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Planning commission recommends allowing multifamily on one Copper Falls parcel, forwards case to council
Summary
The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of a major amendment to the Copper Falls Community Master Plan (PLZZ-23-00011) to allow multifamily housing as an optional use on a roughly 17‑acre Parcel 1, subject to conditions A–R; staff emphasized stepback standards to protect adjacent single‑family homes.
Chair Burton opened the public hearing and planning staff presented a request to amend the Copper Falls Community Master Plan to add multifamily residential as an allowed use on Parcel 1, a roughly 17‑acre site at Miller Road and Southern Avenue.
Planning staff said the amendment would not remove commercial options on Parcel 1 but would provide flexibility so the parcel could be commercial, multifamily, or a mix. Staff described development standards that limit height near single‑family homes through stepback provisions and cited a density cap of 24 dwelling units per acre (up to 468 units on the parcel if fully developed as multifamily). Staff also noted updated water and wastewater demand calculations and that school‑district coordination produced a draft donation agreement tied to unit counts. The staff recommendation was to conduct the public hearing and recommend approval to the city council subject to conditions A through R.
Ed Bull, representing the applicant (Don Fortuna), told commissioners that multifamily is an optional development path and that site constraints — including medians, a future drainage channel and limited left‑turn movements — can make a retail pad on the hard corner difficult to access. Bull said a traffic impact analysis (TIA) would be required for site planning and that retail remains possible but not guaranteed by the amendment.
Commissioners asked whether the parcel could be developed entirely as commercial or entirely as multifamily; staff and the applicant confirmed either outcome is possible under the amendment and that any site plan would later need to conform to zoning standards. One commissioner said he could not find school‑district documentation in the citizen participation materials; staff replied that outreach and correspondence with both school districts are in the case file and that a draft donation agreement tied to unit counts is under development.
After questions, a commissioner moved and a second was made to recommend approval of PLZZ‑23‑00011 to city council subject to conditions A–R. The commission voted to recommend approval and forwarded the case to council.
The commission's recommendation is advisory; final zoning approval will be decided by the city council at a later hearing.
