Council approves Aura at San Tan rezoning after developer adds commercial floor space; staff had opposed large deviation

The Town Council approved a rezoning and general-plan amendment for the Aura at San Tan project (GP 24-08 / Z 24-20) on a 5-2 vote Oct. 14 after the applicant enlarged the amount of nonresidential space in response to earlier council feedback.

The 14.24-acre site at the southeast corner of Alvesta and Pecos was previously designated regional commercial on the general plan and zoned RC (regional commercial). The applicant requested a change to a Residential 25–50 dwelling-units-per-acre general-plan designation and a rezoning to Mixed Use Large with a planned area development overlay, to allow a 357-unit multifamily project with ground-floor commercial and office space.

Applicant changes and staff position: At an August hearing the proposal had less commercial (roughly 9,000–16,000 square feet depending on earlier iterations). After counsel feedback the applicant revised plans to expand Building 1 commercial to roughly 29,000 square feet and increase other nonresidential space, which reduced the proportion of residential on the ground floor. Planning staff nevertheless recommended denial because the proposal still requested significant deviations from the Land Development Code (notably reducing the required percentage of nonresidential ground-floor space from 20 percent to 7.5 percent and reducing covered enclosed parking requirements).

Planning Commission and council action: Planning Commission recommended approval. At the council meeting the motion to approve the general-plan amendment and rezoning with conditions (conditions A through X noted in the staff packet) was moved by Councilmember Yung Kaprowski and seconded by Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni. The motion passed 5–2; the minutes record that Councilmembers Monte Lyons and Kenny Buckland voted no. The motion included the staff-drafted conditions recommended to address pedestrian access, parking and the site’s development plan.

Why it matters: The approval reconverts a parcel planned for commercial uses into a denser residential development with a significant, expanded commercial component on the ground floor. The council majority emphasized the applicant’s work to increase nonresidential space and the property owner’s willingness to proceed; staff emphasized sustaining nonresidential capacity across the community and compliance with code.

Quotable: Applicant Adam Baugh told council, "By doing retail and office, I now have the Goldilocks zone which is I can be flexible with spaces as small as 1,000 square feet to about 4 or 6,000 square feet..." Staff summarized the core objection: the project “does not comply with the land development code” because of the size of the requested deviations.

Next steps: The approval includes a set of conditions (A–X) that the developer must meet through final engineering, permitting and planned-area-development approvals before building permits are issued.

Ending: The council majority framed the vote as a pragmatic resolution for a parcel that had long remained undeveloped and whose roadway alignment has suppressed retail viability; the opposition argued for preserving commercial land and strict adherence to the Land Development Code.