INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS:  Mon., Jan. 15, 2007

Pima County’s goal: ‘stop development’

By Steve Emerine

            Readers sometimes ask why I write so many columns in Tucson’s only business newspaper about efforts by county officials and environmentalists to buy land in Pima County.  They ask “What does protecting sensitive land have to do with business?”

            The answer, of course, is “Plenty.” Preserving truly sensitive land for truly endangered species is something we all should support.  With the Saguaro National Parks, Tucson Mountain Park, national monuments and other set-asides of thousands of acres in and around Tucson, we’ve done a pretty good job.

            But as I’ve pointed out umpteen times before, there must be a limit.  Governments, school districts and Native American tribes own about seven-eighths of the land in Pima County right now.

            Less than 13% is owned by private individuals and companies.  The scarcity of available private land has caused prices to rise for the land that’s left. Prices are even higher because of restrictions on using private property under the county’s omnipotent (but never formally adopted) Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and various zoning laws.

            And as land prices go up, so do the property taxes on private land.

            Here’s where business owners and employees need to pay attention.  The bonds we sell to raise the money to buy the farms and ranches are debts that you and I will repay with our property taxes.

            Voters were told the bonds were vital to protecting sensitive or special land to preserve rare animal and cactus species.  But ranches and farms aren’t great examples of pristine, saguaro-studded “special” or “sensitive” habitat. They’re places where cattle graze or tractors plow furrows for pumpkins, cotton, sorghum, pecan trees or other crops.

FULL STORY:   http://www.azbiz.com/steve_emerine/