Home Prices Rising in More Markets

The recovery in real-estate values is accelerating, as more and more markets post gains in median home sale prices. The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that the U.S. median home price rose 10% to $178,900 between the fourth quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2012. That’s the biggest yearly gain in the median price since the fourth quarter of 2005. Of the 152 metro areas examined read more...

Tonto Forest Supervisor: College Land Sale ‘A Top Priority’

Bosworth doesn’t expect artifacts to stall sale Tonto National Forest Supervisor Neil Bosworth believes the Forest Service will complete the review of the sale of land for a university campus in Payson “quickly,” with no extra delays as a result of the discovery of pottery shards and centuries-old rock shelters discovered scattered across the 260 acres. #“This is a top priority for us. We are working aggressively to move this project forward. Data recovery from archeological sites was always part of this project. It will be conducted concurrently with the approval process. #Bosworth said he believes that the regional office in Albuquerque will soon finish its review of his office’s request to approve a “direct sale” of the land to the Rim Country Educational Alliance SLE. This will enable the Forest Service to sell the land based on independent appraisals rather than a competitive bidding process. read more...

Payson’s Water Table Rising Despite Lingering Drought

Payson’s fissured and cracked granite aquifer continues to rebound as crews ready for the delivery of C.C. Cragin water, a recently released water report reveals. #Payson will receive 3,000 acre-feet of water from the Blue Ridge Reservoir in 2014, enough to indefinitely end any fear of water shortages. #Yet, with a shrinking population, Payson’s groundwater supply has already risen. Water levels in the town’s wells have inched upward, said Tanner Henry, Payson’s water division manager. #“The resilience of groundwater levels, in spite of lackluster precipitation in 2012, is indicative of an aquifer in recovery condition,” the town report found. “In other words, water levels are rising or stable because the aquifer is not being pumped more than it is naturally replenished over the long term.” read more...

Payson Applies For Easements For Roads Needed For Campus

The Forest Service may move in geologic time, but the Payson Town Council continues to take spritely steps to acquire land for a university campus here. #The long-suffering plan to build a four-year university here on 260 acres of land owned by the U.S. Forest Service is currently stalled by the torturous process required to buy land from the federal government. #However, the Payson Council on Tuesday complied with a Forest Service request to apply for easements to extend Mud Springs and Granite Dells roads as part of the plan to eventually build a university in Payson. read more...

Big Retailers Ready To Open In Payson

Work to open two new big box stores in Payson is well under way. The Rim Country Shopping Center will be nearly full when Big Lots and PetSmart open in the next few months. They’re following close behind Big 5 Sporting Goods, which opened in November. Big Lots should open Feb. 22 followed by PetSmart opening on March 17, said Andy Seleznov with the Tucson-based property management firm Larsen Baker, LLC. read more...

College Advances: Water Plan Unveiled, Assessment Released

Here’s the latest benefit of the Blue Ridge pipeline: Two streams running through the middle of town. #The Payson Town Council last week approved a $60,000 engineering contract to design a pipeline to dump extra, untreated Blue Ridge water into two branches of the American Gulch. #The streams will run at least nine months out of the year and carry several hundred acre-feet of water. #The project will both put extra, untreated Blue Ridge water back into the ground and provide a first-class, tourist-pleasing water feature in a town once known for having adopted the toughest water conservation rules in the state. Better yet: The Rim Country Educational Alliance SLE will pay for the extra pipeline to carry the untreated water as part of the plan to build a campus for Arizona State University off Tyler Parkway. #And better, better yet: The town can sell untreated pipeline water to both the university for watering extensive athletic fields and landscaping and to the two country club golf courses, which have been struggling to keep their grass green due to a shortage of recycled wastewater from the Northern Gila County Sanitary District. read more...

Payson To Award Key Contracts For Water Treatment Plant Design

Now the Payson Town Council is ready to approve a $1.6 million contract to come up with the final designs for a new water treatment plant. #Looks like they really are going to build the $40 million C.C. Cragin Pipeline, to ensure Payson becomes one of the few communities in the state with an ample future water supply. #The award of a design contract to Sunrise Engineering will dominate the Thursday council agenda. Sunrise was the only firm to complete a bid on the complex job of designing the microfiltration plant that will treat 3,000 acre-feet annually to meet drinking water standards. However, the bid hardly came as a surprise — since Sunrise has done the preliminary designs on most of the components of the project and has teamed with Tetra Tech, which has provided engineering services for a host of town projects. read more...

Homes Selling Quicker

The third and fourth quarters of the year are typically strong in real estate sales. #During this time of year, many sellers contemplate taking their home off the market for the approaching holidays and relisting them after the New Year. #Statistics show this is not wise as the fourth quarter has good sales. #The buyers we see during the holidays are fewer, however, they are more often than not, serious buyers. read more...

Christopher Creek’S Red Rocks Rival Those In Sedona, Payson Arizona Homes For Sale!

KMOG radio station blares from my clock radio right on schedule. It’s 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning — hiking day. Am I really going to leave my warm, quilted nest of a bed to go hike? I could remain here and sleep another hour, with no one to disturb my comfort. I could ease into the day, and finally catch up on my mound of paperwork and check off on the reservoir of to-dos on my calendar. Besides, the house is too cold to rise. read more...