Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: This aerial shot shows the site of the Silo Farms 40-acre subdivision in western Pima off 400 North.
Builder looking to start construction on a model home for the Silo Farms subdivision
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – On Tuesday, the Pima Town Council unanimously approved the final plat for the Silo Farms subdivision opening construction on the project in western Pima by Craig Bloomfield properties/Velocity Builders.
Silo Farms – formerly called “Upper Canyon” – is a 40-acre subdivision located off 400 North with its entrance roughly half a mile west of the intersection with 1200 West (Patterson Mesa Road) between 1600 West and 1700 West.
In addition to Bloomfield, Jim Bryce spoke highly of the development to the council as well as Heath Brown, who is Thatcher’s town manager, and his company – Heath Brown Engineering, LLC, – who is serving as the engineer for the project.
The council initially paused its approval last year over traffic concerns on the current dirt 400 North and additional potential traffic on 1200 West and 200 North (Tripp Canyon).
“That was my main concern the last time I went through this,” Pima Mayor Brian Paull said. “The reason I voted against – not because I don’t want the neighborhood. I’m all for the growth of Pima, but I think we need to get that taken care of.”
Brown informed the council of the plan to improve the road including a bar ditch to run alongside the road to concentrate water to culverts to keep the water from going over the top of the road. The road will also be prepared as a base with AB to make it ready for the town to chip-seal it. If the road is made up to the town of Pima’s standards, the town will chip-seal it and take over its maintenance afterward. The town will also inspect and take over the paved asphalt streets inside the new subdivision as they are created.
Bloomfield said he planned on improving 400 North on the town’s schedule but it would be preferred to do it further into the project after most of the heavy-duty vehicles have left the area to lessen any possible damage to the newly formed road.
Bloomfield said he would continue the road past his subdivision’s entrance all the way to 1700 West, where the entrance to a future park is planned from 20 acres of land donated to the town by Harriet Dodge located just west of Bloomfield’s planned subdivision and expanding southward. Currently, the land is an unimproved desert landscape. With the potential new park, Bloomfield decided to not install a park in his subdivision and instead use that money (roughly $15,000 to $20,000) toward the town’s park.
Pima Town Manager Vernon Batty told the council he plans on having the town perform three miles of chip sealing on its current roads this spring, another three miles in the fall, and another three miles in the spring of 2024. That would cover more than half of Pima’s current streets. After that was complete, then the town could look at chip sealing the improved 400 North, Batty said.
Bloomfield previously described his planned homes as roughly 2000 square feet in size with each one on roughly 3/4 of an acre. He plans to build the subdivision in three phases with a three to five-year build-out to completion.
“We would like to start a model home immediately as soon as we get utilities to that first lot and as soon as we get approval from the town,” Bloomfield told the council.” His final plat was then approved unanimously.
