Construction of single-family homes near Luke Air Force Base shouldn't happen under a settlement reached Tuesday among state and county officials.

The agreement ends several years of fighting between the Attorney General's Office and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over potential residential encroachment.

Details of the agreement

That is important to the state, which sees Luke as a logical training base for the F-35 Lightning II, which replaces the aging F-16s flown at Luke.

The Air Force base pumps $2.1 billion a year into the state's economy, and Arizona leaders do not want factions warring over residential encroachment, which would make the base less desirable to decision makers as a home for the F-35.

County supervisors are expected to approve the settlement - signed by Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Terry Goddard - at a special meeting at the Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa on Thursday.

The settlement requires a county ordinance prohibiting development of single-family homes in high-accident and high-noise areas around Luke, Luke Aux 1 and Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field.

The governor said negotiators reached a "very important agreement" that protects Luke and other military installations.

"This will now complete what we have been fighting for for 30 years, and that's strictly encroachment," she said. "It certainly won't be the last challenge, as we all are aware, but I'll stay very diligent in that regard."

Supervisor Don Stapley, chairman of the county board, called the agreement an effort to protect the public.

"Our hope is that it will protect them - this is a safety issue, a welfare issue," he said. "You don't want people building homes in crash zones in areas that are unsafe."

Goddard sued the county in August 2008 to stop it from issuing building permits for new homes in Luke's restricted areas. The county countersued, asking the courts to strike down as unconstitutional the law that prevented building in those areas. The county maintained that landowner property rights prevented the denial of building permits in the restricted zones.

In February 2009, the court ruled in favor of the state, but the battle continued over a narrow strip of land.

Goddard said the settlement is necessary to bring the F-35 to Luke.

"It's what the Air Force expects, and I think safety and prudence demands a land-use plan that prohibits residential construction in those areas," he said.

Contributing to the disagreement and prolonging negotiations was the county's insistence that the state indemnify it from lawsuits that could arise.

Under the agreement, the state will defend the county as long as the county acts in good faith in denying requests to build within the restricted zone.

Goddard said he believes the ordinance can be defended.

"The governor had to play a role in it, because ultimately . . . the governor is the chief executive who binds the state, saying we will stand there and defend the county if they ever get sued," Goddard said. "And so that was the new wrinkle that was necessary to bring everybody to the table."

A landowner in the disputed noise zones can build there if the landowner had vested property rights before Jan. 1. Vested rights means the landowner had a building permit or special-use permit and performed substantial construction, invested significantly toward the construction or had a contract to perform that construction under the permit.

Goddard said once it is signed by supervisors, the agreement will settle the lawsuit.