Buckeye Council Approves Festival Marketplace Notice of Intent as Council Divided Over Industrial Development Strategy and Tax Incentive Wisdom

Okay, we'll call this meeting to order. This is the city of Buckeye regular council meeting for September 15, 2026. We will begin with the invocation led by uh Pastor Steven Hood from West Valley Community Church, followed by the pledge of allegiance led by uh Council Member Jermaine Barry. Would you please stand? Thank you. What an honor to be here. And my name is Stephen from West Valley Community Church, Arizona native and proud Buckeye resident. Uh let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we love you. Thank you for this day that you have made and thank you for the occasion to be gathered. Lord, uh we just uh pray a special blessing upon all of those that will speak tonight. Lord, we pray that you would be with us uh in our conversation, in our debate, in our questions, and in our answers. Lord, may uh you fill our speech um with the right heart, Lord. And I pray for each individual serving here. Lord, first of all, thank you that they would serve.

But Lord, I pray that you would help guide them and direct them in ways that bring good to us, good to Buckeye, and honor and glory to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. I alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you both. [cough] We will move on to roll call, please. Council member Yoner is absent. Council member Barry here. Council member Hagestad here.

Council member Beard here. Council member Hust here. Vice Mayor Goodman is absent. Mayor Osborne present. Thank you very much. Item number two is comments from the public. Members of the audience may comment on any non-aggenda item of interest. Uh we will start with uh Sean Fogerty. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm Sean Fogerty with the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. Um I'm here on behalf of GPEC to where I lead the um work on foreign direct investment and international strategy.

So tonight, I want to thank you, mayor, and the council for participating in a statewide economic development mission held in conjunction with the Semicon Taiwan 2026 exhibition to share why that participation mattered. Buckeye is taking its place on the global stage to compete for the jobs and investments of tomorrow. [clears throat] And this mission was a clear example of that in action. Buckeye is already growing. But that goal isn't simply more growth.

It's building a stronger, more balanced economy that brings quality jobs and new opportunities to this community. Your decision to send Buckeye's own representatives on this trip is a direct investment in that goal. Buckeye joined more than 100 representatives from over 40 Arizona delegation uh organizations on this mission. This includes mayors from Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale, and more. Having Buckeye in the room was important.

[clears throat] No one else could tell Buckeye's story, sell its sites, or answer a company's specific questions about this city the way your own representatives could. Because Buckeye was there, our city was able to showcase what it has to offer for future investments in semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, aviation, and other high-tech industries. directly in front of those companies making these decisions rather than relying on someone else to make that case secondhand.

That participation carries real benefits for this community. Bringing these industries to Buckeye can diversify our economy, create career opportunities closer to home, and strengthen our position in Arizona's growing technology sector. None of that happens automatically and none of it happens without someone from Buckeye choosing to get on a plane and represent this city. Let me be clear, major investments don't happen overnight.

A company doesn't decide to build a billion-dollar facility after one phone call. These decisions take years and they're built on relationships. And Buckeye's participation in this mission started building exactly those relationships. Being in the room today is how Buckeye ensures it's part of the conversation when these companies decide where to invest tomorrow. So, thank you, mayor and council, for supporting Buckeye's p participation.

It's the kind of decision that may not show results tomorrow, but it's exactly the kind of decision that pays off for this community for years to come. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Sean. [clears throat] Uh, next up is Michael Nus. My name is Michael Nus and I'm standing before you tonight because I care deeply about the future of our community, our neighborhoods, and the legacy we are building for generations to come. Right now, Buckeye is at a critical crossroads.

We are one of the fastest growing cities in the nation and the decisions you make in this chamber will dictate what kind of city we become. While I understand the desire to bring high-paying jobs and economic growth to our area, I'm here to urge this council to reconsider the push for heavy industrial zoning, specifically the efforts to attract a massive semiconductor manufacturing plant. My concerns are twofold, our water security and our identity.

First, we cannot ignore the reality of our water supply. The Arizona Department of Water Resources has already raised the alarm regarding our groundwater projections. Semiconductor plants are notoriously water intensive, requiring millions of gallons of water every single day. Even with advanced recycling, the sheer raw volume required risk straining our local water infrastructure.

We should not be risking our precious limited water portfolio on heavy manufacturing when our households and future master plans need that stability. Second, we need to look closely at where our leadership's priorities lie. Just two weeks ago on September 1st, Mayor Osborne was absent from our council meeting because he was across the globe in Taiwan actively attending a semiconductor convention that cost the city thousands of dollars. Our mayor was courting a semiconductor facility for Buckeye.

Is this the kind of leadership we want in Buckeye? We need to ask ourselves, what is the ultimate vision for Buckeye? When we look across the valley to a city like Scottsdale, we see a premier destination. We see high-end master plan communities, corporate offices, luxury hospitality, and ecoourism that capitalizes on beautiful desert landscapes just like our own white tank mountains.

If we fill thousands of acres with heavy industrial mega sites, warehouses, chemical supply routes, rail yards, we permanently lock Buckeye into being an industrial zone. We miss the opportunity to become the Scottsdale of the West Valley. We can achieve a thriving economy without sacrificing our environment or our aesthetics.

I urge this council to pivot our economic development away from high water, heavy industry, and instead focus on lowwater, corporate headquarters, upscale commercial districts and premium tourism. Let's protect our water, raise our property values, and build a destination city we can all be proud of. Thank you, Jessica Leonardo. Sorry about that. Good evening, mayor and committee. My name is Jessica D. Leonardo.

I'm a Buckeye resident and the owner of Desert Rituals LLC and an Arizona licensed massage therapist with 17 years of experience. I'm here to thank the city for correcting my business license and to request that the correction be completed throughout Buckeye City code and licensing system. The city changed massage parlor to massage establishment in its development user fee schedule on May 21st, 2026.

However, the business license I sub subsequently received still classified it as a massage parlor in September. After I provided the city with a copy of the licensing, they promptly updated the system and the issue was corrected on the certificate. I sincerely appreciate that response. The records provided by the city reveal that the underlying city code has not been amended. Article 8-6 is still titled massage parlors and section 8-1-1 continues to use that term.

These provisions originated with ordinance 18-09 adopted in 2009. This creates an inconsistency. The fee schedule and my corrected license say massage establishment. But the governing code still says massage parlors. The code does not define massage parlor. Instead, it defines and regulates massage establishments, massage therapists, and mobile massage therapists.

I respectfully ask the council to direct the city attorney and appropriate staff to prepare an ordinance replacing massage parlor with massage establishment or massage therapy establishment throughout the city code. I also ask the city to identify businesses that receive licenses containing the former classification, notify them, and provide corrected certificates without additional fees. This is not merely a matter of wording.

Licensed massage therapists routinely experience sexual solicitation, harassment, threats, and sometimes assault because our profession continues to be confused with illegal sexual activity. Therapists can also encounter dismissal, uncertainty, and lack of meaningful cooperation when attempting to report these incidents to law enforcement. Reports involving sexual solicitation, harassment, stalking, threats, and assault should be accepted and documented seriously.

therapists should receive clear information about evidence preservation and the opportunity to report case follow-up. I ask that the city council work with the Buckeye Police Department to establish a clear and traumainformed reporting process for incidents involving massage professionals. Thank you for correcting my license and for considering these additional steps to protect the professionalism and dignity and safety of our massage therapy community. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Um, Mr. or city attorney, can somebody just provide an update on that? Yeah, real. Uh, we have our development services team has worked with Jessica and has the thing has the language that we're looking at. We are looking to update our business licensing code to reflect those requests. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, next speaker request is Joe Van Sutman. Good evening. Um, I've got my computer here because my printer broke, so forgive me. I'm here to talk about data centers.

Um, [clears throat] let me start off by by saying where are the water, electricity, and patr pollution control measures coming from. At its last public meeting, council approved the West Park master plan community development of about 1,700 acres. It's what I think of as you know, shopping, residential, a master plan community.

What was not said at the meeting was that West Park, according to an industry publication, is planning 19 data centers in their master plan community, but council didn't tell us about the data centers. Why? Maybe it's because the city of Buckeye recently put a data center fact sheet on its website site just in case you were pursuing the website. The fact sheet generally says modern tech designs and the strict requirements from Buckeye can reduce on-site water consumption.

It also says data centers will pay for electricity infrastructure. It also says modern data centers are quieter and have mitigation to solve noise issues. It says data centers will provide hundreds of jobs. Two pages of upspeak. Aren't the citizens entitled to more? Please, council, don't tell me you followed the law related to public notice. You need to do more. Here's what you didn't do.

The only emailing from the city of Buckeye I get regularly, and I've been here for over four years, is the monthly newsletter I am Buckeye. There, the only remote mention of a data center was about a semiconductor company moving to Buckeye. Remote, not even mentioned as a data center. To be fair, on the city of Buckeye website, you can visit a place where you can get put in your email and they will email you council agenda items.

I read their I read their third party privacy agreement and it stated that it shares info with Google along with several other tech companies, your third party website. No thanks for sharing that with them. So, uh, in fact, so I went to the agenda packet. I read the West Park approvals had to mention had had I read after the West Park approvals there was no mention of Dennerson data centers in that meeting. Why? Then I watched the YouTube council video of the West Park unanimous approvals.

Not one resident spoke. I didn't even know if any resident was there. I heard no council me mention data centers. No council member. when the YouTube watch the YouTube video. Here's what Mayor Orisborn said to the planner Ken Gallica who presented West Park's light industrial plans. Let me said you had made a comment that lighter industrial that it would not be people outside drilling. What exactly do you think happens at these sites? They work inside buildings, right?

No outside drilling and whatnot. Wouldn't that have been a good time to mention that the buildings would be data centers with the cameras recording to the good citizens of Buckeye would know from watching the video on YouTube. The local newspaper printed an article about Buckeye's West Park approvals. There was no mention of data centers because those two words were never uttered. There's a problem with communication. If no one is coming, mail them letters. Put out more press releases.

