NEIGHBORHOOD
CONSERVATION PLAN
“Preserving the Spirit of Place”

2002

CONCEPT PLAN
FOR PIMA COUNTY

PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
ANN DAY, DISTRICT 1
DAN ECKSTROM, DISTRICT 2
SHARON BRONSON, DISTRICT 3
RAYMOND CARROLL, DISTRICT 4
RICHARD ELIAS, DISTRICT 5
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
CHUCK HUCKELBERRY

Neighborhood Conservation Plan
Preserving the Spirit of Place

Neighborhood Conservation Plan

CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION – THREE PLANNING EFFORTS IN PIMA COUNTY ........... 2
II. WHAT IS THE CONSERVATION PLAN? ................................................... 2
III. THE NEED FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION PLAN ................ 3
IV. OVERCOMING PAST PATTERNS AND PRACTICES IN LAND USE ........... 5
V. RELATIONSHIP OF THE PLANS ............................................................... 6
1. Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan ...................................................... 6
2. Comprehensive Land Use Plan ............................................................ 6
3. Integrated Aspects of the Plans ........................................................... 6
4. The Importance of Place ...................................................................... 6
5. Neighborhood Conservation as a Major
Contributor to Qualify of Life Plans ...................................................... 7
VI. THE PLAN ............................................................................................... 8
1. Housing and Reinvestment .................................................................. 8
2. Health Status Improvement ................................................................. 9
3. Education ........................................................................................... 11
4. Employment ...................................................................................... 11
5. Safety ................................................................................................ 11
6. Heritage ............................................................................................. 12
VII. NEXT STEPS ........................................................................................ 12
1. Research ........................................................................................... 12
2. Participation and Partnerships .......................................................... 12
VIII. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 13

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
Preserving the Spirit of Place

Background
THREE PLANNING EFFORTS IN PIMA COUNTY

It has been four years since the Pima County Board of Supervisors began talking
about land use and natural resource issues. Since the first study session in February
of 1998, a number of actions have been taken and plans have been adopted to deal
with the question of how we will accommodate future population growth in a rational manner. During 1999 and 2000, a major focus of the County was the Sonoran
Desert Conservation Plan; in 2001 the Comprehensive Land Use Plan Update was
developed and adopted. This document describes how these planning initiatives
will serve as the basis for the third and most important of initiatives launched by
the Board in 1998: the Neighborhood Conservation Plan.
The Neighborhood Conservation Plan, a concept proposed by Supervisor Eckstrom,
will ensure that promises of good housing, beautiful natural surroundings, security
and economic prosperity are not made only to those who live in the outlying areas
and to the 20,000 people who move here each year from some other part of the
United States. During 2002 and 2003, Pima County will spend a great deal more time
talking about and actually dealing with issues related to neighborhood reinvestment,
social equality, and improving the health status and quality of life for families and
individuals including those who have been here for generations.

The Neighborhood
Conservation Plan, a
concept proposed by
Supervisor
Eckstrom, will
ensure that
promises of good THE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION PLAN?
housing, beautiful Local governments throughout the United States are dealing with land use issues in
natural the guise of growth management programs, and through these programs they are
surroundings, struggling to address a problem that boils down to this: as we have grown rapidly
we have lost our sense of place and our spirit of community. Importing growth
security and management programs from other cities will not cure the dilemma. We have to look
economic prosperity to ourselves when we ask questions about what kind of community we are, and
are not made only to what type of community we want to promote and support. Most importantly, we
have to look to the people who have been here over time. In Pima County, this
those who live in the means we must look to the Native American and Mexican American communities.
outlying areas and It is ironic that these are the very communities who generally are not involved in
to the 20,000 people land use decision making, and who are not typically included in such community
building exercises. It is tragic that these are the communities who are most set back
who move here each by rapid population growth too.
year from some
The Neighborhood Conservation Plan, if it is done right, will reverse this dynamic
by going to the neighborhoods where the keepers of our culture reside, and
other part of the
consulting with them on issues of community importance, such as (1) housing and
United States. redevelopment, (2) health care, (3) education, (4) employment, (5) security and safety

What is

matters, and (6) preservation of heritage, and by simply relying on the advice and
wisdom of those who have known and invested in the community the longest.

