By Henry Brean | Arizona Daily Star
RIO RICO — Andrew Jackson’s plans are huge, even by the big-city standards of Tucson or Phoenix.
The major Santa Cruz County landowner is pushing a 9-mile-long, mixed-use project on both sides of Interstate 19 that could spur commercial and industrial investment across this unincorporated community 60 miles south of Tucson.
His transformative plan includes 18 separate parcels and more than 3,550 acres strung along the Santa Cruz River, much of it currently zoned for ranching and covered with emerald green farm fields and thickets of mesquite.
Jackson wants the property rezoned to allow for “a major economic center providing education, employment, commercial and housing opportunities,” including hotel rooms, restaurants, retail stores, offices, railroad facilities and even a community college with student housing.
