Town Council - Regular Meeting

Vice Mayor Egberts. Here.

Mayor Murphy.

Here. I'm present. Thank you. Next is presentations. Tonight, I'll be doing a couple of presentations. First, proclaiming September 17th to the 23rd. 2026 is Constitution Week in the town of Salarita, recognizing the 239th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, encouraging all residents to reflect on their freedoms, rights, and responsibilities it continues to protect. At this time, I'll move to the in-person. We have two special presentations. The first one, I'll be naming August as Child Support Awareness Month. And I know Nicole is here. You can join me down at the podium. And then afterwards, I will be presenting a proclamation recognizing and congratulating the Copper Hills Little League 12U All-Star Team on their outstanding achievements, which will be accepted by members of the 12U Copper Hills All-Star Team. And I have the chair of our Park and Rec Commission, Aaron, with me as well. So if you want to come in, yeah.

What do you think? Thanks for being here.

Whereas the town of Salarita joins the nation in recognizing August as Child Support Awareness Month and reaffirms its commitment to strengthening Arizona's families by providing child support services to improve the economic stability and well-being of children, and whereas the state of Arizona will always be committed advocates for our children whose safety and security remains top of mind, and whereas a child receives emotional and financial support is more likely to feel safe and secure and is better equipped with the courage to be the very best in life. Whereas the Department of Economic Security Division of Child Support Services, DCSS, is robustly committed to putting Arizona's children first and to humbly serving Arizonans with excellence, respect, integrity, and kindness. as well as being an overall champion for the economic growth and opportunity, and whereas DCSS strongly advocates for parenting responsibilities because parents and children benefit when both are engaged with their child at every stage. regardless of marital status, and whereas DCSS recognizes the commitment of legal guardians who accept responsibility of children in the absence of parents, and whereas strengthening individuals and families with an emphasis on fiscal responsibility promotes the safety and well-being of children, provides stability, improves the lives of children, and provides opportunities for families to be able to enhance their children's future And whereas Child Support Awareness Month values parents' involvement in their children's lives, and who make regular child support payments to safeguard that future, now therefore it be resolved that I, Tom Murphy, the Mayor of the Town of Sarita, on behalf of the Town Council, do hereby proclaim the month of August 2026 as Child Support Awareness Month, and testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand and cause to be of Hicks the Seal of the Town of Sarita on this 10th day of August 2026. Thank you and congratulations.

I just want to quickly thank the mayor and the town of Saborita the council members for your continuous support with this initiative you guys are always behind us and it truly makes a difference thank you guys

Now if Aaron, oh, you already got them moving.

If you want, you can come up in that area. Yeah, come on over.

Fill us all in. They all want to look at you. They all came just because of this proclamation for you tonight.

So Aaron, I'll read this first.

Yep. So whereas the Copper Hills Little League 12U softball all-star team brought great pride and honor to the town of Salarita, through its outstanding athletic achievements, dedication, and exemplary sportsmanship. And whereas the team proudly represented the Salarita community while competing against teams throughout southern Arizona and across the state. and whereas the team earned the title of Arizona District 12 Champions and continued its remarkable journey by capturing the Arizona State Championship, demonstrating exceptional, I have more. Exceptional teamwork, perseverance, discipline, and determination. Whereas these accomplishments earned the team the distinguished honor of representing the state of Arizona at the Little League Softball West Region Tournament in San Bernardino, California, where they competed against the top teams from across the western United States. Whereas the tournament provided these young athletes with the opportunity to represent not only Arizona, but also the town of Salarita on a national stage through games broadcast on ESPN. And whereas the players, coaches, families, and volunteers of Copper Hills Little League demonstrated the values of hard work, commitment, integrity, teamwork, and community spirit, serving as outstanding ambassadors for Salarita. whereas the town of Salarita proudly recognizes the dedication and achievements of these exceptional athletes and celebrates the positive example they set of youth throughout the community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Tom Murphy, the mayor of the town of Salarita, on behalf of the town council, do hereby proclaim our recognition and congratulations. to the Copper Hills Little League 12U softball all-star team. And testimony whereof, I have herein to set my hand and cause to be affixed and sealed. The town of Santa Rita, this 10th day of August, 2026. Congratulations.

Thank you. Oh, we're gonna have a baby.

I'm gonna get out the picture.

Hold on, I have their roster. I have their roster here.

We had Blake Moreno, number 81. Jordan Jones, number four. Tia Pacheco, number 14. I just need a number of what her number is. 12. No, 12. Oh, 12, I'm sorry. Avelia Vivera. Alani Parra. Jasmine Medina. Aubrey Wes, I'm sorry, Elena Abera. Aubrey Wesner. Renata Montalvo. Asha Rupp. Alexis Ortega. And Madison Braden. We have Coach Paul Moreno. Coach Gary Ortega. And manager, Ryan Braden. I put my phone away.

I'll put my coaching voice on.

Okay, we're recording, so I'll do coaching voice and recording. First of all, can we give another round of applause for these ladies right here? uh one of the things that the first thing they did there is they did a manager's interview with the with with espn and so they asked us they said oh so you guys are from south tucson and i said no no we're from saurita and so i just want to say that it was one of those things where the girls carried themselves with a whole lot of pride they represented this town you know with a lot of pride and a lot of passion and again you all should be very very proud and again this speaks to the depth and breadth of talent that we have down here in saurita whether it's softball and a lot of these girls are multi-sport athletes And again, I just want you all to understand they represented us on the national stage about as well as you could. So you all should be very proud of them. Big shout out to the parents as well for, you know, it was a month and a half of just going back and forth between Mesa and here and then San Bernardino. But lastly, I want to thank the community. I don't have Facebook because I'm a curmudgeon, but we saw all the postings on Facebook from everybody here in the community, and it was great to see. So our team goal all season had been, One team, one goal. And at the end of it, it was one team, one goal, and one community. Because that's, it was all it took everybody here to put it together. So we're very grateful for the support, for the town support. I know, I don't know if Dylan or Devin are here from Parks and Rec, but thanks for making sure the fields were playable for us as well. So we're grateful for all the hard work and everybody that helped us get to where we are. And with that said, we made a little, I don't know where you can put it here, Mayor, but we had a custom designation.

May I? Microphone. Microphone. I just want to say congratulations. I followed you guys. You guys are awesome. I can't wait to see you guys all play on the high school level. Hopefully, you guys will all stick together. A few of our local businesses, there's goodie bags back there for you. Gina Anderson from Pioneer Title, Julie Argaz from Realty One, Marisa Acosta from Monat. And I think I said that wrong. Rhino Dumpsters and Rancho Sahuarita gave you guys something. And I heard you guys are all going to Culver's for dinner. So thank you. Thank you to John and Kathy Elam. Now I also heard a rumor on ESPN that there was one of these players that did the worm. I think she needs to do it here for us. I'm I'm you did on national TV you did on national TV you can do it for us yeah

Yeah, it was.

Perfect ending to that presentation.

Only if Presto encountered the worm. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding. Thank you.

To be 26 again. Yeah. I was almost tempted. Well, if she wasn't going to do it, I was going to... I don't know how to do it, but I would have tried it. I would have stuck myself with a pin or something and impaled myself.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, next we're gonna move on to council and town manager brief summary of current events. Council Member Morales, you have anything to report? Council Member Lisk?

I just wanna report that we're gonna be starting up our Coffee with Council on September.

Just bring it a little closer to you, there you go.

We're doing Coffee with Council starting back up in September, September 11th at the Madera Club in Quail Creek and that is open to the public, 11 o'clock.

Thank you. We'll be starting up coffee with the council coming up pretty soon and that will be posted times and dates as it begins again. Dr. Gillespie. Either Preston or Kara. Oh, you're not on him.

I just wanted to say I normally do not bring my grandson to council meetings, but Grandpa forgot that he was on duty. So he is rushing here, and Preston's so excited to see all of your smiling faces.

Well, he's as well-behaved as our audience, so that's a good thing. We appreciate that. I had a couple of updates. First, I wanted to congratulate Council Member Morales on her reelection, and Chelsea. Chelsea Hundell for her election, which doesn't actually take place. Is Chelsea here tonight? Yes, she is. There's so many people here. Wave, Chelsea. There you go. And also, I did want to thank, we had two other candidates, Robin Earl and Juan Cubio. It's a lot to step into the arena, as they say. And I appreciate everybody's willingness to want to serve our great town of Salarita. Councilman Morales and I, before, not only was it a celebration for that, but when they saw we had a high school marching band before they went off to Philadelphia, we were there in early or late June before they went off with their performance. Unfortunately, because of the weather, the parade was canceled, but they found other opportunities to perform. Also, Park and Rec, is Erin? Oh, Erin must have left. She went to Culver's. We had a great July 4th celebration down at Anamex Park. I think we estimated about 12,000 attendees down there. We had 250 drones for our 250th anniversary, and with the help of our scouts, we also went up to 250 American flags along the various roads that were on our community. uh... also was able to attend the school is back in session we're in the second week but thanks to the salvation army for a successful back to school kids fair and thanks for the pd for supporting that uh... i was just recently at an atb dinner arizona transportation builders where we talked about our tnx that had passed uh... congratulations to our chamber had a very successful golf tournament this past friday And also a very successful, again, thanks to Pima Association of Governments and our Public Works Department, we had a nice ribbon cutting with Transportation Art by Youth, a TABI project. That's Picture Yourself in Sahuarita over by the La Vida Community Center right there on the corner. And we actually built an all accessible sidewalk to get to it because when we had our fantastic sign, Sahuarita, We've been watching too many people walk in the roadway to take that nice picture of Salarieda. So we've tried to move that and make it a little bit more accessible. Our next meeting is September 8th, which is a Tuesday because of the holiday on Monday. So Tuesday, September 8th. And with that, welcome back, Shane. I don't think you and I actually went very far, but welcome back, and I'll take your town manager's report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Quickly, wanted to update you from a couple of our departments. First, the town clerk's department wanted to announce Mark Felix's accomplishment in obtaining his local municipal election officer certification. From the Arizona Municipal Clerks Association. It's a big deal. So congratulations mark Unfortunately, not not quite as as as happy as we're saying goodbye to Lorenzo Loudon. He's our No, he's our generalist in HR right and and we'll be departing the town and joining our the Green Valley Recreation Council as their HR director. So it's a big step for him career-wise and we're excited that he's been able to use his experience here and to leapfrog career-wise into that organization.

But he's just going down the road. Just going down the road.

We're gonna miss him and wish him all the best. And then lastly, Mayor and council, we've been, and as evidence here, obviously our community is extremely interested in the future of our community. And data center has been a topic of a lot of discussion. We've gotten a lot of emails. stating concerns about a data center coming to Sahuarita. I wanted to just again clarify for the council and the listening public that at this time we do not have any plans submitted to the town formally to our staff. for any kind of development reference to the site of concern, whether that's a data center or any other heavy industrial user. Any information circulating out there online or otherwise at this point in time remains speculative in nature. Additionally, I wanted to let you know that staff in the Community Development Department are actively working on an industrial zoning code amendment, which will include specific regulations for data centers. We saw Marana do something similar a few months ago. Recently, very recently, we saw some adoption of code amendments with the city of Tucson. All of that obviously is going to feed in and influence what we end up doing, learning from other organizations as they've battled through these types of issues. But I wanted you to know that staff is actively working on that. We've got a consultant to help in that endeavor. That help includes the engagement of the public, for public input at the appropriate time. We believe that this will start surfacing at your plate as a council later this fall. So not too far in the future. Wanted to remind you as council that the proposed amendments will establish standards for future development proposals. it will not change the existing zoning or development entitlements for industrial zone properties within specific plans, specifically the Rancho Salwarita specific plan. You might ask why that is. Well, it's because when that specific plan was adopted by a council many, many years ago in 1996, it established the uses for that piece of property or the entitled uses for that piece of property way back when. So what this zoning code will do, zoning code amendment will do, is it'll set the pace and I guess the pace for Proposed heavy industrial uses like a data center on any industrial zone properties outside of a specific plan like that So I just wanted to make sure that that was that was clear to you in the council for We haven't set a date yet for this to hit you. We expect it to be later this fall. And then we encourage the public that if you would like to have ongoing updates on any of these types of projects hitting the town, you can go onto the town's website at sawaritaz.gov forward slash planning. And in that website, you can sign up for email updates. So when these types of plans hit or we have these types of public engagement endeavors to get feedback from the public on this zoning code amendment effort, you can be a part of that process and stay up to date in real time.

that concludes my update for the council no questions thank you yes and I forgot councilmember Priolo since you weren't looking at me from my left like usual I apologize for forgot did you have any updates yes I do can you hear me yes we can and that's a good that's a good voice keep talking loud like that oh good you like the Brooklyn accent as long as it's loud oh it's loud

So having heard the concerns of the constituents, when it was first, when we first became aware that Jeremy Sharp developer was perhaps considering a data center for that site on La Cañada. I did two things. I reached out to the president of the Rancho Sahuarita Water Company, because I have concerns about the water usage that a data center might have. And I wanted to be ahead of the game, not behind it. And I also contacted the president of Trico, Brian, I forget his last name, and peppered him with the many questions. Council Member Priolo.

Council Member Priolo. Our attorney has something. Go ahead, Jessica.

We're not in a position for you to discuss your concerns. It's not an agendized item. You need to stick with just the updates from Mayor and Council.

Okay, so I was looping it in because what I have coming up on August 31st, Jeremy Sharpe invited me to meet with the president of Rancho Sahuarita Water Company. I have my questions prepared. so that I can interface directly with them and ask my many questions to gain understanding. So that meeting will happen on August 31st.

Thank you. And I also know we have a scheduled water forum coming up, still the details to come, but I didn't know if you wanted to touch on that just from a factual basis.

I'm sorry, later in the month of September, we've invited, I know one of the, I've seen some public comment here with regards to concerns about the water and future of our water here in Salwarita. In response to those concerns that have been mounting over the last several months, We've invited all of the private water companies. The community needs to be aware that it may look to its local government for updates on the health and the well-being of our water supply, but unique to our community, we do not provide water to the community. All of our domestic water is provided through private water companies. That's just how this community was set up from the onset. That said, we've invited all of the water providers to come together in unison to just have a conversation with the council later in the month of September, and that conversation will be all about, you know, how do we plan our water uses? You know, when a major water demand comes your way. How do you analyze whether or not you're able to serve that entity? And then just generally talk to the council about the status of our water supply as an organization. So we're looking forward to that conversation. We've also invited representatives from the Arizona Department of Water Resource to be a part of that conversation. Again, the idea is to enable the council to have a conversation with these water providers and the state and to make sure that the council can get updated on, again, a lot of the questions that as a community we're asking ourselves. So thank you, Mayor, for that opportunity.