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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Need for

Most importantly, THE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION PLAN
we have to look to A study on Environmental Justice published under separate cover describes the ways in
the people who have which population growth and development patterns of the last century have led to
injustices that have disproportionately affected low income and minority populabeen here over time. tions in Pima County. These range from the loss of Native American homeland, to
In Pima County, this groundwater pumping affecting the San Xavier District, to the siting of industries
means we must look that cause illnesses among low income and minority people, to land use policies that
have been at times exclusionary, and more recently, have had the effect of segregating
to the Native communities by income and often then by ethnicity. The prosperity brought by popuAmerican and lation growth, to the extent it exists, has generally not benefitted the low income and
Mexican American minority community proportionately; in many instances growth related prosperity
has been at the expense of these communities.
communities. It is
The Environmental Justice study includes an important discussion of the impacts
ironic that these are of federal housing policies and subsidies on land use patterns for low income and
the very minority members of the community. The federal government encouraged the settlement of the West in part to prevent reoccupation by “prior owners,” offering land at
communities who almost no cost through the 1862 Homestead Act and the 1875 Desert Land Act. A
generally are not little more than one half century later, the New Deal policy makers created mortinvolved in land use gage insurance which facilitated mass production of homes for communities. At the
end of World War II, federal inducements to builders led to the practice of developdecision making, ing entire subdivisions. These events in federal history coincide with the rise of
and who are not population in Tucson, particularly after World War II.
In theory, mass produced homes might have assisted the minority and low income
typically included in
members of the community, but the federal agency standards – which became the
such community national standards for new homebuilding – had the effect of disfavoring minority
building exercises. and low income members of the community, and these standards shaped the zoning
codes which came into being mid-century, including Pima County's zoning practices.
As the Environmental Justice study describes, the standards:
■ “explicitly favored loans for new construction in the suburbs, declaring that ‘interior
locations in the metropolis have a tendency to exhibit a decline in quality;’”

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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The modern
planning advice
about community
building simply
recreates the
neighborhood
structure that the
minority community
and modest income
residents of Tucson
had established
before the midcentury change in
rules and economic
forces took hold:
civic plazas,
walkable
neighborhoods,
reasonable densities
that enhanced
service availability
and social
relationships, and
even what we call
today "mixed use,"
were the norms.

■ “they seldom guaranteed loans to refurbish older homes or to build on vacant property
in the city;”
■ “older communities got far fewer loans than did rapidly growing towns in the West;”
■ “the policy manuals emphasized privacy and homogeneity rather than diversity;”
■ “they favored single family dwellings and did not approve of the traditional small scale
rental properties, such as apartments for the grandparents;”
■ “neighborhoods were to contain all one kind and price of housing on similarly sized lots. This
meant that everyone who lived in a particular subdivision was of a similar income level;”
■ “homes were to b e occupied by traditional families;” and
■ “most insidiously, the agencies strongly disapproved of neighborhoods that were not
racially homogeneous. Builders were explicitly advised to write restrictive covenants
into all deeds, legally barring purchase by specific groups.”
A combination of such forces led to the existing income and ethnic segregation
in housing in Tucson: the effect of deed restrictions in an earlier decade was generally implemented through financing schemes and then zoning categories that led
to the single income monoculture residential neighborhoods we see today in Pima
County.
At the same time the post-1950 population growth to Tucson was facilitated by
such forces, urban renewal projects removed traditional minority neighborhoods
from the urban landscape. These initiatives did not solve the problem of the declining popularity of downtown areas, but they did fragment the traditional barrios and
dilute the cultural wisdom about what constitutes a successful neighborhood in
Tucson. Just as population growth overwhelmed the fragile natural systems of Pima
County, it also stepped hard on the human habitat which is reflected most basically
in the neighborhood unit.
The modern planning advice about community building simply recreates the
neighborhood structure that the minority community and modest income residents
of Tucson had established before the mid-century change in rules and economic
forces took hold: civic plazas, walkable neighborhoods, reasonable densities that
enhanced service availability and social relationships, and even what we call today
"mixed use," were the norms.
It is likely that the cure to sprawl will be a strong dose of recreating the traditional neighborhoods of Tucson, and the leaders of this recovery plan for the community will be those families and individuals who have been tenacious in staying
within and supporting their urban neighborhood units, despite that growth-induced
economic forces have drained resources from them. The Neighborhood Conservation Plan will recover the wisdom of prior community development, and honor the
cultural dimension of this wisdom too.

