GOVERNMENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE RECAP 1/23/24
Co-chair Rebecca Timmer alerted members to the Water Resources Committee initiative
- Water Resources Committee to meet bi-weekly with regional representatives to receive high-level summary of water legislation impacting Pinal County. For those interested in more information and/or participating, please email rina@pinalpartnership.com
Co-chair Richard Rosales introduced Jeff Serdy, Pinal County Supervisor – District 5 with commentary below:
- Team effort resulted in Highway 88 opening after washing out over 5 years ago.
- Forest Service, BLM, and others collaborated to make reopening a priority. Anticipate about one month to get the road dirt paved. Unknown time frame to get to a paved, full-access road to Apache Lake and Roosevelt Lake
- State Land, BLM and Forest Service also rallied to work with Pinal County to close 1100 acres, fence in for day use only to remove squatters from state land.
- Camping is allowed for 14 days and there was no enforcement for those who stayed longer with public nuisance and fire issues mounting and falling to local law enforcement to patrol.
- Open Space and Parks will be a destination
- Supervisor Serdy pointed out on the Pinal County map (see link under Richard Rosales comments below) the blue state land covers millions of acres and can be focused on light industrial, building off the LG development and to create open space
- GPEC partnership will play a big role in continuing to attract large scale projects like LG to Pinal County
- Tourism is receiving more attention, and the appeal of Pinal County’s open space and trails are a big draw for relocating companies including Lost Dutchman State Park, Goldfield Ghost Town, Silly Mountain, Peralta Park Recreation Area, and the Arboretum in Superior. The Renaissance Festival and Country Thunder annual events will benefit from extension of Highway 24 and Highway 60 improvements. Lost Dutchman is a world class marathon and qualifier for the Boston Marathon.
- Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport will have opportunities for expanded service like Skybridge direct to Mexico and service from other airlines now that the City of Phoenix is off the airport board
- Heather Wilkey commented that $87 million was awarded for State Route 24 in last year’s legislative session, but the funds are now in jeopardy in the current governor’s budget.
- Supervisor Serdy mentioned the public is more vocal with NIMBY sentiments regarding placing solar near residential. County receives increased tax benefit converting agriculture to solar.
- Hesston Klenk commented on the challenge for locating solar utilities in remote areas due to the distance to connect to the grid.
Richard Rosales shared the Pinal County Economic Map info at the following link:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=157e83d00102405e8327c20ae9ca5416
The next PPGRC Meeting will be on February 27th.
The Emerging Leaders luncheon kicks off their programs for 2024 on February 15th at the Paramount Theater in Casa Grande. Click here for more information.
Our next Monthly Breakfast Meeting is February 16th at CAC Signal Peak and will continue our Partnership Series with Mayors and their partners from Florence, Eloy and Casa Grande.
Visit https://pinalpartnership.com/meetings-and-events/ for more information.
