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[9:26] to order. Town of Pres Valley regular town council meeting March 12th, 2026.

[9:30] Clerk, please call the role. >> Council member Lopez,

[9:34] » present. >> Council member Kio,

[9:36] » present. >> Council member Bringing.

[9:38] » Council member Greer, >> here.

[9:40] » Council member Schumacher, >> present.

[9:42] » Vice Mayor Searcher, >> here. Mayor Podan

[9:45] » here. >> We have a quorum.

[9:46] » Thank you, ma'am. I don't have it in my notes on who our person for the

[9:51] invocation is, so they're here. Oh, come on down, ma'am.

[9:56] » Please let everyone know who you are. And if you can, please stand.

[10:02] » My name is Cheetah Olsen. And if you don't mind, I'm going to read a

[10:05] scripture before I pray. Thank you.

[10:10] from Psalm 46. It says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to

[10:15] help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the

[10:19] mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains

[10:23] tremble as the waters surge. The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us. The

[10:29] God of Israel is our fortress." I just thought in light of everything that's

[10:33] happening that would be an appropriate scripture. So Lord, we just come to you

[10:38] tonight and we thank you for the opportunity to gather here in freedom.

[10:42] Lord, I ask tonight as we as we talk about what needs to be talked about that

[10:47] your presence would be here and that wisdom would be given to our town

[10:51] leaders. I thank you for the Lord for those who have chosen to lead our

[10:56] community. And I just ask right now that you would grant great blessing upon this

[11:00] time in your name. Amen.

[11:06] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and

[11:11] [clears throat] to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,

[11:16] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[11:20] » Thank you, ma'am. This time, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as

[11:24] presented? >> So moved.

[11:28] Have >> a second.

[11:29] » I'll second. Cl. >> Please call the vote.

[11:35] That passes unanimously. Mayor, >> thank you ma'am. At this time I'd like

[11:38] to welcome down William Kushnes in reference board of adjustments

[11:43] recognition of his service. >> Good evening everyone. So tonight we are

[11:49] honored to recognize an individual who has generously volunteered his time

[11:54] while serving as a dedicated and engaged member of our community. We would like

[12:00] to recognize former board of adjustment member William Kunish. The board of

[12:06] adjustment interprets and uphold town code related to zoning and regulatory

[12:12] matters, helping ensure decisions are made fairly and in accordance with

[12:17] established standards. Mr. Kunish served two terms on the board, contributing

[12:24] nearly six years of volunteer service. On behalf of the town and the residents

[12:29] we serve, we sincerely thank him for his dedication and public service to our

[12:35] community. Please join us in thanking William Kunish for his service.

[12:45] Thank you. Um Stacy Bristo, development services director. I just want to say

[12:48] it's such a pleasure to have people that are willing to sacrifice um what

[12:52] precious time we all have to doing something like this. and without you, we

[12:56] could not do what we do. Um so even if we don't get to see you very often, um

[12:59] that's okay sometimes, too. But um we're really really grateful and I'm so thank

[13:02] you for all of the the time that you spent with us. So thank you.

[13:05] » Thank you. Appreciate it.

[13:11] » And I would just like to thank the mayor, the vice mayor, the council for

[13:14] giving citizens the opportunity to participate in local government like

[13:18] this and to be part of the town. I've lived in Presca Valley since 2007 and I

[13:23] saw this as a great opportunity to give back to our community and to really be

[13:28] part of it and it's it's a wonderful thing. It's great getting to know the

[13:31] people who work for the town and I want to thank the staff as well for all of

[13:35] the support they've provided to the board of adjustment throughout my time

[13:38] on the board. Thank you.

[13:54] » [laughter] >> She just texted me and I

[14:06] Next up, Steve Versetti from the Chamber of Commerce.

[14:13] » [clears throat]

[14:20] » Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of town council and staff.

