Apache Junction Council Approves $1.8M Detention Basin, Continues Multifamily and Rezone Cases Amid Equity Concerns

council meeting of June 2nd, 2026 to order and ask everyone to put their cell phones on silent. The invocation will be led by Councilman Heck. Excuse [clears throat] me, and the pledge by uh Tess Nesbitt. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege and freedom we have of being able to gather together this evening to discuss city business. We ask that you give the staff and council wisdom and clarity in their decision-making. Keep us mindful that we serve the residents of this city.

We ask you to watch over the men and women who serve in our military around the world. Keep them safe in these very difficult times. We ask also for your blessing on our first responders, including our police and fire departments, our EMS personnel, along with our park rangers. Please keep these brave men and women safe in their duties to protect and care for the residents of this city.

And Father, we we want to take a moment to remember the event in which our one of our own, Officer Gabriel Fosse, was fatally wounded in the line of duty. This is the anniversary of that date. We know that this event remains in the hearts and minds of those affected. We asked you to give strength to the Fosse family and to our police department as they continue on the road to recovery and acceptance.

Father, we thank you for the honor and privilege we have to serve the residents of this great city. These things we ask in your name. Amen. I pledge allegiance 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. [clears throat] Okay. Roll call. Vice Mayor Wilson. Here. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Here. Council Member Cross. Here. Council Member Heck. Here. Council Member Johnson. Here.

Council Member Nasser. Present. And Council Member Soller. Here. You have a quorum, Your Honor. Thank you. Consent agenda. As a reminder, all the items on the consent agenda will be approved with one motion. If a council member wishes to remove an item for further discussion, request will be made prior to approving the consent agenda, and it will be moved to new business. Do I have a motion for the consent agenda? Your Honor. Yes. I move that the consent agenda be accepted as presented. Second.

Moved and seconded. Roll call. Council Member Heck. Yes. Council Member Nasser. Yes. Council Member Cross. Yes. Council Member Johnson. Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council Member Soller. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes. Excuse [clears throat] me. Intergovernmental updates. Anyone have anything that they want to express? Well, I think we're probably going to all talk about the going out to Resolution Copper, so I'm sure Mr. Mayor, you might be able to enlighten everybody on that one.

Anyone else? Anything? Okay, yes. We went to Resolution Copper and did a uh a tour of the above mine activities and get explanation of what's going on and how they are proceeding forward. And uh it was uh very interesting, very enlight- enlightening.

And uh we uh you know, spent some time with uh their I won't say experts in the aspect on it and how they are uh you know, basically in a sense are uh taking care of the water and uh how the impact is to the local areas, what's going on and uh it was basically in a sense very informational and it helped and uh this is uh some pictures that you'll see of when we were there and uh it's uh uh I won't say something that's going forward and it's been a lot of work and uh going through a lot of things to get this done and uh we're uh looking forward to a future date of going down into the mine to see what's in that wonderful big underground cavern I'll call it and how uh we're going to be doing it.

Uh [clears throat] excuse me. We also had a couple of uh ribbon cuttings this uh you know, past week. Uh this one was at the uh uh for uh our parks and rec and for the pickleball court. And uh it was a really uh unique in the aspect on it is there was a lot of people there that uh are very heavily involved in the pickleball uh activities and uh I got the opportunity to go out and try it. It's the first time I've done it.

And uh it was uh unique in the aspect in it and uh I hit the ball a few times so I can say I'm now a pickleball expert, I guess. [laughter] Uh and the other ribbon cutting that we did was down in uh Blossom Rock area down south of where they're doing a bringing in a school. Uh lost the name. Great Hearts Great Hearts, yes.

It's a private [clears throat] school that's coming in down there and they're uh breaking ground and they expect to have the school I'll say bringing in actually having kids in attendance starting next fall. So not this coming fall but next year. And it is uh a great opportunity for them and they're looking forward to uh continue on get it going and having the a lot of the young young children there to attend their school. Okay. Um city manager's report. Thank you, Your Honor.

