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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPackets - Council Packets (1608)Stine, Michelle From: Randall, Diana Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2021 10:35 AM To: Stine, Michelle; Standish, Michael Subject: Fw: Enriching Oro Valley Good morning, Please see below for constituent comments. Sincerely, Diana Randall From: Terry Hart Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 20216:55 PM To: Town Council <council@orovalleyaz.gov>; jwinfield@orovalleyaz.org <jwinfield@orovalleyaz.org>; mbarrett@orovalleyaz.org <mbarrett@orovalleyaz.org>; jnicolson@orovalleyaz.org <jnicolson@orovalleyaz.org>; jjones-ivey@orovalleyaz.org <jjones-ivey@orovalleyaz.org>; ssolomon@orovalleyaz.org <ssolomon@orovalleyaz.org>; Bohen, Timothy <tbohen@orovalleyaz.gov>; Greene, Harry <hgreene@orovalleyaz.gov>; mjacobs@orovalleyaz.org <mjaco bs@orova I leyaz.o rg> Cc: Ask <ask@orovalleyaz.gov> Subject: Enriching Oro Valley Town Manager, Mary Jacobs', update last Wednesday evening regarding the former Vistoso Golf property continued to be positive. I would like to thank ALL of those individuals who have been involved thus far, directly or indirectly, in the pursuit of acquiring the 202 acre parcels for the benefit of our Town and residents. It's been a long and exasperating process. That said, myself, and like many others, I am also a realist. And we all know that the possibility exists that Romspen may reject and/or walk away from the upcoming offer - again. I expect the Town has already considered this possible scenario. And if this were to be Romspen's position, I would hope and expect the Town to already have a contingency plan to immediately move to acquire the property through a legal condemnation process - securing the 202 acres as natural open space Sonoran desert for all to enjoy in perpetuity. Respectfully, Terry Hart From: Ivsw Wanstrom To: Town Council Subject: new homes and lack of water Date: Saturday, lune 19, 2021 10:26:29 AM Please end all of this new construction of homes. We are no longer a natural environment we can call the original Oro Valley. Stop building NOW! don't let construction rule you! It is all greed. So Sad for us originals. AND on top of the construction, notice how bad it is on 1 st ave. going towards Oracle? Bad move with the cones by fiys. Why not give Frys complex its turn only lane. Without that, it leaves a back up of cars. The more people, the more that 1 st ave.traffic jams. The big one, no WATER! It is ridiculous to keep building new homes! You need to stop this horrible near future. Take charge and let the Gov and Senators know we don't think this in the best interest of Of Oro Valley and Arizona. Thanks, ACT NOW. what are you going to do? L.S. Wanstrom From: kandis kimberly To: Town Council Subject: Golf course watering Date: Saturday, June 19, 20218:32:13 AM Dear Council - It has recently come to my attention that Pusch Ridge Golf course is using Potable water for their greens. I am unsure of other courses in OV. This is UNACCEPTABLE behavior given our water situation! To expect the OV citizens to be water -wise and not require golf courses and other businesses to utilize grey water or rain water harvesting is a blatant misuse of our precious resources. You have a RESPONSIBILITY to make sound decisions for our community not just for today but for the future. Please address this situation. From: Steve Carlsen To: Town Council Subject: Golf Courses Date: Saturday, June 19, 20216:35:36 PM With severe drought and ongoing climate change in the southwest it is ridiculous to use valuable water to support golf courses with regular and/or unpotable recycled water. We need to accept the fact that golf courses serve the needs of a very small percentage of the population and are a luxury we no longer can support. Steve Carlsen From: Monica Nelson To: Town Council Subject: Water conservation Date: Saturday, June 19, 2021 1:10:01 PM Please make sure no golf courses or lawn areas are using potable water while we are in this drought condition. This is critical. Thanks, Monica Nelson Stine, Michelle From: Randall, Diana Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2021 10:51 AM To: Stine, Michelle; Standish, Michael Subject: Fw: Vistoso Golf Club Good morning, Please see below for constituent comments. Sincerely, Diana Randall From: tennisjimgreer Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 20213:26 PM To: Town Council <council@orovalleyaz.gov> cc: Subject: Vistoso Golf Club My name is Jim Greene. I live in a residence, with my spouse JoAnn, which is adjacent to the former golf course, in the Fairfield community. We have lived in Oro Valley for over ten years and find it to be very enjoyable. After the golf club was closed we have waited patiently for the next chapter.. Obviously, the quality of our lives is directly affected. While we have preferences for the land use, we have tried to be respectful as the owner contemplates it's future. But our patience is running out. No progress has been made and the landowner seems to lack focus and direction. After an initial round of negotiations failed, but then through the good offices of the Town, were restarted, It did not take a genius to know what terms of sale would succeed. Now, once again the landowner seems to be uncertain of its position. The Town has used its standing to help find a solution. We urge it now to make it clear to the landowner that it needs to act definitively, and if it does not the Town should give very serious consideration to condemning the property. Thank you very much. Sent from my iPad Stine, Michelle From: