Deputy City Manager Mike Faust told the Peoria City Council that staff had spent months negotiating to secure a large parcel of Arizona State Trust land and to relocate packaging manufacturer Amcor to the citys newly created Peoria Innovation Core.

The council voted 7-0 to approve three separate agenda items that together complete a land purchase at auction, a land-exchange with a Vistancia parcel, and amendments to the Amcor development agreement. The council also approved a license agreement that allows Amcor to access the Core 2 site for construction while final escrow and patenting steps continue.

The votes followed a multi-year staff effort that included an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Arizona State Land Department, negotiated development agreement (DA) amendments with Amcor, and a land-exchange with the Vistancia developer. City staff said the package is designed to protect the city financially even if the project changes.

Why this matters: City staff presented the actions as part of a broader economic-development push to bring an anchor employer and more daytime jobs to North Peoria, increase local tax revenue and fund infrastructure without raising taxes. Staff said the agreements include contractual protections, incremental reimbursements and a mechanism to reimburse the city for major public infrastructure costs.

Key facts and council action

- At a state land auction the city bid the appraised minimum of $46,700,000 for the Core 2 parcel and was the only bidder, Kevin Burke, deputy city manager, said: "The minimum bid was 46,700,000. Peoria bid that amount, and there were no other bidders." The city acquired a certificate of purchase with 10% down; patenting requires payment of the remaining balance later in the process.

- The city will swap 56 acres it owns in Vistancia for 104 acres in Core 2. Staff presented appraisals showing the Vistancia parcel had a higher per-square-foot value; Core 2 was priced in the auction at about $1.29 per square foot compared with the Vistancia acreage appraised substantially higher per square foot.

- The DA amendments set performance and financial terms for Amcors facility:
- Reclaimed water allocation: a Phase 1 maximum of 373,000 net gallons per day and up to 686,000 net gallons per day if Amcor builds a second phase, per the amended DA language presented by staff.
- A fixed reclaimed-water rate (staff cited $1.94 per 1,000 gallons) and a sewer-rate adjustment (staff cited a 30% adjustment) were included in the DA as negotiated terms.
- Penalties and protections: staff said the DA contains a $15,000,000 penalty payment if Amcor does not build; the DA also gives the city rights to reacquire land and recover infrastructure costs in specified circumstances.

- Public infrastructure and reimbursement: staff said the package applies approximately $52,000,000 of identified public-infrastructure costs to the Core 2 project. The city plans to recover those costs through a combination of construction-related sales taxes generated by the project (estimated $8$9 million), a potential state reimbursement tied to a cited statute, and proceeds from future land sales. Kevin Burke described the reconciliation mechanism: if local and state reimbursements and construction-tax proceeds do not cover the committed infrastructure contribution, Amcor agreed contractually to cover an identified shortfall (staff cited a potential maximum exposure of about $31,000,000 under the reconciliation example shown to council).

- License and permitting: Kate Powers, program manager overseeing Core 2 construction work, told the council that nearly all required site work is designed and some projects are already under construction. She said, "Approximately 28 pieces of earthwork equipmentwill make their way to the site and mass grading will start September of next week." Staff stressed that the license agreement does not excuse Amcor from obtaining required local permits.

Votes and roll call

Council approved the package of items related to Core 2 and Amcor by unanimous votes. A roll-call-style tally used by the clerk showed the final votes as yes from Mayor Henry Beck, Vice Mayor Crawford, Mayor Pro Tem Fenn, Councilmember Edwards, Councilmember Stokes, Councilmember Dunne and Councilmember Bullock.

What the agreements do not do

Staff repeatedly emphasized the limits of city authority: the DA requires Amcor to construct Phase 1 but the second phase is optional; the city said it retains contractual remedies and financial backstops rather than unilateral demands to build additional phases. Staff also emphasized that any construction remains subject to required permits and inspections.

Next steps

City staff said they will complete patenting (payment of the remaining land balance) and the escrow steps described in the land-exchange agreement. After Amcor achieves temporary certificate of occupancy staff plan a financial reconciliation (staff cited a 12-month reconciliation after TCO) to compare actual construction sales tax receipts and available state reimbursements against the infrastructure costs allocated to the project; the DA spells out how any shortfall would be resolved.

At the meeting deputy city manager Mike Faust framed the councils role and the staff effort: "We didn't give away anything," Faust said when describing final contract terms. The council approved the land-exchange agreement, the DA amendments and the license agreement in consecutive votes (items 2R, 3R and 4R on the agenda) and later approved related Vistancia and budget items required to implement the exchange and infrastructure funding.