Yep, thank you very much. Next, we move to a call to the public. The public is now invited. Individuals may speak for three minutes. Spokespersons for 10. The council cannot discuss matters not on the agenda. However, at the end of the call to the public, council members may respond to criticism, request to have to review the issues, or add the topic to a future agenda. As you can well imagine, I have a couple. So for people that haven't spoken before, there's three lights. The green light is the beginning of the three minutes. The yellow light means you have 60 seconds left. And then the red light is when I need to cut you off. And I try to at least give you a couple seconds to wrap up your thoughts, but I really need you to stick to that, because I have a lot of call to the public, and if I go over by a minute for one person, then I have to go over by a minute for everybody else. So I'm gonna have to keep to the... Be firm. Be firm, which is not always easier. So at this time, Julie West. And if I make a mistake on the pronunciation of a name, I apologize. Some people's penmanship is better than others. And when your name is called, because, again, I have quite a few, if you think what's been said has already been said, what you want to say, you don't have to come up, but it's totally up to you. Thank you. Oh, yes. And then Martin Bender is next up.

Thank you for not ruining my name. I appreciate it. I'm new to this area. I'm from California where I lost my home to a fire six years ago and I have a whole new chapter in life much to my enjoyment and I hope contribution to Arizona and the community. We've all, I've heard what you've said about, you know, no data centers. I've seen what you've written on the FAQs. I'm concerned because a lot of communities are getting blindsided and we're being taken advantage of by our rural zoning and planning. And so I think that it's only obvious that there's some concerns about that right now. So we're watching closely. We've all watched the train wreck across the United States and we hope that train wreck doesn't visit our community and our beautiful valley. In a sense, I think as just a citizen now, we're looking at whose business are our politicians showing allegiance to? Is it the people or is it corporations?

If you clap, you need up her time, though, just to let you know.

So do I have a number? Do I know where I'm at on this?

Well, no, it's when that yellow light, see the green light? Okay, I'll hurry, yeah. When the yellow means you have a minute.

Okay, I claim my time back. this is not the Senate you took an oath all of you to be aligned with the mission of our town and we certainly expect you to uphold that of and a part of that goes to the US Constitution and then the Arizona Constitution or whatever it's called My concern especially too, not only just environmental, is a data center's meant to manage data. How does that benefit us? I don't know. I don't think Jeff Bezos cares what kind of cheese I buy. But I know that there are people that want to know about how I vote. And I'm concerned that data is going to get hooked together and stored and travel around. And I have no control over that. And that's what a data center would do. My concern is about, you know, this is a center, it's a building, but what is going to happen inside of it? I'm very concerned and I think you should be too because it's our children and grandchildren who could have their data traced and be used against them for decisions in their lives. This is far-reaching. Please be very mindful about your and your responsibility. Thank you.

Thank you. Good job. Martin Bender and then Robin Norse. The time doesn't start until you get here, so I don't want anybody tripping over anybody or getting hurt.

good evening mayor good evening council members everybody um i look at the mission of the town public safety uh a data center uses tremendous amounts of water we are in a drought zone for decades this is the worst possible place to even consider putting a data center um it comes down to risking reward cost and benefits um They don't have enough water to take the risk of something going wrong. That's a fear many people have. It just takes one thing to go wrong and we're all screwed. The water is also tied into electricity. Data centers increase the demand for electricity. The New York Times published a story on July 14th, which PJN, the nation's largest electrical grid operator, acknowledged data centers were increasing electricity demand. Increased demand means increased prices. You know, we are all retirees, we're young families here, and this era of rising prices, it's very difficult. It's also unsafe. With the cooling demands, if electricity, can the grid handle extra power that's being required to run a data center. Can you imagine a power outage or a brownout in 100 degree weather here in Arizona? That's insane. You know, why take, again, why take the risk? There's so many people here who love this area. I've been here four years from Brooklyn, you know, and one of the things, well, a couple of things I'm concerned about If things go south and it just takes one wrong thing to go south, the property values plummet here. We would be trapped here. We can't sell. No one would want to buy. What would happen? Businesses, homeowners, how could you respond to that? School children, everything would just collapse. It's just so much of a risk, and the reward is, as Julie was saying, the data. What is the benefit to the people here in our community? I don't see it. I don't see it. There's probably a place for data centers in this modern world, but this isn't the place. In a dry climate, a desert, it's just the wrong place to be. One thing I also thought about is the possible water and electricity impact. South Reno Northwest Medical Center. Has anybody spoken to them how they might be affected if something went wrong? It's the only medical center in the area. Everything else is up in Tucson. That's life or death. You know, we have a lot of elderly people who need medical care, so that's something as well to consider. So we just ask you to please keep to the mission. Oh, and I guess I am done, but thank you for paying attention.

I appreciate you being here. Thank you. Robin Norse and then Susan Norse.

good evening council members and mr mayor many cerrito residents do not want a data center built anywhere in town in light of this the cerrito town council must re-examine the zoning interpretation made by the cerrito community development director cdc in august of 2025 that provided developer sharp a formal confirmation that data centers were a permitted use in the 200 acre rancho cerrita planning areas 26 and 27 those two areas are zoned pi in the rancho cerrita zone chapter 18 dot 49 campus parks industrial zone rancho cerrita specific planning This action would remove the confirmation because, in my opinion, the zoning decision is not valid based on the 1995 written purpose and intents for areas 26 and 27 zoning. The CDC's interpretation looked at whether a data center should be considered similar to industrial uses already allowed in that area, such as warehousing, research and development, and manufacturing and assembly. How are those industrial enterprises in any way similar to a data center, which is a sprawling 24-7 industrial campus of hyperscale facilities that creates significant negative environmental, social, and community impacts? The purpose for the PI zoning is to quote, promote and facilitate innovative and comprehensively planned industrial developments, here's the kicker, which are compatible with surrounding residential communities. A data center cannot be compatible with surrounding residential communities, churches, daycare, Animax Park, and Northwest Medical Center. Also, the intent of PI zoning states that it is intended exclusively for a research and development lab, large headquarter office, and modern, here it comes, non-nuisance industrial uses. Data centers create significant nuisance for nearby communities. Chandler, Arizona has amended zoning codes or rejected new data center proposals due to noise concerns. Another intent of the PI zoning states that it is developed intended for development and performance standards that will provide a healthful operating environment for industry and prevent effects detrimental to the surrounding neighborhood. Again, contrary to the intent of the design guideline, a data center cannot provide a healthful operating environment that would have and would have many detrimental effects on the surrounding neighborhood. So, based on empirical data and the experiences of communities who regretfully have a data center, the most responsible course of action for you, council, is to ban any planning in any building of any data centers within this, the current and future town limits. Thanks for your time.

Susan Morris, and then Dick Cate.

Good evening.

Good evening, council and mayor. I'm here on behalf of this entire area, Tucson South to Mexico border, because we're all riding on the same aquifer and the Colorado River. And it doesn't take a lot to research it, so I'm going to present to you the tragic effects of a data center. The real cost to the communities, our health, and our future. At the fence line of a data center, these are the health and environmental effects. Constant noise, low frequency cellular breakdown, loss of property value, the use of end of days tech, total local area oppression, ground vibration from natural gas turbines, aquifer depletion, groundwater management issues, light pollution, precious metal supply shortages, massive energy consumption, high electric bills, water rationing for local residents, and that includes you too. air contamination, increased asthma cases, increased waste of hazardous materials and disposal, vast land use changes, destroys wildlife and human habitats. Second, within a mile of the data center, these are the health and environmental effects. As being an ex-medical person, I take this to heart. Destroys the natural filtering of the groundwater within a mile. Zero to minimal local jobs. Enormous construction sites. Upgrading of local power and water infrastructure, which we will pay. Little to no transparency of full development plans. Non-disclosure agreement. Is that what we're talking about? immense damage to local roads, extreme fire risk in areas with small fire departments, diesel generator backup systems, large use of lithium batteries, increased risk of cancer, unattractive industrial buildings, risk of blackouts, destruction of our environment, intimidation of residents, and brain tumors. Miles away, five miles and all over, loss of bone density in children, lack of sleep, lack of reproductive activity in livestock, death of livestock, chickens can't lay eggs, cardiovascular disease, motion sickness, loss of bird population, butterfly, and honey bee.

We'll read the rest of it. I appreciate that.

Thank you.

And then Suzette Rocher. Mayor, as our next speakers are coming forward, I just wanted to put out a helpful reminder. This meeting is being recorded and the benefit of that recording is that the public at large can view it and benefit from the discussions and the questions. So that said, some of the past speakers are really getting into the mic and it's causing distortion. And so it makes it hard for people to hear as they're trying to listen online. Thanks. Okay, thanks.

Members of the council, fellow residents. I'd like to address some concerns that I and other residents here in Sararita have with a recently approved new general plan. We realize at this point in time that the general plan is just a policy statement of future goals for the growth of Sararita. but the vision statement in the plan of Sarita becoming a gateway to Arizona with future industrial commercial and residential development and increased traffic and transportation corridors to accommodate the anticipated expanded trade with Mexico flies in the face of the reason most of us existing residents of Sarita and Green Valley moved here in the first place. That was to get away from the hustle and bustle of traffic congestion and pollution of the big cities. Hopefully, during the implementation phases of the plan, the voices of the residents will be heard as loudly as those of the profit-motivated real estate developers, chambers of commerce, contractors, home builders, and utilities. Then there is the issue of water. Some of that has been addressed already, but our aquifer levels have been declining for years. The anticipated reduction of the cap water will reduce and eliminate Tucson and other cap water users from using cap water for storage and aquifer recharge, thus requiring additional pumping from the aquifer and accelerating that decline. Additional development in our desert watershed should not proceed until permanent acceptable solutions to the availability of water and other utilities that are determined in agreement by all Sourita residents, not just the 18% of registered voters who voted to approve the general plan, that any future development will enhance and not negatively impact our quality of life. Finally, there's no mention of data centers in the general plan, and planning and zoning requirements still have to be developed for the newly annexed property. But we know how persuasive data center developers can be, with promises of jobs and tax revenue, and how tempting their developments can be for local and state officials. but until there's more data on the impacts of data centers that data centers have on our on our quality of life our existing communities we request that town council approve a ban on development of data centers in the community in the end In the end, developers will move on, contractors and home builders will move on, and utilities will be counting their profits from new customers. But as a Sarita residence, folks in this room and our neighbors who will be left living with the consequences. Thank you. Thank you.

Suzanne and then Diane Tipton.

Good evening, I won't waste my minute for all three of them. So I'll jump in. We want the best air and water quality in our area. We don't want any more harmful impacts to all of us in this community. You, the council as well. I was informed on April 2nd that a data center by one of your members was already approved. I understand, but that's what I was told. And then I started to look at and ask people if they knew anything. Nobody knew anything. We want more transparency from you. We expect it. You work for us. And you work for us. This is not something that we can put to the side. We have quality of life. Your lives, your children's lives, your grandchildren and their children. This is businesses that are going to be impacted. They're going to be property values, which have already been expressed. I'm going to just say it again. Also, we were told by another one of your members that there were three other sites besides the Salarita Road and La Cañada, and they were zoned for data centers. And this council member even gave us the locations. we need them to be put on hold we need a health study an air study we are going to be have our heat which god only knows we were already 110 last week it will rise we will not be able to live here and we will not be able to get out so i in just in beg you to please, and you city, the town manager, please sir, you're not even looking at me, I appreciate that. I would ask you to ask these questions, put holds and restrictions on them for all of us, not just for me, not just for the people that are here tonight, everybody who lives here that has no clue of what's going on behind the doors. So thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Diane Tipton and then Gail Chilson. Mr. Mayor, I'm just going to quickly, because of the accusation, many of us are looking down because we're writing your names and what you're saying on our computers. So if we're not looking at you, it's because we're taking notes because we value what you're saying.

Thank you.

Hi. I wasn't going to talk about data centers, but it seems to be a popular topic. So I'll just toss my two cents in. I have this from the Dow Corporation, and they make data centers. A lot of people here have read. what that does. I was going to make copies for you guys, but then I saw that the copier takes the last two sentences off, so I have to hand write it in for you. But this is what is a concern to me, is using nuclear power is getting to be a very popular idea, and they're being developed. And it's bad enough with a lithium battery. like nuclear power is kind of way out there and not a good plan. And also, now getting away from that, when, why are you not looking at bringing in, you know, small, small, like small industry that also has good pay, paying jobs? There's like, electronics medical device assembly companies you know there's boy this would be a perfect place for you know for software place people to do plus we have two colleges that specializes in it so why are we not looking at that you know rather than something that's Ugly. It doesn't matter. A data center is ugly. And with your zoning, you could put in a meat packing plant. You could put in a fireworks plant, and they're all ugly. There isn't any heavy industry that's attractive to look at. Meat packing plant might be cool if they had a store, and the beef prices might be cheaper, but... but also the water like this plant I understand sorry doesn't have its own water you have to buy water from everywhere else but this cat water is cut off is is really serious and it's going to affect us and The pipeline is new and has the newest water rights. And the agreement with the government, with the United States of America, is if the Colorado River dries out too much, the cap water will be cut off. Right now, they're just cutting it down. So anyway, without the cap water, the Fremont line can't take care of its the sulfur bloom that goes into aquifer. And you guys should really be planning on saving money for these children instead of like how can I get rid of it all.

Thank you, appreciate it. Gail Chilson and then John Thurman.

Thank you for allowing me to speak. The water in the aquifer below us is extremely important to life in the Santa Cruz Valley. I have lived where I live now. I grew up and I've lived where I live now on Mission Road in the two-story pink house on the hill all but 20 years of my life. Water has always been an issue. All the water we use at my place, like so many others in the area west of Sarita, is hauled in from the standpipe on Twin Buttes Road at La Cañada that is operated by Global Water. When I heard of the possibility of a data center being placed anywhere near Sarita, in Sarita, anywhere in this valley that affected our water, I became extremely concerned. Data center water consumption and hydrology realities, massive extraction, standard evaporative cooling data centers consume an average of 2.6 million gallons of water per megawatt annually. A mid to large facility can evaporate over 100 million gallons of groundwater every single year. the drawdown threat. According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal AGU Advances slash Wiley Online Library, Data Center's Water Footprint, these immense high-velocity extractions create localized cones of depression beneath the earth. This drops the surrounding water table directly, threatening nearby domestic wells and utility standpipes that draw from the same aquifer. How fast can the standpipes go dry? The operational timeline. Once a data center begins full operation, a critical drawdown can hit neighboring water systems within the very first summer cooling season when heat peaks. The point of failure, the standpipe station from which all the people west of Sarita, from the tri-ranch community to the McGee's, as well as myself, depend for water, will completely shut down the moment the local water table drops even one inch below the physical intake pipe of Global Water's pump. If the pump draws in air, The motors burn out, and the water hauling taps turn off entirely. Based on empirical data and the experiences of the communities who currently have a data center, the most responsible course of action for you, as elected council members, is to ban any planning and building of any data centers within the current and future Sahuarita town limits. Thank you.

Thank you. John and then Carol Burke.

