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Council narrowly approves Celebration Plaza PAD amendment to allow up to three drive‑thrues and reduce medical‑office parking
Summary
By a 4–3 vote, Goodyear council amended the Celebration Plaza PAD to allow up to three drive‑thrues (minimum one end cap) and reduced the medical office parking standard from 1 space per 150 sq ft to 1 per 200 sq ft; use permits are required for individual drive‑thru tenants.
The Goodyear City Council approved an amendment to the Celebration Plaza planned area development on Jan. 26, 2026, adopting changes to drive‑thru allowances and medical‑office parking standards after a close 4–3 vote.
Senior planner Justin Gabrielson summarized the applicant’s requests for the 66.6‑acre Celebration Plaza site: increase the maximum number of drive‑thru lanes and reduce required parking for medical office from 1 space per 150 square feet to 1 per 200 square feet. Planning and Zoning recommended Option 1 — reduce parking but retain the existing single drive‑thru limit — while the applicant (Mark Reddy, RBI) sought Option 2 (up to three drive‑thrus with one end cap) citing market feedback and examples from peer cities and studies by the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Urban Land Institute.
Council members raised concerns about parking demand for patients and employees at the adjacent City of Hope medical campus and expressed a preference for sit‑down restaurants and a higher quality commercial mix rather than multiple standalone fast‑food drive‑thrus. Staff noted the city is reviewing parking standards comprehensively as part of a zoning ordinance update, and that any additional drive‑thru would still require a use‑permit process for site circulation and traffic review.
Vice Mayor Hampton and several council members said they were comfortable aligning the parking standard with peer cities (Surprise, Peoria, Avondale) at 1 space per 200 sq ft. After debate and a successful amendment to adopt Option 2 as presented by the applicant — maximum of three drive‑thrus with at least one end cap and a medical‑office parking standard of 1 per 200 sq ft — the council approved the amended motion 4–3. The amendment and the main motion (as amended) were recorded as passing 4–3.
Council members and the applicant emphasized that use permits for individual tenants will come back to the city for review, allowing design and circulation issues to be examined on a case‑by‑case basis. The council also directed staff to consider a citywide parking standard update as part of the zoning ordinance rewrite.
Outcome: ordinance 2026‑16‑44 (Celebration Plaza first amendment PAD dated Dec. 2025) was adopted as amended on a 4–3 vote. The PAD amendment includes the parking reduction and the increased drive‑thru allowance subject to use‑permit review.
