No Sun City property owner wants to believe that Sun City is facing a major threat to the fundamental core this age-restricted community was built upon.
But the hard truth is the Maricopa County Planning Department and Board of Supervisors are really in charge of age overlay decisions and can do as they choose. The ceremonial Sun City HOA is standing on the sidelines watching the show just like everyone else. All it takes is for the Planning Department to approve one permit (just one) for any underage resident to live in Sun City, then Sun City has effectively lost its age overlay designation. One approved underage permit today becomes 5,000 approved underage permits tomorrow. And there is nothing Sun City property owners can do about it except say goodbye to Sun City and hello to “East Youngtown.”
We live in a complacent society that believes “rules apply to everyone except me!” On the other hand, there are those who actually live by the honor system and follow the Sun City CC&Rs. But rule violators view rule followers as instant enemies. The violators create weak, endless excuses to exempt themselves from following any rules. “It’s all your fault I can’t break your rules and I will throw a shameless tantrum until I get my way.” Age-violating residents exempt themselves from any CC&R responsibility and have no intention of ever complying with anything. They are manipulative and know exactly how to work the system. And now, Maricopa County will protect the violators with permits for an underage residents. Sounds odd.
This age overlay situation has been entirely predictable and should not surprise anyone. But the larger questions are why Maricopa County is going behind Sun City’s back by not allowing Sun City to enforce Maricopa County’s own age overlay ordinance. What motives do the Maricopa County Planning Department and Board of Supervisors have by purposely placing Sun City out of compliance and allowing underage residents to live in an age restricted community?
