Given the current flood of so much hanging in the precarious balance of public understanding of all the issues, it's interesting to note that Gammage was chosen as the speaker for an event next week to address a closely-connected commercial real estate industry group CCIM, the Central Arizona chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Member.
________________________________________________________________________Issues & Answers Forum: Water in Arizona - IntroductionGrady Gammage Jr. at Sandra Day O'Connor InstitutePublished on Dec 17, 2018Views: 26
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Arizona H20. Is Arizona really an at-risk state?
Join the Central AZ CCIM Chapter and Grady Gammage Jr., to talk about AZ Water Rights.
Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Time: 7:15 AM - 7:45 AM - Check-in/Breakfast
7:45 AM - 9:00 AM - Program
Details: Arizona H20. Is Arizona really an at-risk state with a questionable future due to climate, water supply and politics? Arizona native Grady Gammage, Jr. will explore the history of water in the state and discuss the challenges we face: distributing water for growth, managing groundwater uncertainty, keeping track of river supplies and asking ourselves how we should choose to live.
Food: Breakfast catered by Scramble.
Gringo Burritos, Meat Lover Scramble options. Bacon and Sausage, Hashbrowns, Fresh Fruit, Cinnamon Rolls and coffee.
Vegan and vegetarian Burrito options will be available as well
Please indicate when you register if you need a Vegan or Vegetarian option.
Tickets:
$40.00 2019 Chapter Membership
$50.00 Non-Member/Guest
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[At the 12th Annual IREM-CCIM Economic Forecast Conference on January 24, 2019, the recipient of this year’s Impact Award is Grady Gammage Jr., a real estate and zoning attorney and founder of Gammage & Burnham P.L.C. Long-time Valley businessman Jerry Colangelo of JDM Partners presented the award.]
The watershed moments helps to create an effective outreach and communications strategy as part of a successful entitlement process
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At the start of 2019 that strategy became public in another one of those notorious and noteworthy Arizona Republic Op-Ed Opinion pieces:
2018 was a turning point for Arizona.
Here's how we make the most of it
From how we vote to how we talk about water, 2018 may have been the year that determines Arizona's future.
HOW DOES WATER FIT IN?
The simplistic view that Arizona is unsustainable is wrong: We are better positioned to cope with the challenges of climate change than most places. Our challenges will be slower moving . . .
What is the appropriate density for cities in the desert? How will autonomous vehicles affect development patterns? . . .
We are already doing a lot of these things. Besides moving on the drought contingency plan, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Salt River Project and Central Arizona Project have been aggressively pursuing new water management techniques and the acquisition of additional resources.
We cannot allow others to call us, as Andrew Ross did in his 2011 book Bird on Fire, “the world’s least sustainable place
We have always marketed our climate.
We just need to adjust the pitch.
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This is already happening with the increasing relocations of financial service and insurance business and call centers to Arizona . . . CAN WE FIND OUR SWAGGER?
Arizona has always used the power of government – collective action – to manage water supplies in a challenging and arid place.
Our past was all about managing water to make this place possible. Now our future must be all about managing climate to make it sustainable. In that activity may we find quiet confidence, and maybe a bit of a swagger.
[Image credit: Grady Gammage Jr. outside Gammage Auditorium in Tempe on December 20, 2018. (Photo: Cheryl Evans/The Republic)
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Phoenix New Times-Feb 28, 2019
Over the course of two decades, Vidler Water Company, where she is CEO, had spent nearly $100 million in Arizona on water, land, permits, ...
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Here's an Op-Ed Opinion piece published back in August 2014 in Arizona Republic
Who appointed me 'water czar?' Sure wasn't me
To the contrary, my entire point in every single thing I've ever said or written is that we need a citizenry that cares more and understands more about water issues. This does not mean panicking because the New York Times thinks Phoenix will run out of water as soon as shortages are declared on the Colorado. It does mean understanding that a drier future means we need to start making tougher choices about what we do with the water we have.
"Watering the Sun Corridor," the Morrison Institute report I worked on in 2011, was an effort to improve public understanding and get people thinking about the need to make choices . .
Right now, our system views all agriculture as equal in water terms, and leaves priority between crops up to the marketplace. Perhaps we should debate drawing finer distinctions about what is grown with water resources.
Everything I have written about water is intended to provoke a deeper and more meaningful dialogue about this subject. . . Just don't call me a water czar unless I get at least a scepter."
Who is Grady Gammage Jr.??
