Feud with Johnson Utilities: Plan out of bounds?
The Golf Club at Johnson Ranch in San Tan Valley
SAN TAN VALLEY — A Pinal County golf course resort is continuing its fight to keep receiving treated effluent from a local water utility.
Johnson Utilities’ plan to stop selling treated sewer effluent to The Golf Club at Johnson Ranch would be of no benefit to customers or the environment and would merely serve to drive a competitor out of business, an attorney for the golf course argued in a brief to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
An ACC staff response, filed the same day, recommended that the complaint by Swing First Golf LLC, owner of The Golf Club, be heard.
Swing First appealed a proposal by Johnson Utilities to stop selling the golf course treated effluent earlier this year, which could raise the golf course’s water bill five-fold. Attorney Craig Marks said in March that a $500,000 annual water bill could drive The Golf Club out of business.
Johnson Utilities responded to the ACC with a motion to dismiss, arguing that Swing First had two previous complaints that were dismissed with prejudice, and this one should be as well. It further argued that the ACC lacks jurisdiction to direct how Johnson Utilities uses its effluent.
Instead of selling effluent to The Golf Club, Johnson Utilities has said it plans to recharge it into the ground for credits.
But an ACC staff response to the motion to dismiss, filed April 29, concludes the ACC has jurisdiction over the complaint and the ACC possesses the statutory authority to review Johnson’s plans for the disposal of its effluent under state law.
Marks filed a brief with the ACC, also on April 29, opposing Johnson Utilities’ motion to dismiss. He said Johnson Utilities’ plans would only benefit Johnson Utilities:
