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Solar panels generate power near the Water and Engery Sustainability Center, part of the Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department Lab.
Source: Communications OfficeSlide 2 of 2.
Solar developers take advantage of new Pima County policy in the Picture Rocks area of the county.

Pima County won half of the total American Public Works Association (APWA) 2013 awards at the local Southern Arizona Chapter level. Awards will be presented on March 26. Two of the local chapter winners additionally won at the State Chapter level. Statewide winners are automatically entered in the APWA National Competition.

APWA presented the 2013 Sustainability Practices of the Year award to Development Services, Planning Division, for the Renewable Energy Incentive District (REID). REID offers incentives to the solar industry to develop on selected sites within unincorporated Pima County. REID gives solar developers the opportunity to build more swiftly and less expensively.

“We are pleased that the County has been recognized for this effort, which was several years in the making,” says Planning Director Arlan Colton, FAICP. “The properties identified for utility-scale photovoltaic solar can proceed to development much quicker, having been pre-cleared for most development requirements.”

The Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department won two Public Works Projects of the Year awards for the Regional Optimization Master Plan (ROMP) Plant Interconnect and for the Santa Cruz Interceptor III.

ROMP is a $660 million program to upgrade and expand the Ina Road Wastewater Reclamation Facility (WRF) and to replace the Roger Road WRF with a new state-of-the-art facility. Projects, including those receiving APWA Awards, will improve the quality of the community’s reclaimed water for recharge and reuse. In addition to the treatment facility improvements, the ROMP also includes a state-of-the-art water quality laboratory and a five-mile-long sewer interceptor that allows flexibility of flow management between the Ina Road and Roger Road facilities. Effluent discharges will continue to provide a riparian habitat and birding opportunities.

In addition, Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation received Project of the Year award for Canoa Preserve Park in Green Valley, in the Small Cities and Rural Communities category. It is the first County park in this retirement community.

The ROMP Plant Interconnect and the Canoa Preserve Park won at the state level, to be presented on August 8, and will be entered in the national competition.

Pima County is working toward a plan that would stave off the uncertainty that erupted in the 1990s over the listing of the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.

Through more than a decade of collaboration with stakeholders from both the conservation and business communities,PimaCountyis seeking approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a conservation plan that balances growth and development with protection of native plant and animal species, as well as their habitats.

Although it is illegal to harm, kill or harass threatened and endangered wildlife, Pima County is applying for a permit that would allow it to move forward with otherwise lawful activities, such as construction of roads or facilities, even if it results in incidental “take” of a listed species. Private property owners could be protected under the County’s permit.

The Multi-Species Conservation Plan would cover 44 species, including 7 currently listed. In some ways, the permit has been likened to an insurance policy, providing coverage for 30 years of development and creating regulatory certainty in the event new species receive future protection or new critical habitat designations occur.

The plan also allows for ongoing monitoring and evaluation to determine whether the permit is working to benefit the species.  And instead of managing habitat through a species-by-species approach, the focus of the plan is to take a broader look at protecting entire ecosystem features, including land cover and water.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which will decide whether to approve the conservation plan implementation, is accepting public comment on the plan until March 15 at PimaMSCP@fws.gov.

PimaCountyheld five public meetings – one in each supervisorial district – to solicit comment, and the Fish and Wildlife Service held a sixth meeting Thursday night. The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection will host an additional open house on Wednesday, Feb. 27 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. at the City of Tucson Ward 3 council office,1510 E. Grant Road.

Both the draft Multi-Species Conservation Plan and the draft Environmental Impact

Statement can be viewed at http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/MSCP/MSCP.html. If you have any questions or would like more information, please email the Pima County Office of Sustainability and Conservation at MSCP@pima.gov or call (520) 740-6440.

For more information, please contact Julia Fonseca at 740-6460.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comment on the plan and on its own draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the plan until March 15.

The public is invited to a meeting hosted by the Service on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 4 to 6 p.m., at the Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Department conference room, 3500 W. River Road, where the Service will provide information and accept written comments.

