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Debate in working group over table change that could expand Tech Park land in Innovation Park
Summary
A landowner representative asked Oro Valley planning staff to revise the general-plan land-use table to allow certain neighborhood-commercial parcels to rezone to Tech Park without a general-plan amendment and to add C-1 as compatible with Commerce Office Park.
A private representative raised two requests for changes tied to Innovation Park and the town's Commerce Office Park land-use designation: (1) add the C-1 zoning district to the list of districts compatible with Commerce Office Park, and (2) permit select neighborhood commercial-office (pink) parcels in Innovation Park to rezone to Tech Park without a general-plan amendment.
Planning staff said the first request would allow Commerce Office Park parcels to rezone to a lower-intensity commercial district (C-1) without a general-plan amendment; staff warned that could reduce Oro Valley's limited supply of Tech Park/employment land. The second request would make it administratively simpler for specified parcels inside Innovation Park to pursue Tech Park zoning, which Town staff and some working-group members said could support higher-paying employment and major employers such as Roche Diagnostics.
Melanie, a planning staff member, summarized the effect: "what this request would allow is the pink ones to rezone to Tech Park without a general plan amendment." Working-group discussion split on the change. Some members, including those focused on economic development, expressed support for measures that would make it easier to expand Tech Park zoning to bring employers and jobs to town. Others said they preferred to require rezoning requests to proceed with a concurrent general-plan amendment so the community could review specific site plans and impacts during the discretionary process.
Vice Mayor (title used in the meeting) urged trust in the town's established public-review processes and noted rezoning and PAD requests are subject to commission and council review. Staff agreed to provide additional information to the working group on the differences between the relevant land-use categories and the practical effects of each change before the next meeting.
No formal changes or votes were recorded at the working-group meeting; staff said any map-table changes would still be subject to public outreach and commission and council review.