Brian Powell, city manager. Grateful for the blessing of having pickleball courts. It's been on the list a long time. Great [clears throat] great staff to be able to get that up and going and it's a great day in Apache Junction that we were able to get that going. And uh something that's been on the list for a long time. Grateful to Liz and her team to getting that up. The other one just for clarification, the Great Hearts is a charter school that is on um is that is in Blossom Rock.

Um charter schools are public schools and they are available at no cost to anybody. It's different than a private school. Then it's and it's also something I want to clarify for the community is that that area and the area in Radiance [clears throat and cough] for four or five six years even when the annexation happened that both of those developers worked closely with AJUSD to have first right of refusal. So, sometimes in the wonderful world of social media, things get confused.

Just want to make sure everybody knew that the developers in this case had been working with both those groups to have a chance to be able to to to have a school there that's that is AJUSD. It didn't work out. And now we're starting to see charter schools, which the city government cannot stop um through state law. Other than that, that concludes my report, Your Honor.

[clears throat] I particularly love the way when you addressed at the pickleball ribbon cutting that those courts were not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Development throughout the city paid for those courts. And a lot of people don't understand that that's how we get a lot of things done is through development impact fees, development fees, things like that.

So, when people see these elaborate courts um being built, they they they automatically go to our tax dollars should be spent somewhere else. These courts did not take one penny from our tax dollars. Yep, that is correct.

And that's because of a policy that's been long standing by the city council of a practice and a policy and implementation through your code of growth, paying for growth, setting aside that as new residents come in, they pay their fair share of new acres of of um parkland or um facilities.

Same that's going to come as we work with a police station substation and the library's um library facility and one that's the reason why you have the ability and paid for uh the the acreage, 20 acres at at the rodeo grounds and also in the downtown. Okay. Uh Public hearings. Presentation and discussion and public hearing consideration request for continuance for the case of P26-4-PZ. Nick. Thank you, Your Honor. Good evening, City Council.

I'm Nick Leftridge, Principal Planner with the City of Apache Junction, and I'll just be presenting a brief presentation regarding this continuance request. P26-4-PZ is a proposed plan development of approximately 6.7 acres located at the southeast corner of Renick and Virginia. Uh the property is already designated RM-2 high-density multiple multiple family residential and had an approved development plan by the council a few years back.

And the developer, Banyan Residential, would like to modify that development plan. However, the case was originally going to go to the Planning and Zoning Commission on April 28th, and today was the originally scheduled public hearing with the City Council. However, in order to address concerns regarding parking ratios and some of the site plan design, the applicant has requested further time in order to to modify the plans and present to us new plans to evaluate.

And in this, they request that the City Council public hearing is continued to Tuesday, July 21st. And they formally submit that request to the council for consideration. Okay. This is a public hearing, so we still have to do the public hearing portion, right? Yes. So, I will now open the public hearing. Is it a There's a 5-minute time limit with a 1-minute warning indication by a yellow light. Please state your name and address for the record. Donna Carr, Apache Junction resident.

What I don't understand is is why this side of Apache Junction is constantly getting all the garbage put in. Like, always wanting to put in the low-income apartments. I got two mental health places, one on each side of me. Then you got one just down the road here. Um How many you put on the other side of the 60 in that area? Oh, wait. Yeah, none. How many low-income apartments you put on the other side of the 60? None.

Why don't you let them have the chance to have some of this stuff put on their side instead of always being put on this side and turning this morning into a trashy area. We're part of old town Apache Junction. We're the original part of Apache Junction. Let it be the original part and stop putting garbage in. Thanks. Anyone else would like to speak on this? Aloha. My name is Noel James Malcolm. I'm from the great city of Tempe.

Um I told you guys that I would like to see more building here and that is a lot of complaining from this Trump over there. So, I don't really care about that. We need more buildings here and we need to build here. So, that's just a lot of nonsense of complaining over there. So, thank you so much, Bill. Thank you. Okay, anyone else? All right, I will now close the public hearing and ask for a motion. Mayor. Yes.

I move that the request for continuance of case P-26-4-PZ to July 21st, 2026 be approved. Second. Second. Moved and seconded. Roll [clears throat] call. Council member Cross. Yes. [clears throat] Council member Soler. Yes. Council member Heck. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes. Vice [clears throat] Mayor Schroeder? Yes. Council member Nesser? Yes. Mayor Wilson? Yes. Motion passes unanimously for the continuance. Thank you.

