By Anne Gibson
What is this Feasibility Study Incorporate Vail Arizona (?) keeps referring to?
Basically a feasibility study is an assessment of the practicality of a proposed plan or project. A feasibility study analyzes the viability of a project to determine whether the project or venture is likely to succeed. IVA (?)’s feasibility study is to initially gather data by listening to the Vail community on incorporation. This data will then be used to define the incorporation boundaries. The boundary data will be input into a financial analysis whose main purpose is to estimate the ability of the city or town of Vail to meet its expenditures with available revenue sources, or not.
A year ago Incorporate Vail Arizona (?) was founded with ten volunteer community members seeking to know what the community wanted the future Vail to be.
“We developed a multi-faceted plan to listen to people and collect data. The focus remained the same but the sources of data grew and continues to grow,” said IVA (?) President David Hook, as he acknowledged that sometimes it is hard to grasp his hands around it all.
To do this article, I went to two important sources, Greg Kempi, a director of IVA (?) a systems engineer for Raytheon Missiles and Defense – Tucson, having served twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserves, the last eleven years as a naval reserve intelligence officer, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
The other important source was IVA Vice President MaRico Tippett. MaRico Tippett is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, served for 21 years in the Air Force as an EC-130 pilot n MQ-1 Pilot, including a tour in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, before retiring from the Arizona Air National Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel. In his second career, MaRico owns a Registered Investment Advisory Firm called Community Wealth Builders.
“The first task to this charge was to develop six neighborhood groups in the unincorporated area of Pima County in the greater Vail area to be incorporated into the feasibility study. We roughly defined the physical boundaries. Ultimately I used the Tucson City limits as an eastern boundary, Escalante Road as the northern boundary, the Rincon Mountains as the western boundary, and Andrada Road on the southern boundary,” said Greg Kempi.
“As we put the Feasibility Study Groups together we wanted to make sure that we reached as many members of the community as possible to get their input on incorporating or not. We want to hear from all sides: for, against, or otherwise and the reasons and feelings that go a long with those decisions. This phase is called Community Engagement,” MaRico Tippett said.
“We identified 56 Vail neighborhoods and added some missing neighborhoods to complete our total. We estimated 7,200 homes were included in the feasibility study’s neighborhood groups. We also attempted to balance the number of homeowners in each neighborhood group,” said Greg Kempi.
The six neighborhood meetings will be held by neighborhoods in the Multi Purpose Room at Christ Lutheran Vail located at 14600 E. Colossal Cave Road from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The first neighborhood meeting for residents in the vicinity of Acacia Ridge, The Manors, Cienega Heights, The Overlook, Rancho del Rincon, and Vista del Lago will be held on Tuesday, September 6th.
The second neighborhood meeting for residents in the vicinity of Del Webb, Wingview, Copper Ridge, Vistas, Bluffs, High Plains, Del Lago, Rancho del Lago, Reserve, and Riverwalk will be held on Thursday, September 8.
The third neighborhood meeting for the residents in the vicinity of Antler Crest, Whisper Ranch, Ranch Loma, Rincon Trails, Jacaranda Village, Loma Alta, Cienega Creek, Vail Ranch, and Vista del Sol will be held on Monday, September 12.
The fourth neighborhood meeting for residents in the vicinity of Fast Horse, J D Ranch, New Dawn, Mountain View, Rincon View, Sonoita Ranch, Old Vail Village, Weissman Ridge, and Sundown Neighborhood will be held Tuesday, September 13.
The fifth neighborhood meeting for resident in the vicinity of Saguaro Monument Estates, Thunderhead Ranch, Rancho Pequenos, and Rocking K Ranch Estates II, III, & IV will be held on Monday, September 19.
The Sixth Neighborhood meeting for resident in the vicinity of The Academy Village, Rincon Desert, Spanish Trail Estates, Coyote Creek, Bluff Creek, Old Spanish Trail, Rincon Valley, Mountain Creek, Pistol Hill- X-9 Ranch will be held on Tuesday, September 20.
The second phase in the process is The Assessment Phase. The response we get from the neighborhood meetings will help to identify the preliminary boundaries for the incorporated town or city of Vail. This is necessary to get the most accurate assessment of the revenue that could be generated and the costs of service delivery association with maintaining the new town or city,” said MaRico Tippett.
Between now and November 12 when the IVA Board will vote to proceed to a campaign or go home, the data will continue to grow.
