On March 1 and 2, 1996, more than 200 residents of Northeastern (NE) Santa Cruz County gathered to talk about the changes happening in their community. Forum co-chairs Bob Barnhill and Jake Kittle described that event this way:
Sonoita and Elgin are at a crossroads. Unlike many communities, we still have time to think and plan for the future. With help from the Sonoran Institute, community residents organized the Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum to provide a meaningful opportunity for all residents to identify local values and to create a citizen-led plan for sensible growth. More than 200 residents participated in this process, reaffirming the importance of this local effort. On Friday night, participants listened to local speakers address past, present, and future trends in the community. On Saturday, participants rolled up their sleeves, listened to each other, and made an earnest attempt to find solutions that would meet the needs and aspirations of Sonoita and Elgin.
The 1996 meeting showed that the people of NE Santa Cruz County share many values (see the list in Appendix A). It also resulted in a new organization - the Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum was established in October 1996 - but progress toward a plan that would implement our community's vision was slow. Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum President Shel Clark tells how an event early in 1998 helped make it clear that a plan tailored to our area was needed.
Two new commercial developments were proposed. They weren't large - lodges with a handful of rooms each - but had to be reviewed by the Santa Cruz County Board of Adjustment before approval.
The Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum, which was still a new organization in those days, sponsored a meeting at which the developers could present their plans. It was a mess. No one understood the rules by which the proposals would be evaluated (or even if there were rules). There was shouting. Nothing that happened improved the proposals. Lots of hard feelings were generated.
That event made me realize how much our community needed a clear set of guidelines or expectations for future growth. In May 1998, the Forum's Board of Directors decided to take the lead in putting those expectations on paper and getting them adopted into the Santa Cruz County Comprehensive Plan.
This plan presents reasonable community expectations for the growth we anticipate (see the discussion of the area's growth potential below). Or, to put it another way, this plan provides a sound, defensible policy basis for future land use decisions by defining as clearly as possible what constitutes responsible growth in NE Santa Cruz County. It also:
Adoption of this plan will empower the people of NE Santa Cruz County to maintain their quality of life as change occurs. It will also help limit the fiscal impacts of growth on all Santa Cruz County taxpayers.
The plan will also prove useful in less official ways. It will guide the Southern Arizona Grasslands Trust in setting priorities for voluntary land conservation in NE Santa Cruz County, and help other local organizations and agencies, including the Elgin Elementary School District and the Sonoita-Elgin Emergency Services, Inc., anticipate future demands for their services. It can also play an educational role by introducing newcomers, including prospective developers, to our community.
Finally, because it puts what so many of us feel about our community on paper, this plan can remind us that we live in a special place, and that we all have a responsibility to help keep it that way.
NE Santa Cruz County is growing at a moderate pace, but regional population and national retirement trends suggest that we should prepare for accelerating growth. Appendix B presents some of the data on which this discussion is based.
Current Population. Applying a reasonable household size estimate to the number of dwellings shown in tax and building permit records suggests that the 1999 population of NE Santa Cruz County was approximately 1,300-1,500.
Current Growth Rate. If the average rate of home construction - 33 units per year between 1994 and 1998 - is an indicator, the population of NE Santa Cruz County is growing at a rate of around 4% per year. That is consistent with the Census estimate that the whole county is growing at a rate of about 3.6% per year. Other indicators also suggest a moderate growth rate. Calls to Sonoita-Elgin Emergency Services, Inc. increased at a rate of about 3.5% per year during the late 1990's. Traffic volumes increased more rapidly than other indicators: about 9% per year.
Even the moderate growth rate of the 1990's will challenge local service providers if it continues for a few years. But one of the strongest motivations for adopting this plan was realizing that our community could find itself bearing the costs of a much larger share of the region's growth without benefit of meaningful public discussion.
Regional Growth. Southeastern Arizona, including Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz Counties, was estimated to have grown by more than 130,000 people between 1990 and 1998. Most of the growth was in Pima County, but Santa Cruz County is thought to have added some 9,000 new residents. This growth reflects a strong regional economy and Arizona's role as a retirement haven. The strength of the economy may vary, but the retirement of the baby boom generation will have a major impact on attractive places throughout the West.
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Buildout Potential. Buildout is the maximum number of dwellings or square feet of commercial or industrial space that can be built in an area given that area's current zoning and typical development practices. Current zoning places most of NE Santa Cruz County in a General Rural district that allows 180,000 square foot lots as a use-by-right. Without accounting for some small areas zoned for higher densities, this means that more than 9,000 new lots (see Appendix B for the calculations) could be created in an area where there are fewer than 800 existing homes. Furthermore, this could be done with no public review other than for compliance with the minimum surveying and improvements standards the county sets for subdivision development.
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Next: The Introduction
Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum
P.O. Box 1274
Sonoita, AZ 85637
© 2000 Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum