By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX
Plans for a new senior living facility located east of 98th Street on the south side of McDowell Mountain Ranch Road are headed back to Scottsdale’s Planning Commission in November after being denied back on September.
Owner, SCW Holdings, LLP is requesting a Zoning District Map Amendment from Single-Family Residential, Planned Community District, Environmentally Sensitive Lands to Commercial Office, PCD, ESL on a +/- 5-acre site at 9875 and 9909 E. McDowell Mountain Ranch Road, as well as a Development Plan Amendment and approval to abandon General Land Office Patent Easements on the subject sites.
The project, currently known as Senior Living at McDowell Mountain Ranch, is proposed as a 161-unit senior care facility comprised of a mix of assisted and independent living and memory care.
The development will be a single, three-story building no higher than 48 feet that encircles a central courtyard. The building’s design will incorporate a contemporary southwest theme that coincides with surrounding development areas.
The development will have separate entrances and drop-off areas for independent/assisted living and memory care. A total of 197 parking spaces are required for the project; however, the owner is requesting a 40 percent parking reduction to allow for only 119 spaces.
“A large triangular area at the NEC of the property contains a remnant of the little-known old Rio Verde Canal which has been reclaimed by dense native vegetation and will be left untouched,” according to the applicant’s narrative submitted to the city. “Landscaping will consist of native desert plants and provide a dense tree screen along McDowell Mountain Ranch Road.”
The project went before Scottsdale’s Planning Commission on September 25th and was denied partly due to concerns over the owner’s initial request to rezone out of the Environmentally Sensitive Overlay. Since then, the owner has amended their request to keep the ESL Overlay as well as amended their abandonment case to request additional GLOP Easement.
The project went back to the Planning Commission on October 23rd and was continued to November 13th. The project is also scheduled to go before Scottsdale City Council on January 14th.