Gilbert Defers Morrison Ranch Industrial Rezoning Vote Amid Public Opposition Allegations

oh um thank you foreign okay foreign second warning if you cannot please take your seats we'll get started we apologize for being late this evening we were in an executive session doing boarding commission interviews we appreciate your patience I will call to order the meeting for the Albert Town Council for September 20th 2022 first we will have a pledge of allegiance led by council member September I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic next we will have our invocation by Michelle no is that correct Noe the CEO from boost of foster family and member of Sun Valley Church thanks for coming out this evening Michelle thank you god of wisdom we seek your help this beautiful September evening let your wisdom fall upon us as we gather for this meeting give us Clarity so we can effectively tackle each part of the needs in our community let us help every member who resides in Gilbert whether they be rich poor or anywhere in the middle let us recognize the needs and address the issues respectfully reveal problem areas and help us see issues and show us the best solutions that apply above all else let us remember the Golden Rule and treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves in this world let us be kind and helpful to our fellow citizens amen amen thank you Michelle we appreciate you being out here this evening could I have a roll call from the clerk or Deputy please mayor Bridget Peterson here vice mayor amientes here council member Scott Anderson here councilmember Lauren Hendricks he is present on life council member young kaprowski here council member Scott September here and council member Kathy tilkey and she is also present online we have a court mirror thank you Judy we appreciate that first we have a proclamation declaring the month of October 2022 as domestic violence awareness month if I could have the DV team please come down and join me at the front of the room foreign hello how are you nice to see you all your council's in purple this evening wherever you would like domestic violence Awareness Month whereas domestic violence is an underreported and devastating crime that affects over 10 million Americans each year across all demographics and whereas while domestic violence impacts millions of people each year it is preventable preventable with advocating in educational efforts designed to break the behavioral cycle of abusers and Empower victims families communities and institutions to use their voice for awareness and whereas Arizona ranks in the top five states within the United States of the highest rate of domestic violence and victimization and whereas Gilbert serves on the Maricopa Association of governments domestic violence subcommittee to ensure Regional discussions and consistent policies that support domestic violence victims and whereas the dedication of Gilbert's Family Violence officers police counselors prosecutors and victim Advocates can be found in their daily efforts which impact and save lives each and every day and whereas Gilbert joins local programs State coalitions national organizations and agencies in our commitment to increasing public awareness of domestic violence and reaffirms that domestic violence is not tolerated in our community now therefore I Bridget Peterson mayor of the town of Gilbert do hereby proclaim the month of October 2022 as domestic violence Awareness Month in Gilbert Arizona and urge our citizens to work together to eliminate domestic violence from our community would you like that I'd like to have each of you um give us your name and your role within the town of Gilbert thank you mayor my name is Keith Bradshaw I'm the counseling manager for Gilbert PD good evening my name is Emily Karen I'm the victim Advocate with Gilbert PD good evening my name is Lauren Ramirez I serve as the court commissioner here in the Municipal Court I'm Alicia Paddock and I oversee the domestic violence shelter in my sister's place good evening my name is Jeff wolf I am an assistant Town prosecutor with prosecutor's office and I run our domestic violence program and I'm Eric snow the sergeant over the family violence unit with the Gilbert Police Department Eric I'd also like to recognize Monica d'artenzio because she is the liaison from mayor and council's office to the magdv group I serve as the liaison from the Marin council's office to the mag DV group if we could get you all together for a photo that would be great and I wanted to mention that we're doing our domestic violence Proclamation this evening because we don't meet again until October 18th so we wanted to make sure to get this out in on everybody's radar for the month of October thanks for being here and thanks for all you do for our community foreign and then we'll move on to student of the month thank you we'll have a presentation recognizing the 2022 MVP Award nominees and winners for the town of Gilbert do we have a staff member that's going to present those oh Nathan Williams Nathan Williams from HR versus Nathan Williams from planning two people with the same name work for the town of Gilbert thank you mayor Peterson Vice marientes members of council I appreciate this opportunity I appreciate you mentioning that I'm not the only Nathan Williams that works for the town of Gilbert there is a smarter better looking one that works in our planning department but um tonight you're stuck with me so um I I love this opportunity each year to recognize our uh four winners of our MVP we we have four winners of our annual MVP because we have four values and I will I will cover those in a moment but what's I think so important is is really to acknowledge that there are um you know somewhere in the ballpark of 1600 staff dedicated to this community and every one of them Works tirelessly day in and day out to make sure that this is a vibrant beautiful safe livable Community for today and for the future and we are so fortunate in it to have such fantastic High performing individuals working here for the town so we we always it's with a little bit of disappointment that we can't recognize all 1600 when we do this MVP process but we we also you'll see at the end we don't have the time tonight to to recognize formally every single individual that was nominated but we had 90 nominations this year for our MVP and uh and and then obviously had a selection committee that was able to narrow that down to our four winners I want to ask a couple logistical items before I I go through the uh the winners if you could so I'm going to announce the winner and then I'm going to read a bio that you'll see on the screen about the winner as they come down if you could save your applause just until I get a chance to read the bio that way you'll hear where they work and and and what they do here with Gilbert and then when they come down We'll have each winner come down when they're announced they'll get a photo with you mayor Peterson if you don't mind and with Patrick Banger Our Town manager they'll be um provided their gift and then they'll wait to the side until all four winners have had a chance to come down and then we'll do one more group photo so Thumbs Up Everybody we're good on that all right perfect okay so our first I don't know who's progressing the slides for me Judy is that you oh am I doing it oh okay cool all right I have all the control this is for this is concerning yeah um so so you've got kind of icons here for our values and as I mentioned there are four of them and I'll explain each one as as I go through so our first value of driven you know we have value statements that you can find on our on our town website um and and and that's really what we we focus on when we when we talk about and we recognize the efforts some Within These values but I'll just give some summaries um for drip for for driven we we have phrases like passionate and driven to excel strives every day to give Gilbert the future it deserves and and the individual that uh that uh is awarded this um the MVP award for driven tonight absolutely exemplifies that and our winner is uh Erica Brown Erica's passion for promoting Wellness has been infectious she always goes above and beyond to provide guidance and assistance in bringing new ideas to promote Wellness to our departments she has inspired me to bring the program and all that it entails to the fleet division staff members and we've seen a significant increase in our team's participation due to her efforts Eric is a member of our people team picking up by me [Applause] oh do you want to hold yeah it's in a box you can take it out you can take it out ready one all right one more Applause for Erica [Applause] all right our next value that we're going to recognize tonight is the value of kind and a couple of those uh those those phrases or talking points that stand out in our in our value of kind is we are inclusive and in spread and spread Gilbert kindness in our words and our actions um and the in the individual that we are recognizing tonight is actually two individuals