October 30, 2018
By Les Conklin
President, Greater Pinnacle Peak Association
About two months ago, The Peak began publishing the email newsletters from all the candidates for Scottsdale City Council. Before I publish the newsletters, I read every one of them.
Councilman David Smith’s October 28th newsletter discusses how Scottsdale plans and manages its water resources.
Councilman Smith’s Newsletter
Nancy and Ralph Knight, Founders of GPPHA. Photo by Tony Nelssen.
When I reviewed the newsletter, I thought of Nancy and Ralph Knight. The Knights founded the Greater Pinnacle Peak Homeowners Association (GPPHA) in 1977. The future supply of water was a major concern of residents. Ralph donated many hours of his time working on the problem both before, during and after the Pinnacle Peak area’s annexation into Scottsdale. It’s obvious that Scottsdale’s long-term planning has paid off. Ralph and Nancy’s example of working with the City of Scottsdale on issues facing the local community certainly has been a guiding light for our organization as it has morphed from GPPHA to the ,Pinnacle Peak Association (GPPA), a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization.
Smith’s article also caused me to remember K.T. Palmer, Jerry Nelson and Florence Nelson. Their water-related activities are im,portant parts of north Scottsdale and Desert Foothills history.
In 1933, K.T. Palmer, a lawyer with a one-man office in Phoenix, began homesteading on the western slope of Pinnacle Peak. He started buying and selling land, eventually accumulating thousands of acres. Palmer had a dream of creating a planned community. For his dream to come true, he needed to find water. Palmer drilled in several locations in the Pinnacle Peak area, including sites on land he owned and a site near the intersection of North Scottsdale and East Pinnacle Peak Roads. No luck! In the end, he bought an old goat farm and developed what we now know as Carefree.
Jerry and Florence Nelson were the first to strike it wet in the Pinnacle Peak area. Click on the link below to read their interesting discovery story.
“How Water Accelerated the Development of the Pinnacle Peak Area”
Our association began publishing A Peek at the Peak (The Peak) magazine in 1983. There are numerous articles related to water conservation efforts in the early issues of The Peak. These articles are now included in the Scottsdale Public Library’s online archive that is freely available to the public. There are also articles from past editiona that are published in this online magazine, including one about the 1993 pumping station incident at Los Gatos.
“Pumping Station Blowout Causes Los Gatos Flood Damage”
Friends of the Scenic Drive, which became part of GPPA in 2002, also has been involved in Scottsdale’s water management efforts. I am sure that Howard and Carol Myers, Edie and B.J. Shannon, Marg Nelssen, the Schuttenbergs and other volunteers will remember the effort. The project involved shifting the Scenic Drive’s plant exhibits on the east side of Scottsdale Road, further east so that new water line could be buried. The project involved selecting new exhibit plants and constructing, routing, staining and installing exhibit signs from Happy Valley Road to Carefree Highway, a distance of about 6 1/2 miles.
If it wasn’t for the City of Scottsdale’s water-related planning, my house would probably be in Phoenix today. Odds are that I wouldn’t have read Smith’s newsletter or written this article. You might ask “Why is that?” It’s because there is a water well on the north side of Jomax Road, just west of N. Scottsdale Road. The City of Scottsdale needed water to support growth and included the well, my neighborhood and other parcels west of N. Scottsdale Road in the 1986 annexation. I have not been thirsty since.
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