Good evening mayor and council members and concerned citizens. My name is John Turman. I've lived in Quail Creek for two years and I'm concerned about the potential future of this community. The obsession with growth at the expense of the water supply and quality, rising utility prices, air quality and declining property values. This will be a serious mistake that we all in this community will have to pay for down the road. Do we need a data center in Sororita? No. Will a data center improve the quality of life in this community? Absolutely not. So the question is, why is it even in consideration? The only answer lies within the realm of greed. Money for the developer, money for the city, and money for the tech companies whose thirst for AI data will never end. Could there be any citizens in the town of Sorita that would be proud to live in a town that allowed a data center to be built? Even when we all know of all the possible terrible outcomes, I doubt it. There would be citizens of the town of Cerrito who would be proud to live in this town if the mayor and the council members banned medical data centers. It would take courage to do so. But unfortunately, courage is in short supply concerning doing the right thing. It seems as though the town of Cerrito and its governing body, the town council, are at a crossroads. The past taking will influence current and future generations. The main issues concerning our future supply of life-giving water, air quality, and utility prices are the Hud Bay mine, the proposed data center, and unchecked residential development. There is time to ban any future data centers, mitigate the effects of the Hood Bay mine, and reduce residential development. I still believe the mayor and the council can do the right thing and show some courage. Thank you. Thank you.

Terrell Bird and Katherine Jackson.

Mayor, council members, my name's Carol Berg. I live here.

You might have to speak up a little bit for the recording.

Mayor and councilor, my name's Carol Berg, and I live in Sarita. So I'm here to address a legal and moral threshold that this council must not cross. Moving forward with substantial costs to our community have not been adequately understood, independently evaluated or publicly disclosed. Arizona law defines criminal negligence. The council can determine for yourselves whether that standard warrants consideration here I'm not accusing any of you of committing a crime. I'm asking whether this council is exercising the level of care for community that our community deserves before facilitating projects that could permanently affect our water, energy, infrastructure, health, and quality of life. Our community depends on one irreplaceable resource, water. The proposed copper world mind would place significant demands on regional groundwater, and residents have raised serious questions about HUD-based groundwater use and compliance with existing agreements. Those questions deserve independent, transparent answers. And now we're considering another enormous industrial demand, a proposed 200-acre center zone near La Cunada and Salrida Road. So large scale data centers can require enormous amounts of electricity, depending on their cooling systems, substantial amounts of water. So before approving this development, shouldn't the council know exactly how much water and electricity it will require, where those resources will come from, what infrastructure will be needed, who will pay, what the cumulative impact will be. And that brings us to the Santa Rita substation. Residents deserve transparency about why it is being expanded, how much capacity is being created, what that capacity is intended to serve, and how the cost will affect rate payers. There's water below us. There's electricity around us. There's multiple industrial demands converging on the same community. When hundreds of residents raise these concerns, they're not obstacles to development. They're warnings that deserve investigation. a reasonable standard is simple understand the risks verify the facts disclose the impacts and protect the public if this council cannot demonstrate that our water infrastructure health and quality of life will be protected the responsible course is to pause Because once these decisions are made, they cannot simply be undone based on the documented experiences of communities already living with large-scale data scanners. I believe the most responsible of those courses clear banning the planning and construction of data centers within Saruta's current and future town limits.

Thank you.

I appreciate it. Catherine Jackson and then Randy Mayer.

Thank you for allowing us to talk with you today. Appreciate it. Mr. Mayor, vice mayor, town council members. My name is Catherine Jackson. My husband and I are homeowners. We've lived in Sarita for over six years and we decided to build a home here and have our retirement here. In fact, we actually lived in either Arizona or New Mexico for over 50 years. So we're not from other parts of the country as so many people have come to live here. But by living in the Southwest for that amount of time, we really are aware of the environmental challenges that uniquely face those of us that live in the Southwest. We were drawn to retire in Salarita for the beauty of the area, the climate, the family friendly and retirement friendly small town atmosphere, among many other things. We learned that the town's mission which you actually have on the wall right here. The town of Sarita is dedicated to being a vibrant, innovative, and diverse community with exceptional municipal and fiscal leadership, public safety, amenities, and economic prosperity that creates an outstanding quality of life for all. Therefore, we're very concerned with any possibility of having a data center located in our small town. As numerous studies and reports have shown that data centers create a plethora of negative impacts to the communities that they're operating in. So many others here have already stated the variety of concerns that exist with data centers. I find it interesting, this isn't in my notes, But I find it interesting that on an evening where you have a young team of children that have so wonderfully represented this community, as you all have stated, that you could be in a position where you would allow an industry to come into this town that would greatly affect them and future generations. in fact wouldn't you want those kids to graduate from high school go off to college and want to come back and live in this beautiful community that's been developed here You have the responsibility to execute the duties of your municipal office faithfully and without bias towards any special interest group, corporation, or individual. For the betterment of this community, you have the responsibility to protect the quality of life in this community, or you can actually destroy it.

Thank you. I appreciate it very much. And then Natalia McGee.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members. Don't you love a raucous town council? Love it. Randy Mayer. I've been a resident here for 28 years and have been the pastor of the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ on La Cañada. Last week, I thanked Shane for mentioning that the Tucson City Council voted to adopt some regulations around data centers in order to protect the community. I find it interesting that Tucson, which has been around a lot longer than Sahuarita and must have ancient codes and zoning rules, is able to put in regulations about data centers, but Sahuarita Development Department says their hands are tied. And I don't know if the council agrees with that. Tucson City Council and Pima County Board of Supervisors are recognizing that projects of this scale require stronger safeguards for surrounding neighborhoods and they are willing to step up. Among those safeguards is a requirement that large data centers be located a sizable distance from neighborhoods. I think that is something worth considering here in Sahuarita. The potential site on La Cañada and Sahuarita Road sits directly across the street from Rancho Resort. Northwest Medical Center is less than a half a mile, and there are three schools that are also within a reasonable distance. If Tucson believes a half mile buffer is appropriate, shouldn't Sahuarita at least ask the question in order to protect its residents? Second, I urge the council to look into adopting some similar policies as Pima County has as policies on non-disclosure agreements and enhanced due diligence for major economic development projects. These policies don't stop development. They actually improve it. They require early analysis of environmental impacts, infrastructure capacity, water and energy demand, public health, land use capabilities, and coordination with outside agencies before the decisions are made. They also establish meaningful public disclosure so residents and elected officials have information they need to make sound decisions. You see, transparency builds trust. It would be great to have one of you. I'm looking for somebody to champion these and work with us to put them in place.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Natalie McGee. And then Carl Larson, but Rick Corotta will be speaking for Carl Larson.

I've lived here off and on for 87 years. I'm not going to make this long. I think you've heard enough. Maybe, maybe not, but I'll just kind of summarize. I ask you to examine whether the Santa Rita Fire District has the personnel, training, and specialized equipment necessary to respond to a large industrial battery or electrical fire associated with a hyperscale data center. Before approving any project, our community deserves confidence that emergency responders have the resources needed to protect nearby residents, schools, businesses, and our hospitals. And just a little short summary. based on empirical data and experiences of communities who currently have a data center the most responsible course of action for you as elected council members is to ban any planning and building of any data centers within the current And future Salruda town limits. Thank you.

Thanks for being here. And then Don Pickett.

Well, good evening, Mayor and Town Council. Thank you for a few minutes and allowing me to speak for Carl. Carl would like to be here, but unfortunately he's undergoing treatment for blood cancer and he has immune concerns. So he asked me to read his call to the public statement on his behalf. I want everybody to know that these are Carl's thoughts. These aren't necessarily my thoughts. My name is Carl Larson, and I have been a Quail Creek resident and taxpayer for the last 21 years. First, congratulations to Chelsea Hundle, Deborah Morales, and Tom Murphy on the recent election. Right after the election, I conducted an informal poll on Nextdoor asking, who would you like to see as mayor of Sarita? Right after the election, excuse me, at the time these results were recorded, the poll had received 85 responses. Deb Morales received 51 votes or 60%. Tom Murphy received 34 votes or 40% of those who answered the attachment. I realize this is an informal next door poll and not a scientific study. But among those who responded, it certainly shows considerable interest in a change in leadership. Mayor Tom, no offense is intended, but I feel it may be time to sit back and let someone else take the steering wheel. Based on the election, my informal poll and what I am seeing on social media, there appears to be desire among many residents for change. It is also disappointing that voter turnout was only 29.3%. I understand many of our snowbirds are gone for the summer, but voting remains the best way for residents to advocate for change. Regardless of turnout, I believe the council should seriously consider a change in mayor's position. I believe this would demonstrate a fresh perspective and a commitment to transparency. My other concern is water. I don't believe we have enough publicly available information about the actual condition and current levels of our groundwater table. I know the council is waiting for the global water presentation and I appreciate the excellent questions you have been asking. but I believe we need answers about our actual water levels and not simply a 100-year estimate. As Salarida considers the future, large-scale mining and data centers must be part of our water discussion. We need to understand what additional demands these types of developments could place on our groundwater resources. Before supporting projects that could place significant additional demands on our water supply, towns should know how much water they would require, where the water is coming from and what the cumulative effect could be on our groundwater table and existing residents. There are segments in this community, including myself, that wants this town to be proactive about water conservation, water protection, planning and zoning, especially when considering water-intensive uses such as mining and data centers. Please show the public that the new council is prepared to be proactive. Consider a fresh start in the mayor position and make protecting Sarita's long-term water supply one of your highest priorities. Thank you for the time and thank you for allowing Rick Corrado to read my statement on my behalf. Carl Larson. I wish to conclude my remarks with statements that I made at the beginning of the presentation, and that's that Carl suggests considering leadership change as an option, whereas I advocate for a change in our thinking and our approach to solving problems that face this community. Thanks, Rick. I'm sorry. That's okay. Not to worry, Mayor. I appreciate your time. Thank you. One last thing, too. Where was everybody when Copper World was coming? Where was all the push back then? I'm a little disappointed, but I'm glad that you're here now.

Dawn. Yep. And then Dana Casebolt. Dana Casebolt up next. Hello. Hello.

Okay. Okay. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. My name is Dawn Perquette, and I am a proud resident of Rancho Resort, Saurita. Our town thrives on trust, responsible stewardship, and a commitment to doing what is right for our community. Large-scale developments and data centers shape our landscape for generations, meaning our future growth requires deep foresight and ethical responsibility. To ensure we develop thoughtfully, we must have absolute visibility into private inquiries involving these massive industries. therefore i have a direct question tonight which town staff or council members have signed ndas and are any officials currently bound by non-disclosure agreements related to these projects I respect the legal boundaries of this forum. Under the Arizona Open Meeting Law, you cannot deliberate on items not on tonight's agenda. However, under ARS Section 38-431.01 , you are legally permitted to briefly respond to direct questions and direct staff to take action. Tonight, I'm asking for both. first will a member of the council or the town manager briefly clarify the current status of these development specific ndas right now reassuring the public tonight proves that our leadership values transparency when mapping out our town's future second mayor Will you direct staff to study this matter and place an official NDA disclosure review on our next regular agenda, please? We need a formal space to ensure these agreements never compromise our community's best interests or the thoughtful planning that our town deserves. Let's also empower our planning and zoning commissions with the proper tools and authority to investigate these agreements so they can protect our resources and guide our growth with true intent to ensure accountability i have handed a physical copy of this statement both to the press that have arrived and also to the town clerk so that my exact questions are entered directly into the official record thank you for your time i appreciate your service

i look forward to your brief response tonight thank you mr mayor yes the um attorney's going to get angry but um in 17 years i've never been asked to sign an nda never been asked ever Good evening.

Good evening. I'm Dana Casebolt. And I want to say that we've lived in this area long enough that we voted to have a town and incorporate it. And we were convinced by Charlie Odom to do this because we want to protect ourselves and i feel as though that's your job is to protect us and this is a stone's throw from our house and i feel like all of the people who have contributed tonight did a beautiful job of making you aware of of the problems hopefully you already know about them but I think your only choice is to say no to this project because obviously it isn't good for any of us. And I thank you for your wisdom in taking care of this.

Thank you for being here. Keith Tenney and then Richard Broward. But Keith Tenney first. And if that's too short for you, which I think it is, your right hand, the black button right there, that's a toggle, the whole thing can be raised up to you. Right by your right hand. Is that gonna work?

That's okay. Okay. Mr. Mayor, Ms. Vice Mayor, members of the council, fellow citizens, Sourita is a beautiful and splendid town. We are all very lucky to live here. We truly have everything in our backyard. Everyone involved with getting Sourita to this point should be justly proud of that achievement. Please let me invite you, however, to consider that that work is not finished. There are people, good people, serious people, smart people, who nonetheless mistakenly believe that the path to progress for Salvam Rita includes data centers. It does not. Best information I've been able to find is that the town of Sauretta uses about 12 million gallons of water a year, total for the town. A data center can easily use 30 million gallons of water a year. Put simply, the town does not have enough water to share it with a data center in these days of cascading water scarcity. The power demands of data centers have been discussed. Let me just add to that that there are documented cases of 200% increases in electric rates associated with data centers. So Rita is over one fifth retirees and one third young families. These are people that cannot afford a 200% increase in their electric bill. Have you ever... Have you ever smelled the desert after a rainstorm? It's not like that with data centers. They're responsible for noxious emissions. This is a public health and safety issue for the town of Sararita. Perhaps you've heard the sounds of the desert at night. It's different with data centers. The noise spreads for miles and creates health problems. Again, this is a health and safety issue for the town of Sarita, just like the water is. This doesn't take into account the damage to property values from the emissions and the noise, let alone the water running out. Allowing data centers in Sararita is the single best way to destroy property values destroy livability and turn Sararita into a ghost town, this council should take whatever steps are necessary to stop that from happening. Thank you very much.

Richard Broward. And then Robert Ezo. Next after Robert. or, excuse me, next after Richard. Robert.

Well, thank you for allowing me to appear here. I walked up a little stiff. I've been standing for 10 hours. My name is Richard Brown. I'm new here. And my perspective that I'd like to come at is from a business perspective. That's my background. I'll let others talk about the environment. I would like to speak to the crowd behind me very briefly, though. My privilege was on October 6, 2006, to testify before a congressional house committee in the Sam Rayburn building in Washington, DC. And when I finished, there was no applause. There was nothing. These people are phenomenal. Give yourself a hand. I also worked on Bay Street in Toronto. If you're not familiar, that's like Wall Street here, for a multi-billion dollar industrial company. And I had the opportunity, because I had friends there, to observe HUD-Bay. And I'm here to talk about not going forward with the copper mine. HudBay is an excellent company. It's very well financed. If you haven't done your research, the board of directors is superb, very knowledgeable. They are also a global company, and I'll hit that subject a little bit from a due diligence standpoint. So in the business world, their expectation for operations at the level, local level, is make it happen. And I heard that over and over. Sometimes, unfortunately, with make it happen, it invokes compromise. And I'll leave it at that. So I am a retired president, CEO of a small company. We only did $100 million, which by today's standards is not much, but I was proud of it. So let me hit a few of the due diligence questions. And I'm also making the assumption that you did a due diligence. I've not heard much about that. I hear mostly legitimate emotional comments. So simply stated, I think we need a written risk-reward and cost-benefit analysis analysis, if you will, of a Hud Bay contemplation. So I'll just give six very simple examples. Are there, were there any tax abatement or inducements for Hud Bay? What were the time periods? What were the performance hurdles? Number two, how will the customer, us ordinary folks out here as voters, what can we expect for our electrical costs for the substation that TEP is putting up that clearly is to support, at least initially, the Hud Bay mine? Number three, we need a three-year Hud Bay Pima County employment forecast. And the reason I say that is the data that I've seen so far does not give net employees. It just gives a gross number. So half of them, in my experience, is half are switching from other locations.

