Cave Creek committee kicks off study of 4,000 acres of state trust land, forms work groups

Cave CreekadTown staff and 15 volunteer members met in October for a kickoff of an ad hoc committee charged with studying "the future disposition of approximately 4,000 acres of state trust land," town staff said.

Town Manager Grady Miller told the group their goal is swift work: "Our target is to complete the work by the February and then have a report presented to council in March." He added that any ballot question would need to be finalized in time for county elections to accept it in May.

Luke Houtsman, the townDevelopment Services director, read the committee charge and described staffplans to divide members into subject-focused work groups for outreach, land prioritization, partnerships, and financing. "Wehave to be very careful and vigilant that were not doing mass emails to one another talking about things that were going to be discussing as an entire group," he said, explaining the plan to use monthly full-committee meetings plus separate work-group sessions.

Town Attorney Bill Sims briefed the committee on Arizonaopen meeting law, instructing members how to avoid creating subcommittees subject to public-meeting rules: "The open meeting law does just that," he said, and recommended keeping work-group membership stable and avoiding evolving fact-gathering into formal recommendations at the work-group level.

On funding, Miller said the town already has a dedicated open-space fund with roughly $1,600,000 and that changes in tax prioritization should generate about $500,000 to $600,000 this year and next. Staff said those existing funds would be included in the committeework to develop a financing roadmap and that private donations and partnerships would also be explored.

Staff reviewed the legal background: a set of annexation and zoning agreements with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) dating to the early 2000s governs approximately 4,005 acres within town boundaries. Luke Houtsman said the council approved a resolution to extend those agreements by 10 years, moving the expiration from June 18, 2029, to June 2039; the state conditioned the extension on a pledge to initiate acquisition of at least 160 acres within five years after the agreement is recorded.

Members debated how to organize the work. Staff proposed four groups (communications/outreach; evaluating and prioritizing open-space areas; identifying stakeholders/partnerships; and financing). Several members recommended combining the stakeholder and financing work because the subjects overlap; staff proposed a combined financing/stakeholder group of six members and smaller groups of four to avoid quorum issues.

Maps and zoning were central to the discussion. Staff showed a map of ASLD holdings inside town limits, explaining how the state reserved some areas as open-space conservation and open-space recreation and how other parcels were zoned for potential future development. Members raised questions about water availability, archaeological constraints and how to make clear to the public which parcels are part of the committee's acquisition focus.

For next steps, staff said they would circulate binders and one-page background materials, email committee rosters and proposed meeting dates (third Wednesday of each month at 2 p.m. was suggested), and convene the first work-group meetings by Zoom. Members were instructed to notify staff of attendance to assist with quorum planning.

Votes at a glance The committee elected Steve Lamar as chair (motion by Janet Moore; voice vote approved) and elected a vice chair, Bessore, by voice vote. There were no roll-call tallies recorded in the meeting transcript.

What happens next Staff will finalize work-group rosters and background binders, schedule first work-group meetings, and return the committeefindings and recommendations to the Town Council for consideration. If council refers a question to voters, town staff indicated ballot language must be ready in time for the county elections office deadline in May.

(Reporting based on the committee kickoff meeting transcript and staff statements; figures and deadlines cited are those stated by staff in the meeting.)