Southern Cochise County is getting some new neighbors. Arizona is a state of newcomers – in the last 50 years, Southern Cochise County, from Benson south to Hereford and Palominas has had phenomenal growth. No planned, completed real estate communities similar to those in the Tucson and Phoenix exist, until plans for the Tribute and Vigneto projects were recently announced.
Our Arizona paradise has caught the eye of real estate developers to plan and build retirement communities to attract out-of-state retirees who want to spend their golden years in our beautiful county. Our year-round mild climate surpasses the harsh heat in Tucson and Phoenix, and there is available land and water for these planned communities. Also available is engineering technology to preserve and protect the environment of the San Pedro watershed and surrounding mountain vistas, while accommodating new community developments.
The social values in development for “planned” communities by far overcomes the unplanned and disorderly urban sprawl that is inherent to most big city growth. Most importantly are the people who will be homebuyers 
in these planned developments. First off, these new residents will be affiliated with local religious establishments and are the salt of the earth, as their religious beliefs are the glue that holds the community together. This is an asset for existing towns. Second, who are these new residents? Usually they are retired professionals, executives, managers and business-owners. They have made their mark of success elsewhere during their careers and want to pursue their hobbies and enjoy the natural beauty of this area. They are supportive of protecting the environment and animal life. An interesting note – that in addition to engaging in the many senior activities, some will be avid amateur astronomers and will be advocates for Dark Skies and fight to prevent light pollution that is inherent to many existing communities. They look for planned developments that include more stringent night-lighting standards than presented by other Dark Skies city ordinances and guidelines. These same values include the design of roadways and walkways that provide greater safety to the residents than do conventional city development.
The new Arizona residents who will occupy these planned developments bring with them a wealth of talent, experience and wisdom gained during their professional careers. Their careers were often enhanced with worldwide travel or career assignments overseas, thus providing global experience and insight. For the most part, they enjoy the opportunity to live in a planned community that provides support of senior activities, fraternal groups, special interest associations and adult educational opportunities. The new residences become hosts to their relatives and friends back home, and become enablers of more tourism in Cochise County. These new retirees who move to these developments are often interested in the arts and activities that will spur musical performances, craft shows and public interest speakers and they will have ample retirement incomes that allow for spending on both essential and non- essential merchandise in our existing shopping malls and stores. The biggest value to the Southern Cochise County is the wonderful, talented and successful people that these planned development will attract to our paradise.
Another plus for these developments is that they include people-friendly living spaces, with no traffic stop signs or signals, but instead have roundabouts to avoid traffic congestion and include separate walkways and golf 
cart access to reduce use of cars and trucks. These new developments will include small shopping malls with specialty shops, boutiques and convenience stores. The physical design includes the assurance of peoples safety, protection of the environment and encourages the resettling of endangered animals and plant species in alternate habitats that present no conflict with new living space for community development.
The developers of these planned communities are visionaries who want to provide retirees a paradise for their golden years. Their first priority is to ensure that the design of the planned community developments does not pose a threat to the environment and the fragile water table. The new-comers who purchase a home here will appreciate and support the protected areas of the San Pedro watershed. Developers know first-hand that for the planned community development to succeed, they must protect the environments clean air, night skies, Kartchner Caverns, and most of all, the San Pedro water table. They know that the trails along the San Pedro are a delight for “birders” and will avoid any destruction of the bird habitat. The supervising developer of Vigneto community, Mike Reinbold has repeatedly encouraged public comment of issues that could post a threat to existing parks such as Kartchner Caverns. The business philosophy of Vigneto is that engineering technology can develop a fail-safe system to overcome all possible dangers to the environment and wildlife. The goal of these developers is to make a world class planned community an example of combining people’s needs and natures wonders that meet all expectations.
As these new planned community developments come to reality, Southern Cochise County will be blessed with an influx of new and wonderful people. These new, completely planned communities is our way to welcome the newcomers to Cochise County. When our great new neighbors begin to settle in Tribute and Vigneto, they will enhance Cochise County in many, many ways.