City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. We will call this meeting to order. This is the city of Buckeye regular council meeting for 01/06/2026. We will start with the invocation led by Matt Rose from Orbit Church and followed by the pledge led by vice mayor Goodman.

Let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for this city. We thank you for all that you've brought us through over this past year, and I pray for reinvigorated focus and energy over this next year, 2026. I pray for the leaders. I pray for the people in the city, the residents. I pray for the contracts. I pray for every aspect of what this city does. I pray that people managing projects that they would be excited, creative, have vision for what you wanna do in this city. And God most of all, we thank you for what you have done for us in sending Jesus to die on the cross and rise from the grave. It's in his precious and holy name that we pray and God's people said, amen.

Please join me in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America

Okay. Thank you both. Matt, thanks for coming. Can we have the roll call, please?

Yes. Council member Junker? Here. Council member Berry? Here. Council member Hagestad?

Here.

Council member Beard? Present. Council member Hustis? Here. Vice mayor Goodman? Present. Mayor Osborne?

Present. Thank you very much. Item number two is comments from the public. Members of the audience may comment on any non agenda item of interest. Do we have any speaker request cards tonight?

There are no speaker request forms.

No speaker request forms. Item number three is awards, presentations, and proclamations. We do not have any for tonight. We'll move on to consent agenda items and new business. Approval of items on the consent agenda. All items with an asterisk are considered to be routine matters and will be enacted by one motion and vote of the city council. There'll be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member requests. This section may include the approval of minutes from previous meetings. Vice mayor, first, let me start with you.

Yeah. Mister mayor, I have questions on item four g. Mister Willett.

Mayor, vice mayor Goodman, what questions would you like me to try to answer?

Well, for those not looking at an agenda, this has to do with awarding a contract to put chicanes along Acacia Way from Indian School to, I don't know how far south it goes. I think chicanes on Acacia Way.

Yes, sir.

First, can you explain what a chicanes is?

Chicanes have several different definitions. One primarily is a narrowing of the roadway to take it from, I'll give an example, 25 feet wide down to 20 feet wide. It gives the concept that the roads narrower, and it has a positive benefit of getting people to slow down a little more. Because it gives them that what we call the uncomfortable feel to drive a faster speed. That's that's the intent of what this project would be for us to install devices like this along the roadway to give it a narrower feel and get people to slow down a little bit more.

To slow down more. Right?

Sure.

Well, I asked or wanted more discussion on this item because this is not our first attempt to try to slow speeds on Acacia, is it? Can you That's kind of give us a brief overview of everything that we've done

on Acacia Way

and when did it start and what the results of our efforts have been?

Yes, sir. Mayor, vice mayor, fellow council members. So we have been looking at Acacia Way for several years. I'll start at the bottom. We did we started four traffic studies. We've been looking at since October 2022 through December 24. We've collected speeds out there four different times. What we've noticed, I'm sorry, I need to back up to number one now too. So what we looked at is we realized we did a field review for some reason there was no stop signs on Acacia South Of Thomas. Why they were never in the design plans? I don't know. Can't explain why. So we created what's called the work order, gave it to public works. They went out and installed some stop signs out there. But also I'm sorry, speed limit signs, that's number two.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Speed limit signs are the number two item, South Of Thomas all the way down to Nelson, which is where Acacia ends today. We also did on item number one sorry. I'm bouncing back and forth. We did some stop sign warrants and identified that a two locations shown on here, Hamilton and Western, traffic on the side streets were having a little bit more trouble getting onto Acacia Way. And those intersections were justified to put an all way stop condition, which means every approach had to stop. So between one and two that we did out there, we've noticed that northbound this is I'm down in the bottom now. Sorry. Maybe I can use this dude, so I don't bounce around so much. Down here doesn't work very well.

Sorry. Northbound speed has dropped from 43. We first started looking at everything down to 23 on the average. So about a 46% decrease and southbound dropped from 48 to 28, about a 42 increase. The last thing we put out there more recently is the is the chicane. Sorry. I'm not ahead of myself. We did some striping narrowing. If you've been out there and driven a case away, we added kind of a striped median anywhere from zero to four feet wide to give the concept and narrow the road down. And we also striped in the parking area to indicate where parked cars could be at.

Again, bringing the roadway prism visually narrower. And because of all these things we've done, we think it's decreased the speed. The striping was more of a pilot project in advance of the chicane project to see what we'd do. If we thought, well, let's put the striping in first to see if that makes a difference before we spend the money to do the chicanes. And we've noticed it has made a difference.