which this is the first time we've ever done this but we have a married couple Larry and Denise horn that work in our parks and rec department and the statement here is it is rare to meet people like Larry and Denise these days people who are 100 themselves 100 self-starters and genuinely kind people even on days where they might not be feeling their best you would never know I aspire to be more like Larry and Denise every day their hard work and endless kind kindness is something to be celebrated and appreciated every day thank you look thank you and in case you're wondering Larry did acknowledge I think that Denise is just a little Kinder right so but congratulations to Larry and Denise [Applause] all right uh for our next value our next value is bold and some of the items that I pulled out on this one are Gilbert is a safe place for Big Ideas and we are committed to constant Improvement our our winner this year for our MVP under the category of bold is Josh Rogers Josh uh the statement about Josh is when I see the definition of bold the person who immediately comes to mind is my colleague Josh Rogers he's unafraid to share his opinion whether it is a common one or Devil's Advocate I can count on Josh to be his authentic self because he speaks up willingly and openly in order to Champion ideas and processes for the betterment of Gilbert's community and Josh Works in our development services team foreign [Applause] to you all right one more Applause for Josh [Applause] humble a few things that stand out in our under our value of humble is service is at the heart of everything we do we Embrace servant leadership and we celebrate others successes and our winner for the value of humble this year is Jason Montgomery Jason comes to work each day with the servant leader mindset he understands that the efforts we expend and the time frustration and care we put into quite literally building the city of the future go unnoticed by the typical person and yet he finds great personal value and satisfaction I see in him a commitment to that quiet dedication the honoring of service that stretches back into the core of who he is and how he carries himself from him I'm reminded that it is public service it is an incredible thing we are privileged to provide and Jason works on our Public Works team foreign we'll bring everybody back up for a photo oh sure sorry we need a we need a camera backdrop here let me go back to our a second all right one more time for all of our winners and then as I mentioned I'm just gonna on the the last item here on the screen oh I lost my clicker I think somebody somebody took away my driving there we go if you can just go to the last slide uh there we go that is uh all of our nominees for this year so I wanted to make sure there was an opportunity for them to be uh recognized they will all be recognized on the town's intranet page for all of our employees to celebrate all of their nominations so thank you all to those who've nominated and thank you to the winners and the nominees for their their hard work and their dedication to this community foreign to announce the names of the Gilbert student citizens of the month the recipients were nominated by their teachers and principals for demonstrating good citizenship and character we appreciate the opportunity to not only recognize these hard-working students but to also thank all the teachers the school administrators the amazing parents in the community we appreciate all your efforts to educate and influence our young residents our schools and our families are some of the Gilbert's greatest assets um I I do apologize up front if I mispronounce anybody's name uh but you're a first or last name um so uh uh please have a little bit of grapes um as I work through some of these more difficult names at this time we're going to begin our student citizens of the month presentation please enjoy for those of you who are receiving an award tonight a certificate and a packet will be delivered to your school first with we'll begin with Elementary School students with attending Ashland Ranch Luke heelscamp from Bridges Elementary Cooper cross from Burke Elementary Benjamin Clark from Carol Ray Ranch Elementary Ava dossi from Centennial Elementary Layla 4cade from Chaparral Elementary Amelia Kent from Christ Greenfield Lutheran Haley Flores from edge of price schools Violet Sevilla from Gateway Point Elementary Olivia Wade from Highland Park Elementary Bentley Hendershot from Higley Traditional Academy XI Yin Ling from Higley Virtual Academy Grace cook from Islands Elementary Jack Spangler from Mesquite Elementary Andrew ziring from Neely Traditional Academy Riley menzi and from Oak Tree Elementary Evan cook from Pioneer Elementary Amelia quiros from Playa del Rey Elementary cash Luna from Quartz Hill Elementary Jada Nash and from Santan Elementary Isabella way from settlers Point Elementary Peyton Jenkins from Spectrum Elementary Jay Caskey from Val Vista Academy Robbie gariano and from Weinberg gifted Academy Elias Orion Glenn we'll give a round of applause for Elementary School students it's always so much better when you can see their little cute faces in person now we will honor our Junior High and our high school students from Campo Verde High School Gabriella Sauber from Canyon Valley High School Rachel Drake from Canyon Valley Junior High Isabella France from Gilbert Classical Academy Abigail Sawyer from Gilbert High School Christopher Van Sant from Mesquite High School Shiloh Rosado and from South Valley Junior High Berkeley bass thank you and congratulations to all of our winners of student citizens of the month you make us proud and keep up the good work mayor can we go to Communications from citizens next portion of our agenda is uh Communications from citizens we we do value the input from our Gilbert citizens um hopefully you all received or or saw the cards out in the foray if you wanted to provide comments to the council this evening um you are required to fill out one of these requests to speak cards for each item in which you wish to speak on uh prior to the meeting starting this Communications from citizens portion on the agenda provides citizens an opportunity opportunity to identify for the council matters of Interest or concern related to town government that are not on the printed agenda under the provisions of the Arizona open meeting law the Town Council is prohibited from responding to issues that have not been properly noticed therefore the count Town Council may only listen to citizens who wish to address them on non-agenda items at the conclusion of the open call to public responses limited to individual members of the council responding to criticism made by those who have addressed the public body asking staff to review a matter or asking that a matter be put on a future agenda the town asks that when your name is called you come forward to the podium please state your name your place of residence and then you can begin speaking we'll have three minutes for each speaker tonight all speakers are expected to observe common standards of decorum and courtesy personal tax political speeches or threats of political action or inappropriate we're also asking to I know there were some people who had signs if you could not uh waive your signs during the meeting it was fine I walked through I saw someone outside outside the public building that was fine but if we could refrain from using the signs on the inside with that we will begin I think we only have 11 speakers I will read into the record everybody who filled out a comment card but did but wished not to speak but just provide comments on their card if you don't my mayor will do that first so I'll just read these in and then we'll get to our speakers so Jackie Cottrell again if I misspell any or misspeak anybody's name I apologize not wishing to speak but against the ranch proposal Robert Jones against the ranch is a poorly conceived project it's a Poor's outcome for Gilbert and its residents it's it would be an eyesore a Bonnie virquare regarding s project st0990 behind closed doors meetings concerning this project is ridiculous we have been screaming for better communication and now you do this Jeremy Braden um I did not Mark against but says I strongly oppose the rezoning of the ranch Tracy Boyd I'm strongly opposed to the changing of the Zoning for the ranch uh Jenny Everett I'm strongly opposed to the ranch power and Elliott rezoning Charles Wright we do not want such large buildings near our home the obstruction noise would be awful uh Rob laring rezoning the land east of Morrison Ranch on Recker and Elliott is opposed Sherry Laney rizzoni land Issa Morrison Ranch on wrecker and Elliot opposed Rebecca Wright we do not want the buildings next to our home they look awful lower the value of our home and beauty of our neighborhood Leslie Saint age against changing zoning of law on Power Road between Elliott and Warner putting that kind of proposed building will hurt our property values detract from the neighborhood Stephanie Evans against the razoning of the land between Elliott and Warner West of Power Road oops Kelly Fortier concerned about the industrial use traffic pollution not what was represented I'm okay with some commercial use with minimal industrial use as was first planned William Saint a Ange against rezoning of the land Reign Power Road Chris Cox rezoning of the ranch to predominantly light industrial will not benefit the community in any way it should remain zoned as mixed use for retail commercial residential Esther Medrano against industrial building in Morrison Ranch Daniel Medrano against the industrial building of Morrison Ranch Laura Jepson it's not good for the neighborhood it's not right or fair for the change of the zoning after the fact Jennifer weeda against no rezoning of land east of Elliott Groves power between Warner and Elliott Rachel and Matthew acoustic live in Elliott Groves know on rezoning land east of power Daniel Strazza against the ranch Sarah Strazza against the ranch William Monahan against rezoni Morrison Ranch Roy Haney the plans for the ranch height and density is too high and too much Christine Haney the proposed buildings on Power and Elliott against Tom Everett I'm opposed to the rezoning of the ranch it is not appropriate to have the industrial zoning on that scale in our neighborhood Jessica Chrysler against rezoning to allow for the development of industrial building large building at the ranch Natalie Noel Miller I live in the area and I'm extremely concerned about the traffic in the surrounding area okay so those will all be reflected in the minutes for the meeting and we will move to our speakers who expressed a desire to speak so first up we have a rich Robertson if you would say your name and your place of residence and you will have three minutes Finally Rich we will have Terry Natty and then Brian Mosley thank you mayor council my name is Rich Robertson I'm at 15714 East Ocotillo Road that's a county Island in Gilbert us regarding the Ocotillo Road expansion I'd like to talk a little bit about transparency or more to the point lack of transparency in that project there's been a lot of lip service about a participatory process and a willingness to engage in discussions with our residents that are most affected but that just hasn't happened there was a glimmer of hope when a few months ago after all of our complaints and protests you finally instructed the staff to find ways to mitigate the damage of turning that two-lane road into a five-lane road through our established rural neighborhood those are my words not yours but appraisals were suspended as a result and we understood that the staff was working diligently and using their skills to find a way to come up with some mitigation efforts we've been waiting anxiously for a seat at that table and provide our feedback and suggestions about what goes on and frankly to be get educated we don't know about road construction it would help us to know as well but now those those analysis that analysis apparently has concluded and you have been briefed and including a complete PowerPoint presentation we know that you were briefed in individual and small groups because that's what you do when you want to avoid a quorum that would trigger the public getting to be participating you know that we were briefed to uh that others were briefed outside of the Town Council about this and we know that we were never briefed no one affected by this was ever briefed at all without those Advanced briefings uh you would not be in a position tonight to get the legal advice uh that you're seeking in the executive session it appears that your small group briefings were intended to create consensus about the outcome which I have no doubt will say there's no other option than 65 feet since you haven't involved us I submitted a public records request on September 9th asking for that PowerPoint which is a public record when I checked the status of that request today I was told by the clerk's office that it would take two months that I should call back in a month and see it's the secrecy the duplicity the window dressing the patronizing double speak on the website that generates the kind of ill will that has come out of this particular project you don't really want citizen involvement it feels because that just makes your job harder but that's the cost of open government and describing your organizational culture on the town's website you say we promote emotionally intelligent leaders who put people in relationships before processes and tools we serve each other and our community with respect and civility we believe the ability to connect and help is just as important as talent and knowledge not from where I sit thank you if if we could probably needs to go in the back of the room women just raised a sign in the back row the sign needs to go please that lady right there we have asked for decorum please Carrie do you want to take your three minutes I would love to thank you my name is Terry Natty you all know me by now I live in a county Island within the Gilbert planning area um I have voiced my opinion loud far and wide on this project I was pretty much put as the voice of my community and I hear after the fact that in this presentation that you guys got with the slides and everything that you were told that a lot of the complaints came from one person I know that that's me I want to remind you that I spoke for more than just me how many people are here from my neighborhood today okay I spoke for more than just me the people that are going to speak for Morrison Ranch how many people are here on that issue please stand stand up let them all see you stand up one person might speak we speak for more than just one okay earlier this evening we guys talked about values and how you hold them near and dear to your heart I want to remind you to be driven to serve your community and those within your community I want to remind you to be kind in your decisions that affect your community and mine I want you to be bold and go against the norm including the Gilbert standard and the norm when it comes to the design for Ocotillo roadway I want you to be humble and put aside any agenda that you may have uh to see things from your constituents point of view those four values are amazing and I want to see them reflected in this executive decision or this executive session that we don't get to see we don't get to see the minutes of I don't understand why it's not a study session I have sat through study sessions and I've watched power presentations be given to you guys so that you can talk about it in a public forum I don't understand why this project is being hidden away it's not okay and it smells dirty it smells rotten and it doesn't look good on you guys at all [Music] I apologize I might not have been uh totally clear up front we don't actually allow clapping in the in the communications from citizens purposes is we do try to retain decorum so that everybody has the ability and the time that we're allotting to the this portion of the agenda and they can speak freely whether it's in support of the majority opinion or not and so to to create that kind of environment that's why we do that I'm not saying everybody has to agree with it I'm just saying those are going to be those are the rules of the Forum and we do we do ask that you respect those rules Brian please uh thank you my name is Brian Mosley I live in Morrison Ranch here in Gilbert I have for the last seven years or so since they built our home there um I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed my concerns about the the notice and participation opportunities that we were having with us and for uh the the plant Planning Commission that or for moving that date so that we can have that when we were able to participate really appreciate that and uh people I've talked to do as well the last time I talked to you about how uh you would never dream of approving a warehouse on the empty lot in the north of the Heritage District because the the general objective of having employment or a desire to have a greater mix of industrial wouldn't have overridden you know the goals of that Heritage District so you just would have ignored that outright and I wanted to start with another thought experiment today which is uh your your son or daughter comes home from school and tells you good news mom or dad I have um D's or better in all of my classes and and then they say except for Reading Writing and arithmetic and um although it's a preliminary traffic study that's basically what the traffic study says about the ranch that I've reviewed so far uh we're gonna have a d or better level of service that all of our stoplights except for power and Elliott Power and Warner and Power in the 202 all the important arterial intersections that matter and you know for the most important you know paranella right by our neighborhood it's just not going to get better it's going to stay at a level service at F and you know I know I understand that anything is going to contribute to traffic but if you look deeper at the report you see that they have terrible