Bits and Pieces

Airport authority calls for closer tourism coordination with Oro Valley 

Speaking during public comment to the Tourism Advisory Board Monday, Tucson Airport Authority President and CEO Danette Bule said Tucson International Airport is one of the region’s top economic engines and a primary gateway for visitors to Oro Valley and surrounding communities. She said the town's draft Leisure Travel Destination Management Plan appeared to have been developed without coordination with the Airport Authority or Visit Tucson, calling that a missed opportunity. 

Bule urged formal collaboration and data sharing, noting that many visitors arrive through the airport and that the Authority already works closely with other regional partners. Airport Authority Chief Communications Officer Austin Wright echoed those remarks, said the airport can support regional tourism demand, highlighted new airline service and passenger volumes, and emphasized the Authority’s readiness to partner with Oro Valley’s tourism office.

Three finalists for Town Council interviewed yesterday

Council met in Executive Session yesterday to interview three finalists for the position of Town Attorney. The candidates are Matthew Walker, Victoria Torrilhon, and Steven Zraick. While the Town did not release details about the finalists, public records indicate they are experienced attorneys working in the public sector, with backgrounds in municipal or government law and professional ties in Arizona and the western United States. Walker is currently a senior prosecutor with the City of Tucson, Torrilhon is an assistant city attorney with the City of Phoenix, and Zraick is an attorney with prior or current ties to municipal legal work in Prescott Valley. Council held the executive session to discuss qualifications, conduct interviews, and consider contract terms, as allowed under state law.

Some confusion on whether or how the town supports the El Conquistador Resort

During the Tuesday discussion of the draft Destination Marketing Plan, a Tourism Advisory Commission member asked town staff what financial support the Town provides to El Conquistador and Westward Look following Oro Valley’s decision to step away from Visit Tucson. Staff responded that the Town has budgeted incentives for master accounts, along with support for trade shows and familiarization tours, and said those tools have been utilized. Later in the meeting, a speaker representing the Hilton El Conquistador Tucson Resort disputed that characterization, stating for the record that the resort has not received any monetary refunds or support through master account credits, familiarization tours, or trade show funding. Perhaps they were talking "apples and oranges;" however, the town ought to set the record straight.

New tool helps residents track and control water use

The Oro Valley Water Utility has added a new conservation feature to its online customer portal that allows residents to view hourly and daily water use and set customized leak and consumption alerts. The tool is designed to help customers spot unplanned water use early, monitor irrigation and household consumption, and respond quickly to potential leaks. Users can choose how alerts are delivered and set their own thresholds, giving them more control over water use and helping reduce unexpected water bills. Learn more here.

Story of Rockin' 4 Heroes is now online

Watch the story of PJ Quinn and learn why Rockin' 4 Heroes was created.  It is truly an inspiration.

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Bits and Pieces

Kreigh Park playground temporarily closing for upgrades
ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (Feb. 3, 2022) –– Oro Valley Parks and Recreation is excited to announce that the playground at James D. Kriegh Park will be replaced with brand-new playground structures, play surface and shade structure.

 
Before the new amenities can be installed, the existing playground and surface need to be removed. Because of that, the playground and ramada will be closed for construction starting Feb. 7. The upgraded playground is expected to reopen in late March.
The existing playground equipment is over 20 years old and was identified as needing to be replaced through the Parks and Recreation Master Plan process that was conducted in 2020/2021.

 

Community input played an important role in the new playground design. Parks and Recreation created a survey for residents to pick different designs and amenities. Over 400 people responded with comments and feedback on the designs. The first option (shown below) received over 65% of the vote, making it the winner.

 
Construction updates along with closure/reopening announcements will be made on the Oro Valley Parks and Recreation Facebook page. During construction, don’t forget that Oro Valley has additional playgrounds at Naranja Park and Riverfront Park.

(Source: Town of Oro Valley Press Release 2-3-22)

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Council approves removing HSL option to lease town courses (if town declares any one of them 
"discontinued")

"On April 23, 2015, the Town Council entered into a Purchase and Sales Agreement for the El Conquistador Country Club and Golf Courses with HSL El Conquistador Golf, LLC (HSL). The agreement contains provisions allowing HSL to lease from the Town the 9-hole Resort (Pusch) Golf Course and/or the La Canada Golf Course in the event the Town decided not to maintain them as golf courses. A similar provision is included for the tennis courts.