So that's where we get to where the project that's before you is to physically put up some barriers or medians. They're more like footballs or long footballs, some look like a hot dog, to narrow the roadway down a little bit. And so it gives a concept of need to slow down. The challenge with trying to put this through the whole corridor is if you're driven in Acacia, there's a lot of driveways. And it can't really block off a driveway because someone needs to able to back in and out. Or if they're going northbound, they need to make a left in or conversely. So these strategic locations are in spots where they don't conflict with driveways. Hopefully that's kind of answered your question. That's all

I Yes.

So it's been a multi step process to make Acacia a safer, thoroughfare, right?

Yes, sir. And this is all in anticipation of what's coming in. We know Acacia will continue all the way down to McDowell, and so there'll be a full road all the way down. So we this is all done in conjunction with that.

And I think we also held a public meeting, didn't we?

Invited At least one that I recall.

Had people from the community be able to come in and provide some comment?

Yes, sir. Yep.

So thanks. I just I wanted that on the record. I mean it people's memories are short, especially mine. So it helps to see that this has been a transition. It's been a work in progress. Putting in these traffic calming, it doesn't negate personal responsibility and if it says 25 people should be driving 25. I'm looking back at Chief Sanders who now has motorcycles so hope we have motorcycles on Acacia Way periodically reinforcing all that fact.

The vice mayor, we worked with PD. They I know they've done some additional enforcement or presence in the area.

He likes to call it education.

To encourage people to slow down. And you're very right. We can only do so much, but people who drive need do need to take some ownership for how they're driving.

No, I just I want to it's one of those things that my constituents talk to me about on a regular basis. So I just want to thank the city for taking those efforts and trying to make that one roadway a little bit safer. Well, thank you guys for all your efforts as you put into this.

You're very welcome. Any other questions? No

other questions for me. Thanks.

Okay. For the consent agenda items, council, what is your pleasure?

Mister mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve consent agenda items for A As In Adam through four 0 As In Ocean. Second.

I have a motion for approval and a second on the consent agenda. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

And opposed? And consent agenda passes unanimous. Thank you. Onto item five, public hearings, non consent new business five a, council to hold a public hearing take action on orange number zero one dash two six amending the zoning map of the city of Buckeye for approximately 4.37 acres generally located at the Northwest corner of South Miller Road and West Durango Road from General Commerce GC to Community Commercial C 2. And, Patricia, you are presenting.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and members of the council. I'm Trish Cooley. I'm planner two of development services. And tonight, I have before you the extended stay hotel rezone.

It's case number PLZZDash24Dash0004. The applicants for this project are Natalie Maikowski and Jason Walker. They have requested on behalf of mister Patel a rezone of the subject property from general commerce, which is an obsolete zoning district to Community Commercial C 2 to accommodate the use of the property, as a hotel. A little bit of site context. The subject property is currently vacant.

It's approximately 4.37 acres. It is located West of the Northwest corner of West Durango Street and South Miller Road. This is just South of Interstate 10. It is bordered by vacant property to the West. To the north, we have some additional vacant property as well as truck parking.

Immediately to the east is a vacant property, and further east is the superstar car wash. Five Below occupies the property to the South. The general plan land use for this property is business commerce, which denotes areas that comprise both community and regional commercial development. The existing GC zoning is not consistent with business commerce. The proposed community commercial zoning district as well as a proposed use as a hotel is consistent with the business commercial land use.

So the existing general commerce zoning district as indicated by the red shading is an obsolete district that the city is currently phasing out. The proposed zoning district community commercial is a commercial district that is intended to provide for the development of commercial corridors with community serving uses with a three to five mile market area. This district is intended to provide for a full range of community oriented retail as well as service commercial uses. The applicant has completed all public participation requirements including neighborhood meeting and noticing. Future development anticipated to be a Marriott Hotel.

This is currently pending site plan review and approval. The developer does anticipate connecting to the existing city of Buckeye water and sewer infrastructure within Durango Street. And they will be completing transportation, water and sewer infrastructure improvements as determined by the site plan approval. The Staff and Planning and Zoning Commission's recommendation is to approve case PLZZ-twentyFour-four, the extended stay hotel rezone subject to conditions A through H as it does further the goals of the Buckeye general plan and contributes to community and regional commercial development. It conforms to Buckeye development code requirements and there are no outstanding issues for reviewing departments.

So I as well as the owner, mister Portell, who's online, I believe, are available for any questions at this time.

Okay. We'll start with the public hearing first. We'll open a public hearing. And do we have any speaker request cards?

There are no speaker request forms.