Have more town councils. get more of the opposition's points and hold hearings on data centers. Thank you very much. Thank you, Joe. Okay, those are all the speaker request cards I have for the public comment. Um on item number two, we'll move on to item number three, awards, presentations, proclamations. We do not have any of those uh tonight. Item number four is consent agenda items and new business approval of items on the consent agenda.

All items with an asterct are considered to be routine matters being acted by one motion and vote of the city council. There be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member requests. The section may include the approval of minutes from previous meetings. And I have um one speaker request card. Um Misty Lynn Hernandez uh for agenda items 4G, 4H, and 5B. You can speak to those at uh at this time. Okay. Good evening, mayor and city council.

My name is Miss Den Hernandez and I am a Buckeye City resident. My comments concern items 4G, 4H, and 5B. I marked no on the form because it requires a yes or no response. I believe that until the cumulative impacts are understood and safeguards are in place, I could not possibly in good conscience support moving forward.

Regarding 4G, is the APS electrical infrastructure at the Festival Ranch water reclamation facility solely for the communications tower or is it for future expansion anticipated? Regarding 4, what will the three wells well number one, two, and four from 10, the 1085 developer ultimately serve, and what is their anticipated groundwater demand? Buckeye has acknowledged concerns regarding groundwater availability in the lower Hyampa subbasin.

Has the potential draw down on surrounding private wells been studied? And if so, when and how can we get those results? Will nearby private well owners be offered independent baseline testing of their choosing, not your choosing? And who will pay for that if so? And if increased pumping causes a measurable decline requiring a private homeowner with a well private well to lower a pump, deepen a well, or drill a replacement well, who pays for that?

Will that land on the taxpayer private well owners back? Regarding 5B, before a final festival marketplace agreement is approved, will the city disclose what infrastructure will be required, what the city may fund or reimburse, and whether it will provide capacity for additional development. I am asking these questions because the cumul cumulative impact of the decisions matter. Every person sitting on this city council is building a legacy.

Ultimately, every one of us is accountable to our maker, God, for how we steward what has been handed to us. That legacy can be one of wisdom, transparency, and responsible stewardship or that history can be remembered very differently. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Lynn. Uh, council, any comments or questions on the consent agenda items? I'm seeing none. If not, council, what's your pleasure on the consent agenda? Mr.

Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve consent agenda items 4A as an Adam through 4 I, as an item. Second. I have a motion for approval of consent agenda items and a second. All in favor say I. I. And opposed. and consent agenda passes unanimous. Thank you. On to item 5A. Council take action on funding the economic development catalyst program application for Barbone Acadero in the amount of 22,722 plus certain city fees eligible for reimbursement. And you're not Ashley.

Susie, you're presenting. Yes, mayor, members of the council, I do apologize. I am not Ashley. She sends her regrets for not being here tonight. She um absolutely would have wanted to be here to present this case. She's worked very closely on the catalyst program. She's done a fabulous job over the last year uh being our downtown project manager, managing this program, but also a lot of the other aspects within downtown.

Um she unfortunately cannot be here because she is at a retail conference in California uh recruiting additional retail and services to the community. So, she is putting in the good work uh marketing the whole city, but also marketing additional areas to downtown. So, unfortunately, you get stuck with me. Um, but she will be here at the next time to present any future catalyst updates uh for you. So, she does send her regrets for not being here.

Um, but with that, I will actually just go ahead and jump in. So, I am Susie Boles. I'm the economic development director, and we're going to go through the Catalyst program uh application that we are bringing forward for your consideration tonight. So, just a recap uh real quick, what is the catalyst program? We have been running this program for 12 years uh and we have assisted over 56 different projects.

Uh the program does offer grants up to $50,000 uh for eligible improvements and the applicant does have to contribute a match to that and we'll kind of walk through, you'll see that with the applicant tonight. Um, and one of the things that we did do to the program is we do now accept applications all year. And so we used to only accept these um, twice a year. We now accept them year round.

And so tonight we do have one application that meets all requirements that we would like to put forward um because we do open this year round from now on. Before we get into new requests, we do like to recap some of the uh, previous requests that council has approved. Uh, so completed projects do include the four that you see here. So, Southwest ChiroMed, uh, Flat Tortilla, the HFA Investments Building, as well as Snap Fitness.

And then there are three that you have previously approved that are still ongoing and they are working on their improvements. You can see Liquor Corral, All Faith Community Services, and Bucks Car Wash are still underway. At a future presentation, we will continue to give you updates on the progress of those previously approved catalyst awards. Before we get into kind of the proposal tonight, we did want to walk you through what does that review process look like.

So, while economic development does stand up here and has the privilege of running the program, um there are a lot of departments that are involved in this. And so, wanted to kind of walk you through how do we get before you tonight and the work that goes into the um application process. So, before an application is actually even received item number one here, uh Ashley is actively working with downtown businesses.

She presents it main street board meetings as well as uh chamber board meetings on the catalyst program. So we're continually um promoting and activating the catalyst program for awareness. Uh so before an application even comes in, we're staff is putting in a lot of work. Uh the applications do come in and they are vetted for completeness. Uh we do make sure we receive all of the required uh documentation that is needed with the the application.

