Warning period will be Monday through Sunday

After some false starts, Pima County’s 10 speed limit enforcement camera systems will be activated Monday and used to issue warnings to violators through Sunday.

After that, accused speeders with vehicle license plates caught on camera who can be positively identified will be mailed tickets by American Traffic Solutions Inc. of Scottsdale, the county’s contracted vendor for the program.

Drivers at the camera locations will notice strobe lights flashing starting Friday during a three-day test period of the camera system. No warnings or tickets will be issued during the test phase.

The speed limit enforcement program was approved by the Pima County Board of Supervisors this year as a pilot program that will be reviewed later in the year.

The camera locations were selected by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department based on incidences of speeding and crashes.

The 10 sites accounted for 26 percent of all speeding tickets issued by the Sheriff’s Department in 2008 and more than 4,100 crashes over the past three years.

Activation was delayed for about two months while the vendor fine-tuned the system for accuracy.

The locations are:

• North La Cholla near West Sunset Road

• South Mission Road near West Grubstake Drive

• East Ina Road near North Camino de las Candelas

• North Swan Road near East Calle Barril

• East Valencia Road near South Wilmot Road

• West Ruthrauff Road near West Rillito Street

• West Valencia near South Camino de la Tierra

• South Alvernon Way near South Station Master Drive

• East River Road near North Country Club Road

• South Nogales Highway near East Hermans Road

Forty-two months is the milestone date for the Plaza Centro project at the east end of downtown, as described in the city development agreement with developer Jim Campbell.

In those 3 1/2 years, the city pledges to design and build a roughly 375-space parking garage, while Campbell gets his 2.47-acre residential-and-commercial project ready to start construction as soon as the garage is finished.

Campbell, president of OasisTucson, a local development company, proposes to build 100 to 150 residential units targeted toward university students and 40,000 square feet of commercial space on two plots of land bisected by Congress Street. One lot is the former Greyhound lot just east of the Rialto Theatre and the other is across Congress just south of the Fourth Avenue underpass.

The City Council scrutinized the project in a Tuesday study session, with formal approval of the development agreement expected May 19.

Either the city or Campbell can terminate the contract if the 42-month tasks are not completed. However, the agreement spells out that Campbell “will not be deemed to be in breach . . . if developer is unable to secure financing . . . on commercially reasonable terms” as long as he resolves financing within two years of the garage’s completion.

Campbell would pay the appraised value for the land, which an appraiser will determine in the next 90 days. There is no preliminary inkling what the land is worth, said Lou Ginsberg, the city’s real estate program director.

The three-level garage would cost an estimated $3.5 million to $5 million and would potentially be funded with a revenue bond, City Attorney Mike Rankin and ParkWise coordinator Chris Leighton said.

Council members Regina Romero and Karin Uhlich were concerned about spending money on a public garage as the city is wrestling with a huge budget deficit.

“I think it’s proper to have a Plan B for that garage,” Romero said.

City Manager Mike Letcher, Leighton and the City Attorney’s Office will meet in the coming week to determine the financial feasibility of the garage.

“If it doesn’t pencil out, we don’t build a garage,” Assistant City Attorney Chris Avery said.

Leighton said in an interview that a 2004 parking study revealed that downtown has a shortage of about 1,000 spaces east of Stone Avenue and north of Broadway.

Campbell expects to invest $25 million to build three four-story housing structures – two on the Greyhound plot and one atop the garage – with a variety of commercial space on street level that could include a gym, retail, services and an Underpass Cafe. There would be walkways along all three sides, Campbell said.

The Plaza Centro project has been in the works for nearly four years, but has been on hold while the neighboring Fourth Avenue underpass was under construction.

In the meantime, Campbell was part of the brief life of the Downtown Tucson Development Co., which brought together financier Scott Stiteler, Williams & Dame Development and Campbell to master plan east downtown development from Sixth Street to Armory Park.

The partnership collapsed within two months earlier this year, Williams & Dame left town, and Stiteler and Campbell are independently negotiating development agreements. Stiteler’s involves Depot Plaza and its One North Fifth Apartments, the Rialto Block and the Ronstadt Transit Center.

“We could not come to terms on how we could work together,” Campbell said.

Eastbound Interstate 8 just west of Interstate 10 will be closed briefly Wednesday night to install an overhead message board.

The state Department of Transportation will restrict eastbound I-8 to one lane starting at 9 p.m. Wednesday and about 1 a.m. Thursday will close all eastbound lanes for about a half hour, an ADOT news release said.

All lane restrictions will be lifted at 5 a.m., the release said.

Traffic backs up at Campbell Avenue and Allen Road on Tuesday as Tucson Water Department employees work on a waterline break. The water supply was disrupted to two shopping centers and an apartment complex.

An 8-inch waterline break beneath Campbell Avenue was repaired by 11 p.m. Tuesday and Campbell was opened for traffic in both directions shortly after that.

Tucson Water Department spokesman Fernando Molina said Wednesday that the road was closed after a line running under the middle of the street broke Tuesday afternoon for an undetermined reason.

He said the water supply to a shopping center and to an apartment complex on Campbell was interrupted by the waterline break about 1:30 p.m.

Water service was restored late Tuesday to the shopping center and to the apartment dwellers, Molina said.

City employees distributed water to residents and businesses in the area.

The westbound on-ramp to I-10 is open at Miracle Mile but the eastbound on-ramp there remains closed.

The great Interstate 10 bottleneck between 29th Street and Prince Road will become less restrictive in the coming weeks as the westbound Grant Road and Speedway access ramps open.

The Arizona Department of Transportation last week opened the Miracle Mile westbound access ramp to freeway-bound vehicles, and officials plan on doing the same at Speedway and Grant in four to five weeks.

Motorists have been prevented by barricades from exiting or entering the interstate between 29th and Prince since ADOT’s $200 million widening of the freeway to eight lanes began in earnest in June 2007.

The project is running slightly ahead of schedule, an on budget, and is expected to be completed in December, Rod Lane, project engineer for ADOT, said Monday.

Lane said only some westbound access ramps will be opened before the project’s completion.

That means that motorists looking to travel downtown and to Tucson’s West Side will continue to exit to frontage roads north of Prince Road and at 29th Street for the duration of work.

The project also includes the construction of new, taller overpasses above cross streets.

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ADOT I-10 widening pages:

www.i10tucsondistrict.com/29toP.html

www.i10tucsondistrict.com/FactSheets/I10-Closure-Fact%20Sheet-2009.pdf

Merchants: Customers avoid us; agents cite improved security

Border Patrol agent Alex Pulliza waves through northbound traffic on Interstate 19. Arizona uses random Border Patrol checkpoints, while Texas, New Mexico and California have permanent checkpoints.

GREEN VALLEY – Local business owners say a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19 north of Tubac is killing tourism, putting residents in harm’s way and costing millions of dollars in home sales.

But Border Patrol officials credit the checkpoint with helping them seize tons of illegal drugs, make hundreds of arrests and boost security in the area.

Opposition to the checkpoint has heated up since an expansion was announced last week.

“The checkpoint is a safety hazard to the communities north and south of us,” said Carol Cullen, executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce.

Cullen is concerned that smugglers looking to get around the checkpoint are driven up the Santa Cruz River, Anza Trail or along railroad tracks and gas lines, pushing them closer to homes and people.

The “temporary” checkpoint has been in place since 2007, when a rule requiring the Border Patrol to change sites every two weeks and championed by former U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe expired.

In June, the Border Patrol will add $1.5 million in “interim” facilities that include a modular building, outdoor lighting and a canopy to protect agents and their search dogs from heat, rain and wind.

A planned $27 million permanent checkpoint could be years off, but its funding is included in the 2008-09 fiscal year budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

Mike Scioli, a spokesman for the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol, understands the opposition but points out that many residents are thankful for the “second layer of defense” against smugglers and other criminals.

