Catagory

Some thoughts on the AJ Fire District

We have confirmed that the AJ Fire District has indeed decided against locating a fire station off of Don Donnelly Trail. Unfortunately they have now decided to pursue4 a relatively immediate purchase of another Gold Canyon location. This precipitates the following questions and thoughts.

1. Does Gold Canyon really need another fire station at the present time?

2. When was there actually a major fire in the Gold Canyon area? The last that we are aware of is Apacheland.

3. The area East of Gold Canyon (known as Entrada Del Oro and the future Ranch 160) will eventually approximate 1,600 homes. This area is included in the AJ Fire District. When asked why they do not plan for the future by building a little East of Gold Canyon the answer was there are not enough calls from that area. (Of course the area is currently built-out less than 10%).

4. It is a fact that the majority of the emergency calls that require the fire district to respond are medically related. According to their administration, it is a legal requirement to dispatch a full-crew on a fire truck as well as a paramedic unit. Gee, six people to generally take care of one person.

5. Why not build a fire station closer to Entrada Del Oro and provide an ambulance and (if necessary) a minimum crew. If needed this unit could travel West into the Gold Canyon - Apache Junction area in an emergency AND this would provide for the future needs of the expanded AJ Fire District area. A meeting with Chief Flynn last year solicited an answer that still another station would be built when Entrada Del Oro was competed.

6. Recent business inspections in the Gold Canyon Area found 4 fire district personnel inside a business occupying 1600 square feet at the same time. Much greater efficiency would have been realized by having each of the fire personnel inspect a separate unit.

7. Does the district have a hole in their pocket that requires them to spend the money from the recent bonding issue? Why not think like a logical business person and plan for the future with the least amount of capital outlay? It seems this would also help to keep the property taxes rates lower. Unfortunately, the AJ Fire District does have one of the highest property tax rates in Arizona.

E-Mail the Group opposed to the Don Donnelly Fire Station

(Received and Posted March 8, 2007) Submitted by Sam Haymart - Gold Canyon

We dodged a bullet. Our quiet Gold Canyon neighborhood on Don Donnelly Trail was in the sights for a new fire house project that would have been a disaster for the community on so many levels. But at a meeting on March 7th, the Apache Junction Fire District governing board cancelled their bid to buy two residential parcels for the project in our gated community of Quail Canyon citing “negative public reaction”.

While our neighborhood indeed waged fast and fierce “negative public reaction”, there was much more to it than that. This failed project proposal by the AJFD illustrated many larger problems that face our community than just the cries of “not in by back yard” by owners of million dollar homes.

What was painfully obvious from the start of this debacle was that nobody at the AJFD even asked the most basic questions about the viability of the location before they entered into contract to purchase the land. The AJFD seems to be operating like a band of cowboys drunk on the new bond issue money that was recently passed. “Yee Haw, we gonna build a new fire station!” - riding rough shod, shooting first and asking questions later.

Nobody with the AJFD seemed to be aware that the location itself did not nor could have been made to meet established guidelines for minimum egress and ingress for emergency vehicles. The parcels are at the bottom of a blind hill to the east and a blind curve at the west. The hill is too steep and minimum line of sight distances cannot be afforded in either direction. Then there was the wrong zoning.

Nobody with the AJFD seemed to be aware that they could not buy parcels in an HOA governed community without being subject to their CC&R’s, guidelines and their wrath. The District had intended to steamroll over our HOA property rights at the outset, but later learned through the help of their counsel and the counsel of the homeowners that they could not.

Nobody with the AJFD seemed to be aware of their public image that is already severely stained from the railroading they gave the community last year with the Darth Vader like fire station project on Highway 60. This well known project is a black eye for the AJFD, who proceeded with the project ignoring the cries and concerns of neighboring Gold Canyon citizens about the out of step architecture and impact on them.

So in the end, a couple months of the tax payer’s time and money were wasted again shooting in the dark. Given the new raise we all got in our property taxes, now virtually the highest in the state, this ought to outrage all of us who live here.

So is all the blame to be placed on the AJFD because they are shooting first and asking questions later? No.

Frankly it is a sad state of affairs that the local fire district even has to go foraging around for land to build their facilities in the first place. They are heroes charged with our public safety. That is what they do best and all they should have to do. What we have today is a fire district that is forced to fend for itself and play catch up to development instead of being handed new fire stations on a silver platter. This is our feeling, despite the perception that our neighborhood opposed this project purely as a “not in my back yard” position.

In my past career in land development and home building I know that most sophisticated city and county governments are looking out for their public safety agencies by demanding large developers dedicate land for fire stations and other public needs during the approvals process. Big developments like Superstition Foothills and Superstition Mountain should have been held hostage during the entitlement process, with commitments of public land dedication as a ransom. Other cities and counties plan ahead and allocate parcels for this before proceeding with development .

Pinal County has been completely asleep at the wheel when it comes to assuring that new development in Gold Canyon is met with a developer funded infrastructure. Pinal County has dropped that ball and our fire officials now are forced to fight over the scraps among the residents and private investors. In the end this costs for all of us is higher tax expenditures for facilities, lower levels of services, and less public safety.

(Editors Comment: Where was our Supervisor Sandie Smith? Where are the land parcels addressed by Sam and the development fees? Oh, that's right, Stan Griffis pocketed several hundred thousand dollars and APPARENTLY no one in Pinal County Government realized it. And, you ask why are our property taxes so high?)