Randall, Diana Sent: Monday, July 12, 2021 10:40 AM To: Stine, Michelle; Standish, Michael Cc: Hynd, Jessica Subject: FW: Follow Up To Water Shortage Correspondence Attachments: FollowupLetter_OVTownCouncil_WaterShortage.pdf Good morning, Please see attached and below for constituent comments. Sincerely, Diana Randall Executive Assistant Town Manager, Mayor and Council -----Original Message ----- From: Sent: Sunday, July 11, 20212:42 PM To: Town Council <council@orovalleyaz.gov> Subject: Follow Up To Water Shortage Correspondence For the attention of Mayor Winfield, Vice Mayor Barrett and other council members. As a follow-up to my letter of 17 June and the emails I've received from yourselves since, I'm attaching another letter (PDF) from myself and my wife. I hope the information I've provided is helpful, and look forward to your response. Thank you, Adrian Gill 1 ATTN. ORO VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL -11 JULY, 2021 WATER SHORTAGE Firstly my thanks to: • Mary Jacobs for contacting after my letter of 17 June to let me know what would then happen • Jessica Hynd for emailing links to reports, welcome guides, newsletters, information about water banking, ground replenishment, etc. - I believe that was done with assistance from Peter Abraham Steve Solomon for emailing helpful information like the fact Oro Valley Country Club (OVCC) has private wells for water supply, so is not under the jurisdiction of the Oro Valley Water Utility (OVWU). My apologies for not responding sooner, but I wanted to thoroughly review the links/information sent by Jessica Hynd, as well as other relevant links and documents, including the 2021 Summer newsletter, Behind the Meter, from OVWU. MAIN POINTS IN SUMMARY 1. Globally the climate is changing (heating up) rapidly and exponentially. As it does, it exponentially increases the severity of related problems, e.g. drought in our area, flooding elsewhere. As the drought/water shortage situation worsens, the need for water increases at a corresponding rate. While youtube is not generally a place I look to for reliable information, this 10 minute video - https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1CZL31ZGLKY provides a helpful overview. 2. The links and documents provided to me, while containing useful information, seem to lack details concerning water conservation. Whether conservation is at the supply side or user side, it requires infrastructure and forward planning to enable it. Apart from the proposed imposition of increased charges, I saw little in what I reviewed that spoke in real terms about conservation. And increasing charges is not a conservation mechanism, merely a penalty that's often marginalized by industry/corporate interests. 3. Regulation is needed to conserve the limited resource of water, particularly drinkable water, which makes up only 1% of the planet's total water. But the regulation needs to be focused on optimal use of that water, including conservation, rather than penalizing people for something they will not be able to help. As drought and excessive heat conditions escalate (like the unprecedented 123-124°F just seen in Alberta, Canada), more rather than less water will be needed to combat those conditions. As a simple example, people there were told to drink more water to prevent dehydration, i.e. just to stay alive. 4. The documents/links sent to me seem based on traditional views of weather prediction and water availability, etc. Those methods have already failed, and will continue to do so even more drastically going forward, so a new, more proactive approach is needed. 5. Research shows that the best hope for optimizing our approach to/ adaptation around/ mitigation of the effects of climate change is by regulation at local (e.g. town and city) level. Part of the reason for that is the almost complete inaction at the federal level. CLIMATE CHANGE I would like to again cite the fact that where Oro Valley is located in Arizona is an area of "exceptional" drought now, compared to the moderate drought of 2016. This speaks to what people like atmospheric scientist Professor Katherine Hayhoe (based in New Mexico, teaches in Texas, Chief Scientist for the Nature Conservancy), and one of her counterparts here in AZ, Professor )oellen Russell (UofA) are saying - climate change/warming is now exponential in its progression, rather than linear. Similarly one of the world's top research climatologists has been a good friend of mine for decades. I've seen the work he's done around the world in drought -ridden countries, his presentations to the UN, and so on, all of which confirm the same findings. All of these scientists are giving the same message they've been giving since the mid 1960s, that human -induced, fossil fuel based climate change/warming is perhaps the biggest threat we face globally. Their most recent statements are that everything related to climate change is getting worse, not progressively, rather exponentially. Which means the water shortages that exist now will get worse far more rapidly than has been the case in the past, not least because groundwater sources are no longer being replenished at the rate they used to be. As a specific example, our own measurements in the 3 years we've been in Oro Valley show that precipitation has dropped by a very significant amount in our area. Based on publicly available data we collected for our area in the past, we now get only around 35% of the precipitation per annum that used to be the norm here. To be clear about the reality of what this means, last year we carried on watering around our property at the levels the prior owners had