Chris Hawkes, the citys planning and community development director, and other staff presented the scope, constraints and schedule for the Peoria Innovation Core, a roughly 7,000-acre area the city is advancing through a master-plan and entitlement process to attract employment, commercial and mixed uses.

Hawkes told the council the Innovation Core was divided for planning purposes into three subareas: Core 1 (south of the Loop 303), Core 2 (between Loop 303 and the CAP canal) and Core 3 (north of the CAP canal up to State Route 74). He said the city is leading entitlement work with the Arizona State Land Department to produce a planned-community district (PCD) zoning package and associated technical reports.

Why this matters: Staff said the Innovation Core is intended to concentrate employment-rich uses near major roads and utilities to reduce commute distances, produce daytime jobs and support future retail and services. City staff said a master plan is designed to avoid piecemeal development and to protect environmental and cultural resources through existing ordinances.

Planning details and schedule

- Land and partners: Hawkes and staff emphasized that most of the available developable land north of State Route 74 is state trust land; the city signed an IGA with the Arizona State Land Department to coordinate master planning and infrastructure sequencing.

- Constraints and land use concepts: Staff listed multiple constraints that will shape land use: canals, freeways, hillsides, floodplains and cultural-resource areas. Staff sketched early concepts: Core 1 near Pleasant Valley and West Wing is suitable for single-family then moderate-density residential transitioning to commercial near Lake Pleasant Parkway and the 303; Core 2 is positioned for employment, commercial and higher-intensity uses; Core 3 may include industrial/business-park uses where access and geography make other uses less appropriate.

- Public process and timeline: Hawkes said technical reports were under way and early stakeholder engagement would continue; he told council staff expect to initiate formal PCD applications and planning reviews with the planning commission and return to council for final action in 2026.

Medical campus interest and education partners

Economic Development Director Maria Loughner described a signed letter of intent with HonorHealth. Loughner said HonorHealth agreed "they will purchase 8 acres outright, and they want an additional 8 acres next door" for an outpatient-focused campus that would include urgent and concierge care, an outpatient surgery center, post-acute services, integrative medicine, occupational health and physical therapy. Loughner said HonorHealth also left a hospital option on the table but that any hospital decision would be data-driven and a later phase.

Loughner also said WestMEC, the West Valley career and technical education consortium, has expressed interest in a 5to7-acre campus near the proposed medical uses to train healthcare workers in partnership with local providers and a potential university partner.

Public protections and community input

Staff stressed that existing local regulationsincluding Peorias desert-lands ordinance, design-review standards and cultural- and floodplain-protection requirementswill apply to any future development. Hawkes said, "State land... is not open preserved land," and that the State Land Department manages trust parcels for beneficiaries such as Kthrough12 schools; staff said master planning is intended to de-risk parcels and set expectations for future buyers.

Early interest and applications

Chris Hawkes told the council there is already market interest: the North Peoria Gateway plan adopted in 2024 has generated multiple applications to the State Land Department, and staff said one Core 1 subarea already has an application from a national homebuilder for roughly 800 acres. Hawkes said these entitlement and application processes will take years to unfold and that buildout will be gradual.

What happens next

Staff said technical reports and stakeholder outreach will continue this fall, the city will coordinate public meetings and planning-commission review, and staff expect the formal PCD zoning and council action in 2026. Maria Loughner said the HonorHealth letter of intent is not a final development agreement but demonstrates a near-term health-care user that could anchor future medical and training uses in the Innovation Core.