Archives

Copper mine west of Tucson poised for restart

According to this Reuters story, yet another copper mine in Arizona is poised to go back into production.

Nord Resources Corp. is gearing up operations at the Johnson Camp Mine, about 65 miles west of Tucson, an open-pit heap-leach operation that closed in 2003 due to low copper prices.

Nord secured an air-quality permit from the Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality last month that was the company’s last hurdle to clear before reopening the mine.

The company’s CEO told Reuters that the mine’s full production could reach 25 million pounds of copper by spring 2009.

With new mines popping up and old mines like Johnson Camp returning to production, it’s pretty clear that Arizona’s copper industry is hot. But with copper prices tied closely to global economic conditions, is the industry poised for a fall?

Only time will tell.

John Collins Rudolf

Navajo open new hotel in Monument Valley

MONUMENT VALLEY PARK — An ancient Navajo prayer, “Night Chant,” begins in a “house made of dawn” and evokes transition, healing and restoration of hozho – or beauty, order and harmony.

Like a manifestation of the prayer, a promotional photograph shows the morning Arizona sun washing vivid color and new life over Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park’s man-made mesa, The View Hotel.

Monument Valley Park is located three hours northwest of Flagstaff on Navajo land in Arizona. The hotel is significant to the preservation of culture and to the healing of a depressed economy of the nation within a nation, say those close to the project.

“My biggest reward is knowing that whatever building I construct will create employment opportunities for people, and with this current project it will create employment opportunities for my people, The Dine People,” says Romona Tayah, assistant superintendent for FCI Constructors Inc., who built the hotel.

In a prepared statement, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said the project will create much-needed jobs while highlighting tribal culture.

“Job creation on Tribal land means economic opportunity but also translates into cultural preservation,” he said in a recent press release. “When family members can find employment close to their traditional homes they stay connected with their culture and their language. This fosters an environment where traditional ways of the Navajo people can be passed from generation to generation.”

TRIBE STRUGGLES FOR RECOGNITION

The road to projects like The View was a long and arduous for the Navajo, also known as the Dine People.

Beginning in January 1863, the U.S. Army forced more than 8,000 Navajo from their native lands on the Colorado Plateau in what is known today as The Long Walk, a roughly 300-mile trek to Fort Sumner in New Mexico.

“The instigator of this policy, General James H. Carleton, was involved in a wide variety of non-military activities that presupposed removal of Indians from their homelands …
Carleton was involved in a series of questionable activities regarding mining, the cumulative effect of which appears to have contributed to his decision to remove Navajos from their homeland,” wrote Neal W. Ackerly in his 1998 book, A Navajo Diaspora: The Long Walk to Hwéeldi.

But Carleton had underestimated the number of Navajos and Fort Sumner was ill-equipped to care for them, Ackerly wrote.

In May 1864, Dr. Michael Steck, then Indian Agent for the New Mexico Territory, condemned Carleton’s policy as a failure, stating that the captured Navajos surrendered largely because the Army could provide food.

“The rich and powerful portion of them are still in their own country … it will cost ten times the amount to catch and remove the wealthy portion of the tribe,” Steck wrote.

By early 1865, Carleton was losing federal and local support. Hundreds of Navajo began leaving Fort Sumner on their own, returning to their native land.

On June 1, 1868 the U.S. signed a treaty with the Navajo, officially allowing the remaining detainees to return home to a reservation of about 3 million acres, or 5,500 square miles.

NAVAJO ECONOMY IS TOP CONCERN

Today, the Navajo Nation covers 27,000 square miles in Arizona and New Mexico and includes 204,698 people, according to Trib Choudhary, a principal economic development specialist with the tribe. This makes the Navajo the largest Native American tribe in the U.S.

Government, mining and services such as hospitals and schools makeup the Nation’s main employers, however 50 percent of its people live below the U.S. poverty level. About 9,400 Navajo families nationwide depend on welfare programs to provide clothing, gasoline, and food stamps, Choudhary says.

