PHOENIX — An intergovernmental clash that pits concerns for private property rights against worries about Luke Air Force Base's future is headed for court.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard on Tuesday practically invited Maricopa County to sue, saying the state's most populous county needs to follow state law and adopt a plan to prevent encroachment that could threaten an auxiliary field used by Luke.
One supervisor later said the county board will in fact take the dispute to court in hopes of getting it resolved there.
Goddard was responding to a request from the county Board of Supervisors for clarification of a legal opinion that he provided earlier this year on the development of land adjacent to military installations.
The March opinion, requested by a legislator, said only projects with development plans approved before 2005 qualify for exemptions from a 2004 law to restrict development within base noise and safety zones.
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In a letter sent to Goddard on Friday, the five supervisors said they anticipate that the county will be hit with damage claims from property owners if it denies building permits for land around the Auxiliary One field.
"Aux One" is about 30 miles northwest of Luke, a major pilot training base in Glendale. Though not in Surprise's city limits, the auxiliary field is within that city's planning area.
Though the state requires the county to adopt a comprehensive plan that would limit development, the state has provided no money to buy affected property, the supervisors wrote. "Paying any affected landowner would amount to an unfunded mandate and a pre-emption of local authority."
Goddard said the county's next step should be to adopt a comprehensive plan to restrict development in Luke's accident and noise zones.
"It is undisputed that grant- ing residential building permits in these zones pose a grave risk to the future operations of Luke AFB," he added.
While the supervisors' letter said they may sue the state so a court can decide the issue, Goddard said he was "ready and willing to accept service of process on behalf of the state, if that is what it takes to preserve Luke AFB."
Supervisor Max Wilson, whose district includes the auxiliary field, said in a statement released by an aide that it's clear that Goddard and the county have different views.
"The problem is we have Luke Air Force Base caught in the middle. There is no reason for any more dialogue. Since the AG won't take this important issue to court, the Board of Supervisors will and let the folks in the black robes decide what's constitutional."
The auxiliary field was one of many built in the early 1940s as satellites to Luke before and during World War II.
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