Guest View: Diane Peters ~ Mayor Hiremath makes absurd comments during the April 4th council meeting

During the April 4th Town Council meeting, the council voted 7-0 (no surprise there) to rezone 85 acres of pristine desert on the west side of LaCholla between Glover and Naranja from R1-20 (minimum 20,000 square foot lots with custom grading) to R1-7 (minimum 7,000 sf lots with mass grading) to accommodate 178 single-family homes, including 2-story homes.

For some history, this parcel had already been rezoned from R1-144 to R1-20 in 2007 and a development plan for just 74 one-story homes on lot sizes ranging from 1/3 acre to 1.5 acres was already approved by the Town Council in 2014.

Below, Mayor Hiremath explains his “rationale” for why 7,000 square foot residential lots are better than 20,000 sf lots.

Hiremath: "If you have 20,000 square foot lots, there is no capacity or requirement for the homeowner on those large lots to leave it natural desert. Somebody could landscape it, somebody could wall it."

My Rebuttal: So in order to prevent the highly unlikely possibility that a homeowner would mass grade or wall in his 20,000 sf property (approx. ½ acre) or his 43,560 sf property (1 acre), Mayor Hiremath voted to allow a developer to mass grade 52 acres of an 85 acre property that will be all walled in when the development is completed!

1 acre = 43,560 square feet x 52 acres = 2,265,120 square feet!!!

Read that again…Hiremath prefers that the developer mass grade 2.2 million square feet in order to prevent the unlikely possibility of one person mass grading 20,000 square feet. That’s absurd!

How many homeowner’s in Oro Valley have mass graded their 20,000 square foot lot? How many have mass graded their 1 acre lot, their 1.5 acre lot, or their 3 acre lot? The mayor provided no statistics for his claim. I’ve lived in Oro Valley for 15 years and I haven’t seen this anywhere, so just how common is this practice?

It’s far more likely that people who buy homes on large lots do so because they prefer to be surrounded by lush desert vegetation and wildlife and they don’t want a view of their neighbor’s home. So why would they mass grade their property?

Below, Mayor Hiremath tries to convince everyone that mountain views are not important.

Hiremath: "Does every house in the town of Oro Valley have a mountain view?"

Planning Administrator, Bayer Vella: No, but many do.

Hiremath: "So is any house construction going to block the actual view of the mountain? I mean, do people in Oro Valley buy a house, do [sic] every person in Oro Valley buy a house because of the mountain views or is it because they actually like to live in a community at the base of a mountain and they get to enjoy the mountain on their walks, their bike rides, when they go shopping, when they come out of Fry’s, when they come out of Target?"

This is a leading question. He is clearly telling Bayer what he wants him to say.

Bayer: I think it’s the latter. It’s the package. It’s not just any one box amongst a list of many.

My Rebuttal: Hiremath lives on a 1.7 acre hilltop lot with mountain views. Are we to believe that the hilltop location with panoramic mountain views didn’t factor into his decision to purchase that home?

All one has to do is peruse the Oro Valley real estate listings to see that any house with a mountain view is listed as such in the ad. Why would real estate agents bother mentioning the mountain views if no one is interested in homes with mountain views? Obviously, mountain views are a big selling point!

Follow the money trail
So what’s the real reason that Mayor Hiremath (and the rest of the council) voted to rezone this parcel down to 7,000 square foot lots to accommodate 178 cluster homes? Perhaps it’s because the players in this deal (see below list) have donated more than $20,000 to the election campaigns of all 7 current council members and to Yes on 454 in support of the mayor and council’s 2017 pet project, the Naranja Park Bond. Some of these donations are outlined below:

2014-2017    Greg Wexler (land broker, Wexler & Associates) donated a total of $14,410
2017             Jeff Grobstein, President, Meritage Homes, donated $5,000
2017             William Walker, Owner, WLB Engineering, donated $1,000

But wait! There’s more!
Other council members also offered absurd justifications to defend their votes to rezone that property for cluster homes. Their comments and my rebuttals will be featured in upcoming LOVE articles. Stay tuned.