The Navajo Nation government earned about $71 million from all mining revenue in 2005, accounting for almost 58 percent of the tribe’s $124 million general fund that year, tribal documents show.

When federal emission standards forced the coal-fired Mojave Generating Station in Laughlin to close on Dec. 31, 2005, the Navajo Nation’s pocketbook took a big hit.

“[The Navajo government] lost about $20 million,” Choudhary says. Replacing that revenue seems about as hard as the stratified formations speckled across the desert floor.

The next day, Peabody Western Coal Company shut down operations at the Black Mesa Mine on the Navajo reservation. Mojave was the mine’s only customer, buying about 5 million tons of coal annually.

About 240 people were employed at the Black Mesa Mine when it closed.

The overall unemployment rate in Navajoland, including non-Indians, is 52 percent. Among Navajo people, the rate is 57 percent, according to tribal documents. Bout three-fourths of the 4,195 people living near the View Hotel project are unemployed, Choudhary says.

“The Navajos are trying to bring industry, but they often don’t have the money for infrastructure,” Choudhary says. Navajo lands are held in trust and cannot be leveraged to fund private enterprise – even by its own people. “Private companies don’t want to build because they can’t own the land.”

As a sovereign nation within the U.S., it is understandable that Navajo leaders would look to capture more of the tourism revenue currently bypassing its economy for lack of services.

About 2.5 million tourists annually visit the reservation’s many attractions like Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly and Chaco Canyon. They spent more than $100 million inside the reservation, according to the tribe’s 2006 economic report.

With only 13 hotels and few retail outlets on the reservation, much of the potential revenue leaks out to border towns.

So, borrowing from business models used by the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service, the Navajo Nation set up a system to lease parkland through its Parks & Recreation Department.

OUTLOOK IMPROVES WITH THE VIEW

The View Hotel is the first such project. The Nation’s parks department leased land to ARTSCO, a family-owned company led by Armanda Ortega, of the Kiy`anníí – Dine for “Towering House” – Clan. The Ortega family has traded in Indian jewelry, arts and crafts since the early 1800s.

ARTSCO built the 90-room hotel with private funds on the site of a former campground that adjoined the park’s visitor center, using contractors that employ more than 90 percent Native American workers.

The project means a lot to Romona Tayah, assistant superintendent for FCI Constructors, Inc., who lives in a reservation home her parents built the year she was born.

“Maintaining ties to family land given to me and my sisters by my grandmother and mother is what keeps me coming home from wherever my work takes me,” Tayah says.

The View Hotel will employ about 100 people. A percentage of gross revenue on all sales will go to Navajo Parks & Recreation. The Navajo Nation will receive sales tax revenue.

“The hotel goes beyond what have become standard eco-friendly building practices using low-flow water devices, extra insulation, windows with energy-efficient values, and fluorescent lighting,” stated Mike Finney, owner of AZ Communications Group, which has worked with ARTSCO and the Navajo Nation office of tourism.

“There are operable windows in public spaces including the soaring two story lobby that allows for natural air flow for energy efficient cooling,” he says.

Modern utilities and a wastewater treatment plant will be in place before the hotel opens in mid-November, Finney says. Hotel management is taking online reservations now for arrivals beginning Dec. 6, 2008, he says.

QUESTIONS LINGER ABOUT GAMBLING, IMPACTS

Despite the much-heralded project and its promise of new jobs, the long-term effects of bringing more tourist services to the Navajo Nation remain unclear. Information regarding financial benefits – both to the Nation and its workforce – were not immediately available.

Speculation abounds about the role gaming should have in tribal culture. Gaming on Navajo lands was approved in November 2004 by the Navajo people in a referendum vote. The first tribal casino – Fire Rock Casino – is under construction in Window Rock and expected to open in November, Choudhary says.

Choudhary advocates for tribal casinos and would support a casino at the View Hotel. However, he worries about the profit-sharing models used by other Native American tribes, which give between $7,000 and $38,000 to native individuals. A Navajo parks officials says that there is no gaming ever planned for Monument Valley Tribal Park.

