August 27, 2014
By a vote of 5 to one, with Cody Ritchie not voting due to a stated conflict, the Rio Nuevo board agreed to begin negotiations on a sale and development agreement with Nor Gen and owner Alan Norville for the 8.5 acres located adjacent to the freeway between Congress and Cushing Street. Mark Irvin cast the sole no vote.
The board will now negotiate the terms of the development but may terminate those negotiations and proceed with negotiating with the second ranked proposer if Rio Nuevo and Nor Gen fail to reach an agreement.
In other action, the Board authorized the contract with the Beach Boys for the January 3rd, 2015 christening of the newly remodeled arena. Due to support from Rio Nuevo and other sponsors, the ticket price will be $25.00.
The board also authorized spending up to $300,000 on Mission Garden as part of the global settlement of all lawsuits with the city of Tucson.
The board previewed plans for the so called Lienzo project located at the base of A Mountain, on the former landfill that surrounds the Mission Garden.
The board approved retaining lobbyist Jonathan Paton for another year at the same level as last year and praised Mr. Paton for his solid performance in the last legislative session.
The board discussed funding some improvement projects in the Barrio San Augustin neighborhood, located adjacent to the proposed Lienzo and Mission garden projects. Previously the old Rio Nuevo had committed as much as $8,000,000 to neighborhood improvements and ultimately funding nothing. Any action was tabled to a future meeting.