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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Overcoming

PAST PATTERNS AND PRACTICES IN LAND USE

Understanding the
origins of sprawl
will not necessarily
lead to solutions.
This understanding
must be
accompanied by
deliberate policies
and actions that
create a better
alternative in the
built environment
than the residential
options being
produced today.

Understanding the origins of sprawl will not necessarily lead to solutions. This understanding must be accompanied by deliberate policies and actions that create a
better alternative in the built environment than the residential options being produced today. The mere suggestion that change is needed causes controversy however. If you look back twenty-five years, when the financing and zoning structure
that led to urban sprawl was only half the age it is now, there was resistance to
proposals for thoughtful neighborhood investment even then.
In 1974, a study commissioned by Pima County, the City of South Tucson and
the City of Tucson correctly predicted that the tax base would suffer by the year
2000 if 800,000 to 1 million residents in Pima County were accommodated in housing that tended toward peripheral expansion. A compact development pattern was
identified as better for the tax base, and the authors of the study, known as the Booz
Allen report, projected with surprising precision the footprint that sprawling development would leave on the landscape.

The map reflecting the “contained growth“ projection, if implemented in 1974,
would have provided better support for the tax base of Pima County. Under sprawling and often unregulated development conditions, we have seen a 38 percent decline in primary property tax value when such value is measured on a per capita
constant dollar basis. The contained growth scenario would have avoided some of
the natural resource and imperiled species dilemmas we face today too. Our land
use practices have not been forward looking however. Neighborhoods, the natural
resource base, and the tax base have all declined as a result.

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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Relation of

THE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION PLAN TO THE SONORAN
DESERT CONSERVATION PLAN AND THE PIMA COUNTY
COMPREHENSIVE LAND USE PLAN
The Neighborhood Conservation Plan fits logically into the progression of Pima
County's initiatives, which have gone from the regional scale to the urban scale
and now to the neighborhood scale. This section describes the backdrop of conservation and land use planning, and some of the connections to the neighborhood plan.

1. Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
In October of 1998, the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan was initiated by Pima
County Government to combine short term actions which protect and enhance the
natural and cultural environment with long-range planning to ensure that our conserved and urban environments not only coexist, but develop an interdependent
relationship – where one enhances the other. The six element Plan includes Habitat,
Corridors, Cultural Resources, Mountain Parks, Ranch Conservation and Riparian
Protection Elements. It was adopted in concept form in 1999 and accepted in preliminary form in 2000.

Place defines the
Pima County
community as much
as the language,
beliefs and stories of 2. Comprehensive Land Use Plan
the residents who Pima County then applied the biological and cultural reserve design, policies and
come from Native principles formulated during the conservation planning process to establish parameters for the 2001 Comprehensive Land Use Plan Update. On December 18, 2001,
American, Spanish, the Pima County Board of Supervisors adopted a land use plan that integrates the
Mexican, Chinese, built and conserved environments.
African American 3. Integrated Aspects of the Plans
and Anglo Pima County itself is a spectacular landscape: at 5.9 million acres, it includes two
backgrounds. major eco-regions that span Southern Arizona known as the Sky Islands and the
Sonoran Desert. The County is also home to the second largest Native American
Nation, along with 850,000 residents from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds
in one of the fastest growing, yet oldest continuously inhabited regions in the United
States. The conservation planning effort addresses the problems of declining natural resources and the loss of cultural identity. The conserved environment serves as
the form maker for the region's built environment and urban strategies, which,
through the adopted Comprehensive Plan, address problems of land consumption,
the declining ability of the tax base to generate revenue on a per capita basis, infrastructure deficits in circulation and transit, limited water availability, and the need
to increase accessible and affordable homes.

4. How the Importance of Place Factors into Planning Initiatives
Place defines the Pima County community as much as the language, beliefs and
stories of the residents who come from Native American, Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, African American and Anglo backgrounds. The ancient architecture of
Pima County's public space is equally grand and diverse. It includes mountain ranges that take elevation from 660 to 9157 feet at different points
across the region, giant saguaro and organ pipe cacti, Ironwood and Palo Verde trees, and the vast natural and cultural systems these features support.

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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Evolutionary happenstance and location create a landscape that spans two of the
world's floristic realms, which means that Pima County is at the confluence of native species ranges. This makes for incredible diversity as well as instability for many
species. The survival strategies worked out by indigenous plants and animals that
persist in these circumstances are intricate and interdependent. Rapid population
growth and the habitat fragmentation that goes along with it, however, have overwhelmed some of these fragile masterpieces of evolution. The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan identifies 55 priority vulnerable species which represent the overall
biodiversity of the region. The reserve design adopted as part of the December 2001
plan identifies the core, recovery and other areas that will meet the biological goal
of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan: to ensure the long-term survival of the
full spectrum of plants an animals that are indigenous to Pima County through
maintaining or improving the habitat conditions and ecosystem functions necessary for their survival.
Likewise, the December 2001 Plan includes policies to protect 229 priority cultural sites, consisting of 64 archaeological sites, 27 archaeological site complexes,
and 138 historic sites that together represent human occupation in Pima County
over a period of time spanning 10,000 years.

5. Neighborhood Conservation Plan as a Major Contributor to Quality of Life Plans

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
Preserving the Spirit of Place

Proposed

ELEMENTS OF THE CONCEPT NEIGHBORHOOD
CONSERVATION PLAN
Six elements are proposed as components of the Neighborhood Conservation Plan:
Housing and Reinvestment; Health Status Improvement; Education; Employment;
Secure Environments; and Honoring the Community's Heritage.

1. Housing and Reinvestment Element

Housing prices in
Pima County have
increased over the
last decade. The
average sale price of
a home increased by
more than $58,000
from 1991 to 2000.

The following reports were sent to the Board in 2001: Housing in Pima County,
Inclusionary Housing Study, Impact Fee and Affordable Housing Study, Trends in Housing
Affordability 1975 through 2001, An Analysis of Racial and Economic Disparities in Home
Purchase Mortgage Lending Nationally and in Sixty Metropolitan Areas, and Trends in
Housing Costs and Affordability. A study on Universal Design was also drafted in 2001.
These studies, which include the following findings, demonstrate the need to focus
on housing and neighborhood reinvestment.
Cost of Housing has Increased
Housing prices in Pima County have increased over the last decade. The average
sale price of a home increased by more than $58,000 from 1991 to 2000. The cost of
a home has risen due to the real estate market forces and the fact that the average
size of a single-family house is more than twice the size it was in 1950. Some contend that housing prices have risen due to increased government regulations. But
the following information shows that increased housing costs are more likely due
to real estate market forces: (1) The median house price has remained just as
unaffordable to two-thirds of residents, as it was in 1990; (2) Mortgage rates fell
from 1992 to 2001, but house prices rose by a similar amount. Therefore the benefit
of the decrease in mortgage rates was not felt by the homebuyer, but by the
homebuilder and real estate industry.
No Affordable Housing Problem for High-Income Earners
Do increased housing prices alone signal an affordable housing crisis in Pima County?
No. In fact, rising incomes for high-income households have kept pace with rising
housing costs. High- income earners in Pima County have not recently experienced
an affordability gap when it comes to housing.
A Shortage of Affordable Housing Does Exist for Low-Income Earners
However, the picture is very different for low-income households in Pima County. A
housing affordability problem does exist for low-income households. Pima County
has a low- wage service-based economy, which grew by 22 percent since 1990. Thirty
percent of households have incomes below the poverty level, and when adjusted for
inflation, the incomes of lower wage earners have declined over time. Very few lowincome households are able to afford the price of a new or re-sale home in Pima
County, as shown by residential sales statistics. In addition, almost half of all renters in Pima County are spending more than is considered reasonable on rent. Lowincome residents also spend a greater proportion of their income on housing than
high-income residents. On top of the housing affordability problem experienced by
many Pima County residents, Hispanics are also being hurt by local lending practices.

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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Policy Options
(1) Development Impact Fee Waivers – Approximately one-third of the counties
surveyed in the Impact and Affordable Housing Study, have a development impact fee
waiver; (2) Mixed Use Development, Inclusionary Housing and other Housing Programs -- Mixed use policies, which can benefit low income households, have been
adopted in Pima County's Comprehensive Land Use Plan. In addition, the Plan also
establishes the basis for an inclusionary housing program, home buyer education
programs, strategies to increase housing needed by those with special needs, and a
program that addresses the housing need of the median, low and very low income
households in Pima County.
Conclusions
A number of conclusions can be drawn from the 2001 housing studies: (1) The cost
of housing has increased due to real estate market forces and larger homes; (2) Housing
is tailored to high-income earners, who have not recently experienced a housing
affordability gap due to a rise in incomes; (3) Pima County does have a housing
affordability problem when it comes to low-income households; (4) Low-income
households have turned to mobile homes and the detrimental land use practice of
unregulated development to fill the affordability gap; (5) Local conventional mortgage lending practices have a disparate impact on Hispanic residents of Pima County;
(6) Pima County's growth pressures are generally greater than many communities
studied, but Pima County collected less in growth related fees, and afforded less in
the way of equitable housing programs; and (7) Programs to benefit those experiencing an affordability gap, including inclusionary housing and mixed use development, are a part of the County's Comprehensive Land Use Plan Update, but aggressive strategies must be implemented at the neighborhood scale.

2. Health Status Improvement Element
Most people do not associate County government with health care. However, through
our combined expenditures for Kino Community Hospital, the Posada Del Sol Nursing Home, the Health Department, correctional health, and our acute and long
term care plans, we spend almost $300 million, which is about one-third
of our near $1 billion annual budget. This is
a signifi-

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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Pima County
Government can
trace its own history
back to the 1870s
when there were
only 900 dwellings
by the Census count,
but even then
County officials
were very much in
the business of
providing care for
the "health seekers"
who came here with
the hope of curing
their tuberculosis, or
the prospectors who
passed through and
came upon hard
times and illness.

cant community investment. Unfortunately, we, like others, have concentrated our
efforts on the treatment side of health care, not on attempting to keep people from
getting sick in the first place.
Traditionally the public sector role in health care has been as the funder and
sometimes provider of indigent services. Pima County Government can trace its
own history back to the 1870s when there were only 900 dwellings by the Census
count, but even then County officials were very much in the business of providing
care for the "health seekers" who came here with the hope of curing their tuberculosis, or the prospectors who passed through and came upon hard times and illness.
Today we face rising health care obligations that are in part fueled by a different
immigration – some cross the border looking for a better life; others retire here with
a fixed and often insufficient income.
Tucson has always been a kind of magnet for individuals who might bring with
them difficult and expensive health problems. The demographics of our community, as we approach 900,000 people, indicate that we will continue to be the home
for residents who have long term health care needs and are on fixed or limited
incomes. The United States as a whole is facing this issue, and Pima County will
experience the funding crisis that goes along with caring for an aging population,
perhaps more than other communities.
We need to think differently about community health, just as we now think and
act differently about protecting the quality of our natural environment. During the
last four or five years the term Smart Growth has become the phrase used to describe policy reform. It is recognized and adopted across the United States by federal
agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, by state and local governments, and in academic discourse.
The Smart Growth policy perspective is compatible with what we might call a
Smart Health policy for this community. It now becomes feasible to create and implement public health strategies that will reduce the percent of actual deaths related to
activity patterns, diet and tobacco use, and these types of lifestyle health hazards
that claim a surprising number of lives each year.
Nationwide, tobacco use accounts for 19 percent of actual deaths, and diet or
activity patterns account for another 14 percent. When you turn your attention to
our community, we see a rising incidence of “lifestyle” related, preventable diseases.
These take the form of cardiovascular problems, cancers, accidents, diabetes – you
are familiar with the pantheon of serious health related ailments that are directly
attributable to the way we eat, drink, smoke, drive, and persist in this sort of sedentary lifestyle.
Combined this data suggests that one third of our population suffers from a cause
of death that in time, we have the ability to prevent by designing better communities and promoting smarter polices across the whole spectrum of the built, conserved, and health care environments. The way we have developed our communities – our very land use patterns developed over the past fifty years – have actually
contributed to our declining health status today.
We now see these connections. We can affect changes in Smart Growth and Smart
Health policy, and that is the new direction we must pursue. In the next years the
Board can define, promote and implement a new approach toward health policy in
Pima County.
Public health has been relegated for too long to the gloomy confines of reactive
medicine. The County has not promoted a community health strategy or charted a
course for other health systems to become effective partners in the health promotion and disease prevention arenas. We have, in a way, contented ourselves with
treating disease states like tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. And while
we provide immunization shots, we have not tapped into the wealth of community
data that would allow all of us to work more comprehensively on the prevention

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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side. In Pima County we have the potential to do this and to do it well. During the
next two years Pima County will step out of this old reactive mode of operation,
and step up to our responsibility of community health planning, just as we have
done in the areas of land use and conservation planning.

3. Education Element
Over the course of the last century, national education rates soared. In 1900, 13
percent of the population had at least a high school degree while at the end of the
century the percent rose to 83. College degrees were held by 3 percent of the population in 1900, while nearly a quarter of the nation's adults held such degrees at the
end of the century. In Tucson, the drop out rate of high school students is a problem
partially addressed through the Pima County Adult Education program. With approximately 11,000 adult students enrolled in classes and projects found in 50 locations across the County, this program improves reading levels, basic skills, and prepares individuals for GED and citizenship testing. A more comprehensive approach
to ensuring that County decision making and program funding improves education
and opportunity levels will be a goal of this element.

Over the course of
the last century,
national education 4. Employment Element
rates soared. In Prior studies in Pima County have described the extent to which disparities exist in
1900, 13 percent of the marketplace in employing minority individuals, and the extent to which local
entities have been caught up as passive participants in this market as
the population had government
they contract with disadvantaged businesses. At the national level, data indicates
at least a high that the percent of the Anglo population below the poverty level was reduced from
school degree while 18 percent in 1959 to 10 percent at the end the century. Similarly, the African Ameripopulation cut the percentage of those living in poverty in half. The Hispanic
at the end of the can
population below the poverty level in 1972 however was identical to the percent in
century the percent 1999: at 23 percent this represents nearly one quarter of the national Hispanic comrose to 83. College munity. The Employment Element will examine Tucson's demographic; the general
toward professional occupations over time in some populations will be comdegrees were held trend
pared to the experience of Tucson's minority, rural and disadvantaged community.
by 3 percent of the
population in 1900, 5. Security and Safety Element
the course of the last decade there was a general decline in violent crimes at
while nearly a Over
the national, state and county level. Pima County, however, tends to exceed the
quarter of the national rate of property crimes by about 38 percent. A finer tuning of enforcement
nation's adults held efforts to Pima County's problems would lead to greater security and a sense of
well being. In 1999, the list of Part 1 crimes reflects that Pima County
such degrees at the community
exceeds national averages but crime percentages fall out almost in descending order
end of the century. of violence:
■ In the area of motor vehicle theft, Pima County was 46 percent over average
■ In the area of larceny/theft, Pima County was 40 percent over national average
■ In the area of burglary, Pima County was 22 percent over the national average
■ In the area of rape, Pima County was 20 percent over the national average
■ In the area of aggravated assault, Pima County was 15 percent over average
■ In the area of robbery, Pima County was 15 percent over the national average
■ In the area of murder, Pima County was 4 percent over the national average
Two factors mitigate this data: urban areas experience higher crime rates than the
national average, and there has been a general decline during the last decade. In
terms of volume, however, property crimes constitute about 90 percent of the index

