By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
The Arizona State Land Department has submitted a request to Pinal County to rezone 389 acres of Arizona State Trust land east of Hunt Highway and south of Gantzel and Judd roads in San Tan Valley.
ASLD wants to change the general rural zoning currently in place to three base zoning districts with a planned area development overlay.
Under the requested changes for North Copper Basin, 256.1 acres would be zoned for single-family residential, 68.1 acres for mixed residential and 64.8 acres for commercial/office/residential. The entire site would be united under the PAD overlay.
According to the submitted site description, “The eastern 160 acres have been used for agricultural purposes. Minor improvements such as concrete irrigation ditches, rip rap, and dirt roads have been made on the Site; however, no buildings have been constructed on it. At the western corner of the site, near the northeast corner of Hunt Highway and Gantzel Road, a 125-foot-wide 230kv electric easement, and a 40-foot-wide 69kv electric easement cross the site. The site is relatively undeveloped and does not appear to have any apparent or significant topographic or cultural features located within it.”
ASLD has submitted a companion non-major General Plan amendment request to accompany the rezoning. The amendment “requests to amend the Site designation from Suburban Neighborhood and the West Pinal Growth Area to the State Land Special District and the West Pinal Growth Area… The proposed State Land Special District designation allows the Site to be entitled for flexible commercial, office, and multiple residential land uses closer to Hunt Highway and a mixture of residential land uses for the remainder of the Site.”
Land Details and Designations
To the north of the site lie 480 acres of undeveloped land, 320 of which are owned by ASLD. The Copper Basin community is situated to the south and east, along with a church, park and K-8 school. Across Hunt Highway to the west lies more vacant land and the Johnson Ranch community.
The property is served by an existing EPCOR 12-inch water main and a 10-inch force sewer main. Another six-inch water main is in development south of the site.
The property is classified Suburban Neighborhood under the San Tan Valley Special Area Plan and is situated in the West Pinal Growth Area under the Pinal Comprehensive Plan, according to the submitted narrative, which says, “The Suburban Neighborhood place type is distinguished by its traditional neighborhoods of detached single-family residential and limited attached single-family residential with neighborhood-scaled shopping facilities and civic uses such as parks, recreation facilities, or schools all having full access to urban services. Typical single-family development within the Suburban Neighborhood place type is up to two stories in height and attached residential projects can be established on smaller lot sizes in exchange for greater open space strategically located to maintain the suburban character by buffering adjacent properties.”
The narrative goes on to say the site is near significant highway and rail transportation access. The overall area is expected to see significant future growth as development continues to move southward from Maricopa County.
The Nature of the Request
While ASLD is the site owner, it will not be the ultimate developer. Once the site is entitled, the Department will auction all or part of the property under the minimum bid process established in Arizona law. The requested changes serve to make the land desirable and useful for prospective future developers and to set development standards for the types of projects to eventually be built there.
The submittal makes clear detailed master plans and specific details, such as land uses and lot sizes, are not yet known, and only a broad conceptual plan with flexible land uses is proposed.
“This entitlement document aims to create flexibility to accommodate the likely residential types and commercial land uses that the future owner or developer are versed in bringing to market while also ensuring the goals of the Comprehensive Plan and applicable requirements of the Zoning Code are sufficiently met at the time of plat or site plan review,” the submission says.
The land is currently owned by the Arizona State Land Department. Land planning and project representation is by RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture. Sunrise Engineering is the civil engineer, and traffic planning is by Lokahi.
The Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hear the requests June 19.
