Does The Oro Valley Town Council Really Care What You Think?

The Town of Oro Valley began to allocate funding for the development of the State mandated General Plan beginning with the FY 13/14 budget.  Several hundred thousand dollars were set aside to hire people to assist with development of the Plan.  Oro Valley Councilman Hornat and I were designated as Council Liaisons for this effort.

A multitude of Oro Valley residents volunteered to help ensure that the citizens were given ample opportunity to provide input to the Plan.  There were coffees, pie eating gatherings, tables at the Farmer’s Market and Town events to ensure opportunities to reach as many citizens as possible.  Councilman Hornat and I attended over 15 staff meetings as the Plan developed.  I saw one of my tasks as a liaison was to ensure that the Plan was totally derived from public input –  not staff; not the council.

There were some items of contention that came up from time to time.  One issue was how to handle plan amendments.  Despite arguments from Don Cox, Bill Leedy, and Bill Rodman, the volunteer committees voted to leave the amendment process in its (then) existing format.  Some land owners wanted to change the land use map designations on their properties during this process.  For example they may have desired to change the designation from low density residential to commercial.   The volunteer committees listened to all the requests and decided to forward their recommendations in the plan that was ultimately approved.   As one of the Oro Valley Council liaisons,  I felt satisfied that the draft the committees approved was reflective of what the people desired.

The Plan, now called Your Voice, Our Future (YVOF) was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission and Town Council following two open meetings.  The Council placed it on the November 2016 ballot and YVOF passed by a large majority of those who voted in that election.  The people were told that YVOF was a guide for all elected, appointed, and town employees indicating “this is what we desire; this is how we see OUR Town.”

On Nov. 16, 2016, the new council was sworn in and voted immediately to amend YVOF.  The plan was not even 2 weeks old, yet the council (ALL were financially supported by the developers/builders during their election campaigns) amended the Plan.  While it might had been reasonable in the past for a councilmember to say “the plan is almost 10 years old; times have changed; demographics have changed; values have changed” this is no longer a valid argument because the plan was LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OLD.

Now YVOF is a year old.  Nothing has changed.  It is still fresh.  However, at the December 6th Council Meeting, there are 4 proposed amendments to YVOF and a related rezoning’s.

The Town spent numerous hours in 3 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to obtain YOUR thoughts on how the Town’s land should be utilized.  Now, less than a year later, your wishes are in jeopardy of being overthrown by a council that is beholden to developers and builders.  It appears that they don’t care what you think.

You need to email the Council.  You need to come to the Dec. 6 meeting and express your thoughts about the proposed land use changes.

IT’S TIME TO TAKE BACK ORO VALLEY.   Let your voice be heard.