Old adobes vs. Udall Park fields

The first of the buildings for the U.S. Coastal & Geodetic Survey's former Tucson Magnetic Observatory went up in 1909, according to a historic assessment done by a city consultant.

It was located 8 miles outside Tucson, chosen by USGS officials looking for an isolated spot when urban encroachment and its electrical interference chased the agency from its Baldwin, Kan., observatory.

Later, according to Homer Thiel, program director for Desert Archaeology Inc., the Tucson site was used by the federal agency's scientists to study seismic activity, including what is thought to have been the first facility meant to detect tsunamis — the huge waves generated by earthquakes beneath the ocean floor.

Thiel said some of the site's half-dozen buildings are unique, having been built entirely without metals that would have affected magnetic readings. Built from wood, adobe or block, what metal they did contain, including nails, was aluminum, Thiel said.

Some have basements that contained scientific equipment and others, used as office space or living quarters for resident scientists and their families, are Spanish Territorial-style one-story adobes, Thiel said.

But the site was abandoned and turned over to the city in the early 1990s, replaced by USGS with an automated seismic station at Saguaro National Park East.

The buildings were generally ignored by the city until about two years ago, when a cyclone fence was erected around the lot just south of the back parking lot, tennis courts and dog park at Udall.

Vice Mayor Carol West said the buildings, one of which was partially burned by vandals and others damaged or contaminated with hazardous materials, present a liability to the city.

Thiel said the investigation of the site showed lead contamination from batteries that were used before grid electricity was available on the site, as well as asbestos in some of the floor and roofing tiles on some buildings.

He said some of the buildings have been vandalized by "homeless people."

"They could be renovated, if (the city) wanted to think of some use for them," Thiel said.

But he said it would be difficult to find a use for the scientific buildings, which he said are the most significant.

West said she was interested in preserving a couple of the residential buildings, possibly as additional meeting space for park users who have exceeded the capacity of its existing meeting rooms.

Local urban historian and preservation activist Ken Sco-ville said he didn't yet know much about the facility, but feared the city might be rushing to demolition without considering preservation.

West admitted that Scoville's recent interest in the property has stimulated some action by the city. But she said there was no need to bring the matter before the council.

"We could actually bulldoze all of them," West said. "It's a risk for the city. I suggest we keep those two houses" on the west side of the property. "If the asbestos is removed and they're rehabbed, they could be used. We're running out of meeting room at Udall."

West said she was convinced of the need for more ballfields when she noticed youth athletic teams playing on the fields late on school nights.

"… We need more ball fields for my citizens. I tell you, when I saw those kids there at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night I was really sick."

City parks Director Fred Gray said there is a need for more athletic fields at Udall, primarily softball diamonds and soccer pitches. But he said there isn't any money to build them immediately, and that the best hope was funding that might come from the proposed 2008 county bond election.

West said it's also about the only land in that area the city can afford to develop for fields in Ward 2. She said the city was priced out of a $1 million-, three-acre parcel she was eyeing as park space in her Ward 5 years ago.

Scoville isn't so sure.

"The irony is we're spending millions and millions rebuilding stuff that doesn't exist, like the Convento," said Scoville. "This seems like a wonderful resource out there at Udall Park, the parking is already there and it's already owned by the city, you don't have to spend any money" for land.

Scoville said he doesn't know much about the property, other than that it was an old scientific site and that the buildings were of a unique construction because of their use.

"I just wish there was somebody in Tucson government that was an advocate rather than an undertaker. Tucson's an interesting place (with) great resources we don't seem to care about too often," said Scoville.