A May 26 meeting could end up being a small step toward a change on the Arizona jurisdictional landscape.
Buckeye spokesperson Annie DeChance confirmed Thursday that staff met with a group from Tonopah regarding incorporation on May 26.
While incorporation as a city or town is typically a lengthy, arduous effort that involves many steps, agreements, votes and investments, the meeting symbolized one of the most substantial efforts in years for the small community to incorporate.
Details of the May 26 meeting were not disclosed.
The Buckeye City Council also met in a closed session in January to discuss elements of potential Tonopah incorporation along the western edge of Maricopa County. Tonopah sits just west of Buckeye along I-10.
Angela Hanna, a Tonopah-area resident, sent Independent Newsmedia several documents from various government agencies related to incorporation efforts. While there isn’t any formal action planned by the Buckeye City Council, at this stage, the road to incorporation would have benefits and drawbacks — and it might be an even tougher battle than what other communities faced in the past.
Arizona community groups wishing to incorporate as a municipality must accomplish several goals. These including getting two-thirds approval of voters in any city or town that would share a limit line with the new municipality.
In March 2009, Town of Buckeye voters defeated a proposed Tonopah incorporation question, 523 to 356. Buckeye has grown tremendously since that time; it’s difficult to tell if current Buckeye residents who are against fast growth would vote for or against such a measure in 2022.
Also working against the Tonopah community are numbers: the listed 2020 U.S. Census population for the unincorporated area is only 59 people. That means not only would a handful of proponents need to do a great deal of the meeting, informing, filing paperwork and convincing neighbors themselves, but also, it would be easy for only a few detractors in Tonopah or Buckeye to sidetrack or derail the entire effort. A great deal of unity would be required.
The benefits would include having a local planning and zoning commission and a council to vote on development and to craft ordinances to create the kind of community Tonopah residents would prefer.
Buckeye grew to 50,000 people by 2010 and is now more than 100,000 residents, spread across the second-largest city (by area) in Arizona.
It’s one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., and as more unincorporated parcels on or near the western edge of Buckeye are annexed into the cities by property owners and council votes, it’s conceivable the westernmost suburb of Phoenix could gobble up Tonopah in a short time.
Several large-scale developments have been announced by developers who plan construction in the area. In October of last year, Vermaland announced plans for an 1,100-acre master-planned community near Tonopah.
A firm associated with computer magnate Bill Gates pursued land for a self-contained, sustainable city in 2017, but those plans haven’t materialized yet.
The large Douglas Ranch development, to include more than 100,000 homes along Buckeye’s northwestern edge, north of Tartesso, already has some permits.
That effort now involves former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo and the Howard Hughes Corporation.
The first Arizona place to incorporate was the City of Tucson in 1877.
The most recent was Tusayan, a small town near the south rim of the Grand Canyon, in 2010. The City of Maricopa incorporated in 2003.
However, Tusayan and Maricopa are isolated communities, without a neighbor such as Buckeye to contend with. Residents of Big Park, better known as the Village of Oak Creek, would presumably need the City of Sedona’s cooperation in order to become a town or city, but those informal discussions tapered off as the COVID-19 pandemic made public meetings more difficult.
A newly incorporated community would have to find ways to fund municipal needs, such as fire and police departments, along with perhaps utilities, plus road improvements and maintenance and urban departments such as development and code enforcement.
The City of Buckeye’s website only mentions Tonopah in one way: under frequently asked questions, “When will a high school or middle school be built for Tartesso?” is covered.
City staff point out that Tartesso Elementary School is located in the Saddle Mountain Unified School District and is a Kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school. It’s one of three elementary schools in the district.
Currently, the Saddle Mountain District only has one high school, Tonopah Valley High.
“We encourage you to work with the school district to determine the possibility of another high school being built in the district,” the city states.
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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