Many readers know Brenda & Larry Ryan. They are in the forefront in looking out for the interests of their neighbors. They sent the following email to their neighbors as well as the mayor and council members.
Keep in mind, Dankwerth & either Parish or Gillaspie are now "lame duck" council members.
The issues they will vote on are critical to the future of Oro Valley.
Here is the Ryan's email.
Art
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Hello Neighbors,
Just a reminder that this coming Wednesday, March 19th, the TOV Council meets at 7 p.m. Among items to be considered are the 360K giveaway in reduced construction taxes to Sanofi-Aventis, one of the world's richest pharmaceutical companies. Sanofi-Aventis has been in Oro Valley for 17 years, has already started construction of their newer, larger facility on Innovation Park and Rancho Vistoso Blvd. Make no mistake, if they get 360K of Oro Valley's revenue, we taxpayers will compensate for it. You notice we have 2% utility taxes, and a new $2.90 per month water fee. There will be more to make up this loss, you can be sure!
At this meeting will be considered the Anthem Equity/Acorn Development which is to be built at the corner of RV Blvd. and Commerce Loop and will back up to our main entrance--Vistoso Village Drive. When you drive past this development you will see the REAR of 36' tall industrial buildings, four of them that will look terrible and block any views of residents nearby. There will also be loading docks and a dumpster. There are poles in place at this moment that show how high these buildings will be.
As another slap in the face to Neighborhood Two, we will try to bring up the double-switched zoning issue. We were CPI, then in 1994 the Oracle Road Scenic Overlay made us Residential. It was allowed to expire in 2003. Of course we were not told. TOV published a 3" x 3" notice in the DAILY TERRITORIAL. As you know, the Town suggests we place Deed Restrictions on our properties, and we may have to, BUT first we want to tell them it is THEIR PROBLEM and they need to permanently re-instate the Overlay giving us back our residential zoning status--and protect us from further commercial encroachment!
If you can attend the Council Meeting, please do. It is at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the 19th.
Brenda and Larry
4 comments:
My only response to this post is:
DUE DILIGENCE.
Good Luck!!
I am really looking forward to seeing which council members vote in favor of the resident's interest.
I understand that The Anthem Equity/Acorn plans submitted to a mere handful of adjacent homeowners in 2006 were far, far different from those submitted this year! Fewer buildings, lower heights and now a "Bait and Switch" plan!
On the zoning matter: most of the homes in Neighborhood Two were purchased during the zoning Overlay...and then the Overlay "expired". Nobody informed the owners. There is culpability to be addressed.
It seems to me that it is more than a coincidence that the crematorium opened, we are in the midst of the zoning fiasco and the Anthem Equity/Acorn development was delayed until 3/19.
On the crematorium, they must have expected some trouble, on Friday the day of the Ribbon Cutting, I walked by around 9:45 and saw 3 police cars in the parking lot and 2 others patrolling Rancho Vistoso and Innovation Park area, must have thought we were going to picket. Guess we have made an impact and should think of picketing again while they are open.
On the Anthem Equity development, I find it interesting that the owner Mr. Ford, who told us in the original 2006 meeting he wanted to be a 'good neighbor', well after the 2008 meeting when we found out the industrial buildings that were promised by Anthem/Acorn to be only 25' were raised to 36', Mr. Acorn told us he didn’t' think it was such a 'big deal' enough to notify the neighbors as they had promised. When I asked why they couldn't put the taller industrial buildings on Commerce Loop instead of Vistoso Village Drive, the main entrance to our development, Mr. Acorn completely ignored my question. When I asked after the meeting Anthem Equity’s Representative Diana, told me the TOV probably wouldn't have allowed it because it would ruin the continuity of the Vistoso Commerce Loop area. So it doesn't matter it ruins the views of at least 20+ homes most of which paid lot premiums for the views as much as $70,000 according to one homeowner.
At the 2/20 Council Meeting when several of us got up to speak against the development, with Mr. Parrish absent the only one to make a motion to approve the plans and completely ignore the public as usual, was Mayor Loomis. The motion failed to pass as no one else would second it. Then a motion was made by KC Carter to continue until the next meeting and amended by Al Kunisch (surprise!) to install poles the height of the buildings to show the neighbors how tall they would be. The motion was further amended to have the poles on all four corners and to mark all the loading docks and dumpster areas. After the Town Council Meeting that night, Mr. Ford showed his true colors by ranting and raving at the Council and Mayor Loomis saying they had no right not to approve the plan and basically calling his staff incompetent. He threatened to sue the TOV and even though the Mayor tried to calm him down by assuring him if he waited to next time everything would be fine, he continued to badger the Council and Staff and was ushered into the 'back room' to calm him down by the Mayor and Ms. Moore, who was patting him on the back and trying to calm him. Well, Mr. Ford, so much for being a 'Good Neighbor’! I have since heard that the reason they want the lower office buildings on Vistoso Commerce Loop is because they don't want to block the view of the office buildings so they can charge more, so to hell with the residents!
During the tour of the site after the poles were erected, the only Council Members to show up were VM Kunisch and Mrs. Dankwerth as well as several staff. I was impressed by Mrs. Dankwerth asking questions to clarify exactly what the height of the poles represented, but could not believe how rude and arrogant Mr. Acorn was to Mrs. Dankwerth. Since we as mere residents were not allow to address the developer, or to ask questions only the Council, I was dismayed that the Vice Mayor didn't say something to Mr. Acorn. Even if I don't agree with some of Mrs. Dankwerth's ideology, she still deserves respect. Obviously Mr. Acorn and Mr. Ford are still a little more than angry that the plan didn't pass and they had to erect the poles.
In addition many of the neighbors got cards telling them the approval was extended to 3/19 and it said on the cards the poles were to be erected on all four corners of the tall buildings and the location of the loading docks. Well the developer did not follow that direction and only erected one pole for each building, one on the back corner of the building on VV Dr and RV Blvd. and one on the back center of each of the others. In addition they were erected at the finished height of the outside walls (33’), not the height to include the AC equipment on the roof (36’). Mr. Acorn’s explanation was that the equipment could not be seen from the line of sight. Well maybe not from the street level, but from the back yards behind these monstrosities you will be able to see them. Mr. Acorn also kept repeating that even if one story homes were constructed, most of the view would be blocked, but there is quite a difference between one story houses with separations between and 200 foot wide block style buildings! And again even the office buildings would be an improvement on the VV Dr side and eliminate the individual loading docks being right behind the residences, but our ‘Good Neighbor’ wants to be able to charge the Offices for the mountain view many of our neighbors will lose!
It also seems odd to me that the minutes from the 2/20 Town Council meeting were unavailable until just this week and the audio from the video stream of that same meeting was unavailable, ‘due to technical difficulties’, even when one resident went to the Town Clerk’s office they were told the minutes were not available. The draft minutes in on the website now do not mention anything about the request to put the poles on all four corners, so again the developer is getting their way!
I fully expect this to pass on Wednesday, especially since we are not zoned residential but CPI, another TOV fiasco, but it seems a shame to me that Mr. Ford did not live up to his promises to us from this original 2006 meeting. And of course with his deep pockets, he basically can do what he wishes with the blessing of most of the TOV!
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