Planning commission approves Switchyard comprehensive sign plan with deviations to town sign code

The Queen Creek Planning and Zoning Commission on the meeting agenda approved a comprehensive sign program for the Switchyard mixed‑use development, allowing several deviations from the town’s sign provisions to accommodate monument, entry and building signage and pedestrian wayfinding.

Les Johnson, principal planner for the Town of Queen Creek, presented the plan and described the development site as roughly 11.7 acres bordering Ellsworth Loop Road between Victoria Lane and Ocotillo Road. "This project was an administrative approval," Johnson said, and he detailed the development program: four commercial buildings with about 27,000 square feet of retail (primarily restaurants), roughly 35,000 square feet of office space, and three multifamily buildings totaling about 215 residential units wrapped around a single‑deck parking structure with roughly 77–78 tuck‑under garages.

The commission discussed sign sizes and types proposed in the plan. The developer is proposing one double‑sided multi‑tenant monument sign at about 9.5 feet tall (the town code caps similar signs at 8 feet), three prominent entry ID signs of roughly 82.85 square feet each (the code maximum is 48 square feet), and building wall signage envelopes that in one instance total as much as 496 square feet versus the 250‑square‑foot per‑building cap in code. Johnson noted the wall signage figures represent maximum envelopes in which future tenants may place signs and said tenants frequently do not use the full allowance.

The applicant also proposed interior wayfinding, projecting signs (allowed only through an approved sign plan), tenant canopy signs and pedestrian‑scale under‑canopy signage. Johnson told the commission the developer and the project’s artist had coordinated signage and public art, and staff said the developer agreed to reduce signage on the rear elevation of Building E where it faces the multifamily units. Commission discussion included potential murals on building backsides: a commissioner raised a practical concern, saying, "If you incorporate the business into that mural and then the business leaves, then you have to change the whole mural." Johnson and staff said they had discussed turnover and the potential for evolving murals over time.

A motion in favor of P25‑0019, the Switchyard comprehensive sign plan, was made and seconded. The commission voted to approve the plan; the motion carried.

Eric Swanson, planning manager, later noted during administrative updates that the Switchyard project held a groundbreaking "on the seventh" and that construction work is expected to move forward soon.

The commission’s approval permits the deviations described in the plan; project permit and tenant signage will be subject to the sign program’s envelopes and any future tenant sign permits required by the town.