Buckeye unanimously rezones 46.6 acres for Greenlight Verrado 1,034-unit mixed-use project

e e e going to call this meeting to order this is the city of Buckeye regular council meeting for March 18 2025 we will start with the invocation and the uh Pledge of Allegiance uh pledge led by uh vice mayor hustus if you would all please stand for the invocation Lord we thank you for the opportunity to get together and do your work thank you Father for the uh incredible responsibility and job that we have as council members in um in leading the city we thank you for our staff we thank you for our First Responders and for the work that you would have us to do Lord we ask for wisdom in the decisions that are made and the ability to hear one another uh and understand our differences and come to agreements on uh where we can agree and make compromises where needed father we thank you for this time tonight that you would guide our time guide our decisions we pray all this in Jesus mighty name amen amen would you join me please in our Pledge of Allegiance I PL Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all okay we have the roll call please council member Yonker here council member Barry is absent council member Goodman pres council member heggestad is absent beard here vice mayor hustus here mayor orsborne present thank you very much uh item number two is comments from the public members of the audience May comment on any non-agenda item of interest do we have any speaker request cards there are no speaker requests is there anybody from the public wishing to speak right seeing none we will move on to Awards presentations and proclamations tonight we have none four is consent agenda items and new business approval of items on the consent agenda all items with an aster are considered to be routine matters will be enacted by one motion and vote of the city council there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member requests the section may include the approval of minutes from previous meetings Council for the consent agenda what is your pleasure Mr Mayor I make a motion we approve consent agenda items four a as an adom through four I as an item second I have a motion and a second for approval of the consent agenda all in favor say I I and opposed the consent agenda passes unanimous moving on to I item uh 5A and 5B uh no action will be taken on these items and let's see 5A the item and the accompany public hearing is continued to the April 1st 2025 regular council meeting and item 5B no action will be taken on this item the item accompanying public hearing is continued to the April 1st 20125 regular council meeting so on to item six public hearings non-consent new business 6A Council will hold a public hearing only related to the annexation of one parcel of land totaling approximately 5 Acres located approximately 1,000 ft west of South Apache Road along the South Frontage of belote Road and tonight presenting we have Miss Andrea Marquez good evening Andrea Marquez was senior planner as the mayor mentioned uh this is the first public hearing meeting for the AAL property annexation this slide shows the vicinity of the proposed annexation within our downtown area which is located just south of East belot Road and between 1st and 10th Street the property is currently undeveloped the goal for this area is to allow the future improvements to be managed and permitted through the city ensureing alignment with the City Planning and Development standards currently the property is under Maricopa County ru4 43 zoning which stands for rule 43 this zoning is typically sorry allows for the rule of residential development with large Lots sizes um 43,000 Square um foot per lot request is for annexation meaning that the property is being proposed for inclusion into the city limits which will then be allowed which will then allow the city level City level regulations and services to apply and once annexed the property would be rezoned to residential 43 which is compatible zoning with the county this zoning change aligns with the city's future development plans mentioned um the property to be annexed is approximately 5 Acres providing enough space for the plan improvements while meeting all zoning and development guidelines in summary this plan aims to um transition the area from a county level rural residential to a city managed residential zoning just Paving the way for the future development in line with the city gold this slide outlines the current status and compliance of the subject site which the state requirements in the progress of the annexation process the site meets the necessaries size dimension and contiguity requirements as set by State Statute this ensures a property is eligible for annexation and development and it adheres to all the legal criteria blank petition was recorded on February 20th of 2025 this is important milestone for the annexation process as it marks a formal submission of the request for the annexation into the city's notices in public comments um all required public notices regarding the annexation has been completed more importantly there were no public comments that we have received all reviewing departments have assessed and the proposal and there are no outstanding issues from any of them this suggests that the annexation request is in good standing the city's various departments which have likely reviewed aspects such as zoning infrastructure and compliance City Planning standard summary the annexation process is progressing smoothly with no legal no legal or Community related obstacles and all necessary steps have been taken to ensure compliance and address any potential