Clarkdale Planning Commission meetings are not usually momentous occasions. But when the five-member commission met on May 21 to discuss a potential Arizona Public Safety 69 kilovolt substation on State Route 89A, dozens of Clarkdale residents showed up, mostly in opposition.
The meeting, which in recent months had been held in the police annex while the Clubhouse’s Men’s Lounge has been under construction, took place in the auditorium to accommodate the larger crowd.
APS hopes to build its new substation on the highway leading out of Clarkdale towards Jerome, just past the Number 1 convenience store and gas station. The plan also includes building a new fire station next door. Clarkdale Planning Manager Beth Escobar gave a staff recommendation in favor of the project, but residents spoke out against the zoning change that would come with the new electrical facility, allowing for a power station in a relatively rural area that had been zoned for small neighborhood buildings.
“The current plan designates this area as neighborhood commercial, and neighborhood commercial is much different than just regular commercial,” Steve Chafetz, a Clarkdale resident who opposes the construction, said at the meeting. “It’s meant to have visual amenities that are preserved. It’s meant to have businesses that conserve the surrounding neighborhood.”
Chafetz argued that the town had already developed its expectations for expansion in the area under the general plan, and that it did not make sense for the town to change its future without full consideration.
APS representative Kendra Lee made the case for the substation. She pointed to Clarkdale’s projected growth, which would eventually begin to tax the Cottonwood substation that Clarkdale and Jerome currently rely on. Lee said that APS had chosen the site based on “availability of land, size and condition of the property, adjacency to existing 69kV transmission power lines needed to serve the substation, and proximity to existing distribution power lines needed to serve our customers.”
Lee also made the case that the Clarkdale substation would not be the eyesore many residents worried about, with 12 foot block walls surrounding the trans- formers and blocking them from view. The walls would be a light beige color intended to blend in with the surrounding architecture and landscape of the area. Most of the electrical equipment will be obscured and only 4 feet of the tallest structure of the substation will be visible over the walls.
The substation is intended to follow all noise regulations for the area, and not expected to increase traffic past the site.
“Our intent is to make this site disappear as much as possible for a substation,” Lee said.
APS’ assurances were not enough for many in attendance. Jerome Mayor Alex Barber read a letter to the Clarkdale Planning Commission on behalf of herself and Jerome Town Manager Candace Gallagher:
- “[State Route] 89A is Jerome’s only corridor to the Verde Valley. Our concern in Jerome is related primarily to:
- “The aesthetics of a large, 350’ x 350’ substation at the base of Cleopatra Hill, where visitors leaving the roundabouts on 89A first begin to feel they are moving toward Jerome
- “Traffic impacts, especially during construction, that could affect our residents and visitors; and
- “Very importantly, the danger of a fire at that location, which would block access in or out of Jerome and in a worst case scenario, travel uphill and threaten our town.”
The Clarkdale Planning Commission responded to the vigorous debate by punting. They did not vote to approve the zoning change for the substation but rather sought a joint work session with the Clarkdale Town Council to discuss the controversial issue, set for June 18.
“These are the issues we need to look at before we can give you a firm recommendation,”Commissioner Jorge Olguin said.
