Annexation
won't be easy
But Cave Creek officials confident they have plan to get land near
Carefree Highway
by Jason
Stone
CAVE CREEK - They've waited almost three years, so what's another
few months?
Cave Creek officials have been talking about annexation of approximately
5,000 acres of state trust land north of Carefree Highway west to
24th Street for the better part of three years. Now that the town
has officially notified the State Land Department of its intent,
the application process will likely take into the summer to complete.
Larry Sahr, a senior planner with Cave Creek who is coordinating
the application process, said the state is requiring a checklist
of 29 pieces of information before agreeing to the annexation.
A major hurdle could be passing an amendment to the town's General
Plan , which voters agreed on last year, that would incorporate
the annexation area. The state is also looking for details on the
planned development and infrastructure for the land.
"We're going to do our best to get everything to them by the
middle of the year," Sahr said. "It's just a window of
opportunity right now with (the state's) staff down there. They
just got done working with Fountain Hills in a big annexation, so
it's time for us now."
Cave Creek has long wanted the land to avoid another municipality
or government entity acquiring and controlling it. Nearby residents
fear a future in which Carefree Highway becomes another Bell Road
in Phoenix, packed with car dealers and big box businesses, and
point to some of the development allowed by Phoenix to the south
of Carefree Highway within the last five years.
"Commercialism feeds the beast down there in Phoenix, but it
has an impact on us," Sahr said. "Essentially, if we don't
protect this land, and we don't move forward, the City of Phoenix
will. The state is looking for a partner that can make sure the
infrastructure is there. Anybody who buys it there has a working
partner."
Cave Creek has unofficial first dibs on the land, Town Planning
Director Ian Cordwell said, because the Maricopa County Association
of Governments has designated the land from 24th Street north to
the Tonto Forest as part of the town's "Area Of Influence."
The land is officially broken up into three sections, meaning the
town will have to submit three concurrent applications. Cave Creek
went through a similar annexation process last year when it acquired
500 acres at Cahava Springs.
Cordwell said annexing the Carefree Highway land will help ease
development congestion through the main stretch, or town core, of
Cave Creek. It would also provide another major benefit, he said.
"One of the things about it is that's where we want to put
our new wastewater treatment plant, so that all goes together,"
Cordwell said.
Mayor Vincent Francia has long been a proponent of acquiring the
land and gleefully announced at the last town council meeting that
the official letter of interest had been sent to State Land Commissioner
Mark Winkelman.
While a date hasn't been set, council will propose a resolution
in support of the annexation at an upcoming meeting. The town council
next meets at 7 p.m. April 3.
If the annexation is approved later this year, Cave Creek will grow
in area by more than 25 percent. |
