Do The Supervisors Have The Muscle To Make Good Their Eco-Friendly Intentions? By Jim Nintzel TOUGH GOLF COURSE watering regulations? A stricter native plants ordinance? Tighter development guidelines for hillsides and floodplains? A re-examination of impact fees? All at a Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting? Yep--last Tuesday, May 19, the Board delivered on two development ordinances. By midsummer, they may approve several more, with county staff crafting more restrained-growth measures over the next year. There's little dispute that this was the first Board in county history that had the political will to tackle these issues. Unlike previous boards, which have essentially been owned by the Growth Lobby, the current board had at least four of the five supervisors who purport to have environmental leanings. But internal squabbles had held up any kind of serious attempts to control growth until a few months ago, when Republican Mike Boyd, apparently sensing an increase in voter support for putting the brakes on growth, put the topic on the agenda. "The stars got in the right alignments," says Raul Grijalva. "Last year, as chairman, if I had put that on the agenda, it wouldn't have gone anywhere. This year, Boyd, the Republican, puts it on the agenda and everyone takes notice of the item." The pressure increased earlier this year, when the Arizona Legislature passed a law prohibiting county supervisors from downzoning properties. The bill, which only passed when Tucson senators Ann Day and Ruth Solomon reversed themselves and supported the measure, went far beyond merely restricting counties from downzoning property. It also forced the county to get permission from all affected landowners for any ordinance which would conceivably lower the value of a given property. That meant that even simple conservation measures aimed at hillside development couldn't be passed unless all hillside owners in the county agreed with law. Sending county staff in that direction would be "silly," as County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry says. Although the Board voted unanimously to sue the state to overturn the new law, it also decided to act before it lost what little power it had. Huckelberry's staff has been working hard to tighten various loopholes and strengthen ordinances relating to native plants, hillside development, floodplains, riparian areas and sewers. At the same time, the Administrator's Office has been laying the groundwork for more sweeping work. In a hefty memo to the Board on May 19, Huckelberry laid out a host of measures the board should pursue, including steeper impact fees, incentives for affordable housing and infill development, and regulation of wildcat subdivisions. A major component of that package was a multi-species habitat conservation plan Huckelberry hoped to develop with state and federal wildlife officials. But the Board rejected his proposal, opting to pursue the alternative Sonoran Desert Protection Plan developed by a coalition of environmental groups. (See "The Best-Laid Plans...," page 18) Last week, the Board approved changes to native plant and buffer ordinances. County staff hopes to have more ordinances ready for approval in July. But the longterm work--impact fees, affordable housing, infill incentives, regulation of wildcat subdivisions--still faces an uncertain future. Many of the proposals, particularly regarding lot-splitting and impact fees, will require enabling legislation from the statehouse, where lawmakers are cozy with the Growth Lobby. And much of the county Board's support rests on the District 4 election this fall, when appointed Supervisor Ray Carroll will face two-term Tucson Unified School District Board member Brenda Even and accountant Ken Marcus. Both Carroll and Marcus are running on environmental platforms, while Even has been selling herself to the Growth Lobby. If Carroll and Marcus split the green vote and Even is able to win the seat, the development industry will have a supervisor to carry its water. Even if Carroll wins re-election, however, developers can still avoid county regulations if they can manage to be annexed by a local municipality like Marana or Oro Valley. And while restrained-growth candidates have had recent success in Oro Valley, Marana remains a playground for developers. "It was a pretty good day," says Grijalva. "What I'm kind of worried about is the follow-up stuff."

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