For unknown reasons, in response to Perini Land and Development's substantial change request (Fourth Amendment), the Pima County Administrator, Chuck Huckelberry, chimed in favoring increased grading of the mountainside in Sabino Estates.  Apparently, the 429 protest letters received by the County in opposition to increased mountainside grading didn't make much difference to him.  Not only did he appear willing to ignore concerns expressed by the community and nullify the grading limits in the Specific Plan formerly enacted by the developer and County, but he didn't seem to study the issue carefully enough to voice a well-informed opinion.

In a memorandum addressed to Supervisor Ray Carroll and copied to other officials within Pima County, Mr. Huckelberry recommended the Fourth Amendment to the Sabino Springs Specific Plan be approved with certain modifications.  Unfortunately, the fourteen modifications he listed were largely redundant, irrelevant, toothless, ambiguous, or insufficient.  In particular, his modifications did little to mitigate the visual impact increased grading will have on the mountainside.

Perhaps Huckelberry's only modification worth noting in regard to mitigation of the visual impact of increased grading called for "a minimum 40 foot distance between building areas, where natural vegetation shall be preserved, except where there are driveways and utility installations."  Unfortunately, a mere 20 feet of additional separation over the existing 20 feet already required by the Specific Plan is inadequate.  With 15 lots less than an acre and homes separated by only 40 feet, Sabino Estates would have more the character of tract housing than estate homes.  To compensate for the visual degredation of increased grading and larger structures, spacing on the order of 100 feet is needed.  This is the very level of spacing the developer demonstrated in their own post-development view simulation officially submitted to the County to satisfy requirements of the Visual Mitigation Study!  Why can't Chuck Huckelberry support this higher quality level of development standards on our mountainside?

Mr. Huckelberry's apparent willingness to take on an accommodative role for increased grading in Sabino Estates when the community has voiced strong opposition, and the Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended denial, leads one to question if the County Administrator position has indeed become too powerful.  The County is well aware that the amount of grading currently allocated to the Sabino Estates portion of Sabino Springs was set by the developer.  If the developer is no longer comfortable with the amount of grading per lot that they allocated, they can replat the subdivision with fewer, larger lots such that each lot has enough grading to suit them while keeping the gross grading in compliance with the Plan's 20% limit.  (As of 5/22/02, County Development Services requires a replat regardless.)  Such a solution would produce a higher quality development and reaffirm responsible adherence to the agreed upon Specific Plan.  We need responsible development in Pima County, not developers that rewrite the rules as they go, nor a County Administrator that caters to such irresponsibility.

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at:

Articles about Chuck Huckelberry:

• A way to end Pima County's 'culture of corruption', 6/2/2002, AZ Daily Star
  
• Chuck Huckelberry, 1/19/2001, Tucson Citizen