Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has asked officials with Tucson Electric Power Company to not build a substation directly north of Oro Valley.
In a Dec. 16 letter to TEP, Huckelberry wrote: “The substation should be relocated north from the site now proposed to lands scheduled and/or planned for development.”
The utility wants to build a 2.5-acre substation directly north of Sun City Vistoso.
The plan, however, has been met with opposition from neighbors.
Oro Valley leaders also disputed the substation’s location because it would stand in an area the town has designated for open space once a planned annexation of the area goes through.
The town has been in negotiations with the Arizona State Land Department for the area, a 14-square-mile parcel called Arroyo Grande, for more than two years.
Through the ongoing negotiation, Oro Valley and the state have tentatively agreed to keep 68 percent of the area as open space.
A large section of that area has been deemed a wildlife corridor. TEP’s proposed substation stands inside that area.
