The Spirit of Pine Valley

A Unique Community Living with Nature

From the PVN President – March 7, 2025

by Editorial Team

Hi Pine Valley  Neighbors,
As you know, I agreed to come back to help Pine Valley on two issues:

  1. Paring down the garbage companies to one and saving our roads and peace of mind!
  2. Helping Pine Valley with fire concerns, the dead trees on Jack’s Canyon, and possibly joining Firewise.

With that said, here are some more things to consider:
Here below is information on the APS Line and APS IMMUNITY HOUSE BILL 2201 – that has advanced in the Arizona House of Representatives, and also information for you on a free Fire Preparedness presentation: From Awareness to Preparedness – Personal Wildfire Emergency Preparedness in the Verde Valley, that will be offered by a concerned local group, The Sedona Women, and will feature representatives from Arizona Dept of Forestry, and Sedona Fire and Police departments.

ALSO, I have just been made aware (Thank you Zach!) that State Senator Mark Fincham, who represents our District, is looking for people who have had their homeowner’s insurance cancelled, to come down to Phoenix on Monday afternoon 3/10/25 from 2PM to 3:30 to testify before the Senate about this important issue.  I know it’s short notice, but I am attaching the Press release below if you can go!

*******************
APS LINE and IMMUNITY BILL 2201
We got an email from a NextDoor Post by Tony Torianello that seems rather pertinent to our issues on this APS line.  Here is his Post:
“APS transmission lines into The Village WATCH OUT, FOLKS; it’s worse than you think! While you were at the APS/NFS/Community meeting last night trying to protect your lives, property, businesses, and environment from forest fires, your Arizona legislature is busy ABSOLVING APS FROM LIABILITY caused by those fires. Because of car trouble I was unable to get to the meeting where I had planned to distribute copies of a newspaper article with the details. I refer to the Arizona Republic’s February 8, 2025 (page 8a) article titled ” UTILITY IMMUNITY BILL ADVANCES IN HOUSE.” That bill, House Bill 2201, has already passed through the house–so times wasting. The article outlaws class action suits against the utility for damages due to fires. The article goes far beyond what I’m summarizing here but essentially it states that APS can write a mitigation plan and as long as they stick to that plan they are free from any responsibility for damages. That’s the plan THAT THEY write without your input. And they can change the plan at any time without notice. They submit the new plan but it doesn’t need approval from the Board of Directors. The BOD doesn’t even have to read it because the plan is automatically approved when submitted, as submitted, with no formal ( or even verbal) approval necessary. The article goes in much greater detail and, believe me, you MUST read it. Now it is abundantly clear that your only protection is to see to it that those lines are buried all the way to to end terminal. You not only have to fight APS, now you have to fight our Arizona legislature who are busy legislating away your right to protection against harm to life, property, and financial security.”
So folks, if you want to have your say, it’s time to alert our Senators, with our position on this matter.  Send your comments, refer to HOUSE BILL 2201 to say that it needs to be vetoed!
Here are the Arizona US Senators:
Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat
2201 E Camelback Road, Suite 115
Phoenix, AZ 85016
602-671-7901
Website: Kelly.senate.gov
You can go onto the website, and click on Contact, and SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS.
*****
Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat
3333 E Camelback Rd, Suite 200
Phoenix, AZ 85018
202-224-4521
Website: Gallego.senate.gov
You can go onto the website, and click on Contact Ruben, and SHARE YOUR OPINION.
*****
Here is our Arizona State Senator for our District:
Senator Mark Finchem
Republican, District 1
Arizona State Capitol Complex, Room 304
1700 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone:  602-926-3631
Email: mfinchem@azleg.gov
I have gone onto BOTH websites, and filed my opinions on this subject with BOTH US Senators.   I have also emailed AZ State Senator Mark Fincham.  IF we ALL do this, they will know it’s not just some crazy old lady from Pine Valley!!
****************************
From Awareness to Preparedness – Personal Wildfire Emergency Preparedness in the Verde Valley – presented by The Sedona Women.
This presentation will be held on Thursday March 13th at 10AM, at St Andrews’s Episcopal Church, 100 Arroyo Pinon Drive in West Sedona, space is limited and is assigned on a first-come, first-seated basis.
This church is located in West Sedona, on Arroyo Pinon (opposite Dry Creek Road), turn LEFT on Arroyo Pinon Drive, go down about 1/10th mile, and the church will be on your left.

Representatives will educate attendees on the Firewise program, (which I am looking into for Pine Valley) and approaches toward property defensibility.  There appears to be a lot of representatives from various agencies, that will offer various safety guidelines, evacuation checklists and recommendations for residents.  I will be UNABLE to make this meeting, as I have a VERY necessary Doctor appointment that morning.  I thought you all might like to know about this, if you missed this announcement in the recent KUDOS publication.

Our next Pine Valley meeting will be at my home on Saturday 3/29 at 10AM, 15 Bobcat Ct.
I hope to have some updates on trash removal consolidation, and more info on Firewise – things are in the works!  Hope to see you!
That’s all I have for now.  Thanks for listening!

Diana Judson
President, Pine Valley Neighbors

 

Download (PDF, 281KB)