It probably won't come
as a surprise to anyone who has been in Tucson for any
length of time that there is a major military airport
in the area. You may not have been aware, however, that
under legislation passed by the Arizona Legislature,
most of the central and the southeastern portions of
greater Tucson have been officially designated "territory
in the vicinity of a military airport." Why? Because
there has been a political effort to ensure the long-term
viability of the major military airports in Arizona,
specifically Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson,
the Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, and Luke Air Force
Base in western Maricopa County. As part of that effort,
state and federal officials have been attempting to
both increase awareness of the contributions of those
airports to the state's economy, and decrease the potential
for future impairment of the airports' operations due
to encroaching urban expansion.
The designation of "territory in the vicinity
of a military airport" is part of a regulatory
scheme first put in place by the Legislature in 1997
that includes various measures to make buyers of real
estate in the affected areas aware of the presence
of Davis-Monthan and the other military airports.
The designation and the accompanying disclosure requirement
appear to be designed to accomplish two objectives:
(1) to encourage local governments to adopt land use
plans that will prevent incompatible new uses from
locating near the military airports, and (2) to avoid
having newcomers move into the area, then be surprised
by (and complain about) the military aircraft constantly
flying overhead. In both cases, the goal clearly is
to increase awareness of the presence of the military
airports and prevent erosion of local (and Armed Forces)
support for their continued presence.
The idea that Davis-Monthan's continued presence
in Tucson should be questioned may seem rather absurd
to those of us who have lived and worked in central
Tucson for long periods of time. I have lived and/or
worked near the flight path from Davis-Monthan most
of my life and actually find the presence of the aircraft
comforting. Even if one finds the aircraft annoying,
however, it seems unlikely that anyone would be in
Tucson long enough to buy property and not notice
them.
It also seems unlikely, except for neighborhoods
that are very close to the end of the runway, that
the presence of the aircraft has any significant effect
on property values. A case could certainly be made
that if Davis-Monthan were to be closed, the negative
impact on the local economy would diminish property
values much more than they are diminished by the aircraft
flying overhead.
In its first regular session in 2001, the Arizona
Legislature actually did away with the previous requirement
that any transfer of property within "territory
in the vicinity of a military airport" must contain
a specific disclosure to that effect. The Legislature
instead mandated that the Arizona Real Estate Commissioner
record in the office of the County Recorder a document
applicable to property within "territory in the
vicinity of a military airport." The document
is to contain the following disclosure: "This
property is located within territory in the vicinity
of a military airport and may be subject to increased
noise and accident potential."
The result of this new mandate by the Legislature
will likely be, and the intended result apparently
is, that every title report on property within the
"territory" will show that a document has
been recorded stating that the property is "in
the vicinity of a military airport and may be subject
to increased noise and accident potential." The
"territory" for Davis-Monthan is a rectangle
having the following points as its approximate corners:
on the north, Craycroft Rd. north of River Rd.; on
the east, a point north of Old Spanish Trail and east
of Camino Loma Alta in the Rincon Valley; on the south,
Dawn Rd. east of Houghton Rd. (near the Pima County
Fairgrounds); and on the west, Broadway Blvd. west
of Stone Ave. The "territory" therefore
includes not only virtually all of the established
central Tucson neighborhoods, but a large portion
of the expanding southeast side as well.
It is possible that this disclosure may alarm some
potential buyers (assuming that they actually read
their preliminary title report). It might even motivate
some buyers contemplating properties both within and
outside the "territory" to choose to buy
property that is outside the "territory."
The Legislature has apparently made a determination
that the value of the military airports to all residents
of Pima County outweighs the possible negative impact
that the continued presence of those airports, and
the mandated disclosure that their presence may result
in "increased noise and accident potential,"
will have on those within the "territory."
The extent to which the "increased noise and
accident potential" actually affects the desirability
of property in the "vicinity" of Davis-Monthan
is, of course, highly subjective. There is undoubtedly
more noise near the end of the runway, but is there
really a significantly "increased accident potential?"
In my memory, two military aircraft have crashed in
Tucson, both in the flight path northwest of Davis-Monthan.
Statistically that fact means that the rate of military
aircraft crashes is higher in that area (one every
twenty years or so) than elsewhere (presumably, zero),
but is it significant enough to affect desirability
of property in that area? There is also the inescapable
fact that if a potential buyer is attracted by the
unique characteristics of central Tucson, there simply
are not competing properties that are not in the "vicinity"
of Davis-Monthan.
The considerations that led to the designation of
the "territory in the vicinity of a military
airport" are, obviously, political in nature.
The practical impact of the designation may or may
not be significant. The disclosure resulting from
the designation will undoubtedly, however, cause questions
about why it is there and what it really means, particularly
from relative newcomers to Tucson.
