Copper Creek HOA wants a connection with Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind

For the 955 households in Copper Creek, the arrival of the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind in Oro Valley has created a new neighborhood relationship that residents are still waiting to begin. The school is now operating on the former Copper Creek Elementary School campus, south of Tangerine Road and west of La Canada Drive, but Copper Creek Homeowners Association President Mark Platt said the school’s leadership has not contacted the HOA. He hopes that changes, both so residents can learn more about their newest neighbor and so the neighborhood can offer support when needed.

Copper Creek has a long history with the campus and with the school that previously occupied it. The neighborhood held HOA meetings at Copper Creek Elementary and supported the school’s parent-teacher organization. When the elementary school closed last May, residents were disappointed, Platt said. The transition to ASDB’s Oro Valley campus happened quickly enough that some neighbors were unsure when the new school would open. Platt lives next to the property and said he noticed the change primarily through the new sign at the entrance and the increased bus activity.

ASDB Oro Valley serves 96 students, most of whom travel to and from the campus by bus. Those buses have become one of the clearest signs of the school’s presence in Copper Creek, but Platt said the operation has not caused problems for residents. As of Aug. 12, about two weeks after ASDB began using the campus, the HOA president said he had received no complaints or other feedback from people in the neighborhood. He described the school’s presence as relatively small and contained within the property.

That quiet start has not eliminated the HOA’s interest in building a connection. Platt said he has been waiting for a phone call from ASDB Oro Valley leadership, ideally beginning with a basic introduction and an opportunity for the school to explain who it is and how it will use the campus. He said he had hoped someone from the school would reach out to introduce the institution to the surrounding community. So far, he said, that has not happened.

The HOA’s interest is practical as well as neighborly. Copper Creek’s residents have traditionally used the former elementary school property as part of the community’s activities. Each holiday season, homes throughout the neighborhood are known for elaborate Christmas lights and decorations, and the HOA organizes a Christmas hay ride. In previous years, Copper Creek Elementary allowed the HOA to use the campus’s upper-level parking lot as a place to organize and stage the wagons. With ASDB now occupying the property, Platt hopes the arrangement can continue.

Whether that happens will depend on communication between the HOA and the school. Platt noted that ASDB is not subject to the Copper Creek HOA’s rules, meaning the school operates independently of the regulations governing neighborhood homeowners. That distinction does not appear to have created a current conflict, and the HOA has not received complaints about the school’s initial operations. Still, a direct relationship could help both sides address practical questions, coordinate community activities and understand what each expects from the other.

The change at Copper Creek Elementary is part of a larger adjustment for residents who had become accustomed to the campus as a neighborhood school. The elementary school’s closure ended an established connection involving meetings, parent support and shared use of the property. ASDB’s arrival has brought a different educational mission and a student population that includes children who are deaf or blind, but the campus remains physically embedded in the same community. For Copper Creek, the question is not whether the school is part of the neighborhood, but how that relationship will take shape.

Platt said the school is already an integral part of Copper Creek, even though communication has not yet begun. He also believes the neighborhood could eventually be useful to ASDB if the school needs support. For now, the HOA is waiting for an introduction and hoping to preserve at least one familiar tradition, the holiday hay ride staging area. The absence of complaints during the school’s first weeks suggests the transition has been calm, but the HOA wants that quiet beginning to grow into an active and cooperative relationship between the residents and the school next door.