Presentation, discuss, public hearing, consideration request of continuance for case P-26-6-PZ. Hudson. Thank you, Mayor City Council. My name is Hudson Myers, associate planner here City of Apache Junction. Much like Nick before, this is just going to be a request for continuance of case P-26-6-PZ. You all saw this case last night at work session, so I'll be very brief. P-26-6-PZ is a proposed rezoning of approximately 1 and 1/4 gross acres located at 275 South Cactus Road from RS-10M to RSGR.

The case was originally scheduled to go to Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on April 12th and City Council public hearing tonight on June 2nd in order to comply with all required public notification requirements, the applicant requested that the case be continued 2 weeks. So, the Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing, work session, and public hearing for City Council were all pushed 2 weeks further.

So, I ask that the I Well, the applicant asked that City Council approve the request for continuance to City Council public hearing on Tuesday, June 16th, 2026. Okay. Since this is public hearing, I'll still continue the public hearing. First off, does Council want to make any comments? No. Okay. I will now open the public hearing. There is a 5-minute time limit with 1-minute warning indication by the yellow light. Please state your name and address for the record.

Anyone like to speak on this matter? And I don't see any movement. So, I will now close the hearing and ask for a motion. Hold on a minute. Oh, I'm sorry. Come on. Go back to public hearing again. I just want to say my name is Kimberly Bergman and I'm part of this case and I'd like to thank Mayor Wilson and Vice Mayor Schroeder and all the council members for the time to consider this addition to the city employees. Um, I did have I would like to speak at the next meeting at greater length.

I do have some clarifications from some questions that you all had last night and comments. Um, but I would like to reiterate the simplicity of this was strictly about being able to use our property because right now we can't do anything. And it was never any other grand plans to do anything. We are not running a business and I'd like to be able to clarify those details at the next meeting. Okay. Thank you. All right. I will now close public hearing and ask for a motion. Your honor. Yes.

I move that the request for continuance of case P-26-6-PZ to June 16th, 2026 be approved. Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Isis. [cough and clears throat] Excuse me. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes. Council member Nesser. Yes. Council member Heck. Yes. Council member Soller. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes. Council member Cross. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes unanimously for the continuance to go to June 16th public hearing.

Okay, on a new business presentation discussion of possible consideration of resolution number 26-29. Mike. [clears throat] Mayor Wilson, council members, Mike Loggins, public arts director. I'm going to present on a new amendment number one to a development agreement with In the agreement, it is the Pinal County College, but as you guys will notice, Central Arizona College here at Idaho and Old West Highway. The original agreement was back in 2010.

Uh the college was supposed to and the city agreed to abandon the Broadway right-of-way in return for several different things that happened. Half street improvements along Winchester and Old West Highway. Underground powering along Winchester Road and Old West Highway and Broadway. Installing a traffic signal. Design and construction of five acre retention basin. And also an internal road through CAC. And design a 12 acre retention basin also.

Uh this long list of items the the first six were all completed back roughly between 2010 and 2012 when CAC developed. As part of the agreement, they had several years, 15 years to complete a 12 acre retention basin. Uh that's in part of their whole development. They didn't move forward with it.

So we reached out to them saying, "Hey, as part of the agreement, we'd like to get this moving." They have agreed in this amendment to fund this project roughly about 1.8 million dollars as part of our amendment. So we're reaching back out to the council. They'll pay it over the next three years. So they will pay for it. We'll go ahead and design it, construct it, and get it done so that it's no longer outstanding item as part of the agreement.

So current costs or design costs are approximately 300,000. The construction costs will be roughly about 1.5 million. So CAC will reimburse the city over the next three years according to this amendment. And the part the big part of this project uh that we've been working on here is it's all part of Palm Wash. So, Palm Wash is a break off of Weeks Wash. Um so, it's going to reduce that flow by 100 to 200 CFS.

