If you’ve lived in Oro Valley for a long time, you’ve witnessed the town grow into what it is today. Back in the 1990s, Oro Valley was one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Arizona, with some years seeing over 1,000 single-family home permits issued. This was the period when many of the larger neighborhoods, such as Rancho Vistoso and Canada Hills, were being built.
While housing has always driven development, the era of constructing large subdivisions (with 130+ homes) within current Town boundaries is over. The Town currently issues 100–200 single-family permits a year. With only 12% of the land remaining, Oro Valley residents are looking for strategic growth that fosters an environment where people can live, work, and play.
Through a series of surveys, meetings, and engaging online discussions, residents prioritized the following:
- Managing growth strategically to foster an environment where residents can live, work, and play
- Maintaining a well-planned and cohesive design of the community
- Providing a range of housing options for seniors, families, and workers
- Creating more gathering spaces and areas to entertain — more restaurants, retail, and things to do
- Protecting mountain views
The draft plan reflects the voices of residents, establishing goals, policies, and actions to guide Oro Valley into the future.
Here are just some ways the residents’ Plan will guide future development:
- Support diverse land uses that meet the Town’s overall needs and effectively transition in scale and density from existing developments
- Foster high-quality designs that enhance OV’s unique suburban character
- Enable a wide range of housing types, densities, and prices that maintain OV’s high-quality design, community character, and value of home ownership
- Create unique, vibrant, and interconnected mixed-use destinations for residents, visitors, and businesses
- Ensure views are conserved by honoring residents’ preference for 1–2 story buildings and acceptance of 3-story buildings only on appropriate sites
- Incorporate a diverse range of housing types, mixed-use commercial areas, and employment uses in large master-planned communities and annexations
It’s time to ensure the draft plan captures the true values and priorities of our residents. We invite you to read through the details and share your thoughts about the land use goals, policies, and actions by October 31, 2025. Visit OVPathForward.com/land-use today.
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This article is part of the Town’s ongoing OV Path Forward 2026 community planning campaign.
