The PRT received countless nominations last year for our first annual Good Neighbor Awards, meant to recognize someone who voluntarily builds a better community in our region. But one nomination stood out. That’s because it wasn’t for one neighbor: it was, at heart, for an entire neighborhood – West Gate, in Canelo – where neighbors worked together last fall to create a four-acre community space from scratch.
It started with West Gate couple Doug and Denise Snow who had a vision of purchasing a nearby parcel and converting it into open space for the community – something that West Gate, developed from an original 160-acre homestead, lacked.
“The community was never designed with community open space or with well-being in mind,” explained the Snows. The parcels were sliced and diced, with some even being sited on a floodplain.
The location of the new open space is essentially in the heart of West Gate, next to the mailboxes, which has been the main gathering spot for neighbors in the past.
The Snows said the seller was very supportive of the parcel becoming a community space, especially given there were “slim chances of anyone else who would buy it to clean it up – a Herculean task. Plus it’s in the floodplain of Lyle Canyon, and you can’t build a new house – you can only fix up the ‘grandfathered’ flooded, moldy, old, manufactured home.”
Once the Snows purchased the parcel in August, 2022, the cleanup began. The couple began removing items from the old house and clearing huge amounts of debris that had accumulated over the years. They started out working on their own, but once other neighbors realized they were serious, community members began to also help clear the area. Volunteers started out as a core group of six, which soon increased to 18. Together they ended up filling eight 40-yard roll-off containers with an estimated 40 tons’ worth of junk. The house was emptied, with one volunteer taking over the task of selling items on Craig’s List. “They also gave away a lot of stuff, making many people very happy,” said Denise.
The next step was the demolition of the 1,500-sq. foot manufactured home, which was purposely delayed to October to allow the 28 vultures that roost in one of the parcel’s sycamores – known locally as ”The Vulture Tree” – time to migrate south, guaranteeing that the vultures will return.
The demolition of the house was also done by the volunteers, requiring an organized effort that filled roll-off containers “5 through 8,” said the Snows. Volunteers also removed a broken van that had been on the side of the road for five years.
The Snows estimate almost the entire population of West Gate – 40 people – eventually pitched in to help with either physical work or support of the project. All was cleared out just before Christmas.
The Snows hope to donate the land to Santa Cruz County, once zoning and planning hurdles are cleared. The County has recommended it not be called a park to avoid the regulations that come with being a park. The volunteers call it “the Knottapark.”
The Knottapark presently has one large cottonwood and three large sycamore trees that attract various species of birds and other wildlife. There are plans to plant a pollinator garden, like the garden in Patagonia. A wildlife waterer is almost complete, with a water line now installed, and native grass seed will be planted to restore native grasses. A picnic table has already been placed.
West Gate community is one mile from the Cochise County line on Cimarron Road and two miles west of Ft. Huachuca. The Knottapark is located at 1 Woodland Drive.