By BEX Staff for AZBEX
The Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission will meet this week to discuss a plan by Brown Group Inc. to rezone 16.4 net acres along Hunt Highway southwest of Bella Vista Road/Golf Club Drive to allow the development of a 181-unit Build-to-Rent community called Sanctuary at Johnson Ranch.
According to the submitted narrative, the change would revert the zoning back from its current commercial zoning to the multifamily zoning for the original Johnson Ranch Planned Area Development. The narrative calls the site a “skipped-over infill property” and says the change to Multifamily Residential with PAD Overlay will establish an intensity transition between the adjacent single-family Johnson Ranch community and the nearby commercial intersection, improve area housing diversity, and minimize traffic on Hunt Highway by limiting the expansion of high-volume commercial uses.
“This proposed PAD will develop a unique and innovative residential neighborhood that offers new and diverse housing options and opportunities for San Tan Valley area residents within a park-like, well-landscaped setting and with integrated resort-like amenities,” the narrative says.
Brown Group plans to build 181 attached duplexes and detached garden-style residential homes on the site, yielding a density of 11.1 units per acre. “The purpose of limiting the community to duplex and detached residential units is to create the look and feel of a single-family community for future residents seeking a single-family subdivision lifestyle without the commitment of a long-term mortgage and the convenience of the common, resort-like amenities apartment buildings often offer,” the narrative says. “In addition, the reduced scale and massing of the buildings helps blend the development with the adjacent Johnson Ranch community.”
The proposed unit mix calls for 57 one-bedroom, 69 two-bedroom and 55 three-bedroom units. Planned amenities include a clubhouse and fitness center, co-working space, a pool and spa area, a multi-use trail, outdoor recreation spaces with pickleball and other sports courts, a “tot lot,” a dog park and park benches/seating areas.
Media reports have said the plan is experiencing resident opposition from some in the existing Johnson Ranch community. Objections run the standard gamut and include a desire for more commercial, fear of increased traffic congestion, lower property values and strain on existing infrastructure and services. Ironically, despite traffic and infrastructure loads being commonly raised worries from opponents, multifamily development generates substantially less traffic than commercial/retail uses.
In the narrative, the developer acknowledges the neighbor’s concerns and identifies nine specific efforts it has taken to address and minimize or eliminate some of them. These include relocating buildings on the site plan to accommodate privacy and view line concerns, increasing the landscape buffer, adding pedestrian amenities and enhancing walkability, and moving the pool and clubhouse planned location to a more interior spot for minimal noise impacts on surrounding properties.
Brown Group is the developer. Synectic Design Incorporated is the land planner and architect. Land planning and engineering are through Bowman Consulting Group Ltd.
