Somerton green area requirement reduced

Subdivisions can set aside less land for parks

SOMERTON — Developers have more incentive to build in Somerton now that the city is reducing the area that must be set aside for parks or green areas within developments.

One of several zoning code amendments recently approved by the Somerton City Council reduces from 20 to 5 percent the area that must be set aside in residential subdivisions and commercial and industrial projects.

The reduction, adopted on a unanimous council vote, was welcomed by developers, who nonetheless called for the requirement for green areas to be dropped altogether.

Somerton Community Development Director Carmen Juarez, who presented the amendment, said the original intent of the rule was to offer some amenities to residents of subdivisions.

It was adopted “so that residents have in their subdivisions at least a small park, so they don’t have to get into their cars to go to a park that’s on the other side of the city.”

The council also directed the city staff to develop a package of reduced building permit fees and other financial incentives as a way to offset the additional cost of green areas for lowincome families hoping to own their own homes.

Housing American Corp., a Somerton-based non-profit organization, helps those families secure low-income loans from the federal government to build homes in mutual selfhelp housing programs, in which the families further save by doing much of the construction themselves.

But the green space requirement also applies to self-help housing developments, in turn driving up the cost of housing for the aspiring homeowners, said Thomas Ryan, executive director of Housing America Corp.

“For us this decision is a sign that the city is open to working with organizations that offer housing programs for those families,” Ryan said. “Like the other developers, I think the ideal thing is that the percentage (of required green space) be zero, but this is an improvement.”

Agustin Tumbaga, owner of DHG Construction, praised the council’s decision, but likewise said developers should not have to set aside land for green areas.

“This will help, yes, but the percentage should have been left at zero,” he said.

The Somerton Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended that the council not require green areas in new developments.

The requirement for green space is in addition to land developers must set aside for stormwater retention basins.

PHOTO BY CESAR NEYOY/BAJO EL SOL DEVELOPERS HAVE WON A CONCESSION from the Somerton City Council, which adopted a zoning amendment that reduces the required amount of land that must be set aside for green areas or parks in developments, such as this one on the city’s south side.