The new Tempe-based Amkor Technologies facility on 55 acres in the commercial core of master-planned Vistancia has raised many questions from residents living in the area.
City officials say they have received about 80 questions from residents in recent weeks, ranging from location choice to traffic.
To address those concerns, the city held a live webinar March 27.
During the virtual session, Deputy City Manager Mike Faust attempted to fill in those gaps where residents had questions.
The recorded webinar will be available to the public no later than April 3.
The following covers much of the webinar in question-and-answer format, with Faust providing the answers.
Why was this particular location chosen, considering there is still a lot of open land in the northern part of Peoria? The truth of the matter is that all the desert you see that runs along Loop 303 or even Loop 303 and Lake Pleasant Parkway, that’s all part of the Arizona State Land Trust. That is not currently available to market. So that land is not currently entitled. It needs to be auctioned. That land is not currently on the market for projects such as this. Amkor’s 55-acre site is specifically geared toward employment, and while Amkor or an advanced manufacturing facility may have not been the original intended use, since 2003, the zoning for the broader master-planned community has always contemplated some variation of employment or commercial use in this area. It is important to note that the zoning for this area has been in place for an extended period of time and each time the developer has come through the Planning and Zoning Commission and city council for amendments and updates, the uses for this property were upheld and affirmed.
Given the land designation, if Amkor wasn’t going there, could the developer have done a contract with a large industrial user in which there would be smoke stacks? The answer to that is no, they couldn’t, because while the zoning is permitting commercial and is an advance manufacturing application, it does not permit heavy industrial use, smoke stacks and those kinds of things.
If the Safeway was to close down, could Amkor buy that property and build another facility? The answer is not without going through rezoning, they couldn’t. You would have community engagement. You would have public meetings and discussion. So again, the property that this is going on is zoned and has been zoned for these particular applications.
Will the Amkor facility displace the retail planned for the Vistancia commercial core? No. The Amkor facility will be located in the employment section of Five North, Vistancia’s commercial core. In all reality, the Amkor project and employment centers help enable the retail and restaurants to come.
Can you share the names and the timing of when the restaurants might arrive?The answer is not yet. I just had a conversations with the developer the other day and it is premature for them to communicate any specifics.
The rendering looks like Amkor won’t fit the look and feel of Vistancia. Will the facility fit the character of the community? The rendering is just a conceptual image. It is important to note that as part of the purchase and sale agreement of the land, as part of the site planning process, Vistancia has their own design guidelines, and the project must go through Vistancia’s design guideline review to make sure the materials selection, the color selection, the landscaping all fit the look and feel of the master-planed community. All this has been very well thought out. The folks who have built Vistancia have done a phenomenal job designing this master-planned community. With Five North, they contemplated concepts of commercial and advanced manufacturing in this area all with the desire to have the same look and feel throughout the entire community.
The height for the Amkor buildings seem too tall for the area. Will they fit in with the character of the area? In reality, what we are looking at are a series of buildings for the site with the production building roughly 35 feet tall. To put that in perspective, the Fry’s that’s being constructed on Lone Mountain and El Mirage, the Safeway at Vistancia and El Mirage, those buildings are about 35 feet tall. The tallest building on site is to be about 54 feet tall. To put that in perspective, the Vista Winds property nearby is 60 feet tall.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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