By Joe Ferguson | Arizona Daily Sun
The March 25 decision by Vanessa Hickman, the Arizona State Land Commissioner, is an important step in the city’s attempt to acquire state funding as it tries to buy portions of the mesa to be permanently set aside for conservation.
Minimizing light pollution at nearby Lowell Observatory is a key reason for seeking to limit further development on the mesa.
Hickman signed off on a order to reclassify about 2,260 acres of state trust land atop the mesa as suitable for conservation purposes
The city is expected to follow the same playbook it used when it acquired Picture Canyon last year: seeking a matching grant from Arizona State Parks out of the Growing Smarter grants program.
The city currently has roughly $5.5 million to spend, from a 2004 bond approved by voters to specifically acquire state trust lands on Observatory Mesa for open space.
