Planning and Zoning Commission recommends approval of five consent items including two wireless monopoles and an equine facility

The Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission on July 10, 2025, recommended approval of five consent-agenda items covering special use permits and zoning changes. The commission’s recommendation was made by motion and passed by roll call vote.

Staff described five consent items: SU240015 (The Ranch at Salt River), a guest ranch proposal in District 2 on about 20 acres near Apache Trail and Roosevelt Lake; Z2024016 (Caballero Contractor’s Yard), a special use permit for an outdoor landscape contractor and storage yard in District 5 on roughly 1 acre in the Rainbow Valley area; Z2024022 (PHO Santa Barbara), a request in District 4 for a 60-foot monopole wireless communications facility on a 2,500-square-foot lease site of a 2-acre parcel near Gompers Court in Morristown; Z2024045 (Cape Creek Equine), an amendment for an established equine facility in District 3 that would incorporate a polo facility on about 8.5 acres at the northeast corner of Carefree Highway and 14th Street in Desert Hills; and Z2024062 (PHO Wintersburg 10 WCF), a request in District 4 for a 110-foot monopole wireless communications facility on a 2,500-square-foot lease site of a 22.8-acre parcel in the Tonopah area.

Staff recommended approval of each case subject to the conditions listed in the staff reports. For Cape Creek Equine staff provided a handout revising condition e to allow revocation or modification by the Board of Supervisors under Article 304.3 of the Maricopa County Zoning Ordinance if a component is no longer appropriate due to changed site conditions or surrounding land uses. Staff also proposed adding condition k to state: “The property owner shall not rely upon potable water supplied by the Town of Cave Creek for any of the expanded special uses including the polo fields.” Staff further stated a verbal change to condition e.9 requiring, unless a traffic impact analysis approved by MC-DOT determines otherwise, a right-turn lane with a minimum 160-foot storage along westbound Carefree Highway at 14th Street.

Commissioner Layton had indicated she would recuse herself from the vote on agenda item 3 (Z2024022, PHO Santa Barbara). After no members of the public registered to speak, Commissioner Hernandez moved to recommend approval of the consent agenda as presented by staff (including the handouts and the verbal change); Commissioner Rockwallack seconded. A roll-call vote was taken and staff reported the motion passed 6 to 0. The minutes and staff reports were noted as part of the permanent record.

The commission asked no substantive questions of staff on these consent items during the hearing. Several items specified paragraph numbers and condition letters in staff reports; those condition letters and the staff report paragraphs remain part of the record.