[14:25] On behalf of the Pres Valley Chamber of Commerce, thank you for the opportunity

[14:28] to speak with you tonight. It is always a privilege to share the work we are

[14:33] doing to support our local businesses, strengthen our economy, and cultivate

[14:37] the sense of community that makes Presca Valley such a special place to live and

[14:42] work. At the Chamber, we often say that strong communities are built on strong

[14:48] businesses. When local businesses thrive, jobs are created, families are

[14:54] supported, and more importantly, our homegrown talent does stay here. Over

[14:59] the past several months, the chamber has continued to focus on programs and

[15:03] initiatives that connect commerce with community. And I'd like to highlight a

[15:08] few recent accomplishments. This past Friday, the chamber proudly

[15:12] hosted a fourth annual International Women's Day lunchon. This event

[15:16] continues to grow each year and this year was our largest gathering yet with

[15:20] 240 attendees. It was truly inspire an inspiring afternoon celebrating

[15:26] leadership, resilience, and the important contributions women make in

[15:30] business and our town. We were honored to feature two

[15:35] outstanding speakers. Our chamber board chair Meredith Dunlap, who delivered a

[15:40] powerful message about resilience and how to have self-awareness and believe

[15:45] in yourself. We're also fortunate to welcome nationally recognized

[15:49] professional speaker, author Bevon Ferrand, whose book, Your Damn

[15:54] Manifesto, has inspired individuals and organizations across the country. Her

[15:59] keynote message encouraged attendees to be intentional about their purpose and

[16:04] leadership resonating strongly resonated strongly with everyone in the room. In

[16:09] fact, at one point as she was telling her story, you would be hardressed to

[16:12] find a dry eye in the room. I would like to send a sincere thank you to the town

[16:18] council members and town staff who joined us for the lunchon. Your presence

[16:23] means a great deal to our business community and demonstrates strong

[16:27] partnership that exists between the town of Presca Valley and the chamber. And

[16:31] for those who could not attend, I have some gifts for you guys. Here is Ben's

[16:37] book, The Damn Manifesto.

[16:51] » [clears throat] >> During the lunchon, we're excited to

[16:54] announce the launch of our brand new women in leadership program. This

[17:00] program will officially kick off in May and will meet quarterly throughout the

[17:04] year. The goal is to provide opportunities for mentorship, leadership

[17:08] development, and professional growth for the leaders in our town. We are also

[17:13] have our business academy in full swing. Our next class is on March 24th and we

[17:19] partner with Desert Financial Credit Union and the classes are being taught

[17:22] by Jerry Tarling. The next class will be on balance sheets and cash flow

[17:27] statements. So for those of you who want to know about balance sheets and cash

[17:31] flow statements, the exciting terms of that, please come and join us. Another

[17:36] encouraging sign for our local economy is continued growth in the chamber

[17:40] membership. I am pleased to report that Prescuit Valley Chamber of Commerce now

[17:44] has 611 members. Recently, we're proud to welcome several new members to our

[17:50] chamber family, including including Reed Plumbing, Tri-State Metal Roofing

[17:55] Supply, Leap and Learn Preschool, and Hoey Construction. It is especially

[18:00] encouraging to see growth in the trades sector. business businesses in

[18:06] construction, plumbing, and related fields are essential to supporting

[18:10] Prescuit Valley's continued development and infrastructure needs. Their

[18:14] participation in chamber helps ensure that our local workforce and business

[18:18] community remain strong and connected. The chamber's message is simple but

[18:23] important to connect commerce and cultivate community. We accomplish this

[18:28] through the business advocacy, professional development, and community

[18:32] events and partnerships such as this one we have with the town of Presca Valley.

[18:38] As Presca Valley continues to grow, collaboration between the town

[18:42] government and chamber of commerce and local businesses remain essential.

[18:47] Together, we are creating an environment where entrepreneurs can succeed,

[18:51] families can build their future, and our community continues to thrive. Thank you

[18:57] again, mayor, town council, for your continued support of the chamber and the

[19:01] business community we serve. We look forward to continue working alongside

[19:05] you to ensure Prescuit Valley remains one of the most vibrant businessfriendly

[19:09] communities in Northern Arizona. Thank you.