“It’s not right to give welfare to people who are able to work. It makes them lazy,” Choudhary says.

But a casino could help fill the gap in government revenue and jobs left by the mining industry, Choudhary says.

= = =

>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Big-box store fight in Chandler postponed

A rezoning request for a controversial commercial retail center in Chandler has been postponed until November.

The Planning and Zoning committee meeting, originally scheduled for Sept. 17th, will be held Nov. 5th, at 5:30 p.m. at the Chandler Public Library.

The center’s developers have drawn criticism for their ties to Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers.

The Riggs Gateway project, to be located on the northeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Riggs Road, has been a heated topic for many Chandler residents.  If the rezoning request is approved any retail business can be built, including Wal-Mart.

Kirk Sibley is president of Riggs Residents for Retail Diversity, Inc., a group opposed to the building of big-box retailers on the property.

Sibley says the projects developers, Diversified Partners, have close ties with Wal-Mart, and have built for them in the past.

His group is not opposed just to Wal-Mart, he says, but to any retail business of that size. They want what they call “neighborhood shopping” and not “destination shopping,” defining “neighborhood shopping” as smaller businesses and restaurants.

In 2004, Wal-Mart unsuccessfully attempted to build in this same location.

City planner Bill Dermody expects a large turnout at the upcoming meeting, with concerned residents ready to vocalize their opinions.

= = =

>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Bank seeks $9.5M from Tucson condo project

TUCSON — A group of California investors intent on converting apartments into condominiums walked out on a $12.6 million loan and is keeping the rent from the units in the meantime, according to a recent complaint.

Texas-based Comerica Bank filed suit against Pantano Coastal LLC and its main principal, Ralph Giannella of La Jolla, Calif., who had received the loan to upgrade and convert 136 apartments near the corner of Broadway and Pantano roads.

It’s the latest sign of the Arizona real estate debacle, which has led to a record number of mechanic liens, loan defaults and foreclosures.

According to the 32-page complaint, Comerica agreed to loan Pantano Coastal money in March 2006. To secure repayment of the loan, Pantano pledged the entire property and its rents as colateral.

But as the real estate scene soured, so did the financial outlook for the condo-conversion project. The maturity date of the loan was extended 90 days until December 2007, and other parts of the deal were tweaked, according to the complaint.

But after the maturity date came and went, Pantano Coastal had yet to make a single payment on the loan, the complaint claims. Any missed payments were subject to a 5 percent charge.

Comerica claims the company also withheld rent monies at the time and did not pay almost $60,000 in property taxes that were due for the site. It is upset because this impairs the bank’s security for the loan.

By the Comerica’s math, Pantano Coastal now owes $9.5 million on the project. It is asking a federal judge in Tucson to rule against the company and foreclose on the property to bring it under bank control.

Phoenix lawyers Mark Nadeau and Allison Harvey are representing Comerica Bank.

What’s old is new again in fast-growing Gilbert

GILBERT — Gilbert is growing up, and it’s actually looking forward to growing old.

Officials for the town where growth has boomed since 2000 are now finalizing maps and information about its Heritage District redevelopment area.

Their goal is to lure more residents from the town’s new master-planned neighborhoods to its historic downtown.

“We want to give the community options other than just the mall and restaurants, for instance, you see at every mall or near every mall,” says Greg Tilque, Gilbert’s development services director. “Places like Hale Centre Theatre, that you can’t get anywhere else in the community.”

The Heritage District, which runs along Gilbert Road, is home to many small, independent shops and restaurants such as C & J’s Antiques & Gardens, Euro Café, Liberty Market and Joe’s BBQ, among others.

The project’s goal is to expand on these current shops and add more retail shops and restaurants as well as some office spaces, Tilque says.

“We’ve been focusing lately on restaurants,” he says. “We think that’s a big key: to have destination-type restaurants that either nobody else has, one-of-a-kind, like Farmhouse, Euro Café, Joe’s BBQ, or like Oregano’s, which has just a few stores but people know of them and it’s not something you’re going to have every place in the Valley.”

