Napier overlooks Barrett’s ten years of hands-on Oro Valley experience
Melanie Barrett has served this community for more than ten years. She first served on the Oro Valley Planning and Zoning Commission. For the past eight years, she has served on the Town Council and as Vice Mayor. During that time, she has been directly involved in the Town’s budgets, land-use decisions, water policy, public safety funding, parks and recreation planning, road maintenance priorities, annexation discussions, and long-range financial planning. She has not watched Oro Valley from the outside. She has governed it. (Watch KGUN 9 Barrett interview here).
That is why a Mark Napier campaign video is so hard to take seriously. In the video, Napier compares his background to Barrett’s by describing her as a “part-time elected official” and listing only “Town Council Member” under her professional experience. That is campaign framing. It is not a fair description of what Barrett has done for Oro Valley.
Napier has significant professional experience. That is not in dispute. The question for voters is what kind of experience matters most in this election. Napier offers outside executive and law-enforcement experience. Barrett offers direct Oro Valley governing experience. She knows the Town’s issues because she has been working on them for years. To say that she lacks the experience to lead Oro Valley going forward is not just unfair. It is ridiculous. It is patently absurd.
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DeSimone says that a photo of a six story building could jeopardize future "Uptown" annexation efforts
In a campaign video, council candidate Chris DeSimone said that a building shown in some competitors’ campaign materials is not in Oro Valley. He alleges that the building pictured is part of the Uptown redevelopment of the former Foothills Mall in unincorporated Pima County. DeSimone argued that using that building to warn voters about tall buildings in Oro Valley could make future annexation discussions with the developer of Uptown, Bourn Companies, more difficult.
In a campaign video, council candidate Chris DeSimone said that a building shown in some competitors’ campaign materials is not in Oro Valley. He alleges that the building pictured is part of the Uptown redevelopment of the former Foothills Mall in unincorporated Pima County. DeSimone argued that using that building to warn voters about tall buildings in Oro Valley could make future annexation discussions with the developer of Uptown, Bourn Companies, more difficult.
We just do not see the problem.
First, Oro Valley residents have made clear that they do not want tall buildings in Town. Oro Valley’s zoning rules limit building height. Future development inside Oro Valley would be subject to the Town’s zoning and land-use approval process. If the Uptown property were ever annexed, existing buildings and previously approved development rights would only be affected if the Bourn sought new approvals, changed the project, or agreed to different terms as part of an annexation agreement. And these exceptions could be granted as part of the annexation agreement.
Second, Uptown is part of Oro Valley’s long-range annexation discussion, but it is a very long-term target. It is not contiguous with Oro Valley’s current boundaries. Arizona annexation law requires the territory proposed for annexation to be contiguous to the city or town. According to the Town Council’s January annexation discussion, annexing the former Foothills Mall area first would require annexing residential areas that together include roughly 2,500 residents. That would be needed just to bring the Town’s boundary to the mall. It would also make the annexation more complicated, more expensive to serve, and dependent on broad residential participation.
Residents in that area have not shown interest in becoming part of Oro Valley. LOVE reported in 2020 that the last time the Town tried to convince the Foothills Mall area to join Oro Valley, it received a “resounding no.” That history matters. It means Uptown may be worth watching as a long-range possibility, but it is not the Town’s practical near-term annexation strategy.
DeSimone says other candidates "might be afraid to answer tough questions"
In a separate campaign posting, DeSimone asserts that he has been more available to voters than the other candidates. He says he is “the one candidate of the seven total” who has held the most public events to encourage input and conversation. That would be a legitimate campaign point if documented. He goes further, saying that the “lack of public engagement” by some competitors “should worry the voters” and suggesting they “might be afraid of answering tough questions.” DeSimone says he will continue meeting with residents monthly if elected and hopes one or two fellow council members will join him. - - -