um traffic even getting out of the eating gimme out of it several of their exits are marked with double asterisks that say extreme reported delay on minor leg left turn you know they can't even get out of there because there's so many people they talk about how you know the trucks are probably going to go around to the lights to try to get out of the neighborhood um and this goes to my comment about um the intensity of the use the the fact that these are are not just regular light industrial buildings where somebody might have their office and a little bit of storage these are um whatever they call them double double Bay opposing Bay um warehouses where they'll just line up as many semis hundreds down one side and hundreds down the other side unloading and loading stuff with a forklift putting it in building whatever they're doing inside all kinds of noise and I speak from experience I work for UPS before when Amazon was a book company and it is loud in The Yards the trucks are starting and stopping it's the loudest you know time to operate a truck every time they back up they got that beeping thing if there's a safety issue there's a horn a horn on your car has to be heard from audible from 200 feet away and they're talking about putting these 212 feet from our houses and you imagine these giant concrete Canyons echoing each of those noises back and forth to our homes the intensity of use here is incredible and I just want to say that you know this idea that it's just a business park the industrial is is the second level of intensity if you look at the Town plan Business Park is the lowest transitional intensity the thing that belongs next to neighborhoods in light industrial is the middle it's the next it's where regular manufacturing happen and and it's going to make a big difference to change all of this to that thank you for your time next we'll have Evelyn Nicklaus and then Amy Hammond and then Ryan handelsman hello my name is Evelyn Nicklaus and I live in Gilbert and this is my first time speaking at a council meeting so I'm happy to be here well not exactly because I'm here because I'm opposed to the ranch project um my first time hearing about this project was just a few weeks ago and I was looking at the layout of the buildings that are proposed and I'm deeply concerned because I have small children and we use the facilities all around the street my children go to Cactus yards for sports my son goes to 4-H at the Roosevelt water district building we go to the um bertuccio farms for our Festival our fall festival we were planning on going to Cannon Beach and the idea that we have all these beautiful homes this beautiful neighborhood with all these beautiful homes and then all these children's services and then putting a light industrial facility smack dab in the middle of all that just seems like I'm just completely blown away and shocked and this just does not seem in line meant with the Gilbert that I know and I would ask that you reconsider what you're putting in there putting in something that's going to be be safe for the children like I have concerns about my children crossing the street with trucks like that when they're going to be playing sports in the neighborhood it just seems like it's going to be an accident waiting to happen and um yeah I'm just very concerned and I would ask that you reconsider and not approve the zoning as it stands now thank you thank you I'm Amy Holman I live in Greenfield Lakes and I'm the town stated that it had a voter ratified General plan but it's constantly being changed without a vote from citizens and always to the benefit of the developer why is this Council planning on bringing overcrowding and Industrial businesses into our neighborhoods which goes against the plan that was voted on by the people why are you planning on creating some multi-million dollar bridge and road construction that will take people's land who desperately do not want to lose their homes and that again is against what the people voted in where do you think the schools will get more teachers since we can't get them now as it is with overcrowding we're going to need more police fire and EMTs which again we are struggling to get we will be using hundreds of thousands of gallons of water for the thousands of new residents which will deflate our already dwindling water supply where's that coming from where are you going to get the money to cover this I would guess you would be looking at a primary property tax to cover the density which is again against the original Town plan these changes that you have done already that are outside of the plan are not tiny changes they have completely changed the feeling and the tone of this town the people want a voice you are not following the voter ratified General plan we want to be heard please create a new vote so the constituents can be heard the people deserve to have a say after Ryan will have Daniel uh paxed and then Pat Demario I like to start out by stating that I don't believe there is any statute or code that prevents meeting attendees from silently holding signs I see rules that prohibit disorderly conduct like clapping or threats that that I don't see anything that would prohibit silent displays of a sign so that seems to be a First Amendment free speech and it seems like you guys are attempting to silence us and violence and violate our personal rights with that being said the only thing more absurd than seeing that proposal of an industrial park larger than SanTan Village is hearing that it was allegedly the town's idea I met with Mike shernin last week a few of you on the council know him he donated upwards of ten thousand dollars collectively to a couple of your campaigns but for those that don't know he's the CEO of indicap spearheading the power ranch uh or the ranch uh project so imagine my surprise when Mike said to me he sat with the town staff and told give us that and the staff told him that Gilbert needs an industrial complex spanning the length of over five football fields with nearly a thousand loading docks where in God's name would he get that idea from or they get that idea from considering that the council unanimously approved the 2020 General plan and later the voters ratified it why would some unelected bureaucrats think they have the right to contradict blatantly and recklessly what the council submitted and the voters approved especially of this magnitude I mean from 15 percent approximately to 90 percent come on by approving this expansion or any other major project of this magnitude for that matter only cements my theory that you and the people sitting beside you have lost control of this town and the tail is wagging the dog if I was sitting there I'd be embarrassed I'd be mortified frankly so I leave you with two thoughts talk to the staff because if this was their idea of what Gilbert wants or needs what the heck are they thinking and when faced with the opportunity to vote on this matter vote on behalf of the people not your campaign donors if you're unsure of what the people want well hopefully tonight is the first of many signs of what they want and hopefully the petitions that come across your desk and the other people that are coming up to speak tonight will give you a good indication of what we want and not what your wallets want Ryan [Applause] can you can you just could you please uh state your name Gilbert Arizona perfect thank you Daniel I am I'm Daniel Payton I think it said Paxton it's Peyton I'm in Gilbert Arizona I live off Mesquite Street thank you for having me tonight I normally don't speak at things like this I normally don't get involved in anything remotely close to this but I'm here because of the ranch project that a lot of people have expressed concerns with on the cards and a lot of people have also expressed concerns with here just speaking today in general and I think the big the big issue that people see is that this is kind of a last the last really good piece of land in Gilbert Arizona to develop General commercial and business park as it's currently zoned there's about 16 percent of that land as people have said that is zoned for light industrial use we desperately desperately need on the east side of town places to spend our money all of us are stuck going either into Mesa or going to San Tan Village to spend that money we've got significant development starting right now in the area well it's not in Gilbert it is in Mesa and it's going to draw so many people into that area that will need a place to go we've got Hawes Crossing starting right off of Elliott it's going to bring thousands of people in we've got Gabriella points starting right down uh Higley it's going to bring hundreds and hundreds of Apartments hundreds and hundreds of people we've got millions of square feet of industrial warehousing currently under development in Mesa like this is our last chance and it feels like if we approve this we might be picking up a penny today to step over literally hundreds of dollars of bills in the future what we're seeing from the applicant is a request to rezone 