Several items related to annexations of unincorporated Maricopa County land have been on Buckeye City Council or Planning and Zoning Commission agendas this year.
At Tuesday’s 6 p.m. council meeting, to be held at City Hall, 530 E. Monroe Ave., another annexation is set to be discussed.
One of the three action items on the council’s agenda is an initial hearing on an annexation. A land owner wants to bring about 118 acres, surrounding the southeast corner of West Baseline Road and State Route 85, into the city of Buckeye.
Per Arizona state code, land annexed by municipalities must meet a long list of requirements.
One of those is that zoning, upon annexation, it must remain as close as possible to intended uses of the zoning it held when unincorporated.
In the case of parcels that are the subject of Tuesday’s hearing, those are currently zoned RU-43-Rural within unincorporated Maricopa County. Upon annexation, the parcels will be classified as SF-43, single family residential district, which is comparable to the county’s RU-43.
The parcels form a sort of L-shape and are near some commercial and industrial properties, including the planned site of Kore Power’s battery-storage manufacturing facility.
The annexation is being requested with the intent of rezoning and developing office and warehousing facilities, city documents state.
Annexations require consideration at two city or town council public hearings. Tuesday’s meeting, the first, is for the purpose of holding a public hearing to allow stakeholders the opportunity to comment on the request.
The proposed annexation will return to the Council on May 3 for consideration of approval by ordinance.
The current general plan land-use designation is “neighborhood,” but a concurrent city-initiated major general plan amendment is being processed to change the land use to “employment.”
On March 23, city staff hosted a virtual neighborhood meeting to review and comment on the proposed amendment as part of the Imagine Buckeye 2040 initiative.
A 4:30 p.m. workshop will be used to discuss and detail the amendment. That workshop will focus on a memorandum of understanding with the Buckeye Main Street Coalition.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a vote on an ordinance to create an airport overlay district. There also is a hearing and action scheduled on a possible increase of the city’s court enhancement fee from $10 per case to $20 per violation.
Revenue from the court enhancement fee has been averaging $44,000 per fiscal year.
A 1:30 p.m. executive session is scheduled for the topic of, according to its agenda, “discussion or consultation for legal advice with the city attorney in connection with collection of operation and maintenance expenses associated with municipal services provided to developments within the city of Buckeye."
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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