December 20, 2007
Coyote Springs General Improvement District Coming Along

Photo by Dave Maxwell Doug Carriger explaining about area where constructin of homes is to begin at Coyote Springs.

By Dave Maxwell

Doug Carriger, Vice-President of Community Operations for Coyote Springs Investments reported to the board regarding the Coyote Springs General Improvement District on December 13 in Alamo.

Carriger said that the building of homes and businesses at Coyote is being scaled back a bit due to the ongoing slow down in the real estate market in this part of the state.

CSI has developed what is called a “lean plan” and will begin to focus their sales and development to a smaller area than had been originally planned. The area is easily explained on a map, but for the casual viewer here’s an explanation: From SR168 at the current main row entering the development (where the offices are located) the area to be developed is directly north for about one mile, close to and around the PGA golf course and village.

The original intent, Carriger said, had been to build along U.S. Highway 93, starting at the southwest corner. But since plans have been changed, that area will be put off until later. Had construction progressed there, a water reservoir involving a $9 million pump to handle the needs would have had to be constructed. Not building there now will avoid having to spend $9 million, Carriger said.

In the area where building will take place, plans call for a country store with a minimum 2500 square feet, a 1500 square foot minimum medical clinic, possibly a contract post office, and maybe a gas station or two to be built to serve the needs of the people in the golfing village.

This newer limited development will include 731 homes in the area where most of the infrastructure already exists. In addition, Carriger thought it would be about 2010 before there are any residents in the new homes.

The main reason for not building along the Highway 93 line, as first considered, Carriger said, “Is that it costs a lot of money to build the entire infrastructure.” This drawback will see only the golf course clubhouse roof put on and then left temporarily unfinished because the infrastructure to get water to it will not be built until later. “We’re trying to cut back on overall infrastructure costs and start developing in a more phased way where the infrastructure developments right now are pretty good,” he said. This will also help lower the cost of building the first homes by about 25 percent.

The wastewater treatment plant that will serve Coyote Springs is continuing under construction; however, Carriger said it will not be completed as quickly as had been planned.

Solar generated power is another idea Coyote Springs Investments is looking at for the development. In mid-December, a Palo Alto, California firm, Ausra, Inc., announced plans to build a 130,000-square-foot assembly plant in Las Vegas to make components for solar thermal power plants, plants that use the sun’s heat to create steam that spins turbines to generate electricity. Solar power is something Coyote Springs has been looking at quite seriously, Carriger noted.

In other action, Board Secretary Wendy Rudder and Attorney John Brown volunteered to help Carriger work to create a Water Conservation Plan for Coyote to submit to the State Water Engineer before a hearing date of March 31, 2008.