Henderson homeowners say they were misled

Greg Harman

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Roughly half of the 250 homeowners crowded into a Henderson Convention Center conference room Wednesday night said they had been misled by Del Webb agents when they purchased their homes in Sun City MacDonald Ranch.

The sales staff assured them, one after another resident complained, that the 55 acres behind their homes in the McCullough Mountain Range was federal property.

"We were told the land behind us was BLM land. We relied on that," homeowner Harvey Presner said.

The first blow to that assurance came 10 months ago, when developer Rich MacDonald informed Sun City property owners the land was not owned by BLM but held in a family trust and would probably be developed in the near future. MacDonald has no financial interest in the Del Webb development, though it bears his family name.

Homeowners felt the full force of the coming change Wednesday night, when they got a first glimpse of the 90 homes that may replace their clear view of the hills.

"I am having my dream home blasted away in little bitty pieces and I'll be boxed in as if I were in downtown Las Vegas," Frank Walls complained.

As they gathered to gain information about MacDonald's plans for the mountain space behind their homes, residents also seemed to be looking for a sense of solidarity as they lobbed questions at MacDonald.

"What would it take for you to go away and not do anything?" one audience member asked to thunderous applause early in MacDonald's presentation.

One woman pleaded with MacDonald to talk his partners into establishing a nature preserve on the mountain for a tax write-off instead.

The investors need more than a tax write-off, MacDonald replied. "Quite honestly, my parents would like to get their money out of the project, too."

The nearest the two sides came to a solution -- pursuing a land trade with the city -- had already been explored.

MacDonald told the crowd he had approached the city leaders about a possible land exchange but was told the city didn't have "an appetite for exchanges."

Ironically, on Tuesday the Henderson City Council approved two projects that involved a city land exchange -- a park and a commercial center in the Paradise Hills Planning Area.

While there had been little resistance to the city's proposed Hidden Falls Park, to be nestled against Black Mountain, several residents had spoken against the commercial center proposed for former city property west of U.S. 95 and south of Horizon Drive.

On Wednesday several Sun City residents said they would like to see the premiums they paid for their view of the mountain range -- in some cases as high as $80,000 -- used by Del Webb to purchase the land for preservation.

Del Webb spokesman Sean Patrick said this morning that the company is not interested in buying the property.

And even though many residents have brought their concerns to Sun City General Manager Frank Pankratz, prospective buyers are still being told the hillside acreage is BLM land, homeowner Ray Lambert said.

"I'd love to say no, that never happened," Patrick said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't in that room."

Pankratz was traveling and unavailable for comment.

MacDonald said he had an understanding with Del Webb since the 1980s that he would develop that land.

"It's an unfortunate thing that occurred, or at least that is alleged to have occurred," MacDonald said.

"I don't have a good relationship with Del Webb. I don't have the opportunity to speak with them in Phoenix and say, 'What are you doing to these people?' "

Meanwhile, homeowners are organizing a coalition to fight development behind their homes.

A volunteer group known as the Sun City MacDonald Ranch Hillside Preservation Committee spent Wednesday night collecting names and addresses to keep homeowners informed, and a homeowners' meeting has been called for later in the month.

They have some time to organize.

MacDonald said it may be a month before his plans are submitted to the city, and construction probably won't begin until fall 2001.