In January 2021, HSL opted not to exercise its right to operate/lease the Pusch Golf Course after the Town declared it a discontinued course, effectively extinguishing their option in the Agreement. During the Town Council's discussion regarding the installation of new irrigation for the La Canada and El Conquistador courses, Council expressed interest in inquiring of HSL their willingness to relinquish the same option on the La Canada course.

(source)

 
HSL agreed to do so.  Council approved the measure 6-1 at the meeting this past Wednesday.

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LaCanada awaits repaving after water break

The town has repaired the water line break that occurred on LaCanada, north of Lambert Lane. Contractors are awaiting warmer day temperatures to repave the road.

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Volunteers needed for senior programming task force

"Oro Valley Parks and Recreation is seeking volunteers for a new taskforce to research and provide suggestions/feedback on senior program ideas. If you are interested, please contact Nancy Ellis at nellis@orovalleyaz.gov to request an application. The deadline to apply is February 28, 2022."

(Source)

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El Conquistador Resort hosts Golf Pro Tour All-Star Event on Pusch Ridge Course this month

The  El Conquistador Resort is hosting the second annual Disc Golf Pro Tour All-Star event. It will be held on the Pusch Ridge Golf course on February 11-13, 2022. The event will showcase some of the top disc golfers in the world as they compete in a unique format event that will kick off the 2022 season. Spectator tickets may be purchased here. Read more about this event here.

(source)

Oro Valley Town Manager's Inaction Caused Pusch Ridge Golf "Crisis"

Failure to act started last May

The Town of Oro Valley knew in April that HSL Conquistador was not going to take over operation of the Pusch Ridge 9-hole golf course. Yet, it continued to move forward with closing the facility despite knowing that it was never the intent of the the council to leave their neighbors who live on or near the course in jeopardy. 

The intent of the Town Council was never to close the course... It was to lease the course to the El Conquistador

On February 18, 2020 The Oro Valley Town Council unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with HSL El Conquistador and HSL Financial Management for the takeover of the Pusch Ridge Course. HSL was to lease the facility from the town, exercising a “discontinued golf” clause in the original 2015 purchase and sale agreement when the town purchased the Community Center, Golf, and Tennis. That Memorandum of Understanding stated that the town was going to discontinue operating the nine hole Pusch Ridge Course on October 1, 2020. The lease agreement was to come before council in the future.

Town Attorney Cohen assured the Town Council that HSL was going to take over operations. All that was left was the negotiation of a lease.

The MOU was negotiated by Town Attorney, Gary Cohen and Town Manager, Mary Jacobs.

 

According to Cohen “HSL is telling us, right now, that they are going to lease this course and that it will be effective October 1.” (Time stamp: 2:04:14 of 2-28-20 Oro Valley Town Council Meeting).

In late April, HSL told Town Manager Jacobs that they were not likely to lease the course

Town Manager Jacobs explained at the February 17 meeting that HSL indicated that they did not have the financial resources to do so.

Jacobs noted that “They were aware that operating the golf course would require a subsidy.”  In other words, HSL did a workup of the financial prospects and decided not to do lease the property, just as they had decided to get rid of it when they sold it to the town in 2015. 

It may even be possible that HSL has bigger plans in mind for that property (Please do use your imagination).

HSL has no pressing need for the course itself. The El Conquistador Resort no longer needs a golf course in order to be rated "five star." It now has a spa that qualifies them for this rating.

The town neglected the golf course, closed it, despite knowing that HSL was not going to take it over

The Town closed the course in April due to Covid. Then, the Town eliminated over-seeding and watering the course. The fairways were brown. Residents who live along the course were "up in arms." They launched an effort to get the grass green again and succeeded Wednesday night. As we reported last Thursday, the Town will consider a detailed plan to operate the course starting in November.

Town Manager Jacobs did not act early... created the crisis... dumped it on Council 

Town Manager Jacobs did not act to immediately include this property in the Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment that she commissioned. She should have done this in May when she knew HSL was not really interested in assuming operation of the golf course. But even if they were interested, the land should have been included in the Needs Assessment and Master Plan. Then, if HSL failed to lease the land, its use could be considered in the larger context of the town - not a one-off decision as is now the case.

It is likely that the council did not know of HSL's lack of interest until September 23. This is when they extended the agreement with HSL for 120 days.  The Town Council, like the rest of us, were "in the dark."

