TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Decommissioned over a decade ago and now plans are in the works to finally revamp the estimated 45 acre Roger Road Wastewater Reclamation Facility (WRF) on the Westside near Sweetwater Wetlands Park and along the Santa Cruz River.
It was replaced by the state-of-the-art Agua Nueva Reclamation Facility.
It allows Pima County to meet new strict environmental standards for effluent discharges into the Santa Cruz River.
The Roger Road WRF has not been in use since December 2013 and this facility dates back to the 1950’s.
What once received, treated, and disposed of millions of gallons per day of sanitary sewage, could now be useful in other ways.
Pima County is engaging with the community to envision what may come next for this property.
Kimberly Baeza, Pima County’s permit and regulatory compliance officer says it has a lot of infrastructure that is difficult to repurpose, but has so much potential.
“So lots could be accomplished here from riparian forest, expansion, urban wildlife habitat,” mentions Baeza.
Some stakeholders have interest in demolishing the infrastructure, while others want to preserve the historic property.
“Community members have expressed an interest in rehabilitating or renovating those to be leased to community groups, small businesses,” says Baeza.
TheSanta Cruz River Refuge Coalitionwould like to see the river protected and transformed into the Santa Cruz River Urban National Wildlife Refuge.
The petition states, “Our vision for an urban national wildlife refuge imagines an archipelago of protected properties along the Santa Cruz River that would offer permanent wildlife habitat and outdoor access. The Tucson land would anchor this “string of pearls,” offering shade, river access, and outdoor education for the neighboring communities.”
Baeza said there is one idea approved already to help bring some color into the facility.
“Some of the proposed uses of at least some of the digester structures are for installation of public art. And so there's already a group, The Wilderness Society, that commissioned an artist, Jessica Gonzales, a local muralist, to install nature themed, Santa Cruz River themed mural on one of the digester tanks that faces the Chuck Huckelberry Loop, so visibility will be really good, and the artwork is just beautiful,” Baeza said.
The county is working with the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) to help bring their plans to life.
“It’s a process they call vision to action. It consists of engaging community, all interested stakeholders, both internal and external to reimagine the site, to come up with conceptual designs for the property,” Baeza explains.
Norman Wright, senior planning and design consultant for the CCLR, led the community workshop Thursday where he revealed two draft concept plans and Westside residents shared their thoughts and concerns.
Barbara Jones has lived in the Westside for 16 years and is an advocate for wildlife. She listened, wrote down notes and shed some insight into the changes that could be happening.
“We need to remember this is part of a larger ecosystem and the area that they’re talking about developing, the areas both north and south of here, all adjacent and to the west, are sensitive environmentally as well as culturally,” said Jones.
Wright said what he learned from the community is that there are plenty of athletic facilities throughout the region, so if that’s not the need to be met, then there are other needs Roger Road WRF can fill.
He said his non-profit organization operates pretty quickly with these types of projects because momentum is going to be everything for Pima County.
“The whole idea again is plans, they’re kind of important but planning is essential and there’s active planning taking place over these next few months to basically give Pima County all the resources that they may need to really get started with the next stage of this restoration,” says Wright.
About half a million dollars Environmental Protection Agency (EP) clean-up grant was awarded to Pima County in 2024 to begin removing lead and asbestos based paint from structures.
“And that is unlocking the potential of the site because it then becomes believable and interesting to people who may want to reuse this because those hazards will have been removed from the property,” Baeza stated.
Funding to redevelop the facility is still needed, which would cost between nine to 12 million dollars.
Baeza said this vision to action process will be very beneficial in the future when applying for grant funding, because they'll have a fairly firm idea of how to redevelop the property in a way that is supported by the community.
The next community workshop will be held on Thursday April 24 from 6-8 p.m. at the Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center.
——
Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
