Scottsdale buys land to prevent flooding
Scottsdale has bought land at Apache Park owned by the Scottsdale Unified School District at a cost of $2.02 million.
The city plans to build improvements on the land at 85th Place and Moreland Street to protect against flooding in the area surrounded by houses in south Scottsdale.
Scottsdale also plans to sell its old human-resources building at 7575 E. Main St. to the school district for the same price of $2.02 million. The district will move its administrative offices to the downtown building, according to a council report.
After months of negotiations, the Scottsdale City Council approved the first part of the land deal on Tuesday.
The city bought 4.6 acres at the park next to the former Apache Elementary School, where it plans to build a retention basin as part of a massive flood-control project known as the Granite Reef watershed, Public Works Director Dan Worth said.
A City Council report on the topic says flooding hazards in the area are “substantial” and “potentially damaging” for houses and other properties along the water course.
The improvements will curb flooding and drainage problems by providing storm-water retention, the report says.
The upgrades are part of the larger Granite Reef Wash watershed project, which would eliminate potential flood hazards affecting hundreds of residents and property owners.
More than 600 properties in Scottsdale will be removed from a floodplain as part of the Granite Reef watershed.
The project is currently budgeted for $51 million, but likely will be substantially less, Worth said.
The city is pursuing initiatives to reduce the cost, he said.
Scottsdale, the Maricopa County Flood Control District and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community will share the cost of the larger project.
The vote was 6-1in support of the land sale, with Councilman Guy Phillips dissenting.
Phillips argued that the school district was buying the property “basically for free.” He said Scottsdale’s purchase is “basically what constitutes swamp land, because it’s going to be a retention basin.”
At a meeting Tuesday, the City Council is expected to approve an agreement to sell the Main Street building to the school district.
The talks for the land swap began because the school district wanted to move out of its aging main office at 3811 N. 44th St. in Phoenix.
School district voters last fall approved the sale of the main district office building at 44th Street and Indian School Road.
In other action Tuesday, the Scottsdale City Council:
Approved a nearly $400,000 contract with Phoenix-based Arrington Watkins Architects to design a fire station at Hayden Road south of Jomax Road.
The station will be designed over 16 months. Construction could begin in late 2016 and finish in 2017, according to the city.
Turned down a rezoning that would have allowed Brown’s Classic Autos, 9024 E. Bahia Drive, to conduct on-site sales.
Opponents voiced concerns that the new zoning would not match the character of the area.
Operation Welcome Home AZ, a veterans organization, unveiled plans last week for a future Vietnam War Memorial in Gilbert.
The memorial plans were presented to a room full of city and state officials, veterans and their families. Veteran Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg was present, as well as Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
Operation Welcome Home AZ partnered with Arizona Vietnam veterans, the Vietnamese community in Arizona and the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services to work on the 7.7-acre park, which will have a permanent 80 percent- scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Welcome Home Veterans Park will be developed adjacent to the Gilbert Police and Fire Department on Civic Center Drive. It also will host an education center for visiting K-12 graders and a Veteran’s Resource Center to provide counseling and other services to cur- rent and future service members.
The announcement came two days after the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, when communist forces took over Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, ending the Vietnam War.
The projectis expected to cost about $3 million. Officials plan to break ground in October.