1,200-home project raises safety questions

Developers hope to get the ball rolling on the 1,200-home Canoa Ranch South project by December, but issues raised by the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council and the Green Valley Fire District could slow their plans.

At a Planning and Architectural Review Committee meeting this week, Ed Roll of the WLB Group, representing Fairfield Canoa Ranch, presented a tentative platt with up to 1,200 homes to the committee.

The project would consist of blocks 1 through 5 of Canoa Ranch, south of the current Canoa developments and south of the Escondido Wash. According to the tentative platt, the development would have two entrances off the West Frontage Road and would link to other Canoa subdivisions by a 20-foot-wide golf cart/hiking path. The wash prevents construction of a connecting roadway unless a bridge is built, Roll said.

The plans were submitted to the Pima County Development Service Department in late August, and Roll hopes to get the platt approved by the county by December. The development will likely see construction begin on its first homes by 2012.

Access issues

But the GVCCC’s planning committee voiced concerns about the project, arguing that only two points of access along the frontage road would congest the road and pose a danger to residents in the event of a brush fire or other emergency. They suggested a third point of access, possibly a bridge over the wash or an extension of Camino Del Sol south into state land west of the development.

The committee is also asking that provisions be made for a site for a future Green Valley Recreation facility.

Roll said the Canoa Ranch Recreation Center, 5750 S. Turquoise Mountain Drive, is more than 2 miles from homes, and committee chair Eddie Peabody said that distance would be too far for homeowners to travel by golf cart.

Peabody also said the development could potentially bring more than 2,400 residents into GVR, which would put too much strain on the recently completed rec center and require that Canoa Ranch South get its own facility.

“We would respectfully ask that the staff seriously consider our concerns and spend more time to redesign this project,” Peabody wrote in a letter to the County Development Services Department.

Tom Ward, who represents Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, and is a former chair of the GVCCC’s Planning and Zoning Committee, said the council has been aware of accessibility issues along the West Frontage Road for years and passed a resolution in April 2006 to improve safety along the road.

“Expanded use of the I-19 West Frontage Road will most certainly lead to traffic accidents, mayhem and death as well as impairment of the prompt delivery of fire, police, ambulance and other emergency services,” the resolution said.

The resolution also called for “at least two major access roads to any new housing development fronting on the West Frontage Road, with one of these roads providing access to a highway other than the West Frontage Road.”

Home sprinklers

Deputy Fire Marshal Mark Stonestreet of the Green Valley Fire District has also written to the county explaining that most homes in the proposed Canoa South development would have to be equipped with automatic sprinklers to adhere to fire code regulations.

“Any subdivision with over 30 lots that has only one way in or out would have to have sprinklers,” GVFD spokesman Bill Bohling said. While there are two entrances to the proposed development, several groups of houses rely on only one road within the development, he said.

Bohling said fire sprinklers are not common in residential structures smaller than 3,600 square feet, but are becoming more popular with homeowners and are “extremely effective in putting out fires.”

While Fairfield is hoping to get their map approved by the end of the year, they’ll also have to get approval for an increase in the number of units in the development plan. New plans include a condominium complex in place of a hotel, which adds to the overall count, according to Ward.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726