Once we receive that, we then move to step two, which is a partner review. We do partner with both the um main street coalition as well as the Buckeye Chamber. Uh we send the applications to their review and consideration. They do provide feedback and comments. We then take that and we internally route it uh through various city departments. So uh every project regardless if it's catalyst funded or not does have to meet certain development code and process requirements.

And so that's what happens at phase three. Uh it does get routed through city departments such as planning, civil, building, traffic, fire, making sure that everything that is being proposed meets standard development code. Once it goes through that, we do then take that feedback and we meet with the applicant. We really want to make sure that the applicant understands what the process is, what they're in for, what the next steps are um before we award um any catalyst funding.

We want to make sure it's very transparent and they know how to um achieve success with their application. So, we do meet with the applicant and review those revisions. We then um in step five, you can kind of see we then acknowledge those. We we put in writing um here's the next step. Here's exactly the path forward for success. Should council um approve your catalyst, here's how you would go through that development process.

So that again, it goes back to memorializing how do we make sure that they understand what is required um through the development code, but also um how to move forward through that process, which then brings us to here tonight. So you can see there's a lot of work that goes into these applications before we bring them to council for consideration. So we're currently at step six. Uh we bring these forward for your consideration uh pending your um approval after this.

We do then notify the applicant to proceed. Uh so no work is done ahead of council's consideration. Once we do issue a notice to proceed, they do have one year uh to complete those improvements. So wanted to kind of walk through the process. I think that over the last 12 years, you've seen economic development up here a lot talking about the catalyst program, but there are a series of departments that uh support this and support a lot of these applications.

And we wanted to just kind of walk through that real quickly. Um in the case of the applicant tonight, uh one of the additional steps is we ensure that it meets the development code for that area of the city. And so the application uh being considered tonight does fall within downtown. And so a lot of the comments from staff specifically through the development services team is guided by the DSAP.

So we did work with DSD and planning specifically um making sure that the catalyst application does meet everything that's required and and is shown within the DSAP, the vision, the character, and the design goals and what we're going to be presenting to you tonight does actually meet all of that. Uh we do have planning here to support that if there were any additional questions. But in that review, we do review everything that is included in the application.

So, the facade improvements, the exterior finishes, the landscaping, the awning, and the signage that you are about to see are all part of the elements that are considered um within the DEAP and are consistent with what the DAP requires. But it's not just the DAP. Again, everything that comes through Catalyst uh does still have to meet development code and we do look at making sure it's um complimentary to the surrounding downtown environment.

So we coordinate this to make sure that obviously the individual property um meets the catalyst requirements but also contributes to the broader longer term vision of downtown Buckeye. And so the DAP really is great in these kind of scenarios because it provides that roadmap of what exactly the residents and council wants to see in downtown and Catalyst can be one of the the uh basically vehicles to see those that vision come to life through visible improvements.

So I want to kind of launch right into our applicant for tonight. I do want to acknowledge that Mr. and Mrs. Martinez are here uh with Barbon Acadoo and so we are going to kind of walk through what they are presenting. Uh they are very excited for your consideration of their application tonight. So you can see up here on the screen the approximate total project cost is just under $33,000.

U as mentioned earlier there is a percentage that the applicant does have to contribute to the overall project. So the applicant's contribution is just over $10,000 and the catalyst award would be a reimbursement of just over $22,000. So what we're asking for your consideration tonight is the catalyst portion of that which is the $22,722. So let me walk you through a little bit about that. So what is let me tell you a little bit about Barone.

We want to make sure that you understand this is an existing business in the community and it actually originated as a food stand in May of 2020 before they opened their very first brickandmortar location in Goodyear. Uh they relocated that location out of Goodyear to Buckeye in 2023 because they were truly drawn to the community and our rich history of our downtown. It is a family-owned and operated u Mexican steakhouse. They specialize in authentic Mexican cuisine with a modern twist.

And if any of you have been there, you know that to be true. Uh they have a very delicious menu. Um so I encourage you to um go and check it out. Uh and they are very passionate about not only being in Buckeye but contributing to the growth of downtown. So we are very excited and Ashley has worked very closely with Mr. and Mrs. Martinez um on this application. We're excited for your consideration tonight. So what exactly are they proposing?

The improvements they are proposing is removing the eastern storefront entrance and completing the facade. So if you can envision uh there are two glass fronts there in that image. The glass front basically on the left has a door. The door will be removed. That's what that eastern storefront entrance is. They will be removing that and making it a flat uh glass storefront. You can see here they're adding signage, landscaping, lighting, and awnings.

And the overall goal with this um application is to improve the enhanced visibility of their uh business establishment, but also create additional interior seating by the removal of that door. It actually does allow for more interior seating within the building um and improve the pedestrian experience. You can see from what they're looking at here on the external side of the building, uh how that will enhance the external and pedestrian experience in this area.

And so with that, staff does recommend approval of the proposed catalyst funding tonight. It does meet all of the catalyst application requirements as well as, like I said, the development code requirements that all the city staff uh and departments have uh reviewed, but that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay. Council questions on agenda item 5A. Uh no questions, but I would like to make a comment. Uh this is this is something we need downtown.

