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planning and zoning

Buckeye commission to vote on 400-home subdivision

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The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission has multiple housing developments on its agenda for today’s meeting.

The agenda for the meeting, set for 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 530 West Monroe St., includes a preliminary plat approval for the Arroyo Verde development. Already zoned as planned residential, the 400-unit, single-phase housing development, on about 100 acres, will have a density of almost four homes per acre, with about 32 acres devoted to open space.

There will be entrances on Thomas Road and Encanto Avenue. A newly constructed, curving parkway down the middle of the development will be 202nd Avenue, according to a staff report.

The acreage is between Verrado Way and Jackrabbit Trail, fewer than two miles north of Interstate 10.

It’s the latest in a series of development hearings for Buckeye, which has doubled in size since 2010 and is well beyond 100,000 residents, according to city data.

There are even more housing development hearings on Tuesday’s agenda.
Thompson Thrift is a 252-unit apartment complex planned for a 10.6-acre, L-shaped lot near the southwest corner of Yuma and Watson roads, south of I-10. It would wrap behind the Buckeye Marketplace shopping center, on the side that includes a Fry’s grocery store.

The developer is seeking a zone change from commercial center to residential/multifamily, Class 2. The three-story complex will have a density of about 23 units per acre.

Homes at Susan’s Ranch is a planned 144-unit single-family residential subdivision. It is located east of the northeast corner of Miller and Lower Buckeye roads. Its preliminary plat is up for approval, though it’s part of the previously approved Susan’s Ranch planned-area development.

Miller Road has been undergoing extensive reworking to widen it and make other improvements from I-10 south beyond downtown Buckeye.
The Homes at Susan’s Ranch is a 22.8-acre site. The 144 planned units would give it a density of about 6.3 units per acre.

The St. Henry Roman Catholic Church abuts the east edge of the project site, according to a staff report.

The development would have about 26% of the property planned for open space with included amenities per the approved Susan’s Ranch PAD.

Also on the agenda is the TGV Rexcon Nexgen major general plan amendment. The amendment would allow a change from neighborhood to employment zoning in the southeast part of Buckeye, near farmland and a school, on more than 1,300 acres.

A preliminary hearing on the general plan amendment was held earlier this month. Some residents spoke out against it; a school superintendent raised a concern, and a public input meeting asked if there could be a wider buffer between industrial use and nearby housing.

Tuesday’s hearing will be used to help the commission determine if it will recommend approval of the general plan amendment to the Buckeye City Council. The proposed amendment is land owner-initiated.

Tuesday’s full agenda includes a second and final hearing on the State Route 85 Corridor major general plan amendment. This staff-initiated amendment will create a 2,650-acre employment zone along the north-south highway in Buckeye.

It also will define what qualifies as employment land use. It will emphasize and strengthen expectations for industrial development in proximity to existing or planned residential uses, according to a staff report.

The corridor plan is in its second hearing by the board, with many questions answered and no major public opposition at the first hearing. The board will issue a recommendation to council of approval or disapproval of the amendment.