Dairy Queen ‘treat store’ with drive-thru planned in Gold Canyon

By Richard Dyer
Mail | X: @RHDyer

A Dairy Queen restaurant with a drive-thru is to be constructed on the northwest corner of East U.S. Highway 60 and South Kings Ranch Road in the unincorporated area of Gold Canyon.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at a recent meeting to approve rezoning the 0.49-acre property to neighborhood commercial for the construction and operation of a drive-thru restaurant.

During the public hearing portion of the case at the Dec. 20 meeting, Gold Canyon resident Robert Reveles stated he is a consumer of ice cream in his community and supports the rezoning.

“Mr. chairman, I support rezoning because it is additional competition to provide more amenities that we in Gold Canyon are constantly saying we would like to have. So I hope and encourage that the board approves this,” he said.

The Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 16 voted unanimously to recommend approval of the change.

“Also wanting to recap what occurred at P&Z: so staff, we did receive one opposition and one communication of support. The communication of support wasn’t too detailed, it just said that they would like to see this kind of go through. We also received an opposition that conveyed that Dairy Queen would negatively impact small businesses and the constituent requested that we consider the exact use,” Case Coordinator Val Lujan told supervisors during the Dec. 20 meeting.

“This one does not have hot foods; it’s going to be, I believe, like a sweet-treat type of dessert only,” she said.

A site plan shows both the 1,800-square-foot Dairy Queen and a retail area for another business in an adjacent 1,200-square-foot section.

The Dairy Queen will be a “treat store,” meaning the location will be limited to only cool treats and not serve any made-to-order hot foods, according to a written project narrative.

“The Dairy Queen will operate as a drive-thru location, while the adjoining space will not (be) a drive-thru,” it states. “As a ‘treat store,’ this location will expect a lower traffic generation per day and also have a less-frequent delivery schedule. A traffic-impact statement prepared by a traffic engineer found that the inclusion of the Dairy Queen would not degrade the operation at the intersections to a standard below the current levels. Further, it is not expected to produce any excess noise comparative to the neighboring commercial properties.”

It is a parallel parcel to a Maverick gas station and corner store that has been proposed to the southeast, Pinal County Senior Planner Patrick Roberts said at the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission’s Nov. 16 meeting, according to the meeting’s minutes.

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.