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Buckeye council backs annexation and major master-plan amendments to expand Westpark
Summary
Council approved four related land-use actions to annex roughly 49.6 acres and amend community master plans (Westpark, West Wind, Silver Rock), shifting much of the corridor near State Route 85 toward light industrial and business‑park uses and reducing residential entitlements in Silver Rock.
The Buckeye City Council on July 7 approved a package of land-use actions to expand the Westpark community master plan and adjust adjacent CMP overlays.
Planning staff presented four linked requests: annexation of about 49.617 acres (the Power Oz parcel), a minor general-plan amendment affecting roughly 125 acres, a Silver Rock CMP amendment removing 741 acres north of the RID Canal (reducing Silver Rock’s entitlement and lowering its residential dwelling units), and a Westpark major CMP amendment that would fold portions of West Wind and Silver Rock into an expanded Westpark CMP covering approximately 1,948 acres.
Planner Ken Galica told the council the changes pivot significant acreage west of State Route 85 from residential to a preponderance of light industrial (I‑1) and business‑park uses, with business-park parcels limiting building sizes to about 200,000 square feet and prohibiting cross-docks to preserve frontage aesthetics. He described enhanced design standards including doubled landscape setbacks (from a typical 25 feet to 50 feet) along prominent corridors, conceptual gateway features, and a consolidated trail network in line with the parks-and-recreation master plan.
Staff said previous approvals had entitled West Wind for up to 3,000 residences and Silver Rock for nearly 5,400 residences; the Silver Rock amendment reduces dwelling-unit counts for the modified area to about 2,817. Planning staff also said there was minimal public opposition at earlier hearings (one attendee at a neighborhood meeting and no speakers at Planning and Zoning), and the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approving the GPA and both CMP amendments.
Council voted to approve the items (each required separate public hearings and separate votes). One councilmember raised a point of order during discussion about Silver Rock, but staff clarified the agenda sequence and the council completed votes as noticed. The staff presentation and council actions also reiterated that standard infrastructure improvements (street, water, wastewater) and public-safety services would be provided as developments proceed.
Next steps for the approved amendments include administrative processing and application-level review for future site plans; the CMP amendments set the framework for allowable uses and design standards but do not automatically authorize individual site plans.
This set of approvals reorients a large portion of the 85 corridor toward employment- and airport‑adjacent commercial uses, according to staff, and preserves design measures intended to reduce the visual impact of industrial development along key frontages.
