A fight over housing density is set to have another showdown Wednesday.
One Planning and Zoning hearing item on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ agenda is likely to involve lengthy presentations and discussion.
The developer for a phase of a subdivision on a county island in the Waddell area is asking for a major plan amendment and zoning changes to allow 654 duplex-units to be built.
The third phase of White Tanks Foothills would be built along the north side of Northern Avenue, between Citrus and Perryville roads, about 2 miles west of the Loop 303-Northern Parkway interchange.
The amount of units is down from the 770 the developer originally wanted to build in plans submitted last year.
The requests received a 5-1 recommendation for approval from the Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission in November, but at a December meeting, Supervisor Clint Hickman urged the board to postpone the hearing, which was done unanimously.
At the December meeting, Hickman urged the developer to meet with Development Services staff and opponents of the phase’s density.
Hickman agreed a density of 3.14 duplex units per acre was “just too high.”
“Airmen from Luke Air Force Base are coming out here and finding no affordable housing,” Hickman said. “But the solution to affordable housing is not to sock it all into White Tank Foothills, Phase 3.”
In early January the applicant met with opposition leaders to discuss proposed project modifications. The Planning Commission produced a long list of changes, which included 654 units, or 2.67 duplexes per acre, minimum two-vehicle driveway on a unit and many numeric lot and structure dimensional limits, specific to where each lot is located within the phase.
The county island is within the city of Glendale’s municipal planning area.
Even though five of six Planning Commissioners voted to recommend approval of the changes, that didn’t sit well with area residents and property owners.
“Staff received 18 appeals to commission’s recommendation,” a staff report states. “To date, staff has received 46 letters of opposition and an opposition petition with 206 signatures, and nine individuals spoke in opposition at the Commission hearing. The opposition is largely concerned with loss of community character due to increased density, and associated access concerns with increased traffic.”
Also on Wednesday’s agenda are zoning change requests for residential parcels near 194th Street and Riggs Road in Queen Creek and for a recycling and transfer station northeast of the Loop 303 exit at El Mirage Road.
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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