Spook Hill Neighborhood Action Assoc.

Neighborhood Meeting Scheduled Regarding State Trust Land

Jul 06, 2006

On July 17th and 19th at 6:30 PM in the Community Room at Mesa Community College at Red Mountain, Blandford Companies (Pinnacle Ridge Holdings) will present their plan for a high end community to be named Stone Bridge Mountain which is to be developed on a 717-acre parcel on both sides of McKellips Road between Hawes and Ellsworth Roads. The Community Room is located on the second floor of the Palo Verde Building. Residents?’ comments at these meetings will be incorporated into the plan that will be presented to the Mesa Planning and Zoning Commission in October and later to the Mesa City Council. Only those who own property within a few hundred feet of the parcel will receive invitations. Area residents may attend either meeting, but our association membership is specifically invited to attend the July 17th meeting.
The Arizona State Land Trust owned this land from the time that Arizona became a state until it was sold to the Blandford Companies in 2005. A Development Master Plan (DMP) for the property that was approved by Mesa in 1989 included 1400 dwellings ?– 613 of them townhomes, a golf course, a resort, an elementary school, a junior high school and 25 acres of commercial and office space. In 1999, feeling that the 1989 DMP was no longer appropriate for current conditions, Mesa initiated a zoning case to modify the terms of that DMP. That resulted in over two years of hearings and negotiations resulted in negotiations among the city, the State and representatives of our association that ended with an agreement. That agreement eliminated the resort, the golf course and the junior high school and requires that approximately 30% of the 717 acres, or about 210 acres be reserved as Undisturbed Natural Desert Open Space. The revised DMP also reduced the maximum number of dwellings to 1050, which were to be clustered on smaller lots to allow for the large amount of preserved open space. The Undisturbed Natural Desert Area is intended to include most of the natural washes that cross the parcel from northeast to southwest.
The current plan proposed by Blandford includes most of the provisions approved by Mesa in 2001, with several changes. Their plan guarantees that there will be at least 304 acres and as much as 349 acres of open space. Only 173 acres of it will be undisturbed while another 37 acres will be disturbed during construction but will be revegetated to a very high degree. They also propose to reduce the commercial and office area at the SW corner of McKellips and Ellsworth Roads from 25 to 5 acres for a ?“boutique?” shopping area and to increase the maximum number of dwelling units would from 1050 as approved in 2001 to 1210. Also, while the 2001 plan and current city standards provide for Hermosa Vista to extend from Hawes east to Ellsworth and McClellan to extend west along the south boundary of the parcel, Blandford proposes to eliminate these street extensions and the associated street lights. Other modifications are being proposed as well. Our association Board has some concerns with the requested changes, especially the first and second items above. We agree with the third item. Before we take a formal position, we want to hear from our membership. Should we only support strict compliance with the DMP approved by Mesa in 2001, or does the current proposal adequately comply with our goal of preserving the character of the Desert Uplands with significant preserved natural desert open space? Please plan to attend one of the meetings to hear the full details and then either comment at the meeting or write the board at the address above or at WJP5207@msn.com within a week after the meetings.