That look right there. It it it I mean they already have ignited our area with their food and their their culture and how the building looks. But to bring this downtown, it's it's it'll just change everything. It's a game changer. So I do like the look. It's it's a good idea. Uh, and uh, like to thank the Martinezes for what you guys done during the uh, just when we had that long power outage to open their building up to the community to uh, cool off. They were hot just late late uh, late July.

So, thank you guys for that. I never told you guys thank you. But they made a post and uh, open their building up to the community. So, thank you guys for that. Okay, any other comments? Uh, just echo on what Council Member Barry said. Uh, and it is really neat to see the picture of the trailer, the Tacos Barbone trailer, uh, and where you have been and where you are now. Um, when we leave here tonight, I now everybody's going to do this.

Drive out, look, and you can see in the restaurant, and I guarantee it's going to be half full of people on a Tuesday night. Um, probably people youtubing the council meetings, I would assume, in there. uh but uh but is just a a treasure in the downtown area and so thrilled to uh be able to support that with um the catalyst grant and uh and want you guys to continue and prosper here. So congratulations on all your success and where you've come from and where you are now.

It's a great date night restaurant. Uh okay, council agenda item 5A. What's your pleasure? Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve consent, excuse me, we approve item 5A as an Adam. Second. I have a motion for approval on agenda item 5A and a second. All in favor say I. I. And opposed. 5A passes unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, Susie. All right. You're sticking around. Mhm.

Uh, item 5B, council, take action on resolution number 83-26, adopting the notice of intent to enter into an economic development tax incentive agreement with Festival Marketplace LLC in Arizona limited liability company and findings of fact. And Susie Boils, you're presenting again. Yes, mayor, members of the council. Susie Boils, your economic development director. Thank you for having me for the second time tonight. Uh, I am going to walk you through this particular item.

Tonight is a notice of intent to enter into a development agreement with Festival Marketplace. And so I want to go ahead and just jump right in. So I want to talk a little bit about what is a notice of intent. So what is and is not happening tonight specifically.

So per state statute, the city is required to adopt a notice of intent when they are planning to enter into a retail development uh tax incentive agreement at least 14 days ahead of when council would be asked to consider said agreement. The staff does intend to bring that actual development um tax incentive agreement back to council no sooner than October 6th, which would meet the 14-day requirement. Um but the other thing that a notice of intent is intended to do is to do two things.

And so the first is uh basically walk through the fact that the amount of revenue generated from the proposed development far exceeds um the amount of the incentive that is being that will be presented to you in the future. And the second is that in a in absence of that tax incentive festival marketplace would not develop in the same time or place as required by this agreement.

So what is not happening tonight is you are not obligating the city financially for anything or approving a development agreement. Um so that's kind of what the notice of intent does. So let me walk you through a little bit. So what is Festival Marketplace? So it is a 15acre mixeduse retail dining and service center located at the northeast corner of Sun Valley Parkway in Canyon Springs developed by Peterson Group.

And I do want to acknowledge that both Jim Peterson and Rob Basset with Peterson Group are here this evening in support of your consideration of our notice of intent tonight. So, thank you for being here. Uh you can see up here the uh site plan and a proposed elevation of the particular grocery store that would be located here uh anticipated to be a Safeway. So, want to walk you through a little bit of the um benefits to festival marketplace.

So I think the first and foremost is that this will bring a new commercial development to this area uh that is underserved in our community. So if you think about not only in festival but the residents that live up and down Sun Valley Parkway uh there are underserved when it comes to retail and services. So this will be bringing some of those services to that area of our community.

But we believe that more importantly this addresses the retail leakage out of the city of Buckeye to other communities. It's no uh it's no secret that our residents in that particular area leave the city um and and do their spending in other nearby communities. What this does is that actually then recaptures that resident spending back within the community that we are leaking out of the community right now.

So one of the pieces that we did um to kind of analyze these benefits is part of this process is we are required to do a third-party economic impact analysis. So we did contract with Elliot Dolik. uh we did facilitate that and it walks through the direct revenues that we could recapture back to the city with this particular development. So want to walk you through a couple of those facts that came out of that report.

Uh this is approximately just shy of a $37 million capital investment for the entire center. It will create 160 construction jobs, 330 permanent jobs within the center. And then direct revenue to the city. It will generate 1.7 million during construction, 2.1 million every year upon stabilization of the center and over the next 10 years it will generate 22 million in direct revenue to the city from the development of festival marketplace.

So while tonight you are not being asked to enter into any financial obligation or a development agreement, we did want to share some of the essence of the things that we you will see in the future when that comes back. So things that we are working through is they will be required um the festival marketplace will be required to con construct a fullervice grocery store. They will be required to construct all the associated public infrastructure with development of the entire 15acre site.

What that infrastructure includes as part of this particular consideration is a traffic signal at Canyon Springs and the northernmost access point, modifications to the traffic signal at Canyon Springs and Sun Valley Parkway that exists today, as well as certain off-site water, sewer, and paving costs. We will be asking them to anticipate that they start construction by June of 27 and complete construction by December of 27.