The idea is to draw a mix of demographics, with a focus on making it a family-oriented area.
No new taxes have been implemented in Gilbert to fund the project, Tilque says. The main sources of financing are the town’s general fund, impact fees from development, bonds, private donations, and grants.

The plan has been received fairly well by current business owners and residents alike.

“The whole idea of the project is to give an identity,” says NAME one of the owners of C & J’s Antiques & Gardens, a shop along the Heritage District. “I think long-term it will be really good.”

Those who live in the area also agree that the project will benefit the community overall.

“There’s great shops already in downtown Gilbert, but if you add more and make it a more vibrant and robust selection of stores you will end up with more people coming to shop and eat and be entertained down here, and we’ll all be better for it,” says Maria Hesse, of Gilbert.

Two new parks, one under the water tower where concerts and events can be held, will be finished by the end of the year, Tilque says. He also hopes the Heritage Marketplace will be open by next year.

To keep the Heritage District unique, developers are being careful about which businesses they bring into the area as tenants, NAME said one of the owners of C & J’s Antiques & Gardens. They want to recruit independent shops and avoid big chains, she says.

Developers also have architectural guidelines to unify the area. Adobe architecture will be emphasized, according to the official redevelopment plan.

Plans are also in place for a two- or three-story office project, Tilque says. This will hopefully draw more retail stores down to the area.

= = =

>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Rosemont mine will destroy Hohokam ruins, archeologist says

The proposed Rosemont copper mine has been the focus of a huge amount of attention in the Tucson area, but one issue has largely evaded public concern so far: the impact of the mining operation on ancient Hohokam archeological sites in the area.

(I explored the Rosemont issue in depth a few weeks ago in this Zonie Report story.)

The site of the mine contains the ruins of a Hohokam ball field and a large village, says Gayle Hartmann, an archeologist with the Arizona State Museum in Tucson.

The earliest ruins on the property date back almost 1,900 years.

“There’s lots of reasons why this mine shouldn’t be there, and this is certainly one of them,” she says.

The ballcourt and village were initially excavated about 20 years ago during a previous mining company’s exploration of the area.

“It was a large Hohokam village, and it did have a ballcourt,” Hartmann says of the site. “There are not a huge amount of ballcourts in the Tucson area. To have a ballcourt, you had to be a village of some prominence.”

While the ballcourt ruins are not unique, many others have already been destroyed by development.

“It’s not unique, but many of them are gone. They get destroyed,” she says. “From my point of view, this is one more value that we will lose if this mining operation goes through.”

While state law requires that archeological sites be investigated and documented, once the investigation is complete, development projects like the proposed mine can continue, even if they destroy the site in the process.

The Rosemont mine plan of operations devotes only a few paragraphs to the issue of archeological sites.

“The Rosemont Project area has a ranching and mining past, and many relics of these enterprises remain. In addition, evidence from past archaeological surveys indicates that prehistoric sites are present as well,” the plan reads. “Rosemont Project planning has included efforts to reduce the overall footprint of the project to the minimum possible area, thereby avoiding cultural resources to the extent practicable.”

Hartmann estimates that the archeological work will cost the company a minimum of $1 million, and that local tribal representatives will have to be involved.

“In this case, the odds are that the Apache, Zuni and Yaqui will have to be consulted with before anything can go ahead,” she says.

The process could drag out the mine’s development as sites are catalogued and any remains are properly turned over to tribal representatives.

Hartmann, who strongly opposes the mine, says that while the cost of mitigating archeological concerns for the mine site may be pocket change to Rosemont, the time and expense is just one more headache for the company to deal with.

“I think they were naïve when they bought the property. They’re trying to make the public think that everything is hunky-dory,” she says. “They’re beginning to become aware that there is an awful lot that they will have to do before they ever get a mining permit, and mitigating the archeology would be one of them.”

JCR

Conservationists take Madera Canyon project to court

TUCSON — A massive housing project that backs up against one of Southern Arizona’s prime wildlife sites breaks several development rules, and planning officials were wrong to give it the OK, a recent lawsuit claims.

