The Cottonwood City Council Tuesday agreed to pursue another annexation. The Quail Canyon development is a gated project with about 64 house lots, each two acres in size.
This time, an important water well would also be acquired in addition to the annexation; a well that eventually is expected to also supply Verde Village 6 and 7 with their water needs.
The two Village units are now supplied by wells that have either failed or are too small for production use. By comparison, the new wells at Al Gradijan's development have a high capacity, at 500 gallons per minute, and a low-enough arsenic level that treatment will not be necessary.
The city has negotiated an agreement with Gradijan to purchase the two wells and system for $850,000. In addition, Gradijan must assure an easement to connect the new well to the existing Verde Village system.
The city's expense for pipelines to make the connection is estimated at $168,000 for a total cost of about $1 million.
Permit fees, construction and other sales taxes and State shared revenues will return about $1.5 million to the city at build-out, according to Cottonwood.
The city has already inspected and assessed the new well to assure its value and Council member Tim Elinski supported the purchase, "It's money better spent than drilling something new."
Another option is to drill a new well, with no certainty of its capacity or arsenic treatment demands, offered Development Services Manager Dan Lueder.
Not everyone was convinced. A regular in council meeting audiences, Bob Oliphant, asked "where is the fiduciary duty?" He suggested that the city was throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars in value by closing down wells the city purchased only a couple years ago. He suggested that the city also needs assurance that it will have a viable easement.
Lueder responded that the city had spent $5.5 million for 15 wells in the Verde Villages and that the wells being replaced probably are valued at $100,000 each, plus the $20,000 monthly cost to treat for arsenic.
The board approved the proposed well purchase. Mayor Joens was absent and Darold Smith voted against the plan.
