Bill to address Arizona’s Veterinary Shortage Signed into Law

SB1271 Enacted and Funded as Part of Next Year’s State Budget; Incentivizes Veterinarians to Stay and Work in Arizona

TUCSON, AZ – SB1271, a bill sponsored by Senator T.J. Shope and put forward by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona (HSSA) and Arizona Humane Society (AHS) to help address a severe shortage of veterinarians in our state, has been signed into law as part of next year’s state budget.

For years, animal lives have been at risk because Arizona doesn’t have enough veterinarians to provide lifesaving services at public shelters and private clinics — in both urban and rural areas. This has negatively affected pet owners, ranchers, private veterinary practices, and animal shelters and rescues across the state, but now help is on the way.

This legislative action creates a new Arizona Veterinary Loan Assistance Program which will provide student loan reimbursement to new veterinarians — who obtain a veterinary degree after Jan. 1, 2023 — of up to $100,000 for veterinarians who work in Arizona for at least four years. As part of that four-year agreement, vets will be required to work at least two years at a municipal, county, or nonprofit shelter like HSSA or in an agricultural practice designated by the USDA as having a shortage.

Steve Farley, CEO of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, said, “Shelters, pet families, and ranchers everywhere are grateful to sponsor Sen. T.J. Shope, Appropriations Chairs Sen. David Gowan and Rep. Regina Cobb, Senate President Karen Fann, House Speaker Rusty Bowers, Minority Leaders Sen. Rebecca Rios and Rep. Reginald Bolding, and Governor Doug Ducey for their hard work pushing forward this vital tool to address the dire veterinary shortage here in Arizona.”

“Thanks to this budget appropriation, at least 58 new veterinarians will come to work in Arizona by the end of 2023, and each one of them will spend at least two years working at a public shelter or in an agricultural practice in a rural area over the next four years. Moving forward, making this appropriation annual will save countless lives while growing our economy, a win-win solution to an intractable problem. This is a victory for animal lovers across the state, and is a great example of the benefits that accrue to our residents when our leaders work together for the common good.”

Dr. Steven Hansen, Arizona Humane Society President and CEO, said, “The passing of SB1271 in the budget is a significant win for animals in Arizona as it is a step towards attracting and retaining talent that will provide vital animal health services making Arizona a better place for animals and people.”

To learn more about the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, visit www.hssaz.org For information on the Arizona Humane Society, visit www.azhumane.org.

On Point Architecture flexes its creative muscle with a diverse array of projects that exude imaginative, sophisticated design

MESA, ARIZ. – A church that has been a landmark in Mesa since 1962 blessed with an extensive remodel. A vacant office supply store transformed into a healthy exercise space. Two self-storage facilities that show off imaginative and sophisticated design.

On Point Architecture, a woman-owned small-business firm, has recently been flexing its design muscle with a diversity of projects across Arizona. They include:

The $2.6 million revitalization of iconic Trinity Church in Mesa;
The transformation of a “lifeless big box” into the Alta Boulders rock-climbing gym in Chandler;
Full architectural design including site and buildings at San Tan Self Storage in San Tan Valley;
Currently in design, Success RV & Boat storage facility in Vail, Arizona.

“I am a firm believer that when a client requires architectural services, attitude matters,” said On Point President/Architect Nicole Posten-Thompson, RA. “The diversity of these recent projects is a testament the firm’s design acumen – from designing a self-storage asset that is in harmony with its site to a church that brings dreams to life and inspires its parishioners.”

Trinity Church Phase 1 Revitalization

Construction work is under way at Trinity Church, 2130 E. University Drive, Mesa. The renovation includes central courtyard upgrades with a new shade structure and playground equipment, four new classrooms, a new central kids check in area, and new landscaping throughout the entire site. The church has recently rebranded to One Life Church, and new signage will be added to a modernized and bright campus.

Trinity Church has been a central landmark since 1962. Posten-Thompson has been involved in just about every upgrade and remodel since 2004. For this campus revitalization, On Point developed a much-needed color palette to breathe life into the dated facility. The campus is currently a “mash-up of colors, a result of 59 years of upgrades and remodels,” Posten-Thompson said.

“We created new renderings so everyone can visualize how the new colors and an updated courtyard could provide a more pleasing, cohesive, and inviting campus to its current and potential congregation,” she said.

The general contractor is Concord General Contracting.

Alta Boulders

On Point designed the interior space and provided construction documents for the renovation of a vacant Office Max at 2945 S. Alma School Road, Chandler. The new climbing gym totals 20,760 SF.

On Point’s mission was to revive an “exhausted space.” The facility features a yoga studio, exercise room, smoothie bar, spin aerobics tiered classroom, locker rooms with showers, and a large area for rock climbing.

“We worked with a boulder wall designer in Bulgaria,” Posten-Thompson said. “While they designed the walls, we needed to coordinate the structural support of the walls with our structural engineer. We also provided complete architectural design guidance including floor plan, material section, permitting, and coordination for local county and city approvals.

