Deal kills encroachment around Luke

There will be no more construction of single-family homes near Luke Air Force Base in Glendale under a settlement negotiated between Arizona and Maricopa County officials Tuesday.

The agreement ends more than a year of fighting between the state Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over residential encroachment. The board is expected to approve the settlement Thursday.

The settlement requires county officials to prohibit single-family development in high-accident and high-noise areas around Luke base, Luke Aux 1 near Wittmann and Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field.

The base flies about 200,000 operations or over flights in its local airspace annually, and brings $2.1 billion to the state’s economy.

The Glendale air base is the largest fighter wing and only active-duty F-16 training base in the world. Luke is competing to be the future training site for pilots of F-35s, the next generation of fighter jets designed to replace the F-16.

The move to restrict the construction of more single-family homes near the base is seen as an important step toward the base’s transition from the F-16 training base into the home of the F-35.

Surprise Mayor Lyn Truitt said he is happy about the ruling and planned to be at the signing of the settlement Thursday in a special meeting of the county supervisors at the Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa.

"I’m very, very excited about such a great decision coming down," he said. "It goes a long way toward the long-term mission of Luke and inviting the Joint Strike Force fighter (F-35) to Luke."

A majority of West Valley communities are pushing for Luke to be the jets’ new home. However, El Mirage officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude until they can determine if the new jets will be noisier than the F-16s.

A series of hearings that are part of the Environment Impact Statement process, which is required by federal law whenever a mission or aircraft change is proposed at a military base, are scheduled for this month.

The closest meetings to the West Valley will be:

Feb. 23 — RC Roberts Memorial Bldg., Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort, 11201 N. El Mirage Road, El Mirage.

Feb. 24 — Communiversity @ Surprise, 15850 W. Civic Center Plaza, Surprise.

The will run from 6-8 p.m.