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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPackets - Council Packets (793)Vicki S. Stepp and Lawrence M. Stepp May 12, 2018 TO: Town of Oro Valley - ATTN: Town Council 11000 N La Canada - Oro Valley, AZ 85737 Satish Hiremath - Mayor Lou Waters - Vice Mayor Joe Hornat - Council Member Rhonda Pina - Council Member Bill Rodman - Council Member , Mary Snider - Council Member Steve Solomon - Council Member Lynda Koepfer - Asst to Town Council Mary Jacobs — Town Manager Vella Bayer - Oro Valley Planning Manager Michael Spaeth - Principal Planner SUBJECT: Capella PAD Zoning Variances Dear Oro Valley Officials and Representatives, We are very concerned with the variances the Capella PAD Proposed Plan takes relative to the Oro Valley Zoning Code. The Zoning Code is intended to maintain the character and quality of the town by ij)posing developmental standardp,, and to reduce adverse impacts on neighboring property owners. Unfortunately the Capella PAD Proposed Plan seeks variances that would allow the developer to degrade the character and quality of Oro Valley, and have an increased adverse impact on neighbors. Many but not all of these variances are listed in the last three pages (188-190) of the Proposed Plan. Sever concerned citizens met with Paul Oland of WLB Group on Friday May 11 in an attempt to understand the need for the zoning variances. At that meeting we discovered that Paul has a newer version of the Capella PAD Proposed Plan, dated March 2018, that contained significant differences=from the copy of the ProposedPlan the citizens have access to. After our meeting with Paul, we checked the Town website again, and we still find the version from February 5. We sent a message to Michael Spaeth on Friday, asking him to post the most recent version of the Proposed Plan. So far we have received no reply. Because the plan the Council will be voting on is different than the version the citizens have been allowed to review, we believe the updated version should be posted on the Town website for at least two weeks, to allow citizens to review all 190 pages to look for recent revisions, before the Council votes on the rezoning request. Therefore, we believe it is imperative that the Council delay the decision until a later Council meeting. The listing on the last three pages of the Capella proposed plan describes 18 key variances from the Oro Valley zoning code. Our principal concerns about the variances can be summarized by the following four points: 1. Compared to the standards of R1-7 zoning (the smallest single family lots allowed in Oro Valley) the Capella single family lots would be narrower, smaller in area and with reduced setbacks. With the houses more closely packed together, each row of houses will block the mountain and sunset views of the adjacent rows. 2. Compared with the standards of R-6 zoning, the Capella multi -family townhomes would not meet the requirements for minimum outdoor living space. The developer is asking for rezoning from 3.3 acres per house all the way to R-6 multi -family, and they are not even willing to meet the minimum standards for outdoor living space! 3. Compared to the standards of C -N commercial zoning, the Capella C -N area would have businesses more than twice the allowed size: 20,000 square feet compared to the 5,000 or 9,000 square feet allowed for different types of businesses. 20,000 square feet is 4000 square feet larger than the Ace Hardware on La Canada. 4. Compared to the standards of C-1 commercial zoning, the Capella C-1 anchor buildings would be five feet higher than allowed, and the commercial area at Lambert and La Cholla could have a super big box store of 125,000 square feet, more than twice the allowed size. This is 19,000 square feet larger than the Home Depot at Steam Pump Ranch, and it would be located in an area surrounded by adjacent neighborhoods of single family homes. These variances will make the Capella residential areas substandard, and the commercial areas have a more severe adverse impact on the adjoining neighborhoods. The Council should not allow these variances! The residential areas should be required to meet Oro Valley standards. And we recommend that no Super Big Box store in the C-1 area or oversized store in the C -N area should be approved at this time. The developer should be required to return to the Council when it has a specific building plan, and file for a conditional use permit that states what type of store would be built and exactly how large it would be. We strongly urge the Council to attach Conditions of Approval which include all the conditions recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission, plus conditions similar to the following, before approving the Capella PAD: Conditions of Approval: 1. All single family homes in the PAD shall meet the requirements of R1-7 zoning regarding minimum lot area, lot width, yard setbacks, and building height; except that the minimum lot area in Parcel H, for homes not located along Lambert Lane, can be 6600 square feet, per the Special Area Policies adopted in 2015. 2. Multi -family residential buildings in the PAD shall meet the requirements of R-6 zoning regarding outdoor open space and outdoor private living space. 