Tubac state park to close 2 days a week

Special for the Green Valley News

Tubac Presidio State Historic Park will close two days a week starting April 21 in response to state budget cuts.

The park will close Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

In February, the Tubac site was on a list of state parks that could possibly close permanently. The state Parks Board later decided to postpone closures of all but three parks, sparing Tubac. On April 3, the board was told the 28 state parks would stay open until at least June 30.

State Sen. Jonathon Paton, whose District 30 includes Tubac, said he hopes a solution can be found to keep the park open.

“It’s an economic issue. It gives people a reason to stop in Tubac,” he said. “Secondly, Tubac has extremely important historical significance in the state.”

Paton, whose mother, Flora, was a teacher at Calabasas School in Rio Rico in the late 1970s, said she often brought him as a child to see the museums at Tubac and the Tumac‡cori National Historic Park.

“The historical significance of those was important in my family,” Paton said.

Tubac was the first state park in Arizona when it opened in 1958, and its location commemorates the oldest European settlement in Arizona. Within its boundaries are one of the oldest schoolhouses in Arizona, dating to 1885, and the printing press on which Arizona’s first newspaper was published.

In Tubac, there is progress in working toward finding ways to keep the state park open.

Carol Cullen, executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, said a second meeting of concerned local groups is scheduled for April 15.

The first meeting of the informal coalition was held Feb. 21 and drew about 20 people representing 10 Tubac non-profit organizations, clubs and businesses.

Paton said he met with a small group of Tubac residents March 27 to discuss steps that could be taken to support the park. The gathering included Cullen, Realtor and property developer Gary Brasher, attorney Larry Robertson and activist Sam Chilcote.

Paton said he met in early April with the members of the majority, or Republican, caucus in the Senate to talk about aiding the Tubac park and said, “Our caucus seems receptive.”

He planned to set up a meeting between Tubac representatives and state leadership within a few weeks.

Robertson met this month with a state research analyst in the Legislative Research Analysis Section. He said they discussed “to what extent any private endeavors might encounter restraints.” He said they didn’t talk about details.

The state park system originally had sufficient money to run the parks, but the Legislature took $36 million for other purposes.

Ellen Bilbrey, public information officer for Arizona State Parks, said the cost to run the Tubac Presidio State Historic Park is $212,774 per year. Revenue from the $3 entry fee totals about $31,900 a year.