The Multi-Species Conservation Plan is essentially Pima County’s application for a permit, under the Endangered Species Act, to “take” (harm, harass, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect) threatened and endangered species, when the taking is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity such as construction. Such a permit requires the development of – and commitment to – a habitat conservation plan that minimizes and mitigates the effects of incidental take on federally listed species.

Pima County has applied for a permit for incidental take of 44 species, including five animal and two plant species currently listed under the Endangered Species Act. The permit would apply to County construction and maintenance activities and to certain private development projects. The Plan minimizes and mitigates the effects of incidental take primarily by monitoring and managing the lands the County has already acquired as open space and habitats for the 44 species included in the permit. Should additional lands be necessary to provide mitigation, the Plan allows for the acquisition of additional open space lands.

Both the draft Multi-Species Conservation Plan and the draft Environmental Impact Statement can be viewed at http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/MSCP/MSCP.html. If you have any questions or would like more information, please email the Pima County Office of Sustainability and Conservation at MSCP@pima.gov or call (520) 740-6440.

The Service will evaluate all comments made by the public and will publish a final Environmental Impact Statement. Permit issuance from the Service is expected in early 2014 and will require approval by the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

The flexible configuration of Accela Land Management will help the County advance land-based projects by tracking and managing acquisitions, environmental monitoring obligations, inspections and permits, as well as defining the sequence of inter-departmental workflows. In addition, citizens and business owners can use the Citizen Access module to track workflow on projects submitted to County staff.

Through Citizen Access, citizens, contractors and inspectors will be able to access services and complete processes online, including payments for permits and real-time status updates on pending permits, licenses, and service requests. Public Works Department staff, who would otherwise have been serving customers by phone or in person, will have more time to spend on other critical matters.

In addition, Accela will provide Pima County with the capability for electronic document review to replace the existing Project Dox technology. Within Accela Automation, transactional data and business process automation will be integrated with the document and records management capabilities of the OnBase Electronic Document Management System.

Finally, Accela’s Mobile Office will enable access to project documents from laptops and tablet PCs, providing greater convenience and faster turnaround time for building inspectors and applicants. Agency field inspectors will also be supported by Accela GIS, which integrates ESRI ArcGIS for Server maps with Accela Automation.

The County’s Development Services Department worked with the Tucson Metro Chamber to draft the objectives, which were approved by the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

For its part, Pima County agreed to 10 tenets. Among them:

• Ensuring a simple, predictable regulatory environment that is both efficient and non-cost prohibitive;
• Maintaining a fair system of taxation and fees that encourage businesses to start, establish, grow and remain in the County;
• Providing prompt, accurate and courteous requests for information needed to assist businesses;
• Providing a forum to appeal a denial or violation through a timely hearing or other process.

The business community, in turn, agreed to 10 tenets as well, including:

• Acknowledging that adherence to target timeframes by the County requires the applicant to do the same;
• Engaging in discussions with the County early in the project planning/design phase to identify items that may potentially result in delays;
• Ensuring that requests for information and assistance are accurate, well-defined and courteous;
• Partnering with the County to lobby the state to reduce mandates and rules that require or promote a rigid bureaucracy.

“This represents our continuing efforts to make Pima County a place where businesses will be able to expand and continue to grow,” said Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

Amber Smith, the executive director of the Metropolitan Pima Alliance, lauded the County for being the first local government to support the collaborative objectives. “I want to commend you for leading the effort and trying to strengthen the relationship between the business community and Pima County.”

Mike Varney, president of the Tucson Metro Chamber, said the County was a receptive partner in the effort, and already has made clear improvements based on stakeholder discussions. “We’re hoping we can convert that and future improvements into a more robust local economy,” he said.

To view the document in its entirety, please visit http://www.pima.gov/cob/e-agenda/12182012/AD2B_County%20Admin%20-%20Metro%20Chamber.pdf

Solar panels at the 25 megawatt Avra Valley Solar Generating Station.

Utility officials on Thursday praised Pima County’s role in the completion of construction and beginning of commercial operations at the 25 megawatt Avra Valley Solar Generating Station.

Randy Hickok, senior vice president of NRG Solar, and George Antoun, chief operating officer of First Solar – the companies that worked together on the 200-plus acres of photovoltaic panels – both expressed appreciation for Pima County’s prompt processing of the required site development plan and permits.