[19:12] » Thank you, sir. Next up, call the public. This time,

[19:16] members of the public may comment on matters listed on the agenda or solely

[19:19] on matters within the jurisdiction of the town. Any persons wishing to address

[19:22] the council must register their name with the town clerk prior to the

[19:25] commencement of the meeting. At the conclusion of call to the public, the

[19:27] council may respond to criticism, ask staff to review a matter commented upon,

[19:30] or ask ask that a matter be put on a future agenda. Such remarks shall be

[19:34] limited to three minutes unless additional time is granted by the mayor.

[19:37] Clerk, >> mayor, council, we have three speakers

[19:41] tonight. We have Patricia Bets, James Kimes, and Walter Kosar.

[19:48] » Thank you, Miss Betold. You're up. Mr. times if you would work your way down to

[19:51] the front that would be great. >> You don't need to speak. Okay. Go ahead,

[19:57] Miss Bitchel. Okay. Patricia Betsel 391 Armmitage Way

[20:03] um Chino Valley. This is concerning resolution 226-2446,

[20:09] the proposed annexation and purchase of state trust land parcel 800-200-065P

[20:17] and the placement of this item on the consent agenda. The combination of these

[20:23] uh items on this particular um resolution annexing land that the town

[20:29] already owns as part of the intergovernmental agreement for the

[20:32] purchase of Glastford Hill for the p purpose of preservation of hundreds of

[20:38] acres for a U price of about $3.6 $6 million and combining that with the

[20:44] annexation and purchase of 128 acres of state trass land um appear to be

[20:51] combined here for the sole purpose of misleading the public. Placing it on the

[20:56] consent agenda and robbing the public of their rights to hear the issues only

[21:00] confirms that annexation of this property will burden the Prescott Valley

[21:05] residents because it will then become the responsibility of the town to extend

[21:09] infrastructure, water, sewer, police, etc. to this property. That is the law.

[21:14] The use of evasive language in the resolution does nothing to protect the

[21:19] town against these responsibilities, nor does it render any confidence on the

[21:23] public's part. In other words, the resolution is irresponsible. And that's

[21:27] not all. Finally, the public needs to be aware that this could involve a purchase

[21:33] price of approximately $8.4 million. If you base it on the sale of an

[21:39] immediately adjacent parcel that sold for approximately $65,000 an acre, that

[21:45] was a total of approximately $6.5 million in November of 2025,

[21:52] only 3 months ago. Understand that the adjacent parcel was also specifically

[21:58] purchased for development, not for recreation or public space. And there is

[22:02] nothing in this resolution that guarantees that this land purchase would

[22:06] not meet the same fate. So this item, I'm asking that it be

[22:12] removed completely from this resolution and be presented as a completely

[22:16] separate item on a future agenda for discussion. $8.4 million plus the cost

[22:23] of infrastructure is not considered quote routine by Prescott Valley

[22:28] residents and the taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next up,

[22:37] » Walter. >> Welcome, sir.

[22:41] » Mayor, vice mayor, council members, and staff. My name is Walt Kosar, uh,

[22:45] Granville, Prescuit Valley. I wanted to talk tonight on the issue of the

[22:50] affordable housing and the plan that you'll be talking about later. And one

[22:54] of the aspects of that is the employer support for you providing um affordable

[23:00] housing for workforce. To me, one of the key one of the top employers in town

[23:06] that should be involved here is the medical center. Yavapai regional medical

[23:10] center. Um they're obviously a really important part of our community and

[23:14] provide critical health care to all our residents. Um I watched the tape from

[23:19] the state of the town meeting. Um, and they have some very big plans for the

[23:24] future in the town here, but I worry a little bit about whether or not there's

[23:28] affordable housing for some of the staff that they'll need for some of these uh

[23:31] new plans. And it's not just about doctors or nurses, but you have people

