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SIERRA VISTA — Tom Reardon sees the question of how strict city policy should be toward protecting the San Pedro River’s ground-level stream flow as a serious one.
“That question is too important to give a quick answer,” the newly appointed Sierra Vista City Council member said during an interview Thursday.
The surface flow of the San Pedro River and the aquifer beneath it are often politically separated as different issues, but the two exist in an ecologically sensitive symbiotic relationship.
U.S. Geological Survey studies suggest a cone of depression manifesting in the aquifer is caused by groundwater pumping, and if not properly mitigated and managed, it will encroach upon and eventually affect or altogether stop the river’s surface flow, Reardon said.
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Enforcement of Arizona rural groundwater adequacy definitions approved by the state Legislature in the last session, which are expected to receive eventual approval in Cochise County, do not approach definition of surface flow that could be used to preclude subdivision development.
Rather, the nexus of that new state law deals with only the longevity of the underground water supply with respect to the future of a proposed subdivision development.
Federal studies indicate there is a large underground water resource below the Upper San Pedro River Valley.
But the actual stream flow of the San Pedro is of a more tenuous and debated future.
The San Pedro’s surface flow is a crucial hemispheric migratory green line for birds, and for that reason it should be preserved, Reardon said.
There are factors beyond the power of government in play to be considered along with any water conservation policy, namely the ongoing drought, climate change and the relatively dry local biome that is a high-desert grassland, said Reardon, who before being appointed to the council last week was a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
Beyond whether there is aquifer adequacy for growth and development, the word “sustainability” often comes up when discussing local water politics, but unlike “adequacy,” the state has not yet defined sustainability.
“I think sustainability is how do we make sure we don’t deplete that level,” Reardon said.
That is, the current level at which the river still flows above ground. With the city’s growth somewhat paused now as the real estate market has cooled, Reardon said, “Right now the market is the river’s friend.”
A groundwater pumping-to-aquifer recharge deficit exists in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed, and the U.S. Congress has charged the Upper San Pedro Partnership to arrive at policy and correct that deficit by 2011. The partnership is also responsible for creating policy of sustainable stewardship of the local water resources.
The partnership is a consortium of 21 government and nongovernmental bodies that meet regularly to discuss Upper San Pedro Valley’s water issues.
Regarding Sierra Vista’s policy of growth, Reardon said the current inertia is OK.
“I think the tenets of Vista 2020 are exactly where we need to be,” he said.
That seems to be the consensus of the current council.
The city has appropriate checks and balances through staff research, council review and commission recommendation with respect to development, Reardon said. He is confident in the city’s system.
Reardon in 1990 and 1991 served on the Sierra Vista Environmental Affairs Commission, and this summer was selected for a seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission. His fellow commission members had nominated him to be chairman, but he only served on the commission for five meetings before having to resign that chair last Wednesday so he could be sworn in to his council seat.
Admittedly, his time with the commission was short.
“Probably faster than I would’ve liked, but it happened,” he said.
During his time with the commission, there was at least one heavily discussed development issue that the commission recommended against, but the council nevertheless approved the matter unanimously.
“There will be times I may not agree with what they say, but I’ll certainly know they’re not making the recommendation lightly,” Reardon said of the commission.
Reardon grew up in the Fourth Ward of Washington, D.C., retired from the U.S. Army in 1984, and started working as a civilian for what is now Network Enterprise Technology Command on Fort Huachuca in 1990.
He will retire fully next year but has no desire to quit the field.
“I’ve always had an interest, I’ve always been interested in civics and local government,” Reardon said. “I’m a voracious reader of the Herald. I believe in local newspapers, (in which) you may not agree with the editorial opinions, but so what?”
He said he would have run in next year’s council election had he not been selected in the special appointment process this year.
“And I intend to complete my term,” Reardon said.
Reardon was selected from 15 applicants to fill the vacancy left with the resignation of Councilwoman Stephanie Prudence, who was in the first year of her four-year elected term. Ironically, Prudence served on the council for a portion of 2006 as the appointed replacement for Councilman Tomas Gallegos, who also resigned during an elected term.
In addition to water and growth policy, another sort of local symbiosis — the relationship between the fort and the community — is one that Reardon recognizes as of great importance.
Reardon experienced the doubts and pressures that come with federal Base Realignment and Closure processes in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it was feared that Fort Huachuca missions would be absorbed by Fort Devens, Mass.
As it happened, Fort Devens was mothballed entirely while the Fort Huachuca missions expanded, but it was tense and suspenseful before the news came.
“And that was very, very, very stressful,” Reardon said.
Fort Huachuca emerged unscathed from the most recent BRAC process in 2005, and Reardon said Sierra Vista and the Fort Huachuca 50 did a lot to take the local point of view to the Pentagon.
The BRAC process ultimately makes its decisions based on the appropriate “market forces,” but it still does not hurt to present one’s community to the Department of the Army as best as possible, Reardon said.
There is bound to be another round of BRAC coming in the future, though about when Reardon said he has no inside information.
“But I would say that Fort Huachuca needs to keep intact its marketing capabilities,” he said. “It’s something that we need to keep an eye on.”
Herald/Review reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
to voracious wrote on Oct 10, 2007 7:57 PM: