By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
The Eloy Planning and Zoning Commission met this week to discuss a proposal that could amend the City’s General Plan land use designation for 338 acres at the NWC of Battaglia Road and 11 Mile Corner from Medium Density Residential and General Industrial to Mixed-Use that would allow development of a broader master plan.
The meeting was an initial public hearing. No action was taken.
The property owner/developer is I-10 Eloy Eleven Mile Corner and Battaglia Dr 453 LLC, which traces to real estate investor Tushar Modi. CVL Consultants is the planning and civil engineering consultant.
The proposed development is known as TES Eloy PAD and, according to the submitted narrative, “will provide an environment that promotes a flexible and dynamic range of land uses to support the City by addressing the demand for diverse housing opportunities in the region while creating the framework for large scale employment, services, and supporting uses suitable for this location.”
A companion rezoning request will be submitted and considered as part of the development process.
The irregularly shaped site is undeveloped and bounded by a water treatment facility and the Central Arizona Project Santa Rosa Canal to the north, Frontier Street to the south, agricultural uses to the east and undeveloped desert to the west.
Under the GPA, the mixed-use area will surround a peninsula of general industrial south of the CAP canal. The rezoning will create a light industrial zone for that peninsula. Most of the surrounding area will be rezoned to Mixed-Use Planned Area Development, or MU PAD. Along the eastern side, a rectangular portion will be rezoned to R-3 PAD to support residential development.
The submitted materials say the residential component will be medium-to-high density and will support an increased diversity of housing types in Eloy.
The master plan is also intended to attract new employers, both from the development in the industrial component and from retail and service businesses resulting from the added residential portion.
While not specifically detailed in the submission, TES Eloy is also presented as expanding the City’s parks, open space and trails goals, as both active and passive green spaces and amenity areas will be incorporated into the residential and mixed-use portions of the project as it builds out.
A neighborhood meeting was announced and held in early December, with invitations going out to all property owners within 300 feet of the site. No one attended.
The staff analysis accompanying the application and materials found the amendment request to be generally consistent with the General Plan and City goals and that established mixed-use development in the proposed area would likely promote a broader balance of uses in the city center and near the primary cross streets.
No follow-up date was announced for a second hearing or additional action.
