A

Action: Indicates the specific steps, procedures, or programs the Town will implement to fulfill the goals and policies. Actions answer the question, “What steps do we need to take to achieve our goals?

Annexation: The process of adding land to a city or town.

B

Boards and Commissions: Groups of residents appointed by the Town Council to provide guidance and recommendations on Town functions.

Built Environment: Human-made space in which people live, work, and play on a day-to-day basis.

C

Capital Improvement Program: A comprehensive, 10-year plan of capital projects that will support the Town. Capital projects include any building, facility or infrastructure project that will be owned by the Town.

Central Arizona Project (CAP): Water from the Colorado River that is delivered to Oro Valley through a 336-mile canal.

Charter City: Cities that are governed by a locally adopted charter, offering flexibility in municipal governance.

Citizens’ Academy: A course hosted by the Town to provide the public with information about the Oro Valley Police Department.

Code Red: An emergency notification service.

Community Academy: An interactive program conducted by the Town to educate residents about local government.

Community Gathering Places: Public and private spaces where people are able and encouraged to congregate. They are designated areas that are the result of detailed planning and serve as the focus of the community.

Conditional Use Permit: A permit granted to a property owner by the Town Council to conduct a specific use on a property. The permit may include conditions for approval that must be complied with.

D

Dwelling Unit Per Acre: The number of residential units on an acre of land, which is generally used to regulate population density.

E

Environmentally Sensitive Lands: Lands that have significant and high-value environmental resources such as dense native plants, washes, and other wildlife habitats.

F

Floor Area Ratio (FAR): The floor area of a building or buildings on a lot divided by the lot area.

Field Experts: Provide specific expertise or knowledge in a particular field.

Flexible Development Options: Modifications defined in code that allow flexibility to encourage more housing variety, commercial development, etc.

G

General Plan: Often referred to as the 10-year action plan, this a municipal or county planning document consisting of policies and corresponding maps that are general, comprehensive, and long-range in nature. The State of Arizona requires municipalities and counties in Arizona to have a General Plan, with certain required elements, depending upon the size and growth rate of the municipality or county.

Goal: The desired result or the envisioned future. Goals answer the question: "What do we strive for?"

Graywater: Wastewater from washers, bathtubs, showers, and sinks used for flood or drip irrigation of outdoor plants as a means of water conservation and recycling.

Green Infrastructure: An adaptable term used to describe an array of products, technologies, and practices that use natural systems or engineered processes that mimic natural systems to enhance overall environmental quality and provide utility services including capturing, cleaning, and infiltrating stormwater; creating wildlife habitat; shading and cooling streets and buildings; and calming traffic.

Growing Smarter: Legislation enacted by the State of Arizona in 1998 that modified existing General Plan requirements and placed additional General Plan requirements on Arizona municipalities and counties. The General Plan requirements vary by population size and/or population growth rate.

Growing Smarter/Plus: Additional legislation enacted by the State of Arizona in 2000 that modifies and supplements the Growing Smarter legislation.

Growth Area: An area deemed suitable for infrastructure expansion, with improvements designed to support a variety of land uses, increased land use intensity, and, if appropriate, planned multimodal transportation.

H

High Visibility Enforcement (HiVE): A focused deployment of police officers to increase awareness and reduce traffic collisions related to speed, inattention, and more.

K

Know Your Town’s Budget: A simple overview of the Town’s key sources and uses of funding.

L

Land Use Designation: Indicates the existing or expected type and intensity of development as for a parcel of land. Designations indicate residential uses (e.g., low-density residential) and non-residential uses (e.g., parks/open space, commercial), with each specifying land use intensity standards.

Land Use Intensity Standards: Standards of population density and building intensity for each land use designation. Standards of building intensity for residential uses are stated in this General Plan in terms of the allowable range of dwelling units per acre. Standards of population density for residential uses can be derived by multiplying the maximum number of dwellings per acre by the average number of persons per dwelling unit. Standards of building intensity for non-residential uses are stated in terms of maximum allowable floor-area ratios (FARs).

