17 minute read
BUSINESS
Chandler commits $14 million to power Intel expansion
BY KEVIN REAGAN Arizonan Staff Writer
Salt River Project and Chandler have entered into a special agreement to ensure Intel will have enough electricity to power the $20-billion expansion of its Ocotillo campus.
The city and SRP agreed last month to share some of the costs for extending a high-voltage transmission line through south Chandler to connect to the sprawling Ocotillo campus.
If approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, the line will run from the Schrader substation near Ocotillo Road and Exeter Street to the Henshaw substation near Price and Germann roads. The route would run beneath Fulton Elementary School, snake around Snedigar Sports Complex, and cut through a housing subdivision before reaching the Intel.
Chandler will share in some of the costs by committing $14.5 million of the city’s funds for relocating utility lines that may interfere with the new route.
About half of the city’s $14-million share will be reimbursed through funds allotted by the SRP municipal aesthetics program, which annually disperses funds for municipalities’ utility infrastructure improvements.
Chandler plans to obtain grant funding to cover the remaining half of its cost for the transmission line.
“The city will also seek additional funding opportunities to offset the costs associated with the utility work through the state or other programs intended to help support public infrastructure projects required for semiconductor manufacturing,” a city memo states.
The goal of forging a deal with SRP is to facilitate one of Arizona’s biggest economic development projects, while still ensuring surrounding neighborhoods won’t see their streets uprooted with new infrastructure to support Intel’s growth.
Intel in March announced plans to build two new fabrication facilities at its south Chandler campus over the next three years.
The development will create 3,000 permanent high-tech, high-wage jobs; over 3,000 construction jobs; and approximately 15,000 local long-term jobs in support companies, according to the tech giant.
Its investment is part of its “IDM 2.0” Initiative – a major evolution of an “integrated device manufacturing” model that Gelsinger said makes Intel “the only company with the depth and breadth of software, silicon and platforms, packaging, and process with at-scale manufacturing customers can depend on for their next-generation innovations.” Intel is in a fierce global competition for a bigger share of the semiconductor market at a time when a shortage of chips has impacted an array of industries, from automobile manufacturing to medical device development.
SRP will submit an application to the Corporation Commission for permission to extend its transmission line and hopes to obtain approval by early 2022.
That open hearing before the commission will follow town halls that the utility provider must conduct for south Chandler residents and businesses to weigh in on the plan. No dates have yet been set.
The city and SRP have already promised that residents living around the line’s route should not see too much impact by its construction.
“The parties have agreed to work with each other during the installation of the transmission lines to minimize disruption to the residences, schools, and businesses along the corridor,” the city memo states.
About half of the line will be placed
seeINTEL page 35
Chandler eyes private developers for housing hope
BY KEVIN REAGAN Arizonan Staff Writer
The Chandler Public Housing Authority is planning to ask federal authorities to allow private developers to revitalize its stock of homes and apartments before it becomes overburdened by maintenance costs.
As city-owned homes and apartments continue aging and rack up maintenance fees, the authority wants to curb costs through a federal program that converts public housing to a system that operates similar to Section 8 vouchers.
If authorized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a private developer could enter into an agreement with Chandler to build or renovate housing on city-owned land in exchange for valuable tax credits.
Eligible tenants would then apply to live in one of the refurbished units and the government would subsidize up to 70 percent of their rent.
These public-private partnerships would fall under the government’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which has become increasingly popular throughout the Valley due to its ability to incentivize the construction of more affordable housing in expensive neighborhoods.
Nearly a dozen RAD projects have been executed across Arizona over the last few years and Chandler is looking to be the latest municipality to participate in the program.
Amy Jacobson, the city’s housing manager, said converting some of Chandler’s housing stock to a RAD model would help the city avoid spending up to $22 million in preserving its old properties.
HUD gives Chandler about $700,000 annually for capital expenses, Jacobson said, and that allowance won’t be enough to meet the city’s growing infrastructure needs to replace old roofs and corroded pipes.
