| Part I Chapter 1 A Comprehensive Plan for Northeast Santa Cruz County |
Part 2 Chapter 1 Introduction |
This Plan is the result of an intensive process of civic study and discussion that was sponsored by the Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum (SCCF) but open to everyone. The four phases of this process are summarized here: Preparing to Plan, Learning About Our Community, Developing Policies, and Getting the Plan Adopted. A detailed chronology of events appears in Appendix A.
Extensive publicity and the promise of a free lunch brought well over 100 people to the Welcome Aboard event on February 27, 1999. An open house format gave those who came opportunities to learn more about the community from displays by the Border Patrol, the Cow Belles, the Forest Service, and other organizations. They also heard talks about the recently-proposed National Conservation Area and the planning process that was about to begin. The flyer shown here is typical of the bulk mailings and Weekly Bulletin ads SCCF used to provide meeting notices and encourage participation in the planning process.
The "Welcome Aboard" event was followed by a March 13, 1999, meeting that helped interested citizens work together to design the planning process. This meeting established ground rules for open and orderly meetings and a tentative schedule of events.
Four informative sessions filled the Spring of 1999. The first session (April 7, 1999) addressed public lands issues. Arlan Colton of the Arizona State Lands Department, Karen Simms from the Tucson Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management, and Mark Kaplan of the Coronado National Forest discussed their agencies' plans for the lands they manage in NE Santa Cruz County.
The second session (April 28, 1999) focused on the landscape of NE Santa Cruz County. Guest speakers included geologist Bill Peachey, who described the areas geologic history; Mitch McClaran of the University of Arizona's School of Renewable Natural Resources, who explained grasslands ecology; and Joe Sacco of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, who described the area's wildlife. Local hydrologist Shel Clark discussed the local groundwater resource. Local astronomer Mike Shade spoke about the area's dark night sky as a valuable natural resource.
As people entered the third informational session (May 19, 1999) they saw an easel pad with the number 10,123 written on it. That helped the Forum's resident planning consultant, Lee Nellis, launch a discussion of the dimensions of growth in NE Santa Cruz County. His talk covered the area's build-out potential - more than 10,000 additional dwelling units - and the public sector costs of growth.
At the final session (June 12, 1999) participants engaged in hands-on activities to learn about the performance approach to land use decision making that is reflected in this plan and the accompanying development code. This prepared people to use what they had learned in all four training sessions to develop the policies recommended in this plan.
Policy development followed two tracks. An Open Space Working Group considered the rural portions of NE Santa Cruz County. A Commercial Working Group focused on the Sonoita Crossroads. Working groups included any citizen who had the interest to attend and participate.
The Open Space Working Group met every other week between mid-August and mid-December. It began by deciding that its task was to answer two major questions; in anticipation of growth:
The Commercial Working Group was jointly sponsored by SCCF and the Sonoita-Elgin Chamber of Commerce. It met four times between August and November. While the group began by asking the first question, discussion soon made it clear that community concerns were two-fold; in anticipation of growth:
Both working groups addressed their questions through a process of ongoing study and in small group discussions. The matrix below shows how the goals and strategies, developed by consensus and stated in Part II of this Plan, can be traced back to one or more of the four questions the working groups started with and the discussions they stimulated.
| Questions | Policies (Part II) |
|---|---|
| What must be done to sustain the natural resources, including water, wildlife habitat, vegetation, scenic views, and the night sky, and the ranching heritage on which the character of our area depends? | Policies 1.A,B,C,E; 2.A; 3.A,B; 4.A, 4.B; 7.A,B,C,E; 10.A,B; 13.A,B,C; 14.A,B,C; 15.A,B; 16.A,B; 20.A,B |
| What must be done to ensure that future rural residential development is compatible with the resources that attract people to live in and visit our area, and to ensure that future rural residential development fits within the capacity of local public facilities and services? | Policies 1.E, F; 2.A, B; 4.A, 4.B; 5.A; 7.A, B, C, D,E,F; 13C; 14.B, 14.C; 15.B; 16.B, 19.A,B; 20.A,B. |
| How do we encourage commercial development that provides goods and services for residents and visitors while maintaining our area's unique character? | Policies 6.A,B; 7.A,B,C,D; 8.A, B; 9.A; 10.A,B; 11A,C; 20.A,B |
| How can we maintain the diversity of our community by providing opportunities for more affordable housing? | Policies 6.A,B,C,D; 11.A, C; 20.A, B |
The adoption phase of the planning process began with the release of the first full draft of this plan on April 1, 2000. Annual meetings of SCCF and monthly meetings of its Board since then have had two major concerns: to improve the Plan by reflecting criticisms and commentaries and to keep abreast of Santa Cruz County's plans for meeting the mandated deadline for a revised county comprehensive plan.
Public consideration of this strategic vision for NE Santa Cruz County is scheduled for February and March, 2002. The finally revised Plan will be followed through the adoption proceedings of the County Supervisors in the remaining months of 2002.
| Part I Chapter 1 A Comprehensive Plan for Northeast Santa Cruz County |
Part 2 Chapter 1 Introduction |
| Table of Contents |
Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum
P.O. Box 1274
Sonoita, AZ 85637
© 2002 Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum