During the first decade or two after incorporation new subdivision plans and proposals moved through Town Hall with regularity.

Then the Great Recession hit and hit hard.

MCO Properties, master developer for the community, led the way in submitting new plans with SunRidge Canyon, FireRock Country Club and then Adero Canyon and Eagles Nest.

But the downturn had a dramatic effect on the market as reflected in information provided by company President Jeremy Hall at the Planning and Zoning Commission last week.

Hall said that before the market free fall, beginning in 2006, MCO was selling 40 to 50 custom home lots per year. In 2008 the firm sold just one and over the next three years they sold none.

So now even the 17 lots sold over the last two years seems like a light at the end of the tunnel, but it also may reflect a time for change.

MCO has taken the bright spot in the market, and an interest by the town in spurring development, to propose a change to its plans for the Adero Canyon subdivision on 431 acres in a box canyon on slopes of the McDowell Mountains.

Last week the Planning and Zoning Commission took up the proposal for a new plan (see separate story).

MCO is asking the Town Council to consider amending a 2001 settlement agreement between the town and MCO that doubles the number of allowable housing units.

MCO proposes that the master plan approved more than a decade ago for 171 custom-home lots on the 431 acres be modified with an 80-acre Planned Area Development.

The proposed PAD includes 31 semi-custom home lots, 44 townhouse sites and 120 multi-family or resort/hotel units.

The remainder of the Adero Canyon parcel would then consist of 118 custom home lots and 30 semi-custom lots. This totals 343 housing units, twice the units of the existing plan.

Market changes

MCO Properties President Jeremy Hall said the proposed change was spurred by the town’s desire to access its mountain preserve trailhead area at the northwest end of Adero Canyon, as well as a need to diversify the developer’s product.

“Economic conditions and consumer demand have changed over the past 15 years since the original land plan was conceived,” Hall said.

“Custom homeowners are building smaller homes, semi-custom demand is gaining momentum and low-maintenance attached product is surging as the aging baby boomers grow in number and downsize to a product that suits a more active lifestyle.”

The 2001 land agreement included both Adero Canyon and Eagles Nest, which is currently being developed.

Hall said the company still has considerable inventory of lots in Eagles Nest and would not start Adero Canyon development in the foreseeable future without making the proposed changes.

Fountain Hills has more than $1 million in development fees available to construct the trailhead but is under a deadline to use those funds. The trailhead design is completed.

Hall said the development would make an effort to capitalize on the desire for outdoor amenities wanted by new homebuyers.

MCO wants to construct separate hiking and bike trails, not sidewalks, extending from the entry to the development all the way to the Preserve trailhead.

While there is no objection to the trails, town staff is insistent that traditional concrete sidewalks need to be built as well.

The PAD proposal would construct the extension of Eagle Ridge Drive past the CopperWynd Resort by about one-third to one-half the distance to the trailhead location.

“We are happy to be here,” Hall told the Planning and Zoning Commission last week. “It has been (15 years) since this was originally conceived, and we are excited we are finally here.

“This is our last subdivision for Fountain Hills and we have a great plan. It will be the crown jewel for MCO in Fountain Hills.”