Request forms. Anybody from the public wishing to speak on this? Seeing none, we will close the public hearing. Council, any questions on item five a? Sure. Yes, sir. Councilmember.

Yes, ma'am. You mentioned that you had a public meeting. At that public meeting, first, did anyone attend? And secondly, if anyone did, were there any questions?

Mayor, members of the council, one, Margaret, I was not assigned to the case at that time, so I'm gonna look at my notes real quick. No residents attended the neighborhood meeting and staff has not received any written or verbal feedback from the public pertaining to the rezone request.

Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you, mister mayor.

Thank you. Any other questions from council? Okay. Seeing none, council, what's your pleasure on item 5A?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve agenda item 5A as in Adam. Second.

I have a motion for approval of 5A and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Five a passes unanimous. Thank you, Trish. Item five b, council hold a public hearing. Take action on ordinance number zero two dash two six, amending the zoning map of the city of Buckeye for approximately point one nine acres generally located north of the Northeast Corner of 4th Street and Jackson Avenue from Commercial CC to Downtown Commercial DC. And Joseph, you're presenting. Is this your first time presenting to us, Joseph?

Mayor, this is my first time presenting to, city council.

Okay. Great. Take it away.

Mayor, members of the council, the P L Z Z 250009 4th Street rezone is a proposed rezone from Commercial Center to downtown commercial, and approximately 8,124 square feet over two properties generally located at the north of the Northeast corner of Jackson Avenue and 4th Street. The applicant is proposing the rezone to downtown commercial to accommodate a proposed site plan approval that is for a 6,000 square foot commercial building. That building will comprise of four individual commercial suites meant for general retail or restaurant type uses. The downtown commercial zoning district offers very similar use allowances as the existing zoning. However, the proposed zoning district will allow for increased lot coverage as well as reduced setbacks, including the zero foot setback to the front of the property, which is conducive for the downtown area.

As you can see in the aerial photo here, the property is on the East Side of 4th Street. The two parcels are located in between the existing Napa Hollow Parts building and the old Buckeye Valley News building. The lot is currently vacant and will offer a great opportunity for a infill project. The general plan designates this area for downtown core. It is within the downtown specific area plan, and the proposal that the applicant has brought forward is conducive with the downtown specific area plan as that plan calls for more dense developments and developments that will utilize a zero foot setback, which will create a traditional downtown streetscape.

The site in particular is a great example as it has existing buildings on either side that do have that traditional downtown zero foot setback. So this will just continue to fill in the black there. It is also important to note that the development code only allows properties to be rezoned to downtown commercial if they have the downtown core land use destination, which this property has been designated. And I I already kinda covered that the proposed zoning is downtown commercial. It will allow for increased lot coverage.

The site plan has been submitted. It has gone through the initial staff review pending a resubmittal from the applicant. Formal approval of the site plan will be administrative. It will not be able to occur until after the proposed zoning is granted approval. Throughout the first initial review, staff does not anticipate any roadway improvements to be required as a result of the rezoning or the proposed site plan.

And the site plan is proposing that utilities will tie into existing utilities through the alley to the east of the site. In addition to the site plan, prior to development, there will need to be a minor subdivision to combine the parcels that will also be an administrative process. Throughout the rezoning process, the applicant has completed all required public outreach initiatives, including a neighborhood meeting. There were no members of the public that attended that meeting. Staff is unaware of any public comment or opposition to the proposal.

The proposed rezoning did go before the planning and zoning commission on 11/25/2025. There, the commission did vote to recommend approval in accordance to staff's recommendation. At this time, I would be happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Thank you, Joseph. We will open a public hearing. Do we have any speaker request forms?

There are no speaker request forms.

That's always the answer, isn't it? Anybody from the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing none, we will close the public hearing. Council, any questions on item five C? I'm seeing none. Council item five I'm sorry five b. Questions on five b? I'm seeing none. Council, what's your pleasure on five b?

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we approve agenda item five b as in boy. Second.

I have a motion for approval of five b and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? And five b passes unanimous. Thank you, Joseph. Alright. On to agenda item five c, council take action on the twenty twenty six Buckeye legislative priorities. Mister John Raider.

Good evening, mayor and council.

Good evening.

If you just give me a moment to

do the PowerPoint.

Alright. Once again, good evening. It's always a pleasure to be before you. For the record, my name is John Rader. I'm the chief government affairs officer for the city of Buckeye. I appreciate the opportunity to come before you for this amazing presentation that I have for you this evening. If you see me, you probably know we're preparing for a legislative session. So hopefully, that doesn't dissuade you too much. Based on the last presentation, I already know you have no questions on five c. So I'll get through this as as quickly as I can for you.

