An Arizona land auction for a Pinnacle Peak resort site has neighbors worried that development would reduce access to an adjacent hiking trail.

Overflow parking along 102nd Way and Pinnacle Peak Parkway could be eliminated if the resort site is developed, said Joanne Netland, who lives nearby and frequently hikes the landmark peak.

"What happens to all those hikers and their cars" if the site is developed, she asked.

The land auction is the latest wrinkle for Pinnacle Peak Park, which was closed to hikers and climbers for 8 years in an access dispute with homeowners from the nearby Desert Highlands and Estancia neighborhoods.

Since reopening in 2002, the 1.75-mile trail has attracted hundreds of hikers and runners per day. In February, the park recorded its 1 millionth visitor.

Dozens of cars spill over from the trailhead parking lot on weekend mornings. Eliminating parking along the street would create a situation similar to Camelback Mountain where hikers jockey for available parking at the trailhead.

The 16.81 acres of state trust land east of Pinnacle Peak, with an appraised value of $12.75 million, is scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder on June 30.

Bob Vairo, Coalition of Pinnacle Peak president, said the site is too small for a resort.

It is zoned for commercial uses but is adjacent to homes, the trailhead and the Pinnacle Peak Patio Steakhouse.

COPP is urging Scottsdale to acquire some of the land for additional parking at Pinnacle Peak Park.

Scottsdale has not shown an interest in the land, Vairo said.

"While the park is not part of the contiguous McDowell Sonoran Preserve, it is certainly a reminder that the city cares about preservation and its recreational value to its citizens," Vairo said in a May 1 letter to the city.

Frank Gray, Scottsdale Planning and Development Services general manager, said the Scottsdale City Council will be presented with options regarding the state trust land and that could include trying to acquire some of the site.

Those options will be presented in a closed-door executive session before they would be considered in a public meeting by early June, Gray added.

Scottsdale is coming off a controversial condemnation case involving 383 acres of state trust land that the city acquired from Toll Brothers for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

A jury in January ordered the city to pay the homebuilder $213,838 per acre or $81.9 million for the land. Toll Brothers paid $$32.5 million or $85,000 per acre for it in 2002.

Scottsdale had offered the builder $34 million or $88,772 per acre.

Critics charged that it would have been wise for Scottsdale to bid on the entire 780 acres that Toll Brothers acquired. Then the city could have sold off what it did not need for the preserve.

The applicant for the state trust land in question is developer John Wanninger, who is also working on the proposed Waterview at Scottsdale hotel and condominium project northeast of Scottsdale and Camelback roads.