Board approves Grama Verde solar project after union support and neighboring setbacks dispute

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a comprehensive-plan amendment and accompanying rezoning for the Grama Verde Energy solar project, a utility-scale solar and battery site proposed on Arizona State Trust land along State Route 85.

The board approved the two related items (the plan amendment and the rezoning) by voice vote after public testimony both for and against the project and after staff recommended approval. The project proponent, Apex Clean Energy, told the board the site is attractive for power delivery because of adjacent transmission infrastructure.

Why it matters: supporters said the project will bring local skilled construction jobs and reduce long commutes for trade workers; opponents said the development will affect watershed flows, viewshed and recreational access near the Buckeye Hills and asked the county to add setbacks to protect adjacent properties.

Construction-trades representatives made the project’s most sustained public case. "Grama Verde means good paying local jobs that strengthen our community and provide stability," said Cesar Corral of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. Mark Cardenas of IBEW Local 640 said members now commute outside Maricopa County and that approving the project would allow them to work closer to home.

Neighboring landowners urged conditions. Farmer Rick Sutter, whose 400-acre farm borders the project, asked the board to avoid siting panels near recreational Buckeye Hills and raised concerns about altered runoff and historic siphons and levees. Jacob Gaston, who said he owns two contiguous 40-acre parcels next to the site, said he would withdraw formal opposition if the board required a 100-foot setback from his property line.

County planning staff told the board the site is largely state trust land and that the project will be subject to additional review at the plan-of-development stage, including drainage and environmental requirements and federal and state regulations. Tom Ellsworth, the county’s director of Planning and Development, said the requested industrial zoning includes a stipulation setting battery storage setbacks at 100 feet; the broader IUPD request included zero-foot panel setbacks in places and the applicant said it used a blanket 0-foot setback in the zoning map rather than parcel-by-parcel graphics.

Apex’s attorney, Andrew Yancey, said the project covers roughly 4,000 acres of state trust land, with about 600 acres inside the city of Buckeye, and that the developer expects to interconnect at the adjacent Jojoba substation. He said Apex had met with multiple neighbors and that the company would continue to work with adjacent owners during the plan and site-design stages.

The board’s vote: a supervisor moved to approve both the comprehensive-plan amendment and the zoning case, a second was made, and the motion passed by voice vote; the record shows staff recommended approval and the board approved the items in one voice vote. No roll-call tally was provided in the public record.

What’s next: the project will proceed to subsequent permitting and plan-of-development reviews, where drainage, environmental protections and refined setbacks will be reviewed. Apex said it will return with detailed site plans after utility offtake and interconnection work is further advanced.

Speakers at the hearing included labor representatives, several neighboring landowners, planning staff and the applicant’s attorney. The county’s Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended approval before the board hearing.