And that is when our residents would be able to enjoy and partake in the services that would be within that center. How would we then facilitate the reimbursement and the incentive that we're proposing forward? So, Festival Marketplace would be reimbursed not to exceed $1.46 million. That reimbursement will be specifically for public infrastructure costs associated with the development of that 15 acres. So, I'd previously mentioned what some of those were.

their uh civil engineer and their traffic team have been working with our civil and traffic divisions within development services on making sure that all of that public infrastructure does meet development code and all of that has been vetted through the city staff and it does meet code and that's how we derived some of these uh potential public infrastructure improvement costs and the reimbursement that we are going to be um considering and you will be considering in the future is performance-based so the 49% of the construction and retail sales sales tax that are generated from the center would be reimbursed over time.

Again, not to exceed the 1.4 million. So, it would be a performance-based situation. Want to go a little bit further into that and kind of uh acknowledge that one of the benefits to the Elliot Dol uh thirdparty economic impact analysis is that is the report that does prove that the benefits to the community do outweigh the incentive that we are um going to be proposing before you um in the future.

And so you can kind of see here, we do anticipate that this particular $1.4 million um of reimbursement could be paid off within two years of the grocery store opening. You can see that Elliot D. Pollock does a 10-year analysis. When you factor in the direct revenues from construction and the sales tax within the center and 49% of that going back, you can see within year two that would be paid off. You can see the stabilization rate happens within year four of the overall center.

So this is is one of the pieces of the notice of intent tonight is to show that the revenue outweighs that particular incentive. And then in summary, I just want to kind of recap what festival marketplace is is they will construct 115,000 square foot commercial center in Buckeye, which includes a fullervice grocery store. It will include uh certain public infrastructure costs whereby the city will be reimbursing the developer for those associated costs not to exceed the 1.46 million.

The reimbursement absolutely will be performance-based. So, should the center not perform or meet the agreement obligations, we are not obligated to reimburse the developer for those costs. And again, today we are not asking council to actually financially obligate the city or approve a development agreement. This is simply just the notice of intent um which is 14 days ahead of uh your future consideration of that.

I do want to make a note that there is a public infrastructure reimbursement agreement for regional off-site improvements also associated with this area of the community. That particular public infrastructure reimbursement agreement does include paving, median modifications, and sidewalk improvements not to exceed 2.3 million, which is separate from uh the the consideration that we are uh talking about within the notice of consent.

Those are the regional off-site improvements uh that will come before council again in the future at a future time. So, that is also not being asked of council um tonight, but did want to pay homage to that uh separate item that is trailing this one. And that is my presentation. I am happy to answer any questions council may have. Okay. Thank you, [clears throat] Susie. Um council, let's see. Let's um let's do this. Let's go to council questions. Uh any questions from council on this item?

I don't I don't have any questions, but I just want to say long time coming. [clears throat] this. We're grateful for the taking a look at this area of the city that this developer has done and the great work that's gone in with the city trying to work with them to make this project possible. People have been begging for some retail out there along Sun Valley Parkway for over a decade and [clears throat] is finally coming to fruition.

So, thanks all staff and thanks for the Peterson Group and those that work so hard to get it done. And Mayor, Council Mayor Hegad, thank you for those remarks. I do want to uh pay respect for uh Tanal who is our retail uh senior project manager within the department. She has been working with uh Peterson Group uh for a very long time and has actually been working on bringing retail to festival for even longer. Uh she is also not here tonight. She does apologize.

She is also at a retail conference in California looking to bring additional retail and services to the community. But I do want to say that she has worked really hard and has worked with um internal departments as well as Peterson Group on tonight's um opportunity. So, thank you. Okay. Appreciate that. Thank you. Just a quick question. Do you know the distance between Festival and the closest grocery store which would be on what on Watson? Well, now Miller. Any idea what that distance?

So, I don't know the distance to the closest Buckeye grocery store would be the one on Miller. Yeah. uh would be the the closest one that we see the most leakage out of the community is on Bell Road and basically loop 303. So building this Safeway would put the money back into our city. Absolutely. Yes, we are leaking that to other communities currently.

And so, not only does this provide the retail amenities to a growing part of the community and that population, but it does help us basically close that gap and that leakage to other communities and retain that revenue here. And that revenue then can obviously be used for the growth of our community. Right. Thank you. You bet. Thank you for the question. Susie, can you uh this has been talked about for a long long time.

I think Patrick had a full head of hair when we were initially talking about grocery stores back in the day. Uh, and can you maybe explain a little bit why it hasn't happened until now? It's starting all the way back when PY was beginning the development out there. Sure, absolutely. So, a lot of the retail that you're seeing across the community um, makes decisions based on a trade area.

And so what a lot of the retailers look like look at is they want a certain population and household income within that particular trade area. And so if you think about how festival and how other communities along Sun Valley Parkway have grown and developed over the years, uh we had to see a critical mass get developed within that area in order to meet those trade area requirements for these retailers.

So if you think about um you know you need about 10,000 homes in that area, you need a certain number of uh household income. And so there's a lot of different criterias based on the different retailer um that that needs to be met.

And so we had been working really really hard uh for several years to tell the story that not only are those residents living there now, but we knew in working with our own internal teams the amount of permits that were being pulled, homes that were planned to come, new permits, new plats, new final plats.