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Neighborhood Conservation Plan
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while violent crimes account for 10 percent. While smart enforcement efforts
to reduce Pima County's particular crime problems would lead to greater
security and a sense of community well being, crime prevention can also
be enhanced as neighborhoods improve and individuals become more
engaged and invested in their local communities. This will be a goal
of the Neighborhood Conservation Plan.

6. Heritage Element
Finally, the diversity of Pima County's population is remarkable given that the total population does not exceed one
million people. The most recently settled populations are
the largest, however, which means that older cultural traditions
have fewer individuals to advocate, educate and communicate the importance of
these traditions to our sense of place.
The Neighborhood Conservation Plan, like the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan,
can and should lend support to maintaining indigenous and native traditions of
Pima County.

The
Neighborhood
Conservation Plan,
like the Sonoran
Desert Conservation
Plan, can and should NEXT STEPS
lend support to
maintaining 1. Research
research scope and method of Pima County planning since 1998 is described in
indigenous and The
detail and can be applied to the Neighborhood Conservation Plan. Over 200 studies
native traditions of and planning documents have been issued by individuals and teams of experts parPima County. ticipating through the extensive technical process. Four teams made up of ten members each dedicated to the subject areas of (1) Science, (2) Cultural Resources, (3)
Ranch Conservation, and (4) Recreation were assembled beginning in 1999 and
have met at least monthly in open sessions to create the fact and map based predicate of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. The information from teams and
another 400 members of the expert community has been integrated and synthesized according to a uniform approach. The work of the Science Team was also subject to intensive local review, and additional peer review at the national level. All
research is documented so that it can be adapted and reproduced. A similar scope
and method will be undertaken to create the Neighborhood Conservation Plan.

2. Public Participation and Intergovernmental Partnerships
From the outset, public participation and interest in the Sonoran Desert Conserva-

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Pima County has
formal cooperative
arrangements with
the 12 major
government land
managers and
regulators who have
land use authority
over 97 percent of
the 5.9 million acre
regional planning
area.

tion Plan has been extraordinary. In addition to individuals who attend presentations, there have been over 5,250 participants, including 84 members of the conservation plan steering committee, 350 members of subregion land panels, 40 members of technical teams, 400 individuals from the academic and expert community,
and 4,375 kids age 5 to 16. Pima County has formal cooperative arrangements with
the 12 major government land managers and regulators who have land use authority over 97 percent of the 5.9 million acre regional planning area. The process involves a regular working relationship with 40 community groups representing the
range of interests and neighborhoods, and another 35 schools and non-profit organizations in the youth participation component. Participation takes the form of
education sessions, workshops, open house meetings, facilitated meetings, public
comment periods, scoping sessions, and presentations. All meetings are open to the
public. The networks, knowledge and level of communication has grown for all
interests involved in land use and natural resource planning because of the County
plans. The Neighborhood Conservation Plan public process will improve on this
method with its emphasis on local application and implementation.

CONCLUSION
The Comprehensive Plan provides a blueprint for the future built environment and
the Conservation Plan provides stability to the natural environment – these are
both important sets of information for the community and for the Board of Supervisors in the operations of Pima County Government. The Neighborhood Conservation Plan gives meaning to these efforts. In my view the Neighborhood Conservation Plan is the most important of the planning efforts because it can recapture and
rekindle the sense of place, the art of our culture, and the story of this community
that will be lost if we do not integrate these matters into our planning efforts now.

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