider, as Arizona water company is, you should you do not have to get an insured water supply. So it's a slightly different on what happens.

As people get an insured water supply on their side, they would have to get apply for central Arizona groundwater replenishment district to replenish that water for them rather than being a part of it. That's if you can get around it by these master meters most of the time as we do it as a district because we are designated as assured water supply. We have to report it in our annual report that shows up that we're still supplying that.

I know Arizona water company is working on their which is an alternative depart designation of assured water supplies that may come in the near future but they're working towards that also so that some of these multifamily or commercial developments still have to be accounted for as they grow too. Cool. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Mike tell me explain again what lost and unaccounted for water is. How does water get lost?

So lost on countour water is say we have a leak uh one of the on one of our pipes. It doesn't really surface. It's in a wash and it's sandy and it disappears and we and we don't know where that water supply is going. So that's why it's lost and we can't we can't find it. We don't know there's a leak out there. So we can't account for it. So that that's some of it. Um sometimes people pull up to hydrants that don't have a hydrant meter and they steal our water. So it's lost.

We're not sure what happened to it. It disappeared. Um, say you have a a leak at your house and we don't catch it or leak at the meter in your front, it's not going through a meter service. So again, that water is lost to us, but and we can't account for how much water has disappeared. We know we produced it and we know we haven't sold it. So it's somewhere in between there by the time it reaches our customers. So that that's why we'd consider lost and account for. Okay, cool. Thanks.

Once again, thank you for all you do for us. Our water's looking good right now. Yes. Thank you for the support of all the council as a board also as a water done a great job of making sure that we have enough water for our future here and as we move forward I you know I hope we continue in that direction as the city grows it only helps. I will make a quick comment there.

The aspect is when I first came on being on the water board in the city council is when we purchased that Indian water and uh it was something that I looked at and said, "Wait a minute. Why are we do we need this water?" And the answer was no. And I said, "Well, why are we getting this?" And they said it was for the future. Well, when I voted on it, I made my statement. I reluctantly vote yes on this.

And it was because of the fact that we were spending all this money to purchase this Indian water, but we didn't need it. And now if you look at what it would cost us today to buy that same amount, it would be tremendous in the aspect on it. So it was a, you know, foresight that they, you know, your predecessors looked at and gave it and pushed it and got it through and we purchased it. And I want to say thank you for looking ahead and not looking at strictly at what the costs were at the time.

Your honor. Yes. Oh, I just wanted to point out um Councilman Cross is absolutely correct. This is a very hot topic situation all through the social media. So, it was a great idea to have this put on the agenda. And I put a little levity into this. I find it kind of ironic. is coming off the heels about a $90 million project to build a retention dam so we don't flood out and then we need to defend the fact that we're, you know, we're not going to run out of water. It's kind of weird. But yeah.

Yeah, it was very um very useful. We should we should probably put this in the rotation at least yearly. Yeah. Yeah. Or some months. So, thank you, Mike. I really appreciate you staying late tonight and doing this for us. I appreciate it. Thank you. We'll do it. Keep updating. Keep updating. Okay. Yep. Direction to staff. Direction to staff regarding city council pay. Joel, Mr. Mayor, city council.

Uh, human resource director Anna McCrae presented a uh, work session for you regarding um, council compensation. Mic. And yeah, it's green. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Uh, the and uh, there you go. right now the if you want to do a direction to staff on that issue uh we would ask what your direction would be and it would be uh how much do you want to raise it and it would be a direction to the city attorney to draft the ordinance. Okay. Comments from council. Yes. Wait, go ahead and read that.

I can't hear you. Want to know if there's any comments concerning? Do you have any comments regarding this? Not comment. My only thing is that, you know, if if we have more people that understand, you know, we're at a rate that they don't have to take away from the income they are earning. You know, maybe there'll be more interested parties that will step up and run for city council, for mayor. You know, you hear a lot on social media that not enough people are involved.

