Sierra Highlands Ranch, Owners (Phoenix, Eagar: sales, foreclosures, power lines)

[Robert_Roy]

Howdeeee... Looking to communicate with subject owners to create commoradre and hopefully provide some resource consolidation / co-operative facilitate efforts of interest. It doesn't appear that the POA is going to facilitate intra-owner communication capability at this point. We are looking to blade the driveway and get the perc test completed. Send a PM, or reply in open forum. Thanks....

[Gretchen B]

Where is Sierra Highland Ranch located? AZ is a big state.

[Robert_Roy]

* Laughing * Yea... I guess that part is important.

...on the other hand I'm thinking you'd know if you were an owner.

For reference the ranch is off the 191 S. of US 40 and ~ 20 miles to the access road N. of St Johns.

Swing on by ! Bring your 4X ! * waves *

[Gretchen B]

I think I've actually been through that area a time or two. I've only seen a couple of posts from people that live in the ShowLow area, and there might be somebody from the Springerville/Eagar area.

You'll probably get a quicker answer by contacting somebody at the County Assessor's office, or even a title company. Come to think of it, all subdivision ownership information should have been included in your closing docs when you purchased your property.

[Davep50]

I am a Sierra Highlands owner. How are the
properties selling? Any chance of ever getting power to the sites?
Also, is there any chance of getting First United to put in a community
water well?

[DagoRanch]

I'm also an owner in Sierra Highlands. I can answer both your questions for you.

Power to the sites? That will never happen in our lifetimes. The nearest power lines are 12 miles away as the crow flies on Highway 191. Anecdotal evidence puts costs of extending service at approximately $10k per quarter mile.

Do the math and that makes it prohibitively expensive to get power that far away from the nearest lines. Besides, this is the 21st Century and there are plenty of alternatives to making your own power. They aren't always cheap, BUT coupled with conservation you'll be surprised what you can do and have no utility bills

Just to give you an idea, I've actually camped up on my property with nothing more than a battery based 400 watt power station and had enough power to provide light, charge small batteries and watch movies on my laptop for the entire weekend.

For your second question, there IS a community well. It was put in around the time I bought my property. It's at what I call the backside (North-End) of the development along the Jaraloosa Draw. It's hard to spot, you'd best get a hold of somebody at the office in St Johns as to exactly where it is. I've seen it, it's capped and ready to go. You just have to provide your own power (portable generator).

As to how they are selling? I don't really know. Given our current economic climate, probably not very well. I have heard through advertising that foreclosures have occurred and they are releasing some additional properties because of it.

[stev400]

Hi, I'm busy shopping for a couple lots in Sierra Highlands Ranch. Would you guys recommend the location? I'm looking for two adjacent lots, around 70-80 Acres.

All pro's and con's will be appreciated

rs

[Robert_Roy]

Wow... Haven't been here in awhile. It's as crowded as the property ! * chuckle *

We went to the property just after the monsoons in August. ...through what DagoRanch terms as the North end access point. The Zuni flow had then subsided, but crossing it was still a challenge. Luckily we had two (2) well-equipped 4Xs. Stuck them both to the floorboards at some point or another. Before our venture we called into the sales office and they confirmed the availability of the water (it was in test at that time), and that access would be provided in the short term by providing both keys and instructions (as it turns out (what they said) was that extraction requires a three-phase 4KW generator - surely this is not something everyone owns, can afford, or for that matter cares to haul around). <br> The intention was to use this forum to allow for a communication conduit of the owners, since what we appear to have here, sponsored by the HOA, is "Failure to communicate" - No one seems to know even the most basic of information. <br> The second intention was to allow for some method to allow for economies of scale in helping each other.<br> The Phase II development was also open at that time. There were only two (2) acreages available in the original development and roughly 30% remaining in Phase II. The actual numbers as to how many was in each development escapes me now. So while I don't need to be wined and dined by the HOA, one would think they would at least provide contact info and a news letter to update ownsers on what is going on. Then again, maybe I expect too much.

[DagoRanch]

Hey Rob, nice to see some people here.

I haven't been up to my property since the memorial day weekend. I was just lucky enough to get up there in my 2 wheel drive truck on Sunday. Saturday it was too washed out for me to make it with my little truck and ended up camping at Lyman Lake. It had rained/snowed up there the week before a bit and it was a good test for what it would take to get there if the roads are a little washed out by the Jaraloosa Draw.

4 Wheel Drive vehicle with plenty of ground clearance is pretty much essential. If it's dry, then it's passable with just about anything... but if it gets even a little wet, it turns into a bog pretty quick. Hate to get trapped up there!

So we sold off one of our vehicles and pretty much took those funds and bought a nice used F150 4x4 for pretty cheap.

Haven't had the time to get up there and start doing stuff beyond staking out where things are going to go in my "Master Plan"

I'm with you Roy, it would be nice to have a resource where we can communicate with each other and at least find out how people are getting along with getting things permitted, building techniques, power generation... all that good stuff.

As far as the POA is concerned. Well, you are expecting a bit much (I don't mean that to be snarky). Let's look at it this way. Their only responsibility as outlined in the contract is the maintenance of the roads. That's it. I was actually surprised by the community well, because I saw no clause for it as pertaining to this particular project, so we got a bonus.

But that's about all they do, this isn't a HOA like you would have in a planned urban development. Now once they sell 90% of the project, they'll have an owners meeting in Phoenix to discuss what the status is, meet other owners....etc. But until that time it's pretty quiet.

But, it surely doesn't have to be that way. We can as owners start something ourselves. We can go ahead and get our own internet domain and setup an online community of our own. We can also let First United know about it so new owners could be directed to it.

Let me know what you think. I can do all the setup and domain name acquisition myself gratis and also provide the server space (I'm a web developer by trade).

Shoot me a private message here at city-data and let me know what you think!

[highlands]

Hi, we own a parcel in Sierra Highlands. If you know where that windmill is, the well is across the road from it. Go to the land office and they will give you a key. You do need to bring your own generator to pump the water. The generator needs to be a minimum of 4500 watt and needs a 220 connector.

It would be great to get acquainted with other land owners.