Two GPA's have recently been filed with the Town. One request is to convert the now-closed Vistoso Golf Course (Romspen property) from golf course and recreational use to medium and high-density residential. (Nearby residents prefer that this land remain as a nature preserve and community trail.)
The other request is to convert 24 acres of land on Tangerine Road just east of First Avenue (Kai Property) from commercial to multi-family residential including rental casitas, 2-story apartments and townhomes, and a senior care facility.
The normal scheme of things
Oro Valley Town Code requires that all General Plan Amendments must be filed prior to April 30th each year. State law requires that the GPA be heard by the Town Council prior to December 31st of the same year.
Town Code also requires Neighborhood Meetings to apprise nearby residents of the proposal and to afford them an opportunity to ask questions and give input. The first Neighborhood Meeting must be held prior to the applicant filing their formal submission. In other words, before April 30th.
Town code also mandates that “Neighborhood meetings must be held in a facility that is accessible to the general public, such as a town-owned facility, school, house of worship, or community recreation center.”
Enter the pandemic and social distancing
Due to social distancing, the town is not currently able to hold Neighborhood Meetings in a public facility. Some residents have asked the mayor to issue a proclamation whereby the Town could still accept the applications but suspend further action on them until the pandemic subsides. As I write this, the Town has rejected this idea in favor of the use of video meetings.
Some residents contacted the mayor and council with our thoughts on why video meetings were a bad idea. Our thoughts are as follows:
• Video meetings are impractical.
A lot of spontaneous communication takes place at Neighborhood Meetings. An applicant’s answer to one question spurs another question from another participant. Allowing only for questions to be submitted ahead of time completely disallows for this kind of spontaneity, leading to many residents questions being left unanswered.
• Some citizens do not have the hardware/software or the computer expertise to attend a video meeting.
Substituting in-person meetings with video meetings means that less citizens will be involved in the process, they'll have less of a voice in the outcome, and the applicant and landowner will get to have an easy process where they don't have to face down a mob of angry citizens.
• There's power in numbers.
Video meetings minimize the power of the citizens by not allowing them to come together as a group. How can people watching from home be anywhere near as persuasive or effective as they are in a public group setting? Video meetings amount to another form of the divide and conquer technique.
And then there’s this…The golf course meetings precedent
Think about all the 2019 golf course public meetings. All of those meetings were packed and standing room only. Would those residents have been as effective if they were attending those meetings from home rather than showing up en masse, supporting each other and showing their "strength in numbers?" I doubt it.
And just as there were thousands of Canada Hills residents who would be directly affected by the closing of the town-owned golf courses, there are thousands of residents living in Rancho Vistoso who are directly affected by the Romspen proposal to convert their golf course views into something much less desirable. Rancho Vistoso residents should be afforded the same opportunities to come together and voice their concerns as their counterparts in Canada Hills.
A precedent was set in allowing Canada Hills residents to have such a large and unifying voice. To do less for other residents in town is going to be viewed very unfavorably.
And no, I do not live in Rancho Vistoso. I just want a fair and equitable process for everyone.
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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, 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.
