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Friday, John Musolf contributed a very detailed, considered piece defining what he thinks is meant by MUN.
As one of our bloggers noted in an email to me:
MUN "...would allow developers to apply for rezoning to allow multiple uses on their land. For example, they could have commercial and apartments/condos on the same parcel. This would be like the apartments sandwiched between the gated community of homes and the Big Five Sporting Goods/Noble Hops strip center at La Canada & Lambert."
So, what does MUN mean? Given we have heard to date, one word keeps coming up when it comes to MUN: Apartments.
A few months ago, the Oro Valley Development and Infrastructure Department and the Developer stated, at a public hearing on Rancho Vistoso Pad 7-I, that there is very little land in Oro Valley zoned for multi-family residential, Apartments. They both felt that more land was needed. Perhaps that is why they supported the general plan amendment that would have allowed apartments on 7-I. Perhaps that is why the Oro Valley Planning and Zoning Commission recommended this change.
At each public hearing the the Oro Valley Development and Infrastructure Department has conducted on Mixed Use, every mixed used development example provided includes Apartments.
This quote is from a highly reliable source:
"It is the intent to make Mixed Use part of a General Plan update - along with other issues - this year."
If a Mixed Use Zoning designation is approved by this Oro Valley Town Council, you should expect to see many requests put forth to rezone properties for mixed use, since mixed used gives developers much more flexibility regarding what can be built on a property: Like apartments.
This designation, once placed on a property, will also make it much more difficult for residents to oppose apartments if they don't want them since the zoning code mixed use will already include a permission to build apartments.
In other words, one never knows what will actually be built on a property once the mixed use designation is placed on the property. Who knows what property 7-I or the Ford Property in Rancho Vistoso would have become if it had been designated under this MUN code.
The mixed use zoning designation was rejected by the Oro Valley voters in approving the 2005 General Plan. So, if the Oro Valley Town Council moves to approve such a designation, they are going directly against the will of the people.
Thing is: Adding this zoning designation to the Oro Valley codes is a major, not a minor change to the General Plan. Therefore, shouldn't it be for the people, not the council, to make this change? That would occur, if approved, in the 2015 General Plan.
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