Flood: Revert Peralta Canyon Way in Gold Canyon to emergency-vehicle use only

A map of the area. (Submitted graphic)

Residents of Gold Canyon are demanding Pinal County keep its promises and revert Peralta Canyon Way back to emergency-vehicle use only.

Following is a story of how Pinal County, in coordination with property developers, completely destroyed our way of life here in Gold Canyon in spite of overwhelming objections by residents, including those of county supervisors in whose district this has taken place.

Pinal County has failed to keep their promise to the residents of Gold Canyon by reneging on their promises not to open up the “fire road” now named as Peralta Canyon Way between Sleepy Hollow Trail and the new Fossil Springs Road to all.

Todd House, the then District 5 supervisor, had assured the 500-plus people attending the meeting we had in April 2019 at Gold Canyon Community Church, that the cleared strip in question would be restricted to emergency vehicles only. Subsequently, and in keeping with promises made, that strip was paved and signs installed limiting use to emergency vehicles, along with a gate which was to be activated by emergency services via a key or a remote control. The gate was vandalized several times and finally mechanism broken leaving it to swing with the wind.

Discussions went underway for a more secure gate to replace the broken one but this never happened despite two sets of petitions by residents demanding reinstallation on the grounds of safety and excess noise. The issue eventually was placed on the agenda of Pinal County Board of Supervisors last November and was put to a vote by that board who voted 3-2 to leave the gate open to all, despite all the very real objections about near misses and quiet enjoyment.

While the supervisor in whose district this is taking place, along with one other, voted to leave road as restricted fire road, it does not seem right that supervisors in other districts should be able to affect the lives and safety of residents outside of their district. Taxation without representation comes to mind.

In response to a later petition calling for a replacement gate, Pinal County has announced a meeting to be held this Oct. 19 in Gold Canyon. Purpose given being to discuss “traffic calming” measures such as speed bumps, bike lanes, traffic circles etc. The residents want a gate as promised — period. The meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, 5750 S. Kings Ranch Road in Gold Canyon.

Recently the county opened a new regional park off Peralta Road and Google sees fit to divert traffic from U.S. Highway 60 down Kings Ranch Road to Sleepy Hollow Trail instead of continuing along US60 to Peralta Road. Much of this consists of cement mixers, rock trucks and similar heavy vehicles, which would otherwise have had a smoother run by continuing along US60 directly to Peralta Road. That is in addition to traffic from the 800-plus new residences recently built following a rezoning from low- to high-density on the 640 acres abutting Sleepy Hollow Trail. which results in heavy traffic using Peralta Canyon Way to access Sleepy Hollow despite the fact that when those houses sold there Peralta Canyon Way was already closed to through traffic.

The noise is unbearable from the unrestricted noise levels of UHV’s coming past our house. Last February I made a YouTube video of noisy traffic at our house. See link youtube.com/watch?v=uVnuyYhRbIU.

Safety issues cited relate to the unsuitability of Sleepy Hollow Trail as a major through road. It is only single-lane each way, is bordered by some 80 driveways, and has no sidewalks, whereas Peralta Road (which was the original access to the new Peralta housing development) is two lanes each way and does not have driveways along it, and even has a sidewalk. It still remains under capacity for its design limits, whereas Sleepy Hollow is over-capacity by the admission of county engineers.