Gilbert, Mesa Working to Adopt Dust-Control Laws

By Chris Markham, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Apr. 5–Gilbert and Mesa are the only East Valley municipalities yet to adopt dust-control ordinances that were required by state law to be in place by last Monday.

The Mesa City Council is scheduled to vote on that city’s ordinance Monday, and Gilbert officials say they’re working on the town’s ordinance and expect to vote later this month.

The state law, passed last year to help eliminate pollution and keep federal highway funds coming in, requires municipalities in the Valley to adopt an ordinance that restricts dust launched into the air by leaf blowers, street sweepers and unpaved roads.

"The state deadline is really a nonissue, with all due respect," Gilbert spokesman Greg Svelund said.

Gilbert officials have already said the town is complying with the law through various ordinances, rules and regulations. But the town was required to consolidate those control measures into one ordinance by last Monday.

The Gilbert Town Council was scheduled to vote on an ordinance Tuesday, but held off after some property owners expressed concern about the new law’s requirements.

The town plans to meet with owners of industrial properties, who now often use alternative methods for dust control including sprays and gravel.

In the meantime, there are no real consequences to municipalities that missed the deadline. State law does allow the county to take cities and towns to court to force compliance, but all municipalities in Maricopa County are already working in that direction, said Lindy Bauer, environmental director for the Maricopa Association of Governments.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, several property owners urged the town to hear their concerns and consider allowing methods of dust control other than paving — with one saying it would cost half a million dollars to pave her company’s storage yard.

William Hyder of Scottsdale said he has owned industrial property in Gilbert for more than 22 years, and argued that there are less onerous ways to control dust and meet the legislative mandate.

"The town of Gilbert’s proposed ordinance has gone higher and beyond the state mandate," he said. He said he had already started to haul asphalt millings onto his yard in an effort to meet the state’s requirements, but is concerned now he will have to pave instead.

The state law, which passed in June 2007, appoints MAG to administer the regional air quality plan.

The law came after the federal government declared the Phoenix region a nonattainment area for PM-10 particulates. The law is aimed at controlling the levels of dust measuring 10 microns in diameter or smaller. By comparison, the human hair measures 100 microns in width.

"The best situation is to attain the PM-10 standard as quickly as possible," Bauer said. "The measures need to be implemented as quickly as possible in order to clean up the PM-10 problem."

Bauer said the local ordinances are part of a larger state plan already submitted to the federal Environmental Protection Agency to reduce PM-10 pollution by 5 percent a year.

"We don’t want anything to jeopardize the approval of this plan by the EPA," she said.

Gilbert officials will meet with landowners Tuesday, and the council is expected to vote on an ordinance at its April 29 meeting.

Tribune writer Beth Lucas contributed to

this report.

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