BENSON, Ariz. (AP) - Benson officials will likely vote this month on a proposed development drawing controversy for the possible drain on water resources.
Villages of Vigneto is a planned mixed-use development that could bring more jobs and tax revenue, according to supporters. Phoenix-based El Dorado Holdings is planning to build 28,000 homes on more than 12,300 acres just a few miles southwest of downtown Benson.
Brad Hamilton, Benson’s public works director, is among the city officials who like what they’ve seen of the proposed project so far. Hamilton said the developer has addressed several issues.
“They take a look at the whole community,” Hamilton said. “We get master water and sewer plans, not a piece here or a piece there.”
But environmentalists say pumping groundwater to that many homes could leave parts of the San Pedro River dry. Tricia Gerrodette, an activist with the Huachuca Audubon Society in Sierra Vista, said she fears the city will rush approval of the project without studying the water issues.
“Until someone does a real study, we don’t know what the impact, the potential impact, will be on the river,” Gerrodette said.
The fallout could also impact the only remaining marshland in a federally protected conservation area, according to environmental groups. St. David Cienega lies upstream of the development site. But Gerrodette said the wells and heavy pumping could leave the marsh high and dry.
City officials said they believe the project’s pumps will be too deep to affect the aquifer that serves the river near the surface, the Arizona Daily Star reported (https://bit.ly/1yNxpgs ).
But clay layers that separate the aquifers will only slow the environmental impacts, according to University of Arizona researchers and a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist.
El Dorado Holdings, whose chairman, Mike Ingram, is a co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, has been touting the project as the site of new recreational and social amenities. The plan includes offering schools, open space and trails in the natural landscape.
Benson, which is roughly 45 miles southeast of Tucson, is known as the home of Kartchner Caverns State Park.
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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, https://www.tucson.com
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