PRESCOTT - The State Land Department never has worked on a trust land sales agreement like the one it currently is negotiating with Prescott Valley, State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman said during a speech in the Prescott area this past week.
"It is absolutely a new model," Winkleman told those gathered at a luncheon sponsored by the Central Arizona Partnership, a non-profit consortium of business leaders in this region. "It should be an example of how things could be done in other areas."
The state and town are working on a deal that would allow bidders on 19,200 acres of state trust lands to also bid on attached water rights that the town would provide through the proposed Big Chino pipeline.
Because of state-imposed restrictions on land in the Prescott Active Management Area, current purchasers of trust land in the Prescott AMA outside of Prescott have a hard time getting water supplies for subdivisions because they cannot use Prescott AMA groundwater.
"It doesn't do me any good to try to sell land if there isn't any water," Winkleman said.
Prescott Mayor Jack Wilson criticized the deal as a "legal extraction" by the state, but PV Town Manager Larry Tarkowski said it is a voluntary action on the part of the town, which would get all the revenue from the auction of water.
Town officials have been wanting to see development on state trust lands for years.
Winkleman said a shortage of employees makes it impossible for the agency to keep up with Arizona growth. Since the department must seek to make the most money possible for the trust beneficiaries, it naturally focuses on the highest-value lands around the Phoenix area.
The agency sells about 3,000-3,500 acres annually, while about 20,000 acres in the Phoenix area urbanizes each year, Winkleman said. Its inability to keep up with surrounding development causes inappropriate leapfrog development, he added.
"Anthem shouldn't really be where it is," he said, since several million acres of state trust lands sit between it and the Phoenix metro area.
The agency brought in a record $600 million this past year for its 14 beneficiaries, but its budget went from $18 million to $16.5 million and likely will drop again this year, he said.
The lack of Land Department staff also makes it hard to respond to law violations such as trash dumping, Winkle-man said. The agency has a trash cleanup budget of about $25,000 annually, and only two law enforcement officers to cover 9.3 million acres.
"There is no possible way we can police our lands," he said. "So we rely on local communities to help," as well as grazing lease owners.
An initiative drive now underway would provide more money for such needs.
"It would allow us to be self-funding, which I think is a great idea," Winkleman said.
It also would set aside about 570,000 acres for preservation, including grasslands in the Big Chino Valley and two prominent Prescott-area landmarks, Badger ("P") Mountain and Glassford Hill.
And the proposed ballot measure would allow the department to require preservation of lands it sells to government agencies through the Arizona Preserve Initiative (API) that voters approved in 1996. API provides $20 million worth of matching money each year.
Only one entity has tried to buy land under the API system since a court ruled that the state cannot put deed restrictions on such lands, Winkleman said. The court ruling means that developers can outbid local governments that want to preserve the lands.
Posted: Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Article comment by:
Gabrielle
The pipeline will either not get built because of the escalating cost of construction and right of way purchases or construction will start and multiple lawsuits will ensue. Does the State really want to get stuck in this mess? How complicit are they that benefit from a project that threatens endangered species and dries up a river?
Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Article comment by:
Pete
Since the cash is in a short supply, Larry and Jack can take out their old rusted Henries and patrol on a part-time basis. Maybe they will get a sense on where they live. It is not all sidewalks and Airport terminals. George Carlin is already starting to turn.. I will miss him.
