Guest View: Rosalie Roszak ~ Variances, Variances!

The La Cholla Major General Plan Amendments that were approved by Town Council in May 2015 have now entered the rezoning phase. The project is now called Capella Planned Area Development.

Phase 1. General Plan Amendments. May 2015.
The Kai/Capella Property at La Cholla between Lambert and Naranja received an approved General Plan Amendment in 2015 which allows up to 500 (and possibly 570) homes, plus commercial uses on the corners. Area residents were never pleased about this plan, since underlying zoning for the property is R1-144, which allows only 1 house per 3.3 acres or about 63 homes for the overall 210 acre property.

My husband and I were members of the original citizens’ group (Citizen Advocates of the Oro Valley General Plan) that fought these General Plan Amendments. Some of the concessions the citizens’ group successfully negotiated at that time were lowering the number of homes from 778 to 500 and removing apartments and senior care facilities from the plan. We also placed numerous restrictions on the type of commercial entities that would be allowed.

Phase 2. Rezoning Requests. April 2018.
Now, in the Rezoning phase, the land owners/developers are asking for variances and allowances to the original agreement.

Residential
The General Plan Designation of R1-7 permits 7,000 square foot residential lots. In 2014-2015, the citizens’ group fought for minimum lot sizes of 10,000 to 15,000 square feet, more in keeping with nearby lot sizes. The applicant is requesting a variance for 6,600 square foot lots in exchange for allowing somewhat larger 10,000 sf lots along Lambert Lane.

Commercial
Commercial areas also require variances. The C-1 zoning on the NW corner of Lambert/La Cholla currently permits maximum building size of 60,000 square feet. The Rezoning requests a variance for up to a 125,000 square foot building…more than double the allowable size. Oh, and a gas station. Of note is that surrounding homes to the west and south are custom homes on one acre plus lots.

The La Cholla/Naranja commercial corners are not spared. C-N zoning indicated for these two parcels currently allows floor areas of 5,000 to 9,000 square feet for individual stores. The applicant is requesting a variance to allow floor areas up to 20,000 square feet, again more than double the allowable size.

These Variances should be denied!
They far exceed the original land uses projected for this area under Oro Valley’s 2005 General Plan, which still showed large lot single-family residential on the acreage.

The rezoning will be heard before the Planning & Zoning Commission tomorrow evening, Tuesday, April 3rd at 6 PM in Town Council chambers. Please plan to attend.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  You can read more about the Capella Planned Area Development below.

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Rosalie Roszak is a 25 year resident of Oro Valley. She and her husband moved here in 1992 in search of good air quality. She grew up in Flushing, New York and has resided in Washington, D.C., Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. She has a Master’s Degree in Urban Economics from University of California Santa Barbara, and worked for more than 40 years in the Commercial Real Estate Appraisal and Economic Consulting fields before retiring in 2017.

Important Planning and Zoning Meeting tomorrow (Tuesday)

Tuesday, March 6th at 6 PM

Town Council Chambers
11,000 N LaCanada Drive

If you live in the LaCholla area between Glover and Lambert, there are THREE agenda items scheduled for Tuesday's P&Z meeting that affect your neighborhood.

Item 3: CAPELLA
This is for the proposed REZONING for the Major General Plan Amendment that was approved in 2015. The applicant, Paul Oland of the WLB Group, has stated that this is just the continuation of the Major General Plan Amendment and that nothing has changed. But we all know that deals are made when no one is looking, so if you live in this area, you might want to plan on attending.

Items 4 and 5: SAGUARO VIEJOS
This is the residential development slated for the area on the west side of LaCholla between Glover and Naranja. See the history of this parcel below.

History of Saguaro Viejos
This parcel was already rezoned from 144,000 square foot lots down to minimum lot sizes of 20,000 sf in 2007. In 2014, The WLB Group submitted an acceptable plan for custom homes on lot sizes between 16,000 sf all the way up to lot sizes of 1.5 acres. This plan involved no mass grading. Each lot would be custom graded.  Surrounding neighbors agreed to this plan back in 2014.

(They could go down to 16,000 square foot lot sizes despite the minimum lot size being 20,000 sf if they left open space in other areas, which they were planning to do.)

