Tucson City Council signed off on a controversial rezoning that will allow for a new Fry’s Supercenter to go up on the northeast corner of South Houghton Road and East 22nd Street.
The 6-1 decision came after more than 90 minutes of public testimony and debate among the council about the proposed 99,918-square-foot anchor store, a gas station and plans for two other retail buildings at the 16-acre site.
The planned Fry’s Marketplace and a nearby gas station is just under the city’s minimum square footage — 100,000 — to be considered a big box store. For comparison, the Target supercenter at 9615 E. Old Spanish Trail is about 144,300 square feet, and the Walmart supercenter at 2711 S. Houghton Road is about 92,900 square feet.
Most of the concerns raised by nearby neighbors, environmentalists and concerned citizens opposed to big-box developments could be traced back to the Houghton East Neighborhood Plan.
Neighbors said the plan — written and adopted when the city annexed the area in 1985 — is one of the most restrictive in the city and designed to protect plant life and wildlife in the area next to Saguaro National Park-East, which is about 2 miles from the planned Fry’s.
The developer hired a third-party group, Westland Resources, to study the impact the development would have on native wildlife. Using a wildlife movement model developed in Arizona, the study found the grocery store and adjacent buildings will not disrupt wildlife.
“Westland does not anticipate that the project will have demonstrable adverse impacts on the wildlife movement,” the study concluded.
The approval from the council came with some concessions, including reducing the number of the gas pumps from nine to six.
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild noted during the meeting that the number of speakers in favor of the Fry’s development outnumbered opponents 2-to-1.
More than 50 residents requested to speak in favor of the development, but Rothschild limited the public comment period to about an hour.
Councilman Paul Cunningham said it was a tough decision, but he felt the developers worked to abide by city rules and regulations.
“It was compelling how many neighbors actually supported the plan and felt the final project was in compliance with the standards outlined in the Houghton East Neighborhood Plan,” Cunningham said.
Had the developers pursued a different type of zoning, they could have built an even larger commercial project on the 16-acre site, he said.
Councilwoman Shirley Scott said the developer made a good effort to work with neighborhood groups.
Councilman Steve Kozachik was the lone member of the council to vote against the rezoning on Tuesday night.
He said the developer used the city’s zoning process to make an end run around a much more difficult process, amending an area plan. “There’s a process for amending an area plan. Changing its terms through a rezoning isn’t it,” he said.
Kozachik dismissed the idea the new store would lead to a net increase of jobs, despite a city memorandum that states the new Fry’s store will result in 100 new net jobs with a net annual payroll of about $2.2 million.
“Fry’s is moving a few grocery jobs a mile down the road and driving any local pharmacy and bakery businesses away by bringing them all under their management,” he said. “And they will not agree to removing a noncompete condition on the old site so the reality is this isn’t economic expansion but shifting some low-wage jobs at the expense of the Saguaro East buffer and city credibility on how we change area plans.”
Officials have stated Fry’s does intend to close a nearby store once the new location is open.