[23:36] cleaning the floors, cooking the meals, changing the light bulbs, keeping

[23:40] records. Um, it's important that you without this staff, these these staff

[23:45] people, the the facilities don't function. So I think it would be good to

[23:50] have the medical center be directly involved and take kind of a leading role

[23:53] in the side of the employer sponsored um affordable housing whether that be reap

[23:59] based employees or maybe even developing their own housing. For example, on

[24:04] Windsong, the east side of Windsong Road, just out from all the medical

[24:08] buildings, there's a nice open plot of land. And I'm not sure what the

[24:11] long-term plan there is, but that would be a great location to put in some

[24:15] rental housing for for hospital and medical staff. Um, even new people

[24:20] moving into the area, new doctors or nurses or employees that are new to the

[24:24] area, they're going to be working for the medical center, having to lay out a

[24:28] half a million dollars to buy a new home, which is kind of the average price

[24:32] these days. That could be a little steep. So, having that ability to have

[24:35] some dedicated housing for those employees, I think, is really critical.

[24:38] So, I just wanted to bring that up to you. Thank you.

[24:41] » Thank you, sir.

[24:47] » Confirming, Mr. times. You do not wish to speak?

[24:51] » No.

[24:57] » Okay. Well, next time, ladies and gentlemen, if you're not familiar with

[25:01] Mr. Kimes, he is a uh a political rock star. He he served some time with former

[25:07] Governor Npalitano um in the political world. So, I've known Mr. Kimes for a

[25:11] very long time. And he's a man that speaks words of wisdom, and when he

[25:15] speaks, you should listen. So, we'll catch you next time, sir.

[25:22] » Moving on. Council communications to my right. Councilwoman

[25:29] » Councilwoman Greer. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just wanted to

[25:33] report that last week I spent a wonderful lunchon with the entire board

[25:38] of SRP and learned a lot about water and the development that they're doing for

[25:43] the state of Arizona. um and that it'll kind of go into a little bit about

[25:48] tonight, but they are looking at some of the rural areas. So, very impressed with

[25:53] what they plan on doing in the future. >> Councilman Greer,

[25:57] » I just want to thank the the chamber again for a spectacular event. Um,

[26:03] everybody enjoyed it so much. So, thank you,

[26:06] » Mr. Davidson. No report, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you. Consent agenda. All matters

[26:11] listed under the consent agenda are considered routine by the town council

[26:13] and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these

[26:16] items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent

[26:20] agenda and be considered separately. Uh Councilman Fry, you advised me you would

[26:24] like to remove item 8F. Is there another item you'd like to remove?

[26:29] » No, sir. I just uh what I've seen is it seems like it has created 8F has created

[26:35] some confusion among town people. So, uh, I think it deserves

[26:41] a separate, um, airing thing. >> And that's fine. Councilman Ke, you have

[26:45] an item you wish you removed. >> Uh, yes. Um, I was at coffee with the

[26:49] cop, um, yesterday and some citizens were a little bit concerned about, I

[26:53] believe it's item a 8C >> and so I just wanted um to give Chief

[26:58] Tyer an opportunity to address what that's, you know, what it's for.

[27:03] » All right. Thank you. We'll start with uh, item 8F. We'll just do them

[27:06] individually. This is direction steps annexation town owned and ASLD property

[27:12] outside town limits. Councilman Frey, any questions you have for staff that is

[27:16] not in the staff report. M >> Mr. Mayor, c could I just explain it

[27:20] since I'm probably the one who caused this?

[27:24] » Sure, sir. >> Would that be okay? First of all, you

[27:28] probably remember that the town has already bought 1300 acres up on the

[27:34] hill. 352 of those acres happened to be in the

[27:38] county. So, at some point, we needed to annex it and we just haven't gotten

[27:44] around to it. We bought it back in 2023. We needed to annex it. It was our

[27:49] property. It was out in the county. We had never annexed our own property

[27:54] before. Normally, when you annex property, you annex somebody else's

[27:57] property. And the statute is set up for you to do it that way. you you you get a

[28:03] petition from them and uh they sign it and you go through processes. So we had

[28:08] actually never annexed property that we own before. And so we talked with

[28:13] outside counsel and said, "Do you have any idea how we can do that? It the

[28:18] statute doesn't quite fit really easily." And he said, "Well, why don't

[28:21] you adopt a resolution and just basically say this is what we'll do.

