By BEX Staff for AZBEX
The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has approved a trio of use applications for a 1,105-acre industrial development north of Florence. Designated Project Ranger, the manufacturing master plan will include the development of new roads and has the potential to restart the Magma Arizona Railroad project to serve the manufacturing facility and Resolution Copper’s planned filter plant nearby.
Local news outlets reported the Board’s action approved the project, amended the land-use designation to Special District and approved a planned area development rezoning for industrial uses. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 10-0 to recommend approval of the requests last month.
Resolution owns 600 acres to the northwest of the site, which is situated south of Skyline Drive and the railroad. The Project Ranger site is owned by the Arizona State Land Department and will proceed to auction after the entitlements are in place, according to the project documents submitted to the Board.
According to the narrative, “The entire Property is well suited for industrial manufacturing use as it is land that has always been vacant with the exception of prior ASLD grazing leases, located directly adjacent to the existing MARRCO rail line, surrounded by vacant land, mostly owned by ASLD in Pinal County. The proximity and access to the rail line and Highway 79 makes this site well suited for this Manufacturing Facility to allow for the employees and raw manufacturing materials to be easily transported to and from the site. This Application is being made as one of the numerous permits and approvals required to bring the Manufacturing Facility to fruition.”
While the requests all center around a future manufacturing facility, project specifics were not provided in the submissions.
According to the article, the eventual developer will build a paved road along Skyline that extends east to Highway 79 but not west to existing neighborhoods. The project will use the existing railroad infrastructure to move goods and materials.
Truck traffic in the area is expected to be minimal, with two-to-three trucks a week delivering materials, as well as trucks shipping out finished projects. Transportation could also be provided by the railroad along the western edge of the site.
When ASLD auctions the site, the winning bidder will be responsible for developing the facility, which is expected to create a minimum of 300 jobs when the first phase of the eventual development is completed.
ASLD is the landowner. Cromwell produced the preliminary site plan. Rose Law Group represented the requests.
