July 6, 2001

Oracle activists turn in referendum petitions

By Tony Davis 
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Oracle activists this week handed Pinal County officials 5,900 petition signatures seeking a public vote on a proposed new city of 20,000 people on a ranch 25 miles north of Tucson. 

If the referendum effort is as successful as two previous drives by development-wary residents, the November 2002 election on the 8,500-home Willow Springs Ranch will pit neighbors against neighbors as well as the developer. 

Bringing in the referendum signatures: the political action group Pinal Citizens for Sustainable Communities. Many of its 25 core activists have fought more than a decade to preserve Oracle's rustic, semirural atmosphere. 

The group stopped the 3,900-home Rancho Coronado north of Oracle a year ago, and has forced another November 2002 referendum vote on the 6,000-home SaddleBrooke Ranch northwest of Oracle Junction. 

It turned in about 2,600 more signatures than necessary against Willow Springs, which would be nestled in the Black Mountains northeast of Oracle Junction. The County Elections Division has until Aug. 7 to verify the signatures' validity. 

Supporters of development in the area, who call themselves Citizens for Positive Growth & Development, have argued in letters that "Our community is dying and we need something to revive it." 

That group received slightly less than $7,000 from two developers - the Remington Group, which wants to build Willow Springs, and Robson Communities, developer of SaddleBrooke Ranch. Another $7,000 in office equipment was donated by a member, retiree Bessie Jennings. 

"The other group will tell you that ecotourism will sustain us," said Elaine Helzer, the pro-development group's spokeswoman. "But there is nothing here for tourists. We have two small (restaurants), no bank, no medical facilities and people moving here left and right. 

"This project is going to bring jobs. It's going to improve our school base and our tax base. It will bring high tech," said Helzer, who teaches piano and voice at her Oracle home. "This other group will tell you that the development will bring only menial jobs. 

"Let me tell you about menial jobs. I have two students whose parents are housekeepers who make $20 an hour." 

She called opponents "green environmentalists, who will probably find a tsetse fly out there" to stop the development. 

Mary Ellen Kazda, however, contended that the soon to open Oracle State Park, Biosphere 2 and this week's opening of the 125-year-old American Flag Ranch as an historic building attraction will all draw tourists. 

Most of Willow Springs' jobs would be low-paying: yard work, cleaning houses or swimming pool cleaning, said Kazda, who says she is self-employed. 

She said her group has raised about $2,000 from individual donations to oppose the development. 

Kazda contended that the Willow Springs project would hurt working people by raising taxes for new services. The county supervisors unanimously approved a $700-per-home transportation fee as part of the project's May 17 rezoning. Kazda said the developers should also pay for libraries, parks, and police and fire stations. 

"Our supervisor (Lionel Ruiz) is not negotiating for the working families of the tri-community," Kazda said, referring to San Manuel, Oracle and Mammoth. 

Ruiz said the fee is a good deal for taxpayers because it would raise more than $6.3 million, enough to pave the remaining 12 dirt road miles of Park Link Road. It ties Arizona 79, west of the ranch, to Interstate 10, 18 miles away. 

As for the remaining infrastructure, Ruiz said that if Willow Springs Ranch incorporates, its government could build libraries and fire stations. If not, residents can form library and fire districts to pay for their own services, he said. 

* Contact Tony Davis at 807-7790 or verdin@azstarnet.com.