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Would-be developer selling land near Madera Canyon in 36-acre parcels

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MYSTERY SHOPPERS

The dispute over a proposed development near Madera Canyon heated up last week, when the prospective developer began offering 36-acre chunks of the property for sale.

Some opponents say they worry that the proposal could lead to "wildcat" development in the ecologically sensitive area, but others say it still would result in fewer homes being built there.

"Our position is, if that's what he wants to do, he should do it," said Luis Calvo, a resident of the canyon and member of Friends of Madera Canyon, which seeks to preserve the canyon and opposes the development, called Cielo Madera.

"It would be less-dense development. . . . It would not leave such a large scar on the landscape as the original proposal," Calvo said.

Dale Faulkner, a Green Valley real estate broker who is offering the parcels on behalf of landowner Michael Kettenbach, said he's talked with several people since signs were posted last week on Kettenbach's property in grasslands at the foot of Madera Canyon.

Kettenbach said Tuesday that he'd prefer to stick with his original concept: building 280 homes in clusters on about 15 percent of his 1,189 acres, one home per four acres. The rest of his property — mainly rugged, hard-to-develop land — would be left as open space.

Opponents say that would spoil important habitat, wildlife corridors and views of the mostly pristine canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains east of Green Valley.

It also would create light pollution that might interfere with work at Whipple Observatory atop nearby Mount Hopkins, observatory officials said.

They've called for Kettenbach to let the county buy the land for open space.

Kettenbach said he'd consider selling the land for the right price. He turned down an offer for a little more than $16 million two years ago — well short of his $22 million asking price.

"It wasn't enough," he said. The cluster plan and the 36-acre parcel plan both would generate more money than that, he added.

Time to act is now

Calvo said he and others believe Kettenbach is floating the 36-acre parcel proposal as a bluff, to pressure county officials to approve his cluster-based proposal.

"It appears at this point that it's just more posturing," he said.

Not so, Kettenbach said.

"It's not a bluff," he said. "It's to see if there's interest, in case . . . we don't get approval."

"There comes a time when you need do something with it," said Kettenbach, a Boston-area resident whose family has owned the property for nearly 50 years.

"And that time is now."

Plans to move ahead

Faulkner said he may move ahead on the 36-acre parcel alternative within the next couple of weeks if it appears that county officials aren't going to OK the plan.

Faulkner said that decision depends largely on the outcome of a meeting with county officials on Tuesday.

Among the issues to be discussed, he said, is a March 15 county Development Review Committee decision to postpone deliberations on Cielo Madera until committee members get more information about a small wastewater-treatment plant that must be built for the development.

Faulkner acknowledges that may present a problem, because county officials have become increasingly reluctant to approve requests for such smaller "pocket" wastewater-treatment plants. But he is confident that he will get it.

Kettenbach said the committee is not authorized to include the wastewater-treatment plant in its deliberations.

They raised the issue "for political reasons," he said. That includes stopping or delaying the project.

Dan Signor, a senior planner in county Development Services, disagrees. The county zoning code allows committee members to request more information as necessary to review projects, he said.

The committee may resume deliberations on the plan in its May 17 hearing if it gets information on the wastewater-treatment plant and other data, Signor said.

Calvo said Cielo Madera opponents were heartened by the committee's decision.

They also were cheered by the big turnout last week at a benefit for the opponents of the development, he said. The event raised more than $13,000 to help pay for their campaign to stop the development.

Carolyn Fowler, another member of Friends of Madera Canyon, said opponents know they are in the early stages of the struggle against Cielo Madera.

"We are gearing up for what we believe will be a long process," she said.