[28:25] This is how we'll do it in terms of annexing our own property." It doesn't

[28:30] annex the property. You still have to file the petition, hold the hearing,

[28:35] adopt the ordinance, and all of that is to come in the future. And so this was

[28:39] put on the consent agenda only because it says when you do this, the mayor can

[28:45] sign instead of a private property owner and and just went through and explained

[28:50] how the statute would be followed for annexing the town's property. So it it

[28:55] it it really is housekeeping is all it is. Councilman F.

[29:01] » Uh thank you, Mr. Leler. Uh I think that answers my questions. Um but Mr. Mayor,

[29:08] can can we open this up to public questions on this one particular item?

[29:12] » No, it's not common. It's not in our agenda. We can't have a public hearing

[29:17] without agendaizing it. >> Okay. Thank you.

[29:20] » Uh I I just wanted to also follow up. Um I had spoken to Gilbert today um because

[29:26] it had talked about um including certain infrastructure within 10 years and um

[29:32] Gilbert explained to me that that's legally required language that needs to

[29:36] be within the contract and um and when the annexation actually occurs, it will

[29:42] come back to council, I'm told. So so this is just the first step in the

[29:47] process and council will approve the annexation should that go forward. And

[29:53] let me just add that it there's no contract. What we're doing under the

[29:57] statute is if you annex property, you have to tell the world how you plan to

[30:03] provide infrastructure for that property. And so it's not binding. You

[30:08] simply have a plan. And so we've actually been criticized by folks from

[30:12] time to time who said they didn't think we had done enough to set out a plan

[30:16] when we annexed property. And so we thought, ah, well, this is a good

[30:20] opportunity to say, well, this is property that's going to be used for

[30:24] trails, so we don't think we're going to do this and we don't think we're going

[30:27] to do that, but we are going to do this and this is how you'll get into it. And

[30:30] it's pretty benign stuff. Mr. Leg, just to confirm, this is just approving a

[30:36] process. We will have plenty of public hearings in the future. People from the

[30:40] audience will be able to come. We'll be able to answer questions through email.

[30:44] This isn't just a one and done. This is just giving staff direction on a process

[30:48] to handle this. >> Let me explain one more thing about it.

[30:51] Some of that property that we reference in this resolution, we haven't purchased

[30:55] yet. It's still owned by the state. What we're suggesting is that we go ahead and

[31:01] annex that, which is a challenge because you got to go get the approval of the

[31:07] selection board at the state before you can even do that. But if we do that,

[31:11] once it's inside the town limits, the day may come where the town will then go

[31:17] to the state and purchase that piece and it'll end up being or doing the same

[31:23] thing that the piece next to it is doing, which is for recreation. It was

[31:26] all part of the Glassford Hill process. So, it was just it it was again if we

[31:34] annex it, this is what we'll do. We'll go to the state. We'll ask them if we

[31:38] can annex it. and we just included that in this resolution.

[31:42] » Any other questions for Mr. Leggler? Again, this is all part of the process

[31:47] and this was originally discussed when we first purchased Glassford Hill back

[31:52] um a couple years ago. So, Vice Mayor >> Oh, so for clarification, are we adding

[31:59] um AF back into >> We'll vote on ADF by itself.

[32:03] » Okay. >> No further questions. I'll entertain a

[32:06] motion to approve. Just AF at this time.

[32:11] Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve item 8F on the consent agenda as stated.

[32:16] » I second.

[32:22] » That passes unanimously. Mayor, >> thank you ma'am. Item 8 C. Chief,

[32:27] any qu any clarification that is not in our staff report that you wish to share?