I'm sorry. The red light's on, so I have to cut you off. I appreciate it.

I have four more points that I'll put in the newspaper. Yeah. Or you can email us. Just please. Thank you. I know you've heard it often, but these people are voters. Keep it in mind.

And then Dave Babson.

My name is Robert Ezzo, and I've Lived up in the Rangeville Ranch area, which is above you, Sarita, here, since 1983. And I'm vice president of the coin club and a gold prospector, things like that. But anyway, that land they're proposing to put the data center on, the latest thing I heard is they had already installed a fiber optics cable I mean, if they weren't going to build it, why are they installing, why did they install a fiber optics cable? The other question is, of course, the water. And I just think that they're, you know, I don't, they don't have that data centers down very well. Looks to me like that's learn as you go. You know, I know they could engineer things a lot better than what they're doing, using all that water to cool off the electronics. So a lot of it doesn't make sense. I live on common sense, you know what I mean? And the other thing that gets me, you guys are gonna create a zoning ordinance, and they haven't even, supposedly they're not gonna develop it. So it doesn't make any sense to me, and then why would they put a fiber-optics cable in there prior to, building it you know it tells me it's going in so I'm just a you know regular person I don't know all the answers it's just I got a feeling this thing was planned a long time ago and I don't know who's going to run these fiber optic companies. Are these companies that run these data centers, or is the government going to run it? That's another question. Who runs it? Who owns it? Elon Musk. Elon Musk. Oh, okay. I can understand that. Anyway, I'm just a small guy, and I'm a gold prospector, and I like the land, I like the animals, and I love the desert, and I don't think that thing's going to do very well, especially with the hospital on the dam right down the road from it, you know. It just doesn't make any sense to me. So that's my opinion.

Thank you. Thanks for being here. I'm Dave Babson, and then Mel Selway.

good evening mayor good evening council members all other town leaders my name is dave babson and i'm a resident of quail creek there is absolutely no question that copper world would devastate the santa rita mountains to prove our groundwater supply negatively impact home values adversely impact the quality of life for the entire community The only winner is Hudbay. We all lose. And I have little confidence that Hudbay really knows what they're doing. When town council member Ken Lisk invited Jerry Bustamante to speak to concerned Quail Creek residents a couple of months ago, he offered absolutely no information on HUD-based plans and turned a Q&A into lots of questions but no answers. He did manage to trash a comprehensive economic impact study that had been prepared for Save the Scenic Santa Rita's without providing any HUD-Bay economic data at all. By the way, I gave each of you a copy of the economic impact study at the last meeting, and I have a copy for you, Chelsea, that I'll give you at the end. I'm going to cut this real short because it's getting late. For months I have listened to the concerns of local residents about Copper World and I've participated in all of the public sessions myself. Yet I'm not aware that the town council has made any attempt to address those concerns. And Mayor Murphy, it's tough for me to say this because I've always been an enthusiastic supporter of yours. But my feeling is that you should step aside on this particular issue of Copper World and let the remaining council members get involved. I would suggest they speak with Jan Lesher, who's the Pima County Board Administrator, as well as Mayor Romero to get their insight. As you know, both organizations have said no to the copper world, and they have very good reasons. Then after gaining some experience from these folks, and if you have questions, Save the Scenic Santa Rita's would be willing to help you out, then I would move that you adopt a resolution to prevent HUD-BAY or any other mining or industrial organization from destroying the Santa Rita Mountains. Thank you.

And then Mary Pursley? Paisley, Paisley, sorry, Mary Paisley.

Mayor, council, Sarita staff members, residents, Mel Selway here. Most of you know me. It is my understanding that water is considered a non-renewable resource. If that is the case, then any water removed from the aquifer that supplies our communities is also non-renewable. What is the estimated or calculated amount of water that is currently available in the aquifer? And how has this value been obtained? And I know you guys can't answer these questions. These are just rhetorical. Please consider them. It is also my understanding that our communities obtain their water via wells that tap the aforementioned aquifer. If that is the case, then I ask how deep are those wells currently, and how much does it cost to deepen each one of those wells? Maybe, Mr. Dilley, when you have that report from the water companies, maybe you can get that information from them. If Hung Bay Minerals has agreed to replace 105% of the water that will be used by the Copper World Mining Operations, and if the primary source of that replenishment water is the Central Arizona Project, CAP, and if the allotment of Colorado River water for Arizona has been substantially reduced because the water level at Lake Mead has plummeted to its lowest level in 90 years, then how can Hud Bay Minerals comply with the agreement to replenish 105% of the water that Copper World is estimated to require? Especially... especially since hud bay minerals cap allowance was reduced to less than 1 000 acre feet in 2024-25 and if this replenishment water is not available then the water level in our source aquifer will continue to be reduced at a substantial rate due to the increased requirements of the residences and businesses in our communities which residences and businesses are increasing combined with copper world's thirst How long will this water supply exist when the yearly net inflow is substantially exceeded by the net outflow? My arithmetic knowledge is limited. However, if more liquid is departing a container than is being deposited to that container, then eventually the container will be empty. At last, who of you will be the first to sell your home when your water use invoice increases, the quality of your drinking water is questionable, water usage restrictions are initiated, and your property value decreases? Thanks for the opportunity to speak my thoughts.

Thanks. Mary Paisley and then Janet Finbrock.

I knew I was going to do that. You okay? Yeah I'm fine. Good evening Saguaro Town Council I'm here. My name is Mary Paisley and my husband and I have lived in Green Valley full time for 13 years so that we could be near our daughter and her family. My comments will be brief and to the point and have already been stated. I didn't know much about data centers. It seems like it snuck up on us like COVID or something. Maybe that was a bad example. But my limited research says that data centers consume huge amounts of water. We know this. Such a facility is being proposed in our community where water is precious. How does that make sense? Should our aquifers become drained? Then what? I pose a question. Can we drink data? No. Residents of existing data centers complain of elevated blood pressure, sleep deprivation, vertigo, and migraines. That's the short list. We do not want these impacts to our health. The proposed structure looks like a prison. massive windowless surrounded by high security fencing that's not what we see around the schools by the way this will negatively impact our greatest economic value our home value once we allow it to come in we will not get it out now I have one more question or thought our town manager we need more transparency on these issues we need to know you read a paragraph and I was a paralegal for ten years and I was confused was anybody else confused okay so more transparency keep your legalese put it in English that we can understand There are many more reasons to not have a data center in our community. So we just must say no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Janet? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Can I ask staff some clarifying questions? Probably depends on the question. We'll let Jess jump in if I ask too much. Has there been a data center plan submitted to the town?

No, there has not.

Okay, and then we will discuss zoning that would include data centers, not tonight, at a future meeting though, right?

You will have a conversation as a council with staff and the hired consultant to help us with the zoning code amendment dealing with data centers in industrial zone properties outside of specific planned areas. In other words, Rancho Salorita's specific plan was adopted by the town council back in 1996. That's established and it has its own grandfathering clauses to it. You can talk to legal about that. But if I owned a piece of property outside of a master plan community like Rancho and it was owned industrial, and I didn't submit any kind of plans to develop on it, and the council came through with these, what's going to be proposed to you by way of text amendments, and you adopted it as a council, and then I come in afterwards to propose a development, and it's a data center, those regulations would apply to me, and I'd have to comply to that. I'll also state, just anticipating that you'd ask this question, we have not been asked to sign any kind of non-disclosure agreements in the four years that I've been with the town, and I don't see any on the horizon, thank you. You can read my mind.

Thank you. Thanks. Jenna, sorry.

Good evening.

And then Noah Sundberg, up after you.

Good evening, Mayor Murphy and honorable members of the town council. My name is Jennifer Falk and I stand before you this evening not only as a concerned citizen of Sarita, but as an involved community member and parent and daughter. I am a proud mom of a Copper Hills baseball player and of a Girl Scout cadet in our local troop 432. Furthermore, I served as the PTO secretary for Copperview Elementary for nearly eight years. My family and I are also active members of Common Ground Church. I raise these points to illustrate that since my husband and I moved here 15 years ago, we have been committed to and invested in the community we have chosen to call home. mayor murphy we were happy to see you attend the common ground church service last week where you spoke about how much you value the teachers and administrators who shape our children's experience in the sarita school district since then i have had time to reflect not only on your remarks but also to think about my own hope for our children's future both in and out of the classroom. As a mom of a busy eighth and fifth grader, it is no exaggeration to say that our family revolves around their activities and the connections within our community, all with the goal of raising healthy, resilient, productive, and happy children. This requires a safe community where our children can explore, play, and learn. As parents, we must be diligent when it comes to their physical safety and their digital safety. The potential risks and harms inherent in so many different technologies can feel, frankly, overwhelming for a parent in 2026. From social media to AI to deep fakes to chatbots to misinformation, the list goes on and on and on. That is why I'm here this evening, to voice firmly and unequivocally my opposition to any reinterpretation of zoning laws which would allow the construction of a data center. As a mom, I am weary of the risk that AI poses for young, vulnerable minds. And I have good reason to be. According to Jeffrey Hinton, the man widely considered to be the godfather of AI, said, and I quote, my worry is that the invisible hand is not going to keep us safe. So just leaving it to the profit motive of large companies is not going to be sufficient to make sure they develop it safely. While some may shrug this off as fearmongering, I have to ask you, honorable members of the town council, will you protect the natural beauty that our town has to offer? Will you protect the home values of the residents that have elected you in good faith? Or will you capitulate to the profit motive of large corporations and big tech? I ask you this directly not only as a resident, but specifically as a mom, because it is my children, my daughter, and my son that will be left to live with the long-term consequences of your decisions moving forward. Our town and our children are depending on you to ensure that they will have a healthy and safe environment to grow up in for many years to come. Thank you.

And then Paige Humphrey.

Specific plans can be addressed and changed. And actions, yes I can, and actions made by a town in an executive session to hide what's being done for economic development is protected so you don't need a non-disclosure agreement. You're already under one under Arizona state statutes. But I'm here to talk to the cops. On October 15th, the police department shot at least one bullet into Heritage Park in Marana while firearm training. The bullet went past a grandma, actually with four people in the park, a grandma and her grandchild on her right side and hit the monkey bars and brought a portion of the monkey bar material forward another 65 feet to the sidewalk and damaged a stucco pillar on a remodeler nearby. She was a military veteran recognized to the danger and took shelter behind a concrete pillar with her and her grandson until police arrived. The Marana police would not show up until the ceasefire was ordered at the firing range. There's a high probability that this will result in a high cost lawsuit to the city because a grand jury found in their case that there were counts of endangerment with substantial risk of death, which would be a class six felony. We pleaded it down. The three plea officers involved were Officer Issa, badge number 294, Officer Nunez, badge number 341, Corporal Trujillo, 335. Officer Tovar, 344. Officer Guerrero, number 338. Sergeant Sanchez, number 343. And Officer Perez, who is here tonight, 326. The instructors were Sergeant Medina, who pled guilty to it, and his badge number is 257. Detective Villanueva, his number is 261, and Detective Cota, and his number is 281. You try to hide it and cover it up. I asked for eight months, and you didn't deliver it until after you guys went on summer break, and you still haven't told the town. This is the first time it's been said who the officers were involved. You didn't want people to know. The officer that showed up for Marana, and we know we can trust Marana to do investigations on us, was Officer Ford, and she didn't turn her body camera on, and her agent was that the incident would be handled between agencies, and that was why she did not do more investigations before she left. Because it was inside the cops, and she wasn't going to do more. According to you guys, our chief, this is from your guys' record request, within an hour of being notified of the incident, the chief directed staff to cooperate with the Marana Police Department investigation. And then the Royal Valley said, it should be noted that it was advised that Chief Nolan, Sarita Police Department chief, told all officers that they were required to cooperate with the investigation, but they didn't, including Medina. And then he supported them and wondered, so you had insubordination that supported it, or was it insubordination? Thanks for being here. You have corrupt cops. I don't like your behavior on the council, and I hope you guys do better. We deserve better from you guys. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening.

good evening mayor and council my name is paige humphrey and i am the outreach coordinator for save the scenic santa rita's back earlier this month in may on may 26 i submitted over 130 signatures on a petition from concerned citizens who want the town to host a public hearing where hud bay can try to prove whether or not they can actually recharge 105% of the 3 billion gallons of groundwater per year that they're going to pump with Colorado River water supplied through the CAP. If they cannot prove that they can recharge all of that water, the town of Salarita should not issue the right of way for their water pipeline along the Santa Rita Road through town limits. so no recharge no pipeline we submitted those petition signatures it's been several months we haven't heard from the town one way or the other about the public hearing and i wanted to bring that issue back up to the council's attention so that we can get some movement on that because the town clearly cares about this issue we care about water And it's very clear to me that water is important, especially through the conversation about data centers tonight. So I wanted to bring this back up to the council's attention. And I wanted to share that in solidarity with everyone who's talking about data centers, I support the call to ban any planning and building of data centers within the town of Thalerita town limits. Thank you.

Thanks for being here. Tonelli Garlick. Did I do better? And then Marilyn Gossett.

That was better. Tonelli Garlick. That's okay. First I just want to take the time to thank you guys for serving our community and the men and women who put on their uniforms and non-uniforms. We appreciate you and your intentions because I think intentions is most important. I am a real estate broker here.

I both sell and represent buyers and sellers and live here in this community, and I absolutely love our community. I call for the potentials in the mall, changes that could potentially allow for the data centers in Salvadorita. I'm here tonight because I believe I have a spot.

Just back up just a teeny bit because of the, yeah.

i'm here tonight because i believe i have a responsibility that is bigger than the economic development bigger than tax revenue and bigger than any one company our responsibility is to protect the people the men the women the children who already live here and the children who will inherit this community we are being asked to consider a massive industrial operation a potential master Massive industrial operation in the middle of the desert community where water is precious, infrastructure is limited, and families have chosen Cellity because of the quality of the life it provides. So before we talk about jobs and investment, I want to ask a much more important question. What will the project cost us? What will it cost our water supply? What will it cost our electric grid and what will it cost our roads? What will it cost our emergency services? What will it cost our air quality, our peace, our quiet, our property values? And ultimately, what will it cost our children? i'm not asking you to simply take a resident's word for it i'm asking you to require proof require independent studies of water consumption and groundwater impact require independent analysis of electrical demands and infrastructure cost require 24-hour noise studies require analysis of generators air emissions fire safety traffic storm water wildlife electromagnetic fields And most importantly, do not make our children, our community, the test case for an industrial experiment that has not been fully evaluated. The town itself has acknowledged that it's developing a data center-specific regulations. Then let's do it in the right order. Don't approve the project first and write the protection afterwards. Write the protection first. Write the protections first. Make the developers prove that Saludito will not be left holding the bill for its water infrastructure, its emergency services, or environmental consequences. Economic development is important, but economic development that permanently compromises the resources and quality of life of the people who already live here is not progress. We are not anti-business. We are pro-Sawarita, pro-water, pro-family, pro-property owners, and pro-future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marilyn Gossett.

I didn't come prepared. That's okay. But I have a few questions.

You have three minutes.

Okay, according to you, to the town manager, there are no plans for a data center right now. None?

None.

