Guest View: Greene and Solomon overlooked citizen input prior to recent Town Council vote

 

Councilmembers Greene and Solomon made some questionable comments during the January 6th council discussions regarding the Kai property General Plan Amendment (GPA) at First and Tangerine.

Councilmember Solomon’s Comments
“In all the years I’ve been in Oro Valley and involved in land use issues, that’s well over 25 years, I’ve never seen a project that was so unanimously supported by all parties through the entire process.”

For the record, that “process” would include neighborhood meetings, Planning and Zoning public hearings, Town Council public hearings, and all the emails submitted by residents stating whether they were in favor of or opposed to this GPA.

Councilmember Solomon insisted that the citizens were in favor of the amendment, when, in fact, the opposite was true. (You can read many of the citizens’ comments HERE). Those in favor were the adjacent business owners and Chamber of Commerce President, Dave Perry.

Councilmember Greene’s Comments

“I haven’t been over the land use, but what I have done is listen to the careful presentations by people who are much smarter in land use and the needs of Oro Valley than I am. I think [leaving] the land vacant and hoping that some commercial person is going to suddenly come there is really neglecting what is going on with Amazon and online shopping. Even the merchants that live there and have businesses there have supported this idea. So I like to listen to the people who live there, who live around there, and let them give their voices to what we should do.”

Mr. Greene, listening to the business owners and the merchants who live in the area is not enough. As a responsible elected official, you also need to get off the golf course, read, study, learn, ask questions, verify, visit the site in question, and listen to the citizens whose lives will be impacted by YOUR decisions. Adjacent businesses owners are not necessarily Oro Valley citizens.

Greene’s statement reveals that he has no idea what his job is as a councilmember. He is an elected official and should be expected to understand land use issues. The presentations by the applicant and the Town staff are biased, and it is up to the councilmembers to separate the wheat from the chaff, know the appropriate codes, and know the relevant parts of the General Plan.

If a resident approaches you when you are out and about and asks you to explain your vote, responding that you approved it because the staff was in favor of it, or business owners were in favor of it, is not acceptable. You need to be able to explain your vote in terms of your research and how you came to your conclusion. Staff just provides a source of input, but their input should carry no more weight than a citizen.

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Mike Zinkin and Diane Peters both contributed to this Guest View.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ The Best Laid Plans?

During January 6th Public Hearing for the First and Tangerine General Plan Amendment (GPA) to allow multi-family residential zoning on a vacant commercial parcel, one resident (we’ll call him Mr. Double Standard) gave the following reasons for why the town council should approve the GPA. He said:

"I want to point out the fiscal benefits of this development. This is a fiscal no-brainer for the Town of Oro Valley: The construction sales tax, the residents supporting the water utility, the long-term sales tax benefits, the state-shared revenue.

I have said to many people that one of the reasons that Oro Valley Marketplace looks the way it does today...is the way this land looks right now. It's vacant. The land to the west of the marketplace is vacant. The land to the north of the marketplace is vacant. The land to the east of the marketplace is vacant. All of these have a very negative impact on Oro Valley Marketplace.

And as we look for that area of develop, this will be a great benefit. We've seen Big Lots close...Cost Plus...Dick's Sporting Goods. And you can relate that to the fact that the residential density close to the Oro Valley Marketplace is very low."

Let’s review his arguments.

Vacant land has a negative impact on business
Mr. Double Standard claims that the vacant land to the west, north, and east of Oro Valley Marketplace is the reason that The Marketplace never did well and is the reason that Big Lots, Cost Plus (World Market), and Dick’s Sporting Goods closed. Then why is the Wal-Mart at Oro Valley Marketplace still open when they have the same amount of nearby residents? Why did Sears at Tucson Mall close? They didn’t have enough nearby residents?

Vestar, the original developer and owner of Oro Valley Marketplace, had population and demographic studies done prior to pitching their Anywhere USA mall. They had the stats for how many people lived within X number of miles from that location and they projected that it would all work out beautifully – but now we are told that The Marketplace failed because they didn't have enough homes in that location.

Is Mr. Double Standard saying that Vestar's projections and population and demographic studies were wrong? Were they fabricated or slanted to show what Vestar needed them to show in order to get the town to sign on to the deal? If so, this might be a lesson not to trust the projections and population and demographic studies of other developers when they’re pitching their grandiose plans to the town.

