Rural Residential Development

Ranching is still the most extensive use of private lands, but NE Santa Cruz County is becoming a residential community at a rate of about 33 new homes per year. As the chart below shows, more land is vacant, awaiting development, than is occupied by residential and commercial uses combined.

Sonoita Area Private Land Use
Sonoita Area Private Land Use

color patch       Ranch color patch       Residential
color patch       Commercial color patch       Vacant

These policies address the impacts of residential development on public and quasi-public services. Even the moderate growth rate of the late 1990's raised questions for service providers, including the local school district, the Sulfur Springs Valley Rural Electric Cooperative, and Santa Cruz County. Research conducted for this plan makes it clear that residential development is not "paying its own way," at least in the provision of county services. See below for a discussion of the costs of growth.

The policies proposed here will also help protect the rural character of our community, and make local land use regulations better fit that character. The environmental impacts of rural residential development are addressed in other policies, primarily Policies 6, 7, and 17.

our community's goal

Policy 10. Rural Residential Development

Rural residential development should install adequate on-site facilities; make a fair, proportional contribution to the improvement of off-site infrastructure; and be compatible with neighboring uses.

implementation strategies



  1. The development regulations designed to implement this plan should require developers to install adequate on-site facilities. Those regulations should also provide a basis for negotiating any off-site infrastructure improvements required by larger projects.

  2. Santa Cruz County should monitor development activity and impose impact fees, as authorized by ARS §11-1101, if the rate of growth accelerates enough to make them a useful.

  3. The development regulations designed to implement this plan should include performance standards that will help ensure land use compatibility. These standards should also address light trespass (see Policy 9), noise, and other potential nuisances.

Policy 11. Rural Residential Realities

Land use regulations should respect practical community needs. The current zoning imposes suburban standards on our area, including impractical restrictions on home occupations and businesses, which are an important part of the economic future of any attractive rural area. This policy also addresses housing affordability.

our community's goal

People should be able to pursue a wide range of occupations and businesses in their homes or buildings accessory to their homes, but only with respect for their neighbors. Home occupations and businesses must be compatible with the residential appearance and character of the neighborhood.

The rising cost of land and homes is making it increasingly difficult for working people to live in NE Santa Cruz County. Policy 15 addresses this issue at the Sonoita Crossroads, but it may also be possible to expand the supply of affordable housing by permitting quality manufactured homes and allowing the addition of caretaker's quarters on large lots.

implementation strategies



  1. Make the permit procedure for home occupations and businesses simple, so people will choose to comply. Currently, Santa Cruz County permits home occupations only upon appeal to the Board of Adjustment, a cumbersome process that discourages compliance.

  2. Use appropriate performance standards to ensure that home occupations and businesses are compatible with neighboring homes. These standards should address potential nuisances, like noise, and require that the home business be fully compatible with the residential character of its surroundings.

  3. Permit double-wide manufactured homes that meet national construction codes and are placed on a permanent foundation.

  4. Permit a caretaker's home or apartment on large lots of 40+ acres, as well as the principal dwelling and a guest unit.


Costs of Growth

Information on the public costs of residential development in NE Santa Cruz County was gathered by examining tax assessment records and county budgets, and interviewing county officials and staff. The information was analyzed using the cost of community services (COCS) method popularized by the American Farmland Trust. A COCS study compares the revenues generated by a land use with the expenditures required to provide that use with services.

Like most COCS studies, this one shows that rural residential development in NE Santa Cruz County does not generate enough revenues to cover the cost of providing it with services. COCS studies usually also find that rural residential development is subsidized by agricultural and commercial uses, which generate surplus revenues. NE Santa Cruz County is a partial exception to this rule. Commercial uses yield the expected surplus of revenues, but ranch lands do not. The COCS study results are shown below.

land use > residentialcommercialagricultural
ratio of expenditures to revenues > $1.77$0.54$1.28


This means that the average home in NE Santa Cruz County receives approximately $1.77 in county services for every dollar it generates in revenues to the county. These numbers are not precise - some revenues and expenditures are hard to accurately allocate to one of the three land use categories - but the situation is clear. Residences generate roughly 78% of the revenues county government receives from NE Santa Cruz County, but demand 87% of the expenditures it makes to provide services in our area.

These results may be surprising, but serving a small, dispersed population is expensive. NE Santa Cruz County had about 3.7% of the county's population in 1999, but 15.3% of its road miles. The landfill east of Sonoita "lost" almost $70,000 a year in the late 1990's. It must also be understood that Arizona's tax laws affect these results: homes are assessed at 10% of their full cash value and ranch lands at 16%, while business properties are assessed at 25% of full cash value. Finally, note that the situation in NE Santa Cruz County is not unique. The County Manager summed up a countywide fiscal reality of demand for services increasing faster than revenues in the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 1998-99:

Revenues are not keeping pace with the increases in state-mandated programs and the increased demand for services.

Dennis L. Miller, Santa Cruz County Manager
August 4, 1998





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