Okay, according to someone else, one of y'all told them one's already been approved. Now that's a little confusing. And also you're saying that going back to the 1986 zoning?

96.

96. Has that already, does that allow a Delta Center? The 96?

Well, I'm in danger of starting a conversation that I'm not supposed to be doing. Okay.

Well, I'm saying, does that allow one? And if it does, y'all were elected to represent us. And I think this is only a very small portion of the community who does not want a water bill. Doesn't want a data center, you know, and yes, I came from New Mexico. They didn't have any water either Water is one of our most precious mineral resources more than oil more than natural gas It's good water is going to be the thing that determines our future Don't sell ours away and be able to go look yourself in the mirror tomorrow.

Thank you.

Or when the vote comes about, OK? Thank you.

Thank you.

I was going to ask, I'm hoping that Shane doesn't get mad at me, I have a clarifying question.

Well, Jessica is the one that can't get mad at you, more importantly. I'm the only one she can reach to kick. I know.

So I just want clarification about what you had shared before. If I was concerned about a data center that would potentially be in a Rancho Cerrito specific plan area, like the one that's been rumored, that we don't have an application for. Yeah. If I was concerned about that, is the better contact Rancho Sarita's company, not us, because they have full control of what happens in their specific plan.

Yeah, I mean, the developer is, when a developer has approved zoning on their property, It's not the use that then becomes in question. It's when an application comes in. So the council with Rancho Salverita's development can't say you can't put industrial use on that piece of property because it's already zoned industrial use. And because of the nature of that specific plan, not a decision that you guys made, but a decision that was made back in 1996, suggests that there are specific types of heavy industrial uses that can go there today. So you wouldn't be questioning the use. What would happen is an application would come into town to staff saying, hey, we want a heavy industrial use here and here's what it is. part of the planning development process is to request that it can be served by the utilities that are in question. Can it be served by the power company? What does that look like? Can it be served by water? What does that look like? Can it be served by sewer? What does that look like? So all those questions have to be asked. Can it be served by our first responders, fire, police? What does that look like? So it's not really questioning the use, it's questioning can it happen? So those are the types of questions that are in front of us, not whether or not a heavy industrial user can be on that piece of property. That decision has come and gone. It's what does that look like? How does it work? Can it be served? Those are the questions that we'd be asking. Traffic, power, water, sewer.

So the council can't do anything with Rancho until or if an applicant comes and wants to put it on there?

Those aren't legislative decisions. That would be through the planning process. The only time that that would come in front of council is if that user had an ask of the town. Like, we want concessions on our development fees, or we want whatever. That's not something staff would do. That would have to come to the council for consideration. Thank you.

Thank you very much. that was all the speaker cards I had and that's the proper time to respond to criticism I know both of you were mentioned if you want to say anything you can if not you don't have to okay just watch it we'll just watch Jessica as you're doing it to make sure I'm not gonna watch Jessica

So the comment was made that I had made a statement that three data centers are coming to town. I did not say that. What I said is three partials in the town are already zoned for data centers. Two of those partials, and I wasn't allowed to continue to talk because I was kind of thrown out of the meeting. Two of those parcels already have buildings on them. Unless they knock the building down and then decide to build on it, then that's something we're gonna have to deal with later. Three of them are already zoned for it. One of them is empty. That's someone that you guys are concerned about. You know, you guys need to understand, we live here too. I'm a resident too. I have concerns too. You know, you guys are saying that we're in everybody's back pocket. That's not true. That is not true. I'm not in anybody's, I can't talk, I can't speak for them. And I'm not going to speak for them. I am not in anybody's back pocket. You know, you guys aren't giving us a chance to do our own research because you keep throwing this stuff and throwing this stuff at us. And we are doing research. We are making phone calls. We are talking to people. The thing, kind of what was just brought up now, it's already zoned. It's already zoned. The city of Tucson, Pima County, they didn't stop data centers. They just kind of redid the zoning with the codes, but they can still have data centers. So I admire your passion. I really do, because if I wasn't on the council, I might be sitting back down there with you guys. I really do admire it. But give us a chance. Give us a chance. Instead of accusing us and calling us names and whatever, give us a chance to, you know, we have coffee with council. Kim and I have coffee with council. If you guys want us to come and meet with you at your house with the group, you know, we do it at, we've done it at Quail Creek. We've done it at houses. We've done it at Rancho Salarita. Call us. We'll be more than happy to sit down and talk to you guys. But if you please would listen to our facts. We're not making things up. We're not lying. We're not trying to... Council Member Morales.

Oh, come on, Jessica. I was not looking at you. That's why I had to talk louder. I'm sorry? I said that's why I had to speak louder. Okay. Thank you. Do I need to stop? Are my three minutes up? Yeah.

All right. Kim, do you want to say anything? Okay. Well, no, we can't get into a dialogue. I'm going to take a ten-minute recess. Well, that's where we get in trouble. Talk to me during the break. I will answer probably anything you would ask me during the break, because that's not during call to the public, which I'm not supposed to respond to. Ten minutes. Thanks.

Thank you.

Item number six is the consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion at this time.

I motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Do I have a second?

Second.

All those in favor, signify by aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. I'm gonna take the liberty and move up item 9C, Councilmember Priolo, since we have our appointee sitting back patiently in the back of the hall here. And I'll take 9C first, then I'll go back to 9A. So at this point, Madam Clerk, can we please read 9C?

This is a Planning and Zoning Commission appointment, a possible appointment to the Planning and Zoning Commission made by Council Member Diane Priolo.

Thank you. Council Member Priolo, would you like to make the suggested motion? unfortunately i don't have the name in front of me it didn't print out on my printer that's okay i will um i'll let you second i'll make a motion to appoint miranda jackman to the planning and zoning commission to fill a term ending june 30th 2030. i second thank you thank you any further discussion And I'm not gonna let her comment and change her mind after being through a two and a half hour call to the public. All those in favor signify by aye.

Aye. Aye.

Motion carries. Any nays? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Go home. Go home. You don't have to. That's not an order. It's the willingness to if you'd like to go home. And I'll move back to item 9A, Madam Clerk.

Item 9A is discussion and possible action regarding ordinance number 2026202, a town code amendment to chapter 3.10, the fee schedule specifically relating to business license fees.

Okay, thank you. And before we do that presentation, I do have one speaker card to that, so I'd like to let the person go first, and that way if there's any concerns or questions that we can answer based on the presentation. Is Cheryl Pugh still here? Yes. I wanted to double check since most everybody left to make sure.

Thank you. My name is Cheryl Pugh, and I've lived in Salita now for seven years. And I am a small business owner. And as a small business owner, I do business out of my own home with a cottage food certificate, where I make jams and jellies and candy pecans. And I sell them at community events. And this new rule to implement a business license for Saurita will affect small business owners in the area because currently we don't have a business license fee, but we have a $99 annual park use permit, which we must have in order to participate in any of the events that are in Saurita. So if a business license fee were implemented, we would then be forced to pay $139 a year for participating in events in our community. Pima County comprises of several different towns which have all their own set application license fees and annual fees. And as a small business owner with a cottage food certificate and participating in events all over Pima County and other counties, but particularly in Pima County, We already have to pay so many application fees, annual fees, license fees, and then above and beyond that, we have to pay for vendor fees. So it costs us even more money to participate other than just a business license. So I would ask that the town council take into effect that this would affect the small business owners that are using their cottage food certificates as a way of making their businesses known throughout the county and our town. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thanks for waiting. Madam Clerk, I know that you'll be introducing and presenting this item, correct?

Yes.

Okay, please proceed.

Thank you, honorable mayor, council members. I just want to start with some background on this item. The re-implementation of business license fees was introduced at the budget planning session in February. At that time, council directed staff to investigate the issue further and to develop some value-added service. At the budget retreat in April, staff introduced the recommended fee structure and the concept of a business buddy. Council consented to moving forward with the next steps to implement business licensing fees. In May, Council adopted a code amendment moving the annual license renewal from July of each year to January of each year, bringing us to today. Reporting this evening is an ordinance reinstating business license fees to help support the business licensing program to better serve applicants. The ordinance reinstates a fee structure, adds an application fee, and creates a business buddy role. The fees we are asking you to consider this evening are a one-time $15 application fee, a one-time fee of $50 for the new license, and a $40 renewal fee thereafter for annual renewal. The anticipated revenue for this program is $70,000 a year. the revenue generated can support the program including adding a part-time business buddy role in the community development department this buddy will conduct the preliminary zoning and building safety reviews currently handled by the assistant planner and the building safety manager they will follow up on missing or incomplete application information and ask answer questions from the applicant The business body will also escalate complex questions regarding zoning and building safety issues as needed, connect the applicant with the economic development department so they can take advantage of programs offered by the town, and support the Community Development's Partners in Development program, which is designed to make the development process smoother, more transparent, and more collaborative for applicants. Finally, the buddy can assist with project improvement intake and serve as a backup to the customer service team. In preparation for this ordinance adoption, public notice was posted on the town's homepage for 60 days and was promoted on social media. Notice was also published on the business license email page and business license portal pages. Additionally, more than 1,800 letters were mailed to current business license holders, informing them of the annual and annual date change and that council would be considering the implementation of business license fees at this meeting. In response, our office received one phone call and three emails opposing the fees, citing the need for a lower taxation and the financial burden the fee would be on smaller businesses. Additionally, Anna Cassidy, our Community Development Director, had an opportunity to speak to members of the Green Valley Salute to Chamber of Commerce. At this time, I'd like to ask Anna to share her experience.

Good evening.

good evening mayor murphy members of the council i attended a chamber event about a month ago on a different topic actually but at the end we had some q a and one of the attendees and there were about 40 people in attendance they asked us about this business license fee they initially expressed some skepticism about it Assistant town manager Beth Obamavis was with me and she was able to give an explanation about the need for the fee and I talked a little bit about the business buddy program and after that presentation there was general support they liked the idea of the proactive approach that the business buddy would be able to take and helping small businesses get started and helping them understand the rules and regulations that apply to them

and hopefully make them more profitable, which then might make it easier to absorb the fee. Correct? Thank you. Any questions for either Lisa? Yes, yes.

Can you go back to the fee schedule please? So the renewal fee is $40. Are you gonna implement all of that to everybody that already has a business license with the town? Or are they gonna skip the application fee and the new license fee? Good question.

So the renewal fee will be charged in January to businesses that are already existing. And so all that just really applies to new people. So the $15 application fee and the new license fee will just apply to those moving forward as of January 1st.

Okay, perfect, thank you.

Thank you for the question, Council Member.

Yeah, great question. Hadn't even thought about that, thank you. Any other questions for staff? If not, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

I move to adopt ordinance number 2026-202. Do we have a second?

We have a motion. I second. I think Diane beat you. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I would just like to say I hear you. I understand and I was hesitant in the beginning but because of, I wanted value brought to it and as Anna mentioned with the business buddy and I wish government was free for everything. Unfortunately it's not and I think we try to work really hard to make sure it's as affordable as possible. So I'll call for the question. All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Aye. And opposed? Nay. We have four, two. Thank you.

Can I say something real quick? Yes. Shane, Kim, and Tom. When we took the jelly and jam to D.C., it was shell that I purchased it from. So.

We're going back, so there'll be some more. Thank you. Item number 9B, Ms. Clark.

Item number 9B is discussion and possible action regarding resolution number 20260883, the canvas of the July 21st, 2026 primary election.

Thank you. Yep, I think you're just gonna continue, aren't you? I am. Okay.

Thank you. Honorable Mayor, council members, the Town of Saudi Arabia participated in the consolidated election held by Pima County on July 21st, 2026. The purpose of the local election was to elect three council members to serve four-year terms and for voters to consider Proposition 420 ratifying the new Town of Saudi to General Plan. Total voter turnout was approximately 30%, with 8,702 ballots cast. The council candidates who received a majority and the most votes and will be declared elected as of the January election, November 3rd, are Chelsea Hundo, Debra Morales, and Tom Murphy. Proposition 420 passed, ratifying the new town of Satterfield to general plan. 59% of the voters cast the vote in favor of the new plan. State law requires that returns be canvassed within 20 days after the election, and the resolution before you this evening approves and adopts the local results of the election, and staff recommends approval of this resolution.

Thank you. That didn't include the next door survey for mayor, I'm teasing. Any questions for Lisa? If not, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

I move to approve resolution number 2026-0883, and I'm so glad I'm not involved in any of that. Second.

We have a motion to second. All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Is Chelsea still here? No. Oh, sorry. I was going to congratulate her again. You may be listening. Congratulations, Chelsea. Next is 9D, Madam Clerk.

Discussion on possible action regarding the Arizona League of Cities and Towns annual resolutions.

Thank you. Mr. Smith, Luke Smith, our management analyst, will be presenting this item.

tonight we're going to talk about the 2026-2027 league resolutions that are being proposed. The process for this is an annual process that the league goes through. The proposals are usually received and collected in May or June when the league proposes their own or gathers input from other municipalities. Then in July, there are five league committees organized by policy order, and these committees review the proposed resolutions and vote on whether or not to recommend them. Then in August, coming up next week, there is a resolutions committee, and a representative from each of the participating municipalities, reviews and votes on the recommended policies. And then later next week, these policies are, approved policies are formally adopted by the league members at the annual business meeting. And as I mentioned, these are part of the week's annual conference. The new policy subcommittees, or the five community policy areas that they organize committees within, are budget, finance, and economic development, general administration, human resources and elections, neighborhood sustainability and quality of life, public safety, military affairs and courts, and transportation infrastructure and public works. The number of proposed resolutions for each of these policy areas was one was proposed for the PFED, one was proposed for GHRE, four were proposed for NSQL, two were proposed for PSMAC, and there were no proposed resolutions for transportation infrastructure and public works.

Luke, can I just interrupt there? Because I was the chair of one of those. So this is what actually was officially proposed for the resolution. More than these were submitted to each of the committees, but we have the choice to reject it, study it, bring it back another time, but these were the ones that by the subcommittees they actually voted to move forward to the resolution committee, correct? Yes, thank you.

And as you mentioned, Mary will just make a quick note. Sarita's very lucky, who had a very involved town council. So we had Council Member Morales, who was serving on the budget, finance, and economic. We had Ed Leiter, who was serving on the Sustainability and Quality of Life. And then Mayor Axel's chair for the Public Safety and Military Affairs. And then we had Kim Lisk, who served on the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Public Works.

You're missing a picture up there, Dr. Gillespie.

All right, so our earliest year and ongoing legislative objectives for the town are to protect local control, protect state-shared revenue, advocate on behalf of town needs, and prioritize community safety. Nicely dovetailed into this are the two of the league's guiding principles, which are protect local control and protect state-shared revenue. So we use these, we suggest using these as a filter, and we review these different resolutions to decide whether or not to give them our support. So in a moment, I'll present the resolutions, give council a chance to discuss that, and the staff would recommend either a support position for these resolutions, a neutral position, or oppose. Support would mean that we agree with this, agrees with our legislative objectives, and that we think the league should spend their time and resources advocating for this.

And appallingly, they do not align with our legislative objectives and we do not think the League should spend their time advocating for this.