Arguing with himself
When Vestar was pitching their mall, Mr. Double Standard was strongly in favor of it. He never spoke in opposition to it or claimed that it would fail because the land to the west, north, and east was vacant.

The pro-development crowd simply alters their arguments to suit their whims of the day. His current arguments are all just excuses to keep the Hiremath pro-growth agenda going.

Taxes and Water Utility Arguments
• The construction sales tax is not a recurring tax, it is a one-time tax.

• Stating that more residents will support the Oro Valley Water Utility overlooks the fact that Arizona is in an extreme drought, but yes, let’s keep bringing in more people to use more water.

In fact, according to the applicant’s (Paul Oland, Paradigm Land Design) GPA submittal narrative: “With a maximum of 167 housing units proposed, the maximum number of new residents expected to live onsite would be 392” and would “typically demand approximately 50,100 gallons of potable water per day.” Oland also admitted that keeping the existing C-1 zoning “would equate to a typical water demand of approximately 17,600 gallons per day.”

Mr. Double Standard said that approving the GPA was “a fiscal no-brainer.” One could argue that choosing to use 17,000 gallons of water a day vs. 50,000 gallons a day during a drought is an “environmental no-brainer.”

• Long-term sales tax benefits? That’s the same sales pitch we heard from Vestar when they were selling the town on the benefits of Oro Valley Marketplace, and yet half of the storefronts at OVM remained empty for the entire ten years that Vestar owned that mall (2008-2018).

What’s the perfect ratio?
So when does the growth end? What is the perfect ratio of businesses to population? Does anyone really know? Because no matter how many of each we have, I keep hearing that we need more people to support our businesses and we need more businesses to bring in sales tax dollars.

You know what else we need? We need open space (green space), healthy air, less traffic congestion, peace and quiet, and we need to protect the Sonoran desert and the wildlife who call it home.

Business saturation
I don’t recall any empty storefronts when I moved here in 2003. Our population has increased by approximately 15,000 since then, yet we now have an abundance of empty storefronts. This begs the question: Is increasing the population really the answer? Or do we have too many duplicate businesses? As an example, a quick internet search revealed approximately 20 nail salons in Oro Valley. How about three identical mattress stores at one intersection!  (One has since closed.  Gee, I wonder why).

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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated 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.

Guest View: Diane Peters ~ Wildlife Matters

 

Despite being involved in Oro Valley development issues for the past 15 years, reading Dr. Amy Eisenberg’s recent Guest View on LOVE about the devastation on the Kai-Silverhawke property was an eye-opener even for me. (Read it HERE)

The Town needs to implement a Wildlife Conservation Ordinance
After reading her Guest View and witnessing what Meritage Homes was allowed to do on the Silverhawke property -- completely leveling the land and all those beautiful rolling hills (wildlife habitat) -- it appears that the Town does not have any protocols in place for protecting wildlife. Therefore, we can expect the same devastation to occur on the remaining Kai property at First and Tangerine if and when it is ever developed.

Since tortoises are very slow moving and cannot outrun a bulldozer, I can surmise from reading Dr. Eisenberg's article that some of them were crushed to death or buried alive during the mass grading of Silverhawke. And apparently the Town does not care because they are not federally protected. Until recently, I had no idea that there were tortoises living on that parcel.

Our Town Council has an opportunity, from this point forward, to establish a preconstruction protocol to analyze, protect, and perhaps relocate indigenous species living in the construction area. In light of what these animals could face, this is the humane, compassionate, and civilized thing to do. What the Town is currently allowing is just plain cruel.

The Town should require a “Wildlife Assessment and Plan” to be submitted with every development proposal and rezoning.

A wildlife biologist should be consulted
If the Town can arrange to have all the saguaro cactus counted on a property and make arrangements for them to either be protected in place or carefully relocated, they can certainly do the same for wildlife...and not just the ones on the Endangered Species List. How do you think they became endangered in the first place? It was due to the thoughtless, selfish, greedy, and reckless behavior of man.

Rather than destroying wildlife habitats and killing the wildlife, then waiting for their numbers to decline so much that they are eventually placed on the Endangered Species list, and then we must wait years (if not decades) for their numbers to increase again, why not be proactive and have protocols that prevent this from happening in the first place? 

Demolished tortoise habitat (Photo from Dr. Eisenberg's Guest View)

Oro Valley - It's in our nature!

