A contractor’s winning bid to reconstruct part of Magee Road in the Northwest is $7.3 million less than the engineer’s estimate, affirming an environment of competitive road construction pricing and encouraging Pima County officials to continue with aggressive fast-tracking of projects.

The Ashton Company, Inc., of Tucson bid $15.74 million to rebuild Magee from Mona Lisa to La Cañada. Ashton’s bid was the lowest among 11 qualified bids for the work. Pima County Supervisors approved the contract award Feb. 15.

The engineer’s estimate for the project was $23.05 million, about one-third higher than the awarded contract.

Pima County has worked to bring projects to bid as quickly as possible so it can take advantage of the current construction cost market, according to Rick Ellis, engineering division manager for the Pima County Department of Transportation. As an example in the Northwest, taxpayers are paying $13.2 million to improve La Cañada between Ina and Calle Concordia. The engineer’s estimate for that work, which was bid in late summer 2009, was $22.6 million.

“That trend is continuing,” Ellis said. The Magee bid “was the sign we wanted, with good, competitive bids. It’s been worth it, the time and effort” to accelerate design and engineering work. “Unequivocally, that paid off,” he continued. “We have outstanding pricing. I’m ecstatic over the opportunity.”

This central Magee Road improvement is the first of three phases of work on the east-west roadway between Oracle and Thornydale roads. The current project extends along Magee from the area of Mona Lisa and Shannon roads on the west, across La Cholla and a reconfigured “jug handle” intersection, and on to La Cañada on the east. It’ll physically intersect with the La Cañada project “that will be wrapping up this summer and fall,” Ellis said.

Preliminary work has begun on Magee, to include vegetation salvage and utility relocation. Detour construction is anticipated. The county plans “partnering sessions” with those involved during March or early April.

“My expectation is construction would begin sometime in April,” Ellis said. The first order of construction business is drainage work, and installation of a large box culvert on the Carmack Wash where it crosses beneath the roadway. Total project length is 440 working days.

Central Magee is the first of four county projects “stacked this summer” to take advantage of the bidding environment, Ellis continued. Upcoming are bids on the south end of La Cañada, between River and Ina, a total project estimated at $35.75 million to widen La Cañada to four lanes for .8 of 1 mile; the north end of La Cholla, from Magee to Overton, with an engineer’s total project estimate of $28.7 million to take that 2.5-mile roadway from two to four lanes; and the western section of Magee, from Thornydale to Mona Lisa, an estimated $32.92 million widening to four lanes for 1.9 miles.

“It’s a nice little stagger, a nice sequencing,” Ellis said.

Funds for the Magee work come from the voter-approved Regional Transportation Authority sales tax (84 percent), impact fees (11 percent), and state-shared highway user revenue funds (5 percent). The Magee project represents the last of Pima County’s obligations for the five-year first phase of work under the RTA mandate approved by voters in May 2006, Ellis said.

“We will fulfill that legal obligation to the voters,” he concluded.

Copyright 2011 The Explorer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pima County officials have come out with another reason why wastewater treatment should remain under a single, region-wide entity — cost.

In the ongoing dispute over ownership of a small wastewater treatment facility in northern Marana, the county has released an economic analysis that shows the costs of treatment at the Marana Wastewater Treatment Facility run more than five times those of other county facilities.

Jackson Jenkins, director of the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, presented the analysis to the Marana Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

According to the analysis, the low capacity at the facility contributes to the difference in treatment costs.

The Marana facility costs about $4,100 to treat an acre-foot of wastewater, compared to $720 to treat the same volume of water at the Ina Road Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The Marana facility serves the Gladden Farms area, while the Ina Road facility serves the Continental Ranch and Dove Mountain areas of town.

County officials estimate the average cost per acre-foot for treatment throughout the system costs $664. An acre-foot equals about 325,000 gallons.

Costs are kept lower for ratepayers throughout the county’s service area because they are based on the average costs of treatment.

The county estimates that treatment costs to Marana residents would increase by 13 percent, while costs for conveyance and pumping waste to the facility would increase eightfold from $5 to $40 per year if the town took over the facility.

The analysis follows a thus-far successful effort on the part of Marana to get a law passed in the Arizona Legislature that would allow a city or town to take over county-operated sewer systems.

The proposed law, SB 1171, has met with approval from the full Arizona Senate and awaits movement in the House. The entire delegations from Legislative Districts 25 and 26 endorsed the proposal.