. . . . . . . . . .

Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, Citizen Advocates of the Oro Valley General Plan, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated a controversial 200-acre development project. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England. Her interests include reading, writing, nature photography, travel, art galleries, museums, and politics.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ Planning Department enters the Circle of Deceit. Part 2.

You can read Part 1 HERE

Below is the speech that I gave before the P&Z Commissioners:

Point #1: There’s a document in the P&Z Packet that describes the surrounding neighborhood land uses. It describes the neighborhood EAST of the property as being “single-family residential 7000 and 10,000 sf lots.” This is false.

A map that I obtained from the Town shows that it was actually zoned for a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet (not 7000 sf)…and more importantly, although that parcel was zoned for 10,000 sf minimum lot sizes, it was not developed that way.

The majority of homes in that neighborhood (Ironwood Canyon) are on lot sizes between 16,000 and 19,000 square feet. The smallest lot is just under 15,000 sf and the largest lot is 33,000 sf. There are a total of 65 homes and 22 of them are on lot sizes of over 20,000 sf.

The developer (WLB Group) is asking to build 167 homes on lot sizes of 7000 square feet and less with only 11 lots of 16,000 square feet, meaning that the average lot size will be way under 15,000 sf. This means that the entire buildable portion of the property will be mass-graded. (When the average lot size is less than 15,000 sf, the developer is allowed to mass grade the entire property). This not in harmony with the surrounding neighborhoods as the developments directly to the east and to the north were not mass-graded.

Point #2: The Staff Commentary (in the packet) states that this proposal conforms with the General Plan because it will provide housing for employees and students of the adjacent schools.

Those schools have been there for years and the employees and students haven’t needed housing in the immediate area in all that time. Why do they suddenly need it NOW? We already have 570 new homes planned at Capella…right next door.

What did the applicant present to the staff that supports the housing need for employees and students of adjacent schools? Where are these people and how many of them are there?

In 2014, the surrounding neighbors agreed to a rezoning request on that parcel to allow 118 semi-custom homes on lot sizes ranging from 1/3 acre to 1.5 acres. What significant change has taken place in the last 4 years to support this new proposal?

Point #3: The documents state that, “Staff recommends approval.” Well, they also recommended approval of the original plan that was presented for this property in 2014 --- 118 semi-custom homes on large lots with no mass grading and no connecting walls. So does this mean that the staff was wrong when they recommended approval of that project in 2014? And if they were wrong in 2014, why should we trust their judgment now?

I want names
A few days later, I contacted the Town and asked for the names of everyone involved in compiling the informational packet for the P&Z commissioners and the Power Point presentation and reviewing it for accuracy. I was provided the following names:

Bayer Vella (Planning Manager/Planning & Zoning Administrator)
Michael Spaeth (Principal Planner)
Rosevelt Arellano (Senior Planner)
Milini Simms (Planner)

Getting into the weeds
So that’s FOUR Town planners who worked on this who either didn’t know that the information they provided was false (incompetence) or they knew but their number one job is not to tell the truth, but rather to do the mayor’s bidding by pushing through new developments as quickly as possible. Either way, the citizens are not being properly represented.

Mayor Hiremath always says that he doesn’t “like to get into the weeds” but shouldn’t the staff be getting in there? The staff should be visually inspecting the neighborhoods adjacent to the subject property to ensure compatibility and not just assume that the developer’s submittal and Town documents are accurate.

Since P&Z and the Town Council base their votes on the information provided to them by staff, that information needs to be accurate and up-to-date.

The Vote
The initial vote was a 3-3 tie with one commissioner absent. 

Voting YES to approve the rezoning were Chairman Charlie Hurt and Commissioners Tom Drzazgowski and Don Cox.

Voting NO were Vice-Chair Melanie Barrett and Commissioners Thomas Gribb and Bob Swope. (Commissioner Gribb mentioned my speech as his reason for voting no.)

They reworded the motion and voted again.  The second vote was 5-1 to DENY the rezoning.  Commissioner Tom Drzazgowski was the lone YES vote.  It will still go before Council, but with the caveat that P&Z does NOT recommend approval.

Once again, town staff controlled the message and the message was false.

Below is the erroneous information that was included in the P&Z packet and in the Power Point presentation. It appears in Row 3 where it describes the zoning to the east of the subject property.

Below is the false statement made by Planner, Milini Simms, during the Town’s presentation in support of the Saguaro Viejos rezoning:

“The existing zoning is 20,000 square feet and the applicant is requesting to rezone the property to 7000 sf lots…..I do want to point out that at 7000 square foot lots, it is located to similar sized lots especially to the east and to the south.”

As you can see, if I hadn't spoken up, the P&Z Commissioners would have assumed the information in their packet was correct and they would likely have approved the rezoning. You have to wonder how many other times they have unknowingly voted to approve a rezoning based on false information.

Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, Citizen Advocates of the Oro Valley General Plan, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated a controversial 200-acre development project. In her past life, she worked in medical research at various University Hospitals in New England. Her interests include reading, writing, nature photography, travel, art galleries, museums, and politics.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ Planning Department enters the Circle of Deceit. Part 1.

Major Town decisions that affect us all, from how much we pay in sales taxes to the quality of development in our neighborhoods, are often being decided based on false information.

In two LOVE articles last week (Oro Valley Government lies to the citizens and Troon Enters the Circle of Deceit) you learned of the many falsehoods being disseminated by the Town of Oro Valley. Whether it’s deliberate lying on their part or just plain incompetence remains to be seen (but either way, it doesn’t serve us citizens well).

A presentation given by a town planner at last Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning meeting was the latest example.

The March 6th P&Z Meeting contained an agenda item for a rezoning of Saguaro Viejos, a single-family residential development on the west side of LaCholla between Glover Road and Lambert Lane. This 85 acre parcel is currently untouched pristine desert containing numerous saguaros and an abundance of mature desert vegetation that is home to a variety of wildlife. It’s one of the most picturesque desert landscapes left in Oro Valley.

History of the parcel
When I moved to Oro Valley in 2003, that parcel was zoned for rural residential, one home per 144,000 square feet (3.3 acres). In 2007, it was rezoned down to 20,000 square foot lots. The same developer (The WLB Group) who requested that 20,000 square foot rezoning, has now come back requesting another rezoning down to 7,000 square foot lots.

They poked the bear
Since 7,000 square foot lots are not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, I was curious as to what justification the developer had given the Town for requesting this rezoning.

A few days prior to the meeting, I researched the P&Z packet on the Town website. These are the documents that P&Z Commissioners review prior to the meeting to familiarize themselves with the proposal. The packet was compiled by staff members in the Town Planning Department.

A glaring error
While reviewing the packet, I discovered a glaring error regarding adjacent lot sizes which prompted me to show up at the meeting and speak during the Public Hearing portion.

Prior to the Public Hearing, a Planning Department staff member (Milini Simms) gave a presentation on the proposal. The erroneous information that I found in the packet also appeared in her Power Point presentation and she verbally repeated the false information during her presentation. Between the packet, the slide presentation, and her speech, the P&Z Commissioners had now seen or heard the false information THREE TIMES…false information that they would then use in formulating their decision to approve or reject the application.

And now I was loaded for bear.

Part 2 will be published on Wednesday and includes the speech I gave before the P&Z Commissioners, the false information that was disseminated by the Town, and the results of the vote.

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

Mark Your Calendars ~ Upcoming Town Meetings

During the next two weeks, there are four town meetings scheduled regarding development issues in Oro Valley (General Plan Amendments and Rezonings) and the Community Center Golf Courses. We know that this is a busy time of year for many people but we hope that each of our readers will make an effort to attend at least one of these important meetings.

