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City drops to level two<br>

A full Cataract Lake is a wonderful sight to see. Since all of the reservoirs in the city of Williams are full, Williams City Council members approved that water restrictions be reduced to level two from level three.

Local resident Ervin White had appeared at a previous meeting in February asking why the city couldn’t lower the conservation level since its reservoirs were full. At the time, council members said that it was important to keep the levels high since northern Arizona is still caught in a drought, but that they would discuss the matter and put it on an upcoming agenda for more debate.

The issued appeared on the agenda last Thursday evening and it was revealed by Williams Fire Marshal and Abatement Officer Phil Langston that both he and City Building Inspector Tim Pettit had received additional requests by local businesses. Apparently some, such as hotels, wanted restrictions lowered so they could maintain and refill their pools while others requested being able to power wash their driveways and/or property.

The city has about 18 months worth of water, at regular use, with the reservoirs full. After brief discussion, some suggested that the city lower its conservation level temporarily with the idea of being able to change it monthly if need be.

“I would recommend that council consider a window of time, then go back to conservation mode when needed,” City Manger Dennis Wells said.

Council agreed and lowered the restrictions to level two, which are as follows:

Residents with even-numbered addresses are allowed to irrigate — from 6 p.m.-8 a.m. only — or wash vehicles on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Residents with odd-numbered addresses are allowed the same on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Vehicles can only be washed with bucket and a hose with a positive shutoff nozzle. Regular hose washing of paved areas such as sidewalks or driveways is prohibited and fire hydrants can only be used in an emergency.

The item will appear for discussion again in about one month.

Other business

• Council officially passed Ordinance No. 843, its wildfire fuels defensible space ordinance for structures within city limits. The ordinance comes as part of the recently adopted Community Wildfire Protection Plan and was discussed in November of 2004, but struck down because of problems with the ordinance’s wording.

Many were upset or concerned that the original ordinance was retroactive, meaning current property owners would be required to cut down existing vegetation on their property. The new ordinance, however, is not retroactive and is aimed toward new development only.

The parameters of the ordinance in relation to acceptable amounts of fuel surrounding structures have not changed.

• A request by representatives from Cataract Creek, LLC, to make connections into the city’s water system for a proposed housing development on Airport Road was tabled by council for discussion at a later meeting.

Initial plans for the 39-acre 102-lot subdivision are to have it on the west side of Airport Road where the current box culvert lies, just beyond some of the existing housing in the area. Council members, however, were interested in getting more detailed information on the plans, such as the development’s ingress and egress and whether or not the subdivision’s water tie-in should be constructed so that it loops back into the current system, rather than having it dead-end as it does now.


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