He realized DEVCO’s job wasn’t done when a house was sold — people needed help adapting to a new lifestyle.”

Ed Allen, Del Webb Sun Cities Museum trustee

Had we incorporated, Sun City would have developed like other cities around us. We would have the associated costs of running a city and the idea that volunteers mattered would have gone by the bye.”

Bill Pearson, Sun City resident who served in various community organizations

Up until that point, nothing was being updated. Maintenance of all recreation centers and golf courses was all that happened for 40 years.”

Paul Herrmann, former Sun City Visitors Center director

Del Webb Sun Cities Museum
10801 W. Oakmont Drive
Sun City, AZ
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By Rusty Bradshaw
Twitter: @SunCitiesEditor

People laughed at Del Webb when he proposed a retirement community in the Arizona desert. But he gets the last laugh as Sun City turns 60.

The community started with humble beginnings. When Sun City opened for sales Jan. 1, 1960, there were five model homes, one golf course, recreation center, grocery store and motel. Now Sun City stretches nearly seven miles north to south and more than one mile east to west, with close to 40,000 residents.

But early in its development, those laughing at Del Webb had good reason to do so.

Early struggles

First year sales seemed to prove Del Webb’s vision to be correct, as 1,300 homes were sold. But by 1965, that number dropped to 400, according to Ed Allen, Del Webb Sun Cities Museum trustee.

“That is not commonly known,” he stated in an email.

John Meeker, Mr. Webb’s partner, turned that trend around by changing the dynamic between Del Webb Development Corp. and buyer, according to Mr. Allen.

“He realized DEVCO’s job wasn’t done when a house was sold — people needed help adapting to a new lifestyle,” he stated.

People who moved to Sun City came from throughout the nation. But they lacked a sense of community. That was what Mr. Meeker set out to correct by building the Sun Bowl to draw people together, jump-starting club activity with drawings for television sets, instituting state clubs and a variety of other activities.

“It worked as he envisioned, and residents became the best sales people of all,” Mr. Allen stated.

He recalled his mother looking for cars from Wisconsin and waiting until people came back to them. She greeted them, said she was from Wisconsin and detailed the benefits of living in Sun City.

“Her crowning achievement came during their 50th anniversary when we took them to Hawaii,” Mr. Allen stated. “We went our separate ways during the day, meeting up for dinner. Months later back in Sun City, she introduced us to a couple who had retired to the islands — and after talking with mom, decided to sell their home there and move here!”

Standing upright

Sun City was built in an area of unincorporated Maricopa County and was not intended to be a municipality, and by its location not within a city. But some had other ideas.

“Without question, the most significant event in our history was the 25-year (1961-1986) fight over incorporation,” Bill Pearson, a resident who has served several community organizations, stated in an email. “Had we incorporated, Sun City would have developed like other cities around us. We would have the associated costs of running a city and the idea that volunteers mattered would have gone by the bye.”

Residents voted in December 1964, 72% to 28% to reject incorporation, according to Ben Roloff, a resident who has done voluminous research on the community. The matter was never brought to an official vote again.

“That makes us dependent on the county for basic services, like police protection, roads and safety, planning and zoning, health, etc.,” Mr. Roloff stated.

It also was not long before Peoria “invited” Sun City to leave that school district, eliminating residents from paying secondary school taxes, according to Mr. Pearson.

Sun City was only a few years old when some forward-looking residents realized the importance of a local hospital, according to Mr. Allen. Jim Boswell II, one of Del Webb’s partners in DEVCO, felt they were thinking too small, and offered $1,200,000 to help build a state-of-the-art hospital of at least 100 beds, with room for future expansion.

“They had to buck a state agency who saw no need for a hospital here, and health professionals who claimed no doctor or nurse would want to work ‘way out there,’” Mr. Allen stated. “Meeker’s response was that we’d be hiring the best of them — and once plans for the new, advanced-design hospital became known, there was no problem finding qualified help.”

But with most of its patients on Medicare, which reimbursed less than actual cost, it would be difficult to bring in enough revenue to keep the hospital operating. Municipal hospital, with fewer Medicare patients, made their revenue by charging those with private insurance more, according to Mr. Allen.

“The creativity the early administration showed in developing alternate sources of revenue was truly remarkable!” He stated.

Another factor in Sun City becoming viable in the early years was getting regional and national attention. Mr. Allen believes that came largely because of the Sun City Poms. They helped shatter stereotypes of seniors while attracting attention to the community.

“I can think of no better ambassadors for an active senior lifestyle than the Sun City Poms!” He stated. “They have appeared in parades throughout the U.S., were featured on national TV and have visited many countries overseas — astonishing audiences with their precision, their dexterity and their obvious enjoyment of entertaining.”

Other events were crucial, both positive and negative, to Sun City’s development in the early years. Some of those included selling Sunburst Water and Sun City Sewer to a Connecticut company, offering 1,500-2,000 residents ownership in what is now Oakmont Recreation Center followed by offering ownership to all other amenities and selling offices and shopping centers to private investors, according to Mr. Roloff.

“DEVCO spurred development of many kinds of services (medical, governmental-(SCHOA), social (Sunshine Service), religious (churches) etc. by constructing desired buildings at cost,” he stated.

Officials also consolidated three independent recreation centers into a single unit now known as Recreation Centers of Sun City in 1968. At the same time, DEVCO officials decided to go all in on Sun City and develop the portion of the community north of Grand Avenue as a residential/commercial extension and not as a possible light industrial/trailer home village, according to Mr. Roloff.

The 1970s brought the establishment of the Posse and PRIDES, in the 1980s there was formalization of putting Sun City under the protection of Maricopa County’s planning and zoning ordinance and its amendment to allow for age protected communities, according to Mr. Roloff. The 1990s brought standardizing of the community’s deed restrictions, the creation of the Preservation and Improvement Fund and finding a mechanism to paint the “white walls.”

