Santa Cruz considers more homes

More than 6,000 acres 10 miles south of Green Valley are being considered for higher-density zoning by the Santa County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Commissioners will consider the request that would affect the Sopori Ranch at 2 p.m. Thursday at the county building in Nogales.

What’s on the table Thursday is a request by the owners to make a major change in the county comprehensive plan.

If successful, they would still need to get zoning changes before they could sell lots or start building.

The ranch is a famous one, once owned by Juan Bautista de Anza II, the Spanish colonial soldier and explorer. He once commanded the presidio at Tubac.

The Sopori Wash, just south of the community of Arivaca Junction, runs through the middle of the land. A bridge carries Interstate 19 over it there.

The owners, Sopori 12,500 Investors LLC, have asked to change the comprehensive plan to reclassify 6,076 acres from ranch, mixed use and low density residential to a combination of high density residential, medium density residential, low density residential, mixed use, ranch enterprise and preservation.

Besides the land in Santa Cruz County, there’s another 4,300 acres of Sopori Ranch land in Pima County. That land won’t be affected by the the planning and zoning commission decision.

The current owners purchased the entire ranch for $22 million in 2004 from the heirs of John Croll, who is buried on the ranch.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749