And then this will also reduce those downstream flows, and we'll talk about them in future developments that are closer to Meridian and Southern as we get into those numbers. But, it reduces the flows a little bit in here retaining some of those water so that it doesn't flood out some of our residents to south when we have those 100-year storms. So, kind of a picture kind of overall what's happening out here. Uh if you guys have been here, this is Broadway Road.

As you come into CAC Idaho here, uh they have this private road that took place of Broadway. And they're roughly talking about these two retention basins detention basins that they have on site that need to construct. And then part of this channel here.

So, we're going to be pulling water off the Palm Wash, sending it to these detention basins, and letting them settle, going dry wells, and then go underground so that it no longer continues downstream to flood out during certain occasions on Palm Wash when Weeks Wash breaks out in heavy storms. Any questions uh on on this amendment and what we're trying to do with CAC? You want me to ask? I do have a question, Mike.

Um looking at the agreement, um back in 2010, it said Central Arizona College did not complete certain private infrastructure improvements as obligated under the IGA. Yes, sir. Do we know why they didn't do that? I cannot answer that question. I I just don't think that was on their radar until we brought it back up to them recently. Um and that's when we brought this proposal back to them saying, "Hey, we need to get this complete. We want to move forward with this project.

How do we work together to get this finished?" And then Brian reached out to some of their board members, and this is where we're at to today. And recently means like the last 3 years. [clears throat] So recently Mike said recently. So I've been trying to get them engaged for more than 3 years. Okay. And until now, that's Yeah. Yes. [clears throat] What's the assurance that we're going to get paid back? This amendment that they had signed by their board.

And that's why we reached out to do amendment to the intergovernmental agreement. blew it off for how many years? I would agree with you. I We had our counsel do this so that we legally we can go after them I believe if they don't make those payments. Is there any collateral if they don't? I mean No. What assurance do we get that we're going to get what we're paying for? Um Mayor and City Council, this is a intergovernmental agreement that you can enforce.

And if they do not do what they're supposed to do, we can actually take them to court and we can [clears throat] get a judge to order them for what's called specific performance. And that's where a judge says, "Okay, you will do what you were asked to do and what you agreed to do." But there is no uh there's no bond or anything like that. No. There's no performance bond? Uh is there Should there be?

Is there with the company that's It'll be with the one with the contractor but not with Central Arizona College. You have a different board than you had 15, 16 years ago. You have different management here. So I think that all goes into it. They're going to This is going to be watched by the public works director. And I think it's going to happen. You have no indication in any way. They're ready to go. In fact, they're ready for their first payment before July 1. I just one other thing.

I find it interesting that we can give them a a 3-year time frame to pay this. Yet we can't give our small businesses 3 years to pay a development fee. So I mean I know it's not the same thing but Yeah. it it is a an issue for me, so. That's state That's state regulated. Well, these are This is a little bit different, quite a bit different, actually. Yeah. And it's a governmental entity. Hopefully they pull through. Yes. Like I'm one more question, just clarification.

So, one of those one of the slides you have design and construct five acre retention basin. Is that a five acre foot retention basin? That's not five or 12 acres, right? Five acre feet, right? They it I'm going to say it's five acres. In the agreement it said five acre feet, but five acre feet is roughly about three foot of water over five acres, so it A lot of fun would be one acre and five feet high. That's what I guess I figured it would be. It could be that, too.

It just depends upon how deep when I just know we would have that much we would have that much ground for a 12 acre retention would we have that much out there? Correct. It It's the whole If you go along that loop, the private road that they have in there that they changed to Broadway, it's the whole south side of that going all the way up to the fences to the south. And then we have to have some slopes as part of that All right. of the project. That's my question.

What about the homes to the south? So, it it all retains in those detention basins and it all then we have dry wells within those, so it won't affect the homes and won't flow onto their property. If it does overflow, it goes back into Palm Marsh. There's a design on the south side of it here. We know we're supposed to put a wall up along those houses a long, long time ago. Oh, there's currently a wall along the south side. Mhm. Currently already. It's a chain link fence. I do not believe so.