And so being able to tell that story and show that they were on the horizon and the growth within the Sun Valley Parkway, including maybe even neighboring community growth that maybe we start stealing their retail leakage into our community with this particular facility.

Um, but it really was not an not anything that that could be changed other than we just had to meet those particular thresholds and we're really excited that festival in that corridor today now meets those thresholds for these major developments. [clears throat] And um I think I understand that the the goalposts or those thresholds have kind of moved over time.

It seems like in the before the crash in 2008 2009 time frame it was a certain number of people that you needed living in a in a radius uh and then that's moved a little bit. Maybe speak to that. Yes. So you're correct, mayor. Um, pre the recession, I I I don't have the exact numbers off the top of my head, but it was you could build a grocery store with 8,000 in population. And then after the crash, it kept moving and it was 10,000, it was 12,000, it's 15,000.

And so every retailer now with the advancements of how people do engage with retail and how they shop versus online versus brickandmortar, those thresholds continue to move. And so whereas when it first was building, we could have maybe met that um standard early on in the earlier years, but as the industry as a whole continued to evolve and the customer uh changed the way that they engaged with retailers and the way that they chose to shop, those thresholds continued to evolve.

And so our whole job and our whole goal over the last several years has been to make sure that we're telling that story and communicating that, you know, we know that we can meet those thresholds now even with the change in the um customer shopping experience. Okay. Thank you. And um and then the last one I have is the two reimbursements. This is this is pretty typical for um retail that's coming in or development that's coming in that has revenue associated with it.

Uh and there's a great opportunity for us as a city to ask the developer to build regional improvements that are not necessarily part of uh the the project itself. I mean there isn't I don't there may be one other more shovel ready site than this location but everything is utilities tied in everything else the the drive entrances uh that's all there. they could come in and plant this there but we're leveraging that development to build regional improvements. That is correct.

So twofold you are right that um basically Peterson Group is building that infrastructure on behalf of the city and then we are going to be reimbursing them for those regional improvements. So there are components of the infrastructure that are associated with their site. That is what is in one of the agreements. But the other agreement is that regional piece that they are building on our behalf that is going to be moving forward [clears throat] that would be paid back over time.

But the the delineation for both that is important to understand is both are reimbursements. And so nothing gets expensed from the city until either performance measures are met within the sales tax agreement as outlined and agreed upon which will come before council to approve or in the public infrastructure reimbursement agreement until that infrastructure is actually built and accepted by the city and verified. So there really is no risk on the city side.

They're building it on our behalf and then once performance measures are met then the funding is reimbursed at that time. I said that was my last one but I I fibbed on it. The the the last one I have is the site plan shows and and they're required to build a full service grocery store. Yes. There are other uses that are going to come along with that in that plaza. That's pretty typical.

I know we probably don't have any leases signer names, but can you uh talk a little bit to the type of services, retail services that are coming? Yeah, sure. And I don't know if they'll want me to give out any of the names, but you can think of things that you would find in a traditional um facility like that.

Financial institutions, automotive, um other restaurants and quickserve restaurants and services that you would find complimentary um hardware, those kind of retail categories are what the developer um and the city are working towards attracting. Actually, that's part of what our team is is working on in California right now at the retail conference is working with their group on the ground to fill some of these other categories in that area. Okay, awesome. Thank you.

Uh, so we typically don't do this because this is not a public hearing, but I do have a speaker request card uh from Michael Nuis um not in support of the item. Did you want to come up and speak to that? Yep. Three minutes. So, I'm Michael Nus again and I'm here tonight to speak on item 5B, resolution number 8326. I am here to demand that this council stop treating a hard-earned tax dollars like a blank check for private developers and vote no on this resolution.

Let's call this agreement what it actually is, corporate welfare. We are being told that we must surrender a future sales tax revenue under ARS 9-500.11 just to conce [snorts] Buckeye area is exploding with residential growth. Private entities aren't building here out of charity. They're doing it because thousands of rooftops guarantee them a massive profit margin. Market demand alone ensures this retail center will be built.

Why on earth are we subsidizing a multi-million dollar development that would happen anyway on its own dime? Furthermore, this deal creates an immediate deficit for the people who actually live there, including my in-laws. A massive 114,000 ft commercial complex brings a severe influx of traffic, rapid wear and tear on our roads, and a massive strain on our already stretched fire, police, and emergency services.

Yet, by rebating our city's transaction privilege tax back to the developer, you are actively starving the general fund of the exact revenue required to mitigate those impacts. You are sticking Buckeye residents with the traffic, the congestion, and the public safety burden while letting a private LLC walk away with the profits. Let's remember that this is a company that's worth multi-million dollars, if not a billion. We have seen this script play out before in this city.

This city has a track record of aggressively chasing high-profile corporate deals with shiny incentives only for those corporations to pivot, break promises, or abandon our community entirely when it suits their bottom line. It is time for this council to put Buckeye taxpayers first.

If a developer wants to capitalize on our booming population that's only going to continue to grow, they can take the financial risk themselves, just like every other small business owner like Barbone in this city has to do. Stop giving away our future revenue. Protect our city's finances. Protect our public safety infrastructure. And vote no on resolution number 83-26. Thank you again.