No public comment either. Yeah.

This is perfect. So each year, we do ask counsel to approve our legislative priorities as they define our initiatives and guide us on how we engage on bills during the legislative session. The government affairs team is part of the city manager's office and includes myself as well as our coordinator, Damian Dormey. We also work with our contractors, Chad Guzman with Cornerstone Public Affairs on water issues. Our friends, Bob Holmes, Anima, and Tracy Sutton with Nexus Consulting who help us at the federal level, as well as new this year, Megan Del Artino and Rob Dallagher with p three consulting that are helping us as our general lobbyists.

We coordinate the city's state and federal legislative work to ensure Buckeye's priorities are represented at the capital. This includes signing in and testifying, building relationships, researching and sharing information with legislators and council, and working closely with our city departments on legislative impacts to the city. We also work regionally with our partner cities through organizations like the League of Arizona Cities and Towns to collaborate collaborate and amplify our efforts. We regularly engage with governmental and non governmental stakeholders to advocate for Buckeye on transportation, transit, economic development, and issues like protecting Luke Air Force Base. Before we look ahead to this session, I always helps to briefly review where we have been.

Here's a quick recap of the twenty twenty five legislative session. The fifty seventh legislature first regular session adjourned signing day, Saturday, June 27 after a hundred and sixty six long days. Legislators introduced 1,854 bills, resolutions, memorials, and I can attest that we read them all. And governor Hobbs signed 265 measures and issued a 174 vetoes, breaking her previous record of a 143. This was driven in part by her veto of 28 house budget bills on June 25 as part of contentious budget negotiations.

While the 2025 session was defined by partisanship, a tough budget fight, and high profile policy debates, it's important to recognize that Buckeye made progress on several key priorities from last year. Agda Urban was created. After months of negotiations, Senate Bill sixteen eleven was signed into law allowing agricultural water users to voluntarily convert land for housing or certain commercial uses. I 10 funding was secured and Buckeye helped add an additional 27,000,000 in FY '26 increasing the three year total from a 108,000,000 to a 133,000,000 for the widening of I 10 between Citrus Road and SR 85. Municipal tax authority was preserved as cities reached a compromise on HCR twenty twenty one, which will head to the ballot in November that preserves Buckeye's food tax rate and helps limit future repeal efforts.

The Starter Home, bill was defeated as mayor Orsborn helped lead opposition to senate bill twelve twenty nine and h b twenty three seventy one, which would have undermined local zoning and planning authority. And finally, sober living home reforms advanced. Cities move forward to league resolution to strengthen licensing requirements and address unlicensed or fraudulent fraudulent sober living homes to ensure the safety of our community. The fifty seventh legislature's second regular session will begin on Monday, January 12. Republicans continue to hold a slim majority in both chambers.

The house is led by speaker Steve Montenegro and the senate by president Warren Peterson. Several legislators are running for other offices, including president Peterson who is vying for attorney general. We will be watching closely to see if members resign during the session to focus on their campaigns. And as always, we hope that the election cycle portends a shortened session as lawmakers shift their attention to their respective races. Buckeye is represented by LD 23, which is primarily South Of The Gila River and extends to the East Side Of S R 85 and rep is represented by senator Brian Fernandez, representative Michelle Pena, and representative Mariana Sandoval.

LD 25 consists of the bulk of the city, including the area North Of The Gila River and West Of S R 85 and represented by senator Tim Dunn, majority leader Michael Carbone, and representative Nick Cupper. As we transition to our legislative priorities, the first statement is our North Star and applies to every priority in the plan. Buckeye is committed to transparent, fiscally responsible governance that provides safe, sustainable quality of life for our residents while preserving local decision making authority. Preserving local decision making authority is the overarching theme as we emphasize throughout the document the importance of protecting council's ability to make decisions based on the unique needs of our community. Some of these priorities are broad statements of intent, while others are more specific to align with proposed legislation including league resolutions.

The city's strategic plan was the foundation for this work, so our legislative priorities reflect the strategic direction set by council. For fiscal responsibility, we'll of course support local authority to adopt revenue sources that meet community needs while opposing unfunded mandates and legislation that reduces local revenue. For economic growth and housing, we'll support innovative water management policies that respect local authority, support economic development tools and tax credits, support community driven housing solutions such as Buckeye's League resolution to streamline the annexation process, and oppose legislation that preempts the city's zoning, building, fire code, or design review authority. Our innovative and high performing organization will support clear, timely, and effective legislation that, of course, respects municipal authority and oppose unnecessary costly redundant requirements that place undue burdens on city staff. Safe community can be summarized by supporting additional resources for our first responders while again preserving our local authority.