So just to put this all into context, Tuesday of next week, the mayor sits on this resolution committee and will be asked to vote on all of these items. And so the reason why we're here in front of you tonight is so that when the mayor does that, he has the feedback from the council and can represent what the council's will is as it relates to each of these things, which is why we're presenting this to you tonight.

If I could add additional context, doing this for 10 years, only once in 10 years, if something came out of the subcommittee and it went to the resolutions committee, was it ever reversed? One issue, one time in 10 years, and that's why I tried to add a little color to it earlier that it's the subcommittees that kick out, oh, this is not local control, or it doesn't affect statewide, it's only for one particular city or town, which we're able to lobby as our own community, but the league is very careful to make sure that applies to everybody. So I just wanted to add that context. If we did go opposing something, the odds will be very unlikely based on my only vote recommendation.

Shane? And before we turn it back to Luke to finish this presentation, I don't want to devalue our exercise tonight. We can still stand, so if we oppose a piece of legislation or a policy, but the policy goes forward because we are of the minority vote, we still can state and stand on that in front of the state legislature or whatever that we took this position. I understand where the league is going, but if it means that much to us, the vote that the mayor casts in this resolution committee matters. And so it's really important that we have this feedback so that he knows the will of the council in doing so on Tuesday. Thanks.

Please continue.

Thank you. So I just want to thank you two for covering my next slide. Oh, thanks. We'll skip this one.

So the proposed resolutions are these. There is BFED3, which is a post-incorporation cleanup. This proposed resolution basically clarifies how and when state share revenues are distributed to newly incorporated cities and towns.

This largely comes out of the experience with Santan Valley and their recent incorporation.

Currently, the Department of Revenue and Department of Transportation, I'll have to look at my notes, or tax, and they rely on the US Census for a lot of their figures, and it does not give the towns One, a timely resolution to this because that doesn't come out very frequently. And it also doesn't give a lot of legal in terms of going back and saying, well, hey, you missed this or you missed that. So this resolution will allow them to use the state, if I can pronounce this correct, demographer to base these distributions on. GA HR1 is a public notice correction window which allows citizens and towns to correct minor and non-substantive public notice errors without restarting statutory notice timelines. So things like typos or other things that do not make any kind of material change to what has been posted can be changed up to within five days of the public hearing. If it is something that is material or substantive, it would have to go through the whole public notification process again.

Mr. Mayor, I have a question. Who determines if it's minor, a minor error? Is it the town clerk? Who's the one that decides that? I do not know the answer to that question.

Our awesome Lisa Cole. To all of them.

I would like, I mean, I'm not going to vote against it, but I think that's an important thing to ask. Like, who gets to decide that?

Because a small word could be... And Vice Mayor, I have that ability. I'll take that note. Because... Sometimes some of these do have clarifying questions amongst everybody, and that would be a good example of it that I hadn't really thought of, so I can bring that to the.

I was gonna ask, was that a topic of discussion for the committee, the subcommittee?

I don't know who, I think that might be the only one we didn't have a representative on. Dr. Gillespie. So I can't, I don't think anybody had that one.

And it does not clarify that in the notes that they provide, so I'm not sure if that was even asked necessarily. I'm gonna group the next three together, NSQL one, two, and three. These all have to do with short-term rentals. Number one increases the permittable fee from $250 to $500. Number two gives the municipality's ability to file liens for unpaid penalties or fines. And number three seeks voter pathway to make rules and regulations about short-term rentals. Currently Sariva does not have a short-term rental fee. And according to the questions I asked both clerk and the community development, there wouldn't seem to be any perceived problems at this time within the community for this. So these are three that may not necessarily have a great

Could I comment first, Shane? So I'm not part of that committee, but being part of the league, you know, Flagstaff, Sedona, there's a few communities. Page. Page. Just wrestling the heck out of this thing because... Whole neighborhoods are being taken, you know, over by short-term rentals. They're like literally losing population based on that because no one's living there permanently. They don't have a community. And I've stayed at them and these neighborhoods, you know, were very nice and every single home virtually has become a short-term rental. So it's a policing, it's a zoning, it's all kinds of issues. So I just wanted to add some context on why.

I was gonna do the same thing. This is coming from those communities, tourist-type communities, where their housing inventory is literally just flipping overnight to these short-term rentals. And it creates a very transient type of population. I mean, how do you serve, how do you define quality of life when your population changes literally every night? So it's a big deal for some of these communities and they're trying to get their arms wrapped around this and so it doesn't control the outcome of that community. It's a hard one. Yep, thanks.

And I forgot to group in number four there as well as a short-term rental where it defines, what it will do is clarify statutory definition of short-term rentals to not be or not be allowed in mobile home parks or multi-family buildings or complexes with over five units. All right, PSMAC 1 is a statewide 911 funding sustainability. As we know, the ADOA forecasted like a 35% budget cut for the 911 support or reimbursements. There was a temporary stop gap on that in the state budget, but this is a long-term, it's not a long-term solution. So they're seeking for more sustainable funding for that. And then the piece back two is modernizing Arizona law enforcement public records. Most of our laws and statutes on this are still related to when it was all paper. And now with this digital age, referring to like body cams and other types of things, the overwhelming amount of news and commercial requests, they're asking for some clarification on timelines and how they can respond to those. So I took these out, so looking at past town councils, what we did is we kind of grouped these by ones that did meet some legislative objective, at least one or more of ours. So of that we have BFD3, GRH1, and down the list there. And I will allow, or I would open up this time just for town council to discuss and, you know, how would they like to, what your will is on these.

Any heartburn by my colleagues on any particular issue based on discussion? I will ask that clarifying question, Vice Mayor, on that one. Council Member Priolo, do you have any comments on any of these?

No.

Okay. Everybody good going in for me? Thanks.

So just for clarification, is Council saying that we would support these?

Yes.

Okay.

All right. Sorry. Will you be with me at that? Yes, I will. Okay, thanks.

And so there's one not on this list. It was NSQ03, seek voter-driven pathway, allowing municipalities to ask local voters whether additional short-term rental regulations is appropriate. We could argue that this one does have some aspect of local control for the town of Sarita, but I would ask what the council's opinion would be on this.

So this is one of the proposed policies that if passed the resolution committee, the league staff would take up the charge with the state legislature. We're suggesting here that it seems to fall short of matching up with our legislative priorities and so we're wanting to know what direction the council would like to go. We're just showing that it doesn't seem to align very well with our legislative priorities.

And that's back because we probably don't have a ton of short-term rentals, or just that were our priorities.

It's questionable on the local control question, and it doesn't really touch any of the other, the revenue needs or safety.

Yeah, but is it, in staff's recommendation, is it good public policy to be advocating for?

You're asking for my opinion? Yes, yes. I would say because it does give power to the voters, and so a lot of these short-term rental issues are being voiced by the voters. Right. And so if there does arise an issue, it would be nice to have that tool or tool belt to put that to the vote.

Probably, especially if you're Page or Flagstaff or Sedona, right, to have some control.

Anyhow, maybe someday we do have that issue. Right, right.

I'm thinking like if we're not from a state side we're not all struggling with this so this allows the cities to take control of their situation it gives them the autonomy to so to me I like the idea that they're getting to decide instead of always bringing it to the full state right so I think that's a good thing to let the ones that are struggling with this type of thing have the authority to limit if that's what the voters decide

So it looks like it seeks a voter-driven pathway allowing municipalities to ask voters whether additional short-term rental regulations are appropriate. I'm not so sure that you don't already have that authority. I mean, I can't think of an issue where you... you can't say, hey, I want the voters to decide on this. I mean, I think it's something you already, my personal opinion, so I don't know why this is coming up so specifically, but I actually think that it's already within your... Take a note of that, Luke, if you would.

I can ask for some clarification on...

So I'll read the proposed solution here out loud. So the proposal would pursue a House or Senate concurrent resolution referring a statewide question to the next general election. If approved by voters, municipalities could ask their local voters to consider short-term rental regulations such as prospective license caps, distance requirements, and other locally tailored measures. Existing short-term rentals would be grandfathered under the concept presented.

So it's a little bit like the discussion we had, or I would say earlier, about regulations around data centers, right? That we are able to modify it if that's our concern, right, as it goes forward. And that feels something similar to that, right? That they, didn't this?

didn't this call, in that description, didn't it talk about a statewide election? So what I was referring to is as a local council, city town council, I would think that you could put any question that you wanted to, I mean there's a cost tied to it, but you could put any question, legislative question that you had, in front of the voters for, and so it's not that it's looking like there's something at the state level that they're wanting to do that's gonna impact.

Yeah, but I heard at the end it was local voters. Didn't you say local voters?

No, it's asking the state to allow them to do the local voting.

Yeah, so according to this problem solution, it's saying that it has to go to the state general election first, and then if approved by voters, municipalities could ask local voters to consider these additional regulations. So maybe that's a question we could ask.

Yeah, but if it's approved by the state, it doesn't seem like we can circumvent that, right? At the local level. Yeah.

Okay. Or does it make sense that they want it to go to the state to make that determination so the locals can do it? okay I'm sorry and I know being part of the civic that we craft that we were been doing your meeting with some of the people council members and mayors from other those those towns there is a major issue with these short-term rentals so I know that they're trying to keep Obviously property values, all of the things that people are concerned about all the time, but with so many people coming in and out. So they are at sort of wit's end that they're not being supported by the state with these short-term rentals. So it sort of makes sense on why they want it to go to the state, to give them more leverage, I think, or permission to be able to go to their local voters to...

get help there get some help yeah mayor yeah as as is as would any respectable clerk do she corrected me and that and that there are there are actually more limitations than i thought on a local council in terms of what you can put in front of the voters so thank you lisa and it probably gets back to some of these communities that we've discussed right wanting to have a little more local control right at least in terms of allowing the public that's mostly impacted by this issue weighing in on what regulations can be put in play.

I mean, for me personally, knowing all of that now, I would be in support of the ability.

I would be in support of this. I know it doesn't affect us now. Hopefully it never will, but if it ever does, it gives us that availability. Okay, all right.

So just a quick overview then. It sounds like the will of the council is to vote in support of all of these.

Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Madam Clerk, item 10A.

Item 10A is a discussion regarding the parcel 30 seminary report prepared by the Urban Land Institute.

Thank you, and Victor Gonzalez, our Economic Development Director, will be presenting this item, and I think this is just for presentation purposes only. Yes. I'm not gonna be voting on that.

Yes, good evening Mr. Mayor, members of the council. We'll go through these slides, providing you a highlight of the ULI report on parcel 30. The staff report on this agenda item is pretty comprehensive, so if you had an opportunity to read through that, for the most part we'll be walking through that information in these slides. So why parcel 30? I remember probably about 10, 12 years ago now, I think maybe when I first came on in the organization, there was a slight hope and a vision that at some point, right, this piece of land could be used for something in the future, whether it's economic development, recreation, and so on and so forth. And so just the fact that we're sitting here today and talking about this piece of land that we own is a significant achievement in itself and so now it's what do we want the next 10 years to look like or 10 years from now we look back you know can we see that development and the progress happening so it's a long-term opportunity to create a community destination and the most beautiful part of that is that we have a clean slate that we can work off so again just to familiarize ourselves with the site is 233 acres we own that property and there is some activity now with the trails park in place and so what's the opportunity that we'll embark in the coming weeks and months and years, it's an opportunity to create this place where we can have recreation, that that recreation and the combination of other elements, whether it's hospitality, entertainment, It all enhances the quality of life. So that's the vision, that's the long-term opportunity. And so what this report really took is a number of planning elements that have taken place over the years and provided some context to it. The URI takeaway for this piece of property was really lead with the placemaking and public value first to create confidence for private investment. So that was the takeaway from the report. So just to give us some context, why ULI, why now, why do a report? Well, there's been a number of initiatives throughout the years around what a central gathering place should be, what it should look like, And that was back in 2017 when the vision and report was developed. That report established community interests and gathering spaces. There was a lot of public engagement and input during that process. There was a survey that was issued to the community. There was over 2,200 respondents to that survey. And that survey asked residents if they were interested we were to have this central gathering place, what would be those amenities that you would like to see in this location? There were some public meetings as well, but ultimately what that vision report established was a collective thought, consensus around that yes, as a community we would support a central gathering places, and in the central gathering places we would like to see these type of elements. In 2017, we, as a town, did not have parcel authority under our ownership, and so much of the exercise was one, what the interest of the community is, but two, I think it provided an opportunity to open some conversations internally as well as with partners about where this central gathering place could happen at some point in time. Fast forward, that led us to negotiate and enter into a purchase agreement with Freeport-McMoran for the purchase of parcel 30. And so now having this property under control, what the next step was to establish this regulatory framework, which is the parcel 30 specific plan that was approved in 2024. And so that established the framework, for land use, zoning, and the type of uses that you go on this property. And so the URI AZTAP provided that opportunity to connect what was stated in the visioning report, things that came out of the specific plan, but also through stakeholder engagement, once again, to build on some of the previous planning efforts and discussions. And so what did we want U of I to evaluate and their team? Well, we knew that we had already gone to a visioning exercise, too, that the specific plan provided us that technical framework. And so we didn't necessarily want to go out and hire a consultant once again to tell us something that we may have already known and or discovered through that process. And so ULI provided a low-cost opportunity to have a focus but also subject matter experts come in and evaluate this opportunity and look at the planning exercises that were previously done, engage with stakeholders, and provide us some general direction and framework for us to consider as we move forward with parcel 30. And so we asked URI and their AZTAP panel to provide an outside implementation focus perspective on how we could position and phase and ultimately bring to market parcel 30. So there was three areas that we asked them to look at and evaluate. Each of these three areas had a number of questions that we submitted to the ULI AZTAP panel. But those three areas were positioning, how should parcel 30 become a successful recreation focus and community serving destination, number two coordination how should land uses infrastructure connectivity design and facing work together and then number three partnerships which public-private partnerships and solicitation strategies could attract private investment so those were really three major questions that we had as staff and we wanted through this process to be able to have URI and their subject matter experts address that for us so out of these three areas that we have them considered. They drafted the recommendations and that is what I'll be presenting through the course of the next several slides. So the first recommendation through the ULI study was the town should serve as a master plan developer. Now that doesn't mean that the town should be the master plan developer and that we're gonna be in the real estate. business but it essentially means that as a town we establish what that framework is going to be over time through a combination of public and private investment right so we are largely involved in that process we are the ones to set the overall vision right the how land uses are going to coordinate with one another and complement as well as the branding and phasing We are the ones to drive and direct the infrastructure and the timing of that to support the development of this property, as well as how we as a town bring that land to market. through a combination of those opportunities and projects create a destination so again the recommendation is not to be in the real estate business because that will be through public-private partnerships but as a town we remain involved in developing that vision and all the elements that go into executing what would be that that vision recommendation number two of the study was public investment should create the the initial calories so whether that's programming recreation everyday use and the facilities that are contained and and host those uses right all that should be and create that critical mass that then drives future development. So creating visible public value first is gonna be a way to drive private investment. So private investment is more likely to follow visible public commitment than lead to initial development. So private investment is going to want to see and know what's going to happen and are there elements and or infrastructure or facilities, whether that's public facilities, recreational facilities, that can support future investment and will attract thereafter. so early investment can demonstrate site readiness so if you know lobby ethos being expanded which is an example of public investment that's going to support the development of that site then that is something that visibly shows in the future for private investment that there's been infrastructure in place water sewer what have you but also again public facilities i'll just use recreation as example that could be very much an early public investment that then can drive private investment in the future why because now you have not only the whining of la vieita and the multi-use path but then if you now add a recreation center then you've now created activity invisible public investment whether it's 50, 60, 70 million dollars, that then the private investment comes in and says, very much interesting, we can see the value in there, and so we'll invest and develop the private entities that are complimentary to the public facility. So what could those be? Community gathering spaces can provide that public benefit while creating activity and identity. So if you think about it very much like a shopping center, you have in a shopping center when it's developed, you have an anchor tenant. soon after right the smaller shop spaces junior anchors and the pads develop but what goes in first is the infrastructure that supports that shopping center and then the anchor tenant so very much using that example if we think about the public investment that will make to support the development partial authority we should be thinking about not only the infrastructure but also what is going to be that anchor that's going to attract the private investment Recommendation number three is that development should be phased and recreational. it's a very large piece of land and so it would be it's it's you're looking at from a phase approach so you know developing it in in phases and parcels by treating parcel 30 as a long-term development and not just one single project right so it's not developing the project in its entirety, but phasing it out. And then again, it's just reiterating the previous recommendation in terms of visible early projects and having a recreation-led focus or initial projects being recreation-led and focused. Why recreation? When you and I spent some time with us reviewing not only the reports and engaging with staff and stakeholders, They took away a strong sense that recreation was a big part of our community and that we're continuing to look at ways to introduce new recreational facilities and programming. And so they felt very much that recreation could be a catalyst to this site. Recommendation four is connectivity and placemaking must be planned early and so again as we look at the parcel 30 in its entirety and how that is gonna be phased in terms of investment, public and private investment, that as we look at these phases that we also consider how these phases can be connected. But also looking at the bigger picture how Whether it's pedestrian, bicycle connections, and access to and from these facilities are connected to existing facilities like La Villita Community Center, Town Hall, and then other public facilities as well as some of the trails and improvements that are happening along El Toro and La Villita. And then finally, future private investment should be introduced strategically, and this is where we get into how we bring parcel 30 to market, and that's through the solicitation process. a lot that goes into that process in itself but essentially whether it's an rfq request for qualifications or request for proposals that would be the vehicle that we would use to solicit a private investment but understanding that you know these solicitations will be successful only if and after there's a clear public investment that there's progress in terms of public infrastructure being either committed or developed or under development, as well as the opportunity being defined for that private investment. So private investment, as it reads on the slide, is necessary for scale variety and long-term financial sustainability. So it goes back to us not being the master plan developer, but us seeding through public investment and infrastructure those opportunities to attract the private investment. And it's really gonna be the private investment that's going to develop the ancillary or supporting mixed uses to the recreation or other public facilities that are in place. Those could be hospitality, commercial services, retail. It could also be employment generating uses. And again, future solicitations become stronger when the town can demonstrate activity and readiness. That was a big item that the ULI AZTAP panel emphasized, again, that public investment, or private investment will follow public investment. And so last slide here, from recommendations to implementation. So as staff, we'll continue to evaluate these recommendations, but I think moving forward, how does parcel 30 become a vacant open space to something that could be a central gathering place? that we can visualize to have recreational amenities, mixed use amenities. Well, it starts today, right, with public improvements and those public improvements being visible. We're seeing some of that happen now with the plan expansion or extension of La Villita. we're seeing with the multi-use path along El Toro right all those are visible public investments but it doesn't stop there it's what can we continue to add value and improvements to the site that can attract private investment could that be you know a recreational facility you know as the next public investment that can certainly be something that could be discussed I think the other piece to this, and this is more of an open call as an invitation to mayor and town council, is how do we review comparable projects? There's nothing like going out and seeing other communities and other projects, and so I think that's an area where staff will look to identify some opportunities where we can take a field trip, look at how other communities and other projects were implemented, through public private roles right and the strategies those communities put in place and I think we can learn much as we embark on this journey for parcel 30 and then continuously evaluating funding and financing tools that's the other conversation that needs to be had as we move forward there are opportunities at the regional level which we've been awarded through RTA and PAC with the extension of La Villita. Those are ways in which we can leverage funding to enhance parcel 30. But those are three areas that our staff will continuously be evaluating as we look ahead towards parcel 30. With that, happy to answer any questions. Oh, thank you.

