The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended approval of a set of requests that will expand and change the planned uses in and around the Westpark Community Master Plan.
Included in the submission materials are some of the first major details about TS35, a planned 120-acre, more than $1B energy transmission capacity plan from Arizona Public Service.
The primary Westpark request is a Community Master Plan Amendment and covers a total of 1,948.2 acres. According to the staff report, “The proposed amendment area consists of approximately 274.8 acres currently located within the Westpark CMP, approximately 741 acres currently located within the Silver Rock CMP, approximately 807 acres formerly located within the Westwind CMP, and approximately 125.4 acres not currently governed by a CMP. The acreage not currently governed by a CMP includes approximately 76 acres located north of the northeast corner of Lower Buckeye Road and Wilson Avenue and approximately 49.4 acres located south of the southwest corner of Lower Buckeye Road and 269th Avenue.”
A minor General Plan amendment to change the land use designation of the 125.4-acre segment was considered and recommended for approval in the same June 23 meeting. The current land use designation sets the property as Business Commerce. Developer Garrett Development Corporation requested the use change to Master Planned Community.
The project narrative gives a detailed history of development to date in the Westpark, Westwind and Silver Rock CMPs leading up to the current Community Master Plan amendment request, referred to as the 2026 CMPA for Westpark, which it refers to as “a 2,000-acre community master plan.”
“This 2026 CMPA proposes to incorporate portions of the existing Westpark CMP, portions of the SilverRock CMP, the Westwind CMP and two additional contiguous parcels into one cohesive Project known as Westpark. A variety of uses within the boundaries of the Community will ensure that the Westpark CMP will be a destination point for employment and shopping as well as a beautiful residential community offering a variety of housing options,” the narrative states.
While the CMPA area was originally planned for large, master-planned residential community uses, the developer is requesting the amendment to “address changing market trends and the evolution of the area” and wants to introduce “flexibility in development of residential, commercial, business and industrial uses within the Westpark development area.”
$1B+ APS Development Central to Area Vision
A key component of that flexibility centers around TS35, a $1B-plus Arizona Public Service project that will bring massive power delivery capacity to a 120-acre site APS purchased in 2025 at the SWC of Lower Buckeye and Turner roads.
According to the narrative, “This acquisition by APS and subsequent construction, will accommodate a 500KV substation, a 230KV substation, a 69KV substation, and a 12KV substation (‘APS Substation’). The ultimate design of the APS Substation shows that it will be served by 7 overhead 500KV power lines and 11 overhead 230KV power lines (‘Transmission Lines’). The Transmission Lines have the capacity to bring 16 gigawatts of power to the APS Substation. Power from the APS Substations will be distributed throughout Buckeye by 11 overhead 69KV lines while the immediate area surrounding the APS Substation will be distributed by underground power lines from the 12KV substation (‘Distribution Lines’).”
A search for more TS35 provided few additional details beyond a reference in a commercial real estate website from Garrett, Nathan & Associates and Land Advisors Organization promoting the area’s development opportunities. According to the Westpark 360 site, APS is currently working to obtain approvals from the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Westpark Master Plan Development Vision and Phasing
Linked from the Westpark 360 page, however, is a package document set from LAO giving much more specific detail about both TS35 and the Westpark concept. According to a master site plan from Garrett and Butler Design Group, a total of 19 data centers are envisioned on the land immediately surrounding the APS site. Fifteen industrial buildings are planned in a designated section to the west. Another 16 industrial buildings, residential and regional commercial uses are planned to the north, and more industrial uses are planned surrounding the Burlington Distribution Center, currently under construction to the southeast.
Linking TS35 to the amendment request, the narrative submitted to Buckeye says, “TS35 gives the City and the landowner a strategic advantage to accommodate large power users such as data centers, technology manufacturers, and power intensive logistics users. TS35 combined with the Westpark landowner that has over 2,000 acres surrounding TS35, provides a rare opportunity to develop a flexible entitlement CMP that takes full advantage of these combined assets. Few cities are afforded such an opportunity.”
The development vision details several goals for the overall CMP area, including:
- Enabling a diversity of employment opportunities through primarily industrial and business park land uses;
- Creating a cohesive planning vision to direct development;
- Providing high-density multifamily residential development—up to 30 units/acre and 991 units—near employment and commercial uses;
- Enabling development of either freestanding or attached single-family residential;
- Uniting disparate planned zones into a single, cohesive development area, and
- Updating and improving several major road alignments.
Surrounding property uses include:
- Large-lot residential and vacant desert to the north;
- Single-family and agricultural to the east;
- Agricultural and industrial, including TS35 and the Burlington Distribution Center, to the south, and
- Buckeye Municipal Airport and agricultural to the west.
Two economic impact studies by Elliot Pollack submitted in support of the master plan vision estimate the development will create between 23,000 and 30,000 new jobs and generate between $613.9M and $823M for the City of Buckeye.
Plans also call for significant amounts of open space and a trail system that will be incorporated to augment the existing space in the current communities.
As with nearly all master plans, development will occur across multiple phases over time, depending on market needs and demand. The narrative says appropriate phasing will be determined to coordinate with the utilities and street development needed to support it.
“It should be noted,” the narrative says, “that while in the initial planning and processing of this CMPA, the Burlington site is now under development and APS purchased their 120-acre site. New development and the establishment of critical electrical and transportation related infrastructure is rapidly changing the dynamic of this area of Westpark.”
The ownership group is comprised of various entities affiliated with the Kemper & Ethel Marley Foundation, an affiliate of Garrett Development Corporation, and Triple G Farms. Garrett Development Corporation is the developer. Colliers Engineering & Design is providing planning and engineering services. Traffic engineering is through United Civil Group.
