Author: BEX Staff

The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission approved a site plan for Crimson Canyon, a 324KSF industrial proposal south of Durango Road, at its regular meeting February 22nd. The developer is in ongoing talks with an area homeowner’s association about access issues and other minor points. As planned, the project will deliver a 323,840SF building on 21.6 acres. The single-story warehouse will have a height of 46 feet, and 328 parking spaces will be provided on site. Crimson Canyon is the project owner/developer. LGE Design Build/Group is the design firm and general contractor. (Source)

The Tempe City Council has unanimously approved a work-from-home-focused, 129-unit apartment plan from Holualoa Companies. Dwell: A Work@Home Community was approved February 10th and will consist of studio, one-bedroom and one-bedroom with built-in office units northwest of Farmer Avenue and 5th Street. Holualoa representatives said the project fills an important niche for affordable, worker-centric housing in attractive urban areas surrounded by area amenities. They expressed hopes the project format would be picked up and implemented in other communities. As such, Dwell will not have a pool or some other high-end features, a rarity for Phoenix-area developments. It will, however, offer…

Surprise City Council has begun consideration for a proposal that would make site plan approval an administrative item rather than requiring action by the Planning and Zoning Commission. A separate streamlining item under discussion would place final authority for administrative plats with Planning and Zoning, rather than sending them to City Council. Council members generally expressed interest in the ideas, which could come up for a vote in a future meeting. Some members, however, were concerned that the process revision would remove one public hearing from the process. Supporters argued that public comment is not particularly relevant in the site…

In his recent State of the City address, Mesa Mayor John Giles highlighted many of the city’s recent successes and a sense of ongoing forward momentum. Giles pointed out Mesa has added more than 4MSF of manufacturing and commercial space and issued more than 8,000 building permits. He pointed out, however, that the ongoing construction labor shortage casts a shadow over all that development potential. Key projects Giles highlighted during the presentation included: The City’s partnership with Arizona State University for the ASU @ Mesa City Center (Creative Futures Lab), which will also be associated with the The Studios @…

Awards & Accolades 1. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has honored Arizona water infrastructure projects for excellence and innovation within the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water SRF programs. Picture Rocks and Airline/Lambert Water Treatment Campuses, Marana, was recognized with EPA’s AQUARIUS Award for innovation, sustainability and public health protection in providing clean drinking water to its community. Flagstaff Watershed Protection was recognized for its work to prevent forest fires with EPA’s PISCES Award. Flagstaff Watershed Protection’s resiliency project employs forest thinning to protect Flagstaff’s drinking water resources and avoid catastrophic wildfire damage. Groundbreakings 2. Preliminary work has…

By Roland Murphy for AZBEX After the extensively drawn-out approval for Greenbelt 88 was finally secured (AZBEX; Feb. 11) and two Arizona Legislators made major waves across the state’s local zoning authorities and development communities with the introduction of HB 2674, a bill that would have stripped municipalities of much of their power in determining project approvals (AZBEX, Feb. 8), I had the opportunity to talk with Jason Morris, partner at land use law firm Withey Morris, PLC and one of Arizona’s most sought-after experts in terms of zoning, land use and entitlements. HB 2674 caused massive waves in municipal…

Resident and member concerns about traffic, access and egress, and fire safety presented issues for the proposed 100-unit townhome community The Cleveland went before the Goodyear Planning and Zoning Commission last week. Porter Kyle Multifamily Developers & Builders is requesting a rezone of the six-acre-plus site from agricultural-urban to multifamily to allow the project near Portland Street and Sarival Avenue. At issue is the often-cited worry about traffic impacts, in this case the fact that the development plans have a single access and exit point onto Sarival. A piece of land that would allow for access to Portland Street is…

The San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation and the San Carlos Council have begun planning a 100-bed long-term skilled nursing facility on tribal land near Peridot. The Council has allocated $36M in funding received under the American Rescue Plan Act for the facility, which will focus on tribal members with long-haul COVID-19 issues and/or who are older than 55 years and in need of long-term healthcare. Council Chairman Terry Rambler expressed the need for new facility in a recent announcement, which also said the location on an 840-acre parcel on an SCAHC campus is expected to be operational by December 2024.…

Tucson Electric Power has put on hold its plan to run a high-voltage overhead power line project through central Tucson as it continues to negotiate with City representatives and other interested parties. TEP requested a meeting postponement from the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee, which had been scheduled to discuss the plan on February 7th. The Committee agreed to the request and let TEP withdraw its application. A new meeting is scheduled for July 25th, and a new application is due in May. The withdrawn proposal would have erected the line on the eastern edge of the…

Flagstaff City Council has unanimously adopted a 10-year housing plan to address the “Affordable Housing Emergency” declared in 2020. The City conducted extensive outreach in assembling the plan, including surveys, more than 16 hours of public comment, 600 written submissions and contributions of more than 1,000 hours of work from 80 volunteers. Flagstaff’s average rent is $1,750/month. More than half of survey respondents said they pay too much in rent to save for a house, and 83% said home prices were a barrier to the ability to buy. The surveys also revealed more than 58% of respondents would consider relocating…