[32:31] » Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, counsel. Thanks for the opportunity.

[32:34] It's really a good opportunity to share what what this is uh this task force

[32:38] operation is about. Um this is not unlike task forces around the United

[32:42] States. When you talk about the joint terrorism task forces, drug enforcement

[32:45] administration task forces, um FBI safe street task forces. When you have those

[32:51] task forces, you have multi- agencies working together, state, local, and

[32:54] federal. Federal credentials are granted to those state and local officers on

[32:58] that. This uh credentiing is a United States Marshall Service credential to

[33:02] one of our detectives assigned to the state gang task force which is under the

[33:05] leadership of the Arizona Department of Public Safety GDUM task force. That

[33:09] detective will have this as an additional uh certification and

[33:12] incillary duties as a credentialed US marshal which will also bring additional

[33:17] resources to our town to apprehend violent felony subjects who are wanted

[33:21] on warrants. Uh it'll also open up jurisdictional opportunities so that if

[33:24] we need to make arrests on tribal land or other jurisdictions, we can move

[33:28] those uh marshals over there, including ours. And then um it also brings

[33:33] significant resources to the Pres Valley Police Department in training equipment

[33:38] over time. And it is really a force multiplier. If I need a United States

[33:42] Marshall to come and support our operations, I'd have a task force uh

[33:46] officer there. and it makes it a lot easier to bring in in in that uh that

[33:50] type of force multipliers. Same thing with the state gang uh task force by

[33:54] having that detective on there. When we have a gang pop uh problem pop up in

[33:58] Pres Valley, frankly, I can make that phone call and we can have as many uh

[34:02] DPS detectives as we need here in the community. So, it's about those

[34:04] relationships and the ease of operations.

[34:07] » Thank you, sir. Any more questions for Chief?

[34:10] » Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I'll entertain a

[34:12] motion for item 8 C.

[34:16] Well, says I made the motion. So, Mr. Mayor, I'll go ahead and make the motion

[34:20] to approve item 8 C as stated. >> A second. All

[34:26] » in favor or I'm sorry, clerk follow the vote.

[34:36] » That passes unanimously. Mayor, >> thank you, ma'am. Now I entertain a

[34:39] motion for item 8 A, 8B, 8 D as in David and 8 E as in Edward.

[34:47] » Mr. Mr. Mayor, are we going to do 8F? Didn't we do those before? So if we

[34:51] could do C and >> we did 8F separately.

[34:54] » Okay. >> Yes, we already did 8F and 8 C.

[34:59] This is approving the rest of the agenda items.

[35:01] » Correct. >> Mr. Mr. May, I'll make a motion to

[35:04] approve all under the uh items 8 A, 8 B, 8 D, and 8E on the consent agenda by

[35:10] electronic vote. >> I'll second,

[35:20] » Council Member Fry. Thank you. That passes unanimously. Mayor,

[35:24] » thank you, ma'am. Doesn't get any more transparent than that, I guess. Item 9A,

[35:28] Prescuit Valley Affordable Housing Plan Consideration and possible action. Lar,

[35:32] welcome. Mayor, vice mayor, council members,

[35:36] thanks for having me. This is Tracy Lera, neighborhood services director.

[35:42] So, I'm here to talk to you about an affordable housing plan for Presca

[35:46] Valley. So, why why do we have one? Why do we need one? Um, well, last year we

[35:51] did a survey for our residents and attainable housing or affordable housing

[35:55] was ranked as a top priority. Housing cost has um risen faster than wages here

[36:01] in Presca Valley and nationwide. U 29% of our households are costburdened and

[36:09] 41.5% of our renters are costbururden. Cost

[36:13] burden is 30 over 30% of their household income is going to the pay their rent or

[36:18] their mortgage and economic growth depends on workforce housing.

