County zoning panel backs Foothills RV subdivision plan

The Yuma County Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday recommended approval of two exemptions from county subdivision requirements for a planned recreational vehicle subdivision in the Foothills.

The members present also voted 7-0 for the final tentative map for the subdivision. Sierra Ridge Unit 2 at the southeast corner of Avenue 12E and the alignment of County 11 1/2 Street.

All cases go to the county Board of Supervisors for final approval.

Regulations adopted in 2008 require new subdivisions that meet certain size specifications to improve major roads along its borders, either by paving them or adding curbs, sidewalks and other amenities.

Sierra Ridge Unit 2 is slated to put 31 lots on 11 acres on a vacant lot surrounded by similar subdivisions that were all built before 2008.

Developer Spartan Homes and Construction asked not to be required to add a sidewalk and lighting to about 400 feet of Avenue 12E along its western boundary, or to have to build out 1,000 feet of County 11 1/2 Street, which is undeveloped since the nearby subdivisions were not required to do it.

County engineering staff agreed Spartan shouldn’t be required to build the segment of County 11 1/2 Street.

But staff did recommend the sidewalk and streetlights be mandatory along the east side of 12E, since it is an existing arterial road and some residents from the general vicinity have called to complain about the overall lack of them.

The commission agreed with Spartan representative Brian Householder’s stance, since the rest of 12E doesn’t have any sidewalks and the county has no current plans to build any. This means residents of the surrounding neighborhoods would have to form an improvement district to finance the improvements.

“I get the intent for it, but this isn’t the place for it,” Commissioner Scott Mulvaney said. ‘There would be a sidewalk to nowhere, an added cost, and the lighting as well.”

The board’s sentiment was already going Householder’s way before he even got up to speak. He said in the early 2000s when he developed Sierra Ridge Unit 1 to the north of the property, he had to build 12E to its full width down the entire property, including the 17 acres just being developed now.

He added, “there would probably be one or two streetlights, so we’re also talking about a streetlight to nowhere. And there’s no power on that side of the road, so I’d have to bear the expense of bringing power overhead, down to the other side, probably just for one streetlight on the corner.”

Also Monday, the commission recommended approval of rezoning two properties, totaling 12 acres, at 7627 E. County 13 1/2 Street in the Yuma Mesa area to Suburban Ranch, 4-acre minimum, to build two houses.

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