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2011 Year in Review: The top stories in and around Williams
Part one in a four part series

Ryan Williams/WGCN<br>
Trucks pass by wind turbines on Perrin Ranch located 13 miles north of Williams and west of Highway 64.

Ryan Williams/WGCN<br> Trucks pass by wind turbines on Perrin Ranch located 13 miles north of Williams and west of Highway 64.

County gives wind farm the green light, Perrin project up and running by New Year

After two days of hearings and appeals Feb. 7 and 8, the Coconino County Board of Supervisors approved plans for the development of a wind farm on Perrin Ranch located 13 miles north of Williams and west of Highway 64.

The Coconino County Planning and Zoning Commission previously approved the project with a unanimous vote Dec. 17.

In a split decision, Supervisors Carl Taylor, Mandy Metzger and Lena Fowler voted to allow the project to move forward while Matt Ryan and Liz Archuleta voted against the project.

Coconino County Community Development Director Bill Towler said the decision came down to the wire.

"In fact, it could have gone the other way," he said. "I can tell you that the neighboring property owners did a spectacular job and I'm sure that's what swayed the two supervisors. Compared to NextEra they were much more professional. They really did their homework. They put together a lot of great material and their presentation was really good."

The decision comes after an appeal from residents living in the vicinity of the wind farm and a separate appeal filed by NextEra Energy Re-sources, the project's developer.

Supervisor Matt Ryan voted against the project although he said it was a tough decision. He cited the Red Lake Area Plan as one of the deciding factors in his decision.

"The portion of the application that fell within the Red Lake Area Plan boundaries was in conflict with the goals and objectives of the area plan, including objectives to protect the viewsheds along Gateway Corridor to the Grand Canyon and Highway 64," he said.

In late July, preliminary earthwork began on site at the Perrin Ranch Wind Project and Blattner Energy, Inc., the project's general contractor, set up shop in Williams.

Vanessa Hickman, with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD), said 50 percent of the Perrin Ranch project has been built on state land.

While contractors working on NextEra's Perrin Ranch wind project built new roads and infrastructure, one existing road in the area took a beating.

Espee Road, the main access to Junipine Estates of Highway 64, buckled under the weight of trucks hauling rocks to construction areas past the housing development located about 11 miles north of Williams.

Many residents in the area already angry that a wind farm was being built in their backyard, voiced their frustration with the deterioration of Espee Road.

Hank Rush, a resident of Junipine Estates, said driving conditions were less than ideal for residents traveling the road.

"They're tearing up the road," he said. "They re-patch it and then they tear it up again and re-patch it. I don't understand why they didn't go through Perrin Ranch itself instead of using Espee."

Wes Carnahan, inspector for the Coconino County Department of Public Works, said Nextera is required to repair the road after construction on Perrin Ranch is complete.

According to Carnahan, Espee Road does no currently meet the county's standards. Following the heavy truck traffic, Espee will be paved back to the county's structural inspection.

"We're getting a little bit better of a road, all in all," Carnahan said. "I know there are some people out here, there nerves are getting shot and I understand. I do. The contractor is doing the best job they can and I'm overseeing that and making suggestions and they're doing a good job."

As the year comes to a close, wind turbines are now visible to the west of Highway 64 just south of Valle. Officials with NextEra anticipate the project will be producing power in the coming days.

NextEra Spokesman Steve Stengel said the Perrin project will operate at maximum capacity 30 percent of the time - the national average for wind energy facilities.

"One of the things that is very misunderstood is a lot of times you will hear people say, 'well, they only generate electricity 30 percent of the time,' that's the common thing that you hear," he said. "That's not true."

According to Stengel, the facility will likely generate electricity 75-85 percent of the time, day and night, just not at maximum capacity.

Not everyone believes the project will generate power.

Howard Mesa resident Linda Webb has been an outspoken opponent of the project. She said she has a letter from the Western Area Power Administration stating the project will never produce the power expected by NextEra.

"You could even swallow the pill, as bitter as it is, if they were going to produce energy but they're not," she said.

Webb said the turbines are far more visible along Highway 64 than she expected.

"It's worse than what we expected and we didn't expect it to be that good to start with," she said. "They really are totally out of place because the first thing that catches your eye are the things standing up all along the ridge tops."

While the project will not create full time job opportunities for local residents in the years to come, there has been an immediate economic effect.

Twenty local or regional vendors including Northern Fence Co., L.P.'s Excavating, Jack Adams Blade Service, Arrow Ready Mix, CZ Trucking and Western Technologies have benefited from the project.

One of NextEra's permit conditions requires the company to make a $1 million commitment to High Country Fire Rescue.

According to Stengel, over the life of the project, around 30 years, Williams Unified School District will receive around $4.2 million in tax revenue from the project.

Williams Mayor John Moore said the project has definitely bolstered the city's economy from house rentals and hotel stays to meals in restaurants and grocery store bills.

"I don't know if you can find a vacant rental right now," he said. "It's been good here."

The 99.2 megawatt electrical generating project includes 62 wind turbines in all. The turbines are approximately 262 feet tall from base to the hub at the center of the blades and over 400 feet to blade tip. They are spread over 20,000 acres with each turbine taking approximately a half-acre per turbine out of service on Perrin Ranch.

A long term Power Purchase Agreement between Arizona Public Service Co. and NextEra was signed July 22, 2010.

Williams awash in brown water

The summer of 2011 will likely be remembered for one thing - brown water. The city's water woes may be a thing of the past though as city officials have worked to alleviate the problem from a number of angles.