This includes supporting funding for pay, training and equipment. Support for wildland fire mitigation efforts. Support for streamlining the certificate of necessity process, advocating for increased funding for nine eleven response systems, protecting the long term viability of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, and opposing any reduction in public safety funding, and opposing legislation that limits local authority to set public safety service levels and policies. Water and transportation infrastructure includes supporting Colorado River operating guidelines that promote durable and equitable, excuse me, operations. And supporting and protecting state funding, of course, to widen I 10 from Citrus Road to S R 85.

We'll support the state aviation fund and programs that strengthen and expand Buckeye Municipal Airport and oppose efforts that limit local authority over transportation systems or roadway management. Luke Air Force Base is an important part of the community and we will work to ensure compatible land uses that prevent encroachment and support legislation that strengthens protections for the base. Finally, at the federal level, we will pursue federal funding for city infrastructure through grants and appropriations, collaborate with the US Army Corps of Engineers on water infrastructure and development initiatives, and partner with the FAA to accelerate improvements at Buckeye Municipal Airport. While we do not have a crystal ball, a few early themes are emerging for the upcoming session, and our legislative priorities have been crafted to ensure that we are prepared to represent the city on these issues. First, as I mentioned, consultation.

The Upper Basin and Lower Basin states have not reached an agreement on a new framework for allocating Colorado River water. In November 11, federal deadline passed without resolution and the new federal deadline is February 14. Perhaps the federal government thinks we will feel the love and get something done by that date. We are expecting cuts to municipal and industrial supplies of at least 20% or about 760,000 acre feet in the state, which would be a significant impact on water providers across Arizona. Any agreement will require ratification by the legislature, we will be watching closely and have included a priority to support operating guidelines that support durable and equitable operations.

Second, data centers will be a major topic this session. We expect proposals to limit or eliminate the data center tax incentive on certain equipment. We may also see bills that preempt local land use decisions. We're prepared for this with our priorities to support economic development tools and tax credits while opposing preemption to the city's zoning authority. Third, housing and short term rentals remain front and center.

We'll be watching for bills again that preempt local decision making authority. And the league is pursuing additional tools for attainable housing including TIF and other financing tools are also being discussed. Buckeye has a as I mentioned before, Buckeye has a league resolution to streamline the annexation process and there's also growing momentum to give cities more tools to limit the number of short term rentals. This aligns with our priorities to support innovative, community driven housing solutions and to oppose preemption of building design review authority. Tax conformity and the budget deficit will also be closely tied.

Federal tax changes in HR one, aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, included an increase to the standard deduction and new deductions for tipped income and eligible overtime. JLBC is estimating that conformity will have a 441,000,000 impact this year and an impact of $1,150,000,000 over the next three fiscal years. The governor has already directed the Department of Revenue to prepare to implement many of these changes, but not all of them. So there will this will be a significant area of debate. These impacts could affect state shared revenues and projects like the I 10 winding and we will all be watching closely for any efforts to shift costs to local governments.

This aligns with our priority to oppose legislation that reduces local revenue sources. Finally, transportation remains our top priority. Over the past two sessions, the city has successfully protected the funding and supported adjustments for protected the I 10 widening funding and supported adjustments to account for inflation. The legislature has spread the state's $133,000,000 obligation across three fiscal years with $27,000,000 in FY '26, dollars 30,000,000 in '27, and $76,000,000 in FY '28. We will continue to advocate vociferously for this project, which of course aligns with our priority to support state funding to widen I-ten from Citrus Road to SR-eighty 5 and we expect construction will begin early this year.

Ultimately, our goal is to keep you informed and prepared so we can work collaboratively to advocate effectively for the city at the federal, state, local, and regional level. With that, I ask for your approval of the 2026 legislative priorities. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I appreciate your time this evening.

Okay. Thank you, John. Great presentation. Love the pictures also and the graphics that you included in there. Okay. So, any questions on the 2026 Buckeye legislative priorities? Yeah, Councilman Eustis.

How do I ask this? John, which way is our governor gonna lean on the Colorado River issue?

Yep. So, Mayor Orsborn, Council Member Hustis. I I think, actually, there's pretty universal agreement on the fact that we need to ensure that whatever agreement is reached between the Upper And Lower Basin is equitable to Arizona. And so I think this actually crosses typical partisan boundaries as I think all everybody in the state is working as hard as they can to ensure, again, that we do get our fair share of that river. How that ultimately is resolved is yet to be determined.

