Oro Valley Town Council Approves Display Of RV's At Marketplace

The Oro Valley Town Council approved, by a 6-0 vote, the display of RVs at the Oro Valley marketplace by La Mesa RV.   The decision was made at last week's town Council meeting. You can read about the background of this  in the posting we made last week.  

Town Council was required to prove this use because the Rancho Visoso Pad  required them to do so.    The question for council was: Does the town want allow these three requested display events to happen? The question was not: Are RV's automobiles and therefore eligible for display within the Rancho Vistoso PAD.

Oro Valley Resident Don Bristow feels RV's and Automobiles are not synonymous.  Oro Valley Town Planner David Williams stated that he had ruled that RVs and 5th-wheel trailers are automobiles within C-2 zoning of the Rancho Vistoso PAD.  This ruling made the display "an approved use".  There is no provision in the PAD that pertains to RV's specifically.  Williams noted that his decision is appealable to the Board of Adjustment.

Oro Valley Resident Bill Adler observed that La Mesa should make more of a commitment to Oro Valley so that La Mesa could display its vehicles in a manner that was more complementary to the community.  Bill would like to see LaMesa work toward tenancy.

The approval nets little revenue for the town.  "There's are relatively low permit fee," noted Council Member Waters.  "Is this an experiment" he asked?

Town Manager Caton noted that there should be some spillover effect for businesses in the area as people look at RV's and then, perhaps, go over to shop a store in the marketplace.

(The RVs that are contracted in Oro Valley are not delivered in Oro Valley; therefore, Oro Valley legally  can receive no sales tax revenues from the sale.  Caton stated that he had talked with town Council regarding how Oro Valley could get some of this revenue.    He stated that perhaps something can be done about this in the future but that nothing could be done at the present time.  He also stated that there would be in his opinion some spillover effect.  Remember, however,   That Oro Valley receives only 50% of any sales tax revenues are earned that week.  The other 50% goes to Vestar.)

Council Member Zinkin questioned whether the town would be obligated to approve similar uses for other companies, if requested.  Contract Town Attorney Kelly Schwab said "..that each application would stand on its own" and that if a similar request were made and refused by council, "we would articulate the reasons why it is not justified."

Zinkin also asked Schwab if it would be better to work on getting a piece of the sales tax revenue than to make a short-term decision for a few permit dollars and some sales tax revenue from a spillover effect.  "As you progress and learn," noted Schwab " the town  may make determinations of adding additional regulations that are kind of its residents." She observed that LaMesa  has applied  as the rules exist today;   Therefore, the decision needs to be based on today's rules.

Council Member Zinkin also asked what Vestar was getting out of the deal.   Town Planner Matt Michaels stated that he didn't know.  Mayor Hiremath said that any arrangement between the  La Mesa and Vestar for use of the property was none of the town's business.  Hornat agreed.

During the call to audience portion of the hearing, a  spokesman for La Mesa noted that "We have a strong customer base in Oro Valley and another strong base in Saddlebrook."
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