In this issue…

_{Builder News}
No RU4 rezone for opt-out builder
_{Water News}
No hearing for groundwater bills
No reprieve from drought
_{Local News}
No new Saguaro Man events
No need for $12 eggs
No dispensary prohibitions
No more Airbnbs
_{Land News}
No money for Douglas Port of Entry
No killing wolves allowed
No fungus in the bat cave

It must be “no” month in Cochise County!

Last month, Cochise County supervisors denied an RU4 rezoning request in Sunsites where Jeff Thiede wants to build an opt-out home.

Ex-county employee Robert Kirschmann says it’s only the second time he’s ever heard of an RU4 rejection.

I dug around to figure out the story.

But first, an explainer.

If you don’t know what "Owner-Builder Opt-Out permits are, read the previous edition of the Papers here. Basically, the permit allows you to build whatever you want, however you want. But it’s only allowed in certain county zoning areas.

SR zoning: Single household dwellings, excluding mobile and manufactured homes.

SM zoning: Single and multiple household dwellings, excluding mobile homes.

RU (rural) zoning: All single and multiple household dwellings — which is 90% of unincorporated areas in the county.

And the parcel size has to be at least four acres. The smallest qualifying zoning districts are:

Mr. Thiede has lived in Cochise County for seven years and started buy adjacent rural parcels in 2022.

Last October, he went to the county to apply for the typical RU4 rezoning and got unanimous approval from Planning and Zoning. But then he requested a rehearing so he could add an additional adjacent parcel.

In the meantime, neighbors got wind of his request and asked him to reconsider.

It’s not because they don’t like opt-out building — some are opt-out builders themselves. But they chose to rezone as SR-174 instead of RU-4, and asked Thiede to do the same.

Why? Because RU4 allows trailer homes and they don’t want to see their scenic rural neighborhood at the foothills of the Dragoon mountains become a trailer park.

At first, Thiede agreed to SR-174 zoning. But then changed his mind again because of another difference between the zoning types.

SR-174 zoning requires owners to build their primary dwelling structure before they build any accessory structures. RU4 zoning allows accessory structures first, which Thiede wants for storage, a workshop, and solar equipment.

So his RU4 application went to P&Z again, but this time it included 11 letters and three in-person comments of opposition from neighbors.

One of the neighbors is Kevin Todd, a local real estate agent who has helped a lot of buyers find property for opt-out builds. He explained that a big part of the value for newcomers is the scenic beauty of the area — and trailer homes would ruin the aesthetics, bring down property values and introduce crime to the area.

He said he believes Thiede will build an on-site home, but he’s worried that an RU4 zoning would be the start of a slippery slope.

Lindsay Rothschild, whose property is adjacent to Thiede’s, made similar comments.

There was one person at the hearing to give support to Thiele. His neighbor Dimitri Damacus explained that some home builders need a place to store their building materials, and not everyone has enough money to rent storage space offsite.

As the P&Z commission deliberated, Commissioner Nathan Watkins suggested a “deed restriction” on the property prohibiting mobile homes could solve the problem, but a county official chimed in that the county doesn’t enforce deed restrictions, so they wouldn’t guarantee anything.

After a robust discussion, the commission voted in favor 4 to 3. You can watch the meeting here.

On January 28th the application went to a Board of Supervisors hearing for approval, along with similar letters and comments in opposition.

Kevin Todd commented that just because someone says they’ll build an on-site home doesn’t mean they will — something he said has happened “over and over and over and over.”

Mr. Thiede opened his comments by mentioning the “unique opportunity” that RU4 zoning allows for building accessory structures first. But as the hearing continued and the supervisors asked questions, that point got lost, and Thiede never brought it back up. If he had leaned into it, he might have gotten a different outcome.

In the end, all the discussion focused on trailer homes and property values, and the county supervisors decided that an SR-174 zoning was the right choice for his opt-out home.

They unanimously voted against the RU4 zoning and asked him to submit a new application. You can watch that meeting here.

Hopefully things work out for both Mr. Thiede and his neighbors in the end.

Mr. Thiede’s story illustrates the tough work of civil disputes. Some might say that private property rights are absolute — do whatever you want. But we’ve had “common law” for millennia which appreciates that sometimes one person’s land use interferes with their neighbors’ right to a good life.

The owner of my previous home in rural Douglas told me a story about her late husband from the 80s.

Ol’ Sid Williams got wind that some investors had bought land in their rural area north of Douglas and wanted to rezone it for industrial operations. Sidney went to the county’s hearing and made an impassioned argument to the supervisors. He explained that he and his neighbors bought land in an area without industrial operations, to raise their families with peaceful quiet and clean air — and their investment should be honored.

In the end, he and his neighbors got their way. The rezoning was denied.

I’ll tell you what I would have done in Mr. Thiede’s case — and what I will do now.

I’d ask the County to add a new zoning district which allow owners to build accessory structures before their dwelling structure, but which also prohibits trailer homes.

We’re quick to take sides in any dispute — a deeply instinctual response. But then we forget to look for win-win solutions that work for everyone.

And we often forget that laws and regulations aren’t set in stone. Especially at the local level, it doesn’t always take a ton of effort to have them changed.