Recently, the sector reported a decrease in arrests at the checkpoint, “which means it’s working,” Scioli said.

Even with a decrease, the numbers are formidable: From October 2008 through March 2009, agents at the checkpoint seized 19,000 pounds of marijuana and made more than 300 arrests, Scioli said.

Out of 20 sectors in the United States, the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector is the busiest, accounting for more than 50 percent of marijuana seizures and 44 percent of all arrests, he said.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Scioli said.

After two years of having the temporary checkpoint in place, some business owners in the quaint, historical town of Tubac still eye it with disdain.

The Crowe’s Nest clothing boutique owner David Camet said he relies heavily on shoppers from communities north of the checkpoint. He said some customers, especially those from Green Valley, have called the checkpoint an inconvenience.

“People only come in now if they have to,” Camet said. “They don’t come to browse and enjoy a shopping day because they don’t want to have to wait 20 minutes in a line of cars to get home.”

Gary Hembree, owner of Old Presidio Traders, said the checkpoint has “done nothing to help business during these hard economic times.”

He said he has had Canadian customers ask if a passport is needed to get back through the checkpoint, and added that it creates an atmosphere of apprehension and confusion that drives away return customers.

But Don Stout of Tucson, who was shopping in Tubac last week with out-of-town company, said driving through the checkpoint doesn’t bother him.

“The checkpoint makes me feel secure,” Stout said. “I don’t think it should scare anybody, unless they have something to hide.”

Real estate agents said they have lost millions of dollars in sales because of the checkpoint.

“I’ve had people tell me, ‘I’m not going to drive through that thing every day,’ or that Tubac seems like a high-crime area,” said Zachary Freeland, director of new home sales for Brasher Realty in Tubac.

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Seven people died in 2008 midair collision near Flagstaff

FLAGSTAFF – A federal probe into the midair collision of two medical helicopters near a northern Arizona hospital that killed seven people last year places the blame on both pilots.

The pilots failed to see and avoid each other, a primary pilot responsibility, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report released on Friday.

Contributing to that error were one pilot’s failure to contact the hospital’s communications center as required and the other pilot’s decision to approach from the south instead of along the normal flight path from the east.

“Ultimately when any pilot is operating in an environment like that where the airspace is uncontrolled, the mantra is ‘see and avoid,’ ” said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The crash was among a series of nine medical chopper crashes since December 2007 that killed 35 people and led to increased scrutiny of the industry by federal regulators. The NTSB has pushed for better pilot training, night vision goggles and warning systems, but those recommendations have not been implemented.

The two helicopters were approaching Flagstaff Medical Center on the afternoon of June 29, each carrying a patient. They hit about a half-mile from the hospital and crashed into a forested area. All seven aboard the two aircraft died.

The report said the pilots were probably focused on landing in the seconds before they collided and never knew the other was in the area.

The medical center doesn’t have flight controllers, and it’s up to the pilots to watch each other as they approach.

An examination of the wreckage showed no evidence of structural, engine or system failures.

Next week’s work to affect underpasses along 4 major streets

The Arizona Department of Transportation has scheduled the following closures along the Interstate 10 construction project in Tucson:

• The right lane of eastbound I-10 from Prince Road to St. Mary’s Road will be closed Saturday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

• The eastbound frontage road from Miracle Mile to 29th Street will have intermittent lane closures Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and 7 p.m.-6 a.m.

• The left two lanes of the eastbound frontage road at Congress Street will be closed Monday, 9 p.m.-midnight

• The westbound frontage road from 29th Street to Miracle Mile will have intermittent lane closures Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and 7 p.m.-6 a.m.

• Grant Road at the I-10 underpass will have lane closures Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Speedway Boulevard at the I-10 underpass will have lane closures Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• St. Mary’s Road at the I-10 underpass will have lane closures Monday-Wednesday, 8 p.m.-6 a.m.