I think the hope was ultimately that the the Upper Basin states and the lower Basins states could come to some sort of agreement so that the federal government didn't need to step in and and impose an impose an agreement. But all of that is still up in the air at this time. So, again, I wish I had that crystal ball and could predict what was gonna happen, but unfortunately, I do not.

Two parts to this one. The original agreement from quite a few years ago was established and that's the one they're going to try to redo. Is it pretty much a fact the upper basin is trying to strangle the lower basin?

Yeah, Mayor Worsborne, Councilmember Hustis. I think it would be fair to say that the upper basin feels that they should not take the same level of cuts as the lower basin. And I'm certainly don't wanna mischaracterize anybody's position, but I think broadly that that's that's the case. In particular, Colorado feels like they have already taken sufficient cuts and shouldn't be required to bear any more the brunt of these reductions. Whereas, I think the lower basin states are advocating for more broad based cuts across all all of the states.

If you take a percentage and you look at the upper basin compared to the lower Basin, what type of growth or what type of needs, not wants but needs, does the Lower Basin or the Upper Basin have? I mean, which one has, over the last twenty or thirty, forty years, has developed to the point of needing more of the water? As the upper or the lower?

Mayor Oresborn, council member Hustis. I I think it would be fair to say that there's been significant economic development in the Lower Basin, in particular here in the the metro region. And the Lower Basin also includes California, which of course is a huge economic driver for not only the region, but the entire country. So I would say that there's been significant economic development in the Lower Basin. However, I'm not sure that that argument necessarily carries a lot of weight with those Upper Basin states.

Probably not. Okay. Thank you very much, John. It's a great presentation.

Okay. Any other questions? Just a comment. We not too long ago had external contracted basically inter gov services. And we have come so far in bringing that in house and then creating a team that you and Damian that are just crushing it at all levels of government and with partnerships across the valley, across the state, and and at the federal level too.

I can't say enough good about what you two have done in the intergulf world in the city of Buckeye. And the the list of achievements, we could sit and dwell on that all day, but Ag to Urban is huge. We're already seeing fruits from that, and that's massive water legislation. I 10 funding, we have been fighting and fighting and fighting for that. And while it's not exactly where we want it to be right now, that has come a a massive long way and is gonna go a long way to relieving the congestion that exists on I 10 and the Jackrabbit Trail area as well.

Food tax, huge home run to get that just let's just stay where we're at from a food tax perspective. Some of these are kind of fiscal cliffs that we were just about to go over had it not been for the work that you and all of your colleagues had done on pushing that to the ballot and keeping it just status quo for us. And the starter home bills, we're going to see more of that stuff, but I think we have such a strong story to tell. And you guys do that in a fantastic way at at the legislature and keeping up the relations with with our legislators. Cannot I can't can't overstate that enough.

I think I'm saying that correctly. What an incredible job you guys are are doing down there. So thank you for all that. Keep it up. And I speak for myself, but I know my colleagues would say if you need any help with meetings with legislators, with meetings with other partnering agencies, or or however we can help you guys execute your duties in in being great intergoverns for us, we are all completely up for that. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And If

if I could just respond real quick. I would be remiss if I didn't share that gratitude with the folks behind us because we couldn't do what we do in the government affairs division without the support of all of the department directors who help us analyze bills and help provide that valuable feedback to us so that we can represent the city with the all that information and tell that story. So I greatly appreciate the what you were sharing, but I I do wanna make sure it's clear that we're part of a a team, and we couldn't do it without all those those folks standing behind us.

Absolutely. Every every bit of the facts that that either you or or Damian or or any one of us are standing up in front of committees getting yelled at at the legislature, All of those fact sheet comes from the rest of staff. So I greatly appreciate that also. You're exactly right. It's a team effort. Okay. So this is the twenty twenty six Buckeye Legislative Priorities Council agenda item five c one. What's your pleasure?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve agenda item five c as in Charles. Second.

I have a motion to approve agenda item five c and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

And opposed? And five c passes unanimous. Thank you, sir. Up next item five d, council take action on the city of Buckeye 2025 integrated water master plan update. And mister Terry Lowe, I was trying to come up with what that I won't how would you say that? IWMP? Is there any clever

Unfortunately, no.

This is water. So it's IWMP.

Because we're

Nothing clever. K.

I'm bringing up the rear here, but I I I I don't think I can do a presentation as riveting as the one John just put together.

