Cori Takemoto Williams/The Arizona Republic

Oracle residents Frank Pierson and his wife, Mary Ellen Kazda, stand in front of WIllow Springs Ranch, land that is being considered as the site for a 20,000-acre, 8,516-house development in Pinal County.

By Heather Urquides
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 08, 2001 12:00:00

The desert is calm. A bird chirps in the distance. Horse tracks zigzag the saguaro and mesquite.

The pristine serenity of this 4,600-acre tract near Oracle offers no hint of the battle for its future now raging in Pinal County.

County officials approved a developer's dream to transform one of Pinal's greenest patches of desert, about 30 miles north of Tucson, into one of its biggest cities.

The Willow Springs South Village would carve out 8,516 homes and a golf course among the creosote and wildflowers.

The development's creators, Tucson-based companies Anam Inc. and Remington Group, see Willow Springs as the first phase of an environmentally friendly 20,000-acre "self-sustaining" community that could draw 80,000 people to the high desert, where the nearest town numbers 3,500.

Officials justify it by noting the county's need for an economic boost in an area still stumbling to recover from massive mine closures and layoffs of the 1990s. But , Oracle residents are fighting to save their pristine desert homeland.

Willow Springs supporters maintain the project will breathe life into a withering area. Neighboring Oracle has no bank, no medical center, no community swimming pool and only two restaurants. Its high school students are bused to Oro Valley or San Manuel because it doesn't have one.

"This place is dead," lifelong Oracle resident Jerry Parra said. "For years, I didn't want Oracle to grow. But there's nothing here."
 

"There's nothing for the kids to do," he said. "There's no jobs. They graduate and they leave. You never see them again."

Opponents paint a much bleaker portrait of a project they claim would decimate the area's water supply, already compromised by a nearby radioactive dump, and eliminate prime hunting and hiking terrain.

Pinal Citizens for Sustainable Communities has mounted a fierce campaign against Willow Springs, on foot and online.

They aren't against growth, said Frank Pierson, one of the residents leading the charge, but they don't want to "radically change the nature of the place overnight."

Last month the group blanketed the county, going door-to-door in triple-digit heat to gather enough signatures to put the matter up for a public vote. They also post almost daily updates on a Web site, www.poisonedwells.com, to keep everyone abreast of the latest twists.

The developers filed suit against the county two weeks ago, alleging it mistakenly accepted the Pinal group's referendum petitions after the 30-day deadline.

At the heart of that battle is whether the clock started on the day the board made the rezoning decision May 16, or a few weeks later when they approved the minutes of that meeting. The Pinal group maintains the latter is the target date, and submitted signatures on July 2, which the county subsequently validated.

"They've crossed a political Rubicon," Pierson said of Anam and its lawsuit. "They're attempting to disenfranchise the citizens."

Development spokesman Alex Argueta said he sees the lawsuit as a way to spare the county the "terrible expense" of an election, especially since he doesn't believe the majority of residents oppose the project. "If I lose, I'll be happy to go to a vote," he said.

The two developers also partnered for a 2,400 acre development southeast of Tucson near the Santa Rita Foothills.

If the referendum survives, the matter will go to voters in November 2002 along with a second referendum, by the same residents' group, against a 6,000-home development northwest of Oracle Junction.

The group's biggest criticism of Willow Springs is its lack of preliminary designs, water tests and a formal agreement with the county guaranteeing the developers' environmentally friendly promises. They also are upset that the developer is not paying any impact fees.

Both Argueta and county planners say it is way too early in the planning stages for the kind of details the residents want. Argueta said he has committed to building a community that is friendly to the desert, with features such as solar power in adobe homes with desert landscaping.

The water issue is not up to the county, said Dennis Cady, the county's planning director. Before the developers can build, they must obtain a 100-year water supply certificate from the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Argueta described Willow Springs as a "new model town," where people can live and work among bike trails and green belts. He said the development will include rainwater harvesting technology and desert-style golf courses.

"We want to contribute to the area," he said. "We're not trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes. These are the planning concepts."

He also said he plans to work with local school districts to donate sites and will pay an estimated $7 million to pave Park Link Road, which will help connect the development to Interstate 10. Sewer, water and other infrastructure will cost an additional $7 million to $11 million.

Argueta also disputes claims by residents that Anam is financially unstable. Court records show the company, which buys and sells property throughout the United States, recovered from bankruptcy in 1993.

He said the company has enough money on hand to begin the project and that it will be seeking investors once it secures the go-ahead to begin construction.

Eric and Jean Schwennesen, who live on a 10,000-acre cattle ranch about seven miles from the proposed Willow Springs border, want the developers to put up a $1 million bond that would buy out ranchers if Willow Springs dries up the wells.

The Schwennesens live in a trailer with no power or phone. They are building a house they designed to be cooled and heated by the desert breezes and sun.

"It's a complicated issue," Jean Schwennesen said. "On one hand I believe in private property rights, but that's no assurance to me that we won't end up broke and bankrupt to enrich sprawl.

"We paid a price to be off the beaten track and then to have that price mean nothing by having development end up on your doorstep is a little jarring."

Pinal County Supervisor Lionel Ruiz, who has been criticized for his support of the project, said he sympathizes with residents.

"They're afraid the whole area is going to get overdeveloped and they're going to lose their quality of life," he said.

But the bottom line, he said, is that "development brings people, people bring services, and services bring employment."

"This whole eastern part of the county is not what it used to be," said Ruiz, a lifelong Mammoth resident. "All we're trying to do is maybe bring some jobs. Yes, they're remedial jobs, but you should see how many people are already driving to Tucson for those jobs."