• St. Mary’s Road at the I-10 underpass will be closed Thursday, 8 p.m.-6 a.m.

• Congress Street at the I-10 underpass will have daily lane closures Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Eastbound Congress Street at the I-10 underpass will be closed Monday, 3-6 a.m.

• Congress Street at the I-10 underpass will be closed Monday-Wednesday 8 p.m.-6 a.m. and 9 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. May 18.

A group of Phoenix area homebuyers says builder KB Home and its exclusive lender Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, developed a scheme to sell homes at peak market prices even after real-estate values began to decline.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix contends the builder and lender engaged in systematic appraisal-rigging to inflate by thousands of dollars the value of new homes sold since 2006. The plaintiffs, seven KB Home customers in Buckeye and Surprise, say the practice has cost customers millions of dollars and contributed to the recent flood of loan defaults and foreclosures.

KB Home and BofA representatives said they had not seen the complaint as of Thursday and could not comment.

The lawsuit arrives amid widespread resentment directed at lenders for practices perceived as predatory and at home buyers for taking on more debt than they could realistically afford. It is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed in Arizona and across the country to try to assess blame in the wake of the worst housing meltdown since the Great Depression.

In exchange for its participation with KB Home, Countrywide and its appraisal-management subsidiary, LandSafe, were made the exclusive providers of real-estate settlement services for KB Home, the suit says. They earned thousands of dollars per customer in loan-origination, title-insurance, appraisal and escrow fees.

The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status to add thousands more KB Home buyers nationwide. In the Southwest alone, at least 14,000 KB Home-built houses have been sold since 2006, the complaint says.

Inflated appraisals?

Many critics of the lending industry say inflated appraisals contributed to the nation’s economic crisis. The industry’s shift toward selling off mortgage loans as securities to investment brokers made lenders less concerned about the accuracy of appraisals, the critics contend, just as the rise of new incentives for mortgage brokers gave them more reasons to push risky loans on buyers.

Homebuilders sold their homes for higher prices, the banks profited from making and selling loans, and the mortgage brokers benefited from earning more commissions.

Some appraisers have said that they had to choose between playing along or losing the bulk of their business.

The Phoenix-area residents’ complaint, filed by their lawyer, Robert Carey, a former Arizona assistant attorney general, says the plaintiffs cannot be held responsible for their own lack of due diligence because participants in the homebuying transactions who presented themselves as disinterested third parties actually were in on the scheme.

That includes appraisers “who were under direct instruction to value homes at their contract price and were hand-fed inappropriate – if not outright false – comparable properties to use in completing their appraisals,” the complaint says. Reports written by different appraisers who should not have been communicating with each other or with KB Home relied upon the same “unverified information and patently faulty methodology,” the complaint says.

The complaint cites three common elements to the appraisals.

The first was “improper selection of distant, dissimilar properties” when there were “numerous available neighboring, identical comparable sales that would have revealed lower value.”

In addition, the complaint says, the appraisals contained identical “false and misleading statements regarding market factors and conditions” that ignored known facts about the housing market’s downward trajectory after 2005.

The third sign of a problem, the complaint says, was the use of pending KB Home sales as a basis for appraised value, “even when no sale was actually pending because the ostensible buyer had abandoned the transaction.”

On a more fundamental level, the complaint argues that the use of pending transactions raises a red flag because such information “would only have been known to KB Home” and the appraisers were not supposed to be conferring at all with the builder.

Other lawsuits

The lawsuit is the second filed against Countrywide and LandSafe this year by Carey’s law firm, Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, which also filed a similar case in Phoenix against Wells Fargo and its appraisal-management firm, Rels Valuation, in February.

A Wells Fargo representative said at the time that the lender’s process for obtaining home-loan proposals is legitimate.

Appraisers in Idaho filed a still-pending lawsuit in October against Countrywide, claiming the lender had pressured them to manipulate appraisals. A Countrywide representative at the time said that the lawsuit was without merit.