The districts include all of Oro Valley and Marana and much of Pima County.

Marana Chamber president Ed Stolmaker said the organization supports the town’s efforts to get a wastewater treatment facility.

“If we don’t ensure water resources for the future, the costs will be enormous,” Stolmaker said.

The town’s efforts have been aimed at gaining access to long-term water futures. State and federal laws mandate a gallon-for-gallon replacement of groundwater.

Currently, Marana water utility only uses to groundwater and does not receive an allocation of effluent or treated water. A large number of residents receive water from Tucson Water.

If it operated a treatment facility, the town could use effluent for recharge purposes and for turf and golf course irrigation. That would increase Marana’s ability to grow in the future by minimizing its groundwater consumption.

“I believe with SB 1171, it will put us in a position that will help us in the future,” Stolmaker said.

County officials oppose the legislation, saying it would unfairly transfer assets paid for by its ratepayers to Marana without fair compensation. The county also has argued that law could result in the fragmentation of the regional treatment system, creating rate disparities throughout the region.

Marana and Pima County have been at odds over wastewater treatment since 2007, when the town annexed the area that includes the small treatment facility in the northern part of the town.

The town council at the time broke an intergovernmental agreement with the county, established in 1979 to provide wastewater treatment services for Marana, and asserted the right to take ownership of the treatment facility.

The county quickly reclassified the area as a park to prevent Marana from taking the facility.

Following that, Marana filed a lawsuit against the county in an effort to gain the treatment facility.

While a final resolution to the case has not been reached, a judge last year ruled that the facility belongs to county. The judge also decided that Marana has a rightful claim to some of the infrastructure nearby including pipelines.

Copyright 2011 The Explorer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Published:

It has been six months since the new council took office. As we approach the end of the calendar year, I wanted to share my New Year’s resolutions for Oro Valley as we look towards an exciting and bright 2011.

• Expand and foster opportunities for our community to engage with its local government at all levels. This is truly one of the top priorities for the council. Ways in which we are doing this today include the Council on Your Corner program, coffee groups in local businesses, speaking engagements at your homeowners’ associations, community and civic groups, and through our monthly community newsletter, the Oro Valley Vista.

We want to do more, and we want to hear from our residents on ways that we can do that. Every council member is accessible — just pick up the phone and call us, or send us an e-mail at town hall.

• Strengthen our economic foundation by aggressively marketing our community to employers looking to grow their businesses if they’re already here, or bring new ventures into the market. We’ve had tremendous success this year with the announcement of the Ventana/Roche expansion and the University of Arizona’s BIO5 incubator program. We are also targeting other industries, and as the economy begins to show signs of improvement, we anticipate our efforts will be successful.

• Build stronger regional partnerships. Marana and Oro Valley have unique assets in the Northwest upon which we can build a strong economic strategy to attract and retain quality employment and a healthy tourism market. We’re excited to begin this planning with the first-ever joint town council study session that will be held in January.

• Most importantly, I want to make time count. I am a firm believer that time is a precious commodity for all of us these days, and we all want to make sure that when it’s spent, it’s spent wisely, because you can’t get it back. If you’re volunteering for the town, we want to make sure your time is being well spent and your efforts are making a difference. If you take the time to attend a council meeting, we want to make sure that our discussions are pertinent and relevant to getting the job done. If you are taking the time to utilize one of the town’s services or programs, we want you to feel there was value in those efforts.

As we close the curtain on 2010, on behalf of my fellow council members, as well as all of the employees of the Town, we want to extend a warm holiday wish to all of the residents in Oro Valley. It is an honor and privilege to serve as your mayor, and I thank you for your support as we. Have a safe and happy holiday season.

The Catalina Foothills School District Governing Board agreed Tuesday night to put off a vote on enhancements to its bus facilities in the face of continued opposition from neighbors.

Nearby residents remain concerned that the proposed changes don't mesh with the character of their rustic area.

The vote will happen in December instead, in part to give the Catalina Foothills Association a chance to have a community meeting next Tuesday to discuss changes being proposed on a district-owned, 6-acre parcel in the residential neighborhood just northeast of North Campbell Avenue and East River Road.

District officials said improvements to the current site are needed for a number of reasons, saying a new facility will provide a break room and restrooms for drivers, who now must use portable toilets. The construction of a bus bay will allow mechanics to do repairs on the buses. It will allow the district to address soil erosion on the property and replace an underground fuel tank with an above-ground tank meeting tighter environmental standards.

