PRESCOTT - When a hearing began in February on the state's ruling on Prescott's use of Big Chino water, city officials say they never imagined it would go beyond the original three-day schedule.
But not only did the hearing exceed the original three days, it now appears that it will run to as long as eight days.
The Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings originally scheduled the appeal on ADWR's ruling entitling Prescott to pump 8,067 acre-feet of water per year from the Paulden-area Big Chino sub-basin to take place on Feb. 9, 10, and 11.
When that was not enough to handle all of the testimony, the administrative judge set another three-day hearing on April 13 to 15.
But again in April, the proceedings did not wrap up in the allotted timeframe, and the judge scheduled two more days on June 15 and 16.
And with the expansion of the schedule comes additional costs.
On Tuesday, the Prescott City Council approved spending $30,000 with its main water consultant, Southwest Ground-water Consultants, to pay for the firm's help with the hearing.
That did not sit well with Councilman Robert Luzius, who has long objected to spending money on the Big Chino Water Ranch while the status of the project is still in litigation.
"We should not put any additional monies into this pipeline until we are assured that we can use it," Luzius said Tuesday, before voting against the payment.
Since late 2004, when the city bought the land for the water ranch, it has faced the threat of lawsuits over its use of Big Chino water.
Ultimately, Phoenix-area utility company Salt River Project and other groups have taken stands against the plans by Prescott and its partner Prescott Valley to build a 30-mile water pipeline, because of alleged impacts that the pumping would have on the flow of the Verde River.
The opposition has led to a number of legal challenges, along with the ongoing appeal hearing.
When the Southwest Ground-water matter first went to the council at last week's study session, Luzius asked to see a breakdown of the money the city has paid to the firm so far in pursuit of the Big Chino water.
This week, City Water Resources Manager Jim Holt presented a report that showed that the city has spent more than $1 million with the consultants since the ranch purchase in 2004.
The total - at $1,002,209 - included $405,378 for design and drilling of groundwater monitoring wells, $270,110 for a well-field master plan, and $225,364 for a hydrological study and environmental site assessment.
Holt's memo noted that while the city had originally expected Southwest Ground-water's hydrological support for the ADWR hearing to cost less than $20,000, the expanded schedule had pushed the cost to $30,000.
City Attorney Gary Kidd told the council that Southwest Ground-water's William Greenslade "is our main expert" in the city's response to the appeal of the ADWR ruling.
He added that Greenslade's testimony is "fundamental" to the city's case, as well as its rebuttal of expert witnesses that have come forward as part of the objections to the ruling.
Added Kidd: "We're all very frustrated in terms of how long this process has gone." But, he said, "I don't see any other way to do it."
Councilman Bob Bell agreed with the need for the expert witness. "We need to finish what we started," he said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, May 29, 2009
Article comment by:
Real reason for June 15-16
The latest extension was due to Prescott's lawyers calling endless lists of rebuttal witnesses. Everyone figured that there was plenty of time during the second set of scheduled hearings to conduct all of the necessary business. The COP lawyers had plenty of time to wrap it up... they did not, instead rebuttal went on ad nauseum to very little effect. This latest extension belongs to Prescott they have to put their money where their mouthpiece is and quit whining about the cost.
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Tongue-in-cheek
See, I told you so! There is nothing in the World worth fighting for, especially water. It's time to roll over and play dead. Goliath has already slain David on the way to the fight.
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
If it is not at least Prescott Valley's intention to pump the Chino dry, why did this current mayor say publicly that, 'that it will be like a big straw from one aquifer farther west to the next until we reach the ocean.’ He said, we will run a pipe line some day right to through California.’ If you don’t believe he said it get a copy of the last election forums from pv’s local channel. Mayor Skoog also went on to tell everyone about a cruise he and his wife just took and sea water was served on the ship and that after the salt was removed it was very tasty. We need to think about what we are going to let them do to this state.
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
For that million dollars we already spent we could have hired a dozen hydrologist specialists and had them laying pipe in their down time. What a waste. Wwho are these clowns downtown making these type decisions and spending our tax dollars as if it grew on trees and not from the sweat of our collective brow.
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Paul F Miller
Hey ... my 2 cents worth is ... this is only round one ... SRP has the $$$, time, personnel and comitment to draw this out until the cows come home ... you ain't seen nothing yet ...
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
An American
There will be no "good ol neighborly fairness applied. i read an article in this very paper several years ago where a prescott official stated "we will pump water until someone stops us" ...that E&O insurance is a beautiful thing is'nt it?
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Creagan McConnell
And yet the residents of Paulden have yet to see a mitigation plan! The Paulden Area Community Organization of behalf of well owners in the Paulden Area have been pressing Prescott/Prescott Valley for a mitigation plan that would address our concerns with negative impact that the BCWR project could have on our wells and the Verde River flow. We have been told that legally we have no say in this project, yet. We appeal to the councils to reconsider on ethical, moral and down right good ol’ neighborly fairness in dealing with issues that threaten the rural community which may supply the water they want to take from outside their AMA boundaries. Another question I have personally is “why is money that the city desperately needs for infrastructure, being spent on a project that can not go forward until these legal decisions are made”?
Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009
Article comment by:
George Seaman
If it weren't such a sad statement about the City's lack of understanding of the complexities of the entire process, this would almost be a comical report. They had no idea this would take so long?!?!? And once this hearing is over then all of the real serious legal challenges still loom ahead. This process is going to be going on for years to come, and all the while the City will not be assured of the outcome! Councilors brace yourselves, and be ready to be pay Southwest Groundwater many more millions of dollars, and do not try and tell us you had no idea this was coming...you have been warned repeatedly by many people since long before you bought that ranch. The legal quagmire will be nothing short of a nightmare. Of course the entire legal situation would go away if the council would only authorize a contingency (mitigation) plan, then all of the legal challengers would simply go home. Regardless of what anyone may feel about whether these legal challenges are good or not, they will continue unless such a plan is produced, therefore it would seem to be the conservative thing to get busy and produce one. But of course Southwest Groundwater (and the lawyers) don't want that to happen, they want this to drag on in the courts for as long as possible! And in the end they will become millionaires over this stupidity, and the City will probably be forced to do a contingency plan anyway. Like I said, if it wasn't such a sad statement of ignorance on the part of the City, this would just be funny!
