BUCKEYE — On the heels of a meeting with no hearings and no presentations, the Buckeye City Council is poised to at least have a longer time together Tuesday.

There are two hearing items on the agenda for Tuesday’s regular council meeting, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 530 E. Monroe Ave. There’s an annexation of about six acres along MC85, next to a fire station, along with a contract for a communications tower.

The annexation of 5.89 acres involves a small square of unincorporated Maricopa County land, located next to a Buckeye Valley Fire District station and 253rd Avenue. The land owner, Identico, Inc., wants to develop an RV and self-storage facility on the site.

The annexation will allow for more employment land use along the MC85 corridor. Council recently approved a revision to both zoning code and the city’s general plan that created an employment zone along the State Route 85 corridor, which is fewer than two miles to the west of the property.

All of the surrounding properties are considered part of Buckeye’s Downtown Activity Center.

Tuesday’s item includes the first of two public hearings and doesn’t require action. The second public hearing will be part of council’s Sept. 20 meeting.

The other hearing item would allow the city to take advantage of open trenches to run fiber-optic communications lines between city facilities. Seven inner-duct conduit lines are anticipated to cost $2.75 per linear foot.

Not including the cost of the cable itself, this amounts to about $14,520 per mile.

“As part of the adopted Strategic ITS Master Plan, new development is responsible for installing communications conduit adjacent to their property frontage,” a staff report states. “However, the pace at which the communications network can be built in this fashion is limited to the timing of development. Therefore, staff has determined it beneficial to supplement this approach by utilizing existing water/sewer CIP projects to co-locate communications conduits.”

As city public works staff or contractors continue to install water and/or sewer in areas that require future communications networking, the city will collectively support the joint installation of the communications conduit per an exhibit, the report states. One conduit will consist of seven micro ducts, providing the ability to run fiber communications.

The consent agenda for Tuesday’s meeting includes a canvas and declaration around the Aug. 2 election, in which council members Patrick HagEstad, Craig Heustis and Clay Goodman ran for re-election unopposed.

The consent agenda also includes a $280,000 annual contract for lab testing of water, a $340,000 annual contract for wastewater treatment chemicals, a $235,000 purchase of an aerial bucket truck and plat approvals for two housing developments.

At a 4:15 p.m. workshop, council will be updated by the Arizona Department of Transportation about the progress of a large Interstate 10 project that involves adding one lane in each direction and reconstructing the interchanges at Watson and Miller roads.

Jason W. Brooks Associate Editor @JasonWBrooks2

Jason W. Brooks is an associate editor for the Daily independent.

He covers the Buckeye area and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all its time zones. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska.

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