Senior advocate supports PORA’s stance on BNSF rail hub

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Opinion

What does BNSF have to do with Sun City West property owners?

COMMUNITY

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Development

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OPINION — Mike Colvin raises a fair question about the role of the Sun City West Property Owners and Residents Association and where its responsibility should begin and end. That is a healthy conversation for any community. However, as an advocate for seniors, I agree with PORA that the proposed BNSF rail hub represents a serious concern for residents, particularly our most vulnerable seniors.

This project is not a small, localized issue. It is a massive regional industrial development with far-reaching impacts on air quality, water resources, traffic congestion, noise, emergency services and long-term infrastructure costs.

These impacts do not stop at a city limit. Sun City West shares groundwater, air sheds and roadways with the surrounding region, and seniors, especially those on fixed incomes, are often the first to feel the consequences.

BNSF has stated the project would generate approximately 22,000 semi-truck trips per day along Grand Avenue. Each shipping container requires its own tractor-trailer. That volume of truck traffic significantly increases congestion, road deterioration, noise and accident risk on corridors heavily used by seniors for medical care, daily needs and emergency access.

Through my work with seniors, I see how declining air quality, rising utility costs and strained public resources disproportionately affect older adults, many of whom are medically fragile or managing chronic conditions. Projects of this scale amplify health risks and reduce quality of life.

PORA’s role isn’t to represent Wittmann, it’s to advocate for Sun City West residents before irreversible decisions are made. Waiting until impacts are unavoidable is not representation, it is reaction.

While the state sold land to BNSF years ago, legality does not remove the responsibility to evaluate whether a proposed use is appropriate today.

I support PORA’s involvement because protecting seniors requires foresight, and foresight is essential when health and safety are at stake.

Malea Madrid is founder of Consider it Done Seniors, a Sun City West-based nonprofit. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.