What is the JLUS?

The Joint Land Use Study (JLUS, pronounced "JAY-loos" or "JAY-luss") is part of the State of Arizona's Arizona Military Regional Compatibility Project (AMRCP), "a proactive endeavor to convene the stakeholders around each base -- the relevant jurisdictions, base personnel, landowners, and other interested parties -- to address land use compatibility issues" (from the AMRCP homepage). When TSS refers to the JLUS, we specifically mean the study done for Davis- Monthan Air Force Base ("DMAFB" or "the Base"), which is Phase 2 of the AMRCP. Should you wish to download a copy of the JLUS (PDF format, requires Adobe Acrobat) from the Arizona Department of Commerce, be aware that it is 100 pages long and roughly 3.1 MB in size.

The Phase 2 (Tucson- DMAFB) JLUS was commenced under the sponsorship of the Arizona Department of Commerce in March, 2003. It was funded by the United States Department of Defense and involved the City of Tucson, State of Arizona, and select stakeholders. The final version was complete in February, 2004.

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What is wrong with the JLUS?

It was not conducted fairly and it is a misleading document, as indicated in this analysis.

TSS' chief concern about this process is that no one representing the neighborhoods northwest of the base was consulted or asked to be a part of the process. Had those responsible for the JLUS process sought the counsel of these affected residents, they might have learned that an overwhelming majority of them consider DMAFB jet noise to be a serious problem, as indicated by an informal survey conducted in the Broadmoor-Broadway Village Neighborhood in December, 2005.

In the JLUS' own words (page labelled 1-3 (9th page of document) under the subject heading '1.2 Project Goals'), it is supposed to "[p]rovide opportunities for meaningful input by landowners, county and municipal governmental agencies, educational institutions, and other stakeholders." Yet no neighborhood homeowners northwest of DMAFB were asked for input or even informed of the JLUS process.

Indeed, the manner in which the JLUS was executed is in violation of three of its seven Guiding Principles, as itemized on page labelled 1-4 (10th page of document):

• Ensure openness to varying viewpoints throughout the process
• Focus on fair and equitable solutions for all affected parties
• Achieve consent among the stakeholders on the means to control encroachment

Because families and homeowners northwest of DMAFB were not represented in this process, their viewpoints and consent were not obtained, nor was any "solution" derived from the process fair and equitable to all affected parties.

This seeming disregard for neighborhoods northwest of DMAFB appears to have manifested in telling ways. For example, if one looks at these maps in the JLUS --

• Figure 2-1: Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Vicinity Boundary on page labelled 2-2 (13th page)
• Figure 5-1: Notional Noise Contours on page labelled 5-6 (59th page)
• Figure 5-2: Compatible Land Use Plan Zones on page labelled 5-14 (67th page)

-- one can see that whoever assembled the map information included the street detail of Rita Ranch, a housing subdivision southeast of DMAFB. No street detail of such fine granularity is present anywhere else on the map, leaving viewers with the mistaken impression that there are no neighborhoods northwest of DMAFB. Certainly, such a mistake would have been caught and rectified if all affected parties were truly represented in the JLUS process.

Furthermore, even though many of the houses in Midtown Tucson were built before jet planes came to DMAFB, the JLUS states that "[m]uch of the area northwest of the Base ... has been built up in incompatible urban uses, including single- and multi-family residential, commercial, and other uses that result in the gathering and concentration of people in significant numbers." (page labelled 4-1, 51st page of document) While this is not incorrect, a more accurate statement would have included the phrase "over the past sixty years" after the words "built up"; omitting this key detail paints a very different and misleading picture.

Again, if the families northwest of DMAFB were represented in the JLUS process, these misstatements could have been corrected. As it stands, we see that the final JLUS reflects this imbalance, as neighborhoods to the northeast of DMAFB were given little or no consideration and would seem to bear a disproportionate share of the DMAFB compatibility burden.