OVCN’s Expansion: Pastor Collins’ Interview Ignites Resident Concerns

Pastor Collins of Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (OVCN) was interviewed on October 15th by KGUN News to discuss the church’s recent change of plans regarding their expansion.

The original plan
As LOVE has previously reported, OVCN’s original plan was to create a sports-based ministry in a rural neighborhood including an indoor multi-purpose sports complex and an outdoor ballfield with stadium lighting. This plan required a rezoning approval. This has resulted in a 4-year long battle with the neighbors who vehemently oppose this expansion as it will severely impact their rural neighborhood and peaceful way of life.

The revised plan
Although OVCN has not formally withdrawn their original plan, their new plan (revealed during a Neighborhood Meeting at the Town Hall on September 26th) is to build a new sanctuary (for which they are requesting a height variance of 40 feet.) The new plan also includes a student center, maintenance building, and a new parking lot to accommodate approximately 600 more vehicles.

The KGUN Interview
Reporter Kenny Darr stated that, “Pastor Collins believes these plans better align with the church’s mission while minimizing potential concerns from neighbors.”

During the interview, Pastor Collins stated,

“We believe that strong churches make for strong communities and so we want to make a difference for our community. We’re not doing that in any intentional way to disrupt or ruin anybody’s life who happens to be in close proximity to our church property here, but we think there’s a high value in what our church is offering our community, and we want as many people in Oro Valley to be able to benefit from that as possible.”

This prompted numerous rebuttals from residents living adjacent to OVCN and from other Oro Valley residents who have been following this saga for the past four years. Below are excerpts from some of those rebuttals.

A small neighborhood church becomes a megachurch
What began as a small neighborhood house of worship has metastasized into an enormous church. With it has come unbelievable traffic transforming a quiet neighborhood into a huge parking lot not only on Sunday but also on other days when the congregation gathers. Hundreds of cars park on both sides of several streets (no sidewalks) leaving unsafe conditions for people who are walking or jogging, people on horses or bikes, and parents with children in strollers.

Pastor Collins says that he wants to serve the community. Where is this community? Congregants are driving -- not walking to this church. Who knows how far they travel to get to the church. A church is a house of worship. So why then do they want to build a multi-purpose facility? Multi-purpose for what? And then a student center. What does that have to do with worship?

This area is already flood-prone. Adding more blacktop and more buildings is going to be a disaster in the making for residents and the horse stables close by. During monsoon season, these streets are impassable because there is no storm drainage. I personally waded several times through flowing water on Loma Linda to get to my home. And this water came from Calle Concordia.

Name withheld by request

Is it a sanctuary or a basketball court?
It amuses me that the new building (that they want a height variance for) is now called a sanctuary and youth center. At our meeting with Pastor Coulter (5 neighbors met with him on August 1st in the church meeting room) he said they needed the height for two basketball courts with stacking seating for multi-purpose use. RLUIPA (the Federal Religious Land Use Act) states that preferences can be given to churches for “religion related activities.” Since basketball courts do not fall under “religion related activities” they have changed the wording of their variance. But if Planning and Zoning approves the height variance, what is to stop OVCN from putting in the basketball courts, which will increase usage of the property and the traffic to most every day and night -- not just Sundays. Well-played OVCN.

Tricia Tozier

Close Encounters of an unwanted kind
Pastor Collins’ comment, “We believe that strong churches make for strong communities and so we want to make a difference for our community” -- My response is that the neighbors are the primary stakeholders of our community and do not want expansion in our community.

In response to Collins’ other comment, “We’re not doing that (expansion) in any intentional way to disrupt or ruin anybody’s life who happens to be in close proximity to our church property here.” -- It has been made abundantly clear that expansion is not welcome. Unintended consequences are intentional if you are informed of the harm, yet you persist.

OVCN's plans are to circumvent the law by repackaging their rezoning expansion plans into a height-variance expansion plan. The net result and intentional harm to the neighborhood are the same.

If not the community, then who is OVCN's expansion serving? Certainly not Jesus. We can't get out of OVCN traffic to get to our own church on time.

Jennifer Jacobson

OVCN has a history of unintended consequences
Pastor Collins claims that they are not intentionally trying to disrupt the lives of those living near the church. Intentional or not, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be unintended consequences or collateral damage.

Case in point: OVCN has already disrupted the neighbors’ lives with their loudspeakers, loud music, bright lights, and high traffic volume. I'm sure that wasn't "intentional" either, but it happened, nevertheless.

And since the church refuses to withdraw their original rezoning request, that signals to me that they have more up their sleeve for the future (as one neighbor speculated during the Town Hall Neighborhood Meeting, “Is this just the camel’s nose under the tent?”)

