Kai Amendment Request Gets New Life

Jones-Ivey tips the scale

The Oro Valley Town Council voted 4-3 last night to reconsider the Kai-Capri General Plan Amendment. Council Member Joyce Jones-Ivey joined the three who had voted to approve the amendment in approving the motion. She have voted against the amendment at the January 6 meeting. The amendment will be heard on February 3.

Jones-Ivey: Kai Family feels there were misunderstandings

Jones-Ivey had requested that the item be reconsidered after being approached by the applicant. She said that the person who approached her " was very concerned about the fact that there was he felt misinformation or misunderstood. He wanted an opportunity to come back and have his concerns addressed."

Jones-Ivey blames possible "misunderstandings" on Zoom meeting format

She continued: "I really would like to see this happen for them. The Kai Family has been in the community for years and they have also been developing here for quite a few years and because we are using Zoom to communicate sometimes I believe there is a lot of lost communication that goes on that could have possibly contributed to the misunderstanding that they would like to have clarified. So, for that reason, I would like to have this reconsideration considered and passed by council. We can have them back and listen to their concerns.”

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Source: Oro Valley Town Council Meeting, January 20. 2021, Time 1:58:40

1st and Tangerine General Plan Public Hearing On December 30

A previously unschedule meeting that must be held

The town council will hold a Zoom session on December 30 at 5pm to discuss and take possible action on the 1st Avenue and Tangerine Road General Plan Amendment.

The council failed to hold this hearing at its December 2 meeting because Town Manager Jacobs failed to post the public hearing notice. The council voted to defer the hearing until January 6. As LOVE noted at that time, this violated state law requirements that the council hold the hearing with the calendar year of the request. Thus, the need for the hearing on the 30th.

The council does not need to make a decision on the 30th. Council can continue its decision until the planned January 6 hearing.

Town needs to fix meeting link

The town will need to correct the link to the meeting. The link is to the "meetings and agenda" page. That page does not show the December 30 council meeting.  

Another landowner money maker

Like all general plan amendments, this one stands to make the Kai family millions. They seek to change the general plan designation on this property from commercial to residential. As we’ve reported, they have submitted five plans: Apartments; Rental Casitas; Senior Care; Townhomes; and Single Family Residential.

These will substantially increase property density. They are attempting to justify this based on “market demand.”

The family has already benefitted greatly from the generosity of the Hiremath majority, with land use change and rezoning of acres south of the lot for the Silverhawk development.

You can learn more about the requested amendment here.

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Big Dollar Contributions Have Power Because Money Buys Access and Special Consideration

Rodman and Solomon votes "follow the money"
In the two years they served with Hiremath and his majority, Council Member Solomon voted lockstep to approve every developer request. Rodman voted to approve all but one request, a request to rezone a property that we believe is near his home.

Instances in which they voted in favor of contributors.
November 16, 2016
At their first council meeting in office voted to approve blading of the Silverhawke property. This property was owned by the Kai Family, one of their contributors.

March 15, 2017
In March of 2017, Solomon and Rodman approved the PAD rezoning that allowed major campaign contributor Diamond Venture' Self Storage facility at Steam Pump Village.

May 16, 2018
Rodman and Solomon voted to approve rezoning of land owned by the Kai Family. This involved approximately 199-acres located west of La Cholla, between Lambert Lane and Naranja Drive; and 8.2-acres located on the northwest corner of LaCholla and Naranja Drive.  Their vote in favor of this rezoning is particularly noteworthy because Solomon and Rodman allowed multiple concept plans for each of the parcels within the PAD. The owner only needs to have further town review if they want to switch to a different concept that was approved in this bundle of plans.

On November 20, 2014, while on the Planning and Zoning Commission, Rodman approved the general plan amendment that allowed this master planned community.

Rodman and Solomon supported the construction of high density residential homes on top of Big Wash
December 6, 2017
Solomon and Rodman voted to approve General plan Amendments to allow residential housing to be built in in Rancho Vistoso Neighborhood 5. This land is on top of Big Wash. While on the Planning and Zoning Commission, Rodman had voted to amend the general plan to approve this land use change.

The "Big Wash" Project

Will the "beat go on"?
June of 2020
As a lasting thank you, we notice that Rodman and Solomon 2020 Campaign signs are posted in front of the Silverhawke Sanctuary property at the intersection of First Avenue and Lambert Lane.  This, at a time, when council is to consider a general plan amendment to add more residential land to Silverhawke, a Kai sponsored General Plan Amendment.  

Unseemly but not illegal
There is nothing illegal about taking a campaign contribution from a contributor and then voting in favor of their requests. It just feels unseemly.

Apparently, the voters agreed in 2018.