Brown water flowed out of faucets throughout Williams while city officials battled the problem, eventually using close to $200,000 to solve the problem.

Discolored water has historically appeared during the summer months due to higher than normal manganese levels in the city's water supply. In the past, blending water from the city's Dogtown I and III wells has worked to remove much of the color and manganese before the water reached residents' faucets, but with both wells out of commission that solution was off the table.

Dogtown III has been repaired and, according to Interim City Manager Joe Duffy, is producing approximately 250 gallons per minute. Manganese levels going into the Williams Water Treatment Plant are now at .8 milligrams per liter from as high as 1.1 milligrams per liter.

"So it is really diluting it and everything is really processing well," Duffy said.

At a special Williams City Council meeting Aug. 18, council members approved a number of permanent fixes including installing a potassium permanganate system, replacing carbon in existing filters at the city's water treatment facility, installing a Solar Bee system in Dogtown Lake to improve dissolved oxygen levels and purchasing and installing equipment in both the Dogtown I and III wells to bring them back to full functionality.

A back-up potassium manganate pump system at the city's pump house was also installed.

"We're going to inject there. That will give it enough time to react in the water before it actually hits the water plant," Duffy said. "It will knock down the manganese prior to it getting to the plant."

After the water is injected, the chlorine dioxide system at the plant will be able to knock the manganese levels down even more efficiently.

"It's a two step attack on the manganese," Duffy said. "We know now that we need to run the well water in the summer. The intent is to keep those wells going in the summer."

Duffy said even with the wells running and newly bolstered filtering systems, there will be periods of light brown water but nothing on the level that occurred over the summer.

The Dogtown I Well was recently pulled with the pump shipped to the manufacturer to determine what will be necessary to get the well up and running. Duffy said the well will likely not be operational until the spring.

Williams Mayor John Moore said there were plenty of rumors circulating regarding the source of the brown water problem.

"There are a lot of rumors going around that just aren't true," he said. "The fact is there are some very specific reasons for why this is happening and we're going after those as fast as possible. There is certainly nobody who wants this cleared up faster than me."

City crews eventually pulled Dogtown III successfully.

Despite the city's efforts, Interim Water Superintendent Bill Pruett said sediment in the water will take a while to clear up.

Duffy said the city did everything they could to take care of the problem as quickly as possible.

"We're hitting it from all sides," he said. "Getting the wells operational again is probably the best solution, but we're doing everything we can to make the problem go away. At the end of the day, we'll have redundancy with separate filters and systems in place so that this doesn't happen again."

Locals vote 'no' on WUSD capital improvements bond for second year in a row

A $5 million bond for capital improvements in the Williams Unified School District (WUSD) was quashed by Williams voters at the polls Nov. 8. Citizens voted down the bond with 53 percent voting no and 46 percent voting yes. Turnout was 27 percent. Of 2,998 registered voters, just 810 made their way to the polls.

Passage of the bond would have allowed the district to complete what district officials called a variety of safety-related construction projects for both the Williams High School and Williams Elementary-Middle School (WEMS).

WUSD Superintendant Steve Hudgens said the downfall of the bond was disappointing.

"It's just unfortunate," Hudgens said. "It really is."

Hudgens added the economy likely affected voters' decision not to back the proposed bond but added the district will likely continue to pursue bond funding down the road. In the meantime, administrators and teachers will continue to work in aging facilities.

"Things have to go on," Hudgens said. "You just don't shut the doors and kick everybody out."

WUSD was recently awarded $1,489,306 in Emergency Deficiencies Correction (EDC) funding from the Arizona School Facilities Board to help replace portions of the Williams Elementary-Middle School (WEMS) roof and replace the ceiling in the Williams High School (WHS) gym.

Hudgens said the EDC funds will renovate a portion of the high school gym and a portion of the WEMS roof.

"The net will come down in the gym.," he said. "We'll get the ceiling replaced. That won't have anything to do with the walls, the lighting, unsafe bleachers or the inadequate security system we have in the school. They'll do their little part on the roof down at the elementary school."

Last year, voters turned down a $5.5 million capitol improvements bond, with more than 53 percent voting no on the bond and nearly 47 percent voting yes, mirroring last week's election.

This time around, the proposed school improvement bond focused on a set of more specific school facilities in need of repair. If approved, $2,001,000 of the funds would have been used to finish repairs of the WEMS roof begun with emergency funding. Work included removing existing double roofing, patching structural roof deck and replacing the double roofing with a new single ply roofing system.

Vehicle circulation, parking and improvements to the bus storage building also would have benefited from the bond funding. The WEMS softball field would have received an overhaul due to an invasion of prairie dogs, rendering the field unsafe for children.

At the high school, repairs were limited to the gymnasium. Approximately $2,399,000 was needed to re-roof the gym, demolish and reconstruct interior of shower, locker and dressing room areas, correct safety issues and replace curtains on stage, build new public restrooms and concession area, install new backstops, scoreboard and lighting and refinish the wood floor. Plans also included stage reconstruction because it isn't ADA compliant.

Hudgens said many of the proposed projects will be abandoned.

"We're going to do what we're paid to do. We're going to see that the kids are as safe as they can possibly be in our system," he said. "We're going to go on with the learning process full bore. It's just that some of the things will get a little more limited."

Costs to taxpayers were estimated to be $32 annually for homes valued at $100,000. Under Arizona law, bond issues must be approved by 15 percent of registered voters who voted in the last election. Once a bond has been approved, school districts are obligated to hold public hearings to inform the public on how bond funds are spent.


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