Jacobs' inaction disappointing. She is a strategic thinker.  Is it possible that she did not know that HSL was simply "playing the Town" because HSL is always "playing the Town?" 

All the signs were there. 

They even told her they weren't interested.

The town is where it is today on this because of her inaction. 

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Guest View: Tim Bohen ~ The Real 5-Year Plan for the Community Center (Hint: It’s now a 25-Year Plan)

Note: The $6MM Community Center Bond approval is included in the Adoption of the Tentative Budget that the Town Council will be voting on at tonight’s Council meeting.

We have often heard from Town Council that we need to give the Oro Valley Community Center golf investment time to show that its financial viability is trending positively. This was a fair request since the golf purchase was truly a major undertaking. However, three years have now elapsed and time has revealed what the 5-year plan may have been all along.

Another victory for Humberto Lopez (HSL Properties) and golfers
At the end of next the fiscal year, the Town’s obligation to rebate Vestar 45% of the sales taxes collected at Oro Valley Marketplace will end. This information was provided by Town Manager, Mary Jacobs during the Town Council Budget Study Session on May 9th. When Vestar’s tax incentive ends, approximately $800K per year in sales tax revenue from OV Marketplace will now become available to support Town services. This should be great news. I’m sure we can all think of many community-wide uses for this new revenue stream. Perhaps we could use it to actually provide more ball fields or playground equipment for young families since that’s what residents have been requesting.

But wait. Later at the same May 9th budget review, a significant portion of these same revenues ($450-480K per year) was proposed to be effectively passed to HSL and our “Country Club” and fitness members as security for a 20-year bond to improve the Community Center and Golf Courses. And once again, ball fields and playgrounds take a back seat to golf.

The percentage of Oro Valley residents who have $20-$40 monthly fitness memberships is only approximately 3% of our population. And the number of users who visit this facility per day (about 320) is far less than 1% of our town population, as was cheerfully volunteered by Parks and Rec themselves at the same meeting. Do these 9,500 total visits per month in a town of 45,000 include out-of-town visitors from the resort who are coming to enjoy our sales tax subsidized golf?

Lipstick on a Sign
In essence, all the Town did was to cross out the “Country Club” sign in lipstick and write “Community Center” on the sign in the same lipstick and…well, it’s still a Country Club. It’s great that we have a day camp and fitness center members that enjoy the Community Center and make this portion viable. But this benefit clearly goes to relatively few as reported by Parks and Rec themselves. And frankly, this benefit has been, and will long continue to be, dwarfed by the golf losses borne by all.

All that has really changed at El Conquistador since 2014 is the sign out front, a new traffic light, and more importantly, who is now responsible for the long-term upkeep of the combined Community Center and El Conquistador Resort (HSL) golf asset. It’s we taxpayers who will now shoulder an ever increasing load of $3-4 million dollars per year for the next twenty years minimum (0.5% town-wide dedicated Community Center sales tax + 60% of the previously committed OV Marketplace sales tax to Vestar).

Fast Pitch
Our Community Center purchase agreement provides HSL with a 50-year (at $10K per year) Canada golf course improvements option to keep this one course open. Mayor Hiremath has stated that the signer of the purchase agreement, former Town Manager, Greg Caton, always seemed to “hit it out of the park.” It looks like this ball might come down some time around 2040 as far as loan payments, or 2065 as far as our lease with HSL. It’s a tape measure home run for HSL and the golfers either way. As for the vast majority of Oro Valley sales tax payers who don’t use the facility, let’s just say we’ll keep getting hit by the pitch.

Privatized Gains and Socialized Losses
So, upon learning this, how do we as a Town, in good conscience, choose to sink $6M minimum more into a 35-year old building and golf courses over the next three years? Our local economy includes flat golf revenues, rising local construction costs over the short term of this project, and potentially catastrophic decreases in CAP water for southern Arizona over the long term. Losing CAP water may shut all but the most financially healthy Tucson courses.

El Conquistador Country Club memberships are already well below where they need to be. This is maybe the only point everyone in Oro Valley can agree on. So, how exactly will three years of phased construction improve the membership rates? They won’t. Watch your Council brag about the great fiscal position of the Town resulting from their “skillful planning” and fiscal restraint and try to reconcile that with this long term decision. You can’t.