Manuelita Beck is a journalist with nearly two decades of experience in digital transformation, editing, and multimedia production.
A Pinal County water utility has secured water protections, signaling an end to years of restrictions on homebuilding in one of Arizona's fastest-growing areas.Gov. Katie Hobbs on Wednesday announced an Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply for Arizona Water Company.
“This designation will save water, support economic growth and create more housing,” she said. “The water approved in Arizona Water Company’s portfolio is enough to build 80,000 new homes.”State law requires residential subdivisions to have at least 100 years of water, but the Arizona Department of Water Resources in 2019 determined the Pinal County area did not have enough groundwater.Mike Kern, president of Communities Southwest, said the resulting moratorium in the Pinal Active Management Area halted the development of Villago, a master-planned community in northern Casa Grande.“It stopped our project in its tracks and sent a shockwave through the Pinal County development community,” he said.The Hobbs administration launched the Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply program to help communities save groundwater and build additional homes. Communities are allowed to use additional water to offset their groundwater usage.Critics call the program a “water tax.”Andrew Gould, who is representing the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, said the only requirement in state law for a designation is that the provider or developer have enough water for their proposed use.“They've changed that definition where you have to come up with water supplies, not just for your use, but for other users. We don't believe that's lawful,” he said.The trade group sued ADWR last year over the program, saying Hobbs doesn’t have the authority to create the ADAWS program without legislative approval.“I'm not challenging her policy or her motives,” Gould said. “I have no reason to question that, but we have a nation of laws. We have a state of laws. You have to follow the procedure.”A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 9.Tom Buschatzke, Arizona Department of Water Resources director, said he’s confident the state will prevail, saying he would not have moved forward with the ADAWS program if he didn’t think it was legal.“We do a robust analysis, both legally and technically, of things like ADAWS and our individual decisions for designations,” he said.The Home Builders Association of Central Arizona has also filed another lawsuit challenging ADWR’s groundwater rules. The group says the department doesn’t have the authority to impose building moratoriums in the Phoenix area.That case had a hearing last month, and the judge could issue a ruling in the next couple of weeks.Hobbs said the legal battles undermine the Arizona’s 100-year assured water supply program, a standard she said is the highest in the nation.“This designation is going to allow us to build 80,000 new homes here in this fast-growing county,” she said. “If they win, that growth will stop. The homebuilding will stop, so it's misguided.”
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