Riders meander along a ridge between two washes on the sunset trail ride in the open land west of Westward Look. The historic resort’s developers want to usher in apartments, casitas, restaurants, shops and a hotel.

 Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

Jon and Angela Rowley were drawn to pristine views, plenty of neighboring open space, convenient shopping and a ranchlike atmosphere when moving to the Westward Look Heights subdivision in the Catalina Foothills three years ago.

Today, they’re worried a possible incursion from a proposed major expansion of the historic Westward Look resort to their west will damage some of the qualities that attracted them there to begin with.

Resort developers have pledged to work with neighbors and build a high-quality project that connects with the century-old resort’s past, while ushering in the future with apartments, casitas, restaurants, shops and a hotel, all done in a style reflecting regional architecture.

They and Oro Valley officials propose an annexation of the 75-acre resort property into the town — an annexation town officials believe would reap them plenty of sales tax revenues.

As for neighborhood concerns, it’s long been an adage of many planners that it’s not feasible to live in a growing urban area and maintain even a semi-rural lifestyle.

But Rowley and many of his neighbors fear this pending project will wreck:

  • A ranchlike atmosphere with trail rides at the resort that remind Jon Rowley a bit of two cattle ranches down in Amado that his parents and an aunt and uncle owned until recently.
  • A laid-back atmosphere, yet convenient to shopping opportunities at Casas Adobes Plaza to the west and La Encantada and St. Philip’s Plaza to the east.
  • Regular sightings of javelinas, coyotes and bobcats on swaths of privately owned desert between the homes.
  • Privacy, as most home lots, including theirs, cover close to an acre or a bit more.

“It’s like being in town and having no one around you,” Rowley said.

Now pending before the town, the expansion would develop land south and east of the Tucson area’s oldest resort and guest ranch.

In February and March respectively, the Oro Valley Town Planning and Zoning Commission and the Town Council will hold public hearings and vote on the annexation and a planned area development zoning to make future development possible.

Situated near Ina Road and North First Avenue, Westward Look was first developed as a private home in 1912. Over the ensuing decades came cottages, a guest ranch and ultimately a resort.

Now, numerous ownership changes and remodelings later, owners of the resort, whose formal name is Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort and Spa, say they’re ready to do more.

In a submission to town officials, Westward Look’s consultant, the Planning Center, says developers will combine additional park space and courtyards with plazas for shopping, dining and events.

Westward Look’s future projects will “ensure architectural compatibility and strengthen the sense of place,” the Planning Center says.

The document also pledges to create “a built environment that creatively integrates landscape, architecture, open space and conservation elements” to improve community interaction and quality of life.

Jon Rowley moved to Westward Look Heights with his wife three years ago. Rowley and many of his neighbors fear the resort’s project will endanger the ranchlike atmosphere.

Town officials say they hope the new development will give Westward Look the feel of St. Philip’s Plaza and Broadway Village.

It solicited the company’s annexation effort, which would bring Oro Valley $916,000 in annual tax revenues from the existing resort, and a range of $61,000 to $562,000 annually from one of three alternative future development plans, a town fiscal analysis concluded. Another one-shot, $2.1 million to $3.1 million batch of taxes would come from construction activity.

Wildlife in the neighborhood

Rowley and his neighbors are concerned more development will put more traffic on Ina Road, a thoroughfare already approaching its maximum capacity and that’s expected to reach capacity by 2045.

Westward Look’s traffic analysis said the expansion won’t require any major Ina Road improvements. Neighbors note that they’re scared to walk along that arterial even now for fear of getting hit or of breathing rush-hour fumes.

They’re also concerned they will lose their privacy to the presence of three-story apartment complexes sitting 85 feet from their back fence and two-story apartments just 50 feet away.

They’re also concerned the paving of some desert on the Westward Look property will drive out much of the wildlife from their neighborhood.

Recently, remote cameras owned by neighbors have photographed bighorn sheep and deer along with more commonly seen coyotes and javelinas on 100-foot-wide swaths of private land snaking between Westward Look Heights homes.

“Obviously, we want Westward Look to thrive,” said Rowley, a software engineer for an Irvine, California, company. “It’s not to our benefit if somebody abandons that resort and it becomes boarded up. But we don’t want to give away the kitchen sink to them.”

For now, it’s not clear precisely what development will arrive.

In the next couple months, Oro Valley will hold public hearings and vote on annexation and a planned development zoning to make future development possible at Westward Look resort.
Three plans submitted

Westward Look officials have submitted to Oro Valley three possible future development plans. Two emphasize luxury apartments, casitas and other residential development.

Two have at least some provisions for stores, restaurants and other retail commercial development. All three would have hotels, aimed mainly at guest services, with no meeting rooms or other conference facilities.

Exactly when this development will start depends on the market, said Linda Morales, the Planning Center’s CEO and a longtime Tucson development consultant.

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“We don’t have a definite time frame at this point. We’re doing this planning now as part of the annexation process, setting the stage for future development,” said Morales, adding that rezoning will be an integral part of the annexation.

Right now, “We’re not 100% sure what we want to do,” said Andrew Stegen, Westward Look’s general manager. “Given that the PAD (planned area development zoning) can be exercised over several years, we don’t want to be tied into a project that may make sense today but not make sense in the future.

“But for lack of a better phrase, we are keeping our options open.”

This lack of clarity concerns Bob Hagen, a neighbor of Rowley’s in Westward Look Heights, since it’s hard to prepare for a fight against an unknown. Hagen has emerged as a neighborhood spokesman.

