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The city of Glendale just got 260 acres larger, and industrial projects are on the way.
The city council on Sept. 22 unanimously approved annexing the land just north of Luke Air Force Base to house approximately 3.9 million square feet of industrial and manufacturing to be known as Reems Ranch.
The annexation involves vacant land planned for the development of several new industrial projects, according to interim development services Director Lisa Collins. The annexation area includes five parcels, and in addition to being north of Luke is located south of Northern Avenue and east of Reems Road.
“The Loop 303 Corridor is an opportunity to create a Glendale identity through the development of employment, commercial, and appropriate residential areas,” city documents noted in its presentation. “Reems Ranch will bring an area for future commercial and industrial development into the corporate limits of the city. Job creation, employment opportunities, and private sector investment will be realized in the short and long term in the Loop 303 Corridor as it develops.”
In August 2019, the council approved a pre-annexation development agreement to allow the property owner to address infrastructure needs. In August of this year, council moved forward with the annexation.
Ms. Collins reported in her presentation that, with 50% warehousing use and 50% for manufacturing, the annexation would bring an annual net benefit to the city of $870,000, plus a one-time revenue to the city of $15.4 million in construction sales tax es and permit fees.
The land will be added to Glendale city limits in 30 days.
In other council action:
The city entered into of an intergovernmental agreement with the Glendale Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration for continued participation in a program-funded state and local task force in the Phoenix area.
By assigning two detectives to the task force, Glendale Police has partnered with DEA for more than two decades to fight the importation, sale, and use of dangerous drugs and narcotics; aiming to interdict the supply of drugs and the transfer of large sums of money that accompany the illicit drug trade. GPD has participated in the DEA program-funded task force since 2007.
There is no cost to the city to enter into this intergovernmental agreement.
The current intergovernmental agreement for the task force will expire Sept. 30. The term of this new agreement will be Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2021.
The city accepted and will expend the grant funds from Arizona Emergency Medical Systems, Inc., in the amount of $1,500 to purchase EMS supplies to support the COVID-19 response.
The Glendale Fire Department does not currently have any EMS supplies on hand, nor does it maintain an EMS cache in its warehouse, according to the city. This is because all EMS supplies are provided by Maricopa Ambulance, the contracted EMS service provider for the City of Glendale.
It is the fire department’s intent to create a small cache of those supplies to allow for the continuation of service for a short time even when normal supply chains are disrupted.
Steve Stockmar has been with the Independent Newsmedia team since 2017. An NAU alum and Peoria resident, Steve’s community journalism pursuits focus mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference. In his spare time Steve plays in a vintage baseball league using uniforms and rules from the 1860s, and also acts (badly) in community theater. In addition, he has an unhealthy obsession with baseball and the Chicago Cubs.