Mission Peaks goes before county P&Z today

Developers for the huge Mission Peaks master-planned project west of town will go before the Pima County Planning and Zoning Commission today in their quest for a Comprehensive Plan Amendment.

County staff in a slightly revised report have endorsed the project, subject to numerous conditions, saying the developers have shown the commitment necessary to making an urban-sized development work in the sparsely populated desert.

Officials of American Nevada Co. in suburban Las Vegas are to make their case at today’s county plan commission meeting, which starts at 9 a.m. in Meeting Room C in the basement of the City-County Public Works Building, 201 N. Stone Ave., Tucson.

The county is considering two plan amendment requests together. One is for 4,216 acres that is privately owned and is known as Co7-07-23 Mission Peaks 4000 LLC and Ruby Star Ranch/Mission Peaks 1 Major Plan Amendment. The second is for the adjacent 632-acre parcel of State Trust Land, whose request is known as Co7-07-24 Arizona State Land Department- W. Helmet Peak Road/Mission Peaks 2 Major Plan Amendment.

The State Land Department has said the ANC application represents its interests and the revised staff report addresses each application separately.

The proposal is for 15,000 units on the private land and, by assuming a similar density, there would be another 2,200 more units on the state land, the county staff report said. The project straddles Mission Road and Twin Buttes Road and is between several current or former mine sites.

The plan commission can make a recommendation but the decision on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment is up to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, which will consider all 2007 Comprehensive Plan Amendments on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

If Mission Peaks wins the plan amendment, the developers would still have to go through a rezoning process, as they are seeking densities up to 24 units per acre from the current Rural Homestead, which allows less than one unit per acre.

The rezoning process would take another year and would require added details, but county approval of a plan amendment would indicate the county would allow such a development as proposed in that area.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738