The Oro Valley Town Council has adopted new design standards for development.
The standards, which the board approved at its July 6 meeting, apply to nonresidential developments such as commercial and office facilities as well as single-family and multi-family residential developments.
Design standards regulate everything from building orientation to shopping cart corrals.
Town staffers worked with a council work group, which included council members Lou Waters, Barry Gillaspie and Steve Solomon, the Oro Valley Planning and Zoning Commission and a technical advisory committee made up of 11 design professionals.
The Metropolitan Pima Alliance and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association also had input on the new design standards, which are intended to promote high-quality development in Oro Valley.
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Here are some examples of the town's design standards, verbatim:
• Building orientation along roadways should be staggered to create visual interest.
• Shopping cart corrals and storage areas shall be visually screened through the use of screen walls, landscaping or enclosed within the building architecture.
• Primary colors should be used judiciously and typically as accents only.
• Desert/mountain colors that blend with the natural background are encouraged.
• At least three substantially different materials shall be utilized on all facades of building(s).
Council members didn't agree with everything contained in the new design standards. The council voted 7-0 to adopt the new standards but struck "cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets shall not be encouraged" from the set of standards.
Solomon said some families prefer to live on cul-de-sacs despite reports that say they isolate residents from the rest of the neighborhood.
"To me, that's social engineering and I don't think that's going to work," Solomon said.
Town, Tucson craft water agreement
The Oro Valley Town Council on July 6 voted 7-0 to approve a five-year agreement between the city of Tucson and the town for delivery of Central Arizona Project water to protect and preserve the town's aquifer.
Oro Valley's CAP water will be delivered through Tucson Water's system at a cost to the Oro Valley Water Utility of about $500 per acre-foot.
An acre-foot is the amount of water that will cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
CAP water will arrive in Oro Valley homes in January 2012. Average residential customers will likely see an increase to their water bills of 85 cents to $1.75 a month.
Oro Valley's agreement with Tucson will allow for the delivery of up to 2,000 acre-feet per year, but the agreement can be modified to allow for 4,000 acre-feet a year with approval by both jurisdictions.
Under the agreement, Oro Valley will store its CAP water in two Tucson Water recharge facilities, and Tucson Water will deliver it to Oro Valley's water service area near West Naranja Drive and North Shannon Road.
Oro Valley Water Utility will continue to control and operate daily deliveries during the five-year agreement.
New infrastructure, including pumps and pipelines, will be built at Oro Valley's water service area to handle the distribution of water from Tucson's system to Oro Valley's system. Improvements are expected to cost the water utility about $515,000.
Contact reporter Andrea Rivera at arivera@azstarnet.com or 807-8430. - Andrea Rivera