The complaint from Friends of Madera Canyon stems from a 744-acre subdivision called Cielo Madera that, ironically, is backed by one of their own members.

The nonprofit group includes avid birdwatchers, nature photographers, biologists and archaeologists from all over the world. Also in that group is Mike Kettenbach of Tucson, a lifetime member who owns much of the grassland area at the foot of Madera Canyon, which rises up 5,000 feet from the desert floor 40miles southeast of Tucson.

In January, Pima County officials approved a tentative plan to build a “conservation subdivision” on the land east of Madera Canyon Road, the main entryway for hikers and other public users of the canyon.

The county has special rules for these types of subdivisions. They force developers to build a project that preserves peaks, riparian habitat, native plants, wildlife corridors and archaeological sites, for example. The biggest stickler is that they must set aside at least 50 percent of the project area as permanent, natural open space with deed restrictions.

The complaint claims the approved project breaks those rules. Preliminary plans filed with the county show a new 65-foot-wide roadway slashing through the northern reaches of the project’s conservation areas. It also shows another 65-foot-wide roadway running east-to-west off the end of this road and leading out to far-off housing parcels.

Then there’s the 20-foot driveway connecting those parcels together, the complaint states. And a 30-foot-wide “utility easement” whose purpose is not indicated in the plans. And one-acre lots that are configured so densely to make up for open space that they block wildlife corridors.

“The new roadways require substantial grading in the [conservation] area, including grading for wash crossings,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit is the latest step in an effort that began this spring when the group filed two appeals of the project with Pima County officials. The first was rejected while the second one failed in June because of four of the five mebers of the Pima County Board of Adjustment, a citizen panel that presides over development cases, were present.

The vote ended in a 2-2 tie. Under rules of parliamentary procedure, the appeal is rejected.

So Pima County Superior Court Judge Paul Tang now has the case. Tucson lawyer Katharina Richter is representing Friends of Madera Canyon.

Oro Valley church retaliates for Town Hall ‘vendetta’

ORO VALLEY — A leading church for wedding services is accusing town planners of foiling their expansion plan because they lost a lucrative eminent domain case against the church.

The lawsuit in Pima County Superior Court comes from Reflections at the Buttes Community Fellowship, an Arizona nonprofit whose for-profit arm makes money on weddings through its licensed minister, John Fazio.

The church leased a scenic piece of property in the Santa Catalina foothills in 2000. At the time, part of the premises were used as a residence and the other part served as a church.

Fazio submitted plans to Oro Valley Town Hall in order to renovate the residence. Part of the intention was to include adult day care services at the facility.

But Reflections officials claim Oro Valley officials, including building safety administrator Terry Vosler, stonewalled the project because of the town had recently tried to seize part of the church’s property through eminent domain and lost in court. A jury rendered a six-figure verdict against the town.

Reflections staff claim Vosler hid their renovation plans under his desk and changed them to delay the project as part of a "vendetta," the complaint states. The church filed a notice of claim against the town, which officials rejected.

So they followed up with a lawsuit seeking damages for lost income and legal fees. Tucson lawyers Clifford Altfeld and Maya Kashak are representing the church.

He put the ‘Rock’ in Rocky Point

TEMPE — Roger Clyne is a ball of energy. His flip-flops shuffle about as he squirms in his seat. In one week, he and his band, The Peacemakers, will play for another packed sandlot in Rocky Point for “Circus Mexicus,” a concert the band puts on every May and October. It lures fans from as far away as Oklahoma.

Clyne and his band set a frenetic pace. They play a blistering, four-hour set of songs for the Rocky Point shows that reach back 10 years or more. They have opened for Willie Nelson, John Fogerty, Blues Traveler and more. They tour constantly. And somewhere in between all of this, they had time to write and record the theme song for the television series “King of the Hill.”

Clyne is on a roll, the very picture of the quintessential happy rockstar who has found his niche and is working hard to expand it.