90 to rezone The Land by 76 they want to make it a 96 industrial use this is 4 million square feet of industrial complex directly next to a character area of our general plan as some other people have pointed out correctly that General plan is a voter ratified document so a lot of us rely on that when we make decisions we think this is how our city is going to responsibly grow and how we're responsibly going to vote for what our town wants this is what the people want and when we look at 92 percent industrial use isn't what we want I mean we understand and I think everyone understands that there is a critical need for industrial buildings just rezoning a character area to get 92 percent industrial and 4 million square feet of warehouse space directly adjacent to a character area doesn't make the most sense I think to everyone in this room that's here for the ranch project so I think people generally support and they would be excited about a development just not that exact specific development on I would like to close with just a few short years ago there was another General plan amendment I think it was General Planet 18009 which sought to rezone the land generally located at Warner and Recker that land was zoned light industrial the attorney who's representing indicap argued in 2018 that the industrial use did not make sense or I'm sorry light industrial and Business Park uses are incompatible with the existing residential development in the area that was all zoned light industrial it's literally adjacent to the ranch it like it butts to it and now here we are coming up three years later and the existing zoning doesn't make sense I thank you for your time today Daniel wait thank you thanks Terry Pat Demario and then Tom Smith and then Lisa bard and then Catherine Puckett patamario Morrison Ranch Gilbert we built our home in Morrison Ranch seven years ago before we made our purchase we did our homework and understood the future plans and Zoning for the area the future plans did not include a major industrial Warehouse District in our neighborhood by the way it's fooling no one to call sick to call multiple six-story High warehouses with loading docks light Industrial Morrison Ranch original owners have sold a bill of goods to duped homeowners and the realtor retail world the term for this practice is bait and switch homeowners made a purchase based on what the sellers presented them and now that the sellers have their money they want to change the plan that's unethical and dishonest practice we as a community hate to think that our city council supports such dishonesty if you were a victim you'd agree had any one of us known that this was the plan or that it was remote a remote possibility we wouldn't have built in Morrison Ranch we would have made our sizable home purchases elsewhere possibly not even in Gilbert We Now find ourselves at the mercy of the leaders of the Gilbert Community we we ask that they do what's ethically right and best practice by retaining the current zoning and thereby forcing the parcel's owners to keep its Promises to the buyers we residents none of you in your heart of hearts can honestly and I repeat honestly say you'd want a major industrial Warehouse district with loading docks in your backyard so how can you think it's okay to do that to good honest hard-working proud citizens of Gilbert there are other areas in Gilbert far more suitable for this complex than in a neighborhood of beautiful homes families and schools in your heart of hearts please hear us and respect us don't do to us what you wouldn't want to have done to you and your neighborhood by the way for those of you who have accepted campaign donations from these industrial Warehouse developers well it's the community's perception that this is a conflict of interest your vote that your vote has been purchased and it's guaranteed to them you should recuse yourselves from voting on this issue remember perception is reality regardless of your denial I repeat perception is reality despite what you may say thank you thank you Pat if we okay three more if we could please not clap Tom Smith good evening Tom Smith Morrison Ranch what a turnout we have it's great to see all you guys out there supporting this bringing some of these issues to light I've had the opportunity uh probably the last four or five Council meetings to come here to kind of watch the process kind of see what uh how everything is done and it's abundantly clear to me that we as a constituents don't have a clue as to what this body up here is doing because there's projects that are ongoing that are rubber stamped just like all these apartments that we now have and now we have a thing called The Ranch and I vehemently oppose not only the zoning just the whole idea period I would like to just yield my time back to uh the mayor and you people other people and just answer answer this simple question to all of us what thought process went in your mind to approve that project it makes no sense whatsoever and I've also heard and I'd also like confirmation that it's going to be a battery plant hope you guys are ready for that thank you Lisa Bart if you could say your name and resonance from the record I am Lisa Ballard longtime Gilbert resident Arizona native so today I took the minute to review the Gilbert website and I found it fascinating and also quite ironic and very hypocritical few statements from the website the videos that you guys have says today we all play a role in the design and development of tomorrow can you honestly sit there and tell us today that this is true that we all play a role in the design and development at Gilbert It also says together we shape the future and again it states we shape the future from where I'm sitting in this perspective here it is a few of you deciding what goes on in this town another piece Gilbert chooses to help people which you talked about earlier where the city of the future the model of civic responsibility the model of Engagement but it's very hard to engage with a council and a mayor who only truly seem to have agendas for themselves and their pocketbooks we also talk about on that video it talks about the model of sustainability as I stand here today and I'm asking you as the council and as the mayor and any lawyers or developers that are here and I don't know if this is still on but how is Gilbert going to be able to sustain anything within the next five to ten years as the other woman previously talked about how are we going to be continued to build these light industrial 65-70 story buildings in our neighborhoods when we have kids running around it is my biggest fear to see a child smashed by a semi I've driven the 10 enough to see too many accidents of cars under semis it is heartbreaking and sickening how can you possibly think that allowing manufacturers to come in with highly toxic chemicals how is that a benefit to our neighborhood what is the impact of all of these buildings in our towns you guys continually add apartment building after apartment building on every single corner where are we going to get our water where's the electricity going to come from what about all the traffic and the CO2 emissions when we talk about sustainability where is that in Gilbert that should be a priority it's right there on your website according to your website we also have 947 miles of Road in Gilbert and at what cost have you guys driven down Higley on Warner Road at all have you driven South on Higley when school is out and everybody and their dog is trying to get onto the 202 or to go north how and who is going to pay for all of the people coming into this town you also put in there that Gilbert chooses to help people but again who are you helping are you helping this town the citizens or are you helping yourselves and again your pocketbooks your video about planning and development mentions that public input is an essential part of the development review and informations and informs the decision-making process that applicants have the right to attend meetings and residents near a new project or idea would be notified by mail I have lived in Gilbert for 20 years I have never been notified by mail please reconsider what you do for this town and for the people you serve or we're going to end up like Chicago Seattle Portland and Detroit I live here and I do not want to see that happen we have excuse me we have we have one more speaker remove the people from the back of the room please those three people holding up signs Catherine Puckett if you would like to come down state your name in your residence you'll have three minutes we can just end public comment right now [Music] you can leave too sir if that's what you think no we're going back to the rules of decorum in this meeting we are trying to listen to everybody here this evening and you're not giving them the opportunity and for us to be able to hear from them Sciences by myself crazy can we let Catherine have her time sure thank you I do appreciate it I this is a little bit different on the agenda I have a question about consent item number 14.

