BASIS Charter School plans to open its third campus this fall at an Oro Valley shopping center.
Happy to snag the nationally recognized school, the Oro Valley Town Council Monday unanimously agreed to waive $157,000 in permit and development impact fees for the school to be built on a portion of Steam Pump Village.
In exchange, Evergreen-Steam Pump LLC, which owns the shopping center, will give the town a 75,000-square-foot parcel.
The school will be built in the same area on a separate parcel that BASIS is buying from Evergreen.
The shopping center, on North Oracle Road near North First Avenue, will be home to the BASIS campus on land once reserved for a child care center.
The school will be a boon to the shopping center as well as the community, said Amanda Jacobs, the town’s economic development manager.
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“Having BASIS at Steam Pump Village will help attract more businesses,” she said after the council passed the plan 6-0 in a special session.
The school will open with 400 students in fifth through ninth grades, said BASIS founder Michael Block.
“There is a high demand for it in Oro Valley by the high-tech community,” he said.
The school has a campus in Tucson and another in Scottsdale.
The 41-acre Steam Pump Village, not yet fully developed, began construction after signing a tax-revenue-sharing agreement with the town. The accord gives Evergreen 40 percent of sales taxes collected at the shopping center.
The parcel the town will receive from Evergreen is designated as open space and has yet to be appraised. Since open space comes with building restrictions, it is usually worth less than commercial land.
Under Monday’s deal, if the value of the parcel comes in lower than the value of the fee waiver the town is granting the school, Oro Valley would keep the difference in sales taxes. If the value of the land is higher, the developer has agreed to donate it to the town.
Supporters of the school told the council that BASIS would be an asset. Longtime resident Doug McKee was the only person who raised concerns, reminding the council that high projections for sales-tax revenue have not materialized at Steam Pump Village.
Although the shopping center has lost some tenants, Evergreen’s chief operating officer later said he thinks the school will be an impetus for business growth.
Since the shopping center opened for business in January 2006 and through December 2009, Steam Pump Village generated a total of about $368,500 in sales-tax revenue, Gregg Alpert said.
“We’re struggling like many other shopping centers,” he said. “But we still have 25 acres that remain underdeveloped.”
Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at lmedrano@azstarnet.com or at 573-4105.