But beneath the musical trappings is a college-educated, Valley native who worries that the essence of Rocky Point — a once-sleepy Mexican fishing town that is the inspiration for many of Clyne’s clever tunes — is giving way to condominium towers and country club living.

It’s a long way from the days when he would park his dinosaur Toyota FJ Landcruiser on Sandy Beach, camp in the vehicle’s shadow and “launch fireworks, drink beer, and go swimmin’.”

He laments the latest condo-building craze, but remains hopeful for the town’s future.

“I see a lot of potential,” he says. “I see a lot of potential for community inclusion. I think inclusion is part of the solution. And I hope that it can go that way.”

---

---

INTERACTIVES

Roger Clyne speaks out on…

• Growing up with Rocky Point
• Favorite Rocky Point places
• Development in Rocky Point and along the Sea of Cortez
• Rocky Point today, environmental awareness
• Climate change and the idea of a ‘Live Peñasco’ concert
• Download a printable transcript

---

---

However, Clyne couldn’t offer a prediction for Rocky Point’s near future because, he said, he never could have predicted what the town has become now.

The development trend does not look good, he said.

“Based on the evidence of how growth is going, I see a real risk that greed may rule the day,” Clyne said. “I hope that that doesn’t happen. I hope that people, locals, and watchdog organizations … will be able to have their voices heard by the developers and present evidence that the long-term economic health and survival of the region is dependent on the preservation of beauty and community.”

GROWING UP WITH PEÑASCO

Clyne is an third-generation Arizonan who was born in Tucson and raised in Phoenix and Tempe. He attended Brophy High School, a Catholic school for boys downtown, then moved to Tempe and graduated from McClintock High. With the exception of a brief stint living overseas, he has never lived more than three miles from where he grew up.

That includes Rocky Point, where he vacations with his wife and their three children in a home that his father-in-law owns in Cholla Bay, Rocky Point’s original “suburb” [Clyne said he loves it for its "cul-de-sacness".]

His house is just a short walk from JJ’s Cantina where, as a teenager, Clyne would steal away from Tempe with friends who were just getting their learner’s permits to drive.

“You didn’t feel like a criminal, but an outlaw,” he recalled. “You got to go to this dusty little border town that was on the sea. For better or for worse, you could probably convince the bartender to get ya a couple of beers and…it was great adventure. And that’s proper adolescent adventure.”

As Clyne matured, his travels to Rocky Point and other parts of Mexican brought him closer to the cultural side of Latin America. He began to understand and respect the idea of “less is more” and the average Mexican’s way of life.

That includes the idea of “siesta” — a period in the afternoon where Mexicans take a break and life grinds to a halt [much to the frustration of get-it-done "gringos."]

It’s the idea that time isn’t money down there, and Clyne likes it immensely.

“The idea of “siesta” – to close a business down for rest, relaxation, community time – it’s great,” he said. “If I ever run for office, it will be on the “siesta” platform. I would. I think it’s a great thing.”

In college at Arizona State University, Clyne broadened his Mexico experience further with a study abroad in the Ensenada region of Baja California. He studied ethnography — which focuses on people and cultures — for his bachelor’s in psychology and minor in anthropology.

“Another thing I fell in love with was the fact that the people would passionately celebrate life with sound and color and events and could do so much with so little,” Clyne said wistfully. “I thought that had a certain grace to it and I was really enamored of it.”

He was hooked. And he sheepishly admits that he was on the “seven-year” program.

“I was on the ‘How long can I keep getting financial aid to support my musical endeavors’ program,” Clyne said, laughing. “I ran out the Pell Grants. They were like, ‘Hey, you’ve got 170 (credit) hours. You gotta get outta here.’”

DOING RIGHT BY ‘ROCKY POINT’

But things began to change in Rocky Point in the late 1990s. By the time Clyne was deep into his musical career — first with The Refreshments, then as the frontman for The Peacemakers — the town was following Arizona’s real estate boom with new resorts, beach-front homes, condominiums, ATV rentals and more.

