The evidence:
• If they are so sure that they would win in court, they would not have dragged this on for 3 years, requesting one delay after another. I believe that they have pulled their application 5 times.
• They would not have requested yet another delay (the March 1, 2023 town council hearing) while they scrambled to find new ways to get the rezoning approved. Why delay the council vote? Why rework the plans? Why begin the submittal process all over again, starting with Planning and Zoning?
• Then there was this revelation from the March 9, 2023 Oro Valley Podcast:
“The church is looking at an alternative location. I did find that tidbit of information.”
~ Don Cox, former Commissioner and former Chair of Planning and Zoning
Why keep changing their strategy?
I'll tell you why. It's because their lawsuit threat is just a lot of bluster meant to coerce the town into submission. They are clearly trying to avoid having to make good on their threat. I think they were surprised when Planning and Zoning recommended DENIAL despite the threat of a lawsuit and they’re now fearful that the Town Council will do the same. But if they know with 100% certainty that they will win in court, then there is nothing to fear...right?
Has OVCN even considered the ramifications if they DO file a lawsuit?
• They will, in essence, be suing themselves/the members of their own congregation. I suspect that the majority of their congregation lives in Oro Valley. Those congregants are OV taxpayers, so it will be their tax dollars that would be used to pay the town's legal expenses.
• Unless OVCN has some wealthy benefactor who has offered to pay their legal fees, it will be the congregants' church donations that will be used to pay for the lawsuit. Do they want their church donations to be used in this manner? To hire lawyers to file a lawsuit? Without a wealthy benefactor footing the bill, the congregants will be paying the legal fees for BOTH PARTIES -- the town and the church.
• Additionally, if they DO sue the town (us taxpayers) it will no longer be just the immediate neighbors who will be up in arms over this rezoning. OVCN will have succeeded in turning the entire town (us taxpayers) against them. They will become the town pariah. Is that the kind of PR that the church wants?
• As someone noted on social media, "Let ‘em file suit. An audit of their books and membership might be quite revealing."
I don't think they've really thought this through. Or perhaps they have and that’s why they’re doing everything possible to avoid following through with a lawsuit.
Debatable Legal Counsel
According to the “Oro Valley Grapevine,” the town council has been informed by the town attorney that they must approve the OVCN rezone in order to avoid being sued.
I am imploring the Town Council to consider all of the above evidence and all of the fallout that OVCN will experience before assuming that they will file a lawsuit and that they will win. At this point, it's no longer a church anyway. It's become an amusement park.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006, including organizing a citizens group in 2014 that spent 9 months negotiating 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.