instructed in the details they helpfully left us when we moved into our property. This was an appropriately low level of watering given all of our trees and plants are desert -hardy. While in 2018-2019 that watering level was sufficient, in 2019-2020 it wasn't, as noted by the plants and trees that started to die. Almost all our plants and trees are native to our area, so are already drought tolerant. Those that aren't native are desert -hardy, so again, drought - tolerant. We do not use sprinklers, or any other potentially wasteful method of water distribution. We literally water everything by hand, and study information from local master gardeners, etc. to optimize the way we water for where we live, ensuring as little waste as possible. We also requested and received visits from our water utility to inspect for leaks etc., which caused us to renew/upgrade all our pool -related equipment. But the main point here is that to prevent our native plants/trees from dying we've had to actually give them water, even though being native they shouldn't need anything other than rainfall. Similarly we see native animals around our property dying of heat stroke, though we attempt to help them by putting out dishes of water. As noted in my previous letter, state Water Director Tom Buschatzke indicates the current drought level may well last another 20 years. Taking into account the projections from the scientists already mentioned, that seems an overly optimistic projection. In reality this situation is not going to remain as it is now for the next 20 years, rather it will get worse every year, on a compound basis. The worse it gets, the more water and other resources will be required to correct it, assuming that will even be possible. Taking our own property as a microcosm, as already noted, we now have to water native plants. That shouldn't be necessary but is, because if we let them die, the water required to replace them would be far greater, and potentially not affordable. And it's to be noted that trees add value to property, so each one that dies, reduces the value of our home. CONSERVATION erREGULATION A question that now becomes particularly important for the residents of Oro Valley is what is being done at the level of the water user to conserve water? This is relative to another question which, as an Oro Valley resident, I feel needs to be asked - why are penalties and similar being sought by the OVWU director if there are no water shortage problems in sight? If, as has been stated, all is well, such are not needed, so why are they being proposed? Responses like "just in case", and "we don't envision them ever being needed", do not make sense. At the very least, putting such measures in place opens the possibility of profiteering in the face of the shortage we're about to experience. Penalties and restrictions are rarely sought unless a problem either exists or will exist before long. Imposition of penalties in the face of problems is almost never the correct approach. In this specific instance what's needed is to put in place infrastructure to remedy the situation, not penalties. One of the points made by Professor Hayhoe, is that this is something to be dealt with at a town/city level. That's because it's this level of government that best knows their own situation, and can proactively institute measures best suited for their communities to deal with what has been allowed to become a very rapidly worsening situation nationally and globally. This is the reason I'm writing to yourselves to take action at the town/city level. However, such action cannot be limited to sizing up the current water reserves and saying "we have enough". As our own experience tells us, due to climate change, much more water is going to be used. So while the OVWU welcome guide may state that 7,000 gallons a month is the norm, unless we want to allow all our native trees and plants to die off, we, and others like us, will be using more than that in the near future. In fact we ourselves already do, despite having instituted numerous water saving measures, because we have no choice. Once our plants die, they cannot be replaced as to do so would require a lot more water to get the new plants established - water we will not be able to access due to the proposed penalties, restrictions and price increases. And that's just one example, as this increasing need for water in our area will directly affect survival in terms of reducing the effects of heat stroke and related problems. Similarly survival generally will be affected by the overall need for increased water as climate changes worsen, to enable food production, maintenance of supply chains, and much else that's critical to everyone's lives, here and elsewhere. Add to the above industry factors, such as those already well documented, like bottled water suppliers siphoning aquifers near dry and leaving local residents with nothing, and the situation is undeniably going to get worse. TRADITIONAL THINKING To apply Einstein's definition of insanity, if we continue to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, we will be disappointed at best. As water is a life/death resource, the outcome of not taking a new approach to all of this could well be fatal. Before moving here we lived in California, where I found local water authorities were using 200 year-old weather prediction algorithms to assess at what levels to maintain their water reservoirs. Weather prediction has dramatically improved in the past 5 years, let alone the past 200, yet no related changes were made, literally allowing reservoirs to be emptied into the desert time and again for no reason, and