Making The News

Morrison Ranch was a topic in both local newspapers over the weekend. The AZ Republic apparently had a reporter at the Mesa planning and zoning board meeting that I mentioned last week, and he saw the same approval that we did:

A family tradition of farming property in southeast Mesa and Gilbert for 80 years is disappearing quickly as cotton fields turn into houses.

That Valley-wide trend continues with Desert Place at Morrison Ranch, a huge residential development enthusiastically endorsed Thursday by the Mesa Planning and Zoning Board.

More than 200 acres near Guadalupe and Sossaman roads would turn into potentially 697 houses in the master-planned community lined with trees and an agricultural flavor.

"This development is a breath of fresh air," board member Pat Esparza said.

Other board members praised the development's traditional approach, which features 22 percent open space, said Scott Morrison of Morrison Ranch Inc., the developer.

"I think this is a nice project," board member Frank Mizner said. "I see this as a great asset for this part of Mesa."

The board voted unanimously to recommend that the Mesa City Council approve a zoning change from agricultural to medium-density residential.

Morrison said his family plans the development and sells lots to builders.

Howard Morrison, Scott's brother, said it would be at least two years until houses are built on the property. He said it is no longer economically feasible to farm in the area because well water is expensive.

"The fields take on a different personality based on the crops grown," he said, remembering how his family grew watermelons on the land one year, only to lose money when there was a glut on the market.

He said most people in the Southeast Valley live on land that once was used to grow cotton or other crops.

Scott Morrison said the Mesa development would be similar to the family's existing projects in Gilbert, featuring tree-lined streets, white rail fencing and other "pastoral characteristics of the early homesteads of the Southeast Valley."

The Mister doesn't remember using the word "pastoral" in his presentation, but I think it's a great description.

The East Valley Tribune also sent a reporter (and a photographer, but I didn't see any photos of The Mister, at least not in the online version) in a followup to a series they did about a year ago on the Santan area. I loved seeing The Mister through this fellow's eyes; very descriptive:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: “Things have happened,” says Scott Morrison, doffing his wide-brimmed hat with a sigh. Morrison Ranch’s 52-year-old managing partner still looks the family farmer that his father and grandfather were; only the Bluetooth cell phone on his right ear hints at the Gilbert landowner’s hurry-up life.

“We were as surprised as anybody when the Albertsons closed,” he says, nodding toward the development’s Lakeview Village. The grocery chain signed a 20-year lease but locked its doors last month, leaving the community’s peaked-roof mercantile center curiously vacant.

The real estate trust that bought Albertsons “decided to close any stores that weren’t making money,” says Morrison. Nine stores locked down, including the one at Lakeview Village.

Prospective tenants, he says, have expressed interest in the space, but because the lease remains in the hands of the real estate consortium, not the developer, whoever the next tenant will be is out of his hands. “I have a feeling they’ll be a grocer,” he says. “From the homes and the way the area is configured.”

Residential development, meanwhile, continues apace: Three homebuilders have begun selling units in Morrison’s Highland Groves development, and construction will begin at the adjacent Lakeview Trails North in December.

“US Homes opened up for sales (in Highland Groves) and sold 10 lots in their first two weeks — without even a model to look at,” he says. “That, for us, is a good piece of news.”

Increased freeway access also has made the Morrisons’ proposed industrial park much more viable. “We’re talking to potential tenants right now,” he says. “It’ll probably be two years before you see steel sticking out of the ground. But with the new freeway, we’re having conversations we could not have had two years ago.”

But suspense over coming developments doesn’t diminish his pride in the tree-trimmed, picket-fenced neighborhoods his family’s farmlands have become. “I think (the look) has gotten better,” says Morrison. “As time goes on, those trees will mature and come to dominate the landscape. In 10 years, this area will look even better than it does today.”

I have to say, I agree one hundred percent.