Council to hear plan amendments and annexation issues (complete article from source)
Source: The Sahuarita Sun, by Philip Franchine
October 21, 2008
The Town Council on Monday will consider annexing 4.7 acres east of town and will decide the fate of eight General Plan Amendments that could later involve 25 square miles of annexations and tens of thousands of new housing units.
The council is expected to have a long night, and will finally decide the fate of the 4.7 acres east of Santa Rita Road and north of Davis Road. The council first held a hearing on the matter in December 2007 and has gotten approval from the two property owners involved: Sahuarita Five, LLC, Delberta A. Lamb, Manager, and Tucson Electric Power. It is zoned rural residential, GR-1.
The plan amendments to be heard include the 15,000-unit Mission Peaks project west of town and the proposal to annex 16 square miles of State Trust land east of town.
The projects have all been recommended by the Town Planning and Zoning Commission. If the land owners win the requested plan change, they would next go through a rezoning process, which means hearings before the plan commission, notification of neighbors and approval by the Town Council. Approval of a plan change does not guarantee rezoning or annexation.
The Mission Peaks project comprises two amendment requests: 4,217 acres of privately owned land and 632 acres of State Trust land west of town. It would entail 15,000 housing units on private land plus another 2,000 on state land.
The largest proposal in area is a 16-square-mile parcel of State Trust land to the east that is almost completely unoccupied, a square running from around the town’s eastern boundary to Wilmot Road and from a mile south of Sahuarita Road to three miles north of Sahuarita Road.
Following are summaries of the other requests:
900 acres of State Trust land and about 20 acres of private land north of Quail Crossing Boulevard and southwest of Santa Rita Road. The annexation eventually would allow the town to extend Campbell Avenue north to Santa Rita Road, creating a road system east of the Union Pacific Rail Road tracks and leaving Quail Creek and Madera Highlands areas more accessible.
Fifty acres of Park Corp. land north of Duval Mine Road and west of the town limits and the Duval Commerce Court. The owner wants to change the planning designation from Urban Industrial to Mixed Use, which would allow for residential uses.
Fifty acres of Diamond Ventures property just southeast of the town limits, east of the Union Pacific Rail Road tracks and west of Madera Reserve. The owner seeks approval for commercial, office and light industrial uses. The property owner would be expected to extend Campbell Avenue south, serving Madera Highlands and White House Canyon Road.
Fifty acres owned by Robson Communities south of the Quail Crossing Boulevard extension and west of Old Nogales Highway. Robson wants to change the plan designation from flood plain to commercial.
Eighty acres of Park Company of Arizona land west of La Canada Drive that the owner wants to change from low density residential to mixed use, which would allow both commercial and residential uses. This would be the gateway to a huge master-planned project that would include housing and commercial uses.
Click here for complete article from The Sahuarita Sun
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