concern as mentioned this is the first public hearing for all two public hearings for so for tonight there is no action by Council and the public hearing the consideration of the ordinance will for approval will be scheduled for April 15 ends my pres any questions okay we'll first open a public hearing and uh do we have any speaker request cards for item 6A there no speaker requests anybody from the public wishing to speak on 6a right here in none we will close the public hearing and Council any questions on item 6A vice mayor could you verify that date that you just gave April what was that date that you gave the last date April 15th 15th okay I just heard the five okay my mistake thank you Mr Mayor okay any other questions from Council okay this is a public hearing only we'll take no action on it tonight and it comes back on the 15th for another public hearing and uh motion at that time all right thank you very much Miss Andrea we will move on to item 6B Council to hold a public hearing and take action on ordinance number 08-25 amending the zoning map of the city of Buckey for approximately 46.6 Acres located at the northeast corner of rway and vuran Street alignment from planned residential to plann area development uh and Mr Ken galika is going to present thank you mayor council good evening uh this day after St Patrick's Day so yes yes the uh proposal before you tonight is a rezoning for a project called green light verado this is about uh 46 just a little over 46 Acres 46.6 Acres uh currently owned by uh the Buckeye Union High School District at the northeast corner of verado way and vanan uh Street alignment and I say alignment is because currently vanen does not continue east of of verado way location future it is planned go down and connect over to to Tuttle um existing uh land uses in the area uh currently largely undeveloped though that is uh soon to change there's been a lot of recently approved developments for uh the surrounding properties walk you through them to the north is the planned mix on Roosevelt development which is a mixed use commercial and multif family residential project uh with commercial shopping center and multif Family Apartments um to the east of that is the verado High Street another multif family project um to the uh South is uh South and South West are large properties under control ownership of the Arizona state land Department um those properties are the focus one of the focus areas anyway of the landing specific area plan that planning staff is is currently working on and then to the West uh that is the the area that is mostly developed at this point with West Mech as well as a ps's educational facility um you can see this subject property does have kind of some intricacies or irregularities in terms of the shape we have an existing uh City owned uh parcel at the southwest corner near the intersection uh for a Well site another one at the northeast corner uh as you can see it's carved out and then directly to the uh kind of Southeast is a city water campus facility uh the zoning map um shows a planned residential zoning on the property uh that is a zoning that is for traditional single family homes uh not something that would be in line with the vision of an activity center which is a much more active and vibrant area um with more density more retail more commercial uh office those types of uses um as shown on the general plan uh so tonight's request is to rezone this site um it is again just over 46 acres and the request to resonant to plant area development um the pad uh does kind of propose segmenting the the property into uh five different parcels and I'll just kind of briefly walk you through those so parcel a which is at the northwest corner of the site that's shown in red if this works um so the northwest corner of site right at the intersection of Filmore Street which runs East South uh East West and verway which which runs north south uh that's about uh 5.7 Acres that will be developed with future commercial we have tailored those uses to eliminate um or more so to focus on the uses that would best serve a vibrant type of activity center so we've tried to eliminate the things that are less vibrant Mini Storage um car washes those types of things that are are more geared toward Vehicles than than pedestrians um out of that parcel B uh second largest of the parcels this is about uh 14.9 acres and that is planned to be a market rate multif family project about 291 units is what would be anticipated there that's a density of about 24 units per acre parcel C this is the largest against Filmore just in back of the commercial um 15 1 12 acres uh again uh multif family has anticipated on that uh parcel at 335 units again the 24 which is typical for your kind of suburban um Garden style density um but we are working to make sure that the appearance here is is more urban uh parcel d uh the smallest of the parcels outside of the commercial uh is uh 6.5 acres and uh that's the parcel that Greenlight so the name for this p8 is is Greenlight verado U green light development is looking to develop that particular parcel with attainable multifam uh meaning um smaller units like Stu uh Focus On Studio and one bedrooms as opposed to two and three bedrooms and that would push the density as you can see on the screen uh up to uh 308 units which would be just under 54 to the acre and then lastly parcel e um is just reserved within the pad um to allow for expansion of the city's water campus facility developer property owner have been in discussions with the city um to turn that property over to the city to allow for that expansion which is needed briefly run through um some