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Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a seven-part series evaluating the seven key points of the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan as identified by Pinal County Planning Director Jerry Stabley.
The Pinal County Comprehensive plan was made public Thursday, July 3 and embedded within that plan is a mechanism for residents to continue enjoying the natural beauty of the county in which they live.
Open space means different things to different people, but according to county officials preserving those areas was the prime request by residents surveyed over the past 15 months.
According to Jerry Stabley, Pinal County planning director, the previous definition of a trail system identified on a map will provide developers a guideline of where to build and where not to build.
Identifying regional parks, horse trails and general recreation areas will help guarantee the preservation of Pinal County’s natural beauty, Mr. Stabley said.
"Open spaces was a major issue and the design used is pretty constant throughout the county," he added.
Kent Taylor, acting Pinal County director of parks, recreation and fairgrounds, pointed out the county is building on what is already established and how the update to the already adopted comprehensive plan can look to future growth while developing a "major linkage" between all trail systems throughout the county.
Noting the three major trail systems established in Pinal County, which are the Arizona Trail, Central Arizona Project Trail and the National Historical Trail, Mr. Taylor says the update to the comprehensive plan is an effort to map out future trail systems and how they will link-up with the three already existing major trial systems.
"We plan to have a way — at some point in time — to go non-motorized from east to west and north to south across the entire county," he explained.
Mr. Stabley pointed out that in the proposed plan no specific date has been identified as to when all buildable land will be gone.
"There is a potential for a lot of growth over the next 30 years," he explained.
On the heels of Growing Smarter legislation passed in 1998 — which requires all Arizona counties to adopt a comprehensive plan and revise them every 10 years — this update process started in 2007, according to county spokeswoman Heather Murphy.
In an effort to preserve the open space of the county, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors identified open space issues as one of its three main objectives for the update process, Ms. Murphy said.
Rosemary Shearer, Superstition Area Land Trust executive director and Gold Canyon resident, says the definition of a trail system is how, since 1993, the county has managed to preserve its natural beauty.
According to Ms. Shearer, in 1993 county officials were beginning to see less and less access to mountain areas, which sparked the necessity of a protected countywide trail system.
"We wanted to get these on the map," she said. "That way they are there ... and developers can build around that, (which) is the concept."
Acting as a consultant during the conception of the first Pinal County Comprehensive Plan in the early 1990’s, Ms. Shearer is playing that role now during the update process.
Ms. Shearer claims Pinal County is one of the pioneers to establish open spaces and an intricate trail system preserving those areas.
"Open space is defined by people in very different ways," she said. "It is so subjective."
Despite the topic’s subjectivity, most people surveyed throughout the county identified preserving open spaces as their main priority, Ms. Shearer said.
Roy Fuerherm of Gold Canyon agrees with the idea that Pinal County’s natural beauty ought to be protected from mass growth and development.
Mr. Fuerherm, who is the director of the Association for the Development of a Better Environment, says protecting open spaces in Gold Canyon will preserve its charm.
"We don’t want to become another one of those large communities," he said. "I think the key is protecting the beauty."
A draft of the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan is available on the project Web site, http://www.pinalcountyplan.com.
Because Pinal County is trying to reduce paper, comments regarding the plan are accepted through the Web site.
Printed review copies of the plan are also available at several locations. Contact Ashlee Hanna at 520-866-6642 or via e-mail at ashlee.hanna@co.pinal.az.us.
Next week’s article will focus on economic stability and how the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan aims to achieve growth and development over the next decade.
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