Protecting the "quiet enjoyment" of their property
For months now, neighbors living adjacent to the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene, have been speaking during the "Call to Audience" portion of the Town meetings. They have been speaking in opposition to the church’s plans to build a large sports complex. OVCN's plans are to build an athletic field with nighttime field lighting; an amphitheater; and a multi-use building for indoor sports and classrooms. Neighbors have previously cited concerns about increased traffic, light pollution, and noise infringement on their quiet, rural neighborhood.
Below are two of the speeches from the January 18th Town Council meeting.
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"My name is Devon Smith. I have a home on Calle Milagro and I am also strongly opposed to the rezone. Quite simply, this neighborhood is not zoned right now for what the church is proposing and the approval of this rezone would compromise our neighborhood significantly.
There are many generations who have made homes and lives in this place and this expansion would disrupt that. I know my neighbors have spoken on it. I respect the vision of the church, I just don’t think this is the right place for it. It’s nestled in our beautiful neighborhood which is truly a gem of a neighborhood. I had never been anywhere quite like it. I love living there. My family loves living there and I want to protect that.
What they have proposed is daily and nightly activities that would increase traffic and sound all through the week. I have two young children so I’m used to a lot of noise, but I also want to be able to step outside and hear the owl in the cypress tree and the coyotes and all the beautiful things that surround us in that neighborhood that would be overshadowed by the sounds coming from the church all day and all night long.
Traffic is another issue for me. We don’t have sidewalks. I have two young kids who are riding bikes, who are walking, and increased traffic in any part of the neighborhood makes me concerned for the safety of my family and our neighbors.
The streets were not built for this and the neighborhood was not built for this and I urge you to protect that. I think our neighborhood is very unique and I look at my kids’ faces and I know I want this special part of Tucson preserved for them as well as for the lives of everyone who has built homes there."
"I’m Liam Dadeppo. I’m a member of the Youth Advisory Council here in Oro Valley as well as a CDO student and I’m part of that student government.
As stated by the neighborhood members who’ve been showing up to these council meetings relentlessly, as I’ve been attending some of these meetings, the traffic at CDO and Calle Concordia is already bad enough. I urge the Council to think about the fact that our school’s already teeming with so many new drivers which has already caused many accidents since I started going to school there in 2020.
I would also like the Council to think about the fact that if this rezoning is put in, this will cause so much more traffic that is not just going to affect the neighborhood but might endanger the student body. I feel that even though you have heard so many opinions from this group of neighbors, and I appreciate as I said before, their fight to stop this rezoning, it’s good for you to hear it from a member of the student body.
I wanted you to know that if this was put into effect, it won’t be just the neighbors that you’ll be hearing from when you come to a meeting, it will be the student body and it will be the parents of the student body as well because this will be endangering us."
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