Henderson seniors express outrage over planned development

Greg Harman

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

Hundreds of Henderson senior citizens packed the Desert Willows Community Center on Wednesday night expressing anger over what they consider fraudulent sales tactics employed by Phoenix-based developer Del Webb.

About half of the 400 residents of Del Webb's retirement community, Sun City MacDonald Ranch, at the meeting said the land behind their homes had been wrongly identified as belonging to the federal government by Del Webb sales staffers when they bought their homes.

Some residents claimed they were told the grade of the mountainside acreage was too steep for development, or that it would cost too much to extend utilities to the area.

But 10 months ago the bubble burst when Henderson developer Rich MacDonald informed some Sun City residents that he owned the land behind their property and was planning on building homes there. His latest plan calls for about 90 homes on the 55-acre parcel.

"Every morning, every day, I look at those mountains. They're my mountains. I love them. They're beautiful," John Van Rhyn said.

"We weren't all told it from the trees," he said of the repeated claims against Del Webb's sales staff. "We were told it would never be built."

Del Webb representatives say they have only received 29 letters of complaint. But far more residents than that at the meeting expressed a willingness to picket the planned-community developer.

"We may have snow on our roofs, but I still have fire in my furnace," one stooped homeowner pledged before offering $200 toward hiring a lawyer to represent the residents.

Homeowner Rudy Foresta then challenged all attending board members of the MacDonald Ranch Homeowner's Association to come to the microphone and publicly state their position on the matter.

"There's plenty of time in the future to pin them down," offered Ernie Buschmann, one of the volunteers leading the meeting.

"There is no future," homeowner Gerald Norkiewicz shouted.

MacDonald has met with residents of MacDonald Ranch -- which bears his name, but in which he has no direct business interest -- several times to discuss his plans and hear their concerns.

When residents inquired about purchasing the land from him for its appraised value -- about $3 million -- MacDonald wasn't encouraging. He alluded to the number of property owners with interest in the property and the need to turn a profit.

Frank Pankratz, Del Webb's general manager of Sun Cities, recently requested MacDonald let the company out of a contractual agreement that forbids it from objecting to the development of the 55 acres owned by McDonald so the firm may "stand" with its homeowners.

MacDonald ducked the request in his formal reply on Monday, objecting to Pankratz's attempt to turn attention away from the company's responsibility.

"If you really felt a genuine concern for your community, you will address the allegation of misrepresentation by your sales staff," MacDonald said.

There has been no internal investigation of the community's complaints, Del Webb spokesman Sean Patrick said.

But not everyone is sold on MacDonald's commitment to developing the 55 acres behind the senior community.

"I think he's blowing smoke. He's trying to pressure Del Webb or the people to buy that land," said homeowner Norm Anderson. The hillside is so rocky that it would take a lot of explosives to carve out homesites, he said.

"To do it where it wouldn't damage any homes, I don't think it would be cost-effective."

MacDonald has not yet filed any applications with the city's planning department for the project.