By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
On Dec. 11, the Town of Fountain Hills will have an opportunity to either cement or soften its reputation in the Arizona development community as one of, if not the, most challenging jurisdictions in which to build new multifamily communities.
A 316-unit apartment proposal from Sandor Development—Village at Four Peaks—will go before the Planning and Zoning Commission for a hearing on a requested rezone from commercial and industrial uses to a Planned Area Development with underlying Multi-Family Zoning.
The 6.7-acre property at the SEC of Shea Blvd. and Technology Drive is bounded by Shea and single-family homes to the north, industrial-zoned properties to the west and south, and the 29-acre Four Peaks Plaza commercial center—also known as the Target Center—to the east. The site lies within the commercial center and would be redeveloped for the multifamily project.
The Target Center has been plagued by vacancy. The staff report accompanying the submittal says, “Although several businesses continue to operate throughout the center, a large portion of the plaza has remained vacant for several years, and some suites have remained unoccupied since they became available for lease in the early 2000s.”
In summarizing the existing conditions, Town staff goes on to say, “The subject property is completely graded and gently slopes down toward the drainage channel to the north. The largest of the three lots within the subject property is 4.5 acres and contains a 40,000 (approx.) commercial pad building with a total of 13 commercial suites. Only two of these units are currently occupied by tenants, including the Dollar Tree and a nail salon, but the remaining units are vacant and have remained unoccupied over the past few years. There is also a 3,300 sq. ft. (approx.) vacant commercial pad building adjacent to the drainage channel along Shea Blvd., which is also adjacent to an unbuilt commercial parcel. Surface parking is provided for the subject property and is shared with the rest of Four Peaks Plaza to the east.”
Sandor is proposing a complete redevelopment of the western side of the plaza to replace the existing, mostly vacant, retail space with a four-story residential community that will wrap around a parking structure, shielding the garage from public view. The architectural style is highly reminiscent of the Scottsdale Waterfront’s Mediterranean-inspired aesthetic and will feature soft earth tones and a desert color palate.
The property has an irregular triangle shape, which limits its layout and development options, according to the submitted project narrative and requires “creative site planning.”
“To address these site constraints,” the narrative says, “this PAD provides a framework for a more site appropriate design and building type, which will include highly efficient structured parking, wrapped by a residential building. Parking is not proposed under the buildings, which will maintain a lower overall building height. This approach results in less than 10% of the site area being devoted to surface parking, which provides overall benefits including reduced urban heat island.”
The proposed site plan provides benefits beyond screened parking and efficient land use. Because of the layout and structuring and placement of the buildings, the site layout is planned for 25% open space, while the requirement only calls for 15%. As part of the site design, the proposal includes large landscaped areas around the building, as well as two interior courtyards for resident use.
The overall density is proposed at 47 units/acre, with a configuration of 149 one-bedroom, 152 two-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom layouts. Unit sizes will range from approximately 760SF to 1,200SF.
Jason Morris of Withey Morris Baugh said in a Dec. 5 interview that the Village at Four Peaks proposal offers obvious benefits to both the immediate area and the overall Fountain Hills community. The two primary benefits are replacing vacant retail with an active community, which will provide a built-in customer base for the remaining retail—particularly Target—and adding to both the availability and diversity of housing options in the town.
Morris also acknowledged some of the historic challenges of developing in Fountain Hills, but he pointed out that if any proposal had built-in merit to justify its creation, it would be Village at Four Peaks. “This one has all of the elements you would want. It has none of the elements you would be concerned about,” he said.
“Typically, when we’re going to a four-story building, the concerns are privacy, view corridors and/or traffic cutting through the neighborhood. This site has the benefit of its own signalized intersection. It’s not competing with neighborhood traffic. The shopping center itself is actually below the level of the roadway, so you’re able to get the impact of a three-story building as you stand on Shea Blvd., and it is not in any of the sightlines either looking into the neighborhood or looking out from the neighborhood.” He added that traffic volumes from the residential development would be less than if the site were fully occupied by commercial tenants.
Morris went on to say, “If everything else were equal, that would be a compelling case, but in this instance, you add to that dynamic the benefit it has to the existing retail, namely Target. Target owns their building. This gives them an upgraded environment and creates residents who are undoubtedly going to be shoppers there.”
Fountain Hills’ Legacy of Difficulty
As we reported at length in June, however, a compelling and well-reasoned proposal does not necessarily equate to a smooth path to approval. While opposition to larger-scale multifamily development has become commonplace in nearly every jurisdiction, it can be considered part of the community fabric in Fountain Hills. (AZBEX, June 16)
Put bluntly, Fountain Hills’ population is older, whiter and wealthier than most other communities in the state. It has a history of leaning toward single-family development almost exclusively and has a higher than average bent toward large-lot homes.
Our research in June showed opposition to multifamily development in general, and dense multifamily in particular, has come to be considered a matter of course in Fountain Hills, to the point that many developers—both Arizona-based and national—have come to see the town as not worth the effort to propose new projects. This contributes both to Fountain Hills’ ongoing housing shortage and its stagnant population levels, which have not seen any appreciable growth in more than two decades.
Sources close to both the current Village at Four Peaks development and the Senderos at Fountain Hills plan that was rejected in June have said vocal portions of the town’s residents and several officials have privately expressed opposition to enabling service workers and other residents who do not fit the perception of well-heeled and affluent citizens to be able to reside inside the town limits.
In multiple presentations about NIMBYism and multifamily project resistance around the state, former Gilbert Mayor and current Horizon Strategies CEO Jenn Daniels has referred to the targeted populations as “those people,” as in “The existing community does not want ‘those people’ as their neighbors.”
Interestingly, however, through two neighborhood meetings there has been little-to-no expressed opposition to the Village at Four Peaks proposal so far. Only three residents attended each meeting and, while there were questions about the project, no opposition was recorded after the presentations or during follow-up after the meetings.
Only one letter of opposition has been submitted as part of the record going into next week’s Planning and Zoning meeting. A nearby industrial property owner said he has concerns about new residents potentially being impacted by the truck and other traffic from the nearby businesses.
For his part, Morris expressed confidence in the case’s merits and guarded optimism about its chance for approval.
“This is the rare case that is good for the landowner, good for the community, good for the neighborhood, good for the future residents and good for the bottom line of Fountain Hills,” he said.
Sandor Development is the project owner. The design firm is Ayers Saint Gross. Kimley Horn is the engineer, and the project is represented by Withey Morris Baugh, PLC.