This apartment complex for low-income people in North Phoenix is being built by Gorman & Company, which is negotiating similar public housing projects with Chandler
officials. (Special to The Arizonan)
underground, according to Ryan Peters, the city’s government relations manager, and should not be visible to residents living between Dobson Road and Arizona Avenue, noting that “2.65 miles of this entire project will be underground, so as not to give additional overhead utilities in areas that don’t currently have them.”
A portion of the power lines running along Price Road north of the Intel campus likely will be overhead.
“This agreement provides the means to minimize impacts on residents by building infrastructure underground where no transmission lines exist today,” said Mayor Kevin Hartke.
As part of the deal, the city will grant SRP permanent right-of-way easements valued at $4.5 million for building the underground portion.
The Intel expansion is believed to be the largest private investment in Arizona history.
“Intel’s continued expansion of its largest, most advanced manufacturing site in the world exemplifies the presence of innovation in Chandler,” said Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke after Intel’s announcement.
Liz Shipley, Intel Arizona public affairs director, said, “The two new Fabs planned for Intel’s Ocotillo campus will enable world-changing technology to be manufactured right here in our hometown of Chandler. We thank SRP and the City of Chandler for working together quickly and collaboratively to help us enable such a significant expansion that will benefit the local, state and national economy.”
Over the last 30 years, the country’s share of global semiconductor fabrication has shrunk by about 25 percent, allowing Asian countries like Taiwan to occupy a bigger share of the industry.
One of Intel’s biggest competitors, Taiwan Semiconductor, is building a plant in north Phoenix at a cost of $12 billion, although some say that might only be the first phase of its plans in the Valley.
Intel and other industry leaders have been pushing Congress to strengthen the country’s competitiveness by offering more incentives and tax-breaks that could ignite a boom in chip manufacturing.
Last month, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would inject $52 billion into the domestic production of semiconductor fabrication.
As the nation’s chip supply remains in flux, local leaders are hopeful the East Valley’s manufacturing industry will remain competitive with the upcoming expansion of Intel’s facilities.
Maricopa County Supervisor Jack Sellers said he supports Chandler’s partnership with SRP and hopes his district, which encompasses the city, will reap the agreement’s benefits by helping Intel create more tech jobs.
“The proposed resolution would allow SRP to meet the power demands of Intel’s planned plant expansion, demonstrating once again, how your leadership makes Chandler a significant asset in the East Valley,” Sellers wrote the city.
More vehicle owners are going electric in Arizona
BY BROOKE NEWMAN
Cronkite News
For a seemingly red state, Arizona has a lot of blue-state company when it comes to states ranked by electric vehicle ownership, according to recent government data.
Arizona had 28,770 registered electric vehicles as of June, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, the seventh-highest number among states.
When ownership is measured per 1,000 residents, Arizona inches up a notch to sixth place, with just over four electric vehicles per 1,000 people.
That rate put Arizona just behind Oregon and Colorado and just ahead of Nevada and Vermont. California was in the lead by far, with 425,300 registered electric vehicles, or one for every 10.7 residents.
Arizona EV enthusiasts welcomed the ranking, which they said they have seen reflected in steady increases in group membership, but said the state can do better.
“Arizona is growing by leaps and bounds in major areas, but still struggling out there in the hinterlands,” said Jerry Asher, vice president of the Tucson Electric Vehicle Association.
He and others said the biggest challenge in Arizona, as in much of the country, is the lack of readily available charging stations for electric vehicles.
Currently, there are 385 public fastcharging plugs and 1,448 non-fastcharging plugs in the state, said Diane Brown, executive director with the Arizona Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.
And many of those “are not available 24 hours a day, often making EV charging less convenient to the public,” she said.
According to the website plugshare. com, Maricopa County has 1,103 charging stations and there are 161 within a 10-mile radius of downtown Chandler.
Phoenix City Council recently authorized the purchase of additional dual-port charging stations for public use that will be installed at 11 parks and libraries city-wide.
The installations are possible because of an incentive rebate program Salt River Project made available to cities. Total cost to purchase and install these charging stations is an estimated $224,000.
The SRP rebate brings the city’s cost down to less than half of the cost associated with installing the charging stations.