Diane Peters
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Guest View: Diane Peters - OVCN Failed to Produce even one Congregant Whose Home will be Directly Affected by the Proposed Rezoning

During the February 7 Planning and Zoning hearing for the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene rezoning request, Paul Oland (the applicant) and Pastor Collins attempted to counter the argument that the only people who are in favor of this rezoning are congregants of OVCN who do not live in the immediate neighborhood and therefore will not be negatively impacted by it.

Pastor Collins stated, “We thought it would be helpful to this committee to hear from some homeowners who will be directly affected by this project but share a differing view than what you’ve heard from the neighbors.”

They then produced multiple speakers who live one mile away!
Living one mile away is a false equivalency since the field lights and the loud speakers won’t be intruding into their backyards and inside their homes -- and they won’t be subjected to hundreds of cars driving down their quiet rural street or parking in front of their homes.

Contrary to Pastor Collins’ assertion, those speakers/OVCN congregants will not be directly affected by the project.

None of the speakers offered a compelling argument
One speaker who lives a mile away stated, “I love seeing the lights and hearing the sounds because it’s life. It’s our community coming together for events that have a positive impact. Games, swim meets, graduations. These are families having special moments.”

It turns out that her house is on a rural road on a very large lot and her house is set very far back from the road, hidden behind numerous tall trees that shield her home from the road. In other words, she chose a home that is shielded from the lights and the noise that she claims to love.

Another speaker who lives one mile away stated, “I know there may be some inconvenience to my lifestyle but it is totally worth it to me to see the kids have a safe place to come, learn a sport, find out about Jesus, and make decisions that will have a positive impact on their lives.”

I suppose it’s easy to accept some inconvenience to your lifestyle when in reality, there will be no inconvenience to your lifestyle.

They did produce one speaker who lives, “probably 2/10 of a mile away” from the church. But it’s still a bit of a stretch to say that he will be “directly affected” by the rezoning since the associated traffic will not be driving down his street, a wall of huge trees in front of his house will block the view of the lights on the athletic field, and any sounds coming from the loud speakers will likely be muffled sounds. The decibel level will not be anywhere near what residents living adjacent to the church will endure.

It appears that the Calle Buena Vista neighborhood group was right all along
The applicant and Pastor Collins both failed to prove that there were some OVCN congregants who will be directly affected by the rezoning but who are in favor of it, nonetheless. In fact, they couldn’t produce even one congregant who would actually be directly affected by it.

For some comparison, I live one mile away from an athletic field and when there is an event on the field, although I can see the lights in the distance and I can hear muffled voices over the loud speakers, I am in no way directly affected by it. It has no impact on my daily life and it will have no impact on the resale value of my home.

Planning and Zoning recommended denial of this application. The rezoning was then scheduled to be heard by the Town Council on Wednesday, March 1st. However, OVCN has since requested a postponement of that hearing.
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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, including organizing a citizens group in 2014 that spent 9 months negotiating 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.

OVCN Pastors Buy Homes In Quiet Neighborhood While Trying To Obliterate The Same For Others

Their hypocrisy is astounding

If you’ve been following this saga, you know that Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (OVCN) is requesting a rezoning of their property to accommodate a large sports complex (to include a full-sized football/activity field with multiple 70 foot high field lights) in a quiet rural section of town where adjacent residents live on 3.3+ acre horse properties.

The neighbors (The Concordia/Buena Vista Neighborhood Group) are against this rezoning for many reasons including the negative impact it will have on their quality of life and on their property values due to the noise, light pollution, and additional traffic pouring into their quiet rural neighborhood.

Click to enlarge

As an example, the photo in panel at right shows the field lights at CDO High School as viewed from a home that is three quarters of a mile away. Now imagine having those lights right outside your property line!

A Public Hearing on this rezoning is being held by the Planning and Zoning Commission tomorrow evening at 6 PM.

Pastors' home purchases reveal their hypocrisy
LOVE is reporting on the pastors’ recent home purchases because the pastors of OVCN believe that it is perfectly acceptable to destroy the peaceful way of life of their neighbors (to the point of threatening to sue the Town of Oro Valley if they do not get their way). Meanwhile, Pastors Coulter and Collins recently purchased homes on the same street in a brand new gated neighborhood where traffic will be restricted to homeowners and guests, there will be no tall structures impeding their mountain views, no large events, no loud audio, and no stadium lighting interfering with their domestic tranquility.  Their peace and quiet will be protected. We find the hypocrisy to be astounding.

