Annexing 6,600 acres of State Trust Land and homebuilder-owned property into the city of Apache Junction will be discussed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The hearing for discussion and public-input purposes only will be at the 7 p.m. Jan. 19 meeting in the council chambers, 300 E. Superstition Blvd.

The Arizona State Selection Board in July 2019 approved the annexation of 6,687 acres of state trust land into the city of Apache Junction. State Land Commissioner Lisa Atkins requested approval of the annexation in T1S R8E Sections 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34, all in Pinal County, according to the minutes of the selection board’s July 17 meeting.

Annexation petition

A petition for annexation — case AN-1-20 — was filed Dec. 22 with the Pinal County Recorder’s Office.

The request by Dan Bonow, representing D.R. Horton Inc. and the Arizona State Land Department, proposes the city annex an area generally south of the Elliot Avenue alignment, east of Meridian Drive, north of the State Route 24/Frye Road alignment and west of the Central Arizona Project canal.

City staff members are working with D.R. Horton, its development partner Brookfield Residential and the state land department to annex and plan the development of the property under the city’s general plan master planned community designation, according to a memo to the council from Rudy Esquivias, planning manager and zoning administrator.

National homebuilder D.R. Horton bought 2,783.13 acres of state land south of Apache Junction in a live auction Nov. 4. The state’s K-12 schools will be beneficiaries of the land sale in the area called Superstition Vistas between Elliot and Ray roads and from Meridian east about 2 miles.