In the last year, Oro Valley saw a 12% increase in new businesses. Your Town Council helped and supported local business through the pandemic with grants and other assistance. There has been work done to make business codes more streamlined and easier to follow.
I have placed a focus on bringing in primary employment to Oro Valley. In order to do this, we need to preserve 10-12 acre parcels of land that employers need that are zoned appropriately for primary employment, since we do not have enough employment land. I have been a vocal advocate for making sure we keep land available to bring in businesses and employment.
This last year, Oro Valley was able to bring in Leonardo Electronics, a high-tech laser company at Innovation Park who will provide well over 100 high quality jobs to Oro Valley. They told us they chose Oro Valley because of our Views, Trails, and Open Space.
We were also able to successfully negotiate the annexation of the Westward Look resort into Oro Valley, which will give us a second major resort and bring in $750,000 a year in additional revenue.
Economic development is about a lot more than rooftops and one-time development fees, and I take the long view making sure we have land and water to be sustainable for businesses that provide on-going revenue into the future.