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Residents, neighbors raise flood and liability concerns as City of Tucson approves La Mariposa casita development; supervisors ask flood-control office for memo
Summary
Neighbors and public commenters urged the board to reject a developer’s offer to give a detention/recharge basin to Pima County as part of the Casita Village rezoning, citing flood, sedimentation and long-term maintenance and liability risks; supervisors asked flood control staff for a written evaluation.
Residents and neighborhood groups pressed Pima County supervisors on May 6 to scrutinize a proposed detention and recharge basin that a developer offered to give to the county as a condition of a City of Tucson rezoning for the Casita Village at La Mariposa project.
Neighbors and representatives from tanké Verde-area community groups told the Board of Supervisors the proposed basin would sit on the Agua Caliente and Tanque Verde washes, would quickly fill with sediment after storms and would require continuous, costly maintenance. Several speakers warned the county could face future liability if the basin were not regularly maintained.
"Don't be conned into taking a mess off someone else's hands," said Jane Rojas, a local resident who told the board that the basin would be "a continual maintenance headache" and accused the developer of seeking to offload flood-prone land to the county so the developer could free up other land for sale.
Why it matters: The transfer of responsibility for a large basin — described in public comments as an 11-acre, 10-foot-deep pit designed to handle runoff — would put the county in a maintenance and risk-management role for an asset that some speakers said would not perform as a long-term recharge facility and would likely entrap silt and standing water.
Board response: Supervisor Chris Christie asked county flood-control staff for a concise written response addressing what the flood-control division found versus claims made by speakers and whether the basin complies with county detention and retention standards. County staff said they would provide a memorandum.
Public and technical concerns: Mark Weigel, a property owner adjacent to the site, said certified hydrology reports filed by residents called into question the developer’s own data and called the basin a “Trojan horse.” Others noted traffic and infrastructure effects from the 121-unit casita project and said rezoning prior city denials should raise caution.
Follow-up: Supervisor Christie asked flood-control staff to produce a formal memorandum addressing the accusations and explaining the agency’s technical conclusions versus public claims. He also requested the county administrator forward any necessary legal or technical follow-up. County staff agreed to prepare the memo and return to the board.
Ending: The board did not vote on the development; speakers asked the county to take a careful technical and legal look before accepting any maintenance responsibility for the proposed basin.
