(Photo above: Johnson Utilities, LLC Facebook)
Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents landowners and homebuilders working with the ACC to find a utility solution in the Johnson Utilities service area.)
By Mark Cowling | Maricopa Monitor
FLORENCE – Pinal County is asking state utility regulators to immediately provide interim solutions that will allow development to proceed around the Pecan and the Section 11 facilities, which are both Johnson Utilities wastewater plants in San Tan Valley.
The county’s letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission says that without ACC action, construction activity served by the Pecan plant in northern San Tan Valley could be forced to shut down. The letter suggests a connection with the Queen Creek sewer system could be one short-term answer.
The Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to send the letter, which asks the ACC to take action at its Sept. 22 open meeting.
Attorney Court Rich commented to the board that if development remains on hold surrounding Section 11 for another 18 months, the county would be missing out on $200 million in economic opportunity, according to an analysis by Elliott Pollack economists.
If the delay persists for years, the county could miss $1 billion in economic opportunity, Rich said. He said he supported the plan to replace the Section 11 plant with a new Copper Basin plant, but that is at least three to five years away. Rich urged the board to push for an interim solution that will allow development to proceed in southern San Tan Valley. “We can’t keep this area in the penalty box,” he said.
