The City of Avondale Planning Commission voted unanimously on Oct. 15 to recommend City Council approve a minor general plan amendment and a planned area development rezoning for the Avondale Tech Center, applications PL-25-0120 and PL-25-0121. The 38-net-acre site is at the northwest corner of Corporate Drive and 117th Avenue.

Monica Smriti, senior planner, told the commission the general plan amendment would change the site’s land use designation from mixed use to business park and the rezoning would change the parcel from City Center District (CCD) to Avondale Tech Center Planned Area Development (PAD) with underlying Commercial Park (CP) zoning. "The proposal is for an advanced technology campus to support light industrial, warehousing and office users," Smriti said, adding the site plan shows three buildings each more than 200,000 square feet with about 720 parking spaces in total.

Staff recommended approval after finding the requests meet the four required general plan findings and the zoning-code findings in the staff report. Smriti said the development would meet necessary infrastructure requirements and would follow the zoning code, subdivision regulations and design manuals unless modified by the PAD stipulations. Public participation included a neighborhood meeting on Sept. 9 with one non‑applicant attendee and a single written public comment noting the site already was advertised for lease and questioning the need for hearings.

Stephen Anderson, the applicant’s land-use attorney, said the applicant and staff had worked through ten stipulations. Anderson described the project as "isolated" within an infill pocket and said much of the site is concealed by surrounding development. He noted the site plan shows an employee amenity area in the southeast corner and said there are other amenity areas with "two pickleball courts that will be open to the community at large." Anderson also discussed the traffic-signal stipulation tied to the intersection of Corporate Drive and Fairway Drive, explaining the developer will contribute an agreed-upon amount toward the new signal but the timing depends on whether an adjacent privately owned parcel develops. "If that property chooses not to sell ... the City will be confronted with the question of whether to condemn," Anderson said, and he described the stipulation language that would allow the city to hold the contribution until the signal is built or return the funds under certain conditions.

Commissioners asked questions about truck routing and building heights. Staff said all project-related semi-truck traffic will be routed to the Fairway Drive interchange via 119th Street and Corporate Drive to minimize impacts on nearby residential neighborhoods. Staff compared proposed building heights with neighboring structures and reported the adjacent Fairway 10 buildings range between about 40 and 48 feet, making the requested height compatible with surrounding development.

The commission opened the joint public hearing for items 4a and 4b, heard from the applicant and staff, took no additional public testimony, and closed the hearing. Commissioner Jewell moved to recommend approval of the minor general plan amendment (PL-25-0120) with a second from Commissioner Pineda; the motion passed 6-0. Commissioner Guzman moved to recommend approval of the rezoning to Avondale Tech Center PAD (PL-25-0121) with a second from Commissioner Pineda; that motion also passed 6-0.

The commission forwarded both items to City Council for final action.