"Arizona" John Buchanan thought he had the answer to his battle with the town of Marana, moving his hundreds of used storage tanks from his rented lot next to Interstate 10 to Avra Valley.
But then his would-be new neighbors saw giant tanks on flatbed trailers rolling by their homes and called Pima County officials.
Buchanan, owner of Arizona John's Enterprises and Equipment, 11500 N. Casa Grande Highway, has been battling with the town over his used-storage-tank yard.
It contains, by Buchanan's account, hundreds of tanks — some of them 50 feet long and 10 feet tall. There are huge former underground fuel and water storage tanks, above-ground water tanks and propane tanks, as well as trailers, welders, trucks and excavation equipment in various stages of repair, and piles of metal objects Buchanan strips and sells to recyclers.
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The town's attorney and one of its zoning enforcement officers said Buchanan's operation is in violation of the light-industrial zoning on the property, owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and leased by Buchanan.
They say they've been trying to get Buchanan to come into compliance since February 2004.
Buchanan said he's been trying to move, but he's had a hard time finding a place to go. He said he only recently made a deal for some property in Avra Valley owned by Roy Sieglaff.
Sieglaff said he has been running a recycling business since 1988 on about 10 acres he owns on Musket Place just north of El Tiro Road, near the edge of Ironwood Forest National Monument.
Sieglaff said he's had a tough year because of health problems; he pointed to his artificial arm and said that it has made it hard for him to continue the more vigorous parts of his recycling work.
He said Buchanan helped him out and that they are partners in his now-expanded recycling business.
"John went ahead and invested in the property," said Sieglaff, walking around the low desert, part of which is in Blanco Wash.
There's an old mobile home, cut-up metal beams, a trailer loaded with hundreds of dead washers and dryers, a mound of washer tubs, piles of rusting bicycles and electrical gear, a few old cars and lots of metal stuff that most people couldn't name.
There also are a few of Arizona John's tanks, and a couple that Sieglaff said are his and were already there before he hooked up with Buchanan.
It's one of those tanks, a giant underground fiberglass tank, that Dorothy and Ralph Redmond can see from their mobile home about a quarter-mile away at the corner of Musket and El Tiro.
The Redmonds are retired and have lived at the site for nearly 31 years. They said they didn't object to Sieglaff's recycling operation.
"We've never had any problem with Roy," Dorothy Redmond said.
But like many people out in the desert, they're particularly concerned about their water supply. They say they're not reassured by Buchanan's claims that he's cleaned out all of those tanks, some of which used to hold gasoline.
"It doesn't seem like a good thing to put in a flood plain," Ralph Redmond said.
When pressed, the couple say their major concern is that one or more of those giant tanks will be placed or float into the wash, forming a dam and flooding the area.
The Redmonds said they were here for the massive 1983 flood — a 100-year-flood — and they remember it well.
"We're not in the flood plain," Ralph Redmond said. "But it will flood that property, on that (west) side of Musket."
Harvey Henson, a retiree who lives on the west side of Musket Place next door and just south of Sieglaff's property, said he remembers the '83 flood all too well. He pointed to a spot a few yards away from his mobile home and said that's where the waters stopped in 1983.
Sieglaff said he won't put storage tanks on the back, or west, section of his lot — near the wash.
But he said his property is zoned for his recycling business, and that's what he's continuing to do. The only difference is that he has a partner now.
Sieglaff said he was contacted by a Pima County zoning enforcement officer, but so far he has been told only that there had been a complaint. He said no one has told him that adding Arizona John's tanks to the lot is illegal.
Norman Tripp, zoning field enforcement supervisor for Pima County, said a decision on the legality of Sieglaff and Buchanan's use of the property won't be made for a few weeks.
He said that while Sieglaff is operating the recycling business under an exception to the property's zoning, an expansion of that business would not be included in the exception.