If you got some good anchor

seats, some reading material, the executive summary of the integrated water master plan with in and of itself is a couple 100 pages, so I wouldn't attempt to do that unless you got a few nights I wanna read that. But but tonight, for your for your review and and our recommendations to adopt the 2025 update to the Integrated Water Master Plan, You've seen these slides before. We did it when we met with on a council meeting workshop session. And so I'll just go through that. Again, be happy to answer any questions at the end.

So, again, tonight, we'll go a little bit of the history of Integrated Water Master Plans here at Citi as well as go through sample sets of some of the recommendations that were provided to us by our consultant. And so a little again, a little bit of history there of Interior Water. So the first one was in 2011. We had a few other master plans there, but this one is the first time that we brought together the one water approach when it comes to looking at water because as a groundwater sourced utility, it starts in the ground and hopefully it ends up in the ground as well. And so we looked at it from that approach.

But what is an Integrated Water Master Plan besides a boring acronym? It is really a guidance document for not just growth and development in the city, but also us as staff. Again, took that one water approach and we looked at our source water, our infrastructure, the use of reclaimed water and wastewater because we do recapture that water after it is used to put it back in the ground. Our document is really twofold. We talk about water resources and then we talk about the infrastructure itself, the right to the utility well to the excuse me, as a resource as well as the how and how do we get it, how do we move it around and how do we utilize it.

Take into consideration almost every facet of growth in the city legislative things that get in the way. We have any of any one of our general plan uses that comes into play because every land use has a different demand associated with it. Population projections and our long term play, we are in the forever business and we've got to be several years out in front of the demand before it gets here. And so why is the update needed? Again, one we had was in 2017.

A has changed on top of the fact that our growth has gone up considerably. We've had a lot of legislative changes that occurred in the last eighteen months alone. So we need to stay up with those with respect to our planning documents. As it relates to the approach that we took this time around, I'll point to the sort of the middle few bullets there. We identified new assets, which I think is probably something new for the city of Buckeye as well as went after some of those assets.

We had a peer review after it was all said and done. We we invited members of the development community, their engineers, the Home Builders Association to review our documents. We received nearly 200, I believe, comments back to them and addressed pretty much nearly every one of them. The the point of the integrated water mash plan is not to be a rigid document, but also to have some flexibility and be fluid, bad pun, as it relates to our approach to growth. Snapshot in time really only looked at a fifteen year time horizon because of the changes that we could be seeing, approaches to design, the approaches to meet the needs of development that make good sense.

So as you'll see in some of the examples here, while there are lines on the page that show where and how things will be delivered, it doesn't mean that that couldn't change if a development utilizes a creative approach to providing that service. And so recommendations. On the water resources side, I think council has been very involved in our water evolution. But as you can imagine, use of effluent prioritizing effluent as a recharge component because we are a groundwater sourced utility is up there as well as a designation, use of designation when it is advantageous to the city is is so is is imperative, and we'll have to analyze that should that become a tool that allows us to continue to have home rule as well as control and be part of growth process. So the next few slides are some just a snapshot of some of the recommendations with respect to the different service areas in the city of Buckeye as well as each of the different utilities.

And so I'll just took for this example here is the Tartesso Water Service Area. Again, looking out to 2040, you see lines all over the map there that would represent basically trunk lines for water as it goes through the future developments there. Red circle is the area where this area is we look to see that instead of having water campuses all around providing providing service, we took the hub and hub approach where we'll have a centralized water campus in the center and then it feeds out those areas. It's very challenging this area is that to the east, you've got the mountains, not a lot of groundwater. To the west, you've got Hacienda.

Presumably, there's a lot of water there. And so it what it does is it cuts off the need to run raw water from the Hacieampa all the way almost to the mountains in many cases and be able to stop off, treat it, and and deliver it from there with that campus in that area. It's not to say that not to say that couldn't change in the future, but in this area, we've been working with these three developers, the larger ones in this area, and both in agreement all are agreement, including the city, that this is the the best approach for this area. And so, again, master planning it allows others that will come in this area to see what what this area will look like. So for this one, we looked at the Central Buckeye wastewater area.

There's this one, we've got option one and we've got option two. That's part of that flexibility and fluidity of our Integrated Water Master Plan in the sense that we know growth tends to be scalable. We don't know what's going to come in. We don't know how much it's gonna come in in many areas. Specifically right here, this is more of a commercial area.

