If all goes as planned, by the end of 2008, the east side of Hwy. 260 between Fir Street and the Verde Valley Manor will have city sewer service. In doing so, it will provide some needed infrastructure that can lead to development of that commercial area, according to city officials.
The sewer line currently exists on the west side of the highway out to Rodeo Drive. Now the city wants to take it across the roadway to serve the commercial strip there.
“We have development heating up out there and they’re going to want services,” Dan Lueder, utilities director for Cottonwood, said.
A major part of the plan is to have a lift station, No. Six, just north of Verde Valley Manor, which will allow the city to connect into the complex’s current sewer plant.
The manor and other properties along the section will drain to the lift station and out to a pipe along Hwy. 260 back to a tie-in with the city’s line and on to the wastewater plant on W. Mingus Avenue.
Tom Green, the general manager of Verde Valley Manor, on Godard Road, said he thinks tying into the city’s sewer system is a good thing.
“It will serve the manor well, but our board will have to consider it. They’ll make the final decision,” Green said.
Currently, the manor has its own wastewater system. It was built 28 years ago and has been upgraded.
“It’s operating well for us,” he said.
Looking into the future, Lueder said the next step is to bring water along the corridor.
“I think we’ll see some pretty sizable development once we get the sewer and the water in. Some places have been waiting,” he said.
As far as when construction may start, Lueder said probably by summer 2008.
“Coe and Van Loo [Consultants] will finish their study by June, then we’ll have a study session with the council in July. We’ve requested $1.9 million from the council for this project,” he said.
The city also will need Arizona Department of Environmental Quality approval.
“Conceivably by the end of 2008 we’ll have this in,” Lueder said.
The lack of infrastructure in that nearly 1¼-mile section has been a holdup in some cases, according to George Gehlert, community development director for Cottonwood.
There has been a lot of interest in those commercial properties out there on the east side of Hwy. 260.
“We spoke to a developer who’s interested in the previous Lowe’s property as an open commercial site with various size stores and maybe a restaurant,” Gehlert said.
The Cottonwood City Council recently approved a proposal from Coe and Van Loo Consultants to perform a study in an amount not to exceed $57,400.
For more information, call 634-5055 or 634-8247.
