Last month there were a few general plan amendments in front of the Oro Valley Town Council that would have changed the allowable end use product for several undeveloped parcels. The Miller Ranch parcel near Tangerine & La Canada was continued but the other two parcels located within Rancho Vistoso geographic area came to a vote.
Approved by a 7-0 vote was the 39 acre “Olson Property” located just north of Moore Rd. and east of La Canada. This general plan amendments allows the formally Low Density Residential parcel to become a Medium Density Residential piece. This density is very similar to the surrounding neighborhoods and will provide the town with revenue from building permits and impact fees. Currently this parcel is not within the Rancho Vistoso master-planned community but the intention is that it would be annexed into the Association.
The second more contentious application was changing an 18 acre Neighborhood Commercial parcel located on the NW corner of Rancho Vistoso Boulevard and Vistoso Highlands Drive to Medium Density Residential. When finally put to a vote the majority favored it by 4-3 but in order for the general plan amendment to pass a vote of 5-2 was needed. Therefore, this parcel will remain as a Neighborhood Commercial property, although it’s unlikely any development will occur at this location in the near future.
The recovery of the housing market and some shortage of inventory has led to a surge of new construction again in the Oro Valley area. Owners of undeveloped land are looking to capitalize on this builder interest. The most desired zoning for production builders is typically Medium Density Residential so anyone with zoning less dense than that or with some commercial application has been looking to modify the zoning to make their parcels more attractive given current building conditions. The Town Council has approved some of these and denied others as was seen in this last case.
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