We now present “The Rest of the Iceberg”
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What’s the rest of the iceberg?
Fear Mongering
Take a look at this video of Rodman and this video of Solomon warning the Oro Valley Town Council to rezone the Trust Land at Tangerine and Thornydale to the State’s satisfaction, or suffer the consequences at the hands of the town of Marana.
Rodman video at 31 seconds in:
“We should consider the fact that if we don’t do it, Marana will. I mean, we’ve heard those words directly.”Note his stress on the word directly.
Solomon video at 5 seconds in:
“This land will be developed, and the odds are if it’s developed outside of Oro Valley, it’s gonna be at a higher intensity, with less restrictions than what Oro Valley would have, and all that development is going to have an impact on Oro Valley...”What facts does Solomon have to back up this opinion?
No Need to Fear: Marana Can’t Deliver Water
In a nutshell, I had two lengthy phone conversations with Marana Town Mayor Ed Honea to fact-check Marana’s interest in the Tangerine and Thornydale annexation. Honea said that Marana has no interest whatsoever in the land because Marana cannot deliver an adequate water supply. In contrast, Oro Valley can easily deliver water via two, 12” potable water mains. Honea told Satish Hiremath long ago that Oro Valley was welcome to annex the State Land.
Please visit this facebook post of mine to learn more.
Marana Town Finance Director, Yiannis Kalaitzidis, approached me as I was leaving a Marana Town meeting. He asked what had prompted me to ask a question related to K-12 population projections for Marana. I said that it was in connection with the proposed annexation at Tangerine & Thornydale. During the course of the conversation, he reiterated what Ed Honea had said: only Oro Valley can deliver water to the annex, and if Oro Valley doesn’t annex, it will be decades before Marana can get enough water there to make development economically possible.
So who are the powerful people in Marana who have said directly that Marana will snap up the land and intensely develop it, if Oro Valley doesn’t?
Please visit this facebook post as well.
No Need to Fear: Mayor Honea Respects the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
During the May 14, 2019 study session on the Marana 2040 General Plan, Mayor Honea fought hard for “low density 2-RAC” (no more than 2 residences per acre) in environmentally sensitive areas like Tangerine from I-10 to Twin Peaks. In defense of continuing the extensive use of “2-RAC” from the 2010 General Plan, rather than pitching it in the 2040 Plan, Honea said:
“When we developed the low density 2-RAC, we had buy-in from the Sonoran Desert Conservation Group, Carolyn Campbell, [and others]; they helped approve that. And you know why, when we developed everything along Twin Peaks, and we did 2-RAC, and we didn’t have the environmental community down our necks, is because they were involved in the process, for the 2-RAC...when you take that away, I can assure you, they will be back.”You can watch it HERE (Time mark 51:23 on the video)
The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan was a landmark achievement for Northwest Tucson. When was the last time you heard an Oro Valley Mayor or Council Person worry about the consequences of not honoring that plan? Does anyone in Oro Valley remember that plan? It was never mentioned in any of the meetings I’ve been to in Oro Valley. Ed Honea remembers, and he got the message the first time: don’t antagonize Dove Mountain area citizens with high intensity development.
Dove Mountain Marana citizens are environmentally conscious. In Sky Ranch and at The Preserve, we are fiercely protective of the low-density nature preserves on which we live. We love watching the bobcats, javelinas, coyotes, hawks, and owls that patrol the open spaces beyond our backyards, and we will fight to protect them.
Supply and Demand: Marana Has Plenty of Annex Opportunities Other Than This One
Figure 4, page 2-7 (below) of the current Marana 2040 General Plan shows an ocean of grey shaded land, especially adjacent to I-10 in the North. That’s all vacant and undeveloped land. Marana will have no need, for many decades to come, to force high intensity development at Tangerine and Thornydale.
You can view the Marana 2040 General Plan HERE
Oro Valley has the only game in town when it comes to annexation of the State Trust Land at Tangerine and Thornydale. There is no reason to fear competition from Marana.
Part 2 will be published next Monday.
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Jim Tripp has a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Oregon State University. Prior to retirement, he was employed as a Federal Regulations Analyst for Wisconsin Power and Light and as a Research Scientist at UC Santa Cruz and Berkeley National Labs. He has over 30 scientific publications to his credit.