Tired of seeing all those yellow signs announcing possible land use changes and knowing the likely outcome if Hiremath remained in power, they decided it was time for a change. They replaced Mayor Hiremath and his majority with four resident centric council members: Mayor Winfield, Vice Mayor Barrett and council Members Jones-Ivey and Nicolson.

Perhaps they will consider the same when it comes to the reelection of Rodman and Solomon.
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Oland: Town Needs More Rooftops

Kai Amendment justification: Oro Valley needs more rooftops
The narrative that “more rooftops” are needed to justify more retail presence continued as the justification for approving a general plan amendment. This is an amendment of a commercial parcel located near the first avenue and Tangerine Intersection. We call this the Kai Property because it, like the entire Silverhawke area, is owned by the Kai family.

The justification was stated a last week's zoom.us public meeting by Paul Oland of Paradigm Land Design, the land engineering company representing the owner.

Request at odds with town's "economic development strategy"
The owner is presenting this general plan amendment to reduce commercial land at a time when the town's economic development strategy is to increase commercial land and to speed its development.

There are many uses for commercial property other than the neighborhood shopping center that the developer presented in 2015, when the entire Silvehawke land mass was amended. The property could be used for a variety of non retail commercial needs as currently zoned. Some of these could be very specific to the area such as medical offices or a workout facility.

Lots of rooftops proposed
This latest proposal shows a road connecting First Avenue and Tangerine Road.  As for the land use, Oland presented five alternatives, none of which are binding if and when the amendment is approved:

• 10 apartments, 2-stories each, a gated community
• 100 plus 1-story casitas with a tiny recreation area
• Senior care facility and independent senior living housing
• A  cluster of townhomes
• 55 single family homes like Silverhawk

Terrain has not changed since 2015 amendment

Tim Bohen: "What's really happened since 2015 to require this amendment?"

There were two audience questions.  Oro Valley Town Council candidate Tim Bohen referred to the slide at right. The slide highlights the area north of the property. Its hilly nature, according to Oland, blocked the line of sight  from Tangerine Rd, making the property unsuitable for retail use.

Bohen had asked what has happened between 2015 and today to cause the need for a change in land use. After all, the terrain was the same in 2015 as it is today.  Oland did not respond directly to that question. Rather, he repeated his assertion that Oro Valley needs more rooftops. 

The second question from an attendee was about Kai Drive being connected to Tangerine Road. Could a traffic-safe connection to Tangerine Road be made? Town Engineer Keesler said that the town will look into this as part of the application process.

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Kai Property Amendment Virtual Public Meeting Tonight

The Town of Oro Valley is hosting a virtual neighborhood meeting at 6pm tonight. The subject of the meeting is the proposed general plan amendment for the Southeast of Tangerine Road and 1st Avenue Intersection. This property abuts the northern edge of the Silerhawke development.

This is an "... opportunity for residents to ask questions directly to the applicant and Town staff as well as build-on the information, questions and comments that have been generated by the 1st and 2nd informational videos posted on OVprojects.com."

This virtual meeting is a step the process that the town created to facilitate community input on the proposed general plan amendment. The town created the process to accommodate Covid-19 social distancing requirements.  This meeting is not a substitute for in-person neighborhood meetings that are to be held later in the the August-September time frame. Virtual meetings will happen if in-person meetings can not safely occur.

Use zoom.us to access the meeting:

• Click on this link
• Enter the meeting ID number: 986 3253 1728

or join the meeting by phone: 253-215-8782

You can learn about this project by reading LOVE articles or the town's postings.
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"Kai" Proposed General Plan Amendment: Death By A Thousand Cuts

The Kai family, owners of the Silverhake Property, have spent a decade getting general plan and zoning amendments successfully approved. Oro Valley resident Devon Sloan reminds us of the history of this property as they voiced his concern on the latest Kai attempt during the virtual comment period. The words are theirs. The subheadings are ours...
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50 years of ownership
"The Kai family is very fortunate to have been able to purchase land in our area over 50 years ago, and I am well aware that times change, but why do our voter approved General Plan and our zoning requirements need to change every time the Kai family wants to do something different with their purchase?

From residential to commercial to residential
In 2015, the family's property near First and Tangerine was zoned as large lot residential, and they wanted and were granted a change to neighborhood commercial office. Now they want to change it back to residential, but not large lot. They want to make it 167 one story or 200 two story apartments or town homes or possibly a two story senior citizen facility.

The reasoning is as follows:

• poor visibility for retail at that location 
• the parcel of land is not exactly on that corner 
• there is a weak market for retail at that location because there is a lack of residents in that area AND because of the abundance of other retail space nearby 

Plus, they claim that retail won't improve in this location.

