State Land Department consultant Charlie Deans explains the conceptual planning process with Oro Valley and Catalina residents who attended a public forum about the 9,106-acre Arroyo Grande.

Photos by Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

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The prospect of thousands of new homes and residents occupying land to their north and west brought Catalina and Oro Valley residents out in droves Tuesday night.

More than 150 people attended a public forum at Oro Valley Town Hall put on by the Arizona State Land Department to discuss a plan to open up 9,106 acres of state trust land for development.

And though officials from the state and Oro Valley — which hopes to annex the territory known as Arroyo Grande before development begins — stressed that the plan is still conceptual and far from coming to fruition, that did little to allay the concerns and fears of residents.

Residents' comments ran the gamut from concerns over water, transportation, wildlife corridors, schools, police and fire protection to how the plan's proposed 68 percent open space would actually be laid out.

"I think this whole thing is a farce," Catalina resident Charles Sarra said. "I'm concerned that a lot of this is going to be high-density housing."

The land department's conceptual plan for Arroyo Grande, named for the so-called Big Wash that runs along the eastern edge of the property, calls for a target buildout of 15,964 homes that would some day be home to 38,313 people. Based on how the land could be zoned, though, it could accommodate as many as 37,566 homes and 90,158 people.

"This needs to be regionally planned," said John Musolf, who lives in Oro Valley's Rancho Vistoso master-planned community. "Most of the people in Oro Valley no longer have trust in their government, but the State Land Department doesn't know that. We need a regional plan to figure this out."

Michelle Muench, head of the State Land Department's Southern Arizona office, said Arroyo Grande is the first of its kind in that the plan has built in a set amount of open space from the beginning.

More than 6,100 acres are proposed to be set aside as open space, allowing the land's many washes to be protected and for a wildlife corridor to be preserved for animals traveling between the Catalina and the Tortolita mountains. However, Muench admits that how that open space will be laid out ultimately depends on how Oro Valley zones the land once it comes under its control.

"Is it true open space? It could be," Muench said, eliciting a smattering of boos and grumbles from the audience.

"It all depends on the negotiations during the pre-annexation agreement. There needs to be a pre- annexation agreement, and the town is going to have to abide by that."

Charlie Deans, a consultant hired by the State Land Department who helped create Arroyo Grande's conceptual plan, said the land-use designations included in the plan are based on those in Oro Valley's land codes.

The plan calls for the bulk of Arroyo Grande's homes to be on the east and northeast part of the property, mostly in a pair of master-planned communities, as well as a "village center" area that would feature both commercial and residential development.

The westernmost land, which hugs the Tortolita Mountains, would likely be left untouched, though Deans said Oro Valley and the land department would like the ability to plan for a possible 80-acre resort in that area.

Deans also noted that, for the first time, the land department is acknowledging the presence of and wishes of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.

"This not only meets the criteria of that plan, it exceeds it," Deans said.

"We're hopeful that this can lead to good planning," said Christina McVie, a member of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection. "But the residents, they made it real clear, they have a little issue with trust."

Oro Valley Councilman Barry Gillaspie, one of three councilmembers up for re-election this spring and one of five in attendance at the meeting, said he understands the concerns of residents within the town and in neighboring areas. However, he said, Oro Valley's land-use restrictions are more stringent than if the land were to remain unincorporated Pima County, so having Oro Valley annex and plan for Arroyo Grande's future makes the most sense.

"If you don't plan this, it'll be a disaster," Gillaspie said. "It'll still take three, four, five years to get it all through the process."

Muench said studies relating to the property's infrastructure have yet to be conducted, but those won't be done until the project moves along further.

The expectation is to have the Arroyo Grande plan fully implemented within the next 12 to 18 months, at which time Oro Valley would likely get annexation approval from the State Selection Board, which is made up of the governor, the state attorney general and the state treasurer.