Maybe we have also have to remember to be worthwhile, too. Yes. I just wonder why councils of yester year didn't put parameters in place that kept council pay up to um you know the standards whether it just be a simple cola increase over the years or on an annual basis or every couple years. But you know that those weren't my decisions and it's been 2004 since any this has been addressed. So that's where we're at. Mr.

Mayor, if I can since I've been here, since 1997, there's been attempts to do this uh probably three or four times and it uh 2004 is the only time since I've been here that it actually went to an ordinance. And I think there was reluctance at the time. Uh there was a lot less uh funding available for the city. That was a big one. the count the uh the public didn't like u increases for some reason.

Um I I think those were the items and you're right there was there was an attempt to um to set some kind of schedule but uh there was just no support not not enough support I should say. I also feel that when you have a rule that's like this, sometimes one of the hardest things is that regardless of how you look at this, under state law, people would have to be reelected before it comes into play. We have seven people who sit on this council.

So at one point, at some point when this goes into play, part would be at a higher rate than the people sitting beside them. I for one and I believe a lot of my council members as well understand that sometimes you got to stop kicking the can down the road and start doing the right thing regardless of that your honor. Yes. Um I agree with Councilman Johnson and Councilman uh Cross. uh this, you know, it's been two decades since this has even, you know, been addressed.

Um I would say as far as a motion goes, um I would be more in favor of um not doing the motion that included the COLA, doing the motion that does not include the COLA, the cost of living increase, and every time the comp study comes out, then uh reassess it, and if it needs to be adjusted, it needs to be adjusted. And if it doesn't, it doesn't. That's that's where I would stand on this. Mayor. Yes. It's high time that uh we really take a look at this.

We're at the bottom uh with other councils, smaller councils. We need to get into the at least the median area. Uh because I agree with Council Member Johnson. Uh it's a lot of work. I know a lot of people out there think that we get a ton of money and we're overpaid, but it is a lot of work, a lot of meetings. Most of us have jobs, full-time jobs, and we're doing this, too. Uh it's time that we do this and move the council forward. And again, hopefully it'll attract new people to run next time.

So, I would like to say uh regarding uh the vice mayor's comment, if we look at doing the the cola increase in the actual direction to staff, once you get through a couple of election cycles, you would always have all of the people on the same level. If you did not do that, every time that there is election, you're going to have people again go a little off track. But once you get through two cycles of elections, everybody would have the same cola.

So everybody would remain where every single person sitting here would be on the same basis. That's a great point. I'll leave that to your discretion, your honor. Yes. with cola increase that would not have to be approved by the council or are we still and when a cola comes into place we're making that decision at that time so we'd be how how would that work Mr. cost. I I think uh it would have to be in the ordinance that allows for the colas. Okay.

And so it would be it that would be part of the direction of staff that there'd be a provision in the ordinance uh that that would include the colas. I like your idea every two years. I'm just waiting for two cycles. Yeah. Well, one of the things I'm going to say is the aspect is that, you know, really and truthfully, if we had had something like that where we had it in the past where it was would not be the big issue that we have today in the amount of it.

Uh I I for one I know even though I'm getting quote $1,000 a month, um it it of course I have to take taxes out of it too. So I said less than a thousand that I actually didn't bring in.

But it is something that you know you're doing a lot of representation for the city of Apache Junction and you're over you know different places and uh it is something that uh you know your your expenses are much higher than that in the aspect on it and I'm all for the idea that when our council members are sitting here and uh and the vice mayor and mayor when they're representing the the city and they all represent the city that uh they're being taken care of in the aspects on it so that they can actually are doing that job.

That's what we elect them to do to represent all of us to our you know to other areas and to other um um I'll say government agencies and everything and it's something that I think that needs to be definitely pushed and it's continued on. So I have a motion to uh give direction to staff your honor. Yes.