Description on the Fairfield Homes website describing Vermillion at Rancho Vistoso
“This gated community…displays luxury, beauty, and breathtaking landscape views of the magnificent high desert. With northern views of the Tortolita Mountains and eastern views of the Catalina Mountains, this mountainous region offers a quiet life in the natural world…and specially designed outdoor space ensure access to the most beautiful views of Arizona desert landscapes and mountains.” (LOVE added the italics for emphasis).

Commentary from the Concordia/Buena Vista Neighborhood Group
“We congratulate you on your choice of location. As a gated community, traffic will be light and restricted to homeowners and guests. The views will be spectacular and not impeded with nearby tall structures. Natural sounds will be pleasant with no large gatherings or events with audio effects. The evening sky will be a stunning scene with no stadium lighting to diffuse it. Most importantly, there will never be a concern that your home will be threatened by an external entity or organization who totally disregards your domestic tranquility and rights as a homeowner.”

We've seen this before in Oro Valley
How many times have we seen a powerful group with seemingly endless resources trying to plant an unnecessary project in the middle of a quiet neighborhood? This project will benefit the OVCN church and no one else. Our Town leaders need to say, “enough is enough” and put an end to projects that are not compatible with surrounding neighborhoods or with the General Plan.

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Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene: “Sports Partner Becoming More Religious”

Many issues still need to be addressed
A focus group meeting for neighbors living in the immediate vicinity of the church took place at the Oro Valley Town Hall on October 24 regarding the proposed rezoning to accommodate a mega sports complex of the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (“OVCN”). If approved by the town, this complex will forever change the character of one of Oro Valley’s original neighborhoods. 

Also in attendance were Councilmembers Mo Greene (who is a member of the OVCN congregation) and Tim Bohen.

One of the key issues raised by those who oppose the project is the status of the company with whom OVCN plans to partner. That partner, Upward Sports, is a “non profit” organization that appears to be a profit-making business, using “religion” to promote their sports business.

OVCN Pastor Collins: Upward Sports is returning to its religious mission
At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Collins discussed the partnership between OVCN and Upward Sports. It appears that Upward Sports and the churches with whom they partner are building facilities under the banner of non-profit status and then later selling those facilities for financial gain. This came to light recently when it was learned, as reported in LOVE, that Upward Sports was selling their huge sports venue facility in Spartanburg, NC for $41 million dollars.

Pastor Collins said that Upward Sports provides services to churches that are looking to do Sports Ministry. The “partnership” means that OVCN contracts with them to provide those services for a fee that the church pays. 

Collins claimed that the real reason that Upwards Sports was selling their facility in Spartanburg, NC was because they are reverting back to the type of organization/ministry that they originally were – supporting churches who want to run sports leagues in their communities. 

Collins said that “the result of that vision and mission realignment is that they are attempting to sell their current sports venues and they will do so at a tremendous financial loss to the ministry.” However, later in the meeting one of the neighbors noted that, “Upward Sports might be having a little trouble right now, but their net income in 2021 was about $35 million dollars and that’s from their website.”

Managing traffic… lighting blight… view shed… noise mitigation… all on the table

The partnership with Upward Sports is not the only issue that those who oppose the project have raised. There are other issues.  Paul Oland of Paradigm Land Design (representing the church) addressed some of these issues at the meeting.
Traffic
Oland said they are still working through “a couple of technical details” with Town staff, but the bottom line is that:

“The goal the Town has given them is to prove that the traffic will not be made worse and that they will be mitigating any impacts that they are doing…and one of the key components to achieving that goal is not to have overlapping activities. So if there is an activity on the activity field (e.g. soccer practice) it wouldn’t happen at the same time as a church service.”

Oland claimed that the surrounding streets have the capacity to accommodate this development and that the big building on the south end would have a center turn lane constructed on Calle Concordia.
Lighting
Oland said their lighting consultant has modeled the proposed field and the lighting to meet the Town’s stringent lighting guidelines and that Oro Valley’s lighting consultant came up with a list requirements that results in “near darkness right at the property line.”
Views
Oland said the main building is tucked into the SE corner of the site against the wash with CDO behind it. The field is in the north and the only tall elements in the field are the poles which he admitted will be visible from some neighboring properties.
Noise Mitigation

Their acoustical consultant modeled the site several different ways and made recommendations. What they found is that “the installation of two 8 foot screen walls will control the additional sound that’s expected to be generated by these facilities down to accordance within Town Code in terms of impacts to surrounding neighbors.”
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Wednesday: Town Staff Seeks Common Ground On OVCN Sports Complex… Residents Say “No!”