A controversial proposal to develop an historic guest ranch into a gated community was pulled from last night’s Marana Town Council agenda a few hours before the meeting began.
The developer Mattamy Homes, Canada’s largest new-home builder, requested a continuance until the Jan. 6, 2015 town council meeting. Mattamy wants to redevelop the closed Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch, one-half mile north of Saguaro National Park West, into a 178-unit subdivision.
The developer didn’t provide a reason for the requested delay. But Rodney Campbell, public information officer for the town of Marana, confirmed Tuesday that councilwoman Carol McGorray would be absent from the meeting, due to a family emergency.
With her absence, only one council member’s “nay” vote would have been needed to defeat the proposal. Council woman Patti Comerford has said she will vote against the proposal.
In October, Comerford’s lone “nay” vote derailed the Lazy K developers' first effort to get a rezoning. Vice Mayor Jon Post was absent that night, and all of the council members present would have had to support the measure for it to pass. That’s because the support of a super-majority — or 75 percent — of the council is required to pass rezoning motions when there is a certain level of protest, Town Attorney Frank Cassidy said on Tuesday.
State law says that if at least 20 percent of the property owners on any side of a rezoning proposal area, within 150 feet, submit a letter of protest, then it requires a supermajority to approve the rezoning, Cassidy said.
Comerford has said she objected to the project’s high density and encroachment on a critical wildlife corridor.
