By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
The Surprise City Council voted unanimously last month to approve The Hampton Group’s request to rezone 295.6 gross acres north of the planned Beardsley Parkway and 251st Avenue alignments from rural residential to a combination of single- and multifamily to allow for future development.
Council approved a development agreement for the project in May.
According to the project narrative, the western edge of the property sits at the border with the City of Buckeye and the Festival Foothills Planned Community. The properties to the north, south and east of the site are undeveloped, zoned rural residential and situated within Surprise.
The Surprise 295 request sought rezoning for 272.8 gross acres to R-1 Residential Low-Density for 945 homes and a density of 3.5 units/acre, as well as R-3 High-Density (Urban Neighborhoods) for 22.8 acres for 240 units and a density of 11.9 units/acre.
According to the narrative, “Multifamily residential shall have a minimum of four dwelling units per lot and a net residential density of more than eight dwelling units per acre. The minimum lot size for R-3 zoning is one acre. The Subject Site will permit a variety of uses including but not limited to Build-to-Rent, duplexes, and multi-story assisted living facilities. This development parcel is intentionally located centrally along the east edge of the site north of the Deer Valley Road alignment, to place these higher density uses adjacent to a future arterial roadway and provide buffer to existing single-family residential uses located west of the subject property.”
The rezoning and development have been planned for years. A citizens’ participation meeting was held in August 2023. During that presentation and comment period, residents did not express any opposition. There were concerns, however, about the possibility of two-story homes being put next to existing single-story and questions as to whether, or how, the communities would connect to developments in Buckeye.
The site is planned for division into nine parcels, with seven sites going to single-family development, one being reserved for a park and one for the multifamily component. Each parcel will have its own open space areas, and the multifamily parcel will also have its own private amenity space.
Two points of access are required for the project. The primary will be the future 251st Avenue alignment running north and south. There are three options for the second, according to the staff presentation: from Beardsley Road to the property, a local street connection to Beardsley or Deer Valley from 251st Avenue.
In response to a question from Councilmember Nick Haney, project representatives explained The Hampton Group will build 251st Avenue from the project site down to Sun Valley Parkway before any building permits are issued. The developer will also establish a traffic signal at 251st and Sun Valley Parkway. They said representatives have been in extensive talks with the City, expressing a preferred option for the second point of access as Deer Valley Road extending approximately 1.25 miles to Surprise Foothills.
Haney asked for and received confirmation the road development will be funded by the developer.
BEX research emailed The Hampton Group to ask for more information of timelines and the development team. CEO John Berry replied and said development plans are probably a few years out. He said the most likely scenario will be selling off the single-family zoned land to homebuilders while The Hampton Group builds and owns a multifamily development on the land zoned for it.
The Hampton Group, Inc. is the project owner. Land planning is by RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture. Atwell, LLC is the engineer, and traffic engineering is by CivTech, Inc.