[36:26] So, what we've done already, we did create the neighborhood services

[36:30] department to help with these initiatives. We've implemented the home

[36:35] of my own PB edition to help support opportunities to build your own home um

[36:41] with pre-approved plans. We've updated some zoning that allows smaller lot

[36:46] sizes and housing flexibility. Completed a residential property study.

[36:52] So, we had an audit last year where um City Detect came and drove the

[36:56] neighborhoods and evaluated our current conditions

[37:00] and we completed our 2025 housing needs assessment.

[37:06] Here is some of our data that had helped support the affordable housing plan that

[37:10] came from the needs assessment. So on the left uh table one you can really see

[37:16] the gap when you chart our wages which have had an increase just not as extreme

[37:23] as our housing costs. And on the table two um this kind of

[37:28] does a comparison over time showing going back to 1980 what our income was

[37:34] versus our um housing monthly payments. And 1980 it was about 40% of their

[37:40] income. So it was still really high then but you can see as it gets to 2010 2010

[37:46] um it was only 16% of your income was used for paying for your home. Um now up

[37:51] in 2025 we have a 48% of your income is [clears throat] going to your home.

[38:00] So our recommendations in the housing plan focus on four key areas. One,

[38:06] neighborhood and housing preservation. And this is really just to keep our

[38:11] current homes preserved so that nobody is displaced.

[38:19] Some tools for that program are home repair partnerships, using our CDBG

[38:24] funding um to do home repairs for those that need it, doing cleanup coordination

[38:31] and targeted infill incentives. The second focus area is employer

[38:36] support for workforce housing. Uh this is working with employers in town to

[38:41] create partnerships, help provide them tools and resources to create their own

[38:46] um employer assisted programs. It's looking at home buyer assistance

[38:52] and incentives for those employers. And the goal with that is to really live

[38:58] where you work. So, we want to keep Prescuit Valley residents living and

[39:02] working here.

[39:06] Next is affordable owner occupied housing. To support that, we want to

[39:11] continue to look at maybe other pre-approved plans, flexible zoning

[39:16] options, fee reductions tied to affordability,

[39:20] and looking at development of our own town-owned uh properties.

[39:26] And similar to this is affordable renting housing. So 12.5% vacancy rate

[39:32] here in Presca Valley overall, but that's limited affordability.

[39:37] So nearly half of our renters are costburden.

[39:41] So to tackle this, we're looking at flexible zoning for multif family,

[39:46] density bonuses, looking at reduced or deferred fees, and partnerships for

[39:52] mixed income projects. All of this is supported by community

[39:56] engagement. We definitely need the community to support this. It takes

[40:01] everyone. Um so this will evolve with our community, but we just want to

[40:06] continue listening sessions, some coffee chats, popup booths just to be a

[40:11] presence and have those conversations and organizational partnerships.

[40:18] I did want to provide some clarifications of what this plan is not.

[40:22] So, this plan does not mandate specific developments.

[40:26] It does not commit the town to new spending without council approval.

[40:30] Um, it does not override zoning without public process.

[40:35] And it does not eliminate private market solutions. So, it just does provide a

[40:40] framework for action and evaluation. With that, I'll take any questions.

[40:45] » Thank you, ma'am. Good job. We have questions for staff

[40:49] or comments. >> Uh, I just got a quick question. Um I

[40:52] believe Mr. Kosar had mentioned um partnering like with dignity and and

[40:57] having discussions getting in the room. Are you are you doing that with some of

[41:01] our employers? >> We have not yet but it's definitely on

[41:04] our list. >> Yes.

[41:09] » It's one of the challenges when it comes to supply and demand. Right.