of the modifications that are proposed in the pad um I mentioned my brief overview in the commercial parcel um some of the auto intensive and low intens commercial uses that would be allowed in a typical commercial zone are Exempted out or prohibited within this pad car washes Car Sales data centers Mini Storage the type of things that if it was next door to your house you're likely not walking to U there's just no reason to walk you probably have to take your car over there at the minimum um we have also established within this p a maximum setback typically our code will require minimum setbacks um to have landscape frontages whatnot within the landing we we want to start creating that more urban finished built Edge type of aesthetic um so we have established a maximum building setback from all the adjacent streets would be Filmore uh vanen Street to the South as well as verado uh and those buildings would be required within that 20 foot maximum setback um we also uh have reduced the uh setback between the commercial and the residential it's because it's part of one um one integrated project it's not like you're going to be impacting potentially negatively um any existing residents in area um we do establish a relatively uh low but but still higher than a a standard on story minimum Building height that's to create that uh at least a little bit more verticality along that verado W Frontage and lastly um we do provide uh a Prohibition between building Street for any car parking so it will be the buildings that you see uh the multif family standards and that would apply to all three uh of the different Parcels so um even though one is designated in the PAD as attainable um doesn't mean that they have reduced uh sort of design requirements so everything will still have a a very high quality aesthetic the uses themselves as far as residential uses are per the mf2 district no modifications um the maximum setback very similar to the commercial uh would still apply so 20 feet those residential buildings would be pressed up to the street to kind of create that uh finished Edge um there is a minimum Building height for the residential buildings established of 30 ft so that's a minimum of three stories and a maximum of 65 so that's about six with a little ornamentation on top would be the maximum um there is a increased landscape percentage that's included within the p8 that would increase it from the 10% that is typically required to 15% so there will be with that additional Landscaping room for open space amenities dog parks pools those types of facilities um because we're deemphasizing parking by requiring it interior to the site is opposed to visible from the adjacent streets um we are supportive of a reduced landscape parking rot requirement um so the landscape will be focused more for usable types of of areas throughout the site um we also are including within this p8 A reduced guest parking requirement but only for uh components of the project where studio and one bedrooms are the predominant uh types of units because you have a studio very likely you're not going to be entertaining at least more than one person at a time within that that small unit uh with regard to design um contemporary architecture will be required as as we are requesting throughout the landing area that's kind of the vision that we're trying to uh develop here something a little bit more contemporary Cutting Edge um there will be common elements colors materials shared across the full site that does not mean we want Parcels a b c and d to to develop in an identical fashion we certainly want character uh to vary between parcels and there are lots of uh requirements within the pad for for facade articulation movement height variation Etc um the images that are on your screen uh currently um are not the elevations that will be constructed here these are just examples from the builders within or the expected Builders within this pad of other projects they have done they kind of uh demonstrate the level of quality that would be anticipated but we will want to work with them uh additionally to refine these and get them to a style that we feel is appropriate uh as is is pretty typical the developer will complete all adjacent half Street improvements and that would be to all three of the surrounding streets Filmore verado and beran uh they do anticipate doing that in a single phase the initial phase of development so there won't be multiple street closures um at multiple times through the project life um there are multiple points of access provided to each of the ab Parcels ABC and D um including from that internal uh loop road as you probably noticed this private Street here um which is a uh serves the purpose of kind of creating a main entry for the site but also uh providing good vehicular access to Parcels B and C directly from verado via that private drive and that would be a private Street um a comprehensive pedestrian network is required by the zoning document um so we we will be very cognizant during the site plan process to make sure that's provided the biggest component to that will be if you follow you can see this green belt Corridor that runs that kind of cuts the property in half from an East West standpoint and then connects down south to Van Beren um this portion um will be a uh a drainage facility there will be a a wide um drainage Channel with an above ground or or at grade I should say um Trail Corridor adjacent to it uh and what that's going to do is is really create a benefit for all the three of the multif family Parcels who will be able to access that Corridor uh and uh get down to the commercial or Beyond even