Oro Valley Town Council Considers Extending ESLO

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There is one item on the main agenda of tonight's Oro Valley Town Council meeting.  It is a motion to initiate a zoning code amendment "...to correct inconsistencies [regarding] the applicability of Environmentally Sensitive Lands regulations [ESLO]."  The item is procedural in nature.  It is to clarify how the ESLO should be applied to general plan amendment considerations.  The need for considering this came about in December during the review of the Desert Springs general plan amendment.  It is town staff's position that ESLO should be addressed during all land use cases.

If the Council approves this motion, then the Planning and Zoning Commission will review proposed changes and recommend actions to council.  We suspect that this will occur at an upcoming near-term meeting of the Commission.

Oro Valley's ESLO ordinance dictates land use in relation to the environment. There are six designations of land use (Map)

• Major Wildlife Linkage Category (100% Open Space) 
• Critical Resource Area Category (95% Open Space) 
• Core Resource Area Category (80% Open Space) 
• Resource Management Area Tier 1 (66% Open Space) 
• Resource Management Area Tier 2 (25% Open Space) 
• Resource Management Area Tier 3 (0% Open Space)

Areas that are not within the town's boundaries are not mapped.  Thus, a proposed annexation area, such as Desert Springs, does not have an Oro Valley ESLO determination

The ESLO dictates what can and can not occur in relation to disturbing the land.  It was developed and approved by the prior council in January, 2011(Ordinance No. (O) 11-01).  It is part of the General Plan.  "The ESLO establishes zoning regulations, guidance, and incentives to conserve sensitive resources in the town of Oro Valley through the use of geographic information system (GIS) mapping within the town of Oro Valley, along with integrating the Pima County principles defined in the already established Conservation Land System (CLS) Regional Plan Policy4 and the Multi-species Conservation Plan (MSCP), which is part of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan5 (SDCP)."(Source)

During the hearings on Desert Springs, the applicant did recognize that, once the town annexed Desert Springs, the ESLO would apply.  The applicant hired a consultant to discuss how ESLO would apply once the annexation had occurred.  The town, however, does not have the Desert Springs area mapped for ESLO since the area is not part of the town... yet.

So, tonight, the council will consider how to insure that ESLO considerations are applied in any general land-related amendment.
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