Paradise Lost: The Town Centre Area 4 Amendment

Town Centre Area 4 rezoned last week
Last Thursday, LOVE reported that the Oro Valley Town Council unanimously voted to increase planned home density in Town Centre. The land (designated as "Area 4") is located directly across from Pusch View Lane, at Oracle Road. Council approval followed the unanimous approval by the town's Planning and Zoning Commission.

The land use for Area 4 was created in 2002. The land use remained the same. Every person, for the past 17 years, has had an expectation that the property would be developed as designated: Beautiful, large lot homes. This council with one vote changed all of that.

Now zoned for much smaller lots and more homes
This chart compares the land use as it was zoned and as it was approved by council. By every measure, the approved zoning even further extends density of land:

• 12 more homes
• Much smaller lot sizes
• Less open space
• More grading
• Some lot fill as much as 13 feet
• A home closer to Oracle Rd

"Town Planners pushed for more density on this property as opposed to less impact on the scenic corridor"
Residents of El Conquistador Patio Homes abut the property. They will lose their scenic views and use of this land, land which many had hoped would be donated by the Rooney Family. These residents have had no choice, over the years, but to try to mitigate the damage that this development will do to them and to their community.

According to town resident Tracey Smith, "What we soon won't have is natural desert scape and scenic corridors." She blames the town for this: "In fact, endless times the Oro Valley planners told me that they were responsible for increasing the density of this property. They told Rooney to go back to the drawing board and increase density. I, for one, have been heartbroken and feel betrayed by the town leadership desire to build high density housing in such a precious part of Oro Valley."

John Rooney would roll over...Paradise Lost...
Years back, the Rooney Family, from Oklahoma, wintered in what would become Oro Valley. Their landholding was vast. John Rooney, son of the owner, attended Russell School. One resident, Ms. Whatley, speaking at the meeting (1:03 mark) grew up in Oro Valley. She worked for John Rooney's real estate attorney. Saddened by what is going to happen to the property, she spoke from the heart of Oro Valley's paradise lost. Her remarks are quite poignant. They appear in the box at left.

Winfield is responsible for this zoning change
It was clear at the March meeting that approval of this zoning change was split among the six council members. Mayor Winfield held the deciding vote. He did not call the vote. Instead he chose to table the measure; and, from the dais, to advise the developer of the things the developer had to do to assuage council concerns.

In doing that, Winfield backed himself and his fellow council members into a corner. They had no choice but to support the measure because, by last week, the developer had done so much more work in addressing their concerns.

"Is this everything I want this project to be?", Winfield stated at the meeting, "I would say no. But I believe that the applicant has made a genuine effort to address many of the concerns of the residents and concerns of this council. And, at this point, I would like to approve." (Meeting Video, time 2:14:00)

It seems to us that Winfield felt he had no option of voting "No" since he had taken the option of voting "No" off the table in March, when he actively worked to defer a decision and to then counsel the applicant.
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Bits and Pieces

Reminder: Town Centre Zoning Amendment Is Not Dead
We saw a posting on Nextdoor.com celebrating the fact that the zoning amendment to Town Centre was not passed by council. The posting seemed to feel this defeated the amendment. The amendment was not defeated. It was continued.

As we reported last week, the amendment will be heard again on April 3 and it is very much alive. Mayor Winfield proposed that the hearing be continued because, as he wrote us: "I thought the proposal could be improved and the proponent seemed willing. We'll see what they present April 3."

So, if you are interested, you should mark the date on your calendar and be sure to be there.

Resident Don English: "Flat out say no.." to Town Centre Amendment
Resident Don English made a compelling case to not approve the rezoning of Town Centre. He eloquently covered the issues he sees them. You can watch is remarks here. He speaks at about the 2 hour mark.

English ended his comments with his reflection on what the August election of a new mayor and 3 new council members meant to him:  "We had an election. A new leadership. A new direction. You promised to take a harder look at rezoning. Here is your chance to let the 'rubber meet the road'. Here is a chance for you to do that. Take a harder look and really put a moratorium on this or just flat out say no."

Sometimes it is important to remind those we elect why we put them there. That is what English tried to do.

Kreigh Park renewal continues to late summer
The 5 ball fields at Kreigh Park plus a portion of the park adjacent to the fields have been out of service since September. Only the play area, pet area and Oro Valley pool have been usable. The renovation includes new irrigation, new grass, laser-leveled fields, new fencing, dugouts, and upgraded restrooms.

Piece by piece it is coming back. The three baseball fields will open later this month and the softball fields will open early summer. Between July and September, the town will be working on improving the older north restroom, adding shade structures and installing lighting under the play structure.

"The sport field improvements completed this fiscal year cost $340,000 and $200,000 next fiscal year for the restroom, shade structure and lighting improvements. We were awarded a $200,000 grant from State Parks (pass through from the Land and Water Conservation Fund) to be applied to this project." (Source: Jessica Hynd, Town of Oro Valley)

Power outage on Oracle corridor... Again
Tuesday night, the electricity was down along the Oracle corridor. The area was bounded by Linda Vista, Desert Sky, Tangerine and the Catalina Mountains. Many homes and business were without power for about an hour. This is the second time this year that power has been lost in this area. This is the older section of town that has undergone growth. We wonder if the growth has exceeded TEP's ability to provide reliable power service.

This is the second major outage in two months. The other was on January 16. In addition, there have been numerous other breaker interruptions. These generally last long enough for you to have to reset you clocks but not more than a minute or so. TEP tells us that these interruptions happen when there is an imbalance between power coming in and power going out.

Regardless of why it happens, it seems to us the the Oro Valley TEP power supply in the older section of town is simply not reliable.
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Town Council "Continues" Town Centre PAD Amendment Hearing

Last night, the Oro Valley Town Council continued the Town Centre PAD amendment we wrote about yesterday. The vote was 4-3. The Hiremath-3 (Pena, Rodman, and Solomon) voted against continuing the item because they felt that the amendment should be approved as is.

Council member Pena believed that the amendment was consistent with the general plan. Council Member Rodman felt that process of getting the project to the hearing stage had resulted in great compromise on the part of residents, town staff and the developer. Solomon felt that the council to follow the unanimous decision of the Planning and Zoning Commission that approved this plan.

To that, Mayor Winfield observed. "I am not a rubber stamp Mayor."

Mayor Winfield, Vice Mayor Barrett and council members Nicolson and Joyce-Ivey voted in favor of continuation. Each raised concerns regarding the property. The issues included:

• How does this project fit in with the plans of the other PAD's in Town Centre?
• Is 5 feet between homes appropriate? 
• Some hillsides will be graded by 20 feet.
• Noise will be a problem for the houses built close to Oracle
• Traffic will increase at the intersection
• Water use could impact the residents of neighboring developments
• Erosion may be a problem

"It is a good project," noted Mayor Winfield. "It can be a better project."

The developer, after hearing these and other concerns, told council that he preferred a continuation versus an "up or down" vote.

The proposed PAD amendment will be heard at the April 3 council meeting.

If changes proposed to mitigate the issues raised are significant, then the project will return to the public hearing phase. It will then be reheard by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Whether the changes are significant will be determined by town planner, Bayer Vella.
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Editorial: More Housing Density? You Gotta Be Kidding!

On Tonight's council agenda:
Request to increase housing density at Town Centre
Item 2 on tonight's Oro Valley Town Council Meeting Agenda is a request to increase the allowed density of property on Oracle. It is south of Panera Bread, Mike's, and the bedding store on Oracle. It's part of the Town Centre PAD.

The reason given for the density increase is "market demand."  Could it be that there are more people who want to live within a few hundred feet or Oro Valley's noisiest high density traffic area so they can walk the length of 4 football fields in 105 degree heat to go to Target or Frys?

The request is such a patently ridiculous idea that we find it hard to believe that it actually made it on the agenda of this council
The request is ridiculous because it creates more cluster zoned homes crammed on small lots along the scenic Oracle Road corridor. This after the voters asked for a pause in the ever increasing assault of development in our once peaceful town.

As one of our readers wrote to us:

"This item is another attempt to continue the ravishing of Oro Valley. This item, if approved, will increase the number of lots the owner is now entitled to from 65 to 82. In order to do this the minimum lot size will be reduced from 15,000 sq. ft. to 6,000 sq. ft."

Just what Oro Valley needs. More small lots dumping more cars directly onto Oracle Road in an area known for congestion during rush hours.

The request means more mass grading
While there are a number of problems with this request, the worst is mass grading. The smaller lot sizes will allow mass grading on land that abuts Oracle Road. If you don't know the damages of this, you need to take a drive on 1st Avenue to see the ravishing of our beautiful town. The Villages of Silverhawke development, north of Palisades, shows the ugliness of cluster zoning and mass grading all too clearly.

Was the Planning and Zoning Commission bamboozled?
What surprises us is that the new Planning and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 for this change. We think there were some shenanigans going on.

• Why did Planning Manager Vella place this complicated issue on the agenda for their very first meeting of new members? 
• Why did he make it even more confusing at the meeting by allowing the applicant to withdraw a portion of the amendment request at the last minute, creating confusion over what was being removed and what was to remain in the plan? 
• Why weren't the applicants required to provide updated documents?
• Why weren't the commissioners allowed more time to study this prior to voting? 

Clearly this application should have been held for a future Planning meeting. Blanket approvals are no longer acceptable in Oro Valley.

The people spoke in the last election: No more density
The people replaced the former council because they do not want more housing density. Cluster zoning on small lots is essentially all that was approved by the former Town Council.  Oro Valley does not want more dense housing.

This move to change the PAD zoning should be rejected. Let the applicant build under current zoning allowances and actually offer some "diverse land use" as required by the General Plan.
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Here's Some Cheese To Go With Your Whine

The town of Oro Valley And the Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce held in Oro Valley Economic Summit at the Oro Valley country club on October 3. The summit was open to businesses in the community and those residents who were invited.

We were not invited. However, resident Bill Adler was invited and he provided us some insight into what was said at the meeting.

Very little was said about economic development during the summit.  Instead, the focus was on what the Town of Oro Valley could do to make things better for business.

We had an "Ah Ha" moment when we read Bill's update. We realized that some businesses whine and complain as much as some residents. "It's interesting how business related individuals feel they have trouble being heard when well over 95% of development is approved," Bill observed. "What failed to occur is a commitment on the part of business to participate in solutions.  Business has never participated in the community to solve problems, but only as a special interest."

One businessman, Greg Wexler of land developer Wexler and Associates, spoke of residents who persist in demanding answers when, in his opinion, they've already been provided.

Adler notes: "This is a basic problem that the Neighborhood Ordinance that I initiated back in 2008-9 was to help solve. It hasn't because the meetings are not run consistent with the ordinance."

As Don Bristow stated at the last town council meeting (see our posting), at least some of the neighborhood meetings are run in a manner that causes residents to learn only some information.  The result, in Don's opinion, was that there are often many unanswered questions.

Participants feel that Oro Valley needs a "Downtown." Just a few years ago, Oro Valley did have a visioned downtown. It was called Town Center. It was to be at First and Oracle. There are those who would assert that politics and opposition from business interests resulted in what is being built there today: A shopping center and "class A" apartments.

At no time has the business community offered to construct a Town Center for the Town. Though, they would like to see one, none stated interest in creating of financing one. That would be up to the residents.

"A Town Center is largely civic in nature...that means non profits, community service organizations as well as some local government offices." observes Adler. "Is business willing to create, in exchange for some retail/office mixed - use development, a balance of civic uses in a Town Center?"

Other items mentioned by businesses was that Oro Valley needs to simplify regulations, recruit businesses that will provide better jobs, further develop and increase occupancy of Innovation Park and promote, and market Oro Valley more effectively.

Adler concluded: "There were more generalities, but again what is important is what is missing: What's important to the community - not just to business. They are not the same to many. But, essentially, the attendees did not offer to help achieve any of the items discussed. It's the Town's duty, which means local residents."
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Our thanks to resident Bill Adler for his help with this posting.
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