I believe this is a wall currently. That's a chain link fence along there. Along the south side. it every day. Okay. Look, we should not affect anything to the south of us. This is a detention basin It it only clean it up. Right now, it's kind of native desert that's overgrown. Hopefully, it'll make it look a little nicer back there. And hopefully, as part of this project, it cleans it up so that you may have a better walking path as you pass it.

Yeah, I just want to make sure that we got it so it doesn't go south cuz there's a lot of homes over there. Correct. And and that's part of the That's why we reached out to Burgess & Niple that's doing this design. It's not meant to flow south. As you can see, this goes back here on this end here. And if this gets too high, it overflows back into Meeks our Palm Wash. And then there'll be dry wells that slowly drain that off within 36 to 48 hours. Okay. Any other questions? No. Nope. Okay.

[clears throat] So, do I have a motion for resolution Oh, no, there's no resolution. Your honor. So, do I have a motion, period? Yes, there is.

I move that resolution number 26-29, resolution of the mayor and city council of the city of Apache Junction, Arizona, authorizing the city to enter into an intergovernmental agreement amendment number one with Pinal County Community College District CAC to allow the city to design and construct a stormwater retention facility and be reimbursed by CAC in the amount not to exceed $1,800,000 be approved. Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call. Council member Johnson. Yes. Vice Mayor Schroeder. Yes.

Council member Nesser. Yes. Council member Cross. Yes. Council member Hack. Yes. Council member Soller. Yes. Mayor Wilson. Yes. Motion passes to approve resolution number 26-29. Okay. Presentation discussion possible consideration of a contract with Rummel Construction Company. Mike. Mayor and members of the council, this is direct relationship with just approved. So, this is a contract to actually construct our retention basin.

Uh Rummel Construction is looking to build that 12-acre retention basin and channel. Uh staff is recommending approval of $1.5 million to build that channel. Uh this will be under utilizing the County of Mohave's JOC earthwork and channel maintenance contracts. Uh so, our cooperative agreement Mohave [clears throat] has with Rummel Construction. Uh so, they would actually digging that channel, digging out those detention basins so that we can construct this facility.

Uh We also have Burgess & Niple that will design the 12-acre detention basin. Uh our scope will be approximately over $300,000 so we can have that done. Uh this was budgeted as part of this year's fiscal budget for the city to fund these um in the general fund uh to fund this project uh for roughly $1.8 million. So, it is in our budget currently, but we'll be reimbursed for those according to the amendment that you guys just approved. Mayor. Yes.

On our motion, it says $1,447,698.07, but on your slide, it said 1.5. Which one do you want? The contract that we currently have that is up for signing would be the the exact dollar amount of 1.447 698.07. Okay, so that's what we should approve. Correct. Okay. Your Honor. Yes. Go ahead. I I have a question for you. Um we have a slight issue over off of um Southern and Meridian that involves Palm Wash. That is correct. Will this take care of that [clears throat] problem?

It does not take care of the problem. It helps the city's responsibility of flows that go through that property. Yes. So, this being constructed takes care of the obligation the city may have had for that area. Now, roughly on that location, we have about 1,400 cfs that goes through that property. [clears throat] This is only 100 to 200 cfs that'll reduce that flow. So, that'll go down to 1,300 or 1,200 cfs that flows through that property.

So, it doesn't resolve those issues, but it does mitigate them a little bit, so it's not such a a task to take care of that issue. Absolutely, yes. Thank you. That's a good question. Yes. The termination or terminology of detention and retention, you kind of use them both ways. Is there a any specific difference? So, kind of what you're asking earlier, what happens if it overflows?

[clears throat] So, retention means it it stays there, and detention is detains it for a certain period, and if it overflows, it can go into back into the stream or flow offsite or go down in something. So, it's detaining it for a while, so it's a detention rather than a retention keeping it there.

So, like when we do new developments, most of those don't allow them to flow off, so we're not detaining it, we're retaining it, so we have those retention basins for most new developments cuz they have to retain all that on their property. Very good. Thank you. One more question. These detention basins, are they going to be able to let the water drain back into the ground? Correct.

