La Colina HOA About

About La Colina
Topics: | Ancient Times | Saddleback | The Settlement |

ANCIENT TIMES
For hundreds of years, native American people traveled to the site where La Colina and Carino Canyon are currently located. What was the attraction? It was basalt rock. The ridge between Carino Canyon and La Colina is one of the few places in the valley with a deposit of basalt with quartz. It makes an excellent grinding stone for the grain and nuts that were the staple of the Indian diet. Basalt is very hard, dense, fine grained volcanic material with minute air pockets, which makes it light but durable. As the grinding take place, the air pockets are gradually exposed, keeping a continuous rough surface so that the rock never becomes smooth. When two stones are formed to fit against one another, they are called manos & matates. Indian men would spend hours and days at the site pounding and flaking and chipping the basalt with hammer rocks to get the perfect shape. Many almost finished pieces that cracked have been found on site. The basalt most probably came from the volcanic eruptions of the mountain across 136th Street, Saddleback. Saddleback and the cinder cones which can be seen to the south, were formed by plate tectonics when the Pacfic plate went under the North American plate in this area thousands of years ago. The activity has moved westward since, leaving the evidence in its wake. The caldera, or central collapsed pit of the volcano, can be seen from Shea Boulevard looking south at the water tanks on the north side of Saddleback.

In 1993, the owner of this 160 acre site, Pulte Homes, who had purchased the site from a Herberger family trust, commissioned an environmental impact study and when the evidence of the “ground stone manufacturing” site came in, the site was recommended for possible inclusion in the National List of Historic Places. When Pulte decided not to pursue development, the recommendation died. Later, Pulte Homes transferred the rights to the property to Shea Homes, and development began.

Source: Archeological Research Consulting Services, Scottsdale documents: 48 PP 93 - 121 DR 93 - 1 ZN 93

SADDLEBACK
As uneventful as the development of La Colina and Carino Canyon were, just the opposite was the case in the fight over the ownership of the parcel across 136th Street. Full of distrust, bitterness, lawsuits and hard feelings, it eventually took the efforts of a United States Senator to solve the dispute.

The bad feelings between Scottsdale and the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community can be traced back to the 1950s when Scottsdale decided that it no longer wanted to educate the children from the tribe in its school district. One day, they stopped sending the school buses to pick up the children on the reservation. One of the children who waited for the bus that never came was a little boy named Ivan Mikal. Ivan grew up to be president of the tribal community during the 1990s. During 1986 and 1987, in another dispute with Scottsdale, the community blocked the northbound lanes of the two lane Pima Road, which was half in Scottsdale and half on the reservation, for 8 months In 1992, Scottsdale approved a 12.75 million dollar project to widen Pima Road to 5 lanes from two. All of the new lanes were to be built on the reservation side of the road. The city did not consult with the tribe to discuss the project before the vote. Thus, the stage was set for the battle over Saddleback.

In the early 1990s, the savings & loan industry was going through an upheaval bought about by unwise legislation in Washington. Many savings & loans were going bankrupt, so Congress set up an enmity the Resolution Trust Co. (R.T.C) to liquidate the failed savings and loans in an orderly manner. In 1993, the R.T.C. decided to auction off a 711 acre plot it had acquired from a failed institution. The plot ran from 136th St. to 144th St. and south to the Salt River Reservation line. The northern boundary included both sides of the then 4 lane Shea Boulevard. Scottsdale bid 3.1 million dollars for the land valued at over 4 million. The tribal community bid 6.5 million. Scottsdale, horrified to learn that it would lose control of both sides of Shea Boulevard, its only eastern access, immediately condemned the property, threatened to rezone it as open space and sued the community to preclude any development on the site. The tribe then countersued in federal court for interference. Neither side trusted the other to do the right thing by the property. The Resolution Trust Co. then cancelled the auction. The Community followed by breaking off negotiations on both the Pima Road expansion and the talks about the right of way for the future Route 101 alignment along the border of the two communities.

Fortunately, negotiations did start eventually, and on February 11, 1995, the office of Senator John McCain announced that a settlement had been reached between Herb Drinkwater, mayor of Scottsdale, and Ivan Mikal, president of the Salt River Community.

THE SETTLEMENT
The February 1995 settlement of the dispute divided the property into four segments. Scottsdale got two and the tribal Community got two.

Scottsdale received 140 acres and paid $635,000. The tribal Community got 571 acres and paid $5.8 million.

Scottsdale’s property is on the southeast corner of 136 and Shea Boulevard and the right-of-way from the intersection, east to 144th St. As Shea dips south just east of 136th St., Scottsdale now had control of both sides of Shea. They immediately moved to widen the roadway to a 6 lane divided highway. Scottsdale also received an easement on the tribe’s mountain property for the roadway and water tanks that were already there.

The tribe got title to the mountain, which is defined as starting when the slope reaches 15 degrees around the entire circumference. The tribe also got 200 acres of flat lands just south and west of the mountain, which they can develop if they wish. Development would be subject to tribal standards, not Scottsdale’s.

It is important for local residents to know that access to the Scottsdale property and the mountain part of the tribe’s holdings have unlimited and unrestricted access to the public. The only development allowed on these 3 segments are hiking and equestrian trails, a parking lot and structures are limited to those that would be found in a park setting. Scottsdale’s portion is designated as a preserve. The tribe does have a restricted area on the summit, but there appears to be no markers to designate the actual site. The 200 acres south of Saddleback are the private property of the tribe.

136th Street- Scottsdale’s General Plan allows for a divided, 4 lane roadway along 136th Street, through the reservation to link up with the Beeline Highway at Gilbert Road. Any action on this possibility would have to have tribal approval, which is uncertain. The tribe has never given a direct answer as to if it would entertain such a proposal. To accommodate such a possibility, Shea Homes was asked and consented to give up a 55 foot wide corridor on the eastern border of its property to allow for 136th to bend west to avoid a slope from Saddleback, but also to leave room for the expansion, if it should ever take place. The agreement allows either Scottsdale or the tribe to request the widening, with the applicant bearing the total cost of the project. Any construction would be done by the city and adhere to its building standards.

Curiously, there are 2 articles in the agreement that have been ignored by both sides. The tribe was to finish the hiking and equestrian trails, a parking lot and rest area facilities within 15 months of signing the agreement and both parties would split the cost. If not done, the tribe would be totally responsible. Within 30 days of the signing, a public commission of 4 members (2 from each side), would be set up to oversee the property. Neither of these provisions were ever carried out.

Documents Maricopa County Recorders Office. 95-0774422 (Maps), 97-0098094 (Agreement), 97-0678245 (Use Agreement), 97-0678246 (Development Agreement), 97-0678243 (Utility Agreement), 97-0678244 (Utility Access. Scottsdale City Clerks Office 95-0110