The crowd reacted with stunned silence late Tuesday as the Marana Town Council failed to approve a proposal to transform a historic, defunct guest ranch into a high-density gated community.
“I am shocked and grateful,” said Barbara Rose, who has lived just north of the Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch project for 30 years.
Rose helped organize dozens of neighbors in opposition to the plan, which would have put 178 homes on the 138-acre property, one-half mile north of Saguaro National Park West, west of North Silverbell Road and south of West Twin Peaks Road.
“Thank God we had one person (on the Town Council) with the guts to stand up and say no,” said Roy Johnson, a former Saguaro National Park scientist and one of 13 members of the public who spoke against the proposal at the Marana Town Council meeting.
Councilwoman Patti Comerford was the lone “nay” vote. Controversial rezoning proposals require that 75 percent of council members vote in favor. With one member absent, Vice Mayor Jon Post, the proposal needed support from all six council members present in order to pass, said town attorney Frank Cassidy.
Comerford cast her vote after directly addressing Michael Racy, the public relations specialist representing property owners Jim Shriner and Peter Evans.
“I wouldn’t trust you farther than I could throw you,” she said to Racy, a longtime lobbyist for developers. Racy responded that she didn’t need to trust him; every promise was in the proposed ordinance enforceable by the town.
Marana Mayor Ed Honea would not comment on the decision after the meeting.
At the meeting, official Scott Stonum of Saguaro National Park issued an indictment of the developers’ argument that the proposal was in line with density levels at nearby subdivisions close to the park. “Incremental change over time will cause harm to Saguaro National Park if thoughtful zoning and land-use planning is thrown to the wind,” he said.
Opponents argued the rezoning was in conflict with the tenents of Marana’s general plan, which designates the project site as rural density residential, as well as the town’s draft habitat conservation plan.
Shriner and Evans brought the property in 1998, when it was still in Pima County. When it was annexed into Marana in 2001, it was zoned for a number of uses, including one home per 3.3 acres. Current zoning of the property would allow for 42 homes.
Before the meeting, Racy said he had been disappointed by opponents’ disregard for the developers’ compromises, such as using low-impact lighting, moving plots away from the wildlife corridor and pledging not to plant invasive species.
In August the Marana Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the proposal, despite vocal opposition.
Lazy K Bar ranch began as a homestead in 1928 and reached its peak as a guest ranch in the 1950s. It closed to the public in 2007.