Already reduced density in previous approved amendments
Keep in mind that the Kai family is the owner of the land that is now Sanctuary at Silverhawke with 40 homes and the Villages at Silverhawke with 186 lots. The Villages at Silverhawke were originally approved as low density residential and in 2013. The Kai family was able to have it changed to medium density residential with the property square footage reduced to 5,520 from 7,200.

Also remember that Oro Valley lives on sales tax revenues, and changing zoning entitlements away from commercial, only limits the future of sales tax revenues. Once all construction/impact fees are paid, the land will produce no revenue for our Town. With the probability of apartments going in at the Oro Valley Marketplace, this area will be saturated with apartments. Unless the Town initiates a "renters tax", apartments don't produce income. The best use of the land for Oro Valley is to remain commercial. There are no lack of residents, especially with the development of both Silverhawke complexes.

Why do we have a voter approved General Plan and Town zoning requirements if a wealthy owner of the property can change what the property becomes just by saying 'I don't want to do this anymore. I want to make more money.'"
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Guest View: Jack Stinnett ~ How Special Interests have influenced our Town Council elections

Just since 2014, developers and special interests have contributed a quarter of a million dollars to influence the elections of Oro Valley’s mayor and council. So far it has worked to allow their candidates to control our town and approve every developer requested General Plan amendment and rezoning.

Town Council decisions allowing rampant over-development is viewed by many as being a direct result of developers and special interest money buying our small town elections. Below is the sequence of events that has caused our town to fall prey to outside big money influence.

2010 Election
This was Hiremath’s first run for mayor and he funded his campaign at a level 5 times greater than his opponent. Hiremath raised over $45,000, (some from personal loans) and $13,000 from special interests. Despite this advantage, Hiremath won the 2010 election by only 30 votes. His campaign later repaid his personal and family loans.

2014 Election
In the 2014 election, Mayor Hiremath and Councilmembers Hornat, Snider, and Waters ran as a team who knew “what was best for Oro Valley.” Hiremath was opposed by Patrick Straney. Donald Bristow was the only opposing council candidate.

Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters had now learned the campaign finance model, as did the developer, builder, and real estate community. This time, special interests kicked in $59,000 (a four-fold increase from 2010) for a second term of their team who knew “what was best for Oro Valley."

The Top 5 Donors in the 2014 Election were: [click to enlarge]

The special interest funded candidates won re-election. Why was this unheard of level of Special Interest funding needed to fend off two first time candidates -- and two incumbent council candidates who were effectively running unopposed?

2015 Recall Election
In the 2015 Recall election of Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters, special interests once again contributed heavily to keep their council in office. Humberto Lopez (HSL Properties), the HSL Family trust, and HSL employee Omar Morales donated $24,000 to defend Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters against four recall opponents.

Through the October 15, 2015 campaign finance report, Mayor Hiremath alone had raised $104,000 and spent $101,323 to retain his office against challenger Patrick Straney. Despite Hiremath outspending Straney by 15 to 1, Hiremath won with only 51% of the vote.

2016 Council Election
In the 2016 election, candidates Rhonda Pina, Bill Rodman, and Steve Solomon defeated incumbents Zinkin, Garner, and Burns, effectively giving Mayor Hiremath a 7-0 council. Zinkin, Garner, and Burns had refused to accept donations from special interests and were heavily outspent as a result. Once again, the special interest funded challengers won the election.

The result of three special interest funded elections (2014-2015-2016)
During the period 2014 through 2016, special interests funded Mayor Hiremath and our six elected council members to create an unassailable 7-0 council majority. Since the new council took office in November 2016, over 90% of all decisions have been 7-0 votes, with many items agreed prior to council meetings by "consent agenda" and never discussed in public. Not one developer requested rezoning or General Plan amendment has been denied by the Oro Valley mayor and council.

The Top Donors to Mayor Hiremath and the current council from 2014 to 2016 were: [click to enlarge]

2018 Primary Election
Now running for a third term, Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters reported $61,580 in campaign contributions during the 2nd quarter reporting period [April 29 - June 30]. (Editor’s Note: Campaign Finance Reports through August 11th reveal that the incumbents raised an additional $35,581 since the June 30th reporting period.)

Further inspection reveals that over 90% of this amount came from developers, landowners, and other special interests expecting to do business with or in Oro Valley.

As of the June 30th reporting period, the incumbents raised less than $2,000 from Oro Valley residents. That’s not nearly enough to pay for the multiple glossy, multicolor mailers we have received, much less the multiple full page ads in the Explorer.

So when you receive all their promotional material, recognize that it is coming from special interest contributions to influence your vote to keep the status quo for them.

Let’s vote ‘em out.

Editor’s Note: For more information on the updated Campaign Finance Reports, please scroll down to read our Special Saturday Edition that you may have missed since we don’t normally publish on the weekends.