M

Mixed-Use: A development that includes a mix of interrelated residential and non-residential uses.

Multimodal Transportation: The use of multiple modes of transportation to complete a trip. These modes may include walking, bicycling, transit, or driving.

O

Open Space: Natural desert or landscaped areas, such as subdivision common areas or buffer yards that provide visual relief and resource protection.

Overlay District: A zoning district that provides supplemental regulations to be applied in addition to the property’s base zoning district.

P

Planning Area: The geographic area covered by the General Plan. For a municipality, the planning area typically includes the municipality’s limits (incorporated boundary) as well as areas that influence the growth and development of the municipality.

Planned Area Development: Customized zoning requirements used to preserve open space and significant natural features, offer a wide variety of dwelling unit types, permit greater flexibility in design, or enable development of parcels of property that would be difficult to develop under conventional zoning and subdivision regulations.

Park and Ride: Parking lots and facilities that provide areas to park and access carpools and transit routes.

Policy: A direction or path that the Town will take to achieve its goals. Policies answer the question, “How are we achieving our goals?”

Population Density: Estimates the number of people per acre in residential development. It is calculated by multiplying the maximum number of homes per acre by the average number of people per home. The average for this plan is assumed to be 2.3 people per home, based on U.S. Census estimates through 2024.

Popular Financial Report: A report that summarizes the Town’s financial information from the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

R

Recharge: The process of adding water to an aquifer, which is an underground layer of rock or soil that holds water.

Reclaimed Water: Effluent water that is treated to remove solids and impurities, then used to irrigate plants, recharge groundwater aquifers, and meet commercial and industrial needs.

Riparian: Biological communities occurring in association with any spring, Cienega, lake, watercourse, river, stream, creek, wash, arroyo, or other body of water, either surface or subsurface, or any channel having banks and beds through which water flows, at least periodically.

Roadway Standards: Standards prescribing the preferred right-of-way width, number of lanes, lane widths, medians, landscaped areas, bike lanes, and multimodal paths for each roadway classification. Roadway classifications include major and minor arterials, major and minor collectors, and local streets.

S

Scenic Corridors: Transportation corridors that have significant scenic views of mountain ranges, foothills, prominent ridges, and riparian areas. This includes the Oracle Road Scenic Corridor Overlay District (ORSCOD) and Tangerine Road Corridor Overlay District (TRSCOD), which protect significant scenic views by limiting building height, scale, landscape, site development, etc.

Site-delivered Homes: A dwelling that is not constructed on the site on which it is located. Site-delivered homes include prefabricated housing, manufactured housing, and mobile homes but do not include recreational vehicles.

Sports Tourism: A specific type of tourism that encourages both local and outside individuals and groups to attend and participate in sporting events.

Stakeholder: A person or organization that has an interest or concern in the community and cares about the outcomes.

Stormwater: Runoff water generated from rain that does not saturate quickly into the ground.

T

Type 1 General Plan Amendment: Amendments to the General Plan that involve a substantial alteration of the Town’s land use mixture or balance. Type 1 Amendments are defined as “Major Amendments” by State Law and require more extensive neighborhood meetings, public hearings, and a higher level of concurrence by the Town Council for approval.

Type 2 General Plan Amendment: Amendments to the General Plan that involve changes with less impact and do not represent a substantial alteration of the Town’s land use mixture or balance. Type 2 Amendments involve a review process with ample public outreach, neighborhood meetings, and public hearings related to the amendment.

U

Urban Service Boundary: Indicates land that may see an increase in density or land use intensity over what currently exists because urban infrastructure exists or is planned.

W

Water Smart Program: A tool for Oro Valley Water Utility customers that helps increase awareness of water use, encourage conservation, and save money.

Z

Zoning/Zoning Code: Formal regulations for the administration and implementation of the General Plan that divide a city or county into zoning districts specifying development rights like allowable uses and building heights.

Zoning District: A zone applied to an area, as shown on the Zoning Map of the Town of Oro Valley, for which there are uniform regulations governing the use of buildings and premises or the height and area of buildings.