Financial stability

The decision by RCSC officials 20 years ago to implement the PIF is credited by Paul Herrmann, a museum trustee and former Sun City Visitors Center executive director, as being one of the most significant events in the community’s history.

“Up until that point, nothing was being updated,” He stated in an email. “Maintenance of all recreation centers and golf courses was all that happened for 40 years.”

Since its inception, the PIF, a fee collected from all residential property ownership transfers, has updated many of the facilities and golf courses making the community more attractive for younger retirees, according to Mr. Herrmann. PIF monies go into a restricted fund for capital improvements, specifically designed so RCSC does not acquire debt or need to make special assessments on cardholders for the updates.

“Our updated modern facilities, the most facilities and the lowest annual fee has made Sun City a real winner and will allow us to maintain our leadership in active adult communities,” Mr. Herrmann stated.

Why it works

Sun City captured the attention of not only the U.S. but developers around the world.

In the last decade, at least, representatives of development firms from throughout the world visited the community to see for themselves how it works. Filmmakers have also used Sun City as a backdrop for documentaries and at least one feature film.

“If Sun City was going to hang its hat on how it differs from others, even in the current decade, the ‘low hanging fruit’ would be to point to its low cost of living — property taxes — along with the number of amenities offered at the lowest cost per resident in the country,” Mr. Roloff stated.

But there is more to it than that, according to Mr. Pearson.

“From our earliest years, we have been a community where residents have taken ownership,” he stated. “Yes, DEVCO held our hands, prodded and pulled us along, but when they left in 1978, we were perfectly positioned to run ourselves.”

In the 1980s there were hard fought battles over direction. But at that time people cared and got involved at levels that were impressive, according to Mr. Pearson.

“Those buying, living and loving it here made the defining difference,” he stated.

Moving forward

Now Sun City is facing different kinds of residents than those pathfinders. The community must evolve again to maintain its standing among active adult communities, according to community officials.

“With advancements in communication and the stellar entertainment, both very attractive to the newer retirees, that should keep us listed as the premier community,” Mr. Herrmann stated. “Keep doing what we’re doing.

However, Sun City, and those who oversee the community, must be open to change. When Sun City began 60 years ago, everyone was retired and most likely between 50 and 70 years of age, according to Mr. Herrmann. Residents now range from less than 50 to more than 100 years of age. Many residents are working either full- or part-time.

“So more evening club and entertainment activities are needed,” Mr. Herrmann stated.

But at the same time, officials can’t forget about the retired seniors on fixed incomes, according to Mr. Herrmann. He believes RCSC officials might consider redirecting a portion of the PIF into the general fund to ensure the annual assessment remains low.

“The PIF has modernized our facilities, but the modern facilities often come with higher operational expenses,” he stated.

Keeping pace

Sun City finds itself in a competitive environment because of its own success.

Following Del Webb’s example, active adult communities popped up across the country, and continue to do so. That means Sun City officials must find ways to attract new home buyers as properties become available. That takes more than keeping yearly assessments low, according to Mr. Pearson. Sun City officials must learn from their own history, he believes.

“We were built around the concept of individual organizations with their own responsibilities. But new communities are single entity governance,” he stated.

While that makes communities are easier to operate, it also erodes the sense of community that helped Sun City sustain its success.

“We have drifted from that as less people have become involved and the RCSC has become more like big brother,” Mr. Pearson stated.

Mr. Roloff is cautiously optimistic about Sun City’s future because the PRIDES, Posse, SCHOA, COA, Sunshine Service and fire and medical department continue to operate smoothly on behalf of residents. But he is less secure in his optimism for the RCSC.

“Historically I have watched a virtual polar evolution of the function of the organization from one that held quarterly membership meetings with hundreds in attendance to holding none in the last decade,” he stated. “I have watched attendance and participation at monthly meetings dwindle from large gatherings to virtually no attendance in the last year or two. I have watched participation in elections diminish from 5,000-10,000 voting for a plethora of choices — all done on a single day — to 500-600 participating in the election process that stretches over an entire month with choices of voting by computer, in person or by absentee ballot.”

That concerns him because of the twofold disinterest in governance of the recreation centers by the community of 38,000-plus and the board of nine members.

“I am concerned by the real possibility of RCSC getting ‘technologically’ left behind in comparison to the non-retired world,” he stated. “Our current standard has a distinct short-run appeal — It’s Cheap!”

Mr. Pearson agrees that Sun City officials need to look ahead to the new homeowners coming into the community.

“Boomers are way different than the ‘greatest generation.’ Taking ownership is barely in their vocabulary,” he stated. “The RCSC has changed community documents/safeguards and become more controlling.”

He believes the continued spending on golf, while all around the game is trending downward, was not a community decision but one from the RCSC management.

“Now we find ourselves behind in any number of areas,” he stated.

The solution, according to Mr. Pearson, is found in Sun City’s history.

“We need to teach it, preach it and make it fun and exciting,” he stated. “We succeeded because of how we were built, not because of who we were.”

He believes it needs a commitment from those organizations that have the where-with-all to make it a priority. RCSC officials need to encourage new owners to come, not push them away.

“If we don’t, we run the risk of becoming just like every other age restricted community,” Mr. Pearson stated.

However, Mr. Allen sees Sun City in the same light as when it was in its growing years.

“It truly was — and remains — a ‘city of volunteers,’” he stated. “Forget the ‘Original Fun City’ boast on today’s welcome signs along major avenues. Residents have their fun, but pitch in to make Sun City an attractive and inexpensive place to live.”