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La Quinta hotel project gets go ahead
Williams council members approve developer's plan to install 281,000 gallon hauled water storage tank

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - A hotel project that has been on hold during Williams' water crisis will be able to proceed with construction under an agreement that it won't draw from the city's water supply for the time being.

Developer Andy Bhakta has been planning to build a 68-room La Quinta hotel near Seventh Street and Cataract Lake Road for several months. However, the city of Williams is currently in a building permit freeze under the level four water restrictions. One of the three exceptions to the building permit freeze is that "the permitted construction will not result in new fixture units connected to the city's potable water supply."

Bhakta recently approached the city with a development agreement proposing that the hotel would use a 281,000-gallon water tank on site filled with hauled water rather than hooking up to the city's water supply. Once the water crisis is resolved, the hotel would connect to the city's water supply and ownership of the tank would transfer to the city for storage use.

After about 40 minutes of discussion about the issue at the Feb. 26 council meeting, the council was split on Bhakta's proposal, but eventually approved his development agreement for the hotel.

In a staff report from City Manager Brandon Buchanan to the mayor and council, Buchanan recommended approving the development agreement, saying it would increase much-needed water storage capacity.

"This tank, along with the tank that the city will be replacing on Tabor Street, will bring total potable storage to 3 million gallons, essentially bringing the city into compliance with the requirement to have three days of potable storage available," he wrote. "Secondary benefits of important note that the city realizes by allowing this project to proceed are sales tax from construction, BBB (Bed, Board and Booze) tax as the project comes online, job creation, etc."

The hotel developers will pay about $152,000 for the tank. The only costs to the city will be making piping connections once ownership of the tank transfers to the city.

Discussion

During the meeting, Vice Mayor Don Dent expressed concern about the tank's location at the hotel site.

"The true benefit of the tanks being up on a hill for fire protection is the pressure that they develop and the flow they develop in our lines," he said. "The problem we have right now is we have none on the north side of town. If it's going to be truly a public benefit, any tank we build needs to be on a hill."

City Manager Brandon Buchanan said the city needed both the storage capacity and the fire protection.

"I think we need a tank there (on the north side of town)," he said. "I think that needs to be handled as that area is developed and have those property owners work with helping to contribute to building a tank in that area."

Councilman Lee Payne said the city should carefully consider the proposed development agreement with Dogtown 1 Well still not producing and no way of knowing if the Sweetwater Well would yield water.

"What if neither one of these wells produce and these guys have to continue to haul water all the time?" he said. "We haven't even talked about what kind of can of worms is this going to open. Does this mean if people want to come here there's going to be tanks all over this town and people are hauling water? This big old tank hauling down that road with 6,000 gallons of water, that's going to tear up infrastructure. There's a lot of things to think about to make this happen."

Councilman Frank McNelly brought up another concern with the current unreliability of the city's water supply.

"Say they put their tank in, and things go good, and we have a big rest of the winter or next winter or the well comes in and restrictions go down," he said. "Now they're in. And the next time we get into a situation and we have to go to (level four water restrictions) again they're in. They're not on the outside anymore waiting. So you have to be sure that once you're in you're in. You might think about our capacity of what water we can make."

After an audience member raised a similar concern about other hotels investing in storage tanks like La Quinta, hooking up to the city's water supply when water restrictions were eased, and then the city entering another crisis, Councilman Jim Wurgler said the discussion was becoming too hypothetical.

"Then you get paralyzed by analysis - paralysis by analysis," he said. "You say what if, what if, what if? If you want to put in a hotel tomorrow and you want to bring your own water, then put together a package and come in and talk to us."

Audience members also raised questions about additional water usage from the hotel guests, such as visiting Laundromats, and where the hotel employees would live, but Moore said the conversation was straying too far from the agenda item.

Pat Carpenter of A Quality Water Company addressed some of the council's concerns by saying the tank could still benefit the city in the proposed location by using booster pumps to manipulate the water pressure.

However, Dent pointed out that system would require city maintenance costs that a tank on a hill would not require. Bhakta responded that the tank could be easily moved when the city took ownership of it.

Council vote

At this point, Dent made a motion to table the proposed development agreement until the city could find a location for the tank on a hill. Dent, McNelly and Payne voted in favor of this motion, while Wurgler and councilmen Bernie Hiemenz and Craig Fritsinger voted against it. Mayor John Moore broke the tie with a no vote.

With the first motion defeated, Wurler made a motion to approve the development agreement as presented. Wurgler, Hiemenz and Fritsinger voted in favor of this motion, while Payne, McNelly and Dent voted against it.

Before Moore broke the tie with his vote, he asked if Bhakta would accept a stipulation to alter the location of the tank if the city found a more suitable place on a hill.

"I don't see why not," Bhakta responded.

Dent said the council was rushing their decision, and that language should be part of the development agreement. At this point, City Attorney Brandon Kavanagh said the council could not have further discussion while a vote was in progress. Moore broke the tie with a yes vote and the motion carried, allowing construction on the hotel to proceed.


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