Fry's Rooney Ranch Fuel The Station Approved By Council

The Oro Valley Town Council approved four motions last week to allows Fry's  to build a gas station on the north side of the Rooney Ranch Center.

The impact that the fuel station will have on traffic was a major concern to the town Council, to the town  boards that have previously heard this proposal and to town staff.

Fry's provided a traffic study. According to this study, the fuel station will add 98 new visitors to the shopping center during peak hours. About half of those will be cars that were passing by the center. The other half will be cars that are traveling to the center specifically to get fuel. Staff estimates that the total increase traffic will be approximately 20% of existing traffic.

The Rooney Ranch PAD ("Planned Area Development") called for the gas station to be built in an area where car facilities would be clustered. That PAD was created in 1987. However, that is not possible given the actual development of the center. Consequently, a PAD amendment was required to allow the fuel center to be located on the opposite end of the center on the north side of the property.

The fuel center will displace approximately 43 parking spaces. Staff believes that this will have a minimum overall impact because there are other parking areas, especially the area directly north of the supermarket, that are underutilized.

The town is taking advantage of this request in several ways. It is requiring Fry's to improve ADA access to the center. ADA compliant sidewalks will be built.  In addition the existing ring road (the road that is parallel to and closest to Oracle Road and inside the center) will be modified on the north side to provide a more direct access from the traffic light that goes from the center to first Avenue. This is the main egress for cars seeking northbound access to first Avenue.

Council voted 5-2 in favor of proving the four measures that were required for this project to move forward.

For more on this center visit this link.

Incumbents Lead In Oro Valley Recall Election

Incumbent Mayor Hiremath and council members Hornat, Snider and Waters are the leading vote getters in the 2015 recall election. Hiremath and Snider have a substantial lead over their opponents as of the counting of early votes and walk-in votes. This as of 5:30am.

Provisional votes remain to be tallied. These are the votes of those who turned in their early ballots at the polls and those who appeared at a polling place whose voting "right" needs to be verified.

We do not know the number of provisional votes in Oro Valley, Nor do we know when these votes will be counted. However, two of the races are sufficiently close that the provisional vote count could make a difference. Joe Hornat has a 125 vote lead over Ryan Hurtung.Lou waters has a 311 vote lead over Steve Didio.

Visit the county election site to view vote totals.

In the meantime, life goes on on Oro Valley.

Tonight the Oro Valley Town Council will consider approving the 90% version of the 2015 general plan, the rezoning for a Fry's Fuel Center at Oracle and First Avenue, and the rezoning of the Nakoma Sky project.
---

Fireworks Tonight At Town Hall?

---
There could be fireworks at tonight's Oro Valley Town Council meeting.  A discussion of four items on tonight's Oro Valley Town Council Meeting Agenda should make things interesting. You might want to attend; or, at a minimum, watch the live feed via the Town Of Oro Valley web site.

First, there's item D on the consent agenda. This would replace town attorney Tobin Rosen with an interim town attorney.   What makes this interesting is that Tobin Rosen is not retiring until January; and that he has agreed to remain on staff to aid in a transition after that point.  In essence then, Tobin Rosen is being relieved of his duties if this agenda item is approved.  We understand that finding a new attorney to replace Tobin will take time.  There is no reason that we foresee why that process can't start immediately, while Tobin is the active Town Attorney.

Second, there is the public hearing on the Innovation Park Economic Expansion Zone fast track approval process.  This is item 3A on the regular agenda.  You should expect discussion of adding a requirement that there be at least one public hearing for all such projects.  The Oro Valley Planning and Zoning staff recommendation as approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission includes no such hearing requriement; even though residents have spoken of the need for it at neighborhood meetings and at the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on it.  Their pleas have been ignored. So much for the value of community input as perceived by some who work at town hall.

Third, there is approval of two additional monument signs for the Fry's Gas station.  These signs would be located along LaCanada and Lambert Lane.  This is item 4 on the regular agenda.  Talk about overkill.  Does a "Town Of Excellence" really need five monument signs in one area?  Did sign's help The Loop survive? Did signs help "Down Home Delight's" Survive?  The answer, of course, is no.  The Fry's gas station will be a destination store because one can get discounts on gas.  Therefore, people will find it.

Fourth, there is item 6 on the main agenda. This item will change the way Council Members can add items to the council's agenda.

Recall last week we posted how items get on the Oro Valley town council agenda. Three days after this posting, we learned that there are some on council who want to change this process. They want to make it more difficult for you and for you those in the minority on council to get an item on the agenda.

In essence, implementing item 6 would meant that four members of council need to approve an item for addition to the agenda and not two.  The result is that minority members of council will likely not be able to add agenda items.   We don't see a need to change a procedure that is not broken. Its not as if Council Members are requesting to add frivolous items.  It would be best if this change would simply "die a quiet death."

Perhaps there will be some health disagreements among council members on these four items.  Perhaps, some "fireworks".  We will be there. We hope that you are too.
---

Council Approves Fry's Fuel Center CUP

---
The Oro Valley Town Council voted 5-2, after reconsideration, to approve the Fry's 7 pump fuel station conditional use permit ("CUP").  The station will be located at Lambert and La Canada, near the existing Valero Fuel Station.

Neighbors were successful in convincing Fry's to:

• limit  hours of operation from 5am or 11pm.  
• operate the station only on an attended basis.
• build the facility with minimal signage
• construct an awning that is more conducive to Oro Valley's ascetic qualities.
• Add some trees for additional screening

One issue raised by the neighbors was the impact on traffic of the fuel station at that location.  A Fry's study was "validated" by Town Staff.  The study concluded that there would be 58 new trips to the fuel station out of a projected 2,400 visits per day.  This means that, in their analysis, town staff concluded that most trips to the gas station will be from users who are already there for a variety of reasons.

During his presentation, the Fry's representative stated that, at some point, Fry's will not be providing a discount through other gas stations in town.  This will most certainly increase the number of visits to this new location since it will be the only place one can use their Fry's Fuel Discount. 
---