Tucson Region
County hopes to buy, save Hohokam site
By Andrea Kelly
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona
| Published: 07.04.2009
Pima County hopes to capitalize on the low land values hitting commercial investors now as it tries to secure state funds to buy 67 acres on the Southwest Side for preservation.
The county wants a state grant to purchase the archaeologically rich Valencia Site, near West Valencia Road and Interstate 19, most of which it will preserve. A small portion will be used for public education.
The site includes about 1,800 Hohokam pithouses and represents about 500 years of Hohokam occupation. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and contains the last in-tact Hohokam ball courts in the urban Tucson area, said Roger Anyon, a county Cultural Resources program manager.
The county found the cultural remnants on the site while excavating on the north end of the property for a Pima Community College building and has charted detailed surface maps of the site, Anyon said.
"We can estimate accurately what is in this site based on previous research," he said.
Researchers say the more than 6,000 archaeological features include two Hohokam plazas, domestic residences and close to 1,000 cremated remains.
It's also an important place for the Tohono O'odham Nation, which recognizes it as an ancestral site.
Once the county purchases it, it wants to secure the property and leave it undisturbed.
"It's in excellent condition," Anyon said. "The site has such great archaeological value and such great cultural value to Tohono O'odham that preservation is by far the best thing that we could do with the site."
There is some potential for a small public demonstration area, said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
Specifics of the public education component haven't been planned yet but will be part of the site, he said.
"The site has got more archaeological resources than Tumamoc but less scientific importance than Tumamoc. It's very important," he said.
The state land would be purchased with 2004 bond funding and a matching state grant, Huckelberry said.
The county's estimate for the land is between $500,000 and $1.5 million, though the land hasn't been appraised recently, he said.
Asking the state for a public auction always leaves open the risk of a higher bidder, but Huckelberry said he thinks the probability of being outbid is lower now than in recent years.
By asking the state to auction the site last fall, the county started the lengthy acquisition process and became eligible to apply for the Arizona State Parks Growing Smarter grant, which will supplement the local bond funding. The county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the application at its Tuesday meeting.
The site was scheduled to go to auction in 2003, but the state land department and Pima County decided not to go forward with the process after a legal challenge to the Arizona Preserve Initiative, which allows preservation of state land. Many state land auctions were put on hold because of the lawsuit, said Jamie Hogue, deputy director of the State Land Department.
Growing Smarter grants are available through the state parks board for urban land conservation, Hogue said. The grants are funded with state lottery proceeds, she said
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Contact reporter Andrea Kelly at 807-7790 or
akelly@azstarnet.com 