UHaul Or Not?

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Is a UHaul rental center behind Ace Hardware a permitted use under Oro Valley code?  That is one of the questions that the Oro Valley Planning and Zoning Commission will consider at tonight's meeting.

Ace Hardware at Placita de Oro Shopping Center (southwest corner of First Avenue and Tangerine Road) is requesting a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to operate a U-Haul business.  "The proposed U-Haul business is considered a vehicle rental facility per the Zoning Code and requires a CUP. The applicant’s request consists of parking rental vehicles and equipment in front and behind the Ace Hardware Store." (Source)

Town staff is recommending approval of the CUP on the basis that: "The proposed CUP as mitigated through recommended conditions will meet all applicable Zoning Code requirements and will have minimal impacts to the commercial center and the adjacent residential area to the south and west

There are 8 conditions. Some are simply not enforceable.  For example, a requirement that no vehicles be parked in Area C or that there should be no more than a certain number of trucks or vans or that the vehicles shall not overhang adjacent drive. These are not enforceable because they require surveillance and, unless they become a public nuisance that is reported, they will not be noticed.  Who, by the way, is the enforcer?  Is it the police department? Is it Oro Valley Development and Infrastructure Department? Is it a Council Member?  Do they walk around with a list of the 8 conditions?  Not gonna happen!

A more pressing question is whether a vehicle rental center is even a permitted use in the PAD?  As one of our readers noted to us: "Oro Valley permitted uses include the category "auto rental" but not trucks, cargo vans, motor vehicle, RV, or motorcycles. If the code was intended to include truck or other vehicle rentals the code would have used vehicles as the Use Category and included Trucks and other vehicle type within the Specific Use Types."

Once again, is it town staff interpreting code as they did in recommending granting a CUP for the Desert Sky/Oracle memory care facility when Mr. Williams, Oro Valley Development and Infrastructure Department Planner, stated that "It looks like a skilled nursing facility" on the outside so the CUP could be granted on that basis?

There are also safety issues to be considered:

• Assuming that storing trucks and trailers area "C" will not be allowed, there is still the issue of the location for pickup and drop off. Will it be only in the back of the ACE? Or will we see the very unsafe mingling with walkers and cars in the front parking lot?
• UHaul trucks are not equipped with backup alarms or cameras. Their safety instructions include getting help before backing up. 
• Backing up isn’t the only safety concern. Regardless of the type of side view mirrors, blind spots which cannot be viewed with a simple turning of one’s head are a problem.

Tonight's Oro Valley Planning and Zoning Commission is just one more step in the process of considering this CUP.   Unless ACE withdraws the request, it will be heard by the Oro Valley Town Council regardless of the action taken by the Planning and Zoning Commission. 

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