Sling load transportation using helicopters; and
Helicopter Bambi Bucket training.
The Rittenhouse Training Site is the only site in the AZARNG’s inventory where Bambi
Bucket training is conducted. Its location near the Central Arizona Project (CAP) provides
easy access to water needed to conduct the training. This capability is important to
firefighting training for the AZARNG’s Defense Support of Civil Authorities mission.
Mission footprints for the site, described in detail in Chapter 3, are related to helicopter
operations and associated flight patterns. The helicopter flight patterns extend over
undeveloped lands to the north and east, sometimes at relatively low levels which can
create noise and dust at ground level. It is important that current and future land use
around Rittenhouse Training Site are compatible with these mission footprints to prevent
impacts to residents in nearby communities and to ensure the military mission is not
constrained by off‐site development.
Development exists on the west and south sides of the Rittenhouse Training Site. This
includes residential, some commercial, and small agricultural land uses. To the north and
east is undeveloped land that allows easy ingress and egress for helicopter operations.
Figure 5‐9 that shows existing land zoning around the Rittenhouse Training Site.
Immediately to the west is a suburban ranch zoning district, while to the south is zoned
for single residences. The land to the north and east is zoned for general rural use.
It is likely that future development will eventually surround the training site, resulting in
incompatible land use thereby degrading the value of the facility or even making it
unusable for the existing military training that occurs there.
The Town of Queen Creek completed a Specific Plan for 4,136 acres of Arizona State
Trust land adjacent to the northern boundary of Rittenhouse Training Site in June 2019.
Figure 5‐10 illustrates the location of the Specific Plan in relation to Rittenhouse Training
Site, as well as the current helicopter training flight patterns at the site. Although this
land is not currently within the town limits of Queen Creek, the Town does plan to
eventually annex it in the future. The Specific Plan is a mechanism that the Town can use
to establish initial zoning for the property and identify proposed uses for the land prior to
the development of a master plan or a developer being identified. It also assists in
identifying locations for infrastructure such as water, sewer, and roads to support the
future development. The Specific Plan breaks the total area into 19 smaller planning
units that can be developed individually in phases as the land is auctioned by ASLD.
The concepts and land uses proposed in the Specific Plan support Queen Creek’s General
Plan and growth goals. The Specific Plan identifies land use designations of “Urban” and
“Neighborhood” for the planning units, which allow for a mix of uses, many of which
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Compatibility Assessment