Keep in mind that the 2016 General Plan (a 10-year plan) was approved just one year ago by Oro Valley voters, yet developers are already looking for changes.

THIS WEEK’S MEETINGS

Wednesday, December 6th at 6 PM

Council Meeting – Town Council Chambers

Big Wash GPA and Rezoning; Shannon Road GPA and Rezoning

(1) Big Wash General Plan Amendment and Rezoning
Approximately 108 acres between Moore Road on the west and Rancho Vistoso Blvd. on the east

The applicant’s proposal includes the following three zoning designations:

Medium Density Residential (7,200 square foot lots)
Medium-High Density Residential (5,400 square foot lots)*
Open Space

*This designation “is intended to provide individual single-family ownership through patio homes and townhouses.”

If approved, this proposal will allow two massive developments with over 400 homes and mass grading in the FLOODPLAIN of Honeybee Wash and Big Wash.

View the Big Wash Project Fact Sheet HERE

(2) Shannon Road General Plan Amendment and Rezoning
76-acre property, east side of Shannon, south of IRHS

Applicant desires to change the zoning FROM R1-144 large-lot residential (3.3 acre lots) TO R1-36 small lot cluster residential with minimum lot sizes of 7,500 square feet with just 5 foot side setbacks (10 feet of space between each home.)

View the Shannon Road Project Fact Sheet HERE

A LARGE RESIDENT TURN-OUT IS IMPERATIVE AT THIS MEETING.   If you would like to speak during the meeting, please complete a Blue Speaker Card located on the back counter in council chambers.

Thursday, December 7th at 6 PM

Neighborhood Meeting – Casas Church, 10,801 N LaCholla Blvd.

Saguaro Viejos Rezoning

175 lot subdivision on 85 acres on the NW Corner of Naranja Drive and LaCholla Blvd.

Rezoning FROM R1-20 (20,000 sf lots) single-family residential TO R1-7 (7,000 sf lots) single-family residential

NOTE: The town already granted a rezoning on this property in approximately 2009 from 3.3 acre rural residential (144,000 square foot lots) to 20,000 square foot lots. The applicant is now requesting to rezone the lot sizes even further, down to a minimum lot size of 6,000 sf.

View the Saguaro Viejos Project Fact Sheet HERE


NEXT WEEK’S MEETINGS

Tuesday, December 12th at 6 PM

Community Meeting – Town Council Chambers

Golf Courses Update

Special meeting with Town Manager, Mary Jacobs.

Ms. Jacobs will review the Golf Consultants’ recommendations (from the $50,000 Golf Consultants’ Report) and also where the Town currently stands in the process of evaluating golf operations. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions and offer feedback.

The final recommendation to Council will be presented in January 2018.

You can view the entire Golf Consultants’ Report HERE and the briefer Executive Summary HERE

Wednesday, December 13th at 6 PM

Public Meeting/Neighborhood Meeting – Hilton El Conquistador

Proposed Development - Commercial/Senior Care/Apartments

25 acres located on the NE and SE corners of Oracle Road and El Conquistador Way
This project is located within the Oracle Road Scenic Corridor.

The applicant is proposing to rezone the property FROM single-family residential R1-144 (144,000 sf lots), Resort District and Technology Park TO Planned Area Development with an underlying zoning designation of Neighborhood Commercial.

View the Project Fact Sheet HERE

NOTE: This property is owned by HSL Properties (Humberto Lopez, who infamously dumped the money losing golf courses on the town and who has donated almost $80,000 to the campaigns of all 7 current sitting council members.)

$15,730 to the 2014 Election campaigns of Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters
$25,750 to the 2015 Recall Election of Hiremath-Hornat-Snider-Waters
$38,000 to the 2015 Election campaigns of Pina-Rodman-Solomon