Planning commission opens citizen review to align code with state bill on international headquarters uses

Nicole Russell, senior planner for the Town of Gilbert, asked the Planning Commission on Oct. 1 to initiate a Land Development Code text amendment to conform the town’s light industrial rules to a recently passed state bill addressing ancillary uses for international headquarters campuses. If initiated, staff will draft code language and return to the commission before the matter advances to Town Council.

The request matters because the state law requires municipalities in a defined population range to permit hotel and multifamily residential uses as ancillary to qualifying international headquarters campuses; the proposed local code changes are intended solely to make Gilbert’s code “conforming changes with senate bill 1543,” Russell said.

Russell told commissioners that the next steps would be drafting specific code language, returning to the Planning Commission with proposed edits, and then forwarding the recommendation to Town Council for final action. The commission opened the citizen-review phase; staff recorded no public comment at the meeting. There was no discussion of substantive design standards, thresholds for qualifying headquarters campuses, or fiscal impacts at the session, and Russell said staff would be available to answer questions as they draft the amendment.

Because the town’s proposed action is to implement changes required by state law, the amendment will focus on where the Land Development Code needs conforming edits rather than on introducing new discretionary policies. The commission did not take a separate formal vote on specifics at the study-session item; commissioners verbally affirmed initiation and staff will return with draft language and a formal public hearing schedule.

The change will proceed through the Planning Commission public hearing and then to Town Council for final adoption; timing will depend on staff drafting and the legal/notification process required for code amendments.