Rhodes water project delayed; ACC to schedule more hearings

Jennifer Bartlett

Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN - Hearings started Feb. 15 on the water and wastewater companies proposed to service Pravada, Rhodes Homes' Golden Valley community.

The Arizona Corporation Commission began to hear testimony on the applications for Certificates of Convenience and Necessity for Perkins Mountain Water Company and Perkins Mountain Utility Company.

The ACC did not finish the Perkins Mountain hearings as of Friday afternoon. More hearings will be scheduled before a final decision is made.

The ACC heard from several members of the public, many who traveled from Kingman and Mohave County and seemed to be in favor of the ACC allowing Rhodes Homes to progress with their plans.

Marvin Taylor, a Kingman resident, said he was drawn to Kingman for the small town feel and the open spaces. The growth he has seen so far was not well-planned or well-maintained, he said. Rhodes, however, was proposing a true planned community and will bring a higher quality product to the area, he said.

As far as water concerns go, he said, “I don't think any of us really understand what a 100-year water supply really is.” There will be problems with water in the southwest no matter what anyone does, Taylor said, adding that without quality development like Rhodes, Mohave County will stay stagnant.

Many other community members shared similar feelings.

After short opening arguments from both sides, attorney for the Perkins Mountain companies Jeffrey Crocket called the first witness. Kirk Brynjulson, president of the Perkins Mountain Water and Utility companies and vice president of operations for Rhodes Homes Arizona, testified that Rhodes was interested in starting construction as soon as June or July, as long as the CC&N was approved.

It was hard to say how long it would take to build out 33,000 homes, he said, but it would at least be 10 to 15 years. Rhodes Homes has received approval from the county for their general plan amendment, he said, and has also received water adequacy from the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Brynjulson said they have constructed four wells for Pravada, one on site and three outside of the CC&N area. Only GV1, located approximately a mile north of the CC&N boundaries, was operational, while the other three were capped and not in use.

The one pumping well was being used for construction purposes, watering some planted palm trees and the ball field Rhodes constructed on Aztec.

Brynjulson said they have begun grading for the project and for the 18-hole golf course. Approximately 60-70 percent of the grading has been done for the project, however, no hardscape or grass has gone in yet, he said.

They have built four design homes, he said. While the faucets and the bathrooms work in them, he said they have been sealed off and only in use for tours. Brynjulson told Commissioner Kris Mayes that they installed working products because they hoped to sell the design homes when they were done with them. There are storage tanks behind the design homes, however, where water was hauled to them for cleaning and irrigation, he said.

“In order to move forward in the project, we need to have some way to deliver water,” he said.

Brynjulson said they have 1,167 reservations for Pravada, a number that is increasing all the time. However, they also have a steady amount of cancellations due to the amount of time it is taking to get to market.

In October 2005, Brynjulson said they had estimated needing approximately 15,910 acre-feet of water annually at maximum build out. The demand has decreased since then due to fine tuning of the plan, he said. Now, Pravada is estimating to need about 12,196 acre-feet of water with ADWR projecting that they have adequate water supplies for up to 11,895 acre-feet per year.

Due to these numbers, Keith Layton, attorney for the ACC, said staff was recommending a conditional CC&N for all but 301 acre-feet of water per year. The remaining portion would be subject to an order preliminary until they proved they had the water.

On Feb. 16, the ACC heard from Douglas Dunham, ADWR manager of assured and adequate water supply. Testifying in response to a subpoena, Dunham said he oversees a staff that processes the applications from water providers and developers for adequate water supply.

Outside of an Active Management Area, developers are required to prove 100-year adequate water supply. However, if a developer fails to receive an analysis of adequate water supply indicating that they have enough water to build out their project, they could still continue to build. All that was required of them at that point would be to advise the initial buyer of the inadequate water supply. The developer would be required to put this information in all promotional materials as well as the public report. While the public report is only given to the first buyer, subsequent buyers can view it at request, he said.

While Dunham said he was familiar with Rhodes' hydrology firm Errol L. Montgomery and Associates because they submitted plans to ADWR fairly regularly, he could not speak to the quality of the firm because he did not get into the technical aspect of the applications.

Before the ADWR will sign off on an analysis of adequate water supply, Dunham said they would make sure the science backs up what the developer said. While not much was known about the Sacramento and Detrital aquifers, the two aquifers that will be affected by Pravada and the Villages at White Hills, Dunham said they would compare the figures submitted with any information that does exist about the aquifer.

Also taken into account are all demands, including existing uses and existing recorded lots that are not occupied, and any other decisions ADWR has made in the area. Then, based on the data available, ADWR runs out the demands. If it does not exceed 1,200 feet of water depth in 100 years, it is deemed adequate.

To prevent the developer from changing his mind and accruing more water usage after all of the approvals, Dunham said ADWR gets to have a look at the final plats before the developer is approved to start drawing water.