In all, district officials say the nearly $1 million project will save as much as $250,000 over five years.

Neighbors, who were initially unhappy to find out accidentally that the district had plans to park and drive the buses deeper into the neighborhood, raising safety and aesthetic concerns, now say they're happier with some of the promises made by district officials.

Officials have agreed to keep the bus parking where it already is, instead of expanding it further into the neighborhood, and to keep the northern portion of the land as a storage facility.

They've agreed verbally to limit the lighting on site, say they will do only light repair work at the facility and say the new fleet of buses coming into the district will meet far more stringent pollution standards and may even be quieter.

But neighbors don't have those assurances in writing and say they're concerned that no matter what the intentions of the board, things could change.

Some want the district to find a new site, saying they're concerned any expansion could conflict with the historic character of the area. And they questioned the rush, especially with the potential for a vote two days before Thanksgiving, when many residents weren't able to attend. "I don't think it's too much to ask for a collaborative approach to rethink this," said resident Will Pew.

District Superintendent Mary Kamerzell said while there is no attempt to "game" the neighborhood by pulling a bait-and-switch and reverting to the earlier plan at a later date, she also warned board members that they cannot stop future boards from changing the plan.

She also warned the board that it had to make a decision soon, since construction could take seven months and the facility needs to be ready when the new school year starts in August.

Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at rbodfield@azstarnet.com or 573-4243.

The visitors and convention bureau will receive its allocation of $2.6 million to promote tourism here this year, but in return it will have to undergo a performance audit and report on its activities regularly to the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

The decision to audit the bureau and ask for quarterly reports came Tuesday after Jonathan Walker, Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau president and CEO, finally agreed to meet with the board, which has been demanding an accounting from him for months on how the agency spends the bed-tax funding it receives from local hotel room rentals.

That funding must go toward tourism promotion. Although the county currently has no other agency it could give the money to, the supervisors voted unanimously to clamp down on how those funds are spent. County officials had been withholding the funding until they heard an accounting from the bureau.

The five supervisors questioned Walker for about an hour.

Some of their questions and his answers:

• The economic impact of the bureau's marketing, advertising and other publicity efforts: The bureau has brought 44,000 people to conventions and meetings, equaling 166,000 room nights booked at local hotels and resorts, and $65 million in economic impact.

The bureau has tracked 3 million unique visitors on its website annually. Although Walker offered no verification of how many of those website visitors ever actually came here and spent money, he contended that translated into $334 million in economic impact.

• Walker's salary: He makes $191,000 - health and retirement benefits boost his total package to $237,000. Total bureau payroll: $2 million annually for 35 full-time employees and seven part-time employees.

• Whether the bureau employs a lobbyist: It has an $18,000 annual contract with a lobbyist in Phoenix.

Supervisor Ray Carroll said he wants to see if state law can be changed to allow the county to ask for bids on the tourism promotion funding instead of automatically giving it to the visitors bureau.

Carroll also wanted to withhold 25 percent of the funding pending the performance audit results. There could be legal problems with that, considering the funding is designated by state law, said Supervisor Sharon Bronson, but they asked the performance audit committee to look at whether the county can withhhold some of the money.

In other business, the supervisors unanimously approved a new rent schedule for horse racing at Rillito Race Track. The Pima County Horsemen's Association will pay $6,500 in 2011 - up from $3,750 - with annual increases until the rent reaches $14,000 in 2014.

Soccer supporters implored the board to approve a higher rent to make the fees for that park more fair.

Before the vote, Gary Davidson, a member of the Pima County Parks Commission, told the board it's fair to raise the association's rent because the county has spent $539,000 on the horse-racing facility in the last three years.

But Patti Shirley, vice president of the horsemen's association, said the groups paying higher fees, including the University of Arizona's Spring Fling and the Celtic Festival, have not complained about the horse racing rent. The only complaints, Shirley said, have come from soccer users who don't pay any rent but pay fees to light the fields at night.

The board also unanimously agreed to go ahead with the University of Arizona on plans to remove two buildings at the top of Tumamoc Hill and install a 125-foot tower to accommodate a new public-safety radio system and other broadcast users.

The decision followed three public meetings, where most public comments sought assurances that walking and hiking access to the popular trail on the hill would be protected. The county requested written confirmation from the university that the hill would remain open to recreational users after the construction of the new tower.

 Pima County Actions

Tumamoc Hill

• Approved plans for new public-safety communication tower.

