Vista 2040 General Plan

1. The pickleball courts are great. Need more of them, as the number of participants is growing fast, with all ages represented. Pickleball is getting lots of press nationwide and attracting as much attention locally. Before the tipping point occurs, the City should be prepared to institute some very basic guidelines to maintain order and promote civility during peak use periods. Collaboration with player groups will be the best approach.
2. All the work that's been done over the years to clean up and annex Fry Town is terrific. Same for the other trailer parks. Please keep it up and keep after the property owners to do their part. The expense is worth it.
3. Need to get businesses in on the west end, with incentives and whatever it takes. I hope this is a priority for economic development. Currently, the re-development, with all the concrete and single traffic lanes in what is still our main thoroughfare, does not appear to be a viable plan. I tell people, "It will take time...," but at this point, it just looks like a mistake. On the last shopping day before Christmas, there were NO cars on west Fry Blvd at lunchtime, while Target, Walmart, Fry's, Chili's, etc. were all jammed.
4. The signs that say, "Please clean up after your dog" and cite City ordinance are good. Some well-placed poo bag dispensers along city streets and walking paths would be great, too. Even without trash cans nearby, at least the bags could help.

I am interested in outdoor activities. Looking at some of the recent comments I agree with the concept that where you have multiuse outdoor facilities you have to be concerned about how these various uses came interact in a safe, enjoyable manner. Safety becomes a more important factor the more crowded the area or the more drastic the consequences of a bad interaction. I walk on the Garden Canyon Linear Park trails and encounter bikes at times; however, when I walk on the asphalt multiuse paths the bike encounters are much more frequent and the speed of the bikers is much faster. I think anything that can reasonably be done to encourage shared safe use of these outdoor facilities should be encouraged. This also includes the interaction of cars with bikes and pedestrians in crosswalks, to include the use of crosswalks to safely extend the safe use of trails and multiuse paths.

I saw information recently that California was going to treat waste water so it could be drunk by humans. Then in today's Herald, I saw another article that ADEQ was proposing an "Advanced Water Purification Program" that "...produces healthy drinking water..." from treated wastewater. (SV Herald Dec 24, 2023).

After an initial OMG reaction, I thought about this more pragmatically. Water levels in our aquifer will probably continue to decline for the next several years although plans are in place to hopefully reverse the decline. But if a program like this was implemented, I wonder how a person would know, on a daily basis, if their water was safe to drink, given that it was mechanically filtered and treated by technology. Would an alarm go off at your faucet? And then, even if it did, what about all the impure water in the pipes from the treatment facility to your tap? And even if the high-tech plant was able to detect a water problem before the water left the facility and shut it down, where would we then get our water until the problem was fixed?

And what would a facility like this cost, especially if it were engineered and constructed so as to be "fail-safe"?

I suggest that this issue be included as part of the Environmental Sustainability section of Vista 2040.

In my 28 August comment submission, I stated “I recommend the Public Services and Facilities goal of enhanced public facilities usage guidelines that promote public safety and cooperation in the sharing of public facilities.” The rest of the paragraph explained my reasoning and provided some suggestions on how to provide this. Recently I was told that the leadership of Parks, Recreation and Library Services indicated they had not heard the public raise any safety concerns related to city multiuse paths and trails. Perhaps they misunderstood or maybe I have. However, to be sure I will share some city multiuse paths and trails related safety issues that have been raised by the public. The most recent I am aware of is the use of eBikes on Garden Canyon Linear Park trails and the city’s multiuse paths. For example, how could people on eBikes using a trail or multiuse path safely interact with people walking/running with or without pets? The City Council passed City Ordinance updates that were created based upon Parks and Recreation Committee proposals and a survey. Around 2018 the Parks and Recreation Committee was approached with safety concerns relating to how bikers, walkers/runners and horseback riders could safely share the Garden Canyon Linear Park trails and how trail users could safely cross St Andrews and Cherokee. The Parks and Recreation Committee addressed the trail sharing safety issue by posting signage showing the nationally recognized guidelines for trail sharing. As for the street crossing safety issue, further research revealed the current level of usage did not meet the guidelines the city uses for crosswalk signage/markings. There are other examples I am aware of, but I hope this is enough to show that safety concerns have been raised.

This is a detail that might not be appropriate for inclusion in the VISTA 2040 General Plan, but I would ask the appropriate city staff(s) to reconsider the safety issues in crossing at least St Andrews and hopefully Cheroke as part of the process of developing Roadrunner Park. I would think the anticipated increased desire of bikers, walkers/runners and possibly horseback riders to cross these streets once the park is partially or fully developed could justify street crossing markings/signage and certainly should be considered and monitored.

This city could so much benefit from a recycling center that would benefit the economy and society. Recycling not only saves energy and reduces landfill waste, the recycling would creates jobs and helps our local economy. Even if it was just 2x a month pick up.

