Apache Junction approves $1.8M IGA amendment with Central Arizona College to build Palm Wash detention basin; awards $1.447M construction contract

Apache Junction’s City Council on June 2 approved an amendment to a development agreement with Central Arizona College to fund design and construction of stormwater detention basins intended to reduce downstream flooding on Palm Wash.

Public Works Director Mike Loggins told the council the amendment covers design costs of roughly $300,000 and construction costs of about $1.5 million; the college has agreed to reimburse the city about $1.8 million over three years under the amendment. “They have agreed in this amendment to fund this project roughly about $1.8 million,” Loggins said.

Council then approved Resolution No. 26-29 authorizing the city to enter the intergovernmental agreement amendment. The vote was unanimous.

Staff later presented a construction contract to build the 12-acre detention basin and channel. The cooperative contract uses Mojave County’s job-order-contracting (JOC) arrangement and names Rumble Construction, Inc. as the contractor. The dollar amount presented for the award and approved by council was $1,447,698.07. The motion to award the contract passed unanimously.

Loggins said the basins are expected to capture about 100 to 200 cubic feet per second of flow from Palm Wash, reducing peak flows that otherwise move downstream during heavy storms. He described a design that will pull water into detention basins, allow sediments to settle and move water into dry wells so it percolates into the ground rather than immediately flowing downstream.

Council members questioned enforcement and assurances of reimbursement. Loggins explained the agreement is an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the college and said the city’s legal recourse if CAC fails to pay would be to seek a court order for specific performance rather than rely on a performance bond. “There is no performance bond…we can actually take them to court and we can get a judge to order them for what’s called specific performance,” Loggins said.

Council also discussed whether the presentation’s language referred to acres or acre-feet for one of the basins; Loggins and staff clarified the original agreement used the term “five acre feet” in places and said the final design and depth will determine storage geometry.

Construction was expected to begin within roughly 30 days of contract signature, staff said.

The approval of the amendment and the construction contract together represent a coordinated effort by the city to complete drainage infrastructure the 2010 agreement left unfinished and to reduce flood risk for nearby neighborhoods.

What’s next: the city will proceed with design and move to construction on the schedule laid out by staff; CAC is to make its first payment before July 1 under the reimbursement schedule described to council.