So, we'll have it'll percolate into the ground, kind of like a septic system, and then we'll also have dry wells as part of that. So, they'll drill holes in the ground and put rock in them, and then that'll allow it to go down in the ground faster than just going through the native desert that's out there. Okay. Do I have a motion? Mayor, Yes. I move [clears throat] that approval of award of contract to Rummel Construction Inc.

for Central Arizona College Palm Wash Detention Basin located at 805 South Idaho Road, Apache Junction, Arizona in the amount not to exceed $1,447,698.07 be approved. Second. To make sure we got the 7 cents. [laughter] [clears throat] Moved and seconded, roll call. Council member Soller? Yes. Vice Mayor Soller? Yes. Council member Nelson? Yes. Council member Cross? Yes. Council member Heck? Yes. Council member Johnson? Yes. Mayor Wilson? Yes.

Motion passes unanimously unanimously to approve the contract with Rummel Construction. When do they plan on starting that? Uh 2 years from now. As soon as we get the approval from council and get a signature on that, we'll hopefully within the next 30 days we'll be starting construction on that. You don't interfere with my dog walking, man. [laughter] I will let them know to keep the dust down and keep water out there for you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay.

[clears throat] Well, I should now move to the end of our meeting, which is the call to the public. I'd like to remind everyone the call of public is a courtesy, not required by law. It's a time for the public to express requests, communications, comments, and suggestions. Request to speak forms must have been completed and handed to the city clerk before the end of the city manager's report. All issues shall be presented in a professional manner without personal attacks.

Under the open meeting law, council cannot engage in discussion on issues presented, but may respond to criticism and may direct staff to follow up with the speaker directly or place the matter on a future agenda for a council discussion. There's a 3-minute time limit with a 30-second warning indication by the yellow light. And I have two call to the public forums, Donna Carr. Donna Carr, Apache Junction resident.

First, I'd like to thank you guys for going out to Resolution Copper and for Bambi for taking some of the questions that the people have to ask them while you were there. Um one of the things I found out is is that the the water is going to be going to the southwest of Resolution Copper for for cotton fields. Um just to say that this water contains arsenic, iridium, and uranium, which is uh a friend has a Geiger counter.

He would run along both sides of the roads up in Superior and he can follow the with the Geiger counter going off back to the mines. So, they need to have those loads covered properly when transporting all those tailings because that stuff can get in the air every time there's a dust storm and it can cause cancer. It's it's radioactive. [clears throat] Uh so, there's still more questions that even I have of Resolution Copper. And thanks. Nate James Markham. Um Oh, jeez.

Aloha mayor and to the rest of the city council. It's It's to be back here. Um [laughter] Um so let's talk about the Navajo talkers because I don't think people know about this. And I have a problem with this as a Japanese American. And um you know, we talk about them and how we should celebrate them and how they have done so much to World War II, but they don't talk about the Japanese Americans that found out that the Navajo talkers were not saying the right codes at the right time.

And so thank you to the Japanese Americans, they ended World War II. So thank you to that. Also, let's talk about water because I know that um people are obsessed about it and yes, I am obsessed about it, too, but not in the ways that some people talk about it here. Um [laughter] Um and I'm so thankful that we are taking care of our water here. Um [laughter] And there's nothing else I can say about that.

There's some people that make excuses about the water and you know, about cancer and you know, jeez, we just need the water. Come on. Um and please keep on building here. That's another thing we need to do. Um also, we need to talk about women cops. We that matter here and hopefully we do have them and women firefighters, they matter here, too. Also, there's another conflict about Israel and Palestinians and I hope that we are um encouraging both of them. Um not just the Palestinians.

Also, I This is a concern for me as a you know, from Hawaii that why are guns so obsessive here? I don't understand. Why can't you just keep them at home, not in your cars? And I think we need to make a better adjustment about this, too. Um also, transgender people, they should be in private restrooms. I don't know if you have to do that um around here or not. Um and trans women should not be playing in women's sports either. Also, um, as a Democrat, that yes, I do stand for that.

Um, and I would love to see the light rail expansion here. Um, so, because I know a lot of people would love to see the mountains here in Apache Junction. I love it, too. [laughter] So, I would like to see a light rail expansion here. So, thank you so much. Mahalo. Thank you for the time tonight. I will adjourn the meeting. Thank you for attending.