“SRP’s EV-related incentives promote improved electric vehicle infrastructure across the Valley which supports our EV drivers and increases EV adoption,” said Kelly Barr, Chief Strategy, Corporate Services and Sustainability executive at SRP.
And in order for the state to hit 10 percent EV ownership by 2030, one scenario outlined by Arizona PIRG, the number of charging stations would need to grow significantly.
“According to the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, to support a future in which 10 percent of Arizona’s vehicles are EVs – a conservative target for 2030 – Arizona will need more than 1,098 fast-charging plugs and 14,888 Level 2 plugs,” Brown said.
This will require local, state and federal policies to make “EV charging accessible, affordable, and easy,” she said.
But advocates said there are several things working in their favor. Jim Stack, president of the Phoenix Electric Auto Association, said many of the current plug-ins charging stations are at stores and libraries, places “where you would stop anyway.”
“We have a good charging infrastructure and it keeps getting better,” Stack said.
One way Asher said Arizona could be more EV-friendly would be to add charging stations at hotels, RV parks and shopping centers. In Tucson, he said, the Culinary Dropout and Jersey Mike’s restaurants have already begun offering free electric vehicle charging to customers, Asher said.
While they push for more charging infrastructure, advocates said improving technology and lower vehicle expenses are on their side, helping to sway more Arizonans to purchase an electric vehicle in recent years.
“The batteries are getting better and lower in cost as well as longer-lasting,” Stack said. He said an EV uses about 50 cents of electricity to cover the same number of miles a gas-burning car gets from a gallon of gas – currently selling for $3.12 a gallon in Arizona, according to AAA.
In addition, the state is offering incentives to electric vehicle buyers.
Electric vehicle owners also “get 24/7 access to HOV lanes, even with one person,” he said.
Stack also noted that Arizona is now home to three electric vehicle manufacturers: Lucid, which makes cars in Casa Grande, Nikola, which will make trucks in Phoenix and Coolidge, and Electra Meccanica, which plans to build the three-wheeled SOLO commuter in Mesa.
Mesa also may become home to a start-up company that plans to produce electric monster pickup trucks, though for now it is focusing on starting up highpowered battery production this year. The Arizonan contributed to this report.
The city currently operates four multifamily housing complexes consisting of 163 units, one senior complex and 103 single-family homes.
It additionally oversees the distribution of 486 vouchers for low-income residents looking to rent a private unit.
Jacobson said Chandler would need to find an additional $7 million to cover all the capital expenses the city projects over the next 20 years on its housing properties.
Chandler is currently considering contracting with a private builder to execute two RAD projects at a vacant lot on Trails End Place and an existing multi-family complex on Hamilton Street.
Gorman & Company, a developer that’s handled revitalization projects throughout the Valley, has submitted proposals for how it would like to redevelop the two Chandler sites and the city is planning to draw up a development agreement.
Though the agreement’s details have not been finalized yet, the city expects its arrangement with Gorman would result in a more favorable housing apparatus that’s comparable to the government’s Section 8 voucher program.
Chandler’s residents would get to live in a privately-run facility at a subsidized rate and the city could still monitor tenants to ensure the program’s resources aren’t being misused.
The switch to more of a voucher-like system would be appealing to Chandler since demand for the city’s existing vouchers has been high for years, resulting in a waitlist that often exceeds 4,000 applicants.
The city has additionally noticed its voucher recipients tend to get off the public assistance quicker than residents utilizing other housing programs.
Jacobson said residents utilizing a Section 8 voucher tend to need it for fewer years than those living in a publicly-run unit.
“Hopefully, that trend will continue so that they’re not needing that assistance for as long as if it were a standalone public housing project,” she added.
Access to affordable housing in Chandler has become an increasingly pressing issue in recent years as property values and rents continue to steadily escalate. The Phoenix area has been outpacing other metropolitan regions in rent increases over the last few months and experts don’t expect the growth to dramatically slow down soon.
Some residents have begun to push city officials to reform its public housing programs before they get priced out of Chandler and have to move to a cheaper city.
Deborah Giannecchini, a resident and single mother, said she’s struggled to find an affordable apartment with the salary she makes working for the Chandler Unified School District.
