Core Center, a mixed-use development near the Scottsdale Airport, will undergo some changes to its development plan including an increase in floor area ratio. Scottsdale City Council approved on consent at its Nov. 25 meeting a zoning district map amendment to Core Center’s existing development plan, which council approved in 2014, to allow for the exchange of bonus development standards for special public improvement. The 7.58-acre site sits at 15301 N. Hayden Road and carries planned airpark core development --- airpark mixed use zoning. Original plans included a church but with the amendment, developers will build mixed-use development including office, retail and restaurant uses. The city granted a 123,135-square-foot increase in floor area, ratcheting up the overall proposed ratio to 192,635 square feet. Without bonuses, the allowed floor area under the zoning stipulations is 69,500 square feet. In order to achieve the increase, owner Impact Church will pay a little less than $1.6 million to special public improvements in the Greater Airpark area. Other than the increase in floor plan, all other standards are met with the proposed buildings reaching 45 feet in height under its allotted 62 feet. The site will provide 746 parking spaces and will feature 83,190 square feet of open space. To the south of the site is a multi-family residential development and a large retail establishment sits to the east. Further retail and storage uses lie to the north while an existing gas station and another large retail establishment sit to the west. City staff say the development may create impacts to existing wastewater infrastructure in the area. To answer these potential concerns, city staff say proposed improvements are slated for a wastewater service line in Raintree Drive and the city will install the line at the time of the development’s construction. City staff also say there is a chance of increased traffic on Hayden Road and difficulties for certain vehicles to get in and out of the site. City staff plan to place a signal at the main entrance of the development to answer these concerns. Transportation staff anticipate the signal will increase delay for Hayden Road travelers and will likely increase rear-end collisions. Staff also anticipates it to provide necessary traffic control “for improved safety” of vehicles utilizing the entrance as well as those 84th Street. Impact Church claims it notified property owners within 750 feet of the site and hosted an open house meeting on May 30. City staff say they received two emails in opposition with concerns of increased intensity of the uses. Linda Ambrose pronounced shame on the City Council and Impact Church for what she saw as Impact misusing its status, she claimed. “This ‘Church Project’ never intended to build their church there and it has left an unsavory taste in citizens’ mouths because of churches’ misuse of zoning privileges,” she said via an email to Scottsdale planner Brad Carr. “Furthermore, they have altered for some and blocked for others the most incredible views of the McDowells for anyone west of their absurdly high and outrageously tall apartments.”