Oro Valley eyes annexing Casas Adobes shopping centers

159 property owners near the intersection of Ina Road and Oracle Road have been invited to attend an informational meeting with town officials about annexation this week, said Assistant Town Manager Karl Shaddock.

The community meeting is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Tohono Chul Outdoor Pavilion.

The proposed annexation map includes the Cottonwood Plaza shopping center on the northeast corner, La Toscana Village on the southeast corner, and Casas Adobes Plaza on the southwest corner, plus a portion of the neighborhood south of Ina Road, for a total of 227 acres. The three shopping centers contain a Safeway and a Whole Foods, and several local restaurants, including Wildflower, Tap & Bottle North, Truland Grassfed Burgers, and Guadalajara Original Grill.

The town wants to annex the area to bring in more tax revenue, said town spokesman Phillip Cantrell. The three parcels of land are currently in unincorporated Pima County, and shoppers pay only state and county sales tax. Bringing them into Oro Valley would add the town’s 2.5% sales tax to purchases made in the proposed area, for a combined sales tax rate of 8.6%.

Final annexation requires half of the property owners in the area, representing more than half of the area's property value, to sign off on a proposed boundary, Shaddock said.

But the annexation boundaries are not currently final, Shaddock said. Community feedback could cause the proposed area to change.

Oro Valley’s last annexation was in the fall of 2023, which brought in 36 acres on the southwest corner of La Cañada Drive and Moore Road, Shaddock said. Before that, the Westward Look area was annexed in 2021.

The Town Council put the Ina and Oracle intersection as a “Tier 1” priority for annexation, according to its recently revised annexation strategy.

Oro Valley also has its eye on several other commercial areas on the outskirts of Tucson, including the Foothills Mall and La Encantada shopping plaza.

“Neither is next to Town limits, so reaching them would also mean including the neighborhoods in between,” Shaddock said. However, those possibilities are still further down the line.

“The best way to think about Tier 2 is as areas we’ll keep an eye on and keep learning about over the long term,” he said.

More information can be found on the Town’s annexation website at www.orovalleyaz.gov/Government/Departments/Town-Managers-Office/Annexation/InaOracleAnnexation.