The Sun Cities RV Compound provides 107 acres of storage for 5,000 recreational vehicle rigs of all types, plus boats and trailers.

A key requirement is that an RV owner live in Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Sun City Festival or Corte Bella. 

The club’s history may be found on its website. The original RV Club was chartered by the Recreation Centers of Sun City and Del Webb Development Corp. officials made land available for storage. The first compound was located at North 103rd Avenue and West Coggins Drive in Phase 1 and over the years expanded south to Alabama Avenue. Outgrowing that space, the storage compound was moved to the northeast corner of North 103rd Avenue and West Santa Fe Drive in 1965. When it outgrew that, it was moved to vacant land in Sunland Memorial Park, 15826 N. Del Webb Blvd., where it was expanded three times before running out of space.

With Sun City West underway, it was clear much more land would be needed. The downsizing of Sun City West made this land available.

Sun City West was originally planned as a community of 70,000-75,000, but the rapid rise in interest rates in 1980-81 caused the Webb Corp. to sell land to reduce the interest they were paying. Phase 2 of Sun City West, west of Grand Avenue, was sold and Sun City West became a community of 30,000. The wastewater treatment plant at North 111th Avenue and West Beardsley Road was planned for the larger community and included a narrow stretch of land all the way a mile south of Bell Road. This would be used for 24 recharge basins, which would allow treated water to seep down to the underlying aquifer. But with a smaller Sun City West, less land would be needed for recharging and the southernmost piece of land became the site for the new, much larger RV storage compound.

Webb Corp. officials offered 107 acres in the above area with the proviso that the compound be open to Sun City and Sun City West residents. The first trailer moved into the new compound in Dec. 1984. An expansion of 28 acres took place in 1996 when it was agreed to accept Sun City Grand residents as members. Further expansions in 2005 and 2017 filled out the compound’s 5,000 spaces shown in the photo. 

A ride of a different kind — right next door!

Look closely at the aerial view above. The Sun Cities Stable is visible in the lower left corner. When founded in the early 1960s, it was originally located closer to Bell Road. It was owned by the Recreation Centers of Sun City, and was home to the Sun City Horse and Carriage Club. As a result of allowing Sun City West residents to join, it split into two organizations.

The Sun Cities Saddle Club consisted largely of residents who did not own horses, but leased them for trail rides. A group of horse owners from both Sun City and Sun City West bought the stables and they are known as the Sun Cities Stable, with some members also belonging to the Saddle Club.

Is there a written history of other clubs?  If so, be sure to see that the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum, 10801 W. Oakmont Drive, Sun City receives a copy. Writers and researchers come from around the world to study retirement in the Sun Cities. The museum’s files provide them with extensive insight into the “active retirement” pioneered here.

Visit DelWebbSunCitiesMuseum.com or call 623-974-2568 to share a story..

Editor’s Note: This is the last in Ed Allen’s Signs of the Past series for now. He is transitioning to a year-long series on the history of Royal Oaks, 10015 W. Royal Oak Road.