Do you mind if I kick it off just with a quick comment? I mean, part of the excitement for me is on that recreational particular use. I reflect on, you know, our Copper Hills Little League that was here earlier today, and if we can, my opinion, if we continue holding these big signature events on our playing fields, or even the car show, you know, those types of things forever, we're gonna be beating them down, right? We have no chance to arrest them. You know, our sanctuary events just keep getting bigger and bigger. You have traffic issues down at Animax, capacity issues. But for me, you know, trying to keep the fields in as good a shape as possible, That south of us area has, I think, a lot of potential to brand. It is literally central to our whole town, right, including going east over the years eventually. I personally like that it's recreational. mixed-use driven and would give us the opportunities not only potentially to add some fields you know there but I know the conversations if we expand Quail Creek veterans or animax we get to leave them alone for those types of activities and leave the signature events for And of course we have our connectivity to our schools, for parking, the church, all of the above. La Vida Community Center, all interconnected as you touched on. So those are my quick thoughts.

Debbie?

You know I'm gonna say community pool.

You all know I'm gonna say community pool. Let's just start there. Can we split parcel 30 to have a lot of the amenities that were brought up instead of just focusing on one thing?

Absolutely, I think that's when we look at the phase approach, right, because we're 150, 170 acres is what we have to, available for us to consider all these different uses. To give you a context, right, a recreation center with a pool, that may only be five acres, if that. And so there's gonna be ample opportunities to, to your point, phase. looking at recreation, community pool, that takes a portion of that, but also how it's planned so that we can integrate other uses as other phases of parcel 30 get developed. We have more land than, to give you other context, the crossings, I think that's about a 15, 16 acre site. So when you are there, it's a pretty large area, contains a lot of uses. So when you start to compare that to 150 acres, there'll be plenty of opportunity. But yes, to your point, it'll be a phased approach.

Cunchy Thunder 2 can be down here, so. That's the kind of area that you scope. I think I have some people, thumbs up in the back. But that's the scope that 233 acres comes to. That's possibilities.

Kim? So with the private use, are we looking at, when private entities come into partnership with us, are we looking at selling parcels to them, or are they looking to more lease the land that we own?

I think when we get to that point, that's a conversation that we would have collectively with council. But yes, there's two ways in which you can structure that private participation. There's, you know, many regulations and statutes in which you have to, you enter into those agreements, but essentially, yes, you could establish a lease agreement with that private developer entity to lease the land for development or you can enter into a sell and purchase agreement with developer XYZ to develop ABC. It's just a matter of looking at the cost benefit and what our interests are in terms of the benefit for the organization and the community and how that deal is structured. So it'll be on a case by case, but yeah, essentially it could be either lease or sell.

this is an exciting piece of property that the town owns and especially with the location how it's central to town I think that just having a good overall overarching plan for it is important and then if we sell part of it to private or build some ourselves that's fine but I think deciding what we want to do if we want to have okay public I mean yeah public events signature events held there I guess we just need to have it planned out well first That's it.

Victor, to that point, when would you see kind of that potential visioning, right? Because I don't know if all of us have, when I think of 233 acres, back to Debbie's question, what would a rec center community pool take up? It's kind of like laying out Mosaic up in Pima County. Obviously, they're not doing it all at once, right? They're doing it over phased time. When do you anticipate maybe some land planning, you know, very rough land planning, but, you know, to Dr. Gillespie's point of kind of how it lays out over time, at least from the beginning perspective?

Yeah, absolutely. I think we had some of that opportunity, some of those conversations as we were considering the recreation center a couple years ago. And although we didn't touch specifically on the location of that, you know, if and when that, You know topic and project resurfaces I think it's a good opportunity for us to consider right that type of project to place on on summer within parcel 30 then the next question for us to to consider after we Hypothetically say yes, wait, let's place a recreation center on parcel 30. Then the next conversation is how do we where do we place it and how do we place it in a manner in which it could be complimentary to what's already there, the trail park, but also how it can connect to other pieces within the town center area, where we now create connectivity to the town hall, to La Villita, but also how it's planned within the site and how it can connect or complement what could happen on other parts of parcel 30. So I would say it starts with the project in mind, right, and then consider how that project is laid out within parcel 30 and the connection of that. Which, yeah. And I think of the same way with...

I'm sorry, if you don't mind, let me... I think there's a couple of different ways to get to what is this going to look like? I think that's the question. And it's a good question. I wrestle with the same thing. I think we probably all do. We've got a piece of property here. How do we go from where we're at today to actually realizing something on that piece of property that's a benefit and a value to the entire community? We could contract... a service where the public is engaged and they get like a charrette type exercise where we do a vision setting for the entire piece of property. I think there's some grease that's been put on those skids by the work that ULI has done here to give us some rough ideas, but then engage the community in more intentional charrette-type exercise. The other idea, I've seen this work before, is where we actually, through the RFP or the RFQ process, we actually have the private sector compete with vision proposals and we take the quality of what we see in terms of a partnership and we say, okay, this is our idea and we're going to partner with this contractor investor to make it happen. And so I can see a couple of different ways of getting there, but it takes some kind of action on our part.

I know we've used U of A and ASU, you know, their masters level students as well. I don't know if that's applicable, but they're always looking for real world scenarios, right, for some of their projects.

could even try that you know as a potential opportunity yeah we have some good contacts where they issue to to help us out with that and so you know we could we could do that I think I think that's going to get us It's going to build on the ULI stuff. It's not going to take us to where we ultimately need to go, but it's going to help fuel that and give us more foundation to step off of from.

Compete U of A against ASU. See what comes up with the best idea. And it won't cost a lot.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

So I love it, you know that I love this. I've been around long enough to know there's been a lot of discussions about this. So I wanted to graciously offer to change the parcel 30 name to Egbert Park. Are you totally okay with that? Write that check, we'll do anything you want. Just let me know, would be okay with it. No, actually I'm just looking forward to seeing what you guys do with this project, because it's been a vision for a very long time. So looking forward to seeing it and being there at some grand openings.

Diane, any thoughts after listening to all of this?

Egbert Park.

Besides Egbert Park? No. No? Okay. Thank you. Obviously, there's more to come. This is really intro plus, maybe. Intro is the work through ULI, but this is intro plus.

Mayor and Council, I think the game changer as we compare between where we're at today and where this community was when the Saladita Square discussion was very much active and engaged is we actually own the property. And so that gives us, I think that gives us a lot to build off of and to move forward with.

And I would add, as Victor brought up, El Toro connectivity improvement and La Vita and the PAG RTA project to actually expand La Vita. pretty good financing money brought to that area, back to that public investment right now, could help.

I mean, the Lavalita project is over a $35 million investment.

Right, and gives more connectivity to the parcel itself. Okay, thanks. Everybody okay? Yep. Thank you. Thanks. Madam Clerk, item 11A.

Item 11A is a public hearing and possible action regarding ordinance number 2026-203, a town code amendment to chapter 18.42 related to business zones.

Thank you. And Orlanthea Henderson, our planning and zoning manager, will introduce the item.

Good evening.

Thanks for your patience, staying awake, all of the above.

Good evening, Council, Mayor Murphy. Agenda item 11 is a zoning code text amendment to the business zone section 18.42 involving marijuana dispensary uses. The project case number is SA8-26-00001. We have representatives here from Grammage and Burnham here to present the information and answer any questions that you may have on the text amendment. With that, I'll pass the presentation to Lindsay Shubay from Grammage and Burnham.

And thank you for your patience in sticking around.

Absolutely.

Quite the evening that you got to observe.

the new favorite four-letter word, data. Mayor, Vice Mayor, thank you so, Council, thank you so much. I will make this quick. In addition to being a lawyer in, may I have a, is the presentation coming up? In addition to being a lawyer at Gammage and Burnham, I also am a teacher in the ASU Masters in Real Estate and Development program, and so that was a very interesting presentation, and your town manager does know how to get in touch with me, so if you, if you ever want anything. And yes, you should have ASU and U of A Masters of Real Estate and Development challenge each other on a different project. So yes, Lindsay Schube with me is Michelle Santoro. She was here before. We were before you in March earlier this year. We took all of the comments and questions that we got and also went to the Planning and Zoning Commission. So I come before you tonight with a recommendation of approval from your staff, recommendation of approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission, and some tweaks to the text amendment based on questions and comments that we got from the town council in March. As I described in the study session, again, medical marijuana approved by the voters in 2010. 2020 is when Prop 207, the other Prop 207 passed, that allowed and also gave the requirement that all dispensaries sold medical as well as in the adult use market. Again, between 2020 and 2026, gosh, there have been more text amendments statewide than I can count. Like I said, Gilbert, I think, has had at least four or five. Most jurisdictions have had multiple text amendments to this portion of their ordinance. One change that we did not present at the study session, but in speaking with staff after, is to clarify, this is kind of more of a clerical error, but again in 2020, it's a requirement that all dispensaries that were operating at the time that were medical only are now dual use. So before we also did have the request or we talked about an establishment only license. We heard loud and clear from council that that was not something you wanted to hear. We took that off the table. We're not asking for establishment only, but we did clarify the language in the ordinance working with staff and your legal team just to clarify it so it matches state law. Here are our changes. Again, they are mostly the same as last time, but we did make a couple changes based on comments from staff, or sorry, comments from council. Allowable square footage. Again, right now your ordinance is 2,000 square feet. We are asking for 5,000 square feet and then just clarifying the dual license. City of Tucson allows 10,000. Pima County, 10,000. Most Phoenix jurisdictions, Phoenix Valley area, are between 5,000 and 10,000. I think 2,000 to 5,000 is a logical jump. Again, just looking to be aligned with other jurisdictions. Hours. Right now, your hours are from 7 to 7. Again, we're trying to provide more flexibility. We are hearing feedback from our customers. Working adults and being in alignment with other jurisdictions, we're asking for 7 AM to 10 PM. Since I have been in front of you, the city of South Tucson actually amended their ordinance. I believe that happened in June to allow to midnight. So Tucson is 7 to 10. Pima County is 7 to 10. That includes Green Valley, as we know. Morana, 7 to 10. And now city of Tucson is 7 a.m. to midnight. We are not asking for midnight. We're asking for 10 p.m. When we came before you, we asked to remove the lobby requirement. I heard loud and clear, don't remove it. Maybe smaller, but don't remove it. We have it at 100 square feet. We spoke with your legal counsel and staff about that. Again, now with Prop 207 that we sell to both adult use and medical patients, it's just having more flexibility for that space as we do respect the ordinance requirement. City of Tucson and Pima County still have the 25% on there, but again, as mentioned, they also allow for up to a 10,000 square foot dispensary. So we're hoping that the 100 square feet is aligned with what I heard from you and what we brought forward. Drive-thru, a question that I was asked at the study session, who are the majority of the drive-thru customers? Are they medical or adult use? Majority are medical. So I come forward with an answer to that question. Again, post-COVID, in addition to working for dispensaries, I do work for Chick-fil-A. And we are redoing all of their drive-thrus all over the state of Arizona because the post-COVID world likes a drive-thru. Postino's has a drive-thru. Almost every restaurant these days wants a drive-thru. Again, it's pets in the car, it's the senior community, it's the medical patients. A lot of times it's mobility issues, it's heat, and or it's pets. So with that, respectfully requesting the ability for drive-thru. And those are the majority, those are the changes. Oh, also just asking for clarification for delivery. Right now, delivery is permitted for medical. Again, the state law does require that they are aligned. So for a dual-use dispensary, you can't make a rule for one but not the other. You can't distinguish between the medical and the establishment license. You can say no to the establishment license. which we took that out of our request, but for the dual use, the dual use license needs to be treated the same way. So that is it. I wanted to be respectful of your time. We've been here for a minute tonight.