Price began to climb, and with them came a Cabo San Lucas atmosphere. As of last summer, about 17,000 new rooms, 8,500 new houses and 522 new boat slips were coming to Rocky Point, according to a study by CEDO, an environmental watchdog group.

Mexican authorities, meanwhile, are planning massive housing and transportation projects north of Rocky Point that would pipe San Diego residents into the region. Developers are banking on these projects to support their own plans, which is driving today’s construction craze.

“It’s appealing from an economic standpoint,” Clyne acknowledged. “Hopefully, it could raise the standard of living for the average Mexican citizen. However, it needs to be done with conscience and with an awareness of the impact.”

Town officials should be supporting more ecotourism projects such as those that are popping up throughout resorts in the Caribbean, Clyne said. Reports have surfaced where upscale developments are using solar power, recycling programs, greywater catchments to capture rain and used water and other tools to lure affluent, environmentally conscious tourists.

He’d like to see this in Rocky Point — along with a healthy dose of community involvement.

“When I drive in and I see that there’s more smog, more traffic, the skyline is dominated more and more by very very large buildings…I have my objections personally,” Clyne said. “But at the same time, I know that those things are there as a bi-product of people enjoying and falling in love with a certain environment.

“I just hope,” he added, “that in the rush to enjoy that environment – recreationally or however you want to do it – we don’t lose sight of its fragility and its…you know, it needs to be taken care of and maintained. Or we’ll create a ghetto, you know? A million- dollar ghetto. Which happens. We gotta be careful.”

= = =

>>Email the reporter at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Solar incentives divide Valley small businesses

PHOENIX — With the price of oil reaching record levels, federal and state lawmakers have started to put major emphasis on research for alternative means of energy.

In Arizona, where we average 325 days of sunlight a year, much of the focus has been turning to solar energy as the state has been implementing solar energy requirements for commercial buildings. At an average cost of $210,000 dollars per solar energy unit, many businesses simply cannot afford to meet the standards required of them.

So in order to encourage the use of solar power and facilitate the process of meeting the solar standards, the state and federal government are offering a variety of financial incentives for business that are going green.

This works well for small companies that are large enough to afford it. But many businesses who can’t are outraged by the use of their tax dollars.

At a recent seminar on sustainability hosted by a local utility company, business owners in the Valley had mixed reactions to the incentives. Some were generally happy with the help they were receiving to go green, while others who couldn’t afford the cost of solar panels were outraged by the fact that their tax dollars were going to pay for their competitor’s installation.

At times, it seemed like the seminar hosted by Arizona Public Service Co. was more of a debate.

“Everyone wants to use solar energy these days,” says Saba Arzanzarrin, vice president of operations for Micor Communications Inc. in Scottsdale, a valley subcontractor for Cox Communications. “What people don’t understand is that solar costs a lot of money.”

To combat the high cost of installation, the state of Arizona offers to pay for 10 percent of the installation cost or as much as $25,000 for one building and $50,000 for two, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council website. The Valley’s largest power distribution companies, APS and Salt River Project, offer similar rebates as well.

In addition, if the property meets certain federal requirements, the owner is entitled to deduct 50 percent of the adjusted basis of the property for taxes in 2008. Companies are also entitled to deduct 100 percent of the sales tax on eligible equipment, and APS and SRP are offering similar programs that give discounts for different amounts depending on the watts put out by the solar energy system.

“There are a lot of incentives,” says Joe Arpaia, a spokesman for Vertical Mapping Resources, a company in Scottsdale that provides high resolution aerial photography for clients throughout the United States. “But there are also a lot of regulations that need to be met.”

To meet the statewide, commercial buildings must derive 30 percent of their energy from renewable energy sources by 2012, according to the IREC website.

The state has also been considering requiring net metering systems. Net metering records the amount of re-usable energy and credits the company based on amount of energy used at a given rate. While meeting the standards may prove challenging for some businesses, using the incentives in place should help facilitate the process for some companies.

= = =

>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Next Page »