Marana Approves Church Sports Campus Rezoning Over Neighbors' Objections

Marana Approves Church Sports Campus Rezoning Over Neighbors' Objections

MARANA — The Town Council voted Tuesday to rezone 28.1 acres at the southwest corner of Twin Peaks Road and Desert Falcon Lane from single-family residential to a specific plan, clearing the way for the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene to build a church and sports ministry campus with a gymnasium reaching 40 feet — 10 feet above what the underlying R-36 zoning permits. Seven neighbors urged the council to deny the request, several of them pointing to the church's years-long fight over a similar sports complex in Oro Valley. The council approved it on a voice vote, with Mayor Jon Post making the motion himself.

The rezoning, designated the OVCN Twin Peaks Campus Specific Plan, also carried a minor General Plan amendment changing the land use designation from low-density residential to master planned area. The town clerk said protest signatures arrived the morning of the hearing; the town attorney explained that state law requires written protests by noon the business day before a hearing to trigger a three-quarters super-majority vote, so the item needed only a simple majority. The planning commission had recommended approval 5-0 on July 29. At staff's request, the motion added a condition that a record of survey be recorded before any development plan is approved.

The applicant's representative told the council the specific plan was sought solely for the height deviation; all other proposed uses — church, classrooms, auditorium and outdoor sports fields — are already permitted by right under R-36 zoning. The 40-foot height is needed for the gymnasium's interior clearance to allow regulation volleyball play. The building is designed in three stepped sections — 30, 35 and 40 feet west to east — so that neighbors to the west would see only the 30-foot section, the height existing zoning already allows. The representative acknowledged no lighting study has been done yet, and staff said the traffic impact analysis is not required until the development-plan stage, after the zoning is granted. A design exception for a new median break on Twin Peaks Road, approved since the planning commission hearing, is meant to keep most campus traffic off Desert Falcon Lane. Asked how many children the programs would serve, executive pastor Chris Collins said the church's four-sport ministry registers more than 500 kids a year at rented facilities in Oro Valley, a number he said is limited only by facility access.

Seven residents spoke against the rezoning during the public hearing, raising lighting, noise, traffic on the narrow, partly dirt Desert Falcon Lane, and habitat loss on undeveloped desert. One neighbor argued that lighting a football field for night play takes far more light than Marana's dark-sky lighting code allows in that zone, and that his own count found nearly 300 saguaros and nearly 180 ironwood trees on the site. Another told the council the church had proposed the same sports ministry complex in Oro Valley, where staff found compatibility problems on lighting, noise and traffic and the planning and zoning commission recommended denial before the church shifted to a smaller sanctuary. Coverage at the time bears that out: the Oro Valley project, first proposed in 2020 for the church's Calle Concordia campus, drew a staff finding of "significant compatibility issues" on traffic, amplified sound and field lighting, a planning commission recommendation of denial in February 2023, and the church ultimately pivoted to a 36-foot sanctuary that Oro Valley approved in 2024. One speaker urged approval, saying the fight was "over 10 feet" and that the children who would use the campus had no voice in the room. A representative of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection asked for a smaller footprint and parking lot.

Mayor Post said the town "is struggling to keep up with" amenities for its young families and called a privately funded sports facility "pretty exciting." Vice Mayor Roxanne Ziegler said the vote was "about a 10-foot height," that neighbors were describing problems "you don't know yet," and that she had watched Oro Valley's handling of the church for three and a half years and "thought it was disgraceful." Council Member Patrick Cavanaugh said he remained "very concerned about the footprint" and the lighting "right up against these houses" and hoped the church would address it.

The council also approved a transfer of up to $4.2 million in budget authority to cover a construction cost overrun on the Water Reclamation Facility Phase II Expansion. Staff told the council the project — originally estimated using Phase I construction costs adjusted for inflation at $39.1 million in the impact fee study — is now estimated at $80.4 million all-in, including design, construction and construction management. The current budget of $72.1 million leaves a gap of roughly $4 million against the $76.2 million construction estimate; the extra authority provides contingency. Once complete, total project cost including recharge basin expansion is estimated at $95.4 million. The funds will be drawn from the New Renewable Water Resource Acquisition project, where spending is not needed this fiscal year, and the project will be financed through a debt issuance requiring a separate future council vote. Asked by Cavanaugh whether this year's water rate increase was paying for the expansion, staff said the rate increase covers operations and maintenance while the expansion is funded through developer impact fees; "the two are not directly related."

The council designated the Marana segment of the Critical Landscape Connection identified in the Conservation Lands System as the William Shaw Wildlife Corridor, honoring the University of Arizona ecologist whose 1986 wildlife-habitat study — staff called it the "bunny map" — charted movement pathways linking the Tohono O'odham Nation with what is now Ironwood Forest National Monument, through the Tucson Mountains and across the Santa Cruz River to the Tortolita Mountains. Staff said the designation also marks the 25th anniversary of the Conservation Lands System. Pima County named its Avra Valley portion of the same corridor for Shaw in March. Shaw addressed the council, saying the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan was designed to build thriving communities around a connectivity system that protects areas least suitable for development, including flood-prone land and groundwater recharge zones.

The council approved a fourth amendment to the Twin Peaks Crossings water facilities agreement with developer Red Wing Investments, which is preparing to sell the property to a builder and asked for more time. The amendment extends the construction commencement deadline to October 2027 and upgrades a planned 8-inch water line along Angel Drive to a 16-inch transmission main already called for in the town's 2022 Water Facilities Infrastructure Improvements Plan. The developer will be required to construct the larger line and will be entitled to impact fee reimbursements under state law.

Also discussed:

• The council met in executive session for roughly 50 minutes on two items: contemplated litigation to recover the cost of remedying PFAS and 1,4-dioxane contamination in the town's water, and a Proposition 207 notice of claim from TMR Investors, LLC over the Tortolita Specific Plan east of Interstate 10. No action followed in open session.
• A father whose daughter attends Tangerine Farms K-8 asked the council for visible traffic enforcement around that school and Gladden Farms Elementary during arrival and dismissal, a public safety review of walking and biking routes, and a resident safety task force, after an 11-year-old sixth-grader was struck and killed on his bicycle at Midfield Road and Hancock Drive on Aug. 20. The mayor opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the boy and said the town would go through the crash "with a fine-tooth comb" and that his door was open to any parent or resident.
• Cavanaugh said the Marana Police Department "does not use Flock cameras and will not use Flock cameras," distinguishing the town's license-plate readers from the Flock brand. The town manager said a "Real Talk with the Town" podcast episode on the readers, recorded with police command staff, is due out next Tuesday.
• A Tangerine Ridge resident pleaded with the council to require Mattamy Homes to build a temporary road into its Tangerine Crossing development rather than close Angel Drive for 15 months, describing performing CPR on her husband for more than seven minutes while waiting for paramedics in March. The town manager said staff would meet with her that night.
• A speaker who said the planned ICE detention facility is scheduled to open Nov. 30 — the activation date in ICE's February planning memo — asked what written agreements the operator has with Marana police. The town manager said operator MTC told him as recently as last Thursday that it has no opening date or other information to share.
• The consent agenda ratified two ADOT airport development grant agreements — $495,000 for Runway 30 Safety Area Mitigation Design and $135,000 for Taxiway A MITL Rehabilitation Design — without discussion.
• Single-family residential permits totaled 48 in August, up from 39 in August 2025, according to the town manager's report.