COURT DEEMS ORACLE REFERENDUMS INVALID 

by Katie Clark 

Oracle resident Elaine Helzer, founder of the pro-growth group Pinal Citizens for Positive Growth and Development, filed one of the original suits against the county on July 25, 2001.

Referendums regarding zoning changes for two large-scale housing developments north of Tucson were deemed invalid by the Arizona Court of Appeals July 19. 

The referendums were in opposition to the Willow Springs Ranch and Saddle-Brooke Ranch developments, both about 30 miles north of Tucson and just a few miles away from the town of Oracle. 

Robson Communities, the SaddleBrooke Ranch developers, and Anam, Inc., the owners of the Willow Springs property, had sued Pinal County, arguing that the referendums were invalid because the petitions needed to put the referendums on the November ballot were submitted past the county's mandatory 30-day deadline.  

The deadline is based on when the ordinance detailing what is happening to the property is made available. In order for the petitions to be circulated, the ordinance must be attached. 

According to the petition applications, members of the group Pinal Citizens for Sustainable Communities applied for the referendum petition for the SaddleBrooke Ranch development on Nov. 7, 2001, when the group claimed the ordinance was first made available. In a box on the application labeled "For office use only," the date of Dec. 4, 2000 was given as the group's deadline for submitting the petitions.

"Ultimately, it is the applicant's obligation ... to promptly seek and obtain the necessary attachments to a referendum petition and to timely file the petition." Ruling from Arizona Appeals Court Judge John Pelander

The same group applied for referendum petitions for the Willow Springs development May 16 last year and was given a deadline of July 2. The reason for the extra days, said PCSC member Mary Ellen Kazda, was because the needed ordinances detailing the plans for the property were not made available to the group until May 31. Thirty days after that date fell on a weekend, which meant the group had until the following Monday, July 2, to submit the petitions. 

Anam and Oracle resident Elaine Helzer, founder of the pro-growth group Pinal Citizens for Positive Growth and Development, sued the county on July 25, 2001. Robson sued in October. The two cases were then consolidated. 

Both developers claimed that the petitions were turned in past the 30-day deadline because the ordinances were made available to the public before the dates PCSC claimed. 

In an April 12 ruling, Pinal County Superior Court Judge William O' Neil said the referendums were valid and that PCSC did everything it could to obtain copies of the ordinances and that the date the ordinances were physically available was the date that mattered. He also ruled that PCSC could have obtained copies of the ordinances from either the Pinal County Clerk's Office or the Pinal County Elections Office, but did not have to go to both in order to get the information. 

However, the appeals court overturned O'Neil's ruling, saying that the date the ordinances were legally available was the date that should have been established as the beginning of the 30 days. 

In the SaddleBrooke Ranch case, that would have been Nov. 1, 2000. In the Willow Springs case, it would have been May 16, 2001. Both of these dates were when the Pinal County Board of Supervisors approv-ed the rezoning for the developments.  

The panel also ruled that PCSC should have gone to both the clerk's office and the elections director, and that the clerk had the ordinances available on those dates. 

"Ultimately, it is the applicant's obligation, not that of a county official, such as (Pinal County Director of Elections Gilbert) Hoyos, who has no statutory duties relating to maintaining, inspecting or copying ordinances, to promptly seek and obtain the necessary attachments to a referendum petition and to timely file the petition," wrote Arizona Appeals Court Judge John Pelander. 

Kazda said the ruling left her doubting the Appeals Court's understanding of the situations because PCSC members had gone to Pinal County Clerk Stanley Griffis to obtain copies of the ordinances on those dates, but had been turned away and told to go to Hoyos' office in the basement of the county building. 

"I think that the. . . appellate judges in Tucson lack any knowledge of politics in Pinal County. Stanley Griffis was gone to and asked for materials. His response to the person who was standing in his office was 'Get back down to the basement,'" Kazda said. 

Darrell Klesch, who said he was "ordered" to go to Hoyos' office by Griffis, said he and other PCSC members have consistently had problems dealing with Griffis. 

"When I went into his office and told him what I wanted, he turned his back and said 'You people,' which could only have meant the people who wanted an application for the referendum petition," Klesch said.

"I think that the ... appellate judges in Tucson lack any knowledge of politics in Pinal County" Mary Ellen Kazda member of Pinal Citizens for  Sustainable Communities

Klesch added that the group is not opposed to development as a whole, but has concerns about such large-scale developments being built close to the Page-Trowbridge landfill, a site that had been used by the University of Arizona as a toxic waste dump. There have been conflicting reports about the amount of chemicals from the landfill that may have seeped into ground water that may be used for the developments. 

Kazda added that Griffis has often yelled at PCSC members and "slammed doors in their faces." Griffis did not return calls to the EXPLORER by press time Monday. 

Kazda said PCSC is already in the process of filing an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, not only to try to get the referendum onto the November ballot, but to make sure the Appeals Court's ruling doesn't set a precedent. 

"If this interpretation stands and is published, that will mean it will be impossible to conduct a referendum at the county level," she said. "It will not be able to be done. It would mean that a petitioner could go to the clerk of the board who had been gone to in the past, who had yelled at people, who had slammed doors in people's faces." 

Kazda added that Hoyos has "always been civil and courteous." 

Hoyos said he had not thoroughly gone through the Appeals Court opinion, but said he was told by Pinal County Attorney William McLean that "the referendums were not going to be on the ballot." 

Andrew Federhar, Robson's attorney, said nothing will be done on the property until all avenues of appeal have been exhausted. About 5,500 homes are planned to be built on the land.  

Alex Argueta, the developer for Willow Springs, said the same, but if the appeal is denied by the Supreme Court, construction on the 8,000 plus homes slated to be built on the 4,600 acres of land should begin in about three years. Future plans for the remaining 15,000 acres of Willow Springs property are currently in the works, but still need approval from the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.