Actions

Pima Co. buying Foothills homes to tear them down

Buying flood prone homes to reduce flood threat

By: Craig Smith

Posted

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The aftermath of the Bighorn Fire two years ago led to mudslides slamming into some homes along Havasu Road in the Foothills. Now Pima County is considering buying those homes and tearing them down.

Enid Whittaker's home was about knee deep in water and mud last summer. It was the second time her home flooded after the Bighorn Fire.

That fire burned the plants that held in the soil so when a big monsoon hit the side of the mountain a lot of the mountain ended up In Enid’s home and several others.

Now after almost 30 years in her house, Enid is working with a Pima County program that buys flood prone properties, knocks them down and lets the land channel flood water away from other homes.

The County doesn’t condemn the land. It makes an offer. Homeowners can take it, leave it, or negotiate.

“I thought it was too low. My option was to hire an appraiser, which I did. And it came in a lot, a lot higher. And so I passed that on to them this past Monday. And so it'll probably take two to three weeks to get an answer from them. And my belief is that most people want to help other people. And the county people have shown some empathy and care and I expect that they will be fair to me.”

Joe Cuffari of Pima Flood Control says about eight houses in the Havasu Road area are candidates for buy outs. Three homeowners have already agreed to a deal for about two million dollars for the three properties.

KGUN9 reporter Craig Smith asked: “Why should government money go for this?”

Cuffari says, “Government money should go to it because we're removing the threat of that floodplain hazard where there's no construction. There's nobody living there. So first responders don't have to get into that area during times of flooding. Someone doesn't have the threat of their home being flooded, their contents being washed away.”

And Cuffari says buying a home, clearing the land and using it to absorb flood water or carry it away helps other residents by protecting their property from the next big flood.

To be clear these flood problems do not affect every home in the neighborhood. Certain homes have had enough persistent trouble to meet the criteria of the Flood Control purchase program.

Flood Control has taken other steps to reduce flood threat. It has cleared a large area of the Finger Rock Wash to help water flow away from the neighborhoods and avoid backups into homes. A narrow culvert that carries water from the Wash under Skyline Drive is set to be replaced by a culvert many times larger in time for the summer monsoon.

----

STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE