Town Council candidates address the fifth in a series of questions to be posed by The Times ahead of the upcoming council election in March.

The question this week concerns the development of the former state trust land in Fountain Hills.

Henry Leger: The preliminary master plat approval for the development of the former State Trust Land simply defines boundaries of various parcels. It does not define buildable lots. The plan is compatible with both the General Plan and existing zoning districts and is in compliance with the terms of the approved development agreement between the town and the developer.

The developer is now in a position to move forward with developing final plats and other improvement plans as well as determining water and sewer services.

This will require vigorous discussion with governmental entities, town staff, and final approval by council before the property can be developed.

To that end, I will continue to be engaged to insure that the developer complies with zoning, the General Plan and conditions outlined in the development agreement.

In addition to ensuring reduced density from 1,750 to 1,350 homes as outlined in the development agreement, I will pay very close attention to the development of the community and neighborhood park; connectivity between parks and the middle school; preservation of open space within the development; maintenance of a green belt/buffer between existing neighborhoods; re-alignment of McDowell Road; and road improvements to mitigate traffic at the middle school and adjacent neighborhoods.

These are all positions that I advocated for and have strongly adhered to since the inception of the project. 

The end game is to ensure responsible development of this land that adds value and amenities to our community and provides a needed boost to our local economy.

Mike Archambault: I will continue to closely monitor the town’s existing development agreement and general plan for this tract. We must ensure that our ordinances such as hillside protection, disturbance and cut and fill are enforced. In addition the town will look at developing an urban trail master plan that will include this area.  Access to McDowell Mountain Regional Park should be carefully planned in conjunction with the County Park Commission.

I believe it’s important that this development becomes a seamless addition to Fountain Hills and keeps with our town’s character as it represents 11 percent of our community. To accomplish this I will make sure that future detailed plats provide neighborhood friendly amenities such as calming-designed streets that incorporate bicycle paths and safe sidewalks where needed.

In addition I will support street patterns that direct traffic to Fountain Hills Boulevard as much as possible and not bleed unnecessary traffic into neighborhoods.

I will make sure that the neighborhood parks contain amenities that encourage activities such as playgrounds, pathways for exercising and not just open space; yet leave room to expand to the changing desires of the community.

Also, I will not overlook the need for providing green belts to allow open space for existing neighborhoods.

The Town Council recently approved a preliminary master plat and no zoning or density changes were requested by the developer. Because the developer has demonstrated such a desire to accomplish the same goals and amenities that citizens want, I’m confident community expectations will be met.

Ginny Dickey: When the master preliminary plat was approved, we had the opportunity to ask the developers to confirm some of our expectations, including trail access to the Regional Park. Connectivity remains part of council’s new goals, and coordination with Parks and Rec will be forthcoming. Other ideas residents had included areas along the paths where someone might paint a picture or read a book.

It’s important that we work closely with the developer on their proposed parks. We appreciate this idea, to have different uses for each park, and their locations at the newly-aligned Fountain Hills Blvd. Our interest will be to ensure safe passage between them and the Middle School (here’s where I mention roundabouts, my favorite intersection for pedestrians… traffic calming, yet keeps it moving… and virtually maintenance-free).

We heard concerns about Parcel 8; the ridge may need special approvals. It’s important to be flexible if the overall result is visually more acceptable than strict compliance. That said, hillside disturbance and open space ordinances should not be waived without extraordinary care, wash protection and buffer-zones must be enforced.

Drinking and waste water issues need work and I am confident the entities involved will be able to reach resolution. It could affect density.

The streets leading into the property were a compromise that will make the new neighborhoods part of the community, not an appendage. The developer had that in mind from day one, which illustrates what a benefit it was that we finally annexed the land within our boundaries.

Tait Elkie: Since this land will be the final acreage to be developed in our town, it is imperative that it be developed in a quality manner that will enhance the area and support our local bus- inesses.

Plans for this land are a departure from many of the developments we have seen in Fountain Hills for over 20 years. Many other developments have sup-ported high-end custom-home communities with private streets main-tained by homeowner associations, which have enhanced our commun-ity’s image and property values without burdening taxpayers with additional roadway upkeep. 

These plans call for more compact develop-ment with mostly public streets that will be turned over to taxpayers to maintain forever. There-fore, I will be very sensitive to the quality of the infrastructure as well as ability of the developer to complete this long-term project.

I will look for the design and execution of this development to be sensitive to the land, sen-sitive to the surrounding environment including McDowell Mountain Park, sensitive to the neighbors including residents and our friends at Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, sensitive to our building codes and town ordinances, and sensitive to joining our existing public service partners to contribute to the main-tenance and operation of Chaparral City Water Company and the Fountain Hills Sanitary District.

I will seek appropriate bonding assurances from the developer guaran-teeing that public facilities and improve-ments are completed so that taxpayers are not at risk for incomplete work or poor workmanship.

This is a very important project for our town, and it deserves careful scrutiny.

Hugh Henry: The town has a vested interest in the successful completion of this project.  The town will receive revenue in the form of fees and the business community should also benefit in the increased number of homes.

However, since the current owner of this project may elect to sell it to someone else, we should seek assurances that all of the stipulations be carried over to the new owner to avoid duplication of effort.

The current agreement with regard to the ordinances, the plats, utilities, etc. appear to be in good order and this should be a good starting point should the owner request any deviations.

A project of this magnitude and a funding source could very well push this project out to the middle of next year and beyond.  The home inventory in the Phoenix area has an over abundance of homes that have not yet been sold.  As an investor, I would be very cautious of building additional homes until the over abundance has been reduced.