168-acre, mixed-use development greenlit on Verrado Way

In one fell swoop on April 15, nearly 168 acres at the southwest corner of Verrado Way and Yuma Rd. were annexed into the City of Buckeye, granted a general plan amendment and rezoned to Planned Area Development to accommodate a multi-use, parcel-style development plan. The decision occurred over three separate agenda items during the regular Buckeye City Council Meeting, all approved unanimously by council members and the mayor.

"Staff does believe the modified standards proposed do offer more predictability of the site development, while balancing the flexibility of what it needs," said the city's Principal Planner Mandy Woods at the meeting.

The acres, owned and developed by Sunbelt Land Holdings LP, were previously a dairy farm. It is now planned to contain six parcels and adjacent rights-of-way. Once developed, the land will be a multi-use area containing single-family neighborhoods, townhouse and single-family attached housing, neighborhood-oriented commercial services and light business park use.

Parcel A: 14.1 acres of commercial development

Parcel B: 15.6 acres of multi-family housing

Parcel C: 17.3 acres of multi-family housing

Parcel D: 24.7 acres of single-family housing

Parcel E: 39.7 acres of single-family housing

Parcel F: 45.9 acres of business park development

An intention for Parcels D and E is to provide single-family attached and townhome housing options, said Woods. This is part of what she believes will be an expanding effort to provide more types of housing options for residents in the city.

"Some of the uses that have been added are single-family attached and town homes and these are not actually expressly listed in our development code today," Woods said. "We consider these to be sort of missing middle housing types that are really important for kind of filling some gaps in housing product types within the city and it's something that we would anticipate adding to the use table in the development code updates. So, that is a change, but that feels very appropriate for the housing climate."

The commercial uses in Parcel A are generally limited to low-intensity purposes. Parcel F, however, was rezoned from neighborhood to business commerce to accommodate a planned business park project, as was recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission on March 25.

"Approval of this Minor General Plan Amendment and companion rezoning case will facilitate development of a needed smaller scale business park product, furthering the city's economic development goals by providing employment opportunities for nearby residents while ensuring compatibility with existing and planned residential uses in the vicinity of the site," reads city documents.

In Parcel F, cross-dock warehousing is prohibited and warehouse buildings will be limited to less than 150,000 square feet unless otherwise approved through a conditional use permit to reach up to 200,000 square feet. Woods said the park could include employment options, office spaces, light industrial, light manufacturing, limited retail, and educational and entertainment options.

"For the business park parcel, this is intended to be smaller uses," she said. "So, a good, comparable areas is where City Hall East is."

Next Steps

A master traffic impact analysis is due to be completed with the first site plan provided. The developer will be responsible for making street improvements in a phasing schedule coordinated and approved by the city.

"That ensures that, no matter which development unit this PAD develops first, it spells out a schedule for how these roadway improvements have to be done," Woods said. "That way, we ensure the improvements are adequate on how the timing of all of this works out. That's really one of the main benefits of taking this master planned approach to this project area. You can look at things more holistically like that."

The developer will also contribute to the improvement of the intersection at the north-east corner of the development, which was already planned for in the city's capital improvement program.

The development will be covered by Buckeye emergency services and is contained within Buckeye Union High School District and Liberty Elementary School District. Prior to greenlighting the requests on April 15 to move forward with the development, the city received approval from the school districts that "facilities exist or are planned to be constructed to accommodate" the number of student projected to move into the developed area.

Read more about the annexation HERE, the general plan amendment HERE, and the rezoning of the business park acres HERE.

Watch the full city council meeting HERE.