A high-density apartment complex is coming to the Heritage District, though neighbors fear the added traffic.
The Lumberyard will have three buildings, one three stories and two four stories, with 282 units sitting on 9.58 acres in an area east of Neely Street between Cullumber Avenue and the railroad.
Gilbert Town Council voted 5-2 May 7 to approve a minor general plan amendment and rezoning to change the area from light industrial to multifamily housing/high density, allowing for between 25 and 50 dwelling units per acre. The Lumberyard will have 30.8 units per acre.
Council members Bobbi Buchli and Jim Torgeson voted in dissent on the changes.
Residents of the adjacent Neely Ranch neighborhood voiced their concerns about the complex at the May 7 council meeting. They cited issues such as increased traffic, decreased property values and potential safety risks.
“This whole apartment complex is a really, really bad idea,” resident Keith Crandall said. "Gilbert is in desperate need of industrial land. ... The last thing Gilbert needs is another apartment complex. People in Gilbert need a place to work.”
The residents requested lower density, more access points for emergency vehicles or perhaps a cul-de-sac so that residential street Aviary Way would not be used as a through street to access Cooper Road.
As most of the concerns centered on traffic, attorney Adam Baugh, representing the developer, agreed to a stipulation to conduct a three-day traffic count, with school in session, a year after the final certificate of occupancy is issued to determine if additional traffic calming measures are needed at the developer’s expense.
He also suggested a no-right-turn, local-traffic-only signage on Neely.
Baugh said while industrial land use once made sense for the area, it had become increasingly a residential area, making the multifamily housing designation make more sense today.
Buchli asked about whether single-family housing had been considered, and Baugh said it originally had been, but ultimately the project did not pencil profitably.
Vice Mayor Scott Anderson said he was sympathetic to the concerns people expressed, but said people working in Gilbert need a place to live.
More multifamily housing in a town that only has about 12% of its housing stock in apartments would not change the single-family housing nature of the town, he said.
“The average person moving to Gilbert now is looking at a median home value of $500,000,” Anderson said. “That's a little bit difficult to swallow for somebody just wanting to get started here in Gilbert. And we certainly want new residents moving to Gilbert, and so that's why we're seeing apartment projects around town.”
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here