By Mark Carlisle Independent Newsmedia Glendale’s final frontier is to the west. While the city has been built out to the north, dozens of square miles of unannexed and undeveloped land remain to the west. However, many of the new developments in west Glendale will have a particularly noisy neighbor — Luke Air Force Base. Because of land use laws created due to the noise of fighter jets flying in and out of Luke AFB, the city plans to turn the southern part Glendale’s stretch of Loop 303 into an industrial complex hub. Brian Friedman “Glendale’s really poised to benefit heavily right north of Camelback Road on the 303,” said Glendale’s economic development director Brian Friedman. The transformation is expected to start soon. The city of Glendale does not provide water and sewer services west of 115th Avenue, which has stymied growth in the area, but the main utility provider in the area, EPCOR Utilities, recently completed a sewer treatment facility in the area and is in the process of laying down its main sewer lines to service the area. There is pent-up demand for businesses wanting to develop along Loop 303 now that the area will finally receive utility services, Mr. Friedman said. Depending on the type of company, businesses could start building on the land in between six and 18 months from now. “It’s all starting now,” Mr. Friedman said. “There’s a lot of inbound interest for us, and we’ll see interest baring out now in between six- and eight-month cycles.” Glendale’s portion of Loop 303 won’t be all warehouses though. While he predicts industrial complexes like the ones in Goodyear will creep north up Loop 303 into south Glendale, Mr. Friedman predicts commercial developments like the ones in Surprise’s Prasada neighborhoods will creep south to the northern parts of Loop 303 in Glendale that are less affected by noise from Luke AFB. “So a bit of Surprise in the north and a bit of Goodyear on the south,” Mr. Friedman said.

Noise contours

Luke AFB was founded during World War II to train pilot and today is the world’s leader in training for the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. This Federal Aviation Administration graphic gives examples of common sounds at various decibel levels. Those jets make a lot of noise. Like with any airport, it’s the Federal Aviation Administration’s job to track that noise to see how it will affect the surrounding communities. So, it creates noise contour maps to show how far the noise from an airport or air base reaches. “A study is conducted over a period of time where noise monitoring equipment is placed around the airport and then that noise data is captured and then analyzed,” said the airport administrator for Glendale Municipal Airport, Joe Husband. A 24-hour average is taken of the noise to create a day-night average sound level, or DNL. Noise contour maps are then drawn to which generally draw the quietest DNL at 65 decibels and the loudest at 85-plus decibels. This map shows noise contour levels around Luke Air Force Base in Glendale. DNL stands for “day-night average sound level” and is measured in decibels. “It’s important that the airport is able to identify where the expected noise levels are so you can help municipalities do proper land use planning and make sure that there is compatible zoning, compatible development within the vicinity of the airport,” Mr. Husband said. The FAA publishes compatible land uses for each of the DNL zones. Usually, these land uses are just guidelines, but with Luke AFB, they are law. Decades ago, Maricopa County and the municipalities surrounding Luke AFB agreed to adhere to Luke Compatible Land Uses. These uses are written into Glendale’s general plan, which is primarily an industrial land use designation. “The predominant reason, the thing that we are all trying to do is preserve, protect, promote Luke on behalf of the state, the whole West Valley as a region and make sure that Luke and its mission is protected,” Mr. Friedman said.

What’s left to annex?

Glendale still has room to grow. The city owns a 10-foot wide strip of land encompassing unincorporated land that, by state law, can only be annexed into Glendale, not any other city. Glendale has no obligation to annex it and may allow it to remain county-owned. However, that is not the city’s plan. City Council has held several workshop sessions to discuss the city’s annexation policies with the city manager’s office. While the city isn’t in a rush to annex all its unincorporated land, it does plan to add land. During a December workshop, Assistant City Manager Chris Anaradian laid out several criteria that, based on Council’s direction, staff will look for before recommending a property for annexation. Key among these criteria was the financial impact of an annexed property — whether it would pay for itself or even have a net positive financial impact for the city. This would be the case for land along Loop 303 that would contain industrial or commercial centers. The city would collect revenue through sources like property taxes and sales taxes, as well as other taxes and fees, and would have decreased expenditures because the city does not have to supply utility services to these properties. So, when a business looks to add an industrial complex or shopping center along Loop 303, City Council and staff will likely look to add that property to Glendale. Glendale has already done this in some areas. In 2017, the city annexed 1,340 acres north of Luke AFB in order to add the Woolf Logistics Center to the city. This was the largest property Glendale had annexed since it annexed Luke AFB in 1995. Two months ago, Glendale annexed a 17-acre property at Sarival and Maryland avenues, which will be combined with land already in the city to develop a 1.1 million-square-foot logistics center called Lincoln Logistics 303.

