Never Try to Teach a Pig to Sing...

“Never try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and makes the pig mad”

In other words, we can’t fight change. As we come upon voting for Wal-Mart or not, I feel compelled to express my thoughts. Recently I’ve read Letters to the Editor with statements such as…

“…Where’s the downside?”
“…Mother of all win wins for Cave Creek”
“…What’s the issue?”
“…Those people obviously bought their properties knowing commercial was right next to them.”
“…No harm to the “character” of Cave Creek”
“…town’s core will be unchanged”
“…where there is no vision people will perish, where there is no vision Cave Creek will perish”

Many of these statements have merit behind them… especially, bottom line we need Wal Mart because we need the jobs, revenue and Wal-Mart’s community contributions. However, I personally resent statements that character will go unchanged, that there will be no harm, that things will be unchanged, and that it is a win-win proposition. When Lowes came in, I sure wish there would’ve been some discussion like we have now about Wal Mart… but of course that only impacted a couple homes in Cave Creek.

For the past six years I’ve lived in Cave Creek, but I’ve been visiting for over 13 years. I’m privileged to own two homes on El Sendero Dr behind Lowe’s. One I live in, one is where which my senior mother lives. When I bought my property, yes, I knew that there was commercial property planned. The discussion was a small shopping plaza, nobody knew then a large “box store” was planned. What I did know was there was one acre between me and the commercial property. I felt I could live with that, as long as there were trees, space for wild life, and vegetation to buffer any noise and lights.

However, that’s not what happened. Lowe’s bought the acre for “overflow” parking; completely re-directed a major wash, built a huge hole with an 18 foot drain at the bottom. In addition, they had no plans to continue a fence to block off access to the adjoining properties. I did get that changed near my home, and they continued a fence (albeit not block). However, they did not continue this practice elsewhere (for example, at Doug’s house, which is completely open to Lowes unused parking lot.

For the past two years I’ve made several reports, observations and phone calls to Lowes’ management for the following:

• Skateboarders, car racers, dumped furniture, parked cars with boom-box music at all times of the night, loitering motorcyclists, abandoned girl’s purse with beer bottles next to it, and most recently, a broken bent fence to the hole with at least 5-10 beer bottles and cans around and at the bottom.

There has not been a single space of Lowe’s overflow parking used in the past 2 years. Access to the parking is not blocked off, nor completely fenced and obviously a breeding ground for partying and “watching”….watching what? Currently I’m in the process of requesting Lowe’s to block the bridge and fence the property until they “need” the overflow. As a past banker of 27 years and a current licensed real estate agent, I understand from a commercial building perspective the requirements for number of parking spaces per building square footage. However, since opening, the store has never had the traffic to support that need. This is a thought I’d like people to keep in mind.

I’ve recently asked the sheriff’s department to monitor the parking area more and met face to face with Lowe’s management to bring their attention to the parking lot. With Doug’s recent death and burglary it has only heighten our awareness of how things change…and we really can’t stop it.

In summary, I’m not complaining, fighting change, blaming, “dislike Wal-Mart because they are Wal-mart” and not thinking I will not have my “core” Cave Creek gone. My letter is to bring forth questions/concerns to our town and to the people who live close to the proposed Wal-Mart.

I speak from firsthand experience …it will change! Wildlife (especially rattles snakes) will find a new homes, parking lot lights will ruin beautiful nights, noise will no longer buffered by the trees. Be prepared for your property value to decrease for a reason that will never change: Privacy is gone, people travel at 55mph in the neighboring 25 mph streets, there are ingress/egress issues. Where are the customers coming from that shop at Wal-Mart? Cave Creek, North Scottsdale and Carefree’s population? More traffic is guaranteed and the Character will change.

Why not consider other options for revenue on 10 acres vs. 20 acres? I’ve only heard of Wal-Mart (and Trader Joe’s). Are there others? Or is money so important we’ll make concessions. Why hasn’t “Fresh n’ Easy” opened? Economics? Are we being realistic for now and the future? I’m sure there’re answers to these questions, but ALL options are not being discussed.

There are blessings in all things. I still live in Cave Creek (my choice), this is where my grandchildren still enjoy coming to grandma Cheryle’s and Grannies’ house, I can still ride my horse out of my yard (with more restricted access), I still have a town core, I can still be involved in preserving our trails and lifestyle (which I have by laying rocks with my fellow volunteers), I can write a letter to the editor, go to council meetings, and I can still go to Dairy Queen (which I love!).

