Huge Pinal development gets cool reception

A conceptual plan to turn 275 square miles of state land into a sustainable desert community near the Superstition Mountains has not been as well received as its framers had hoped. Members of the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission and its citizens advisory panel say the Superstition Vistas project is too big and its land-use plan too precise for something that likely won't materialize for decades. State land officials went before Pinal's zoning commission last week with a proposal for changes to the county's comprehensive plan that would better represent a vision for Superstition Vistas. The amendment included an outline for land use, economic development, transportation and conservation. Adopted in 2009, the county's master plan included a placeholder for when the Superstition Vistas visioning process was complete. Until the plan could be amended, it says, "the land-use and transportation networks depicted in the comprehensive plan for Superstition Vistas should be considered preliminary and conceptual in nature." The county document also states that the vision could take "over half a century to realize and will need to be flexible to respond to changing circumstances."

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