Rillito Race Track

• Approved a rent increase and new four-year lease with horse-racing organization.

Tourism

• Told the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau it needs to submit to a performance audit to receive continued funding.

Contact reporter Andrea Kelly at akelly@azstarnet.com or 807-7790.

If medical marijuana dispensaries open in Pima County, they won't be allowed to locate in neighborhoods.

In anticipation state voters will decriminalize marijuana for medical use Nov. 2, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved code changes about how medical marijuana will be grown and sold. The local regulations go above and beyond language in the statewide ballot measure.

While Proposition 203 - the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act - regulates who would be able to use marijuana, it does not restrict the location of marijuana dispensaries, aside from being at least 500 feet from schools.

The board voted marijuana sales should be restricted to CB2 zoning, which is for larger commercial operations and bars.

Supervisors also required dispensaries have someone on staff licensed to dispense drugs, which is not required by the initiative.

And the board ruled sales must be from a fixed location, shutting down a point raised in the debate over the initiative, that "canibus caravans" would be cruising neighborhoods.

"One of the most important parts of this is to make sure we don't have 'grow houses' in residential neighborhoods; that would be very problematic," chief deputy Pima County Attorney Amelia Craig Cramer said. "The board acted in a proactive manner. They are providing very significant protection of children."

In addition to restricting medical marijuana dispensaries to areas designated commercial, the county on Tuesday decided dispensaries must be at least 1,000 feet away from schools, drug treatment faculties, libraries and churches.

The supervisors also rewrote the county health code to specify that the marijuana dispensaries must hire someone who is licensed to dispense drugs under the Arizona Controlled Substances Act.

"That makes sense. We are pushing for a clinical environment and having someone licensed on staff will reinforce that this is about medicine," said Andrew Myers of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project, which led the citizen initiative. "We allowed for flexibility for municipalities."

Dispensaries may have an off-site location for cultivation of the marijuana, but in Pima County that would need to be in a commercial area, too. The board decided not to allow off-site cultivation in industrial areas. Craig Cramer said other cities have had problems with such sites in industrial areas being used as fronts for illegal drug operations. Myers disagrees, however - he says industrial areas are more easy to secure.

The supervisors decided to revisit the code changes six months after Prop. 203 takes effect, to determine whether there are unintended consequences.

While county officials said it's important to be ready for 203's passage, Myers said the board's actions Tuesday were unnecessarily fast and precluded discussion on issues such as cultivation in industrial areas.

"I wish they would wait until after the election and have an informed discussion," he said. "Right now I see this being used as a political opportunity. We have plenty of time."

To obtain medical marijuana, people over the age of 18 with one of the qualifying conditions would need a written "certification" - instead of a prescription - from a doctor, naturopath or homeopath. The certification would qualify them for a card from the Arizona Department of Health Services, allowing them to legally buy 2.5 ounces of marijuana every 14 days.

State health officials would regulate the marijuana and expect to begin issuing cards in March or April. About 120 nonprofit dispensaries would be allowed in Arizona if 203 passes. The measure lists specific medical conditions including cancer, Crohn's disease and chronic pain that would allow a patient to qualify.

On StarNet: Stephanie Innes brings you the latest health information in her blog, Tucson Health and Wellness, at go.azstarnet.com/health

Contact Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or Sinnes@azstarnet.com

Published:

On the surface, reconstruction of La Cañada Road from Calle Concordia to Ina is a $13.2 million road improvement.

Beneath the surface, literally, it is an enormous drainage project.

This portion of the La Cañada project crosses five major washes, each one a little different from the next. There are 22 culverts, six of them major. Of the total project cost, "one third of the project cost-wise is directly attributable to drainage," according to Rick Ellis, engineering division manager for the Pima County Department of Transportation.

"What people see and feel and experience as a new roadway is only a small part of what it costs," Ellis said. "It's about moving water."

"It's ironic, we live in the desert, and we do all this work to move water," said Ed Anderson, project manager for contractor KE&G Construction.

Before this project, La Cañada was a two-lane, rural roadway with largely "dip" wash crossings and no "deep" drainage work other than at Hardy Road. The major Carmack Wash was "hugely wide," Ellis said.

"We are taking this whole neighborhood out of the flood plain. … We're taking a massive water way, trying to … control it, and still not ruin everything" around it, Ellis said.

