Cities' and Towns' Input needed on Arizona Military and Land Use Energy Plan

What do utility-scale renewable energy developments and military bases and flight operations have in common? They both rely on Arizona’s geography and air space. At times, these uses can be at odds, leading to loss of economic revenue from developers and frustration and wasted time for all involved parties. Arizona State University, along with the City of Surprise, has been tapped to develop a land and air space plan and an online, interactive web tool to encourage greater communication and improve coordination between energy developers and military officials. While Arizona’s Military and Energy Land Use Plan (AME-UP) will primarily address potential encroachment issues between renewable energy developers, transmission lines developers, on military installations and training areas, we at ASU think the web tool can have broader economic development applicability for our state. This is where you, League of Arizona Cities and Towns member, come in.

The free, publicly available online tool will allow a user to hone in on a parcel of land anywhere in Arizona and determine whether there are already military claims to the air space, for example, or if there are environmental or cultural concerns that have been identified with that parcel. Contact information will pop up when concerns or existing uses have been identified. This will allow users to easily identify who they need to speak with, and how to do so, in order to improve communication between land and air space users, and to address any potential land use conflicts early on in any development process. The 91 cities and towns who are members of the Arizona League will be able to benefit from this tool, regardless of proximity to military bases and activities or to renewable energy plants and transmission lines.

ASU has partnered with organizations including the Arizona Geological Survey to incorporate GIS and other data layers for the AME-UP tool. We are also drawing on the expertise of a wide array of stakeholders, including military personnel from all armed forces branches and installations in Arizona, tribal representatives from reservations throughout the state, the Arizona Corporation Commission, state utilities, transmission line and renewable energy developers, and community planners. We have already met with many stakeholders, collected data and obtained recommendations, and we are ready to share an early version of the tool to gather further recommendations. Within the next few months, we will hold a webinar where AZ League members can learn about AME-UP in more detail, take the tool for a test drive, and discuss how the tool can be improved.

The project end date is scheduled for December 2017. By then, we hope to have a useful, effective tool that can support all Arizonans increase economic development activities. For that result, we need your input and assistance! Please join the webinar by contacting Kevin Seegmiller, at kmseegmi@asu.edu, and/or Maren Mahoney, at maren.mahoney@asu.edu.

We hope to see you online!