OVHS: “Happy 49th Birthday Oro Valley!”

The Beginning of the Town of Oro Valley
In April, the Oro Valley Historical Society focuses on the history of the town and how Oro Valley  came to be. 

My how we’ve changed since Jim Kriegh’s idea of becoming a town (to avoid becoming part of Tucson), to the town we are today. 

The town’s fathers had to battle with the City of Tucson and Pima County to make it so. They even went to court. Finally, the town was a reality after four years of effort.

Here’s the chronology of how Oro Valley came to be.

• Jim Kriegh began an inquiry with residents regarding the idea of incorporation. 
• A petition for incorporation was filed with Pima County on March 16, 1970. 
• 80% of residents in proposed boundaries signed the petition. 
• Pima County rejected the petition on grounds that the area contained large areas of uninhabited rural lands and lacked a central business center. 
• April 23,1970, Kriegh and Steve Engle began the legal process seeking a writ of mandamus in the Pima County Superior Court ordering the supervisors to incorporate the town. 
• March 31, 1972, Oro Valley won its incorporation suit. It became the third independent municipal government in the region (with Tucson and South Tucson). 
• April 3, 1972, the Pima County Board and the City of Tucson filed an appeal to prevent incorporation. 
• Finally, on January 28, 1974 Oro Valley was approved to incorporate by order of the Arizona Supreme Court. 
• Pima County and the City of Tucson asked for reconsideration but the court denied the request and ordered the Pima County Board of Supervisors to appoint the first Town of Oro Valley Mayor and Council. 
• Pima County Board adopted a resolution to incorporate Oro Valley on April 15, 1974 and appointed the first Oro Valley Mayor and Council on April 17, 1974 thus, the town’s official birthday. 
• On April 23rd the first public meeting was held at CDO High School. Ken Holford was elected the first Mayor and Steve Engle was chosen as Vice-Mayor. 
• The first budget was approved on June 20, 1974 for the full fiscal year of $114,014. 
• October 6 1974, the town meetings began in the first Town Hall at 9040 N. Oracle Road. 
• An effort by a group of residents to disincorporate failed in April 1975 due to lack of the required signatures for the petition. 
• July 1975 the beginning of the fiscal year, the Town began contracting for services, such as police, fire, court services, road maintenance and rabies control. 
• February 1976, the Town hired three officers and established its own police department. Frederic Roof was appointed Superintendent of Police. 
• Fall of 1976 the first General Plan was developed.

(Source: Research by Henry Souzzi)
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See you in the fall!