The Town of San Tan Valley now reviews and inspects construction work in its streets and utility easements, taking those duties over from Pinal County under an agreement both governments approved Aug. 5 — the Pinal County Board of Supervisors in the morning and the Town Council that evening.

The agreement is a memorandum of understanding, a written document that sets out how two governments will work together. It covers right-of-way use and construction permits, which are the permits required for work in or along public streets and utility easements, along with the engineering plan review and inspections that go with them.

This does not change how a homeowner gets a building permit. Building safety permits inside town limits follow a separate process.

What Changed

Anyone applying for a right-of-way or construction permit inside the Town of San Tan Valley now applies to the town, not the county. The town reviews the application, issues the permit and performs the inspections. That covers three kinds of work:

• Subdivision construction permits — paving, grading, water, sewer, street lights, landscaping and striping in new subdivisions.

• Civil onsite infrastructure permits for commercial, multifamily and industrial projects — grading, parking lots, concrete flatwork and utility work.

• All utility, telecommunications and fiber-optic permits.

Town Manager Brent Billingsley described the practical effect in terms of what gets built. The work at issue is off-site improvements: drainage, sidewalks, curb and gutter, turn lanes, road widening and internal subdivision streets. A developer builds them, the work is permitted and inspected, and at the point it is accepted it passes into permanent maintenance — now by the town.

What the County Still Handles

The handoff is not instant, and that matters to anyone with a project already underway. Applications that were filed with the county and found administratively complete on or before June 30, 2026 stay with the county. The county reviews them, issues the permits, performs the inspections and closes the projects out.

Billingsley put it plainly: where the county holds the financial assurance and is doing the inspections, the county carries the project all the way through to acceptance, and the town takes over at that point.

For subdivision construction already permitted by the county, the county keeps inspecting and monitoring the work until construction of the permitted improvements is finished, as long as that happens by June 30, 2027. Applications that were not administratively complete by June 30 go to the town.

Who This Applies To

This applies only inside the Town of San Tan Valley. The unincorporated San Tan Valley area, including the San Tan Foothills area, is not part of the town and remains under Pinal County for permits, plan review and inspections. A resident's address decides which one applies.

Bonds, Fees and Street Acceptance

The agreement also moves the money that guarantees construction gets finished. Financial assurances — the bonds and securities a developer posts to guarantee roads and other improvements are completed — must be formally transferred to the town for active projects inside town limits. The county has already sent written notices to the affected applicants and owners requiring that transfer, and will formally release its own security once the transfer is made.

Accepting streets into the maintenance system is now the town's sole responsibility. Any pavement finishing fee the county collected before July 1 for a project inside town boundaries that is in its warranty period must be transferred to the town.

Existing third-party trust agreements go to the Town Council for acceptance. Under their own terms, those agreements automatically end if the town does not formally accept them within 60 days.

The council accepted the first of those the same night. Sherwood Park Unit 2 is partly built out and secured by a third-party trust — a form of financial assurance the town's own subdivision code does not allow. Because the development was already under way, Billingsley said, the town cannot require it to switch. Resolution 2026-47 puts the town in Pinal County's place on that agreement.

What It Costs

Neither government pays the other under this agreement. The town is not responsible for county staff time or administrative costs on the older county permits. County employees doing that leftover work stay county employees, and town staff cannot direct or supervise them.

The agreement stays in effect until June 30, 2027, unless it is extended, amended or ended earlier in writing.