The Carmack Wash structure has been built to accommodate "the 100-year event" in terms of flow. That event is estimated at 3,122 cubic feet of water per second, a figure Mike Bertram, transportation section manager for HDR Engineering, pulls instantly from memory. A cubic foot per second is "about the size of a basketball," Bertram said.

"We model a 100-year event," Ellis said. "It's unlikely people have seen that. We're looking worst-case scenario."

A seven-cell box is in place at Carmack. Each cell is 10 feet wide and five feet high, concrete on all four sides. The floor of each cell is 16 inches thick. All of the concrete is being poured. KE&G Construction could have placed precast concrete if it chose. "You can build it cheaper than we can buy it premade and set," Anderson said.

The Carmack Wash structure is on a skew, because the wash crossing is not perpendicular to the roadway. "We had to twist the box," Bertram explains.

It is built to gather and concentrate water on the upstream east side.

"We're reaching out and grabbing the water," which is typically flowing in a sheet, Bertram said. Water is concentrated and sped up closer to the roadway, so engineers can "pop it through the box" beneath the roadway, then spread it, "slow it down and let the surface elevation come back out" beyond the roadway, Bertram said. The wash turns a corner, then is fanned and slowed so the observer "never would have known it went under the road in a box culvert," Bertram said.

Below the Carmack Wash crossing, KE&G has excavated hundreds of yards of material to a point 650 feet beyond the roadway. It's a big scrape of material.

"We're chasing the grade until it reaches existing grade," Ellis said.

Immediately below the structure, crews are placing "D50" rocks, on average 12-inch rocks buried in concrete. This "grouted rip-rap" is intended to slow the water.

"Velocities are so high, and we're fighting the curve," Bertram explained. Tilted concrete pads, gradually flattening over distance, further protect the banks and help slow and contain the water.

"We generally build the outlet side first," Anderson said. "It has to be able to receive flows during construction season."

The rain is "not our friend," said Anderson, who enjoys the monsoon and rainy season personally, but loathes it professionally.

A major monsoonal rain did wash out work at the Nannini Wash drainage. "We were in the process of building it" when heavy flows hit, leaving behind two feet of sand, Anderson said. "We had to dig it out, reset the forms, reset the rebar. We had to untie the rebar to pull it out to get the sand out." Sand was excavated by hand.

"It took three days of extra work," Anderson said. "We are on schedule right now."

Nannini Wash, just south of Ina, previously had structures in place to move water below the roadway. One other "cell," precast and set in this instance, has been added. The entire structure is being extended to allow crossing of four lanes, rather than two.

Peglar Wash has boxes 10-by-seven feet. It too, has "a good flow to it as well," and the 100-year event is estimated at 2,633 cfs, Bertram said.

A total of 500 feet of mortared rip-rap is being placed on the outlet side of Peglar. It will eventually fill with dirt, and appear "not as engineered" as it will for a while. "We expect a lot of sediment," Ellis said.

Smaller drainages require pipe installation. Catch basins and the major structures are more expensive, and take longer to build.

Utility relocations on La Cañada have overlapped with construction

Utility relocations have been a challenge of the La Cañada road construction project.

Typically, lines are moved before major road work begins. Why? "Any excavation work is in conflict with any sub-surface utilities," said Mike Bertram, transportation section manager for HDR Engineering, the company that has designed the engineering work.

On La Cañada between Calle Concordia and Ina, a number of utilities must relocate lines, among them Tucson Electric Power, Qwest, Southwest Gas, Metro Water, Comcast, the Western Area Power Administration and Mesa Land and Water, a private water utility.

"We're continually pushing the utilities to meet our challenges," said Rick Ellis, engineering division manager for the Pima County Department of Transportation. "Ideally," they're done "before construction. In reality, there's an overlap we've had to manage through."

Clearing and "grubbing" of the surface typically follows utility relocation. The project had "a significant salvage operation," Anderson said, with more than 1,000 trees, cacti and shrubs going to the Pima County Nursery facility. That work took two months.

The project is generally on schedule, working through preliminary construction and activity as well as rain delays from last winter and the current monsoon.

"They've caught up and done a really good job," Bertram said of general contractor KE&G Construction. "They definitely earn their money."

No more dips

When it's done, La Cañada between Calle Concordia and Ina won't have the dip crossings that have drained storm water since its construction.

Dip crossings slow traffic, increase maintenance costs and are problematic for speeding emergency vehicles.

With the work, La Cañada should be safer, faster and less congested, officials say.