“It is clear they have made solar a priority,” Antoun said at a dedication ceremony at the site Thursday.

The electricity generated by the solar project will be sold to Tucson Electric Power (TEP) under a 20-year agreement. Tucson Water is leasing to NRG Solar the property on which the project was built 20 miles west of Tucson at Avra Valley and Garvey roads.

Hickok also thanked the Arizona Corporation Commission, the town of Marana, the Tucson Chamber of Commerce, Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Southern Arizona Leadership Council and the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection for their assistance and support of the project.

The project will meet the annual electricity needs of approximately 5,000 homes “without pollution, without noise, without traffic,” Hickok said. Generating that much power through solar avoids the annual emission of approximately 51,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is the equivalent of taking more than 10,700 cars off the road, he said.

Antoun said that more than 660 people worked on the project, with 300 of them involved in its construction.

The project will help TEP achieve the state mandate that 15 percent of its power production come from renewable sources by 2025. With other renewable resources and customer-sited solar facilities, TEP expects to have more than 250 megawatts of renewable energy resources by the end of 2013.

“We always strive for improvement and ISO shows that our Development Services and Building Code staff have achieved measurable results,” says Development Services Director Carmine DeBonis. He points out that since 2007, Pima’s commercial score improved from 81.12 to 87.97. The residential score improved from 73.99 to 77.05. “Improved scores result in a lower risk rating, which can contribute to lower homeowner and business insurance rates.”

ISO is an insurer-supported organization that provides advisory insurance underwriting and rating information to insurers.  Insurers may adopt a program to provide rating credits to individual property insurance policies in recognition of community efforts to mitigate property damage due to natural disasters.  The ISO program will apply credits to new construction within Pima County that has been issued a Certificate of Occupancy in the year 2012 and forward.

The County’s top-notch plan review process, inspections during construction, and the code enforcement program means reduced risk for insurers. This makes the County a great place to invest.

“We have one of the top Building Code Enforcement ratings in the United States,” says County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. “We are proud of our staff who help make Pima one of the safest places for capital investment for both commercial and residential development.”

Keep up with Pima County on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pimacountyarizona.

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Southern Arizona Land Trust and JC Construction Inc. turned a run-down, foreclosed home into this energy-efficient duplex that received the highest green rating -- Emerald -- according to the Regional Residential Green Building Program.
Source: Pima County Communications OfficeSlide 2 of 3.
Energy Star-rated appliances were just some of the improvements that helped this foreclosed home-turned-duplex achieve Emerald Certification, the greenest rating available from the Regional Green Building Program.
Source: Pima County Communications OfficeSlide 3 of 3.
Energy-efficient ceiling fans and light fixtures, ceramic tile instead of carpet, and paint free of volatile organic compounds helped this foreclosed home-turned-duplex achieve Emerald Certification, the greenest rating available from the Regional Green Building Program.
Source: Pima County Communications Office

Pima County’s partnership with a local contractor and a nonprofit has created jobs and turned a vacant, foreclosed home into a duplex that achieved the “greenest” possible rating for energy and water efficiency – Emerald.

Two low-income families are moving in today.

“This is the only Emerald Certification awarded in the state of Arizona” for a renovation, said Shawn Andersen, project manager for the nonprofit Southern Arizona Land Trust (SALT).

With Andersen’s project direction, the contractor converted the run-down house into a beautiful, safe and very energy-efficient home. “Everything in this house, from the roof to the foundation, has been constructed to save the resident money on their water and electric bills for many years to come,” said Jerry Camp, the general contractor with JC Construction Inc. hired by SALT.

The property southeast of Valencia Road and South Sixth Avenue is one of dozens of vacant, foreclosed homes purchased and renovated for sale or rent through the Pima Neighborhood Investment Partnership (PNIP). Pima County received a $22 million Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2010 and is collaborating with the City of Tucson and seven local nonprofits to make foreclosed and vacant homes energy efficient, available and affordable in a target area generally south of 22^nd Street.

SALT received $8 million and has purchased, renovated and rented over 52 homes to low-income families. The project has helped Camp keep his 15-year-old, family-owned construction business going through tough economic times.