Is it? Or is that just a slogan?


The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
I’ve wrongly assumed all these years that Oro Valley’s wildlife was being catalogued and protected due to The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan that has been in effect since 1998. According to their website, below is one of the components in the plan:

• Working with local jurisdictions such as the City of Tucson, Town of Marana, Town of Oro Valley, and Town of Sahuarita on regional habitat conservation planning and the development of their conservation policies and ordinances. We also continually monitor how these policies and ordinances are applied to specific development projects.

This did not appear to happen on the Silverhawke property. Is the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan just a guide without any actual requirements and enforcement?

A plea to our Mayor and Council
Impacts to wildlife habitat must be considered in all future General Plan amendments and rezonings. I call on our Town Council and Town Staff to immediately begin implementation of a wildlife conservation plan. And not just a guide that can be overlooked or modified when convenient, but an actual Town Code to prevent this travesty from ever happening again. We must stop allowing wildlife to be killed simply because developers deem them to be in the way and disposable. On the contrary, it’s us humans who are in their way!

And do it now because we are not likely to have a more environmentally friendly council than this to do it.
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Diane Peters has lived in Oro Valley since 2003, moving here to escape the humidity of the East Coast. She’s been involved in OV politics and development issues since 2006. In 2014, she organized a citizens group, who over a 9-month period, successfully negotiated 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.

Guest View: Mike Zinkin ~ Will your elected Oro Valley officials take charge tomorrow evening?

 

The Town Council meeting on Wednesday, January 6th will be very telling as to who actually governs Oro Valley. Is it the Town Manager/Staff or the elected officials, your Town Council?

There are two topics on the agenda that are worrisome
1. General Plan Amendment: One of the topics to be voted on is a General Plan amendment (GPA) converting a commercial corner into a residential one (either high density or medium density) on the SE corner of First and Tangerine. This vote should have occurred by December of 2020, but, due to an oversight by the Town Manager and Town Attorney, the topic was not listed as a “public hearing.” (The Mayor attempted to take some of the blame, but that was just a courtesy.)

The Town Manager and Town Attorney are responsible to post a legal agenda, while the mayor and the Agenda Committee are responsible for forming the agenda. Usually, after a public hearing, there is a council discussion and a vote. The December 30th Special meeting regarding this GPA allowed only for a discussion and no vote.

Look to the General Plan for guidance
So now we come to the January 6th meeting. The Kai General Plan amendment is posted as discussion and possible action (i.e. a vote.) Rather than listen to the recommendations from the staff as to whether or not to approve this GPA, why not look at the General Plan for guidance, as that is a valid document that states the recommendations of the citizens.

We know that Councilmember Solomon gives no credence to the General Plan as he voted to amend it during the same meeting in which it was approved (November 2016).

Bottom line: This property on the SE corner of First and Tangerine is one of the prime commercial corners in Oro Valley. The citizens desired it to be commercial. Our elected officials need to do their job and represent the citizens, not the Town staff, not the special interests.

2. Employee raises: This is another troubling item on the agenda. Town Manager, Mary Jacobs wants to give the employees a 3% raise. There was no employee raise in the FY 2020/21 budget for obvious reasons. Does Jacobs think that all the COVID issues are in the past because this is a new year?

The pandemic still continues. Many people in the private sector are unemployed or have had their hours cut drastically and some risk being evicted. Businesses are still closing. Yet, no Town employee has missed a paycheck or day of work and many worked from home. No Town employee has had to suffer like those in the private sector. But Jacobs wants to give a 3% raise to these employees. Will she ask for another raise in the FY 2021/22 budget as well?

Mayor and Council members: TAKE CHARGE of Oro Valley. Say NO to the General Plan Amendment and the requested raise.

Guest View: Amy Eisenberg, Ph.D. ~ Sonoran Desert Tortoises are Greatly Imperiled by Unsustainable Development in Oro Valley

This Guest View is derived from a letter sent by Dr. Eisenberg to the Town of Oro Valley regarding the proposed residential development of the Kai Property at First and Tangerine. LOVE added the subheadings. The destruction described below was witnessed on the large contiguous Kai parcel from Palisades Road to Tangerine. This is a large tortoise habitat that has been greatly reduced and fragmented due to development on that parcel.

