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Resolution No. 18489 was passed at the Mayor and Council Meeting of February 14, 2000 [see below]. It became effective on 3/19/00.
The full text of the resolution with attachments is given in four PDF files:
The text of Resolution No. 18489 (file 1) and the Conditions (file 4, Exhibit C) are also given as a single short typescript file (46 Kbytes).
[The PDF file was generated with TIFF images from a scan of the document. The TIFF images were converted by use of OCR software to the typescript version (.txt format), which is quick to download and can be edited but lacks indentation and other formatting of the parent document.]
Ordinance No. 9345 was passed at the Mayor and Council Meeting of February 14, 2000 [see below]. It became effective on 3/19/00.
The full text is given as a ten-page PDF file of the Ordinance and El Con Mall Conditions (1189 Kbytes) and as a shorter typescript version (16 Kbytes). The Conditions are identical with those of the attachment Exhibit C ( PDF file 4) of Resolution No. 18489 [see above].
[The PDF file was generated with TIFF images from a scan of the document. The TIFF images were converted by use of OCR software to the typescript version (.txt format), which is quick to download and can be edited but lacks indentation and other formatting of the parent document.]
From the Mayor and Council Meeting Regular Agenda for February 14, 2000:
9. PUBLIC HEARING: EL CON MALL REDEVELOPMENT, CHANGE IN THE
CONDITIONS APPROVED FOR REZONING; RECONSIDERATION OF
RESOLUTION NO. 18306; ADOPTION OF DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AND
MODIFICATION OF RESOLUTION NO. 18306; ADOPTION OF AMENDED
REZONING CONDITIONS (CONTINUED FROM THE MEETING OF JANUARY
24, 2000, WHICH WAS INTERRUPTED DUE TO THE LACK OF A
QUORUM)
(a) Reports from City Manager FEB14-00-103 and
JAN24-00-37(2) WVI
On January 24, 2000, the Mayor and Council voted to
reconsider Resolution 18306 but did not take any
further action. The matters that are now before the
Mayor and Council are the following.
(b) Hearing to consider the proposed development
agreement with the owners of the El Con Mall and the
change of conditions for approval of rezoning cases
C9-56-01, C9-74-34 and C9-88-12.
(c) Resolution No. 18489 relating to adoption of the
El Con Mall Development Agreement and establishing
compliance with Resolution 18306, and conforming
Resolution 18306 to the El Con Mall Development
Agreement.
(d) Ordinance No. 9345 relating to planning and
zoning; amending conditions for approval in cases
C9-56-01 (Ordinance 1654), C9-74-34 (Ordinance 4244)
and C9-88-12 (Ordinance 7892) and declaring an
emergency.
The City Manager recommends that the Mayor and Council
determine whether to proceed with the adoption of
measures to provide for the mitigation of the
redevelopment of the El Con Mall. The adoption of
these changes may be by a majority vote of the Mayor
and Council.
Comment: During the public hearing and subsequent discussion and voting by Mayor and Council, this meeting was as close to a riot as might be possible for an audience comprising several hundred mature establishment adults, homeowners from neighborhoods surrounding the Mall. Despite the audience's vocal opposition, Mayor and Council passed the measures adopting the Redevelopment Plan. Clearly, there is a history to this action.
El Con Mall opened in the late 1950's. It was the first mall in Tucson. For that time, it was cutting-edge retail. The Mall has been held responsible for the decay of Tucson's downtown, through flight of the retail trade first to the Mall and later to its congeners. [The downtown has been largely revitalized by government-based construction, some under the 1970's aegis of urban renewal, and more recently and prospectively under the now-faddish revel-in-your-roots banner.] With time the Mall tarnished and fell from top rank. In 1999, the owners announced, as part of a revitalization of the Mall, their intention to build a Wal*Mart store.
The Mall comprises just under 100 acres embedded in a particularly attractive part of Tucson. On the South it faces a half-mile length of Randolph Golf course, which is PGA-tour quality and part of the largest, most developed, and most heavily-used of the central-Tucson parks. On its other sides the Mall contacts well-established, fully-developed residential areas that include some of the most costly real estate in Tucson. Three of the neighborhoods surrounding the Mall are registered Historic Districts (El Encanto, Colonia Solana, and El Montevideo).
The outcry over the inappropriateness of locating a Big Box in this particular part of central Tucson resulted in amendment of the Land Use Code. On September 27, 1999, Mayor and Council passed the "Big Box" Amendment, with special criteria and procedures applying to Large Scale Retail, established as a new category of the Retail Trade Use Group.
The elections of Fall, 1999, brought into office Mayor Robert Walkup and Councilman Carol West. In conflicts between developers and neighborhoods, Mayor Walkup and Councilman West join Councilmen Ronstadt and Scott in a voting majority favoring developers.
Mayor Walkup's 1999 campaign included a theme of bringing "Unity" to Tucson. During his first month of office, he and Councilmen Ronstadt negotiated with the owners of El Con Mall, who were substantial contributors the the Mayor's 1999 campaign, and produced the first version of the Mall Redevelopment Agreement. A princpal part of the agreement was a set of conditions to mitigate the effect of the proposed Big Boxes on the surrounding neighborhoods. The mitigations were touted by the Mayor as representing the will of the neighborhoods, which was not true.
This version of the Agreement was presented for public hearing, with little notice, at the Mayor and Council Meeting of January 24, 2000. The agreement was flawed in the weakness of its mitigations. After the rancorous public hearing was closed and the question was opened for Council consideration, Councilmen Leal, Ibarra, and Anderson, in an act of political courage and principle, walked out of the meeting, in order to deny a quorum and so to bring the meeting to a halt.
The Councilmen's action arguably saved the Mayor from the worse embarrassment of passage of a agreement blatantly favoring the Mall owners. During the next three weeks, the agreement was reworked. The owners accepted conditions that could appear to the public, particularly the media, as fair. As noted above, neighborhood residents considered the agreement a sellout when it was presented and approved at the February 14 meeting.
Adoption of the El Con Mall Development Agreement brought about suspension of the acrimonious fight between Mall owners and residents of the surrounding historic neighborhoods.
Both the Big Box Amendment and the redevelopment of El Con Mall remain high-profile issues in Tucson.
An attempt by Wal*Mart to void the amendment has failed in the courts. Mayor and Council in 2001 and again in 2002 initiated review of the amendment, with the outcome undetermined at this time.
One expects hostilities between Mall owners and neighbors will resume sooner rather than later during the 20-year term of the Development Agreement: the owners request variances for actions prohibited by the Development Agreement; the majority of the present Mayor and Council have shown eagerness to grant the variances, presumably with the understanding that, if there is even only a prospect of it favoring commerce, to break an agreement brings no dishonor.
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Last revised: May 30, 2002
John Rupley: rupley@u.arizona.edu