Buckeye planning panel approves AT&T conditional use permit for tower at Miller Marketplace

The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional use permit for AT&T to install a wireless PCS facility at the southeast corner of Miller Road and Southern Avenue. Trish Cooley, with Development Services, told commissioners the application is for case PLZU‑24‑0006 and is limited to the conditional use permit; the detailed site plan will be administratively approved only if the CUP is granted.

Cooley said the leased equipment area measures roughly 600 square feet inside Miller Marketplace and that the proposal includes one AT&T antenna array with space for one additional carrier. "They are proposing to camouflage it as a broad leaf tree, a full elm with a CMU screen wall designed to match the existing market," Cooley said. She added the pole height will be 81 feet, which staff found meets the height limit for the Commercial Center (CC) zoning district and applicable setback and fall‑distance requirements.

Staff presented signal maps showing a larger area of stronger coverage with the facility in place. Cooley said all public participation requirements were met, that the applicant held a neighborhood meeting, and that staff and the applicant received no public opposition; one inquiry asked about leasing the site. Cooley said the CUP was found consistent with the Buckeye General Plan’s Neighborhood land‑use designation and with the Buckeye Development Code’s standards for a telecom facility in the Commercial Center when approved through a conditional use permit.

A commissioner asked whether any development is planned between the existing Buckeye Marketplace and the leased site; staff said they were not aware of any pending applications for that gap. Commissioners asked about visual fit and were shown conceptual imagery and surrounding tree lines; staff noted the camouflage approach and a CMU screen wall intended to match the market.

A motion to approve AT&T’s singular wireless PCS conditional use permit (PLZU‑24‑0006), subject to conditions A through E, was moved and seconded and carried on a voice vote. The transcript records a voice vote and the chair declared the motion passed. The site plan for the tower will be processed administratively only after the CUP is in place and the permit is subject to the conditions identified in staff’s recommendation.

The commission’s approval does not itself construct the facility; it authorizes the conditional use permit subject to the listed conditions and the subsequent administrative site‑plan review.