A public hearing on this General Plan Amendment and Rezoning will be held this Wednesday, January 6th during a Town Council Special Session Zoom Meeting.  You may join the meeting and comment.  A link to the Zoom meeting can be found HERE

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Sonoran Desert Tortoise dens destroyed by Meritage Homes and Capri Co., LLC
As stewards who reside in the adjacent community, we understand and witness that this parcel has environmental and archaeological significance: Sonoran Desert Tortoises - Gopherus morafkai reside on this parcel and some of their dens were destroyed during Capri Co., LLC trenching and Meritage Homes development during tortoise brumation! This is unlawful, unethical, unacceptable and disgraceful. I contacted the President of Meritage Homes, Jeff Grobstein and Steve Hilton as well as Game and Fish to no avail!

*No hired biologist monitored this before the destruction except myself, and I was not consulted by the developers who destroyed the tortoise dens and burrows.

An illegal dumping ground
There are significant native plants and trees on this parcel as well as ancestral tools, Native American trails, ceramic shards and worked stone. Kai and Capri have been irresponsible and negligent land owners and developers. Kai has allowed this parcel to be an illegal dumping ground for many years. As stewards, we reported illegal dumping on this site to the police on numerous occasions.

Unsustainable development of this parcel leads to environmental impacts to the native plant and animal communities as well as the human community. Meritage Homes is currently trashing the parcel and workers are leaving their garbage and recyclables all around the perimeter of the Meritage Homes development zone. It is disrespectful and unacceptable. I reported this illegal dumping to Oro Valley Government, the Arizona Attorney General, and the Better Business Bureau.

Lack of respect towards native plants, trees, and wildlife
A healthy intact environment sustains life. The continued destruction of this parcel with its significant plants, trees and animal communities will be further harmed by this proposed development and it will further impact the human community. Extensive trash, destruction of animal burrows and dens, workers treating the desert parcel as a wasteland, workers defecating and leaving their fecal matter and wiping paper is a health and sanitation hazard and violation. I reported this to Oro Valley government to no avail!

Tortoise Den on Kai parcel

Shame on Kai and Capri Co., LLC for their unethical and shoddy practices of digging deep vertical trenches that entrapped native animals without placing barriers, destroying tortoise habitat, burrows and dens, and archaeologically significant sites and trails. Our human health and well-being are inextricably tied to a healthy environment. Kai, Meritage Homes, and Capri Co., LLC have negatively impacted the environment with their irresponsible development practices, negligence and illegal dumping.


Oro Valley government is certainly complicit
Oro Valley gives a green light to many unsustainable developers who have irreparably altered the natural environment to a great extent. There are mounds of hundreds of pounds of rusting cables and rusting hardware on this parcel that have been dumped there for decades. This impedes the growth of native plants and the safety of native animals that travel in this zone. It appears that Kai is not at all concerned that illegal dumping has been occurring on this once beautiful parcel and this is lamentable. As Arizona stewards, we greatly care and have cleaned up hundreds of pounds of illegally dumped trash by Meritage Homes, American Tower workers, contractors, Capri Co., LLC workers and others. These irresponsible adults should be cleaning up after themselves, but sadly, this is not the case.

Demolished tortoise habitat

A sacred homeland
This type of shoddy development is unsustainable, unacceptable, and negligent. NO, indeed, we are strongly opposed to this proposed development project. Enough damage has been done to this once pristine and beautiful parcel that is rich with Native American history in the Tohono O’odham Haki: Dag - the sacred homeland of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

As knowledgeable stewards and citizens, we must all carefully and responsibly respect and safeguard the Sonoran Desert Tortoises that still live on this greatly fragmented parcel. Sonoran Desert Tortoises and their broken habitat will surely be further devastated by the impending proposed development. They will not survive the onslaught! Gopherus morafkai urgently need Federal Protection to ensure their perpetuity and wellbeing. These magnificent creatures of the Sonoran Desert greatly deserve this.

[As previously reported on LOVE, the proposals for the remaining undeveloped land on this parcel include five land use options: apartments, rental casitas, townhomes, senior care facility, and single family residential.]

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Dr. Eisenberg is an ethnoecologist and botanist who teaches at the University of Arizona and is an Associate Scholar with Center for World Indigenous Studies. She has authored and co-authored numerous articles on indigenous peoples’ issues, social and environmental impact assessment, and sustainable natural resource management.