I'm not oh sure sure my question has to do with consent item number 14 regarding the purchase of the Dell computers I'm certainly not opposed to that at all my question really has to do with why the amount that is being approved is considerably higher than the amount that's in the invoice from Dell to the tune of about 130 over a hundred thirty thousand dollars higher so I'm just um I think because I have a question there may be others here in the audience that would also like to learn how the government works when we do these kind of change orders thank you thank you ma'am that concludes our Communications from citizens we will move to the consent agenda may we take a break to test your voting yes thank you I was just going to say that thank you we need to take a break just to reset our equipment because it resets during Communications from citizens foreign I was doing classes today do you realize your videos [Music] here we hear everything else thank you um okay hopefully all of our equipment is working now Communications from citizens um I think we are pulling item 6 11 and I'll pull 14 as well were there any other requests from Council Members virtually or in person to pull agenda items other than 6 11 and 14.

see none um we'll do a mass motion first moving up administrative items 21 22 and 23.

I'll make the motion on the agenda item 21 and 22 motion to appoint the fire and police public safety personnel retirement system local pension boards Deborah Stapleton as a regular member with a partial term September 20th 2022 and ending November 30th 2024 as well as the agenda item 22 a motion to appoint the self-insured trust board Mary delay and Lindy Mitchell as a regular members with terms beginning October 1st 2022 and ending September 30th 2025 and then council member September if you'd like to make a the motion on 23.