William has made good comments regarding recyling and multiuse path improvements.
I add:
The path along BST from St Andrews light to Fry light should be continuous. Encourage walkers and bikers and runners!! Add fog lines and a center line to the path for visibility in the winter especially (reflective paint please). The path should be continuous from CAL Ranch all along the bypass (but separated!!) through the Coronado light and westward to the Post -- preferably on the east/north side of the bypass, again including reflective paint lines for visibility in the dark.
Those of us who would like to use feet and pedal transportation could use some help out here. The city is not that big and it's great to be able to get from one side to the other and back in a safe manner. I admire the bike repair stands at either end of the golf course paralleling path. We could also use a drinking fountain. It would be great if all the drinking fountains currently in place at the parks would be turned on in the spring. I notice most of them don't work, and have the 'turned off for winter' signs on them even in the middle of the summer.
Have the police swing by the play fields along Tacoma east of the library as they leave the police HQ beginning and end of shift. Many people are starting to use those play fields as their own personal dog parks. Nip that behavior in the bud before it gets out of hand and the kids have to dodge and slide around in dog poop.
Have the City public works and parks people show initiative in cleaning up trash along roadways and parks. So much garbage gets blown around by the wind and it shows Zero Pride in the City when the employees just drive right past it multiple times a day. Address grafiti as soon as it's noticed. Address code issues as soon as they are noticed. Don't wait for a citizen complaint. Make sure the landscape irrigation systems that are already installed WORK. I see so many broken black irrigation tubes along MLK, along Ave Cochise, in front of the Police Station, etc. We plant those lovely and expensive plants and then they die of thirst because the maintenance doesn't happen.
I admire the solar parking at the library, city HQ, and the Cove. It should be put in place at all City and School District lots. I hope retail will follow suit.
Some good starts have been made. Now follow through. SV is a great place to live & retire. Thank you.

IMHO I think Sierra Vista should be striving to NOT be like other cities of the same size. Identify the existing problems than simply have local government get out of the way. I proposed a nice idea to memorialize 9/11. A citywide 1:00 of silence across the whole of Sierra Vista, stop in traffic, stop talking, stop everything and just remember the moment our lives all changed. Be the first city in America to do it. Have a community group actually be empowered to meet with the major and other city leaders to make Sierra Vista a different, better more non-PC place to live. Look at alternative events that might be geared for a certain section of the populace instead 1/2 assed attempts at pleasing all citizens. I would gladly sit on that committee.

Can we please revitalize Nancy Hakes Park? It is so ugly and only attracts shady activity. It's literally the worst city park by far and has needed a facelift for years!

Stronger dark sky policies

I would like the city to develop the capability of recycling

When is this city going to start repaving the streets in this town? We need to stop pouring our limited resources into a failing west end project and fix our infrastructure.

I understand that this is the highest-level Sierra Vista planning document that will include broad goals in each of the identified areas, so that plans and policies can be developed to move these broad goals forward. However, this document should also include as appendices all the “master plans” the city staff is currently using to develop more detailed implementation plans. The VISTA 2030 did this and it makes sense to continue this great. The Veterans Memorial Park Master Plan was included as an appendix, for example. This will help ensure the master plans continue to support VISTA 2040, as they can be reviewed for consistency with VISTA 2040, and if all the valid current master plans are included, they will serve as an easy reference and eliminate any confusion as to which master plans are still valid and should be used by the city’s staff. In the case of the Public Services and Facilities goal, I would think that the Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2021-2032 and the Garden Canyon Linear Park Master Plan should be included as appendices, for example. Other examples would be the Safe Bicycle and Pedestrian Routes Plan in support of the Connectivity goal and the Tribute Specific Plan and Architectural and Design Guidelines in support of the Community Growth & Development goal.

Now for goals for the five general areas outlined in the YouTube videos explaining VISTA 2040. I think the elimination of all county enclaves and the annexation of areas next to Sierra Vista that are more urban in nature should be a Community Growth & Development goal. The city has worked on eliminating county enclaves, but there is more work that needs to be done. In addition, there are areas next to Sierra Vista that are more urban, so they could easily fit into the city. Their occupants might want lower property taxes and better services the city has to offer. Some examples of these urban-like areas are the Mountain Shadows phases south of the city and Rancho Carmela north of the city.

I recommend the Public Services and Facilities goal of enhanced public facilities usage guidelines that promote public safety and cooperation in the sharing of public facilities. As the public facilities like parks and multi-use paths/trails/equipment (e.g., swings, slides) become more crowded the risk of accidents and friction over the sharing of multi-use public facilities will increase. These risks could be mitigated by the development of generally accepted safe use and shared use guidelines. These guidelines could be presented to the public in various forms, such as educational brochures and videos, signage, lettering on pathways, etc. If the safety risk was high enough, then enforceable ordinances could be considered.

I recommend the Connectivity goal of ensuring there are linked multi-use paths and park trails within each larger residential development that are also linked to the current and planned Sierra Vista multi-use path and park trail plan. Now that development has begun within Tribute, this goal is important so that the city continues to expand on the great work that has already been done. The Tribute Specific Plan was developed in 2006, so this plan should be reevaluated to ensure it meets this new goal. Alignment with this goal would increase the value of the homes in Tribute while enhancing the livability of Sierra Vista.

I recommend the Environmental Sustainability and/or Economic Vitality goal of purchasing all the private water companies within the city. The city tried unsuccessfully to purchase at least one private water company in the past. I believe this objective should not be lost sight of in the future. With ownership of the city’s water supply, the city could better regulate water usage within the city. This would be good for the environment, would lower water usage and the resultant sewage treatment requirements, and help ensure that Fort Huachuca or city expansion was not negatively impacted.

Any development approved should be oriented with transit (transit-oriented development). It is not to exclude single family housing developments, but any development needs to be supported and built in with bike paths and public transportation options.

Sierra Vista needs a recycling center. There used to be one, but was removed. And then a local handled the recycling (Bolstering Buffalo), but they sold to a Utah company (Recyclops). The quality of service has dropped, and they add to the waste stream by requiring plastic bags around the recycling.
Sierra Vista should offer recycling, and have the recycling in-house (not sent to another city/country). This recycled material could be provided back to local producers and low/no-cost, reducing virgin material consumption.