Infrastructure 
PHOENIX - The Arizona Corporation Commission by a 4-1 vote approved late Friday night a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity for the water and sewer companies that will serve Rhodes Homes Golden Valley South development west of Kingman.
With Commissioner Kristin Mayes casting the lone dissenting vote the Commission approved the CC&Ns for Perkins Mountain Utility Company and Perkins Mountain Water Company after almost six hours of discussion and the adopting a variety of amendments.
The Perkins Mountain companies were originally owned by Rhodes Homes, but were given to Utilities, Inc., a company that specializes in operating rural to semi-rural utility companies. It was the ownership by Utilities, Inc., and the restrictions the ACC was able to place on the company that swayed the votes of some of the Commissioners.
But, there were significant concessions on both sides that led to the acceptance by the ACC.
A primary bone of contention was the golf course that is a centerpiece of Rhodes’ Pravada development. At least four amendments resulted in language that will not permit Perkins Mountain Water to sell groundwater to the golf course or common areas of the development unless the developer meets certain prerequisites.
The result of the amendments is the developer may only build a nine-hole golf course until it is 100 percent irrigated by effluent. That must be accomplished within eight years of the first day of irrigation of the course.
Then the developer may build a second nine holes, but must irrigate that 100 percent by effluent. Failure to comply with that will result in Perkins Mountain being unable to sell water to the developer for any of the common areas of the development.
The concession on the part of Rhodes required that John Rhodes, representing Rhodes Homes, call his brother Jim Rhodes, owner of Rhodes Homes, during the meeting to see if the company would agree to such a condition.
There wasn’t much choice for Rhodes or Utilities, Inc., as more than one Commissioner expressed that their vote to approve a CC&N hinged on a limitation as far as how long the golf course could be irrigated with groundwater.
Commissioner Mayes disagreed vociferously, but voted in favor of the amendment because she believed that if the CC&N were to be approved there must be a limit to the groundwater used for a golf course. During the vote on the CC&N she expressed her disapproval of the amendment.
“We signed off on the use of 900 million gallons of groundwater on a golf course in Mohave County,” Mayes said. “In another circumstance what we did today would have been good enough, but it is not.”
Even after the amendment was passed, near the end of a session that ended 10 minutes shy of 13 hours, more amendments were made to the amendment. Among them were that Rhodes or any other entity that is a successor or assignee of Rhodes, may begin to construct a golf facility serviced by Perkins Mountain until those first nine holes are irrigated by effluent.
That portion of the agreement is a lynchpin in the approval of the CC&N. Utilities, Inc., must return to the ACC with a signed agreement with Rhodes Homes certifying compliance with that amendment for the CC&N approval to be valid in the eyes of the ACC.
The approval of the CC&N, while a very positive sign for progress on the Pravada development, does not mean much activity in the way of homebuilding will take place in the immediate future.
It will take at least 18 months from the beginning of work on the wastewater treatment facility until it can be placed into service, according to Utilities, Inc., legal representative Jeff Crockett of the firm Snell and Wilmer.
So approval of the CC&N means the earliest a home may be occupied utilizing the onsite utilities at the site will be mid 2010.
Another sticking point was the use of “purple pipe.” The plan for the community calls for effluent being available for homeowners to irrigate “turf” and other gardens or vegetation. After grilling by the Commission members Crockett admitted that after the irrigation of the golf course and common areas there is unlikely to be any effluent left for homeowners. An amendment by Mayes that all homes in the development be equipped with purple pipe fell to defeat in a 3-2 vote.
Homes within the development will be permitted 900 square feet of turf in back yards only. However, as Commissioners pointed out, that is 45 million square feet of grass at a buildout of 50,000 homes.
Only homes added about the mid-point in the development, estimated to be at about 20,000 to 25,000 homes, will have the purple pipe and they will only have access to effluent when there is a surplus from the golf course and the common areas. Nevertheless, all homeowners will pay approximately $83 per month in sewer fees to cover the cost of the purple pipe to residences under the current rate structure.
There is quite a bit left undecided in the plan and a number of visits with the ACC will be required to resolve the remaining issues.
Tariffs designed to control water use must yet be submitted to the Commission. Tariffs are a means of controlling usage by a utility and frequently cost more than the service provided. It is a tariff, for example, that will force the golf course to use effluent or cost the development access to water supplied by Perkins Mountain for common areas.
According the ACC, Mohave County requires that new golf courses be supported by irrigation from effluent if effluent is available. The Commission based its decision in large part on the concept that the county will force Rhodes to utilize effluent available through Perkins Mountain.
The Commission made its decision at the end of a four-day session in which each day ran past the 6 p.m. deadline.
The decision makes it viable for Rhodes to begin developing infrastructure necessary to move forward with the construction of homes.
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