What do we know??

I've been asked to help put together a presentation on the issues of annexation for the Kingman area at a meeting a week from now. I have to say that I'm not sure if I'm the right path or not. Each time I try and do some research I get side-tracked on other information. For example here is an article I just found from June of 2006. Here is the kicker...

A 1993 report – the last time a water adequacy study was done – determined that the city would have an ample supply for 100 years based on a total population of 292,577. General Plan 2020 estimates the region would reach that total in 2037.

This is the first time I've noticed a definitive look at the water situation in Kingman. The above was also the last line in the article.

As of right now there is an estimated 27,000 people living within the city limits of Kingman according to city-data.com information. This means Kingman can add ten times as many residents before the countdown on the clock can begin on the 100 year supply of water.

I don't believe the very last line regarding the General Plan 2020 takes into account possible annexation and expansion to further reaching areas like west towards Golden Valley and east. If I'm right then annexation should probably be priority number one right now. The more land the city of Kingman can control, the better the chances for responsible growth can be achieved.

I'm not trying to speak for all here but who would want upwards of 300,000 folks living within our current city boundaries?? The small town feeling would be in jeopardy for sure, not to mention what the traffic will look like on Stockton Hill Road by then without at least two more traffic interchanges along the Interstate.

It is time to take full control. It is time that Kingman makes certain demands on new development in the area while we still can, before outside the city limits development begins to use more of the precious resource that we cannot control (i.e. water). Not only does outside development have the potential of using up precious resources, but the county government and state government could as well.

We know of one current county supervisor that loves the idea of placing prisons and major water using power plants right in our backyard. Prisons that nobody else in the state wants for criminals from mainly the larger metropolitan areas of Arizona. Power plants designed to benefit the people in Maricopa County -- not Mohave County -- while using our precious resources.

And even the governor has stated a need to perhaps draw water from some areas for use in other areas. The state regulated utility (APS) even tried to sue for eminent domain of a large ranch in a different rural county to access water it needs to generate power... for customers mainly in the Phoenix area.

None of this should be taken lightly at this time and in fact it should be a motivating factor to indeed locally control this resource. The sooner we start using and controlling it... the better.