Chairman Jeff Frost called the meeting to order and the Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday voted to forward recommendations of approval, with conditions, for two applications that would allow a large-scale battery energy storage facility on 40.93 acres in the Dobson Farms planned unit development.

The proposals before the commission were a minor amendment to the town’s 2022 general plan (PZ-24-39) to change the land use designation from suburban neighborhood to industrial and a major PUD amendment to the Dobson Farms PUD (PZ-24-40) to add battery energy storage as an allowed use and establish development standards for the site.

Why it matters: the developer says the facility will store electricity during low-demand periods and dispatch it at peak demand to support reliability in SRP’s service area. The commission’s recommendation, if adopted by the Town Council later, would clear the way for a facility with an on-site substation and battery containers that the applicant says are 8 to 10 feet tall and will be set back at least 100 feet from perimeter property lines.

Staff presentation and proposal

Maricela, the town planning staff lead, told commissioners the town’s general plan includes a process for minor and major amendments and that the submission was under the 80‑acre threshold used to distinguish a minor amendment. Maricela said staff concluded the industrial place type was more appropriate “for what they plan to do.”

John Gillespie, a land use attorney with the Rose Law Group representing ES Volta (the project applicant), described the proposed site east of Attaway Road and south of Judd Road next to the CAP Canal and said the company seeks to preserve an open-space corridor along the canal while locating battery containers and an on-site substation closer to the SRP substation to the north.

“The site will be surrounded by other industrial uses,” Gillespie said, and he described coordination already underway with the Florence Fire Department on access and emergency response planning.

Project details and safety discussion

Louis Lumba, director of development for ES Volta, said the 40‑acre site would provide roughly 400 megawatts to the Arizona grid and store power obtained from SRP’s system rather than generate new power on-site. He told the commission the facility is intended to be quiet and to produce little regular traffic beyond occasional maintenance.

Commissioners asked for technical details about the batteries and emergency response. Lumba answered that the system would use lithium‑ion cells with lithium iron phosphate chemistry.

Chris Thomas of Kaufman Engineers, identified himself in the meeting as "fire protection junior license in the state of Arizona," and described how fire departments respond to lithium‑ion battery incidents. “The battery packs are so dense. There’s no way to really penetrate into the container itself,” Thomas said. “What the firefighters do is generally just protect the exposures, monitor the heat levels in adjacent containers…use some water spray streams if they need to… and just cool adjacent containers.”

A nearby resident, Dan Dooley of Magma Ranch (unincorporated Pinal County), spoke during public comment to warn that several storage facilities are planned in the same area and to press the commission to be sure emergency services and road infrastructure can handle a worst-case event. “Once a lithium ion battery catches on fire, you already know that you can hardly put those out,” Dooley said.

Conditions, access and infrastructure

Applicant materials and staff recommendations include a minimum 100‑foot setback of battery cabinets from property lines, an 8‑foot perimeter wall to screen enclosures, two points of access from Judd Road, an emergency response plan and continued coordination and training with the fire department. The developer told the commission the design preserves the corridor for the North–South freeway alignment and that most of the site would remain out of sight of nearby residences because of distance and the canal buffer.

There were specific questions about where the SRP interconnection would be routed. Gillespie said the project will connect to the SRP substation adjacent to the site and that “my understanding…is that it’s actually gonna be going under the road” rather than on new overhead high‑tension lines.

Votes and next steps

Commissioner Wooley moved to forward a recommendation of approval for the minor general-plan amendment (case PZ-24-39) with the staff conditions; Commissioner Lehman seconded. The commission voted 4-0 in favor.

Commissioner Wooley then moved to forward a recommendation of approval for the major PUD amendment to Dobson Farms (case PZ-24-40), including the staff’s recommended conditions; Commissioner Proulx seconded. The commission voted 4-0 in favor.

Both items will now proceed to a Town Council public hearing; staff indicated the council hearing will occur in August.

Ending

Commissioners said they appreciated the applicant’s coordination with Florence Fire Department and their willingness to work with responders on training and equipment needs. The record shows the commission recommended approval of both the general‑plan amendment and the PUD amendment with conditions; the council will make the final decision.