3. All businesses in the C -N commercial zone at the Northwest corner of Naranja Road and La Cholla Blvd. shall meet the C -N zoning requirements for business floor area limits, building height and allowable use. 4. All businesses in the C-1 commercial zones shall meet the C-1 zoning requirements for business floor area limits, building height and allowable use. Diana and Mike Sanderso May 12, 2018 TO: Town of Oro Valley - ATTN: Town Council 11000 N La Canada - Oro Valley, AZ 85737 Satish Hiremath - Mayor Lou Water - Vice Mayor Joe Hornat - Council Member Rhonda Pina - Council Member Bill Rodman - Council Member Mary Snider - Council Member Steve Solomon - Council Member Lynda Koepfer - Asst to Town Council Daniel Sharp - Chief of Police/Town Manager Milini Simms - Planner Vella Bayer - Oro Valley Planning Manager Michael Spaeth - Principal Planner SUBJECT: Concerns regarding Rezoning ORDINANCE NO. (0)18-07, REZONING FROM R1- 144 TO PLANNED AREA DEVELOPMENT Dear Oro Valley Officials and Representatives, We live in the Canada Hills area, three blocks from La Cholla and two lots off of Canada Hills Drive. We attended the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting regarding the proposed rezoning for the Capella Planned Area Development on March 6 and spoke briefly in opposition to the proposed rezoning. We, also, attended the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on April 3. We know many of you were there as citizen after citizen came to the microphone and provided a variety of logical rationale as to why the Capella PAD should not be approved without any restrictions to its content. The rationale was so compelling that there was absolute silence from the Planning and Zoning Commission members when the Chair asked for a motion to approve the proposal. As you know, after the developer was allowed to present his arguments again, there was a motion and a reluctant second for the purpose of allowing discussion on the matter. Eventually, the recommendation to support the proposal with four amendments was approved 6-0. Since March 6, we have been meeting regularly with a number of concerned citizens. Many of this group spoke at the April 3 meeting. The purpose of our meetings has been to specifically identify zoning code variances, within this rezoning proposal, that cannot be allowed to receive approval from our Town Council. Numerous hours of reading, research, and discussion have gone into this list. Although we are opposed to most of the rezoning proposal for this PAD, we all believe that if the following variances are eliminated (these are summarized from the last three pages of the rezoning request for the PAD) it will create a significantly more desirable development, residential and commercial, for the citizens of Oro Valley and the neighbors nearby. We support the amendments proposed by the Planning and Zoning commission at the April 3 meeting and approved 6-0. Amended Motion: 1. All future site plans for each parcel will go through the Conceptual Site Plan process to be considered by the Planning and Zoning Commission as well as Town Council for further review. 2. Complete an updated Traffic Analysis for each development phase required by Town Code. 3. Parcel M is restricted to 1 -story height within 300 feet of the west property boundary. 4. The plans for restrooms and playgrounds in recreation areas must be maintained. In addition, there must be these conditions for approval of this rezoning proposal: 1. All single family homes in the PAD shall meet the requirements of R1-7 zoning regarding minimum lot area, lot width, yard setbacks, and building height; except that the minimum lot area in Parcel H, for homes not located along Lambert Lane, can be 6600 square feet, per the Special Area Policies adopted in 2015. 2. Multi -family residential buildings in the PAD shall meet the requirements of R-6 zoning regarding outdoor open space and outdoor private living space. 3. All businesses in the C -N commercial zone at the Northwest corner of Naranja Road and La Cholla Blvd. shall meet the C -N zoning requirements for business floor area limits, building height and allowable use. 4. All businesses in the C-1 commercial zones shall meet the C-1 zoning requirements f or business floor area limits, building height and allowable use. 5. A traffic control "island" or curbing shall be placed at the Canada Hills Dr intersection to not allow through traffic to cross LaCholla. (The proposed design will not be sufficient to "not permit eastbound or westbound through traffic across La Cholla Boulevard", as stated in the current proposal). Again, these conditions for approval of the Capella PAD rezoning proposal have been thoughtfully researched and considered by our group of concerned Oro Valley citizens. We expect you to add these conditions to the amendments unanimously approved by our Planning and Zoning Commission. These combined, represent a reasonable compromise to allow this PAD to move forward. In addition: A few of us met with Paul Oland of WLB Group on Friday May 11 in an attempt to understand the need for the zoning variances. At that meeting we discovered that Paul has a newer version of the Capella PAD Proposed Plan, dated March 2018, that contained significant differences from the copy of the Proposed Plan the citizens have access to. After our meeting with Paul, we checked the Town website again, and we still find the version from February 5. We sent a message to Michael Spaeth on Friday, asking him to post the most recent version of the Proposed Plan. So far we have received no reply. Because the plan the Council will be voting on is different than the version the citizens have been allowed to review, we believe the updated version should be posted on the Town website for at least two weeks, to allow citizens to review all 190 pages to look for recent revisions, before the Council votes on the rezoning request. Therefore, we believe it is imperative that the Council delays the decision until a later Council meeting. This is your opportunity to demonstrate to the citizens of Oro Valley that you do listen to their concerns, especially when they are logical and are presented in a rational manner. Your support will be remembered. Thank you!