And a recent investigation of appraisals by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo prompted federally sponsored lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to adopt new standards this month for the way appraisals are conducted.

The newest lawsuit describes the financial impact of KB Home and Countrywide’s appraisal maneuvers as “staggering.”

It contends that price inflation by the builder and lender is an average of $20,000 per home, which would have cost consumers $280 million in the Southwest region alone.

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Transaction process for home sales under fire

Participants in home-sales transactions at all levels have faced accusations of manipulating the process. Here’s a look at how it should work and what can go wrong.

Appraisers

What they do: Establish a property’s fair market value, which is used by banks as the basis for issuing a mortgage loan.

The right way: Produce an independent property-value estimate based on recent similar-sale transactions.

The wrong way: Seek out recent transactions that justify a predetermined price and ignore transactions that conflict with the desired price.

Lenders

What they do: Approve or deny a mortgage loan based on a property’s assessed value and the anticipated ability of a borrower to repay the loan.

The right way: Rely on independent appraisals to determine a prudent loan amount for a given property.

The wrong way: Pressure appraisers to set the value of a property at an amount desired by the loan broker or property seller.

Home builders

What they do: Sell new homes based on current market value.

The right way: Establish a sale price based on an independent appraiser’s estimated valuation.

The wrong way: Pressure the lender or appraiser to set estimated property value at a predetermined amount.

Source: The Arizona Republic

An anticipated crush of new housing on the Southwest Side over the next 25 years has Pima County officials prepping to ensure that development will help pay for the costs of infrastructure improvements.

County engineers have come up with an 83-page Southwest Infrastructure Plan to project transportation capital improvements that will be needed to accommodate an estimated 44,600 new homes in an area bordered by Tucson Mountain Park, Mission and Sandario roads, and the boundary of the Tohono O’odham San Xavier District.

Much of the open space is state trust land, which by law must be sold or leased at auction to the highest bidders – almost always private development interests.

On June 2, the Pima County Board of Supervisors will discuss the establishment of a Southwest Benefit Area, a specific geographical area in which development impact fees collected from builders must be spent on transportation projects made necessary by new growth.

A typical development impact fee for a new single-family home would be about $10,220, according the Southwest Infrastructure Plan.

Creation of a Southwest Benefit Area will involve revising boundaries for the existing San Xavier and Avra Valley benefit areas.

Board members also will direct planning staff to look at existing benefit areas for possible amendments to boundaries, needed projects, project costs and changes to existing fees.

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On the Web

Pima County Development Impact Fee Benefit Areas

www.dot.pima.gov/transsys/impactfees

PHOENIX — The latest AAA fuel gauge report show gasoline prices in Arizona are the lowest in the nation.

The AAA says drivers here paid an average of just $1.94 a gallon on Friday compared to a national average of $2.17.

Phoenix drivers have it best of all, paying just $1.87 a gallon. Tucson – and Pima County – drivers were paying $1.91 Friday.

The highest price in the nation, as usual, is paid by drivers in Alaska and Hawaii. Drivers in the Aloha State are forking over $2.50 for a gallon of regular, while those in Alaska are paying $2.60.

The seaport of Guaymas, Son., shown in a 2005 file photo, could be an important part of making Tucson an international port.

Tucson could be a major international transportation hub, but if the city’s serious about that, there should be one person in charge, the region’s economic development group said in a recent report.

Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, or TREO, advocates the hiring of an inland port director and creating a new organization whose mission would be to advance “Puerto Nuevo.”

The director’s salary would be paid by business contributions, said Sarah Smallhouse, who headed the advisory committee that helped write the report. “Think of it sort of like a trade association,” she said.

The idea – in the works since 2005 – is to use Tucson’s logistically convenient geography to its economic advantage.

The city sits at the intersection of east-west and north-south interstates I-10 and I-19 and a similar convergence of rail lines.

About 72,000 of the city’s jobs are already in the transportation sector, the report states.