I move that direction to staff be given to draft an ordinance amending Apache Junction City Code volume 1 chapter 2 article 2-1 2-1-5 compensation adjusting mayor vice mayor and council salaries consistent with what was discussed at the April 7th 2026 council me meeting to also include a provision setting forth a cost of living or base wage age increase, general citywide increase, or other pay increment, however else characterized in the city's payroll system, which full-time employees also typically receive on an annual basis.

Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Johnson, yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder, yes. Council member Cross, yes. Council member Hec, yes. Council member Ser, yes. Mayor Wilson, yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Excuse me. Um, selection of dates and times and locations for budget work sessions, public hearings, and adoption of tenative and final budget for fiscal year 2026 and through uh through 2027. Evie, Mr. Mayor, I'll actually take this one. Oh.

Um this is an annual uh thing that we do required by state law to select the u location and and dates and times of all the budget meetings. You'll see them on the screen in front of you. Pretty standard in how we approach it every year. We just need to you to adopt these dates so we can move forward with the the public facing side of the the budget process. Okay. Do I have a motion? Your honor? Yes. I move that a budget work session be held at 7 p.m.

on Monday, May 4th, 2026 in the coun in the city council chambers and that a public hearing and adoption of the tenative budget be held at a special city council meeting as required by state law at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 18th, 2026 in the city council chambers. and that a public hearing and adoption of the final budget be held at a special city council meeting as required by law at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 15th, 2026 in the city council chambers located at 300 East Superstition Boulevard.

Second moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Johnson, yes. Council member Cross, yes. Council member Hec, yes. Council member Ser, yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder, yes. Mayor Wilson, yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. Public call to the public. I'd like to remind everyone the call to public is a courtesy and not required by law. It's a time for the public to express requests, communications comments and suggestions.

Request to speak forms must be completed and handed to the city clerk before the end of the city manager's report. All issues shall be presented in a professional matter without personal attacks. Under the open meeting law, council cannot engage in discussions on issues presented but may respond to criticism, may direct staff to follow up with the speaker directly and or place the matter on for future agenda for council discussion. There's a threeminut time limit for each speaker.

Andre Good evening, Mayor Council Andre Meek, 1327 South Bair here in AJ. Uh, now that we have Winchester Road all blocked up, doing some work on it, I was wondering if there could be one more uh, correction done to it, and that's at Desert and uh, Broadway, basically where the entrance to the college is, you have a left turn lane there, and it's just a left turn going west.

Now, if you come out of the college and you go right and you want to make a left turn on the desert, you don't have any turn lane. The rest of Winchester is a two-way left turn lane all the way up and down. And so, just that one section, you know, we always like I always come out of the college there, make a right turn and then make a left on desert.

But if there's traffic coming, that means and you know, if it's coming both ways, that means I got to I'm stopping traffic behind me so I can make a left turn. But everywhere else on Winchester, you don't do that. And I'm just wondering why and can it be changed? And also, there's a big island right there at the college that I don't know what it was ever put there for, but it just, you know, right in the middle of the of the road there in the in the left turn lane.

And it I guess all it does is block you from going through. But why there? And you know why nowhere else? And then one other thing that I brought up a while ago with dark skies, you drive down Royal Palm and uh you know it's a divided road, got islands and you know you make your left turns. Well, in the dark you can't see where those cutthroughs are. cuz uh there's no street lights and so you know you don't catch the left turn until you're almost past it.

And a little reflective paint right there at the very corner on each of those islands so your headlights would catch it as you're coming up so you know where to turn would be great for us old folk that can't see nothing at night, you know. So uh and that's all I got. Thank you. Okay. Well, we'll definitely be in conversations. We'll have staff look into that. I I mean to clarify the desert and the college and Winchester. Maybe some reflective pink. Okay. Yeah, we'll look into that.

Sometimes those reflective dots down for a fire might be got it. Okay, I will adjourn this meeting. Thank you.