‘Surprise’ county zoning rules decried

Local buyers weren’t told about requirements

Officials said buyers of undeveloped lots in Yuma County should make sure there aren’t any unexpected requirements attached to their zoning, as the Board of Supervisors on Monday dealt with two cases of sellers not disclosing that whoever owned the land was required to build a road to their property before they could start construction on a home.

The cases involved 10-acre subdivisions about a mile apart, in the Yuma Mesa area east of Somerton and south of Yuma. Both were rezoned more than 10 years ago from rural area zoning with a 10-acre minimum lot size into Suburban Ranch zoning with a 2-acre minimum, creating rows of five 2-acre parcels.

In both cases, the zoning was contingent on the owner making improvements to the new subdivision, including dedication and construction of chip-sealed and graveled roads along the edges of the lots, connecting them to an existing road. If the developers don’t meet the deadlines for making the improvements, the county can either extend the deadline or rescind the zoning, reverting it to its former status.

In one of the cases heard Monday, at County 17 1/2 Street near Avenue A 3/4, one lot has a house on it, built before the property was subdivided, said senior county planner Juan Leal-Rubio. “None of the other parcels are able to get permits until these conditions are met,” he added.

In the second case, at the southeast corner of County 17th Street and Avenue A, the primary difference is no homes have been built and the subdivider sold the remaining lots in the last few months.

Evidently the requirement to build the road was never fully disclosed to the buyers by the sellers, real estate agents or title companies in these cases. Cecelia Chavez of San Luis, owner of one of the properties in the County 17 1/2 Street case, said she’d called her title company that morning to ask why she was never told about the zoning issue.

“He said he didn’t know anything about it and the person who sold the lot should tell him that. So it’s between the title company, the seller and the buyer. But the title company is supposed to give you a clean title, and it is a clean title,” without any liens attached to it.

If the board chose to extend the development deadline, it would allow the current owners more time to try to resolve the situation among themselves and/or seek a settlement with the original owner, but that owner who didn’t make the disclosures wouldn’t face any consequences from the county.

Reverting the zoning would force all the property owners, including those who didn’t create the problem, to file their own rezoning cases for the parcels, and they would likely face the same road construction requirements since the properties are within the county’s PM10 nonattainment zone.

The board ended up going in different directions on the nearly identical cases, based largely on input from the current owners.

In the County 17 1/2 Street case, two of the new owners attended the meeting and one, Chavez, told the board she preferred a shorter extension of the deadline than the yearlong one being suggested to pressure the original owner to come to some sort of agreement more quickly with the original owners on how to pay for the required roads.

The board voted 4-1 to approve the six-month extension Chavez asked for, with Supervisor Russell McCloud having said earlier he would not vote for an extension, even if it seemed to be the best option for the subsequent buyers.

“I will vigorously oppose that, because if we do that, what we’ve done is assist the original owner in subverting the will of the board,” he said.

For the other case on 17th Street, Guilliermina Fuentes was the only affected owner who attended the meeting. She said she owned the lot at what would be the end of the road that was required, and said she wasn’t willing to pay the entire expense, even though the situation has already cost her a customer.

“The other properties have been sold like three times already, and even though I was willing to pay my fair share with the other owners I was only able to contact one owner of two parcels. So right now it’s being sold again, when we were in negotiations.

“I’m a builder, and I own this property, we had a client, everything was already in place, so this came in front of me when I was almost to begin,” she said. She added she’d rather handle the zoning on her own, even though she’d probably come up against the same requirements from the county.

In this case, the board voted 5-0 to revert the zoning to the Rural Area-10 classification, meaning all five lots now don’t conform to their zoning.

Leal-Rubio and Planning Director Maggie Castro said developers are now required to make road improvements before they can subdivide a property to be sold off, but it’s possible owners of some properties zoned before that took effect could also be left holding the bag.

The county’s current zoning ordinance, adopted in August 2006, requires all parcels to have access to a public street or some other accommodation for access before a land division will be approved.

District 5 Supervisor Lynne Pancrazi asked county planning staff to find some way to warn buyers about these issues before they close on a property.

“My request is to look for more of these types of properties, please, and at least notify those people who own it that the roads need to be paved, or the title companies so the title companies can notify the buyers,” she said.

“Somehow or another we need to make sure those people don’t get stuck in this type of situation because more and more of our mesa is getting developed into two-acre parcels, and these people are buying thinking they can build a house, and they can’t.”

In other action Monday, the board:

• Approved a request by Shepard Water Company to amend the Martinez Lake Resort 1 Planned Development by adding a wireless communications facility use and changing development standards for a parcel at the northwest corner of Martinez Lake and Marina roads.

• Approved construction plans and advertising for bids for an asphalt overlay project on Avenue 3E, between County 14th and County 16th streets.

• Held a work session on efforts to improve bicycle paths and facilities in the county, which will be detailed in a future Yuma Sun story, and postponed another on park facilities in the county due to time constraints.

• Penny Pew, district director of intergovernmental affairs for Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, presented an Outstanding Deputy award to Yuma County Sheriff’s Office Senior Deputy Michelle Callahan.

Pew said the congressman was giving the awards to deputies throughout his district for National Law Enforcement Week, and Callahan stood out of several nominees submitted by YCSO. She rose through the ranks after starting as a dispatcher, is on the department’s dive team and is active in supporting Amberly’s Place, Pew said.

“Senior Deputy Callahan is a team player with a strong commitment to serve the sheriff’s office and the residents of Yuma County. Furthermore, she’s a deputy who can be counted on without hesitation to assist with shift coverage and/or other patrol coverage duties that may arise,” she said.

Yuma Sun staff writer Blake Herzog can be reached at (928) 539-6856 or bherzog@ yumasun.com.