“If any of us had to try to sell our home, through public disclosure we would have to let a prospective buyer know what’s going on, even if they don’t do it right away,” said Hagen.

Some concessions made to neighbors

Over the past two months, Westward Look officials have made some concessions to neighbors during Zoom meetings with them.

They’ve killed plans for a major conference hotel. They have agreed to keep all buildings near homes at no more than two stories and buildings farther away at no more than three stories.

But they’ve resisted other requests for concessions, including one from Rowley to have no buildings taller than one story for the first 150 feet away from his subdivision boundary. They say that would be more strict than even existing zoning.

They also reinserted what they call a limited service hotel they’d previously removed from one of the alternatives, because town officials wanted a mix of residential and commercial development, they say.

“While Westward Look resort has made some concessions in scaling back their proposed building densities, heights and setbacks, there is still more that they need to do to make them acceptable to us as neighbors,” Hagen said.

He sent an email to the Town Council and Planning and Zoning Commission last month outlining neighborhood concerns and listed more than 40 neighbors, and their addresses, who share similar views about the plan.

One option for the open space at the Westward Look resort along Ina Road is a small retail center, left, and a large apartment complex. Apartment buildings on the east side border the existing homes.
Would plans to keep open space be binding?

The existing Westward Look is a sprawling resort complex surrounded by desert and horse corrals, an atmosphere promoted by resort operators for many decades.

“Reserve your place in the sun,” beckoned a Westward Look ad from the era when Bob and Beverly Nason ran the resort from the mid-1940s into the early ’60s.

“Westward Look is designed for luxurious living, yet the easy, comfortable informality of a big house party is enjoyed,” the Nasons’ ad said. “Many guests prefer the picturesque Western outdoor wear — Levis, ten-gallon hats, colorful shirts, bolero ties and cowboy boots — so popular in the Southwest.”

The most prominent remnant of that era lies on the resort’s northwest side. There, 23 acres of open desert form terraces lined by prickly pear, palo verde, saguaro and staghorn cholla — a place where guests at the ranch regularly ride horseback on rental horses to enjoy the views.

Early visitors enjoy the amenities at the Westward Look Resort, which started as a private residence in 1912.

This land descends into a wash originating in Pima Canyon not far away. The open land has been kept undeveloped under a 1972 covenant agreement signed by Pima County, neighbors and Westward Look officials guaranteeing preservation “in perpetuity.”

The current owners have pledged to keep this property open space. The proposed rezoning would do that.

Neighbors are skeptical that a zoning requirement is legally binding enough because a future council could vote to revoke it. Developers say it would be better to have the town enforce open-space restrictions than neighbors who would have to sue to prevent violations.

Some neighbors want the open space guaranteed by a second covenant approved by the town. Morales said it’s her understanding that the town can’t require one for a private parcel as a rezoning condition. Town Manager Mary Jacobs declined to comment, saying the council “has received privileged legal advice on this matter that I am not at liberty to share at this time.”

The Catalina Mountains rise above the Westward Look resort pool and tennis courts. The existing Westward Look is a sprawling resort complex surrounded by desert and horse corrals.

Pima County sustainability and conservation director Linda Mayro said county officials believe the existing 1972 agreement is still valid and enforceable. But until the County Attorney’s Office does more research on this question, they can’t be sure, she said.

Trying to ensure financial health

Resort owners say this proposed development is the latest step toward ensuring their project’s financial well-being.

Resort general manager Stegen pointed out that its current owner, Kieran Patel of Florida, bought the resort in 2012 at a time when it needed “some financial straightening out” after a series of ownership changes and renovations.

Today, it would be financially viable if not for the coronavirus pandemic, resort officials say. It has held visitation at the resort to 18% to 25% of capacity, compared to normal year-round occupancy rates averaging 67%, Stegen said.

“Probably four years ago, Oro Valley first approached us with the possible annexation,” Stegen said. “Previously we hadn’t thought about developing that area.”

Resort operators’ idea is to outline a universe of possible uses and layouts, he said. They may mix and match parts of various alternatives into a final development scheme, he said.

Mayor, town staff not ready to take sides

A photo that best symbolizes the neighbors concerns shows a white, two-story apartment building towering over a fence behind one of their properties. The photo is a simulation done by Westward Look’s planners to illustrate how the development would look.

“To me, that just says it all. My goodness, a two story building right in somebody’s backyard, close by, that’s ridiculous,” neighborhood leader Hagen said.

Westward Look consultant Morales replies the developers have proposed installing a 50-foot-wide landscaped buffer area between neighbors’ property line and their development. The buffer would include a continuous tree canopy and a 6-foot-tall masonry wall on its western side.

She noted that the first row of buildings to the west of that are limited to two stories — already allowed under current zoning.

But the town’s staff and Mayor Joe Winfield aren’t yet ready to take sides on the rezoning plan.

In a statement, Winfield noted that Oro Valley’s numerous annexations since incorporation in 1974 “have helped create the Oro Valley we know today.” The town’s updated annexation policy, approved last year, made the Westward Look its top annexation priority, he said.

“The parallel rezoning request for the undeveloped portion of the property has, and will continue to include a robust public engagement component as it makes its way through the process for future Town Council consideration,” he said.

Guests can ride on rental horses on the resort’s 23 acres of desert just like guests did in the mid-1940s. “Westward Look is designed for luxurious living, yet the easy, comfortable informality of a big house party is enjoyed,” said an ad from that era.

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Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@tucson.com or 806-7746.