Legacy at Porter, Maricopa — The City of Maricopa Planning and Zoning Commission on July 14 reviewed DRP25-10, Legacy at Porter, an informational development review for a proposed multi‑building commercial center at the northeast corner of West Applegate Road and North Porter Road.

Derek Sheer, planning division staff with the city’s development services department, told commissioners the roughly 6.62‑acre site would be developed in two phases, contain about 45,000 square feet of commercial retail and include a 25,000‑square‑foot major tenant building planned for Goodwill, multiple smaller multi‑tenant shop buildings and several drive‑through pads. “It is going to be developed in 2 phases,” Sheer said, adding that the proposal currently shows about 221 parking spaces for both phases and roughly 11% open space in phase 1.

Why it matters: commissioners said the project’s vehicle circulation and future tenant mix could create traffic and queuing problems that would affect adjacent residential parcels and nearby arterials. The commission flagged parking and design issues that staff said must be resolved before any final approvals.

Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant on parking and drive‑through design. Commissioner Yelkin noted that the application proposes 221 spaces compared with the zoning requirement figure she cited as 166 and asked whether the proposed total will be adequate for different tenant types. Sheer said the city requires a queuing analysis from a traffic engineer and that the applicant provided a traffic impact analysis (TIA) that staff and the city engineer are reviewing; he added that the traffic engineer must justify parking and queuing before staff could approve building permits.

Commissioner Club raised long‑term operational concerns based on other local examples where multiple drive‑through lanes created persistent queueing problems that spilled onto main access roads. Club said even if a drive‑through is approved with limited stacking today, tenant turnover could yield different uses in the future: “Just because we approve it with that in mind today, doesn't mean that's what it's gonna be a year from now or 5 years from now,” Club said.

Applicant Scott Puente of Upward Architects, representing El Dorado Partners 27 LLC, said several of the drive‑through pads are being designed to support modern mobile‑order pickup operations (a model with less vehicle stacking than a conventional order menu) and that the shops had been prepared to allow a future drive‑through if needed. “We've designed and prepared for a drive‑through operation, if it becomes needed,” Puente said. He also described how the standalone pad (Pad A) was designed to accommodate a tenant prototype (he cited Chipotle as an example) that positions ordering and pickup to limit queue lengths.

Commissioners also discussed building elevations and site articulation. Several members urged additional vertical articulation and other architectural treatments to avoid long, unbroken parapet lines and to reduce the visual impact of service and receiving elevations that face nearby apartments. Staff and the applicant said they can explore additional articulation and that phase 2 will return for separate review or as an amendment to the current DRP.

Staff noted the project is still under review and that submittals will need to meet all zoning ordinance requirements before staff approval. Notification letters were mailed June 29 and the site posted the same day; staff said there were no letters of opposition for this case at the time of the presentation.

The matter was presented for discussion only; commissioners made no binding decision on the DRP and the item will return to staff as the design and technical studies (including the TIA and queuing analysis) are finalized.