Bourn To Reshape Innovation Park
Bourn Companies, a Tucson-based developer with major projects throughout Southern Arizona, has purchased approximately 334 acres of remaining undeveloped commercial land in Innovation Park. The park is home to major employers including Roche Tissue Diagnostics, Oro Valley Hospital and other technology and medical businesses. Bourn founder Don Bourn says the company sees an opportunity to create a “world-class mixed-use business park.” Carrying out that vision could eventually require Town Council approval for rezoning or other changes to existing development rules. Still, the purchase offers Oro Valley an opportunity to jump-start land that has remained vacant for years despite repeated Town efforts to attract new employers. There is also a potentially important side benefit: Bourn is the developer of Uptown, the former Foothills Mall property that Oro Valley has identified as a potential annexation target. Bourn’s investment in Innovation Park gives the Town and the developer a new reason to work closely together.
At its September 2 meeting, the Oro Valley Town Council voted unanimously to dissolve the Tourism Advisory Commission. Mayor Winfield noted that TAC had completed much of the work it was created to help advance, including creating a focused Leisure Travel Management Plan. With that plan now moving into implementation, changes in Town tourism staffing, four of the Commission’s five seats vacant, and four new councilmembers taking office in November, the Council decided this was an appropriate time to bring TAC’s work to a close rather than immediately appoint an almost entirely new commission to multiyear terms.
Under the approved motion, town staff is to provide quarterly progress reports to the council, and bring forward any significant proposed changes in tourism policy or strategy.
TAC made a difference. In one year, the Commission helped turn a grandiose draft travel and leisure study into a workable, practical and implementable plan. TAC pushed the Town to include its two major resorts as key stakeholders and kept pressure on staff to focus less on completing process steps and more on achieving measurable results.
Shaddock Named Oro Valley Assistant Town Manager
Town Manager Jeff Wilkins promoted Karl Shaddock to Assistant Town Manager. Shaddock joined Oro Valley in 2021 as a management analyst and was promoted to Assistant to the Town Manager in 2023. His work has included strategic planning, capital improvement coordination, organizational initiatives and intergovernmental affairs. As the Town’s registered lobbyist, he helped secure more than $14 million in state and federal funding over three years. In his new position, Shaddock will lead development of the Town’s Strategic Initiatives Division, which will focus on priority projects identified in the General Plan and Strategic Plan.
Event Marketing Pays: May Circle Pit brought visitors, exposure and dollars to Oro Valley
The May 15th Circle Pit event at the Bicycle Pump Track Naranja Park generated an estimated $75,000 to more than $100,000 in local economic activity, according to the Town’s post-event assessment. The event produced $14,000 in facility rental revenue for Oro Valley, about 180 room nights at El Conquistador and approximately $54,000 in lodging and food-and-beverage revenue at the resort. The Town also estimated that the event reached millions of people through social media, aided by Adidas, Satisfy Running and participating influencers. Organizers and attendees praised Oro Valley’s pump track, skate park, trails and outdoor setting, and several expressed interest in returning for future races, training opportunities and recreation events. (Source: Town of Oro Valley Post Event Report)
Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (OVCN) is moving ahead with a new 28-acre campus at Twin Peaks Road and Desert Falcon Lane in Marana. The project includes a sanctuary, youth center, classrooms, gymnasium, playground, athletic fields and sports courts. The concept closely resembles the broader expansion OVCN previously proposed for its Oro Valley campus, where plans had included additional facilities for its growing youth and sports ministries. That Oro Valley proposal was later scaled back, while the Marana campus now provides OVCN with a separate location for many of those activities. Earler this month, the Marana Town Council approved the rezoning needed for the project despite concerns raised by nearby residents about traffic, lighting, noise and the intensity of the proposed use.
Beware of PETCO grooming
An Oro Valley family is seeking greater accountability after its service dog, Buttons, was seriously injured during a grooming appointment at Petco. Pet owner Stephanie Torres told KOLD that Buttons apparently fell from a grooming table while still attached to a leash, leaving her hanging by the neck. A veterinary examination found fluid in one lung, a partial tracheal collapse, and injuries to both eyes. Petco paid the approximately $3,000 veterinary bill and said it investigated the incident and took appropriate internal action. Torres said she appreciates that the expenses were covered but wants stronger safeguards and better employee training to prevent a similar incident. Buttons is expected to make a full recovery. (Source)
Check our Oro Valleys Trails Map
Oro Valley residents and visitors can now explore the community’s trail and path network through OVTrailsConnect.com, the online home of the town’s 10-year Trails and Paths Master Plan. The website features interactive and printable maps showing existing and proposed multiuse paths, unpaved trails, trailheads, The Loop and the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve, along with information about implementation priorities, funding opportunities and the community engagement that shaped the plan. The maps will be updated as new routes and trailheads are completed,
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