Fast-forward to 2018.  NOW they are coming back requesting to scrap that plan and rezone the eastern portion of this property again, this time from 20,000 square foot lots down to minimum lot sizes of 7,000 square feet!!!! This will include mass grading of a large portion of the 85 acres followed by the building of cookie-cutter homes with connecting walls. This is unconscionable considering that surrounding homes are on lots sizes of 1/3 acre, 1/2 acre, all the way up to 3 acres and include custom and semi-custom homes and no connecting walls.

In less than ten years, that parcel has gone from a plan of approximately 25 homes on 144,000 sf lots (3.3 acre rural residential lots) to 118 homes on 20,000 to 63,000 sf lots, and now they are requesting 178 homes.  Of those 178 homes, 103 homes will be on 6,500 sf lots and 64 homes will be on 7,000 sf lots (for a total of 167 homes on postage stamp sized lots).  Only 11 homes will be on 16,000 square foot lots.

How does this proposal meet the below criteria in the General Plan?
- Promote land use development practices that conserve and minimize impacts to natural and cultural resources
- Maintain the small-town, neighborly character and improve the design and safety of the built environment

You can view the agenda HERE

Not Quite Ready: Lambert Lane Construction Continues

"Update on road construction at Lambert Lane & La Cañada Drive

Oro Valley, Arizona (July 17, 2017) – Although Lambert Lane re-opened to drivers on June 30, there is still a tremendous amount of work being performed at the Lambert & La Cañada intersection, and motorists should continue to exercise caution and vigilance when driving through this area. Once completed, this section of Lambert Lane, west to Hacienda Hermosa, will be four lanes wide with a left-turn lane and a right-turn lane in each direction, plus a bus pullout on southbound La Cañada and another pullout on eastbound Lambert. The project is slated for completion later this year.

WORK COMPLETED SO FAR

So far, crews have performed critical infrastructure work, including adjustment and installation of utilities, and grading and moving more than 60,000 cubic yards of soil to widen the roadway and reduce the height of the hill to improve safety and visibility. Extensive slope stabilization work has been performed on both sides of the streets via construction of soil nail walls. New traffic signals have been installed, and old ones have been removed. Some of the paving work has been completed, and work has begun on erosion control materials and stormwater control measures, with the installation of storm drain pipe and catch basins.

WORK THAT WILL BE PERFORMED OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS

In the coming months, as crews wrap up the final stages of road paving and curb installation, new striping and signage will follow. They’ll also complete some of the major safety features, such as the installation of a concrete sidewalk on the north side of Lambert, and the construction of a 10-foot-wide, multi-use path on the south side of the road. Stormwater efforts will continue, with the placement of a storm channel on the north side of Lambert. Residents and motorists will also notice some aesthetic enhancements, as architectural treatments are applied to the soil nail walls, and decorative rock and metal cacti are installed throughout the project. Lastly, native vegetation will be replanted (along with the installation of new irrigation lines).

HOW TO STAY INFORMED

There are three great ways to learn more about this project and stay informed about future updates: · Check out the project photo album on Facebook. (You do not need to have a Facebook account to view the pictures).

• Click or copy/paste this link into your browser: https://www.facebook.com/pg/orovalleyazgov/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10157078502702524· 
• View the project webpage at: bit.ly/lambertlane2 · 
• Subscribe to the “Roads & Development” email list for detailed notifications on this project as well as future projects. http://bit.ly/subscribeOV.

UPCOMING LANE RESTRICTIONS

The Town of Oro Valley is grateful for the community’s patience and safe driving during this time. Please be mindful of ongoing work in the area and traffic control measures such as barricades and reduced speeds. The Town will issue “Traffic Alerts” when significant lane restrictions will be put into place, impacting your daily drive.

Two such alerts include the following (dates subject to weather): ·

•  7/24/17—7/28/17: Lane restrictions on northbound and southbound La Cañada at Lambert for median curb removal, grading, new curb construction and backfill.
•  8/4/17—8/7/17: Severe lane restrictions in all directions for median grading and paving.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The Lambert Lane Phase II Project was launched to improve safety and visibility along Lambert, while widening the roadway to accommodate additional travel lanes, multi-modal enhancements, curbs and landscaping. The work is being performed by Granite Construction, Inc., and the project is funded by the Pima Association of Governments."

(Source: Town Of Oro Valley Press Release)