Planning commission recommends Grandview CMP rezoning for nearly 2,300-acre Buckeye site

The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of the Grandview community master plan/planned area development (Case PLZZ-23-0016), staff and the applicant told the commission.

Staff presented the rezoning request as a plan for roughly 2,300 acres bounded generally by Broadway, Jackrabbit, MC 85 and Dean that would prioritize rail-served employment uses while allowing limited residential and commercial districts. "The vision for this project is a rail served regional industrial hub with complimentary secondary commercial as well as residential uses," staff said during the presentation.

City staff said the CMP would permit industrial uses on nearly the entire site except for a minimum 32-acre commercial district, and that heavy industrial uses would be restricted from visibility along arterial streets and from locations adjacent to residential areas. Staff described three land-use districts: regional employment, a residential village and a commercial district; the staff presentation included development standards, buffer and transition rules intended to limit visual and noise impacts.

Staff identified specific quantitative controls in the proposed plan: a multifamily acreage cap of 150 acres, a quoted unit cap of 6,500 units for residential (as described in staff remarks), building setbacks (a 75-foot standard setback for industrial buildings and a 150-foot double setback to service sides adjacent to residential), and a 30-foot landscape buffer where industrial abuts residential uses. The staff presentation also said the developer would be responsible for building on-site regional water and wastewater facilities and constructing internal and perimeter street improvements.

Alan Bodwin of Norris Design, appearing for the ownership group Grandview Buckeye LLC, thanked staff and said the team was available to answer questions. Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the landscape buffer and other transitions; one commissioner voiced support for concentrating industrial uses in Buckeye near Roy Road. No members of the public signed up to speak during the public hearing.

The commission closed the public hearing, then moved and seconded a recommendation of approval subject to stipulated conditions. The motion carried.

Next steps: staff and the applicant indicated the annexation of county portions must be approved by city council before the rezoning can take effect; when annexation and rezoning proceed they will be brought forward to council together.