Republic Letters to the editor published 3/21/2012

Enchanted Canyon plans are disheartening

I am truly disenchanted to learn about the proposed 220-acre resort and housing development Enchanted Canyon near Continental Road and 72nd Street in Cave Creek. The developer is requesting a General Plan amendment and rezoning to build 123 guest rooms, 57 casitas and 30 private homes in the middle of a rural desert neighborhood.

In March 2009, Cave Creek Citizens for the Future, a volunteer committee created by Mayor Vince Francia, submitted a white paper filled with recommendations to rectify the town’s financial needs.

It addressed recommendations for economic development including expanding commercial development in two primary locations: the town core, where the gross inventory of commercial space was more than 300,000 square feet, and in the Cave Creek Road/Carefree Highway corridor, where the greatest opportunity for retail sales-tax revenue lies. These are the two primary areas where a preponderance of commercial properties currently exist.

Placing general commercial and high-density zoned areas in the middle of existing rural neighborhoods goes against the fundamental purpose of Cave Creek’s approved General Plan and the adopted white paper. Setting this precedent will create a mass-development domino effect like no other experienced by the town, creating a more appropriately named Disenchanted Canyon for local citizens to mourn for years to come.

— Kathryn Royer, Cave Creek 

  

Comparisons don’t work

In reading “Homes, resort proposed in northeast Cave Creek” (Scottsdale Republic, March 9), I want to make one very strong point:

The Boulders Resort is a golf-course community, not half a mile from Carefree, accessed by a major road, Tom Darlington, which is the extension of Scottsdale Road. The Boulders Resort is in Carefree, not in desert rural Cave Creek, not surrounded by 5-acre zoning residential parcels with horse privileges, with a very small two-lane road as the only access, approximately 2.5 miles from town.

So when the developer speaks about the “low density” of this proposed Enchanted Canyon Resort, that it has a “lower density” than the Boulders, this is not comparing apples to apples. It is not even comparing apples to oranges. It is nowhere near a comparison and tries to give the impression that this project will be an acceptable fit.

The residents of Cave Creek, and the neighbors of this project see right though these statements and will stand firm to our Town Council and Planning Commission to reject this plan in this location.

— Susie Bradstock, Scottsdale