Goodyear staff propose parcel-based water allocation policy to guide development

Barbara Chappell, the city's Water Services director, presented a draft water resource allocation policy at a Goodyear City Council work session, saying the proposal would assign a fixed "paper water" allocation to every undeveloped parcel inside the city's service area and set rules for large water users and annexations.

The proposal matters because the city is a designated provider with a 100-year assured water supply and has an active application to the State Department of Water Resources to add roughly 10,000 acre-feet per year to its portfolio, Chappell said. She warned the council that uncertainty on the Colorado River makes clearer internal rules important for growth management and for communicating expectations to the development community.

Under the draft policy, staff would use the city's integrated water master plan and the land-use layer to assign an allocation for each undeveloped parcel. Chappell gave a numeric example: a 100-acre parcel assigned single-family residential at four dwelling units per acre would receive…