His practice has focused on the political aspects of real estate, development and public policy.
As a zoning lawyer, he has represented dozens of major commercial projects including
He has also been at the forefront of urban development in Maricopa County, including deals with such public private projects as the Tempe Town Lake and Arizona’s unique approach to redevelopment incentives.
He has also represented cities and towns in revising their development and land use ordinances and has litigated land use and election issues related to development.
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Some background:
Mesa Water Management Policy
Sustainability in Public Policy:
Working with City of Mesa on Water Management
February 3, 2012
Reference > https://sustainability.asu.edu/news/archive/mesa-water-management-policy/
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Where the Water Goes". . . My journey along the Colorado took me to farms, government offices, campgrounds, power plants, ghost towns, fracking sites, aqueducts, reservoirs, and pumping stations, and it gave me opportunities to lose myself in some truly jaw-dropping topography. My journey ended in Mexico, in a truck belonging to someone else. In that truck, a Mexican environmentalist drove Jennifer Pitt and me across an expanse of sand to a point where the river ceased to exist. Where had the water gone? By then, I had a pretty good idea. . ."
November 27, 2012
Trend to watch:
1 “One big issue we see facing commercial development is the disconnect between the price a user can pay and the rising costs of land and development.
2 Another issue we see is the rise in opposition to entitlements, particularly through the use of social media, which requires an experienced team to help create an effective outreach and communications strategy as part of a successful entitlement process.” _________________________________________________________________________
Speaker: Founding Member of Gammage & Burnham Attorneys at Law
Grady is one of the founders of Gammage and Burnham and has had a varied and diverse 40-year career in law and public policy in Arizona. His practice has focused on the political aspects of real estate, development and public policy.
As a zoning lawyer, he has represented dozens of major commercial projects including
- high rise offices
- major industrial and office parks
- retail shopping centers of all sizes
- tens of thousands of acres of residential projects, including some of Arizona’s most iconic master planned communities.
He has also been at the forefront of urban development in Maricopa County, including deals with such public private projects as the Tempe Town Lake and Arizona’s unique approach to redevelopment incentives.
He has also represented cities and towns in revising their development and land use ordinances and has litigated land use and election issues related to development.
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Some background:
Mesa Water Management Policy
Sustainability in Public Policy:
Working with City of Mesa on Water Management
February 3, 2012
In the fall of 2011, Dr. Rob Melnick, Director of Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability26, and Grady Gammage Jr. brought graduate students from a variety of ASU’s schools and city officials from the City of Mesa, AZ, together to address key sustainability issues within an interdisciplinary workshop class in the School of Sustainability (SOS).
Reference > https://sustainability.asu.edu/news/archive/mesa-water-management-policy/
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Where the Water Goes". . . My journey along the Colorado took me to farms, government offices, campgrounds, power plants, ghost towns, fracking sites, aqueducts, reservoirs, and pumping stations, and it gave me opportunities to lose myself in some truly jaw-dropping topography. My journey ended in Mexico, in a truck belonging to someone else. In that truck, a Mexican environmentalist drove Jennifer Pitt and me across an expanse of sand to a point where the river ceased to exist. Where had the water gone? By then, I had a pretty good idea. . ."
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November 27, 2012
Thinking about water
by Jon Talton
by Jon Talton
> The bottom line is that sprawled, single-family house subdivision urban Arizona is not sustainable, much less one adding a million people or doubling in size or whatever the latest boosterish nonsense is peddled. The business model of population growth won't work. Even before the consequences of climate change came roaring at us, the United Nations warned of the destabilizing effects of water shortages in the 21st century. . . "
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OTHER RESOURCES OF INTEREST:
Real estate law trends to watch this year
AZRE spoke with some of the great legal minds in commercial real estate to find out what trends and issues they say we should look at before making that next deal.
Gammage & Burnham
Real estate leader: Grady Gammage, Jr., founding member
History of success: Gammage & Burnham has the unique combination of a large land use group and a large real estate and financial transactions group that work together as one team of highly talented lawyers. While Gammage & Burnham is very efficient at routine matters, the firm is also known for being the firm to hire when a project has unique challenges or requires special skills. Trend to watch:
1 “One big issue we see facing commercial development is the disconnect between the price a user can pay and the rising costs of land and development.
2 Another issue we see is the rise in opposition to entitlements, particularly through the use of social media, which requires an experienced team to help create an effective outreach and communications strategy as part of a successful entitlement process.” _________________________________________________________________________
