Sierra Club moves to stop Bella Terra3 min read

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?It is the wrong development in the wrong location,? said Red Rock Rural Community Association Vice President Brian Myers.

By Mike Cosentino
Larson Newspapers
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?It is the wrong development in the wrong location,? said Red Rock Rural Community Association Vice President Brian Myers.

Vice-chair of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Carole Piszczek-Sheffield said, ?The Sierra Club does not get involved with cases we don?t think we can win.?

?There is just too much impact on a too-sensitive area,? she said.

Myers said, ?We are not NIMBYs.? RRRCA?s position is ?an expert based? one.

The acronym refers to the ?not in my back yard? attitude of some residents. It is exactly how Yavapai County Supervisor Carol Springer referred to some area residents who have formed water groups in the county during a recent interview.

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Myers cited experts like Northern Arizona University professors Dr. Paul Trotta and Dr. Ron Blakey as providing a significant amount of research in opposition to some of Bella Terra developer Michael Zito?s claims. They believe a ?site specific hydrology study is needed to ascertain the impact,? Myers said.

Trotta is a civil engineer and has a license as a sanitary engineer. He directs the on-site wastewater demonstration program at NAU. He provided testimony during the Bella Terra Arizona Department of Environmental Quality hearings where he said that the idea that using A+ effluent just ?anywhere is patently absurd.?

?It is a sensitive environment [Oak Creek]. We have a unique and scenic waterway [that] allows no degradation,? he said.

Blakey, a professor of geology at NAU, concurred that a ?hydrogeologic study is needed.? He said he believes the area?s thin soils and porous alluvium would not be sufficient ?for redemption of wastewater.?

Myers, himself, has degrees in biology and geology. He has been a contractor and owner and founder of an architectural restoration firm. He took a year off recently to teach learning-disabled students in Scottsdale.

He has been the most vocal spokesman for the RRRCA to date.

He has concerns regarding the ?greenwashing? of the Bella Terra development, which he sees as a misrepresentation.

?The biggest problems are the location of a high-density development along the state-protected unique waters of Oak Creek? and that the area is one ?of fractured and faulted geology that will allow contamination of the creek and the drinking water aquifers,? he said.

Bella Terra plans 106 homes on 53 acres.

?Where do we stop? When Oak Creek is a sewer?? Myers said.

It is not only the wastewater problem, but the drinking water situation as well.

Myers takes particular issue with Zito?s plan to pump from the six existing wells or to deepen the wells.

?Drying up the water wells for the existing residents is not a community thing to do,? he said.

Recently, ?over two dozen wells went dry … which affected nearly 40 families,? he said.

If ?Mike Zito talks about his community values in a recent article in the [Sedona] Red Rock News, then why isn?t he

concerned with the effects his subdivision is having on the established community of the Red Rock Loop area?? Myers asked in a written statement.

?What gives him the right to destroy the lifestyle of existing residents?? he wrote. ?There is no place like Sedona in the whole world. People come here for its natural and pristine beauty. We need to keep its pristine beauty for future generations and stop trying to make it into another Scottsdale/New York City.?

Larson Newspapers

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