do that now vice mayor yes please great uh I moved to um I moved to a point to the Planning Commission Leslie Davis as a regular member with a term beginning September 30th 2022 and ending September 29 2026 William Faye as a regular member with a partial term beginning September 30th 2022 and and September 29 2023 and an additional full term beginning September 30th 2023 and ending September 29 2027 and Lisa Gage and Charles Johnson as alternate members with terms beginning September 30th 2022 and ending September 29th 2023.

great and then we will also include in that motion items three four and five seven eight nine and ten items 12 13 15 and 16.

do we have a second all vote motion carries unanimously item six um I pulled this one this is a grant from the Department of Homeland Security that's the originator of the funds obviously it flows through another entity but uh given given they're out of control spending at the federal level I I do oppose federal grants we'll put as a as a secondary note it's hard to take these seriously when we have them out of control Administration when it comes to our crisis at the border and so you know we've we've got we've got serious issues obviously creating problems in in our communities in our neighborhoods in Arizona and so I I will not be supporting this one tonight but if there's a motion to approve I'll entertain that now on item six move to approve second please vote item passes five two agenda item 11.

um I pulled this item uh I do believe this organization easy send does great work in the community um I simply principally don't agree with forced generosity of our communities no matter how worthy the services are so I won't be supporting this one tonight although I appreciate their contribution to the community but if there's a Devotion to approve or any comments I'll move to provide him 11.

I will second to continue the meals to our seniors can we reset thank you I'll vote and oops motion approved six one item number 14.

we did have uh Catherine one of our citizens bring up this agenda item and was hoping that we could have a staff member address looks like Cezanne is making his way down to the podium laughs actually Cezanne and Jason and Eugene no not coming down Eugene [Music] well mayor members of council so this item for the 1.2 million dollars uh the question is the exact amount for the quote so that is the amount we will be paying for our new mdcs which are for our Police Department um I brought with me Jason Thompson he's our desktop manager who worked on this quote and he's going to explain the difference between the two items so Jason could you please share with them what that is before you get started sorry to interrupt can you explain what an MDC is yeah I'd be happy to thank you mayor council for your question this evening my name is Jason Thompson I'm the I.T desktop manager so your question council member September the MDC is a mobile data computer is what they call it it's a ruggedized laptop computer that we provide to each police officer yes sir so the difference in the in the or the Delta I would say between the the quote and what was asked is um basically to cover any cost for implementation that we will have also to give us a little bit of a buffer for any maybe if we see unforeseen expenses or any kind of Replacements we may encounter over the next year are there any other questions thank you thank you thank you foreign motion on item 14.

