Planning and Zoning Commission recommends expansion of Rank and Farm sand-and-gravel operation

FLORENCE, Ariz. — On Sept. 18, 2025, the Town of Florence Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval of a major general plan amendment (Case PZ-25-38) to permit expansion of an existing sand-and-gravel mining operation known in the hearing as the Rank and Farm project.

The amendment would change portions of the 2022 Florence General Plan from suburban neighborhood, highway mixed-use and open space place types to an industry district place type and expand the town’s aggregate resources overlay to cover the subject parcels, enabling the operator to grow a mining area described by the applicant as increasing from roughly 60 acres to approximately 250 acres.

Town staff and the applicant said the site is located between the north bank of the Gila River and south of Hunt Highway, north of the South Side Canal and about a half-mile west of Pinal Parkway. Applicant representatives told commissioners the expanded area is privately owned and that much of the proposed mining will remain within…