“If it hadn’t been for the grant money … I’d probably be running two or three guys,” he said. “That’s it. Now I’ve got 21 guys.”

Camp is proud of his green building record. “I’ve got 42 Silvers, three Golds and an Emerald,” he said about his housing rehabilitation work for the partnership and for the City.

He and Andersen worked closely with Amy Patze and Clayton Trevillyan in the County’s and City’s green building programs, respectively, to get the certificates.

The standards of the Regional Residential Green Building Program established by the City and County are comparable to the national LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards without the costly LEED fee for certification – a critical factor in affordable housing projects.

“People say that using Energy Star-rated materials, fixtures, bulbs, etc. increases the construction costs hundreds, even thousands, of dollars,” Camp said. “It doesn’t.”

“There are many ways to find the required points to make the home energy efficient without spending an enormous amount of money,” Andersen said. “Jerry and I have great model we have utilized on every one of our projects to maximize the energy efficiency while keeping construction costs to a minimum.”

Turning the 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom home with a grandmother’s apartment into a duplex gave Andersen and Camp an opportunity to go for an Emerald Certificate because they had to completely gut all but the foundation slab, outside walls and roof. To create one 3-bedroom/2-bath unit and one 2-bedroom/1-bath unit, with a garage for each, they had to add 500 square feet, replumb the entire property to create two separate water and sewer systems, and rewire for all new electric to correct deficiencies and meet code.

The improvements that helped Andersen and Camp achieve the Emerald rating included:

• Replacing the home’s swamp cooler with a heat pump for each unit.
• Increasing the insulation in the ceiling to R-30 and adding three layers of reflective roof coating.
• Water-efficient toilets, and sink and shower fixtures. “Many time people will only install new shower heads, for example,” Camp said. “We actually go another step further and install new diverters. No matter what shower head you purchase and install, it’s going to be “low flow.”
• Installing ceramic tile floors instead of carpet.
• Double-pane windows with argon gas between the panes. “You can touch the window on the inside when it’s 110 degrees outside and it’s still the same temperature as it is in the house,” Camp said.
• Energy-efficient light fixtures and ceiling fans. “The actual light fixture is low-wattage,” Camp said. “You can use a 60 watt bulb, but it will still be energy efficient.”
• Formaldehyde-free cabinets and paint free of volatile organic compounds.
• Drought-tolerant, low-water-use landscaping with rainwater retention and a high-efficiency irrigation system.
• All Energy Star-rated appliances.

Camp said his green building work for SALT and PNIP “has transformed how we work and think.” He’s hired an energy specialist to help achieve green building certifications, and together they’re educating homeowners and construction workers about green technology. He started a nonprofit, Green & Healthy Homes Inc. (http://tucsongreenhealthyhomes.com), to raise funds to provide “a healthy living environment for low-income families, especially those with children and seniors.”

Camp praises the Pima County One-Stop Career Center for helping him hire the local and lower-income workers the federal grant required.

“You know what’s good about One-Stop?” Camp said, repeating his phone conversation with the center personnel. “’Hey, I need some guys.’ ‘How many do you need? What do you need?’

“You call them up. You send over your reference sheet. They set up a room and they set up all your appointments within a half hour. I sit in there at a desk and they bring them in. I mean wow!  What an organization!”

Camp also hired “7, 8, 10 guys from the neighborhood.”

“If they could do a couple more grants like this,” he said, “I think they could really help the economy out a lot.”

For more information, please visit:

• Pima Neighborhood Investment Partnership: www.pnip.org
• Southern Arizona Land Trust: www.saltproperty.com
• JC Construction Inc.: http://www.jcconstructionarizona.net/

Sentinel Plaza Senior Housing in Tucson receives LEED Gold Certification. Photograph courtesy of Lizard Rock Designs.

Downtown Tucson has another LEED-Certified Green building: Sentinel Plaza, at 125 S. Linda Avenue. The facility opened in August 2012 for low-income seniors moving from an existing building on the east end of downtown Tucson.  The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) gave it Gold certification for achievement in green homebuilding.