But to be a major player, TREO says, the city needs to look at improvements related to to trucking, air freight and ocean access.

Key components of TREO’s plan involve building an I-10 bypass, setting up a larger rail yard near Marana and improving infrastructure connecting Tucson to the seaport of Guaymas, Mexico.

The report also recommends the development of food processing plants because of the tons of Mexican agricultural products shipped daily through the city.

Most of the related development is anticipated along Valencia Road.

Smallhouse said the project is realistic despite the recession and should be the domain of business owners, not government.

A paid director could coordinate the work of a volunteer board, she said, characterizing the port as likely more “virtual” or “promotional” than “bricks and mortar.”

That was music to the ears of the City Council, in the midst of a budget process that will undoubtedly involve millions of dollars in both spending cuts and new taxes.

“I think this is really wonderful,” Councilman Steve Leal said. “There could be all kinds of jobs in this.”

Laura Shaw, TREO’s vice president of corporate and community affairs, said the process of hiring an inland port director had not yet begun.

The public has until May 27 to offer its thoughts on the next set of transportation improvements for Pima County.

The Pima Association of Governments will accept public comments on $1.5 million in regional improvements scheduled to start construction or design in the next five years.

The improvements are part of the federally mandated Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP.

The plan is scheduled to be presented for final PAG approval at its meeting on May 28.

The draft TIP document and comment sheets are available for public comment at PAGnet.org or at the following locations:

• PAG offices, 177 N. Church Ave., Suite 405

• Tucson, South Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita city engineers’ offices

• Pima County Department of Transportation, 201 N. Stone Ave., seventh floor

• Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham tribal offices

• All branches of the Pima County library system

For more information, call 792-1093.

Destories

PHOENIX — Speed-enforcement vans are back on Arizona highways for the first time following the killing of a van operator last month.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Jim Warriner said Tuesday that the vans began being phased back onto roadways Monday.

He said he does not know how many vans are out snapping the photos of speeders or when all of them will be up and running again.

Warriner declined to say whether people were inside the vans, citing safety issues. He said only that “the technology is out there that has allowed us to move forward.”

“We’re comfortable that the van operators and the vans will be protected,” he said.

Thomas Patrick Destories, 68, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Doug Georgianni, 51, who was operating a speed-enforcement van on a Phoenix freeway when he was killed.

Authorities haven’t said what they believe the motive might be, but said the two men had never met.

The speed vans were pulled from Arizona freeways the day after the killing; fixed cameras never stopped operating.

Warriner said late last month that DPS was working with camera operator RedFlex Traffic Systems Inc. to decide how the vans would operate in the future, and that they could be unmanned.

The photo-enforcement program was launched under former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. Civil violations are punishable by a fine and surcharges totaling $181.

Georgianni is survived by his wife Jean, his parents, and six brothers and sisters.

General Growth Properties included Tucson Mall in its bankruptcy filings, but lenders say the mall is financially stable.

NEW YORK – A group of lenders accused shopping mall operator General Growth Properties of including eight properties in its bankruptcy filing that do not need court protection.

The shopping centers, including the Tucson Mall in Arizona and the Stonestown Mall in San Francisco, are financially stable and do not need to be rehabilitated through a Chapter 11 reorganization, according to a filing Monday by ING Clarion Capital Loan Services LLC, a loan administrator.

The creditors claimed General Growth had “swept” the properties into bankruptcy to benefit from their slightly better financial condition.

General Growth filed for protection from creditors last month in the largest U.S. real estate bankruptcy case in history. The Chicago-based real estate investment trust has $27 billion in debts.

Malls in other cities are in Bakersfield and Visalia, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Lancaster, Pa.; Bartlesville, Okla.; and Murray, Utah.

“When a debtor has no current need for relief under the bankruptcy code, its case should be dismissed under the rubric of a ‘bad faith’ filing,” court papers read.

General Growth Properties Inc. spokesman David Keating said he had no comment because he had not yet seen ING’s request.