PHOENIX — A long-disputed phase of a housing development on a county island in the Glendale and Waddell areas finally got the green light from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday.
White Tank Foothills’ Phase 3 will include 645 homes — the same number included when landowner Citrus & Lower Buckeye LLC brought the rezoning to the board in June. Supervisor Clint Hickman remanded the master plan amendment and rezoning case to the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission twice.
Wednesday, Hickman seemed to finally see what he’s looking for. He saw enough to make the amendment and rezoning motions that concluded a 70-minute hearing.
The phase will be built near the corner of Northern Avenue and Citrus Road, west of the Loop 303-Northern Parkway interchange.
There have been more than 140 letters of opposition, an opposition petition with more than 200 signatures and only six support letters received by the county about the project.
An internal collector road, along with prohibiting two-story lots in units adjacent to Waddell Road or other White Tanks phases, as well as scaling back overall density, were improvements Hickman mentioned. The initial plan called for 770 units in Phase 3.
Concerns related to outside CC&Rs is outside the county’s authority, Hickman said.
“Maricopa County has been one of the fastest-growing counties in the U.S, three years in a row,” Hickman said. “There will be both families and older adults in this community. I cannot make everyone totally happy with any way that I vote. The majority of community concerns have been addressed.”
Hickman said he received letters from both the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and a fire department said the additional 645 homes were not a concern.
The density on the 245-acre project will be 2.647 units per acre.
The project went before the Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission more than once. Most recently, that commission unanimously recommend, at its Aug. 4 meeting, that the supervisors approve both the rezone and the plan amendment.
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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