Eloy Theme Park Passes State Senate

By a 17-9 vote the Az State Senate approved bill SB-1450 approving a 144 acre theme park west of I-10 in Eloy. The bill now goes to the Governor Napolitano for approval.

We would echo the comment of Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, who said the state should not be involved in what should be developed and financed strictly by the private sector.

Tom Jenney, Arizona Federation of Taxpayers had this to say:
The Eloy theme park bill, SB1450, passed in the Senate today with 17 Yes votes. Thanks to Senators Carolyn Allen, Ken Cheuvront, Jorge Luis Garcia, Pamela Gorman, Jack Harper, Barbara Leff, Deb McCune Davis, Jay Tibshraeny, and Jim Waring, for voting against granting special tax-free bonding privileges to the theme park.

And extra thanks to Senator Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City, for his efforts to engage in a “silent filibuster” against the Eloy theme park bill during the Senate vote today. During the roll call, Sen. Gould tied up the proceedings by refusing to cast his vote. Eventually, the Senate President asked the Senate to “excuse” Gould in order to finish the roll-call vote, which is why his vote appears as an “E” instead of an “N” in the vote tally.

See the voting here.
http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/48leg/2r/bills/sb1450.sfinal.1.asp

Read the Az Star article here.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/245418

Oro Valley Board Of Adjustment Seeking Applicants

ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (June 24, 2008) - The Town of Oro Valley has extended
applications for volunteers to fill three positions on the town's Board of
Adjustment. The two-year terms expire July 2010. Applicants must be
residents of the town of Oro Valley.

The Board of Adjustment is a quasi-judicial board that has the power to
review and decide on administrative decisions or zoning requirements that
create unnecessary hardships in the development of property because of
exceptional or extraordinary conditions. Unlike other boards or commissions,
the Board of Adjustment makes the final decision on items that come before
it. The Board of Adjustment meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 3
p.m.

Applications for the Board of Adjustment are available at the Oro Valley
Town Hall, 11000 N. La Canada Drive or at the Town Clerk's website at
http://www.townoforovalley.com/TownClerk/oro_valley_citizen_volunteer_app.ht
m. The deadline for submitting the completed application is July 25, 2008.

For additional information, contact:
Contact: Mary K. Davis
(520) 229-4712
email: mdavis@orovalleyaz.gov

Pima County Passes $1.37 Billion Budget

In case you missed it, the Pima County Board of Supervisors passed a $1.37 billion budget. Our supervisor, Ann Day was one of two that voted against the budget, expressing concerns that county department managers were not on hand at previous meetings to answer budget-related questions.

Read more here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2008/06/25/news/doc486191561e6b0017385964.txt

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/06/19/20080619B1-talker0619.html

Explorer Covers Council Decision On Board Of Adjustment Appointments

We already posted the fact that the Oro Valley Council voted 4-2 (Paula Abbott was absent) to NOT appoint the only 3 candidates to the vacant Board of Adjustment positions.

Patrick McNamara, Explorer reporter writes about this issue in the June 25 issue, and we believe you can glean a wealth of information from some of the quotes noted in the article.

We can all decide for ourselves whether or not the council's action was the right thing to do.

For us---it was, without doubt, the most sensible decision.

Read The Explorer article here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2008/06/25/news/doc486189bb92034813596539.txt

Explorer Questions Sanofi-Aventis Incentive "No Vote"

Dave Perry, Explorer editor & publisher questions the council "no vote" on the Sanofi-Aventis construction tax rebate.

We don't! The circumstances of this particular situation merited the council taking action rather than putting it off even longer, as Mayor Loomis & Vice Mayor Kunisch desired.

The fact that the majority saw no good reason to give a multi billion dollar corporation that was already here, and in fact already started their necessary expansion, does not preclude the fact that incentives to entice new hi tech businesses here in the future are still an option.

Do our readers have an opinion of the council's actions on this vote?

Read The Explorer editorial here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2008/06/25/opinion/editorials/doc486170bde6cad084213922.txt