I'll move to approve item 14.

sir second please vote motion carry six one and that concludes our consent agenda item thank you vice mayor moving on to our public hearing portion of our agenda we have four or five items four items to be heard during our public hearing portion of our agenda I will open the public hearing we have two liquor license a property acquisition and a code of Gilbert does anyone wish to have a separate presentation on any of these items I haven't heard from anyone councilmember Anderson no no I would then go ahead and I don't have any public comments to speak on any of these items so I will go ahead and close public hearing and bring all four items back to the diocese for motions we're doing them one by one sure that would be easiest probably a motion to approve item 17.

we have a motion to approve item 17 Vice marientes second second council member September please vote motion passes seven zero now on to number 18. motion to approve item 19 second face Marion to the second by councilmember Anderson please vote motion passes seven zero nineteen move to approve item number 19.

even though vice mayor got the fun ones second could 've been about [Music] um item number 19 what kind of a question do you have maybe that will help sure just a process one so I know you guys marked out which properties along there most of it is we're looking at just either construction easements or Public Utilities months but there was one private property interest holder there and just want to know what Communications have occurred so far I know they said that though red flags have been raised in preliminary discussions but would like to know what the Here Comes Ryan Communications have been so far and any feedback we've received from that property owner mayor council Ryan Blair CIP to answer your question um we have spoken to Mr Kelly Freeman that lives he's a private property owner he owns a lot of parcels right there next to the Future Park and also the Ocotillo Bridge we spoke to him really between zero and 15 design we wanted to get to him early and just understand concerns that he may have expectations he has from us and just kind of just basically start the process with him on understanding the projects coming and what would what was again his expectations be of the project team um he actually really appreciated us coming that early in the process speaking to him getting his concerns so that we can try to where we can where it's feasible to make accommodations to him in particularly a block wall for privacy security gates because the amount of traffic that'll be flowing through here so we can the town can make sure that we secure his place he had a few additional questions or comments that we're going to be trying to assess during the design phase so our expectations now moving forward we'll be speaking to him again the 30 plans just came out so now we have a better idea of what the the roadway and things are going to look like and adjacent to his property so we're actually reaching out here the next short while to a conversation with him again based upon those preliminary designs were we able to provide with him an expectation on how much property would be required to be acquired at the first meeting we knew there was going to be some we didn't know at the time how much that was now we have a better idea that was um currently he does have 65-footer right away in front of his property because of the elevation of the bridge how it's coming down right over the rwcd canal at that point there will be some slopes issues so that's what we're going to be discussing with him moving forward and how we can accommodate he does have a building there that he does mechanical work in so again we're going to be having those conversations with him and seeing how we can accommodate him as part of the project thank you you're welcome I think we had a motion from council member September do we have a second oh a second from council member koprowski are we ready to vote vice mayor are you good did you get your answers yes okay please vote motion passes six one one item left on our public hearing agenda code of Gilbert can I have a motion please move to approve item 20.

second of motion by a council member September second by council member caprese please vote motion passes 7-0 moving on to our administrative items on our agenda boards and commissions that we covered those excuse me 21 22 and 23.

moving on to boards commissions and committees reports from Council Liaisons for any boards commissions and committees seeing none moving on to Communications report from the town manager thank you mayor members of the council uh two items tonight first I'd like to congratulate Corey Gerard he has been promoted to assistant fire chief he has been with the town for over 18 years serving most recently as a deputy and then Battalion Chief and we look forward to working with him in his new role next Todd gregorski has recently retired from the Gilbert Wastewater Department after 24 years of service to the town he started in collection systems cleaning sewers repairing pipes and maintaining lift stations and expanded his work experience by working as a commercial pre-treatment inspector they spent much of his career 21 years working as reclaimed water quality control technician in the ReUse recharge section it was promoted during his last year to the supervisor over recharging compliance our teams greatly appreciate his dedication and pride and workmanship over the years and we wish him the best of luck in his retirement thank you thanks Patrick I'm glad you made it back this evening to join us report from Council on current events seeing none report from mayor on current events I would like to thank everyone that came out for the National Day of Service on 9 10 in conjunction with 9 11.

there were there were groups of residents that came out and volunteered cleaning up the alleys in the north west corner of Gilbert and Elliott landscape company that donated their truck and their tools and over 120 volunteers at that location and then five or six of our elementary schools and Gilbert High School that had volunteers all lined up that did all kinds of jobs from painting curbs for safety reasons to cleaning windows to painting murals within libraries it was really great to see the residents come out to support the community in that way and giving back in their time within Gilbert I really appreciated being able to stop by and see some of them as they were as they were doing that work they were having a great time and it just showed that they love being part of the community and doing the the jobs that they were doing out on that that day and then I wanted to thank our Gilbert Fire Department and our Gilbert Police Department for the amazing event on 9 11 at our Memorial again every year I attend that event and I think it can't get better and then somehow it does and I know it's a solemn day that we all come together for remembrance for all the lives lost and all the lives that we continue to lose because of the events on 9 11 2001 and our Gilbert Fire Department police department always have such a poignant message to share with the community and I thank them for that congratulations to assistant chief Gerard that was going to be one of my notes this evening too it's always great when we see our own being promoted within and I look forward to working with Corey as one of our new assistant as our new assistant chief we will now have to recess our meeting and reconvene in executive session can I have a motion to what recess the meeting so moved vice mayor and a second please second please vote and we have a 6-0 vote on that with councilmember Hendricks abstaining we will now adjourn this meeting and move well we recessed this meeting and move into our executive thanks everybody foreign