Protecting the age overlay in Sun City

6/30/2022 UPDATE:  This request was denied by Maricopa County - Read more.

PLEASE NOTE: 

This article was taken from NewsBreak Sun City and the Sun City Independent on June 9th, 2022.  It has also been discussed in all of the Sun City Facebook pages.  

We're posting this because I would rather have correct information circulating though the community vs rumors. The Advisory Panel of this group has no official statement or recommendation but this certainly falls under the moniker of Education.  Thank you.

Sun City residents and officials are concerned a temporary permit to allow an underage resident could endanger the community’s age overlay.

By Rusty Bradshaw
Mail | Twitter: @SunCitiesEditor

Sun City resident Kathleen Coombs applied for a temporary use permit to allow a relative under 19 to live in her home as a caregiver. The Maricopa County Board of Adjustment will conduct a public hearing on the case 10 a.m. Thursday, June 23 in the county supervisors meeting room, 105 W. Jefferson St. Phoenix.


Coombs said the issue is about her granddaughter her and 5-year-old son who had visited on multiple occasions to help care for Coombs’ 96-year-old mother, who has been experiencing some health problems.

“She has fallen several times in the evening, she is wheelchair bound,” Coombs stated in an email. “She is also afraid to be alone in the evenings. Her doctor recommended someone stay with her, at least in the evening.”

Coombs’ sister, who lives next door to their mother, was staying with her mother in the evenings until she developed heart problems. That is when the granddaughter and her son, who live in Colorado, came back to help with the care.

But Sun City Home Owners Association officials believe the permit application would be a dangerous precedent for Sun City, designated as a 55-and-older residential community. Eric Hoagland, Sun City Home Owners Association board president, also said the permit application through the county was a way for the homeowner to bypass local enforcement of the Sun City covenants, conditions and restrictions.


He explained Coombs, in a meeting with SCHOA officials to respond to an age restriction complaint filed with the agency, said the underage person living in her home would leave by Sept. 15, 2021. But that person remains in the home nine months later, according to Hoagland.

“You are to decide on a ‘temporary permit’ that will last up to two years,” Hoagland wrote in a letter to the BOA. “In a common board game this would be called a ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card.’”

Sun City West is under the same age overlay. But Recreation Centers of Sun City West officials, who, through its CC&R Department, enforce the age restriction, are not aware of any temporary use permit requests in their community, according to Katy O’Grady, RCSCW general services officer.


But RCSCW officials are just as concerned about a precedent that could affect the age overlay.

“It is important to maintain the age overlay so we remain an age-restricted community and continue to provide the services and amenities that are beneficial to our community,” O’Grady stated in an email.

Coombs had an opportunity to request a variance from the SCHOA Board of Directors that might have resolved this matter, but has not requested one, according to Hoagland. But Coombs claims she was never told about the variance option, only the temporary use permit by county officials.

RCSCW also has a process to request a variance through its Special Accomodation Request.

Hoagland is also concerned because the Maricopa County Board of Adjustment does not consider local CC&Rs during its deliberations.


“I submit that the senior citizen overlay is the single most defining element of 55-plus communities nationwide, not just in Sun City,” Hoagland said. “And that portion of our CC&Rs reflects the intent of the senior citizen overlay. Without this overlay our communities do not exist.”

Other Sun City resident share his concerns.

“If approved, this permit will remove the 90-day restriction and may have far reaching consequences that will affect our quality of life, property values, taxes and quiet enjoyment of our community,” Sue Carlson stated in an email.

Several others called, emailed and went to the SCHOA office to register their concerns and opposition to the permit.

“SCHOA takes every underage complaint seriously and we work to enforce our CC&Rs,” Lisa Gray, SCHOA marketing director stated in an email. “Our compliance team had been working on this particular issue since last year with the goal to have the underage person removed from the home as our CC&Rs require.” Unfortunately, some complaints take longer than others to close, she added. SCHOA officials encourage residents to share their concerns director to the county planning and development division, 301 W. Jefferson St., First Floor, Suite 170, Phoenix, AZ 85003 or at https://apps.pnd.maricopa.gov/contact. Reference case No. TU2022020 with any correspondence. SCHOA officials also encourage residents to attend the hearing.


Tom Wilson, SCHOA compliance manager, said the agency is doing all it can to maintain the age restriction status.

“We keep track of the status on a monthly basis and file an annual report to the county,” he stated in an email. “Each time that there is a closing of escrow on a home here we notify the title company that we are a 55-and-older community so that they can remind the buyer of that.”

RCSCW officials, who do the same monitoring of the age restrictions as SCHOA, see about 5-7 age restriction complaints per year, according to O’Grady, while SCHOA’s complainst are higher. The agency received six complaints in May this year.

Coombs, who bought her Sun City home in 2019 to be near her mother, sees her case as an example of people spreading false information, and that has soured her on living in the community. She said one neighbor has been the instigator of the complaints and falsehoods.


“He has told both the county and posted on several social media sites that my great grandson has been here for more than two years,” she stated. “Now everyone is posting about how terrible our family is since we have been ‘hiding’ this 5-year-old for more than two years. It is untrue.”

Coombs said she will not stay in Sun City after her mother dies.

“I plan to sell my home and move to a more pleasant place to live,” she stated. “I had no idea their were so many uncaring people living in Sun City.”