I do have hope and vision that Cave Creek will always maintain itself as a desirable destination different than any other community in Maricopa County.

Respectfully,

Cheryle Carmitchel — Cave Creek

Excerpts From the White Paper

AUGUST 3, 2009 – COUNCIL MEETING:
4. COUNCIL DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION TO STAFF TO PROCEED ON THREE PRIORITIES IDENTIFIED IN THE WHITE PAPER PRESENTED TO THE TOWN COUNCIL AT THE COUNCIL MEETING ON JUNE 8, 2009 BY THE CAVE CREEK CITIZENS FOR THE FUTURE GROUP.
Placed on the Agenda by Councilman Mozilo, Town of Cave Creek. (Councilman Mozilo is an author of the White Paper)

Council Action Needed: Motion to direct Staff to proceed with three priorities identified in the White Paper: 1) Hiring of a Chief Financial Officer - including researching any needed changes to Town Code to allow for the position and developing a job description for recruiting and hiring in the next fiscal year. 2) bringing the revisions to the Subdivision Approval Process with regard to the Final Plat and Site Plan Review Process. and 3) Begin the process of amending Appendix 'A' of the Zoning Ordinance.

FROM THE WHITE PAPER – PAGE 21:

RECOMMENDATION SIX: “Vigorously pursue Wal-Mart.”

Wal-Mart has purchased a (residential) 20.5 acre site on the east side of Cave Creek Road, south of the Bullington property. The Town must aggressively pursue Wal-Mart to locate a retail center on that site, resulting in some $3.0 million dollars of annual, net new retail sales taxes to the Town. Specifically, the Town should facilitate submission of appropriate applications by April, 2009. Additionally, the Town should expedite processing of their applications through the Planning Commission and the Town Council and schedule all actions to result in Town Council approval in July, 2009. Spearhead a benefits of Wal-Mart education campaign.

Recommendation six has already started when the Council approved the rezoning. It’s those pesky citizens, who believe in the right of petition to oppose losing their residential zoned neighborhood. Spearhead a benefits of Wal-Mart Education Campaign are being conducted at “Neighborhood meetings” which include the Mayor, Councilmen, Friends of Cave Creek PAC Members and the Wal-Mart Team with a Power Point presentation. We are being vigorously pursued by and with Wal-Mart sponsoring the PAC with $23,000 dollars worth of “in kind contributions” to control of the “Education Campaign.” At these meetings we are being asked to spread the “Gospel” according to Wal-Mart. Very slick and very scary!

FROM THE WHITE PAPER – PAGE 5:

Twenty-nine recommendations are provided in this document to assist the Town during this difficult economic downturn and to put the changes in place that are necessary for the Town to prosper in the future. Today, the Town stands at a fiscal crossroad and its choices are simple: increase the sources of sales tax revenue well beyond the development limitation of the Town Core or institute a property tax (OR BOTH). The time to act is now!

FROM THE WHITE PAPER – PAGE 19:
6. Waste Water Treatment Plant no later than June, 2010 to accommodate Wal-Mart and associated commercial development.

Vigorously pursue Wal-Mart to locate a retail center on Cave Creek Road South of Carefree Highway.

7. Complete the Waste Water Treatment Plant no later than June, 2010 to accommodate Wal-Mart and associated commercial development.

FROM THE WHITE PAPER- PAGE 34 / The Waste Water Treatment Plant:

The WWTP must be built in order to attract retail opportunities in the Carefree Highway corridor but present loan terms require debt service payments prior to revenue generation. As outlined in the notes several possibilities exist to bridge this gap and the Committee feels some combination of the possibilities will be required. The opportunities are:

1. Continue the water and sewer prepayment programs recommended for 2009
2. Negotiate upfront infrastructure improvement payments from retailers
3. Negotiate modifications to the terms proposed in the loan agreement for the WWTP such that interest only payments can be made in 2010 and 2011
4. Implementation of Cave Creek property taxes

FROM THE WHITE PAPER – PAGE 41:
One or MORE of the following sources can address the projected shortfall:

1. Continuing the water and sewer prepayment programs recommended in 2009
2. Negotiating upfront infrastructure improvement payments from Wal-Mart at inception of construction
3. Negotiating modifications to the WIFA WWTP loan to allow interest only payments
4. IMPLEMENTATION of Town of Cave Creek PROPERTY TAXES

Click Here to Read The Cave Creek White Paper