A standing room only crowd attended a May 16 hearing to consider a request to rezone 4,600 acres 10 miles north of Oracle Junction. 

       The rezoning was required to build the first phase of a city that will consume over 26 square miles of land and house close to 100,000 people, if it is built.

       Supervisors Kerr and Ruiz voted to approve the rezoning. 

      Supervisor Smith voted to approve the rezoning but in an unusual action tried to distance herself from her vote by saying that she approved of the rezoning for no other reason than because Ruiz did. 

       Smith explained that her decision to mimic Ruiz's vote was motivated simply by the fact that it applied to land in Ruiz’s district. 

       There was broad citizen opposition expressed at the hearing.  Only 4 of the 33 speakers favored the proposal. 

       Two speakers told the supervisors their decision could affect their re-election.  "Look at your constituents," one local said. "Few of us live in townhouses and want to play golf."

      This is the third time in three years that Pinal County Supervisors have approved rezoning for a large development in the Oracle Area. 

       And for  the third time in three years, some Oracle residents say they plan to launch a referendum drive that will allow county voters to judge the wisdom of the supervisors’ decision.

Violations

       Oracle resident Frank Pierson told the supervisors that there were at least 11 violations of the county planning and zoning procedure.

       Among the violations Pierson cited was the fact that the CCRs (codes, covenants and restrictions) for the project were not submitted to the county prior to the rezoning hearing. 

       The CCR's would allow the county to assure the landowner keeps his promise to use environmentally friendly building techniques.  The CCRs had not been written at the time of the hearing. 

       Oracle resident Mary Ellen Kazda rose and detailed the specifics of several violations for the supervisors.

        As Kazda was finishing her presentation on the violations and was preparing to move to another point, chairman Kerr interrupted with a loud banging of the gavel.  Kerr leaned forward and said in a loud voice, "your time is up." 

       Another speaker yielded her time to Kazda.  Ordinarily, speakers that have time yielded by another speaker are allowed to continue, but an agitated Kerr continued banging his gavel and repeating, “your time is up.”

       Kazda’s explicit detailing of the violations caused the supervisors to go into an executive session and confer with legal counsel. 

A very small fee
 

Supervisor Ruiz

             It is common practice for city and county governments to charge developers impact fees to cover the cost of roads, preserving open space and so on. 

       In Phoenix, developers pay fees ranging between $4,000 and $10,000 per single family house*.

       Supervisor Ruiz imposed a fee of $700 per house on the landowner.
 

A foregone conclusion?

       In another unusual action, the supervisors suspended resident input to give the assembly the benefit of their thoughts on the rezoning proposal.

       By commenting favorably on the proposal before almost half of the residents had been heard, the supervisors created the appearance that hearing residents concerns on the proposal was done only as a matter of form.

       For example, on May 7 Ruiz said he had not yet made his mind up as to whether to approve or deny the rezoning request and would decide only after hearing both sides.  However, before almost half of the residents had been heard, Ruiz said that "when the development is built" it would be a good one, indicating  Ruiz  had already decided  to approve the proposal.

Supervisor Kerr

      Supervisor Kerr used his time to lecture the audience, counseling them to "plan for development because it will happen.”  Kerr also claimed that his constituents strongly support development. 

       Last December, several thousand of Kerr's constituents signed a referendum petition to allow county residents to vote on the supervisors’ decision to rezone over 2,000 acres for a golf-oriented retirement community.

Supervisor Smith

      Supervisor Smith asked the remaining speakers to address the possibility the landowners develop the project with one house per 1 ¹/₄  acres unless the rezoning was approved, as if to say the rezoning would protect residents from an unnamed disease.

       Smith's comments echoed earlier statements by Steve Soriano, vice president of Robson Communities Inc. 

       In November of last year, Soriano told the supervisors that if the rezoning for a 6,000 resident golf oriented community near Oracle was not approved, the project would be built using the existing zoning -- 1 house per 1 ¹/₄ acres. 

       When the Robson rezoning was put on hold by a referendum, the Arizona Daily Star asked Soriano if the project would be built on 1 ¼ acre lots.  Soriano said that building on lots of that size was not financially viable. 

       Apparently the unnamed disease is a fiction.

        After the interlude called by the supervisors to allow them the opportunity to indicate they would approve the request, public opposition  was allowed to continue.