City of Chandler senior planner Alissa Petterson tells the Chandler City Council about changes to the Downtown Regional Area Plan during an Oct. 13 study session. Council is expected to approve the plan at its Thursday, Oct. 15 meeting.
The Chandler City Council approved an area development plan Thursday that’s expected to be useful for 10 to 20 years.
Packed with guidelines on what should be built where in the 2.4-square-mile area, the Downtown Region Area Plan was a large project involving staff, public and business input, and the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. It’s a guideline document meant to help how Chandler’s downtown will look and be shaped in the years ahead.
Senior planner Alisa Petterson took Council questions Oct. 13 about recent small changes to the plan. One of those regarded what the plan refers to as “gateway intersections.”
“Planning staff, after careful consideration, identified three Arizona Avenue intersections as key (downtown) gateway locations at Ray Road, Chandler Boulevard and Pecos Road,” Petterson said. “That’s where we want to see interesting, unique mixed-use development. So redevelopment proposals for sites that front two arterials will be required to indicate at least two planned uses for that property.”
Sites larger than 10 acres will be required to designate a minimum of 20% of the land for commercial or office uses.
“The important change we made, just a few minutes ago, was to state that this land use applies only to redevelopment sites within the downtown region,” Petterson told the Council.
Chandler staff and leaders have focused much more on redevelopment polices in the past four years as the city approaches buildout, rather than new growth regulations, especially in terms of commercial uses along arterial streets. This focus has mainly been on downtown and the northern third of the city — the areas that were built and developed first.
The DRAP, or Downtown Region Area Plan, took into account many recent state zoning, planning and development law changes, city code updates and changing demographics and economic circumstances.
It also incorporated Historic Preservation Commission input and at least three city planning documents. Those are the Redevelopment Area Plan, the South Arizona Avenue Entry Corridor Study and the South Arizona Avenue Design Guidelines.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended, in early September, that Council approve the new DRAP, heaping much praise on staff and the process at the time of its vote.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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