Land in Goodyear leased to Duncan Family Farms, corrections department to be auctioned off April 21

By Kelly O’Sullivan
Twitter: @AzNewsmedia

Much to the chagrin of some nearby residents, 1,060 acres of state-owned land leased to Duncan Family Farms in Goodyear soon may be home to office and industrial buildings, including a Samsung semiconductor manufacturing plant.

After a lengthy public hearing March 22 during which several people spoke or submitted written comments both for and against the Arizona State Land Department’s request to rezone the land near the Sedella and Litchfield Farms residential communities, the Goodyear City Council voted unanimously to conditionally rezone it from agricultural to a combination of office, light industrial and general industrial.

Bordered by Indian School Road on the north, McDowell Road on the south, Perryville Road on the west and Citrus Road on the east, the land is part of 1,099 acres of state trust land managed by the land department, and leased to the farming family and the Arizona Department of Corrections, which operates Perryville Prison at Citrus and McDowell roads.

READ: Goodyear named fifth least-crowded city in U.S.

Impending auction

The land department is scheduled to auction off all 1,099 acres at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 21. Bidding will start at $127.7 million, with proceeds going to the state’s school and penitentiary funds, according to a land department notice of public auction.

The department manages 9.2 million acres of federal land granted to Arizona more than 100 years ago in preparation for Arizona statehood. Sale of the land benefits K-12 public schools, state universities and other entities.

For more information on the department, lands managed, a full list of beneficiaries and scheduled auctions, visit land.az.gov.

While the city has not disclosed the end user of the land, the property is one of several sites Samsung Electronics Co. is considering for a semiconductor manufacturing plant it plans to build in the U.S., according to national and local media reports. Other sites include one in the East Valley, two in Texas and one in New York.

Semiconductors are chips used in a variety of electronic devices including smartphones and vehicles.

Location, location, location

Goodyear Planning Manager Katie Wilken told the council the Sedella neighborhood is located directly north of the site, Litchfield Farms is on unincorporated Maricopa County land west of the site and Palm Valley 303 Industrial Park and the prison are to the southeast. The Canada Village neighborhood south of the site is in the city’s notification zone, but is not adjacent to the property.

Ms. Wilken said the land is within the city’s Luke Air Force Base compatible land-use overlay, and while commercial farming is a compatible use, agricultural zoning, which allows for one dwelling per acre, is not.

Staff proposed zoning the areas closest to Sedella and Litchfield Farms as office, which would provide a 50-foot landscaping area and 100-foot building setbacks, and a maximum building height of 56 feet within 500 feet of the residential areas and 80 feet thereafter. Permitted uses would include offices, retail and indoor manufacturing, but no Internet fulfillment or distribution centers, she said.

A small light industrial zone on Perryville Road south of Thomas Road would allow 80-foot-high buildings with accessory structures up to 220 feet high, 50-foot landscaping area and building setbacks, and uses similar to office.

The bulk of the property east of the office and light industrial zones would be general industrial, which would allow for buildings up to 150 feet high with accessory structures up to 220 feet high. Landscaping areas would be 50 feet, and building setbacks 50 feet except along Citrus Road, where setbacks would be 30 feet.

Uses allowed would include everything from automotive repair facilities, breweries, parking and private business, professional and trade schools to manufacturing facilities, truck terminals, warehouses and distribution facilities.

Smelting facilities, tanneries or other odor-emitting businesses would not be allowed under the rezoning, Ms. Wilken said.

Site plans and permits will be subject to Federal Aviation Administration review, and zoning permits will be required for buildings taller than 80 feet to ensure compatibility with Luke AFB.

READ: Blue Sky on hunt for new farm land in Litchfield Park

Staff added agricultural uses including indoor and outdoor farming, rooftop gardens and agricultural research to permitted uses on the site after outcry from residents concerned about losing farmland.

Speakers weigh in

Among those speaking in favor of the rezoning were Hector Hernandez and Billie Jo White, carpenters union members.

Mr. Hernandez, who identified himself as a lifelong West Valley resident, said he and fellow tradespeople usually have to travel to the East Valley and North Valley for work.

“We live here, we play here, we worship here. We would love to work here,” he said. “It’s going to be great for the city, it’s going to bring revenue to the city and it’s going to bring jobs to people like me, who didn’t go to college but yet I’m a tradesman.”

Among those speaking against were Litchfield Farms residents Jessica Wade, Michelle Lloyd and Leslie Levann, and Sedella residents Andrew Decker and Steve Mason, who raised concerns about increased traffic and truck traffic, noise, tall buildings, the strain on water resources and the potential for water and air pollution.

Ms. Lloyd, who said she moved to Arizona after 12 years working in groundwater management and water treatment for the Santa Clara Valley Water District in California, voiced concerns about wastewater runoff from a potential Samsung facility.

“Historically, around the semiconductor sites across the country, regulators have had to shut down sites for releasing industrial effluents, or runoff,” she said, naming gallium, indium, arsenic, heavy metals and toxic solvents as contaminants that have the potential to leak into the water supply.

During discussion before the vote, Councilman Joe Pizzillo asked city staff to address those concerns.

Goodyear Director of Development Services Christopher Baker said the city works closely with developers during the preapplication process to ensure “they understand what the expectations of the city are, what the treatments facilities can and cannot accept, the limits, how much and all of that, so it is something the city takes very seriously.”

Preserving farmland

Kenneth Steel, Healthy Communities Program manager for Pinnacle Prevention, a nonprofit that works with organizations including the Arizona Alliance for Livable Communities, Local First Arizona and Coalition for Farmland Preservation, asked the council to preserve a reasonable percentage of the land for agricultural use, specifically for food production.

“It’s not easy to come by land that has access to great water that has been farmed for a long time to develop all the necessary nutrients to produce organic produce, and we would hate to see it completely go away,” Mr. Steel said. “If Goodyear is able to do this, y’all will really be a pattern for neighboring communities. We’re seeing farmland being lost across the entire Valley, especially in the West Valley, and many communities are dealing with the same struggle. This will be a chance to really shine brightly as folks that are willing to develop a compromise solution.”

READ: Just won’t quit: Arizona farming families persist as development gobbles up land

While farming is an approved use on the newly rezoned land, it remains to be seen whether the purchaser will set any aside for that use. Ms. Wilken said the city hasn’t received any site plan submissions for the property.

The final public hearing speaker was Sean Duncan, who works as senior director - supply chain for Duncan Family Farms, which was started by his parents in 1985.

“We just wanted to thank you for your time and consideration this evening,” he told the council. “I want to thank the passionate residents as well.

"We’re not at liberty to discuss much as Duncan Family Farms," he said. "We signed a nondisclosure agreement, but again, I just wanted to thank you all for your time and really just acknowledge that we’re here and appreciative of everyone’s time and sharing your thoughts as both as a business as well as just a resident of Goodyear for a long time myself.”

Kelly O’Sullivan can be reached at kosullivan@newszap.com or 760-963-1697.