By Mark Carlisle
Twitter: @mwcarlisle

Glendale deannexed a 6.4-acre property Tuesday it had annexed just a few months ago so that the property can instead be annexed by El Mirage to combine it with a 1,400-acre proposed industrial park in El Mirage called Copperwing Logistics Center, which is planned to be one of the largest business parks in the southwestern U.S.

While the end goal was always for El Mirage to annex the property, located near Dysart Road and Northern Parkway, Glendale needed to annex and deannex it first for El Mirage to be able to add it to its city. The property changing city jurisdictions has been forwarded to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for approval.

In 1978, Glendale annexed a 10-foot wide strip around county-controlled property near the city. The property inside the strip remained under county control but by strip annexing it, Glendale became the only city with the right to annex this county property in the future. Many Valley cities participated in strip annexation in the ‘70s to stake claim to land without having to take responsibility for it yet.

The 6.4-acre property is owned by John F. Long properties, which also owns the adjacent 1,400-acre Copperwing Logistics Center. While the Copperwing Logistics campus is entirely in El Mirage, the 6.4-acre property was country-controlled land inside Glendale’s strip annexation area. Last fall, Glendale Council agreed give up its right to annex this land to El Mirage, but El Mirage legally cannot annex land on the other side of land controlled by another city — even a 10-foot wide strip. So, Glendale needed to first annex the property, then deannex it along with the 10-foot wide strip to make the land entirely county-controlled land next to El Mirage, allowing El Mirage to annex it.

“Another city cannot they call it leapfrog over a city boundary into a county island. So, in order to annex this property into El Mirage, it needs to all be in Glendale first,” said Interim Development Services Director Lisa Collins during a Council workshop introducing the idea in November.

The process will move Glendale’s strip annexation line to just north of Northern Parkway, on the southern edge of the 6.4-acre property.

Why should it be in El Mirage?

When Northern Parkway was extended west of Dysart Road in 2015, it cut off this property from the rest of Glendale’s strip annexation area. When a city annexes land, it is responsible for providing utilities to that property. If this property were to, now or later, be annexed into Glendale, Glendale would need to extend utility infrastructure across Northern Parkway just to service this small property.

Because the property owner, John F. Long Properties, plans to join this 6.4-acre property to the rest of the Copperwing Logistics campus, it would be more cohesive, Glendale staff argued, for the campus to be entirely in one city rather than require this small chunk of it to follow a different city’s laws and receive utilities from a different city than the rest of the campus.

“Because of the subject property’s separation from the balance of the City of Glendale, and its proximity to the City of El Mirage, deannexation from Glendale and annexation into El Mirage makes perfect sense,” said Glendale staff report for Tuesday’s Council meeting.

By deannexing the property and allowing El Mirage to annex it, Glendale is only ceding jurisdiction of the property, not selling it. The property is owned by John F. Long Properties.

Once annexed into El Mirage, this parcel becomes the southwesternmost of the city.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Daily Independent
@mwcarlisle

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Mark is passionate about accurately informing his readers to what is happening in their community. He also loves reading and writing about sports. Mark has worked for Independent Newsmedia for five years. He married his high school sweetheart, adopted a boxer mix, and awaits his first child.