To conclude I would submit to all of you that this exercise that we have all just gone through illustrates more than ever the need for Gold Canyon to incorporate and have its own governing body to more effectively manage its affairs.

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(Received and Posted March 5, 2007) Story Submission - Name: Robin Johnson - Address: Gold Canyon - Email: flyinrotti@aol.com

Fellow Gold Canyon Residents-

To any of you that are experiencing a false sense of security after the Quail Canyon Jomar Homeowner’s meeting on February 28th ...please wake up! The Fire Department was lying to us when they said they are doing a “feasiblity study“...they are not! No one in charge of this debacle has even looked at our CC&R’s! Not even Joyce Kroff, their realtor! No wonder Realtor’s have to work so hard to preserve their reputations!

Look at their collegues! Irresponsible at the very least and downright sinister at worst! If they were doing a "feasibilty study" they would have considered the numerous problems with this campaign of theirs, not to mention, what all of us in the community wants or in this case, does not want, with the exception of James Humble, his realtor, Jill Gilbo, Joyce Kroft and the the rest of these slimy "community service" charactors! They have not given even a thought to any of our concerns. They could care less about the effect that it will have on our special little “gated “community. First of all, they have chosen to not be concerned with the fact that there is no egress on to Don Donelly and the danger that a full blown Fire Station poses because of the traffic speeding over the two- lane Don Donelly road. From that angle of the road, a vehicle could be approuching at 50 MPH and they would never see it until it is too late. We have been trying for three years to get people to slow down on this part of the road with no luck at all. Almost no one drives the speed limit, including hundreds of oversized construction vehicles just since the beginning of the year. What about the joggers or the bike lane? This is a very popular jogging and biking route. Many people like to traverse the steep hill with their dogs. Anyone thought of the school bus? They drive like maniacs too! The liabilty issues alone are staggering! They are currently working to highjack our Homeowner’s Association Rules and make themselves exempt and those that are complicit need to be held accountable! They want to break ALL of the guidelines and ALL of the rules that we must adhere to. We can actually lose our homes if we are not compliant! They have told us that there will not be any dangerous chemicals within 500 feet of a residence...(which is the law) and this is yet another huge lie! Impossible! These people actually think we are stupid! More than likely this facility will be two stories because of the size of the three enormous diesel fire

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(Received and Posted March 1, 2007) ALERT 03-01-07: According to AJFD internal meeting documents obtained by homeowners , the District intends to steamroll over the HOA and strip them of their rights to enforce CC &R's or HOA fees upon the AJFD. Despite the HOA's legal right to vote on whether or not to allow the AJFD to change the zoning and use of the lots, their Attorney has been directed to draft documents to exempt the District from allowing the HOA to assert their rights.

This flies directly in the face of claims made by Doug Taylor and Dave Montgomery of the AJFD at the HOA Board Meeting, that they were not trying to muscle in. It was stated to the HOA and property owners that they would have the opportunity to vote whether to allow this project to usurp their community guidelines.

From the document....

"Legal Counsel, Donna Aversa, stated that within the offer the ninety (90) day feasibility study provides the time necessary to be exempted from all Home Owner Association (HOA) Fees and CC'Rs. Ms. Aversa stated that she would have the HOA exemption documents ready for signature when a meeting is set."

02-28-07: The meeting was held and closed to all but the parties involved.

The AJFD presented their plans to build a Fire Station in the neighborhood.

The meeting was attended by the majority of property owners from the community who overwhelmingly made it clear that this project, "Ain't going to happen". The property owners voiced their outrage at the prospect that this project was even conceived of despite all the logical and physical reasons why it is wrong. Officers of the HOA and the property owners themselves made it clear that the AJFD will have a potentially long and drawn out legal fight and a public relations boondoggle should they attempt to railroad this community.

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News Story Submission - (Received and Posted Feb. 28, 2007) Name: (Name withheld on request of writer) -

The Apache Junction Fire Department (District) is attempting to railroad Gold Canyon residents once again. It's a stunning replay of the Darth Vader like Fire Station project on Highway 60, where the Department circumvented the Design Review process and grossly ignored the concerns and objections of neighbors. To this day, the residents of Montessa have not gotten justice.

The Department is proposing to take two residential home sites in the middle of a luxury gated community on Don Donnelly Trail and build a “Neighborhood Fire House”. On lots 39 and 40 of the Quail Canyon Subdivision, the project threatens to destroy neighborhood views, serenity, and property values.

With fire trucks, lights, noise and a huge communications tower, this project at this location is as absurd and idea as they come, but the Apache Junction Fire Department is on the fast track to getting it done. Besides traffic and noise concerns, the loss of views to a communications tower and the inherent disruption of a fire station, this project is proposed in a location that is dangerous. It is at the bottom of a blind hill and at the end of a blind curve. What are they thinking?

With the real estate market in an unprecedented slide downward this project at this time will be devastating to homeowners in the immediate neighborhood who have their livelihoods in their homes. Everything is at stake because if the Apache Junction Fire Department is allowed to railroad us, they can railroad you too.

(Editors Comment - Is it any wonder that these folks have such a high tax rate? This station should be built East (possibly between) Peralta and Entrada Del Oro. Otherwise when Entrada is built-out AJFD will be after additional funding for another station.)

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