TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Tucson City Council addressed traffic safety and a land conveyance agreement during Tuesday's meeting, with both topics drawing significant attention from council members and community members alike.
Council member Miranda Schubert highlighted recent traffic fatality data.
"On August 17th, and this was just confirmed very early this morning, there was a fatality after a two vehicle crash in midtown and pedestrian deaths are double what they were this time last year, so we're at 22 so far," Shubert said.
The council also took up Item 7n on the consent agenda — the Conveyance of City-Owned Property to the U.S. Air Force.
According to the Mayor & Council Communication document, the city-owned property near Air Force Plant 44 is requested to be transferred to support the continued buffering, security, and potential operational growth of Air Force Plant 44 and Raytheon’s operations at the Raytheon Airport Site.
Community member and Marine Corps veteran Gerald Montag, spoke out against transferring the land without compensation, saying he supports the military but believes the arrangement is unfair to Tucson residents.
"I understand the federal government wants their land, they're gonna take it," he said. "But the federal government that will slash funds for community aid programs and allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to wars nobody wants, can't afford to give us a fair price?"
The item was pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion. Schubert raised questions about the Air Force's intentions for the property.
"Why is the Air Force requesting the property now? Is there a specific expansion contemplated or is this simply preserving the possibility of future expansion?" Schubert said.
City Manager Tim Thomure explained that the City of Tucson and Raytheon agreed in 2016 that the city would acquire more than 297 acres of land surrounding Raytheon's facilities and would keep the land available in case Raytheon needed room to expand in the future – and that time has come.
"We know that any expansion would be related to the business of RTX/Raytheon. I will answer the question you haven't asked yet, but maybe you're planning to ask, is this a data center? The answer is no," Thomure said.
The property to be conveyed is 212 acres, according to Roi Lusk, the city attorney.
The city purchased the larger property in 2020 for $6.47 million using funds from a special Raytheon-related account that was created in 2009. Thomure said no money would flow to the city as a result of the agreement, given the source of the original funds.
"There's no monetary consideration directly because the funds were derived from the recipient in the first place, but an expansion at that site is expected to generate a large number of high-paying jobs," Thomure said.
If mayor and council did not agree to approve the conveyance, the City would have to pay Raytheon $6.47 million.
"So in any case, I would always say the mayor and council has discretion, but in this particular case, the funds that we used were tied to that parcel. So if we did not provide that parcel to Raytheon, we would have to pay that money back," Lusk said.
Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz asked Lusk, whether Raytheon pay property taxes and if the parcel being transferred would generate property taxes.
"There are multiple levels of property that are related to Raytheon. The federal property does not pay property taxes because it's federal property. It's the same with Pima County property. They don't pay us property taxes. There's a small portion of the area I believe is still within city control, and that doesn't pay us property taxes because it's ours," Lusk said.
"Once it goes to them, it's owned by a private entity, and it's not owned by the federal government. It'll be property taxes."
After a detailed discussion, the item passed 4–2, Nikki Lee recused herself from voting.
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