Effort underway to put San Tan Valley incorporation on ballot

San Tan Valley residents have taken the first steps toward putting the question of incorporation on the ballot after a victory at the Legislature eliminated the veto power of neighbors.

The Vote San Tan Valley Steering Committee filed its petition and proposed boundary map with the Pinal County Board of Supervisors on October 6. From there, volunteers have 180 days to collect signatures from 10 percent of the voting population within the proposed boundaries.

If the committee is successful, incorporation will be put to a vote.

“Even for people who are saying they don’t want to incorporate, they should still sign to get it on the ballot,” said Candice Steelman, a volunteer handling the committee’s public relations and marketing. “Let’s have a vote once and for all – because if it doesn’t get on the ballot, this idea of incorporation isn’t going to die.”

Some vocal residents have fought for years for the vote on incorporation, but they were blocked by a law that gave neighboring cities veto power.

Tisha Castillo was the champion for the cause at the Capitol.

She said she spent every day of session at the Legislature since 2014 – though this year, the session effectively ended for her cause on February 21 when Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill creating a very specific exemption to existing legislation.

Under the new law, the unincorporated area first had to have at least 15,000 residents. San Tan Valley eclipsed that requirement with an estimated population over 100,000.

And the proposed new city had to be larger than those that would normally have veto power. That nullified the veto power of nearby Florence and Apache Junction, which had been effective opponents in the past.

“San Tan Valley has to be able to decide for itself what it wants to look like,” Castillo said.

She said much of the opposition from neighboring communities was about the financial impact San Tan Valley incorporation would have on their budgets and how it would impact their own plans for expansion.

But that rang hollow to Castillo. She said residents have paid millions in taxes that ultimately benefitted communities that weren’t their own, and developers shied away from putting their time and money into the area.

“If you’re going to put millions of dollars into a project and you don’t know what that property is going to look like in two or three years, that’s kind of intimidating,” Castillo said.

Castillo and Steelman agree the biggest opposition force is misinformation.

Steelman said you only have to look as far as Facebook to see that the committee has a lot of work to do to educate voters.