Susie, uh, just clarifying, sure, the the incentives or the, uh, reimbursement is for public infrastructure, regional public infrastructure that the developer would not otherwise be required to build. So, yes, everything that we discussed tonight is public infrastructure in the public realm, in the public right away. There is nothing that is being proposed or discussed tonight for on-site infrastructure.

100% of the on-site infrastructure for the development of the actual retail center as a whole is 100% the developer's financial responsibility. Okay. And the the the benefit to the taxpayers is uh payoff within a couple years probably to be conservative with let's say within five years and then over a 10-year time frame $22 million worth of tax revenues sales tax revenues into the city. Mayor, members of the council, that is correct. Okay. All right. Council, any other questions? Yeah. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. [clears throat] And it's reimbursement. So, if they don't if they don't build it and they don't achieve the revenue, then we don't we don't pay them back. That is correct. Or if they build it and they don't achieve it in the time frame that is outlined in the agreement, we don't pay it back. And I don't know if this is a question for you or maybe for the for the attorney, but there are certain statutory requirements that we have to meet in order to agree to one of these developments.

Correct. That is correct. [clears throat] And one of those is that this this project may not get done now or at some until some delay in the future. So in order for us to capture some of that revenue and some of that sales tax that's leaking out of the city and actually improve the quality of life of the residents there, we need to meet those criteria so that we can ident into these developments. And if we don't meet those criteria, we're not allowed to enter these agreements. Correct.

That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Want to make a motion on this approve 5B. 5B. Okay. So, what does the Is this Are we actually voting on this? Yes. Council is being asked to approve and adopt the notice of intent. Okay. To enter into a future retail sales tax development agreement. I I move that we uh um approve 5B. Second. I have a motion for approval on 5B and a second. All in favor say I. I. I. And opposed. 5B passes unanimous. Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Mr. Peterson.

Thank you. Go fast. We have two more sites for you that we can start immediately after this. Okay. Great. All right. Uh, item number six, comments from the mayor and council. Uh any Councilman Hustus, I just wanted to comment about Friday being 911 that we had one event start at 5:30 in the morning on the stairs up in Verado. I didn't walk them and I don't think too many people my age would be able to walk them. But the what was it 6 and a half times, Mr.

Mayor, to equal the steps that were taken at 911. And uh that was quite a showing. Quite a number of people show up up there. Firemen do it. A lot of them do it in their full gear. They'll go up and down those steps six and a half times. If you haven't [clears throat] seen those steps, you ought to take a drive up vera way and just about to the point to where you can't go any further. The stairs are on the left side. A huge amount of hard stairs to do.

But I want to thank the people that participated in that. And also at 9:00 that morning, Festival Ranch had a celebration up there of the anniversary, I guess you would say, uh, of 911 being the 25th, uh, C 25th anniversary, and they had quite a showing up there at the fire station up in Festival Ranch. They've done that now for six or seven years, I believe, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, that they've done that up at their at their fire station where they put on the event. The mayor spoke up there.

They had um matter of fact, you spoke up the stairs, too, didn't you? Yeah. And um we had the event then up there at um Festival Ranch at the uh fire station. They've been doing this every year. If you're not doing anything in your 911, you ought to come to one of these two events. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Any other comments? Uh, I'll just add in one thing.

The Buckeye Chamber of Commerce and the Buckeye or Buckeye Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Buckeye Hispanic Chamber of Commerce u hosted the Mexican Ambassador uh not ambassador uh council general who um celebrated Elgito which was a fantastic celebration was out on Sixth Street Plaza. Hope I'm not stealing your thunder here, Mr. City Manager.

Um so Friday night was a great Sixth Street Plaza uh night market and then they followed up the very next night with the celebration that um was fantastic. Had a a massive amount of neighbors out there that were celebrating and uh it was a great time. So first uh we had one of these two years ago. Uh it was it was really driven by the council general. Uh this one was driven really an invite from Stephanie uh at Casa de Leva and um you're my fact checker on this.

So thank you uh and was an awesome opportunity and I think this is going to be the first of many of these uh annual events. So appreciate all the work was put into that. Okay. Uh item number seven, a city manager report and summary of your current events. Yeah, thank you mayor, members of the council. Um follow up on things that are a long time coming.

Uh the first North Zone Festival Library Design public input meeting will be held on Thursday night, September 17th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Festival Foothills Elementary School. Those who can't be there in person can provide input via the survey that is live on the city's website now through September 25th. So, we're really starting to make some progress on the design elements of that festival library.

Um, the airport specific area plan public outreach meeting will be on Wednesday, September 23rd from 6:00 to 7:30 at the landing multi-purpose room out on Roosevelt and Verado Way. And then the final item I have is it is our event season is kicking off on October 3rd at Town Park and October 9th with movies in the park series. All movies are no cost to attend. They start at 7:00 and we'll have a variety of vendors and activities for residents to participate. That's what I have.

Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Item number eight's proposal for future agenda items. Do we have any from council? Not seeing any. Item number nine. With nothing else on the agenda, we are adjourned.