Town seeks to heal split: Developer Sharpe rips ‘bias’ against him

Town staff and council members might be coming to a neighboorhood meeting near you so they can better tell the town’s story.

The planned outreach will be town-wide, but it has been motivated in part by a rift between some elements of the Rancho Sahuarita community and the town.

Rancho Sahuarita developer Bob Sharpe says the town staff has bias against him, and eight Rancho Sahuarita residents have publicly called for the firing of Town Manager Jim Stahle.

The town effort raises the questions of how many residents feel unhappy with the town and how effectively the town staff and council can address that issue. The seven-member Town Council, for example, includes three Rancho Sahuarita residents and the parks advisory commission includes five.

The town manager and council Feb. 25 announced they will take steps to bring more harmony to the community, including sending the town manager and other staff out to community meetings.

On Feb. 28, Sharpe told a Quail Creek audience that he feels the town has been biased against his proposals and he reiterated it to the Sun on Monday.

Vice Mayor Phil Conklin reported in an e-mail message to residents that Sharpe criticized the town while giving a history of his development and pitching his idea for the town to give him a tax incentive for future commercial development.

Sharpe also told the group he feels the Sahuarita Sun and Green Valley News have depicted him unfairly, Conklin said.

In his report to the Town Council Stahle said “the Council and I will work with all staff, agencies, companies, citizens and the press to bring more harmony to our community.”

Stahle said “as Town Manager I will also become more focused on big picture items such as creating, with the council, the vision for our community. Other examples are: the creation of a citizen’s leadership academy; growth issues including General Plan Amendments and annexations; assist and follow up on the idea of economic incentive guidelines for council consideration and, as Council Member Sullivan says, get out into the community and region more to listen and get the pulse.”

Conklin said in his Friday e-mail that Sharpe “indicated unhappiness with the Green Valley News and the Sun for how they depict him in the newspaper and how he feels that any idea he suggests the town automatically opposes. Mr. Sharpe was well received and generally made a favorable impression on the audience.”

Sharpe said Monday, “During the last 12 months alone, we have documented numerous instances of Town staff’s prejudice toward Rancho Sahuarita. These circumstances range from the rejection of the North Park proposal, which was an attempt to give land to the town for free, to approving an interim septic solution, which was an effort to bring needed retail services, like the Fry’s, to this town.”

Mayor Lynne Skelton at a recent Town Council meeting said the Fry’s opening last fall was not delayed by the timing of the septic agreement. The North Park expansion was approved by the Town Council in February after changes were made from a proposal that was rejected in September.

Skelton said of Sharpe’s Quail Creek talk, “I was not there, but I am so disappointed. We have attempted to reach out to Mr. Sharpe and when I hear about him saying derogatory things about the town staff, it causes me to question how sincere he is in attempting to mend fences.”

Sharpe said he would pursue his concerns on the news coverage privately.

Conklin said in an interview that Sharpe’s Quail Creek presentation made it sound like the town has failed to act on his idea of getting millions of dollars in tax incentives from the town, but Conklin said the Town Council has never been given a formal proposal.

Sharpe has given a brochure with general tax incentive concepts to a town-county task force that included Town Economic Development Manager Kathy Ward and was exploring potential library sites. The council has directed staff to draw up guidelines for deciding when incentives should be granted.

Sharpe said Rancho Sahuarita has invited town representatives to attend “You Talk, We Listen” meetings in the past, and they will be invited to many meetings in the future. He said Skelton recently attended a resident meeting at our Sonora community and last month was invited to attend a You Talk, We Listen meeting and that “we would also welcome the Town Manager’s attendance.”

Stahle said “the split is a mentality we’ve seen in Town Council meetings. Tom Murphy and others have said it’s not a ‘Sharpie’ (support of the developer) issue, it’s a quality of the park issue. Of course, the developer has a business interest to pursue, so at times it’s in his interest to get people on his side, but when it pits a neighborhood against another, then we’ve goofed. We need to portray things in terms of what’s in the best interest of the town.”

Stahle said, “How can we heal wounds, tell our story, frame the issue ourselves instead of letting others frame it in a way that might hurt the town? My goal is simple: advance the cause of the town, do what’s in the best interest of the town, not any one neighborhood, but the collective town.”

Stahle noted that residents are busy, that it is difficult for many to get to Town Council meetings and that the town will have to take the initiative in explaining what it does.

Stahle said Sharpe uses various private media, including an intranet on the Rancho Sahuarita Web site, where some bloggers “blast the town,” and the developer can reach residents and “make us sound like devils.”

Sharpe said the Rancho Sahuarita intranet allows residents to exchange points of view, learn about their community, meet their neighbors and tell management their wishes, adding he was “disappointed to learn that Stahle apparently sees this intranet as a liability.”

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738