consequently wasting large quantities of water. In the face of such, it's easy to see that unless something is done at a local level to address water shortage, and climate change as a whole, not only will nothing be done, but the waste and destruction of resources like water will continue to the severe detriment of the average person. It's no longer sufficient to just "quote the numbers" derived from traditional perspectives and calculations to say we have enough water. Water usage is going to increase exponentially as the climate heats up further in our area, because this part of Arizona is at the forefront of global warming. Similarly, as water becomes an increasingly scarce resource, our supply status as ordinary people will be derailed to serve corporate interests. All the evidence points to that kind of corporate prioritization getting worse, not better, so there's no reason to think that where water is concerned things will be any different. LOCAL LEVEL ACTION At a local level such things as global climate change and global warming cannot be addressed. But positive action can be taken at local level, and critically should be taken for water, where we need to do far more to conserve it, specifically: • either bring reclaimed water to Pusch Ridge golf course or consider closing it down permanently in a way that promotes water conservation • regulate to have every new commercial/ residential development in the area provide graywater/reclaimed water as an integral offering, paid for by the developer/group(s) of developers • develop and implement plans to enable existing Oro Valley homes/ businesses to be retrofitted with water reclamation/graywater solutions • put in place more incentives and assistance for people willing to take the above and similar actions. The above actions are specifically infrastructure based, and will improve the water situation for everyone in Oro Valley. Where I recommend water reclamation/graywater, that could be split between town/district level, development/site level, or the level of individual homes/ businesses, as makes economic sense. I don't believe any of the above actions to be "items for consideration". At this point in the overall situation of drought/water shortage, the extremities we will soon face make them a necessity. There are many other good initiatives that could be regulated into place to help offset the impact of climate change. To take an example from another domain, it's well proven that the US electrical grid is in a very bad state of repair and in need of vast sums just to make it functional for current requirements (no pun intended), let alone future ones. Oro Valley can't address that level of problem. Yet there is much that could be done at a town level by regulation, e.g. we have so much sun here, that regulating every new home/business that's built has at the very least solar water heating, would do much towards helping. As water heating accounts for a significant proportion of energy consumption, to convert to solar powered water heating would be a simple and useful first step. And with the amount of sunshine we get locally, an excellent case could be made that every new home/business should have solar -powered electricity, which would reduce costs for homeowners and reduce the strain on the electrical grid locally. If that requirement were to then include a battery backup, it would further reduce the strain on the electrical grid. CONCLUSION It's been documented since the 19th century that burning fossil fuels (wood and coal back then) creates a blanket around the earth that traps CO2 and causes global warming. Yet instead of recognizing that, and taking steps to remedy it over the past 200 years, we've sought out more fossil fuels (gas and oil) to dig up and burn. As the fossil fuel lobby in the USA is extremely powerful, it's likely nothing will be done at a federal level to improve this. Instead people are distracted by being told we should drive energy efficient cars, and similar. Yet what is not being talked about is the fact that 100 corporations produce 71% of the CO2 emissions, and out of those corporations, the top 25 are responsible for at least half the CO2 emissions. Similarly the main land use in the USA by far is for cows. More land is used to grow their food, raise them, etc., than for any other single item, and far more than on food production for ourselves. One of the main byproducts is massive amounts of methane, which, though it breaks down more quickly than CO2, does at least as much damage in terms of the atmosphere, global warming, etc. Again no-one talks about this. Based on all of the historical data for these and other areas of importance to the average person, I feel it will be the same with water - no-one who is in a position to do something about it federally is going to. All such will say "there's no need", until we arrive at where there's little or no water for the average American. At that time those responsible will say "we couldn't see it coming", despite all the evidence being in the public domain, and repeated warnings from scientists. Whether or not you accept what I've put forward above, you can carry out your own research using information publicly available online and in many other media sources, books, etc. You'll then be able to determine for yourselves what will or will not happen going forward and what action to take. As a minimum I recommend you consider for implementation in Oro Valley the specific items I've outlined above in LOCAL LEVEL ACTION. Such would go a long way to realistically conserve water, ensuring in real terms that we actually have enough for the future.