And so working with the the developer in the area, we looked at and say, what are what are some options that could work? And and in this case, you'll see option one is really just a lift station that will collect collect flows and send it on to central reclamation. Whereas option two, if if the development in the area moves quickly, lands a large prospect or something to that effect, it might be more economical and beneficial to actually have a reclamation facility there, which is then tied into our affluent network in the area. And so we want to allow flexibility in growth, specifically in those areas where we don't have a lot of growth at the present time. And then finally, this is looking at our effluent recharge infrastructure.

Here again is one where we were working with the developer towards putting a solution in place while we were actually developing our Integrated Water Match Plan, both came together in the sense that made made the most sense for a recharge facility that would, one, accept water from the Colorado River, allowing development to continue to move forward as well as for us to utilize the effluent from the reclamation facility in where we can recharge in the ground and then recover it at a later time. At the present time and when the development was built and when the reclamation facility was constructed, any water that wasn't used by golf was actually lost to the wash. Now we're capturing that water and and putting it to beneficial use. So with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

I I

failed to put compliments as well on the screen, but I'll be happy to take those as well.

Questions and compliments. Okay. Counsel, any questions or compliments for that matter? That was riveting.

You're very welcome. Secondary.

Yes, riveting. I did notice that it is difficult to follow John and come up, he had all kinds of cool pictures and quips and everything else. And trying to help you, Chief Rhodes sent a fire truck down with its lights and sirens blaring. That didn't even help. So just a couple of comments. I appreciate the update on this. And you're right, stuff changes so quick. It takes it seems like it takes forever. But when you look back to 2017, you have the list of all the things that have changed since then. Our water portfolio has changed.

Our maybe some of our master plans have changed. And appreciate the update being done on that to keep us up to date so that we can at least plan for this. I think you use this term all the time that snapshot in time. This is where we're at right now. It's going to be very different than where we're going to be a year or two or five or ten years from now. But for right now, this is what the picture looks like.

And

also greatly appreciate the flexibility that we're building into the plan and not being so rigid. I think we had at at points previously come up with this is our master plan for water. This is our master plan for sewer, and it has to build exactly like this. And so you had areas that couldn't develop because we said you have to build all the infrastructure to serve that area before anything can start, and it's impossible. And and you can't pin that on to that incremental development that happens over time.

So maybe more of an entrepreneurial approach of let's just build what we need for now, get stuff moving, revenues come in, more development happens, they add on to and so you have a massive amount of flexibility in both size and scale of what needs to go in the ground right now to get some of the development that we're really hopeful for moving along. So greatly appreciate that and the path that we're moving that way. I don't have any other comments on that item 5D, Council. What is your pleasure?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve item five d as in David. Second.

I have a motion for approval and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. And opposed? And five d passes unanimous. And Terry, thank you also. Napolte is here also. We didn't talk about the agreement really in the consent agenda, but that's a part of this and that they'll recharge facility, the waters that they're bringing to the table. And that's I think an outstanding model moving forward in working with other developers to make some of that development happen along the Sun Valley Parkway.

Absolutely, Mary. Thank you for noticing. It again goes back to the kind of the one water approach. Of of we've gotta look at sources, new sources, different sources just because it's the sign of the times. Yep. And so thank you.

Yep. Absolutely. Okay. On to agenda item number six, comments from mayor and council. Any tonight?

Yes, mister mayor. I'd just like to welcome Tosca in more of official role moving forward. Let's get things going, get to work, I don't what you're sitting

around for.

Yep. Echo that. Alright. Any other from council? Okay. Item number seven, city manager's report and summary of current events.

Just one item for council as well as the public. Over at the landing off of Verrado Way, there's a public art mock up of a cactus that will be located at Verrado And Roosevelt when the final construction of that intersection is done. So it's for everybody to go over, take a look at it and give some feedback. We're going to be posting some additional information and providing it for council for hot input, where to look at it. And it's recommended that you go see it at night because it does light up so you can really see what it does look like. So looking for feedback and more info come will be coming this week. That's what I've got.

Thank you. And we have a there's a small marathon this weekend also.

There is a small marathon in one of our deputy city managers decided just yesterday to run the full marathon and try to qualify for that.

He's start training.

He's going to start training. So on Saturday, we have the annual Buckeye Marathon starting in festival for the full marathon. We got a half marathon, 10 ks, five ks and a fun run that will all start at the airport. All of the runs end at the airport. And this is a Boston qualifying marathon. We have over 1,500 registrants currently.

That's fantastic. Great. Thank you for updating us on that as well. Item number eight is proposals for future agenda items. Any from counsel? I'm seeing none. Number nine, with nothing else on the agenda, we are adjourned.