Well, I was planning on staying until midnight. Okay.

Well, I don't have to. I've got to be in Tempe for an ASU meeting at 8 a.m. Oh, okay.

We're thinking about you, not us then. Any questions from my right? Any questions from my left?

Yes. What's our current rule on delivery right now?

Through the mayor, council member. The rule right now is it says medical can deliver. But by state law, you can't distinguish the medical versus the adult use. So the option would be the jurisdiction can prohibit delivery altogether. or allow delivery altogether, but you can't distinguish between the two. There is a small fee for delivery, that was another question I was asked, very small, but that's also why we like the drive-through option, there's no fee associated with the drive-through option, and there's no sandwich board, there's no any of those things.

Could you clarify how that whole, I know you mentioned it last time, but how does the delivery service work? Because I know there's cameras, and there was concerns about are you getting identified any better within the building or drive-through as opposed to maybe delivery? So if you could just touch on that a little bit.

Yeah, Mayor, Councilmember, because I know that goes along with the question, and I actually spoke to some of your police officers this evening about this. Delivery is wildly regulated. You have to be in an unmarked car. There is no visual on the product. The product must be bagged, sealed ahead of time in the dispensary. There must be a trip log that is on file for two years at the dispensary, not only that says the address to the address, but north on 12th, east on main, North on 24th, I mean they need logs and they are checked twice a year by the Arizona Department of Health Services to ensure that every delivery has that log there. They have a camera in the car at all times and they constantly have verbal communication with the dispensary. The Arizona Department of Health Services can call back a delivery car within two hours. So if there is any complaint, which there have been none so far, I'm working on wood. This is wood and this is real wood. If there are any complaints and the Department of Health Services asks you to bring the car back, it has to be brought back within two hours. You have to have your ID on file with the dispensary. You have to have been in there and then your ID is checked by a visual person as well as through a machine. So it is very, very, very regulated. There's limits on how much product that you can buy at a time, limits on how much product can be in the car at any time. And as I was speaking with your police officers this evening, who have been lovely with all this chaos, we also welcome, this client especially is a multi-state operator. Compliance is exceptionally important to them. I asked if they want to come to the dispensary at any time. We can show the delivery logs. We can show all of those things. A nice thing about you having delivery in your jurisdiction is not only the collection of the sales tax, but your control. You have local control. If there is an issue, your police can come into our dispensary. We'll show them our logs. We'll show them our safety and security protocols. And it is very, very, very important to us. the safety of your community as well as the safety of your staff.

On that one, I think you might have another question, but regarding delivery, how far, how long do, what is the time that deliveries can still be made? Does it go all the way up to 10?

Through the mayor, vice mayor. Yes, so delivery is aligned with the hours of operation.

So they can deliver at 10 or are they done at 10? Does that make sense? Is deliveries done by 10?

Delivery would be done by 10.

Okay. Yeah.

Did you have a follow-up, Dr. Lespie? Um... It was lobby. So we're wanting to change that to 100 square feet or 25%. Well, I guess it'd probably be less. But so 10 feet by 10 feet is a minimum. Because they had asked to have no lobby. Oh, yeah. No, I think. Well, so I'm not a fan of no lobby norm. I'm really a fan of the drive-thru either. I'm still deciding what I think about deliveries. With having someone walk in, even though it might be tough with mobility, but just being able to visually see someone be able to walk in and I'm not saying that the people behind the counter are medical professionals and be able to judge things, but there's some things where you say something's not quite right here and I sure hope that they make a judgment there and say, ooh, this is really kind of scary for me. And with a lobby, if my business was right next door and people were just lined up and just hanging out outside their place and my place, I really wouldn't like that as a next door neighbor. And so that's where I want to make sure there's adequate room inside this lobby. and I don't know if 10 feet by 10 feet is adequate, especially if they don't have a drive-through, which I don't want them to have a drive-through.

Can you touch on, because I was a little curious on the drive-through as well, is it like when I go to Wells Fargo, I have a screen and I get to see them, not that it's quite the same, but if I'm talking in a microphone at Chick-fil-A, as opposed to a camera at Wells Fargo, just how the drive-through works. to maybe address the concern, because if I see you like I do now, and maybe you're a little too impaired for the worker, right, then how would that work for, well, actually, how would it work for the drive-through? Or what if a driver comes for a delivery, right, and someone's highly impaired? Can you just kind of touch on some of those?

Yeah, Mayor, great question. So first of all, you know, you cannot, you cannot be impaired under any substance driving, you know, and we absolutely use discretion. This dispensary owner actually once saw a customer tried to give their product in the parking lot to someone who was impaired and the security guard saw it, they took the product and they banned them from coming back in the store. So again, compliance, no one should be impaired driving under any circumstances. If I may on the lobby for one second, the goal of the 5,000 square foot space is to allow everyone to be in there. The lobby area, it's more, we're very respectful and compliance-oriented of the ordinance. We want more of an open floor plan where you can see everyone. That's part of kind of the visual nature of all of it. So it's not to have less space or to have people outside the dispensary. The intent of the larger footprint is to allow our customers to be inside, to be in air conditioning, especially in the summer, and for everyone to have eyes on everyone. There also are cameras always, interior and exterior, Again, get checked by the Arizona Department of Health Services twice a year. And if one camera is even too high or too low, and we keep that footage. So also in terms of having the dispensary in your jurisdiction, if we have any issues, the police are welcome anytime. the time and look at any footage and we have to keep it for two years so that the safety and compliance is very important as far as the drive-through there is no message board there's no any of those things it is a face-to-face interaction if there is any impairment any of those things if we do not feel comfortable we do not give the product the product again is an existing customer whose ID is on file and they place their order in advance and they're picking it's it's more like a pickup window but it is a drive-through because you're in a car but you can't go up and kind of

Yeah, like I want twice as much as I order or something?

Correct, correct. And there also are minimums in the adult use space. You can buy less quantity and less potency. In the medical space, you can have, when you have your medical card, you can get more potency and more product at a time. But there are a lot more limits on the adult use sales. And I did hear also from your... police today the only issue they've had is there was a fight in the parking lot because someone there they didn't have their ID and so they didn't let them in the dispensary so again nothing to do with the product per se or the the use but just with actually the the compliance of the law

holding the standard.

Is there a question? So how does this differentiate from the pharmaceuticals? You know, if I want a prescription I can go through a drive-thru. I can also get it delivered. If I want to buy groceries and I also have wine and beer. So how does, you know, that's delivered to my home. So is this totally, it sounds, is this stricter? Is it the same? So we don't do anything like this when I'm ordering, getting my prescription filled and going through a drive-through or it's getting delivered to me. There's no way of knowing that I'm high on my prescription drugs ahead of time. So it sounds like this is stricter than what?

Way stricter. Incredibly stricter. And it is a good, and the planning commission asked a really good question was, is there anywhere in the ordinance that does regulate hours? And we found one section, and Jessica may be more on top of it than John, although John and I were both looking. there's one where it's hours so there's certain hours for noise ordinance but nothing on use you don't regulate the delivery of groceries you don't regulate the delivery of prescription pills and this is very regulated very regulated strict records and again compliance with with police and first responders who we welcome into our dispensary all the time yes

Are your delivery drivers employees? Or are they DoorDash, Instacart?

Through the mayor, again, a very, very good question. They have to have a facility agent card. They've had a complete background check. They've been fingerprinted. There is, in California, And it's hard. You really don't want to compare the marijuana space in other states. In California, you can get a delivery license. We do not have that here. It is an employee of the dispensary. Again, full background check, full fingerprints, and that you cannot use outside third party. You cannot do a door dash. You cannot do any of those things.

Another question, back to Gillespie's question. So you want a bigger storefront, and we're saying you have to have a smaller lobby. But having a bigger store will not have that many people in the lobby, is what I'm assuming, right? Waiting.

Through the mayor, correct. That is, we are hoping that we can have more customers in our space. Again, most jurisdictions have struck the lobby requirement. Again, at the time the ordinance came into play, and it was the League of Cities and Towns model ordinance that everyone used, there was a lobby requirement because it was more like the trap doors and bulletproof glass and all these things, because we just really did not know how dispensaries were going to be. Most jurisdictions have stricken that requirement altogether. Again, it's just we want to ensure, and working with your building services team, that the lobby has no point of sales, has no product, has any of those things in it. So it's more of just a compliance issue. But yes, I think we'll have way less people, if anyone in the lobby, because now we'll have a bigger store to allow customers to, and we can have more points of sale, get people in and out quicker.

Diane, did you have any questions?

Yes. Okay. I still do not have peace in my heart about this. And in fact, I feel even more strongly against it than I did the first go-round. And I'd like to share why. Please proceed. Okay, so first of all, when I knew this was first going to come before the council, I did ask our police chief, Chief Nolan, his experience in, was there an increase or is there a potential for an increase of DUIs because of the marijuana use? And my concern was the increased hours and the drive through, the ease of it. And the response was yes, that there was. in his experience as the police chief. And then I had the opportunity to go and sit and observe the DUI court run by the Justice of the Peace, Ray Carroll. And I spent several hours there watching person after person who had, has an addiction problem, whether it's alcohol and marijuana or marijuana all by itself, but some type of addiction problem coming before this court and then adjudicated into a treatment program rather than being sentenced and tried. And so I picked the brains of Justice Carroll who's been running this program and I asked him, I said, shared my concerns and am I wrong in my concern that an increase in hours in the drive-through would make it easier and increase the chance of the potential of a DUI and perhaps a fatality. So to my way, and his answer was yes, he thought that there was. And so that confirms my own, I don't have peace in my heart about this and I am not in favor of it.

Okay, thank you. I guess from my perspective, I know I brought it up last time, you know, I didn't vote for it to legalize, but it is legalized at the end of the day. And even to your point, Councilwoman, I guess where I wrestle with it is because I would want, you know, obviously less DUIs. I did some research, obviously alcohol, way off the chart as far as DUIs go. But from even that perspective, let's say we don't extend the hours, now I'm forcing this person potentially up to Valencia or somewhere in Tucson and now I've got them on the road twice as long as I would have not that I want them on the road at all with a DUI or impaired but it kind of just from my perspective it just goes backwards that You know, at the end of the day, it is legal. Obviously, I understand the dual license. And I did go down to the dispensary and watched it. And, again, as I said at the last meeting when this came up, I watched two pretty elderly gentlemen in wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, you know, somewhat struggle, you know, to get into there. I think of the heat. Some of us, you know, he had brought up, you know, we're talking about prescriptions, and we're talking about alcohol, and how unregulated it really is, and this is really regulated, so I'll be supporting it for a lot of those same reasons on there.

So when this issue first came up, Councilmember Lisk and I, that same day, that came up with Shane, went to the dispensary to see what that was all about. We were impressed. You know, they gave us a quick tour. We were impressed. My son worked at a pot farm for a long time, but they shut it down. So I called him and I asked him, like, what do you think about a drive-thru? And he said, that's genius. And I'm thinking in the mind of a pothead, you know, somebody with an addiction. And I said, why? And he says, because there are so many people that struggle to get out of the car and to go into the dispensary. They are in pain. And that kind of resonated to me, like, you know what, that's true. I don't think there's a difference between, I mean, if you're not gonna get it here, you're gonna go get it in Tucson, you're gonna go get it in the streets. I don't think there's a difference between a drive-through at Walgreens and a drive-through at a dispensary. Delivery, i did door dash i delivered wine and beer and alcohol and tequila you know and it was strict like we had to um when we delivered it somebody had to open the door we had to get the driver's license we had to take a picture there was just a lot of things that we had to follow um so i i support it

I just want to say, what I was impressed at, like Council Member Morales said, going and looking and touring and talking to the employees and what the benefits are, especially with the drive-through at that time. It was, I'm going, so it's more regulated than going to the grocery store and being able to take liquor or wine or beer out. And I know there's a lot of shoplifting due to that. I realize we can't control everything. I don't want to see DUIs, be it drinking or drugs of any sort. I appreciate what the police have to go through and all of that type of stuff. But I mean, there's only so much we can control. To me, I look at this as a legal business and I think a business that's asking for an expansion no different than a fries was all of a sudden coming to us going which I would love for them to do actually we need to expand our produce department I think this is I mean in one sense is a good problem to have I'm not encouraging people to use but you know it's it's again I also don't encourage people to be drinking and driving and there's no control over someone even going into the grocery store purchasing whatever a legal alcoholic beverage and not them popping the can opening it and driving home with that and the same thing with prescription drugs there's a lot of people that are addicted to their own prescription drugs so I am 100% for this and I appreciate the business coming and asking for the expansion so thank you

Yeah, that did remind me, I'm on part of two road cleanup crews, and the amount of small alcohol bottles that I pick up off the side of the road is sad and a little stunning on it, but I probably understand why they do it. They don't want to be caught with an open bottle in their car, but I pick a lot of those up on there. Never picked up a joint so far. On road cleanup. Any other questions from anybody? If not, I'll entertain a motion at this time. Oh, I'm sorry. Public hearing? Oh, I'm sorry, yes, yes, yes. I'll open the public hearing if anybody would like to chat on this issue. I know you love to chat. Come on up. There's still the three minutes to count.

No, no, don't worry.

And you know, you have to please fill out a card afterwards. Just say you spoke at this part.

You know who I am. But not that whether the police chief said anything or whether we trust the police would be part of my decision on this because you know how I feel about our chief. But Ed said, it's not worth the money. He's not here. I love what Ed said last time. Me and Ed don't always agree. But Ed was pretty firm when you discussed this beforehand. He wasn't going to change his mind. He said, I've got a moral compass. I'm not bending. I think Ed's compass was right. He said, why do we want more trouble, more problems for people? It's legal. It's allowed. But we don't have to participate in it. But I get that three of you guys at least want to. Maybe more. I don't think Diana's going to. If Ed was here, I don't think he would either. And I wish he was here so we could vote against you guys.

Thanks. Anybody else like to speak to this item? Seeing no movement, I'll close the public hearing. Thank you for the reminder, Shane. I appreciate that very much. And I'll open up for a motion at this point.

I move to adopt ordinance number 2026-203.

Do I have a second? I'll second the motion. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Those opposed?

Nay.

3-3. Passes.

Motion is defeated.

Yes. Thank you. Having no more further business, we're adjourned. And I'll see everybody Tuesday, September 8th. yes oh yeah yes correct yes oh yes well thank you well you know you know our email sorry