“It is becoming very challenging to continue to serve our special education kiddos with the skyrocketing one-bedroom apartments,” Giannecchini told City Council in May.
Many of Giannecchini’s friends and colleagues have already moved, she said, and she fears she may have to do the same if access to housing is not improved.
“A lot of people are leaving, they’re quitting (CUSD) and they’re going somewhere else,” Giannecchini added.
A survey by Chandler in 2019 found that nearly 40 percent of respondents were spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. The assessment further estimated that Chandler expected to fall short of affordable housing by about 9,400 units.
City Council members appear supportive of the a deal with Gorman and hope the partnership will result in better accommodations for low-income residents.
Councilwoman Christine Ellis said a public-private partnership could be the most feasible solution for adding more affordable units to the city’s limited supply.
“This is where Chandler needs to be right now because we cannot go backwards, we need to go forward,” Ellis said.
The city believes it’s still a couple years away from building anything new on its properties, as the RAD conversion process involves several administrative steps.
Time for a mid-year check on your financial condition
BY DR. HAROLD WONG
Guest Writer
Just like a doctor often gives a patient an annual or semi-annual physical exam, it’s time for your 2021 mid-year financial check-up. Let’s look at your job situation, real estate, investments and tax plan.
Job Situation: Nothing is more important than having a secure and substantial source of income. For most people it’s their job and for some it’s their net profit from their own business. Here are the key considerations: • Is your job secure or is there a substantial danger of lay-offs? • If so, what can you do to decrease the probability of being laid-off? Do you volunteer for job duties and tasks that no one else wants? Have you added skills such as maintaining the company website and social media accounts that are essential to your company? • Are you networking and getting known in your industry so that you have several
back-up jobs you can get on short notice if you get laid-off? Real Estate: For most people it’s their primary home because very few have rental houses or other rental real estate. • With mortgage rates at all-time lows, have you refinanced to get the lowest rate possible but kept the same number of years left on your old loan so that you keep reducing principal without starting from the beginning? • With a 30-year fixed rate loan, it’s not until year 22 that half of your payment goes to principal and half to interest. It makes sense to have a 15-year loan instead of the standard 30-year loan if you can afford the higher monthly payments. • With our very hot summers, have you maintained your air conditioning units?
It’s recommended that you have at least one thorough service annually. If you need to replace your AC units, understand that supply shortages may cause a 3-5 week delay in obtaining new units. • Consider paying $500-600/year for a good home warranty policy to cover most of the smaller items that go wrong in a house.
Investments: We have had an unprecedented 12-year stock market boom since the lows were reached March 9, 2009. • Are you comfortable with 80-90% or more of your total life savings in the stock market, which is typically what I have seen from the hundreds who have seen me for consultations in the last 12 years? • How would you cope if you lost 25-50% of your life savings when the next stock market crash occurs? • Are you open to reducing risk by using the Rule of 100? Example: if you are 70-years-old, 100-70 means you should have no more than 30% of your life savings in the stock market. If the market crashes and you lose half of the 30%, you still have 85% of your life savings left.
Tax Plan: For many, total taxes paid (federal, state, and local) exceed any single other item of one’s budget, including housing or food. • Are you paying a professional for tax planning now to reduce your 2021 taxes; or do you just find the cheapest person to fill out your tax return due on April 15, 2022? • In order to enjoy big business deductions such as the 26% solar tax credit and Section 179 expensing provision (where one can deduct 87% of the cost of business equipment), one must “place that equipment in service” by 12/30/2021.
That requires that you buy your equipment now as there are logistics delays in many factories. • What’s the impact on your family if you could save $10,000-$50,000+ of income tax each year?
Dr. Wong earned his Ph.D. in economics at University of California/Berkeley and has appeared on over 400 TV/radio
programs.
Free live seminars and lunch:
Saturdays, Sept. 18. And Oct. 9 at The Old Spaghetti Factory, 3155 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler, starting at 10:45 a.m. Topic is “Double Your Social Security & Other Retirement Income and Pay Less Tax!” RSVP: Dr. Harold Wong at 480-706-0177 or harold_wong@hotmail.com. His website is www.drharoldwong.com.
