SV council opts for fire hydants, accessibilty

By Matt Brabb
Connection Editor

The council for the Town of Star Valley voted to pursue a town wide fire hydrant system and to improve handicapped accessibility at the new town hall when it applies for a 2010 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).

The grant, estimated to be as much as $140,000, is administered by the State of Arizona’s Department of Housing.

Among several possibilities, the council opted for fire protection, and wheelchair accessibility.

Only a few subdivisions in Star Valley currently have fire hydrants, including The Knolls. The council is seeking to extend that protection to the rest of the town.

A town wide special income survey will be needed to determine if the entire town, or only specific sections will be eligible to receive grant money. At least 51 percent of citizens served by the CDBG grants must be of low to moderate income.

The council expressed a hope that the entire town would qualify, but in the event that it does not, they can resubmit a proposal to cover the areas of the town that will.

Star Valley Water and Sewer Commissioner Vern Leis explained that the town could operate a fire protection system even though the town is not a municipal water supplier because the water in fire hydrants does not have to be potable.

The other improvement the town would like to make via CDBG grant money is to renovate the new town hall and make it handicapped accessible.

“We need to be wheelchair accessible, (so) we can service all the members of our community on the upper level (of the new town hall),” Town Manager Timothy Grier told the council.

“We want to follow both the letter and the spirit of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act),” he added.

Cindy Schofield, the town’s CDBG representative from Central Arizona Association of Governments, explained to the council that they could only choose two projects when putting the application together.

A third option considered by the council was bank stabilization, a concern that has emerged in light of recent flooding in the town.

Grier, who also serves as the town attorney, advised the council not to pursue that option.

“It is fraught with legal problems,” he said, explaining that problems would arise because the land under consideration was private property.

“You would also have problems with the Army Corp of Engineers,” he added.

Councilor George Binney expressed a wish to use CDBG funds to conduct an engineering study for flood retention basins, noting the low cost of such an undertaking. However, given the fact that the town was limited to two projects, that option was eventually scrapped.