Not Too Late To Vote In Our Poll... and A-Frames

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It's not too late to vote in our poll: "How much "crap" can Fry's display outside their Oracle Road store?" Take the poll (top left panel of this page) to let us know what you think.

When visiting Fry's take note of the nifty setup of their Grill Center, which includes four grills, some grilling utensils and a trash receptacle (see picture on left). Now that, my friends, is creative merchandising.

Today, we noted that Fry's had consolidated the general merchandise "stuff" from four tables to one and moved it way off to the right corner of the entryway way where no one will ever see it. This display technique should increase store pilferage. Way to go Fry's.

I'm not so sure that our Town Council anticipated this type of "creative merchandising" when they loosened the merchant outdoor display requirement.
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At Wednesday night's Oro Valley Town Council Meeting, even the most pro business council members realized how utterly ridiculous it was to allow "A-Frame" advertising on public ways; thus, they did not approve such.

Even more ridiculous, however, were the three pages of rules and monitoring regulations that were recommended by town employees to manage these "displays".

The Council spent 45 minutes discussing this.

What an utter waste of both Council and town employee time.

Who put this on the Town's radar screen anyway?
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Guest View-Conny Culver's Message To Rancho Vistoso: Beware of Beztak

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Having seen Oro Valley victimized by Beztak in 2003-04, the potential General Plan Amendment in Rancho Vistoso is frightening indeed!

I spent almost two years full-time trying to convince the then current Town Council (Mayor Loomis, Council Members Dick Johnson, Warner Wolf, Bart Rochman and Paula Abbott) to abide by our General Plan and follow the El Conquistador Planned Area Development ("PAD").

They did not.

Oro Valley is far worse because of their decision. Oro Valley wound up with 138 two and three story apartments, packed into the parking lot of the businesses on the Southwest Corner of LaCanada and Lambert Lane.

Here's a sample of Beztak's “upscale” design (picture left) I would invite concerned residents to look at this “Mixed Use Project”. These towering apartments are just a few feet from the back yards of homes in the Villages of LaCanada. Not only were their views of the Villages destroyed, but any sense of privacy was lost. How would you have liked to have been the owner of one the impacted single family homes? One day, you're living in paradise. The next, big brother is watching you.

Everything about this project was in direct conflict with our General Plan and the El Conquistador PAD. Still, the Council at that time approved it. These apartments never should never have been approved. They never should have been built. But they were.

Now, Beztak is back.

Now, the residents of Rancho Vistoso face a similar problem to those faced by the El Conquistador residents: Development of a property that may be incompatible with and injurious to the abutting and adjacent neighborhoods.

The Ford Property project, to be approved, must meet all of the following three requirements:

• The proposed Development should comply with the citizen-approved vision for our community. This is what our General Plan is.

• The proposed Development should comply with the Rancho Visto PAD.

• The Development, itself, should be in harmony with the existing Development.

Can anyone seriously believe that, on any level, the requested Ranch Vistoso General Plan Amendment request meets any of these requirements?

Right now, everyone must ask: Do we, the residents of Oro Valley, have a Town Council that will vote to protect our community; to protect the quality of life of those living in Rancho Vistoso? Or will they sell out, as the Council did in 2004, to Special Interests. Clearly the Council in 2004 violated the General Plan, the Grading Ordinance, the El Conquistador PAD and basic design principles. Will they do so again?

Let's hope that that an encore performance is not waiting in the wings.

Conny Culver
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