By Sam Kmack | Arizona Daily Star
Tucson City Council members approved a controversial new housing development on Tuesday, a move that’s expected to create about 137 new homes on 60 acres of property near South La Cholla Boulevard and West 36th Street.
The area is a largely untouched piece of Sonoran Desert that’s situated between sparse neighborhoods to the north and west, undeveloped land to the south and a dense suburb to the east. Locals have protested the new development for years, saying it would wreak havoc on nearby wildlife and change the neighborhood’s character by taking up the open space that has defined it for decades.
But city officials said their hands were tied: the land is privately owned by a limited liability company called Buena Vista Properties 2000, which may have still been able to build over 100 homes on the property without receiving any special permission.