to the to the Future commercial within the rest of the area um without ever coming into conflict with a car so um if you live here don't have to go down here uh to to get to you the commercial just hop in the trail Corridor and you're there uh and then lastly this is a pretty interesting um something I'm I'd be excited to see developed um because there is a pretty significant grade change from verado way down to this particular grade of this property and there is a regional drainage need um to be accommodated when this property develops on the commercial parcel there will be uh some form of of pedestrian bridge or connection to the property um that really tries to activate that Frontage rather than uh if you're a pedestrian tough luck just drive into the site so um that's something the details will be worked out but I expect something like that with regard to analysis um we do feel as uh as staff that the p is consistent um with what we've heard so far from the public even though we're not done uh that they want to see within the Buckeye Gateway Activity Center what we're calling the landing um addresses several goals uh densification which is super important in this area you've heard me say uh several times to supporting the desired commercial growth within the area um this p8 um near and dear to my heart does emphasize The Pedestrian um some of the coolest pedestrian design features requirements within the p80 that that I've seen previously um I've noted that we feel that the commercial uses are are appropriate uh and then the multif family from a a design standpoint um the urban vertical contemporary aesthetic is going to be achieved so we're going to really start creating a place a place that feels unique um developer will again complete all the infrastructure that's required so there's no additional burden on the city from from that stand a relatively quiet public participation process for this project uh there was a neighborhood meeting that was held uh toward the end of last year December 19th at the coyote Library um no attendees other than myself and and the applicant um we've received no written support or opposition for the project to date um the developer is working with Liberty on a donation agreement Liberty Elementary School District on a donation agreement um for their school expansions while this is obviously owned by Buckeye Union High School District they've said they do have adequate capacity um all notices have been completed and pnz did recommend approval uh back in February 25th uh so mayor with that um staff is recommending approval subject to conditions a through G there is a public hearing required uh tonight and Jeff blly doesn't have any prepar excuse me prepared remarks but is available if you should have any questions uh on behalf of of the applicant Jeff with uh Gilbert bliley Law Firm okay thank you Mr galika uh let's do the public hearing first we'll open a public hearing and do we have any speaker request cards there are no speaker requests anybody from the public wishing to speak I'm seeing none so we will close the public hearing and go to uh questions from Council do we have any uh vice mayor I've got a couple of them not directly dealing with the housing but how is the water up there at that campus that we're going to be able how is the water up there at that campus that we're going to be able supposedly expanding on uh mayor uh vice mayor um Terry low a Water Resources Director gave me the thumbs up so he indicates to me that's a good quality you like more information no that's all right ter says it's okay and how is that going to be signed over to the city I mean we're getting 6.47 Acres of property how does that take place do they just sign it over as a gift or how does that go about transpiring over to the property of the city of buy mayor orsborne vice mayor um the way uh the our negotiations have gone with green light is that um they're acquiring this site from the Buckeye Union High School District when they close on their property uh we're going to do an exchange with the green light um in exchange for that six plus or minus Acres uh to expand our North Airport Road water campus we're going to give them water credits we have some available water that they can use on site uh for their project to satisfy their uh water delivery needs and so that's that's it's essentially an exchange for water rights and we'll acquire that property much needed property to expand that North Airport Road water campus so that becomes a city of buckas property no strings attached that's correct sir thank you very much thank you Mr Mayor yeah just a a followup real quick to that U Mr attorney that that uh the six acres that we get for the expansion of the water campus that that's that uh infrastructure is not entirely for this parcel it's for the entire region uh that it serves is that that correct that's correct that's a regional water uh facility and it serves well beyond the area that we're talking about yes sir okay great thank you U councilman Goodman yeah can was this the project that is going to be Net Zero or use a lot of renewable sources to provide Power mayor uh council member Goodman this is not the project you're thinking of um that that is the um verado High Street proper project which is north of Filmore just a little off of verado way um that said um it's conceivable that any of these multif family could also want to do that we're just not to that point um to know yet okay thank you I knew it was in that area somewhere appreciate it that's been Yer yeah uh on the parcel I think it's D uh is the um yeah that is there only one am I seen that right there's only one access point or is there access that goes into parcel C uh mayor council member Yonker um there's a conceptually at this point in time only one public access point um there will uh be an emergency connection through one of the other Parcels that would be required when we get to the SEL process okay just making sure I wasn't missing something thank you yeah uh thank you councilman Yer um no questions uh Mr gica just a a quick question on the minimum and maximum Heights um let's see the 30 foot and the 65 ft is that for each one of those Parcels so each one of those has a minimum and a Max correct okay and then if you go to the I think it's one or two slides over the uh to the right the um where you show the little pedestrian bridge overneath over the top of the drainage the the I know this is just um a for instance here but a two-story and if you have that that change in elevation there I I think what we would all cheer for is a a much taller building so that you actually do get that that feeling of uh of a the scale that we're looking for along the the road Edge may just to point out um that pedestrian bridge is from the rway sidewalk to the commercial which could potentially only be one story um so they are showing the two-story office type of building here um but that's that's a good point and something we can hopefully work work toward with the developer yeah I I love the project love the concept the location uh the densities and and even taller I think we've had that discussion with with people here especially along verado way in this area and the more the more scale we can get the more vertical we can get I think the the more special it makes us look and and that doesn't doesn't have to be throughout every single part because there's probably a limit to how many people we can squeeze into the the parcel but um that scale is is pretty impressive when you're driving up and down the road or uh it's just kind of a sense of arrival I think that we're trying to create in this area okay all right thank you uh Council any other questions on six Bravo okay then Council what is your pleasure Mr Mayor I would like to make a motion that we accept item number 6B as in bravo as presented all second I have a motion for approval in a second all in favor say I I I and opposed okay 6B passes unanimous all right thank you Council thank you Mr galika and uh green light go fast thank you all right seven uh comments from mayor and counsel are there any comments from mayor and council tonight uh vice mayor I just wanted to thank those that were involved and helped out at the liftup event that we held at summmer the Community Church lift up event for veterans we had between 100 and 120 veterans show up and with families and kids and everybody else that may or may not have been veterans probably close to 200 people we just had our meeting today our follow-up meeting today and um other than one or two small glitches people were very happy uh and with the with the results we got with the participation we got and uh it was a turned out to be a pretty good event uh I know the um Elks gave away $20 gift guards and I believe they said today they give away 60 or 80 of those uh and um there was quite a bit of help provided and somebody brought over dog food so we had the whole front area covered with dog and cat food which was taken away so there were enough people there that needed a lot of the items that were there so I just want to thank anyone that was involved and anyone that supported us thank you Mr Mayor yeah thank you vice mayor um we did receive a complaint about that event somebody gave vice mayor a Bullhorn in the middle of that and he was running around hollering at people on the bullhorn I don't know what that was Chief I don't know what that was about but that's the only complaint we received was a red bullhorn Maybe from fire I don't yes got a thumbs up from fire okay uh councilman Yar uh yes last week I was able to go to our nation's capital and uh go to the National League of cities and towns uh and represent the city at both the conference and uh on Capitol Hill and visit our legislators and um be able to mingle with people that have different problems and a lot of the same problems and hopefully trying to find some solutions for those but also highlight of the week is spending some time with the Buckeye youth Council got to go a tour the capital with them and go to Senator Kelly's office with them and it was a cool group of kids so we're doing well in the city of Buckeye yeah yep well said Thank You council member okay uh item number eight city manager support and sum of your current events mayor members of council just a couple items uh join us next for the next concert in the park this Saturday March 22nd from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

at Festival Foothills Park enjoy classic rock and Timeless oldies performed by The Fabulous decades bring your your lawn chairs blankets for an evening of music games for the family local food trucks and free giveaways and then second we have the youth sports program had a strong start to our soccer and flag football leagues this season the soccer league has 100 teams and 1,126 players while football flag football BS 44 teams in 440 players and if you want to do your math that's 10 players per team math guy in me has to tell you that um please feel free to visit our website for more information on upcoming Sports and enrollment and that concludes my report all right good job Rainman um number nine proposal for future agenda items are there any from Council tonight I'm not seeing any item number 10 with nothing else on the agenda we are adjourned