“Our biggest challenges were incorporating large bouldering rock walls into the existing space and locating three exercise rooms around the space for efficiency and best use of space. This one got our heart rate revved up,” she said.

The general contractor is Horizons Commercial Contracting.

San Tan Self Storage

This new 117,229 SF, 924-unit self-storage facility at 34487 N. Gary Road, San Tan Valley, could have been “ho-hum and casual,” Posten-Thompson said.

“Pinal County required the building to look ‘more like an office building’ from the street frontage,” she added. “The site fronts two roads and both needed to present a well-designed building.”

On Point knew just what to do. It combined a horizontal tile-like pattern on the façade, an enlarged parapet cornice, and modern steel paneling to create a cohesive and modern streetscape. An enlarged roof overhang announces the lobby entrance, and oversized windows provide comfortable natural lighting in the office area.

Additionally, On Point created large drop-off areas at each end of the climate-controlled buildings and easy access for three drive-up storage buildings.

The general contractor is TLW Construction.

Success RV & Boat Storage

On Point’s design acumen will be on display in Southern Arizona when this self-storage and RV and boat storage in Vail is complete in late 2023. The asset will comprise a 900 SF office building, a 60,000 GSF self-storage building, and 200,000 GSF of covered RV and boat storage space.

On Point provided site design for the 15-acre facility, building elevation design with color selection, and design review with the Vail Preservation Society.

“This project needed a special appearance, which presented interesting challenges because it needed to be cohesive with the Shrine of Santa Rita in the Desert on the National Register of Historic as its neighbor,” Posten-Thompson said. “We tinkered with a Mission Revival architectural style and have probably designed the finest-looking self-storage facility in the Southwest.”

The general contractor is TLW Construction.

Steward Observatory Research, Testing and Demonstration Operations Expand at the UA Tech Park

TUCSON, ARIZONA — Tech Parks Arizona is pleased to announce that the University of Arizona, Steward Observatory is expanding the Engineering and Technical Services research, testing and demonstration operations at the UA Tech Park off Rita Road and Interstate-10.

The University of Arizona is a world leader in space sciences and as a Tier 1 research university with a moonshot goal of a Billion dollars in research, activities are constantly growing. University of Arizona has emerged as a principal leader in infrared astronomy through the work of the staff, students, and faculty of the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory. Public-private partnerships with industry giants such as NASA and countries around the world have put Steward Observatory on a fast-track growth trajectory.

Steward Observatory established an outpost at the UA Tech Park in July 2019 when the University of Arizona’s significant telescope research work from, the James C. Wyant College of Optical Science and Steward Observatory enhanced the already ongoing work at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab and the Large Optics Shop on main campus. The concentrated research and engineering activities paired with the capabilities and facilities of the UA Tech Park have been widely successful.

Steward Observatory is once again scaling up its electrical-optical research and development activities at the UA Tech Park. The observatory will increase its footprint to approximately 25,000 square feet for offices and lab space in Building 9040 to complement the 5,000 square feet of testing and evaluation space in Building 9026. The innovative UA Tech Park campus provides the perfect platform with its ability to rapidly expand operations to accommodate high growth organizations and provide secure spaces that meet contractual obligations for federal organizations.

“The UA Tech Park provides outstanding services in a timely manner in providing high value research space.” said Jeffrey Kingsley, associate director of Steward Observatory.

“The collaboration with Steward is the perfect example of how we help organizations succeed. We move at the speed of business. We are thrilled to build the infrastructure and relationship Steward needs to accommodate the hypergrowth they are experiencing,” expressed Carol Stewart, associate vice president of Tech Parks Arizona.

Tech Parks Arizona advances business through purpose-built environments which are customized to support businesses of all sizes and facilitate university-industry interaction. These capabilities are broadening Steward Observatory’s industry relationships.

Jeffrey Kingsley, Associate Director of Steward Observatory, has diligently worked with the faculty and staff of Steward Observatory in promoting the growth that has led to the team adding new faculty, students and researchers during the past three years. The Steward Observatory team at the UA Tech Park is more than 50 employees, including mechanical, electrical and software engineers as well as a number of program managers, system engineers and a variety of technicians.

Steward Observatory occupies a variety of space at the UA Tech Park for research and development, technical analysis, engineering meetings and large telescope storage space. Their projects include producing telescopes and optical systems for scientific research in such areas as: surveys, space awareness, asteroids, studying objects near Earth and general astronomical observations.

With this substantial team in place, new contracts and expanded facilities, the team is making significant advancements on some big projects. Researchers and technicians from the Steward Observatory are working on the Giant Magellan Telescope test cell and mirror support system, currently preparing to ship the 6.5-m mirror, telescope cell, support system and secondary mirror system for the Tokyo Atacama Observatory Telescope. The telescope is located on the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile at an altitude of 18,500 feet – the highest permanent astronomical observatory in the world.

Steward is using the UA Tech Park campus to interact with university, government and industry professionals for telescope and mirror collaborations. Steward is also leading the Arizona Large Telescope Consortium, a group of university and industry professionals with similar research interests in large low-cost observatories.