Industrial

Industrial complexes like Woolf Logistics and Lincoln Logistics are perfect neighbors for Luke AFB. The bulk of Woolf Logistics Center is within an 80-plus decibel DNL area. Most business and retail types are disallowed within this noise level and the only residences allowed are homes on farms. However, almost all industrial types are allowed. A 56th Fighter Wing F-35A Lightning II pilot takes off from Luke Air Force Base in 2017. The future site of Lincoln Logistics 303 is a little quieter, at a 70-74 decibel DNL area. All business and retail types are allowed at this sound level, but residences are only allowed if on a farm or if the property was zoned residential in 2000 or before. “What you get there is no one really spending the night. There’s a low count of humans per square foot in those large structures that are manufacturing and distribution facilities,” Mr. Friedman said. The area along Loop 303 in Glendale is a highly sought-after area for industrial complexes, Mr. Friedman said. One key element, he said, is that the land costs about half of what it costs in California’s Inland Empire, but all of Southern California can still be reached within a day’s drive. He called this a “heavy tool” to be able to attract investment to the West Valley that otherwise would have invested in Southern California. These industrial businesses don’t mind the noise, Mr. Friedman said, partially due to the warehouses’ thick concrete walls. They also prefer being neighbors to other industrial complexes, he said, rather than residential communities that could send pedestrians, including children, across the streets as they try to send out their trucks. Industrial complexes along Loop 303 will be able to feed off each other’s success, Mr. Friedman said. “I think that it’s amazing for the whole Loop,” he said. “I think it’s better even for Peoria, Surprise and Goodyear. It’s nice to have Glendale in the mix as well because it will build that synergy and that continuity of opportunity there so that there’s more of a built environment that’s conducive to creating, kind of like what auto malls do — when you have a whole industry set together, they actually all do better collectively than they do alone.” Mr. Friedman expects companies to begin the process of securing land for development soon. He said if a CEO-led decision takes a company to Glendale, things would move much quicker, and they could begin development in six months. If the company has a board of directors that goes through budgetary processes like a city, it’s about an 18-month process.

Commercial

North of Glendale Avenue on Loop 303 has a DNL decibel level of below 65, meaning three-fifths of Loop 303 in Glendale does not have land use restrictions. However, even outside these lines, certain uses can be a bad idea. “Generally speaking, developing residential in close proximity to the airport is not a good idea,” Mr. Husband said. This is because of both noise and people’s apprehensions about planes flying over their home, regardless of how safe it is, Mr. Husband said. Along the northern parts of Loop 303, there will likely — eventually — be commercial areas, Mr. Friedman said.

The airport

Luke AFB is not the only place creating noise in west Glendale. Glendale’s airport has noise contours as well. However, the airport flies much quieter aircraft than the base and therefore has much smaller contours. Still, land use issues can arise. Last summer Phoenix approved a housing development just across the Glendale-Phoenix border from the Glendale airport. Glendale’s aviation commission opposed the development but reached an agreement that included noise-insulated walls in the homes, notifying every home buyer about the airport and noise levels and making home buyers sign that they would not complain to the airport about sound levels. Like Luke AFB, the airport has also created an industrial park near it. This area north of the airport is one of Glendale’s two existing industrial hubs. The other is at the southeast corner of the city, an extension of Phoenix’s industrial line, and the third will be along Loop 303. Glendale’s airpark includes facilities for Coca-Cola, Parker Hannifan and ConAir, which opened two large warehouses in 2017. Mr. Friedman said more plans are underway to bring more warehouses to the area, though none as large as ConAir’s. Mr. Husband said as the West Valley extends around the Glendale airport and Luke AFB, its important for municipalities to find developments that will fit in well with the airfields. “One of things that the airport is very active on and takes very seriously is the compatible land use around the airport,” Mr. Husband said. “When the airport was developed here in 1986… there was very little development out here. And so, as the development moves west — or in any direction where an airport usually is and has been alone — you need to just make sure and preserve that proper land use planning around the airport.”

Mark Carlisle can be reached at 623-876-2518 or mcarlisle@newszap.com.