Don Diamond, who is acknowledged to be the leading developer in Pima County.

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It wasn't exactly the "Rage on Stage," but it was something you don't see every day.

Donald Diamond and Chuck Huckelberry on stage. Laughing.

The pair appeared jointly Thursday to debate the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan during the Pima County Real Estate Research Council's annual meeting at the Doubletree Hotel, 445 S. Alvernon Way. More than 380 people, most of them real estate professionals, attended the meeting to hear about the coming vote on the regional transportation plan, vacancy rates in Tucson's commercial markets and future residential developments.

But the main event came when Huckelberry, the architect of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, and Diamond, Tucson's most prominent land investor, spent about a half-hour discussing the pros and cons of the plan and how to manage Tucson's explosive growth. There weren't any hooks or uppercuts. Just a few jabs.

As the session began, Diamond took the first swing.

"I noticed that I have more friends here than you," Diamond said.

The crowd laughed.

Diamond said home builders have kept houses relatively affordable despite rising building costs. Still, they're challenged by fees and restrictions imposed by government officials. He praised county officials, saying they've done a good job implementing the plan. Then he said "they step on us a lot" and that some government restrictions are "somewhat unbelievable."

Huckelberry stood up.

"I'm going to take the coat off," Huckelberry said, placing his jacket behind him and slowly rolling up his sleeves.

Yuks aside, Huckelberry said the permitting process would become easier for developers if the county obtains an Endangered Species Act "section 10" permit, which would allow local government to determine when federal requirements have been satisfied.

Diamond said the plan sounds promising but was skeptical because the process hasn't been worked out.

Diamond asked Huckelberry if other metropolitan areas' habitat-conservation plans have failed. Huckelberry confirmed that they have but said Pima County is in a strong position because funding has already been secured from the 2004 bond election, which makes $184 million available to purchase open land.

Huckelberry later said that development in neighboring counties will lead to traffic congestion. For instance, the drive from Tucson to Benson is about a half-hour now.

"I'll make a prediction. Five years from now, it's going to be two hours," Huckelberry said.

Diamond disagreed, saying that federal and state road-widening projects would accommodate the increased traffic on Tucson's outskirts. Diamond Ventures — the development firm founded by Diamond — is planning a 4,500-home project near Benson.

As you might expect, the two men's conversation touched on the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, long the focal point of the debate over the conservation plan. Huckelberry made a reference to the death of a female owl, killed several years ago by a neighborhood cat on the Northwest Side.

Diamond clapped his hands together three times, then pumped a fist forward in accompaniment.

Huckelberry suggested that if anyone wondered who had been out in the desert with a shotgun hunting the last of the owls, it was probably Diamond.

Both laughed.