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!”

OVCN Argues That The Town of Oro Valley Has No Authority To Restrict Creation Of New Sports Facilities

OVCN is "playing hardball"
The Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene (OVCN) is playing hardball regarding its plan to build a major sports facility next to their church. This is located at the north east corner of W Calle Concordia and N Buena Vista. 

It is their contention that they are entitled to do anything they want with the property regardless of what is the zoning because they are a religious institution . Indeed, they contend that the town has no jurisdiction to oversee this. 

Their position is presented in a letter dated June 13, 2022 (Page 82 of linked document) to the Town of Oro Valley. The town has taken the position that it does have jurisdiction; that the plan should be properly vetted and that the zoning needs to change in order to accommodate OVCN.

It is clear from the letter that OCVN has no interest in the impact that the two facilities will have on the property owners in the area. Local owners are unanimously opposed to this venture.

OVCN has the supreme power as granted by...

According to the letter, the source of the “economic power” to use any property they own for any purpose they wish is the Religious Use and Institutional Persons Act (RLUIPA). The purpose of this law is to prevent “…religious institutions from discrimination in zoning…” in their practice of their religious freedom. 

Their claim is that the sports activity is an extension of their ministry. Indeed, they call the facilities a 
"Sports Ministry Field" and a "Multi-Use Ministry Building." According to OVCN, these are religious facilities.

Key argument: Sports is an integral part of religion

The key argument that OVCN puts forth is that sports activities are an integral part of worship and religious life. As a result, applying RLUIPA: “The town lacks discretion to engage in any further inquiry as to the religious and/or non religious use of the facilities and must find…” that the requested use is permitted as a right of the R-144 zoning district.

OVCN also asserts they they can and possibly will minister at any event held in their facilities.  “OVCN intends that third-party events will constitute only an incidental use of the Sports-Ministry Field and Multi-Use Ministry Building." These third party events include such things as the use of the church facility for Oro Valley Police Department training. The Town of Oro Valley has used the facility for public meetings. 

OVCN partnering with "Upward Sports"... a "profit making" not for profit organization

OVCN is partnering with Upward Sports in this effort. According to them, Upward Sports “…is a ministry that is actively partnering with 1,500 churches nationwide.” Its formal name is "Upward Unlimited". They are a "not for profit" organization that is currently trying to sell its main facilities in Spartanburg, SC for up to $41mil, likely for a huge profit.  

"This property ... previous Upward Sports Complex encompasses ±107 acres which have been subdivided and master planned for a wide variety of uses including multiple commercial assets and development land. Individual sites may be purchased separately or property may be sold in its entirety."

Here's a link to learn more about that.

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Want to learn more about this? Visit LOVE postings. Visit the Town of Oro Valley link for this project.