Controversial zoning case sent back to commission

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors sent a controversial zoning case from the Tacna area back to its zoning commission after the landowner said he wanted to eliminate the possibility of manufactured homes being placed on the lots.

John Weil, a Yuma attorney, said he always intended to have site-built homes on all five lots in his 86-acre property at the intersection of County 8th Street and Avenue 37 1/2.

His plan calls for the southern 40 acres to be split into four 10-acre parcels, necessitating the change in zoning from Rural Area40 acre minimum to Rural Area-10 acre minimum.

He said he will keep the other 46 acres on which to build his retirement home, with room for he and his wife to keep their horses and have a lighted horse arena and other horse facilities, which the other four landowners would contribute to as part of an HOA.

He said the HOA (homeowner association) would also require conventionally built houses. “What I want to do is exactly what my neighbors are doing, which is to have 10-acre parcels with site-built homes,” he said.

All rural area zoning districts allow both site-built and manufactured homes. Weil said he was willing to add a stipulation to the zoning case against the latter, but County Attorney Jon Smith said it would likely not be enforceable if a subsequent owner took it to court, because it was added so late in the process.

Planning Director Maggie Castro said if the board sent the case back to the commission it could be readvertised as a change to the Suburban Site Built-10 acre minimum, which would eliminate manufactured homes as an option.

Weil said he was willing to do that, and it appeared to satisfy the four neighboring property owners who spoke during the public hearing portion of the case.

Wayne Preston said a prior failed zoning proposal, which would have brought

densities of six homes per acre to that same property, had left him wary that Weil’s case was an effort to have it rezoned to the same category as the surrounding land, and then reduce the lot sizes.

“I thought it was important that this area remain consistent with at least stick-built homes, with the whole neighborhood. And while it may not seem like a neighborhood for people who live in the city, it is the neighborhood for us out here,” he said.

The board voted 4-0 to send the case back to the commission, with Chairman Tony Reyes absent.

The board also:

• Delayed a vote on terminating the Yuma County Airport Authority’s license with the federal government to operate Rolle Field near San Luis, so a new contract can be negotiated and put into place.

Acting Chairman and County Supervisor Russell McCloud said he was asking for the delay so Reyes, whose district includes the airfield, could be there for the vote on an issue “of this magnitude.”

Airport Authority Director Gladys Wiggins said the new agreement, which is still being negotiated, would allow wider use and development of the airport by authorizing general aviation users. It would also allow the airport to work directly with federal authorities, as the current license is technically with Yuma County, which in turn has an agreement with the airport.

These users could include drone development, flight training and other purposes, she said. Rolle is currently licensed for agricultural uses only, and it is used mostly by cropdusters.

• Recommended state liquor board approval of a regular liquor license for Fortuna Winery, 11665 S. Fortuna Road, Suite C. Staff is recommending approval of an amended application that says consumption of alcohol will not be allowed onsite and meets other requirements from the building safety department.

Owner James Grey said this would be a temporary location for the winery, so he decided it wasn’t worth the expense to make the changes necessary to allow wine-drinking there. He intends to move into Fortuna Palms, a new shopping complex on Fortuna Road south of Interstate 8, in about a year.

• Authorized a $908,000 contract with Cemex Construction Materials South for the South Frontage Road, Fortuna Road to Foothills Boulevard overlay project.

• Authorized a $1 million contract with Cactus Asphalt for an overlay project on County 14th Street between Avenues A and D.

Gene Dalbey, president of the Yuma Region Bicycle Coalition, spoke about these two road projects during the call to the public at the beginning of the meeting. He said on County 14th, that segment of the road was striped to create wide shoulders for cyclists and pedestrians to use, but other stripes were drawn more narrowly, creating confusion for riders and walkers.

He added the South Frontage Road project “would make a nice picture for the winter visitors coming back, I hope they like what they see and they come back some more.”

• Approved rezoning two parcels totaling 12 acres at 7627 and 7683 E. County 13 1/2 Street from Rural Area10 acre minimum and Suburban Ranch-2 acre minimum to Suburban Ranch-4 acre minimum.

• Approved a yearlong extension for a parcel where the owner has not met the required development schedule, which expired in June, at 3647 West 8th St., outside Yuma, from general commercial to local commercial.

• Accepted a petition and formation of the Desert Sky Unit No. 1 Subdivision Irrigation Water Delivery District.

• Accepted a petition and formation of Tierra Mesa Estates Unis No. 2, 7, 8 and 9 Street Lighting District.