Peoria planning staff outline master plan for 7,200-acre 'Peoria Innovation Corps,' schedule PCD application for December

Planning staff briefed the Peoria Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 20 on the Peoria Innovation Corps (PIC), a large master‑planning and entitlement effort intended to create a job center in North Peoria and position roughly 7,200 acres of state land for phased auction and development.

Planning Director Hawkes told commissioners the city has been working with the State Land Department and has obtained a certificate of purchase for about 834 acres within the area. Hawkes said the goal is to drive local employment so fewer residents must commute: "approximately 80% of our labor force outcommutes," he said, and the PIC is intended to provide an economic engine to change that pattern.

The staff presentation described the PIC footprint as about 7,208 acres (roughly 11.3 square miles), entirely within Peoria and east of the Agua Fria River. Staff divided the area into three planning "cores": Core 1 (about 1,900 acres south of Loop 303) with residential transition areas adjacent to Pleasant Valley and West Wing Mountain; Core 2 (the city’s 834‑acre purchase) anchored by the Amcor employment site below a bluff; and Core 3 (about 4,500 acres north of the Cap Canal) where power lines, canals and other infrastructure will shape land‑use choices.

Hawkes said technical studies under preparation include a traffic impact study, water and wastewater reports, a trails master plan, public facilities planning and an electrical demand study. Those studies and high‑level "bubble" land plans will inform a Planned Community District (PCD) zoning document staff is drafting.

Staff announced outreach and public‑information tools to accompany the entitlement: a consultant‑hosted project website with presentations and FAQs to be posted before Thanksgiving, a hotline and contact form for questions, and a recorded virtual information session. On the schedule presented to the commission, staff plan to file the official PCD application in December, hold an in‑person community meeting in mid‑January, present a study session to the commission Feb. 19, seek a commission recommendation March 5 and take the matter to the City Council for discussion and action March 17.

During commissioner questions, staff clarified that the lands are already within Peoria city limits (no annexation required) and that the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the State Land Department creates a reimbursement mechanism: developers who successfully bid on auction parcels reimburse the city for design, construction and eligible soft costs rather than the state directly. Hawkes said some infrastructure currently under construction in Core 2 had been previously approved in the city capital plan, and that reimbursement provisions in the IGA address other design and construction costs.

Vice Chair Fiesenor and other commissioners praised the emphasis on employment and urged robust outreach; Vice Chair Fiesenor noted an estimate that Amcor could bring "3,000 jobs" to the area. Commissioners asked for clearer numeric context on commuting statistics, and staff said assumptions for yield and water demand are being coordinated with the city’s integrated water utility master plan.

Chair Waitman Powell opened the public hearing on the PIC update and reported there were no public speakers; the commission closed the public hearing. Earlier in the meeting the commission approved the consent agenda (item 1C, Nov. 6 minutes) by unanimous vote following a motion by Vice Chair Fiesenor and a second from Commissioner Cottrell.

Staff identified several constraints that will affect land use — floodplain and wash corridors, steep slopes, high‑voltage transmission corridors, canals and utility corridors — and stressed that the PCD will seek to balance economic development with environmental and neighborhood edge protections. Hawkes said the state land ownership pattern makes the city‑state partnership critical: roughly 75% of remaining developable vacant land in the broader region is state land, he said.

Next procedural steps are the December PCD filing and the January community meeting; staff said more outreach events may be added to widen participation. The commission received the study session update and had no formal vote on entitlement action at the meeting.

Votes at a glance: The only formal vote recorded in this meeting was approval of the consent agenda minutes (item 1C). Vice Chair Fiesenor moved, Commissioner Cottrell seconded; the motion passed unanimously.

The commission adjourned after brief reports, including a commission report recognizing Veterans Day activities.