BUCKEYE — An annexation of farmland intended for “employment” is one of many items on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Buckeye City Council meeting.
A public hearing and council vote on annexation of four parcels, totaling about 116 acres, is one of six agenda action items for the meeting, set for 6 p.m. at Buckeye City Hall, 530 W. Monroe Ave.
The parcels are in an L-shape on the northeast corner of State Route 85 and Baseline Road. The acreage is across Baseline Road from the 214 acres recently purchased for Kore Power’s battery manufacturing plant.
The intent of the developer of the north-side 114 acres — listed as Buckeye 270 LLC — is to build industrial buildings with site improvements, according to a city staff report.
A general plan land-use amendment would change the land’s designation from “neighborhood” to “employment.” The proposed rezoning will be from commercial center (part of the acreage is already within city limits). The southern portion, which is in unincorporated Maricopa County, will change from single-family rural residential, or SF-43.
Both halves will then have the designation of light industrial.
The proposed access points are along Southern Avenue to the north, 263rd Avenue to the east and Baseline Road to the south. The applicant has initiated discussions with the Arizona Department of Transportation regarding access to SR 85.
Tuesday night’s action items also include a $250,000 contract with a Nebraska firm to help develop a downtown specific area plan.
There is a lengthy consent agenda list of items set for Tuesday night as well. That list includes a final plat approval for 67 homes that would be part of Desert Moon Estates Phase 3, parcel 6A and 6B, south of the southeast corner of West Yuma Road and South Apache Road.
At 3 p.m. Tuesday, the council is set to host a Fiscal 2023 budget workshop and hear a one-hour presentation on regional housing needs from HomeArizona and Elliot D. Pollack & Co. representatives.
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.