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by Robert E. Kimball
for the Bulletin
from the Weekly Bulletin, 11/10/99
The Crossroads Forum and the Sonoita Chamber of Commerce met for the third time Nov. 1 to continue work on developing a plan for the Sonoita Crossroads commercial district. The Forum plans to present the finished commercial plan along with a plan for all of eastern Santa Cruz County to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors early next year so that the county can include the plans in the county's over-all comprehensive plan.
Forum planner Lee Nellis told the group that the rendering of the Sonoita Crossroads commercial district was an example only Ñ to give participants an idea about what might be possible.
What might be possible includes: A commercial district plan, once agreed to, that could not be expanded without revising the plan through public process. Place some bends in Highway 82 as it passes through Sonoita. The purpose to slow down the traffic. This would require the approval of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). Add cross streets to make businesses more accessible. Provide space for affordable housing. This could include single family dwellings as well as multiple units. Members of the business community have expressed concern that there is no affordable housing for their employees. Add plant buffers, bicycle paths and sidewalks. Provide for utility easements. Include provision for a future sewer and water district.
Some 18 in attendance split into groups and worked through the possibilities. There was general agreement that the plan as presented was the right approach for the Crossroads.
It is not clear how the Crosssroads Forum and the Sonoita Chamber of Commerce will make all of this happen. Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ron Morriss has said the county will consider public input as it relates to the county's revised plan.
County Planning and Zoning Director Brian Friedman said after attending a forum workshop this summer that he was intellectually intrigued by many of the ideas presented, but that many would require changes in the law.
When later asked by The Bulletin what chance there was that ADOT would agree to placing bends in Highway 82, Sonoita residents George Gardiner, Foster Drummond and George Yakobian all said, "Not a snowball's chance in hell."
The final details for the Crossroads Commercial plan will be hammered out at their next meeting, Monday, Nov.
22 at 8 a.m. at the Sonoita Fire Station.
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