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Overview
DRAFT - March 19, 2012
FINDINGS OF CONDITIONS LEADING TO
ARRESTED GROWTH IN THE PROPOSED
DOWNTOWN/GATEWAY REDEVELOPMENT AREA
The City of Tucson is seeking to further encourage development
in the downtown area. To this
end, the City is proposing a redevelopment area, being called
the Downtown/Gateway
Redevelopment Area as shown on Map 1. In accordance with Arizona
Revised Statutes 36-1471,
the City of Tucson has determined that the proposed
redevelopment area is a slum area where
sound municipal growth is substantially arrested. Both of the
following are true for this area:
There is a predominance of buildings or improvements, both
residential and nonresidential and the
public health safety or welfare is threatened because of
a) dilapidated, deteriorated, aging or obsolescent buildings or
improvements; and
b) the existence of conditions that endanger life or property by
fire or other causes.
Map 1- City of Tucson Proposed Downtown/Gateway Redevelopment
Area
City of Tucson Proposed Downtown/Gateway
Redevelopment Area
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City of Tucson Housing & Community Development
Findings
Table 3 Housing Data
Total Housing Units Vacant Units
% vacant Owner Occupied
% owner occupied Renter Occupied
% renter occupied S011m•: Ll.·11.1H.i- f!f Popuk,tion e;.,, I
lo11si1{� .. SF! data
4,654 743
16.0% 637
16.3% 3,274
83.7%
DRAFT - March 19, 2012
A. Diversity of Ownership
.An analysis of current Pima County Assessor records shows that
the Downtown/Gateway Redevelopment Area is comprised of 3,799
parcels, 521 of which are government owned (Federal, State, County,
City, and School District). Of the non-government owned parcels,
2,133 parcels (65.1 %) have different owners. Additionally, 37.9%
of all parcels in the redevelopment area are owned by out-of-town
residents or corporations and 13.3% of all parcels are owned by
tax-exempt entities. Based on the City's redevelopment experience,
this degree of diversity of ownership impairs and arrests sound
growth due to the difficulty of consolidating developable parcels
in a timely manner and an increase in land prices caused by undue
overhead expense in assemblage of properties.
B. Unsanitary or Unsafe Conditions
1. Environmental Issues
City of Tucson
There are t\vo State Superfund sites (7'h Street and Arizona
Avenue and Park-Euclid)within the proposed Downtown/Gateway
Redevelopment Area boundaries, eachcontributing to soil and
groundwater contamination in the form of volatile organiccompounds
(VOCs) such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene
(PCE).Other brownfields properties in the proposed redevelopment
area include closedlandfills, former gas stations, dry cleaners,
automotive repair facilities, abandonedindustrial and manufacturing
facilities, railroad lines and spurs, and vacant/ abandonedinner
city structures, businesses, and motels. The proposed redevelopment
arearepresents less than 2% of the land area of the City of Tucson,
yet, it is estimated thatthe redevelopment area contains 13% of
point source pollution sites in the City ofTucson (235 sites) as
identified by the EPA.
The City of Tucson was awarded a brownfields assessment grant in
October 2010. Thetarget area for this assessment is the Empowerment
Zone along with two W'eed andSeed areas: \�estside Coalition and
North Tucson Coalition. Ninety percent (90%) ofthe proposed
redevelopment area falls within the Brownfields Assessment Area.
Asstated in the Brownfields grant application, "As a consequence of
these Brownfields,target area residents suffer from many economic
and social ills including lack ofmeaningful jobs, poor housing
stock, insufficient alternative transportation options,exposure to
prostitution and crime, alcohol use, drug use, and blight."
6 Housing & Community Development