[41:12] » Right. >> When supply is uh low and demand is

[41:16] high, prices go high. I know our neighbor to the west, they have, I

[41:20] believe it's about 18,000 lots that are able to be permitted in in their

[41:25] jurisdiction that they haven't even touched yet and we are much much lower

[41:28] than that. So, it creates that challenge and this isn't obviously a flip a switch

[41:33] type of solve a problem. So, I I commend you and staff to do what you can and

[41:39] let's see what we can hear. I know unfortunately when we have our listening

[41:42] sessions we're going to hear prices are high, rent is high, sales sale of homes

[41:46] are high and that's because one there's not a lot of flat lots out there left in

[41:50] Presa Valley. For those of us that have been here for a while, a lot of them are

[41:54] sloped. A lot of them require a lot of dirt work and uh that drives the price

[41:58] of homes up. So, uh your work is certainly cut out in front of you and we

[42:02] appreciate all the hard work you've done so far.

[42:04] » Thank you, mayor. >> And we should entertain a motion.

[42:14] Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve the Prescott Valley affordable

[42:18] housing plan by electronic vote. >> I'll second that. Cler, please call

[42:22] vote.

[42:28] » Mayor, that passes unanimously. >> Thank you, ma'am. Next up, final

[42:31] item.Uou Salt River Valley Water Users

[42:34] Association and Salt River Project agricultural improvement and power

[42:37] district to assist financing storm water recharge pilot project. Mr. Leggler, I

[42:42] believe this is yours. >> Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I'll

[42:44] lead off with it if there's any followup. Uh, Mr. Leggler can kind of

[42:48] chime in on it. Uh, this is something we've been working on for quite some

[42:52] time. Uh this memorandum of understanding is with Salt River Project

[42:56] which is a government entity here in the state of Arizona that's tasked with uh

[43:02] not only supplying water to the met uh metropolitan area of Phoenix uh and some

[43:07] of the surrounding communities there um but also they have a whole power

[43:11] division as well. And so we have been working with uh SRP as a partner on one

[43:17] of our exciting storm water uh pilot projects. This is one of the first uh

[43:23] projects of its kind in the state of Arizona. Uh and we are testing how we

[43:29] can try to get storm water uh down into the aquifer without it evaporating off

[43:35] which almost probably 95% of all rainwater uh either is uh is lost

[43:41] to evaporation. So this is testing how can we try to get more of that water

[43:47] back into our aquifer for the benefit of not only the aquifer but you know uh all

[43:52] of us and so this is SRP has agreed to provide

[43:58] $40,000 uh to the overall cost of the pilot

[44:02] project. There is a companion pilot project that's taking place down in Red

[44:06] Rock, Arizona. Uh, and we'll be kind of the second one testing with our

[44:11] particular types of soils. We have had to work with SRP extensively on and as

[44:18] you can imagine, Salt River Project has water rights in northern Arizona and

[44:23] they had great concern in terms of anything that would divert any of what

[44:29] they perceive as their water rights. And so we had to work with them on a whole

[44:33] formula of what was is called uh urban enhanced runoff. So it's basically water

[44:40] that would be considered pre-development that is not part of would you know would

[44:46] be not part of their uh entitlement. uh and trying to figure out how do we

[44:51] quantify that so that we make sure whatever water we do get back into the

[44:55] aquifer is not water that they would have received uh as part of their

[44:59] reservoir system. Uh so this is a very positive thing. uh SRP is very selective

[45:04] in who they work with on different items and so to have them at the table with us

[45:10] is is I think very important and and as a strong testament to the council's

[45:16] leadership on trying to make sure that we're really thinking long term with our

[45:19] water resources. So with that um I'll take any questions that you have.

[45:24] » Questions for Mr. Davidson? None. Nicely done sir. I entertain a

[45:29] motion.

[45:32] » Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve a memorandum of understanding with Salt

[45:36] River project to assist in funding the in Prescuit Valley storm water recharge

[45:40] project involving an anal analyst an [laughter]

[45:45] anal analysis of the Iris system in the

[45:49] amount of $40,000. Sorry. >> I second.

[45:53] » Please hold.

[45:58] Mayor, that passes unanimously. >> Thank you, ma'am. Thanks for coming out,

[46:00] everyone. Drive safe.

[46:10] [music]

[Archived] Regular Town Council Meeting Thursday, March 12, 2026

Transcript