Pima County Design Review Committee Public Hearing on the Kettenbach Development
See below for the Defender's argument against the cluster development option
A Regular Public Hearing of the Pima County Design Review Committee (DRC) will be held on Thursday, June 21 at 1:30 in Meeting Room "C" - Basement, County/City Public Works Building, 201 N. Stone Avenue, Tucson. The committee will be hearing the request for the 280-unit cluster development proposed by the Kettenbach family on property located one mile from the Proctor Parking Area, the trailhead for the Madera Canyon Trail, the gateway to the canyon. The purpose of the hearing is to make a determination on whether or not to allow the proposed cluster development.
To read the staff committee reports advising the DRC on this proposal, Click here.
Members of the Defenders of Madera Canyon, a committee of the Friends of Madera Canyon, will be present to offer public comments in opposition to this proposed development. They would like a strong showing at this hearing from others who are opposed to this development. It is a common strategy when there is great public opposition to a development project for the applicants to request a hearing for a time when less of the opposition is around to attend and make their voices heard. After hearing all speakers, and even just seeing the numbers in attendance even if they do not speak, the Design Review Committee will either grant, deny, or continue the request. The Friends of Madera Canyon have arranged to carpool at the north wall of the Safeway parking area by Duval Mine Road at 12:00, and plan to have a petition available to sign.
Argument against the cluster development
For the past six months, the Friends of Madera Canyon have been educating local officials and the public about a development plan that threatens Madera Canyon's greater ecosystem. If the developer has his way, the view east towards legendary Madera Canyon and the Santa Rita Mountains will be changed forever. As you look towards Madera Canyon imagine the open space suddenly broken by a 280-home cluster development. You may ask yourself, how can the public's interest in conserving one of southern Arizona's special places be set aside in favor of a developer's dream to make millions of dollars turning rural ranch land into residences. Public apathy and inaction are the main culprits. Join with the Friends and let our collective voices be heard.
On June 21, 2007, the Pima County Design Review Committee (DRC) will consider the application by Michael Kettenbach of RMD Inc., a Massachusetts retail management and development company, for approval of a residential cluster development near the entrance to Madera Canyon.
Mr. Kettenbach owns 1,189.5 acres of land west of Madera Canyon Road and directly south of the University of Arizona Experimental Range. The property is zoned Rural Homestead (RH), which requires a minimum lot size of 4.13 acres per residential unit. The County Cluster Ordinance allows a reduction of this minimum lot size if the proposed development meets the requirements of the Cluster Ordinance.
The cluster development proposal would leave approximately 818 acres of the most rugged, most difficult to develop areas of the site as natural area open space. The rest of the acreage, approximately 334 acres, would be developed with 280 residential lots, the majority of which would be less than one-half acre in size. The remainder, approximately 19%, would be one acre lots.
Although the cluster development would leave a large amount of the site as open space, the development, as proposed, is not appropriate for the site. Development of the site under the existing RH zoning would also leave substantial open space areas, but would not necessitate the mass grading required for the cluster development. The following are only a few of the many serious issues the proposed cluster plan fails to satisfactorily address.
? Intrusion of high urban densities into a rural area. The development as proposed would result in an intrusion of high density, urban development into the rural, environmentally sensitive landscape that is the gateway to Madera Canyon.
? The cluster plan provides no information on the proposed private wastewater treatment plant. The plan does not discuss the type of wastewater treatment facility that is planned for the site, or the financial ability of the developer to construct the plan, or specific, concrete provision for maintenance and management of the facility for the life of the development.
? Negative transportation related impacts. The development will result in approximately 2,500 additional vehicle trips per day on Madera Canyon Road, a rural, two lane road not designed for traffic from urban developments. Safety concerns resulting from the additional traffic include:
Lack of concurrency. The cluster proposal does not address the County’s policy that needed transportation improvements should be constructed prior to or concurrently with new development. The cluster proposal does not discuss what transportation improvements are needed to accommodate the additional daily traffic that will be generated, or when such improvement will be constructed.
Inadequate bridge and culvert crossings not designed for urban and construction traffic. The three single lane, one-way wash crossings are not designed to handle the additional residential traffic or to carry the heavy construction vehicles needed to build the 280 units.
Conflict with open range designation. The additional urban residential traffic in an open range area substantially increases the danger of collisions with cattle and deer wandering onto the roadways.
Conflict with bicycle traffic. Because of its historically low traffic counts, Madera Canyon Road is very popular with bicyclists. The Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee is concerned that the existing single lanes on Madera Canyon Road cannot safely accommodate both the bicyclists and the substantial increase in daily traffic.
? Natural and archaeological resources are not adequately protected.
Vegetation. Because of the small lot sizes, almost the entire development portion of the site will be mass graded, resulting in the destruction of most, if not all vegetation on the development portion of the site.
Wildlife corridors. Although the preservation of the western 818 acres of the site will provide for north to south corridors for wildlife movement, the configuration of the cluster development as proposed will cut off all east to west wildlife corridors over the property.
Archeological sites. The cluster plan dismisses the possibility of the existence of any archeological resources on the site. However, archeological studies of the surrounding public lands have identified the existence of numerous archaeological sites in the area.
? Water resources, hydrology and future water run-off are inadequately addressed. The cluster plan fails to specifically identify the water resources available to serve the proposed 280 residential units, or to discuss the potential effects on-site water pumping will have on the water supply of surrounding properties. The plan also does not adequately analyze hydrological impacts of water runoff from the proposed development on down-stream properties.
? The cluster plan does not sufficiently buffer adjacent residential properties and completely fails to address the effects development will have on mountain views of the residents of Green Valley. The 30-foot buffer between the existing residential uses of the land and the proposed one that allows the construction of one and two-story units is inadequate to mitigate the negative impacts of the cluster development. Additionally, the plan does not address the effects the development and its associated light emissions will have on the views of the residents of Green Valley.
It is the Friends' position that a cluster of 280 homes is not the best development option for this distinctly rural area that is dominated by a sense of open space. If you care about Madera Canyon and the Santa Rita Mountains it is imperative that your voice be heard by the DRC committee members. Otherwise, the large scale destruction of one of southern Arizona's last undeveloped open spaces will begin on your watch. The time has come for our community to come together, draw a line in the sand, and make it known that some places, like Madera Canyon, are worth saving from the developer's blade. – Luis Calvo, Committee Chair
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