By Terrance Thornton
Twitter: @ININEWSMAN

The City of Scottsdale and Scottsdale Unified School District are continuing an intergovernmental agreement allowing for flooding mitigation efforts at Apache Park --- a part of the Granite Reef watershed corridor.

Scottsdale City Council Monday, Nov. 25 approved the amended IGA guidelines at City Hall, 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd. in downtown Scottsdale.

In 2015, the city entered into a purchase agreement with Scottsdale Schools in the amount of $2.022 million to mitigate flooding in the Granite Reef Corridor. Apache Park at 1201 N. 85th Place was the original site of the Apache Elementary School site.

When the municipality purchased the park from SUSD in 2015 it was reported the city provided an unused human-resources building at 7575 E. Main St. for new district headquarters to be located. The new district headquarters were sold to the educational entity for the exact amount of Apache Park, records show.

“The city-operated Apache Park on SUSD land under the terms of the original IGA, which required the city to maintain the park site in exchange for its use and scheduling of the park site and also provide shared use of the adjacent school parking area,” said Scottsdale Parks and Recreation Director Reed Pryor in his Nov. 25 report to City Council.

“On April 28, 2015 the City Council approved Resolution No. 9852 authorizing contract No. 2014-120-COS, which allowed the city to purchase 4.6 acres of the Apache Park site from SUSD for $2.022 million to mitigate flooding in the Granite Reef corridor the city has continued to maintain and operate this site since that purchase agreement was finalized.”

The 4.6 acres purchased from Scottsdale Schools was used to create a retention basin in efforts to curtail severe flooding within portions of south Scottsdale coined the Granite Reef watershed, city officials say.

“The amended and restated IGA redraws the site boundaries to reflects current ownership of areas, and, sets forth updated terms and provisions relating to future improvements by the city and district, expenses such as utilities effected by the post-purchase boundaries, use and maintenance of the park and parking area, herbicide and pesticide practices, potential reactivation of the school, sale of the parcels, and statutory and other updates,” he said.

“This is a 10-year agreement with successive 5-year extensions until at least six months prior to the term either party notifies the other in writing that this agreement will not renew.”

Scottsdale city officials report the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board approved the new tenets of the IGA at it’s Nov. 5 meeting.

“Funding for the maintenance of Apache Park is included in the parks and recreation submitted and approved budget each fiscal year,” Mr. Pryor pointed out.