The six-story, 143-unit building is the first of its height to be constructed of Integra Block, an insulated, Arizona-produced, post-tensioned concrete block system. Recycled materials, low VOC paints and sustainably harvested woods are further examples of LEED requirements that were implemented into the building’s design.

Unlike the former Armory Park Apartments, every resident has a one-bedroom apartment. In addition, common areas like the fitness center, gathering room, and library are powered by rooftop solar panels.

In addition, the building is located in a new transit-oriented district in downtown Tucson that is certified Gold under LEED for Neighborhood Development.  Sentinel Plaza affirms urban living can work for seniors.  Residents have access to bus and streetcar lines, the University of Arizona, downtown, senior centers in the adjacent neighborhood, and The Loop–a linear greenway that provides open space and recreation opportunities along the Santa Cruz River.

Developer Senior Housing Group and Evergreen Partners selected Tucson architecture firm Lizard Rock Designs and W.E. O’Neil Construction to bring the project to completion.

“This is our second senior project that has been certified LEED Gold, and it was built at $110 per square foot,” says Tom McQuillen, Principal at Lizard Rock Designs. “We incorporated a lot of sustainable design features that produced a tangible benefit for the residents.” For example, a big expense for seniors besides rent is the energy bill, and McQuillen says, “We visited residents in the middle of the summer, and they didn’t have the air conditioning turned on. The building is so well insulated, they didn’t need AC.” In addition, the “tight” building design means dust doesn’t get in; ducts are also covered during construction, providing a really clean indoor air environment for seniors.

“This building shows that the Board of Supervisors 2007 Sustainability Resolution is making a difference in our community,” says Rich Franz-Under, Green Building Program Manager for Pima County.  He points out that the green building program was a product of the Sustainability Resolution, created to support local builders to benefit from the LEED for Homes certification. The end result is tangible, Franz-Under says: “At Sentinel Plaza, we have energy efficient, water efficient, and healthy homes for our seniors.”

LEED for Homes awards points to projects in seven categories of environmental performance: Location & Linkages, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, Energy & Atmosphere, Homeowner Awareness, and Innovation and Design.

“The U.S. Green Building Council is proud to help celebrate Lizard Rock Designs, Senior Housing Group and Evergreen Partners’ commitment to greener living,” said Michelle Moore, Senior Vice President of Policy & Market Development, U.S. Green Building Council.  “Their leadership – demonstrated at Sentinel Plaza – is at the national forefront of quality; and their example can help us all to live better by reducing our environmental footprint, cutting our utility bills, and coming home to a healthier place to live.”

“The County’s updated Comprehensive Plan will support the Economic Development Action Plan and the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, allowing businesses to compete and thrive, while maintaining community character,” says County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

Today, the County released its Notice of Solicitation for Qualifications (SFQ) No. 72825, “seeking Statements of Qualifications from qualified firms to provide comprehensive plan update services.”  For detailed SFQ information, including Scope of Work, visit the Pima County Procurement webpage, under Design and Construction: http://www.pima.gov/procure/ifbrfp-dc.htm.

Interested, qualified firms should download the SFQ document from the webpage and address questions in writing to the Contracts Officer listed for this solicitation.

Planning Director Arlan Colton says, “The 2013-2014 Plan update will now address new state-mandated topics like Energy, beef up the economic and human needs components and be heavy on public participation—including open houses and social media. We want to hear from residents and businesses as we develop guidelines primarily for unincorporated Pima County’s future.”

Since 1992, the Pima County Comprehensive Plan has provided the primary land use and related policy guidance for the unincorporated County. In 2001, among other changes, the 1992 comprehensive plan was updated to consider new land uses throughout the County. The 2001 Plan integrated key aspects of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan with considerable focus paid to conserving indigenous Sonoran Desert vulnerable species and our cultural heritage.

As a living document, the Comprehensive Plan has been amended almost every year since adoption but this update in intended to focus less on land use changes and more on key policies including County social service delivery, transportation-oriented development, housing, recreation, economic development, and community design.

The policies, maps and land use legend of the current Comprehensive Plan for unincorporated Pima County can be found under the Long Range Planning icon at http://pimaxpress.com/Planning/Default.htm.