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by Robert E. Kimball
for the Bulletin
from the Weekly Bulletin, 12/01/99
At the combined Sonoita Crossroads Forum/Chamber of Commerce meeting Nov. 22, participants expressed concern about the lack of affordable housing in Northeastern Santa Cruz County.
Service businesses, motels, restaurants and stores have difficulty finding help. Those who might move here to take the jobs can't find either housing or rentals they can afford, they said.
Another member of the group said that with the graying of the population the need for in-home medical care will increase. Again, with the lack of affordable housing, where are these workers going to live?
Pat Carnevale, who runs a local travel service and fields questions for the Chamber of Commerce, told The Bulletin on Nov. 24 that she receives many calls from Border Patrol agents and singles looking for rentals in the area. She also gets calls from couples needing a place to rent while waiting for a home to be built.
"The local realtors don't have any rentals. What few private rentals there are - guest houses, caretakers residences - are discovered by word of mouth," she said.
Lee Simmons at The Property Guild in Sonoita said, "The lowest priced listing I have right now is for a mobile home in Patagonia at $79,000. I agree that service workers may not be able to afford to live here."
Another Sonoita realtor said that it was hard to find a home in the Sonoita area for less than $100,000. "If a service worker has little or no debt, they might be able to qualify for a mortgage," the realtor said.
Patagonia Mayor Peter Chipmann told The Bulletin on Nov. 24 that he is concerned about the lack of affordable housing in the Patagonia area, but he is not sure what the answer is.
"Kingman, Arizona tried mobile home parks. It brought in the wrong kind of people. The problem is how to control it. We need affordable housing for those who want to live and work here. I don't think government subsidized housing is the answer. I think the county should develop trade schools that would attract the workers we need," Chipmann said.
Brian Friedman, director of the Santa Cruz County Planning and Zoning Department said the only part of Northeastern Santa Cruz County zoned for multiple and small lot single family homes is Westgate near the western gate to Ft. Huachuca. The town of Patagonia has no zoning, he said.
"I think what they have done in Tubac works. Their business owners live in houses attached to or adjacent to their shops. It is like a modern day medieval village."
Crossroads Forum planner Lee Nellis told The Bulletin on Nov. 24 that a combination of the Tubac plan and business owner subsidized housing might be the answer for the Crossroads. In his experience as a planner he has seen owner housing work. "It is the only way they can get and keep good help. But, until there is a central sewer system for the Sonoita business district the higher densities that result from multiple housing is not possible" he said.
The Crossroads Forum plans to submit a land use plan for Sonoita and the surrounding area to the Santa Cruz
County Planning and Zoning Department early next year. It is hoped that the Forum's recommendations will be
adopted as part of the county's overall revised comprehensive plan.
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