I’ll be giving a presentation on the topic of citizen governance at the 2nd Annual Southwest Alternative Building Conference near Portal, AZ on March 29. Learn more here.

The Rural Groundwater Management Act bill that I reported on previously didn’t get a hearing in the House or Senate before the deadline for this legislative session. The bill is meant to provide an alternative to AMAs for rural groundwater basins.

At a recent event in Sierra Vista, Governor Katie Hobbs said the bill would “provide a tool that gives more flexibility for rural communities to have a say over their groundwater and I’m really proud of the bipartisan support.”

But Senator Tim Dunn got a hearing for his bill SB1520, a rehash of last year’s Farm Bureau-backed SB1221. The new version of the bill would have turned the new Willcox AMA into the Willcox BMA, or “Basin Management Area.” The concept is widely unpopular with rural communities throughout the state.

The bill passed along a partisan vote.

I’ll be doing an in-depth look at the differences between “Basin Management Areas” and the Groundwater Management Act’s “Rural Basin Management Areas” in the future.

For now, I’ll mention two things.

Both concepts require a five-member “local” council to be appointed for managing a groundwater basin, but SB1520 only requires one of those council members to be an actual resident of the basin, while the Groundwater Management Act would require four of the five members to be local residents.

At the hearing for SB1520, Arizona Farm Bureau President Phil Bashaw said their bill didn’t require local representation because some land owners live outside of a basin, and he doesn’t want them excluded from decision making.

So much for “local control”.

You can watch Senator Priya Sundareshan give a good grilling to Phil Bashaw at the hearing here.

Last month, a team of lab coats published findings that our drought in the Southwest is part of a trend of increasingly frequent “megadroughts”.

And this La Niña winter has been exceptionally dry — on track to break records and qualifying half of Arizona for “extreme drought” conditions.

For the Water Agenda, I’ve got two new pieces:

“Gail Griffin vs Arizona” is a deep dive into Cochise County’s state representative who has been blocking groundwater reforms for a long time.

“Water crisis x housing crisis = ?” looks at how limited groundwater supplies have led to a freeze in new housing development in central Arizona.

If you’d like to get a better sense of what’s going on with water, science communicator Peter Gleik will be giving a webinar for UofA on March 4, and you can register to attend for free here. Gleik wrote the 2023 book “The Three Ages of Water” about water’s “prehistoric past, imperiled present, and hope for the future.”

Local News Roundup

You may have heard about the annual “Saguaro Man” event in the Willcox Basin. It’s inspired by the Burning Man festival, but on a much smaller scale. The event’s organizers recently asked for special event permits to host additional smaller events and do some camping on their land. Many neighbors opposed the permits because of increased dust from heavy traffic, unsafe fires, and noise. The event organizers said they have contracts with Willcox Fire Department, curfews for noise, and 15 mph speed limit for guests. P&Z commissioners denied their applications. But the annual festival itself is still allowed to continue for now.

In the previous edition of the Papers we looked at eggonomics — the price of keeping your own chickens versus buying them at the grocery store during this time of eggflation.

Sarah and Corey Bolander at Mr. Perfect Farms in Marana say their eggs have been flying off the shelves.

Husband and wife Lloyd Trachtenberg and Terrie DePoy of Laine Organic Farms in Palominas give their opinions on the egg market to Herald/Review’s Mark Levy:

Local baker Skye Maddux runs the Wake and Bake Bakery in Benson, and says he’s trying to “ride those ebbs and flow” of profitability while dealing with increased egg prices.

In January, the Douglas City Council revised their municipal codes to ease requirements for marijuana dispensaries, as required by state law. Every county in Arizona has a limited number of licenses for dispensaries, but one of them is up for grabs after the Story dispensary in Bisbee recently closed down. Douglas’ new mayor, Jose Grijalva, is hoping someone in the city can snag it.

And Bisbee has joined other cities across the state in declaring a “housing emergency” because investors are buying up properties for short-term rentals (Airbnb, VRBO) which inflates local housing costs and rents.

Cochise County has been denied a $43 million grant from the federal government to complete the $80 million connector road project for the upcoming Commercial Port of Entry west of Douglas. The city, county, and ADOT said the road construction will go forward, and they’re looking for new funding sources.

In Graham and Cochise Counties, USDA Wildlife Services has been getting reports of Mexican grey wolves preying on livestock animals. Upon investigation by Game and Fish’s Range Riders, only two of the dead animals showed signs of wolf attack. But they spent nine days “hazing” wolves in the area — which means popping off loud guns to scare them away.

The wolves are an endangered species, and after one was found killed last October, officials offered a $103,500 reward for information leading to a prosecution.

Game and Fish also found another bat west of Sierra Vista that has “white-nose syndrome”, the result of a deadly fungal infection. Cases have been rare in Arizona but showing up more over the last few years. Experts say it’s likely due to humans entering caves and carrying spores with them.

And if you’d like to learn more about the ancestral Chiricahua Indians of our area, Bill Cavaliere, President of the Cochise County Historical Society, is giving a webinar presentation on the topic on March 5, and you can register to attend for free here. Or if you’re more of a reader, you can buy Cavaliere’s 2021 book “The Chiricahua Apaches: A Concise History” here.

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