When Marana was abuzz with debate over a proposal to transform the historic Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch into a 178-home gated community, there was no shortage of environmental issues on the table:
Sinking wells and groundwater supply. Wildlife corridors. Open space protection and development. Historic preservation. Impacts to neighboring Saguaro National Park West. Traffic. Proposed density increases that some activists saw as out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood. Plans to reopen Scenic Drive adjoining the project site.
But the discovery that contaminated well water will serve the development was absent from the debate, which ended in May 2017 with a 5-2 Town Council vote to approve a specific plan and rezoning for the site.
