Council passes new developments amidst semi-heated debate

The mood at last night’s City Council meeting swayed between jovial and borderline-heated as members, guests and staff debated agenda items from simple liquor license approvals to whether amending portions of the General Plan to match approved County conceptual zoning plans was the right thing to do.

The Council, for example, unanimously voted to allow Ruby Tuesday and Teakwoods Tavern and Grill to serve alcoholic beverages. Both restaurants plan to open for business between the 20000 and 21100 block of North John Wayne Parkway.

The Teakwoods Tavern and Grill will open in the space previously occupied by Ramsey’s American Grill in the Fry’s Shopping Center.

“Ramsey’s employed people,” Councilman Will Dunn commented immediately after the Council passed the request. “I’m glad that some of these holes in shopping centers are getting filled, and jobs are coming back again.”

Dunn opposed the Council’s otherwise unanimous approval to change two lower-density areas within the range of the city’s General Plan, however, following several exchanges between the Council, residents representing their interest in the areas of unincorporated Pinal County slated for Cactus Springs and Desert Gardens, city staff, and the developers’ representatives.

“I am with you 100 percent because you need to have a say in what happens in your neighborhood,” Dunn said to a handful of county residents in attendance.

Among the concerned citizens who addressed the Council was Jon Falk, who also spoke out in last week’s Planning & Zoning meeting, and Maria Alvarez, both of whom are among those whose neighborhoods the proposed developments will impact most.

According to Falk and Alvarez, who spoke separately, their pleas to the county to hold off on development until addressing their concerns went unheeded.

“I’m pretty sure the land developers are sitting in nice homes in Scottsdale on nice-sized lots,” Alvarez said. “I know development is coming. It doesn’t have to be packed in like sardines.”

Falk voiced concerns that development could impact local flooding, traffic and schools. He asserted that little more research had been done on just that other than sending out “two law students” to take a look.

“We’ve been here a long time, before Maricopa was a city,” he said, adding that his and his neighbors’ goal is not to kill the project, “just to do it reasonably.”
Court Rich of Rose Law Group, while he admitted that both projects have their share of issues, said he doesn’t think they have any more than any other development.

“Of course we’re going to make sure the water isn’t a problem on the land when we get there,” he said. “Mr. Falk is right. You shouldn’t take some law students’ word for it. We’re going to have engineers out there.”

At one point, a seemingly frustrated Rich, reminded those present that the County had already approved conceptual zoning changes to allow the development of Cactus Springs as a medium-density project.
“If you want to go forward with your zoning map showing something other than what is out there, that’s okay, but do you want your map to match what the county is already doing out there?”

While Dunn remained unconvinced, Rich appeared to get the attention of Mayor Kelly Anderson and the rest of the Council.

“You want land use to be consistent in planning,” Anderson said. “It just benefits everybody if we are all on the same page.”

In other business:
* The Council approved the 25.8-acre Maricopa Station shopping center which will be at the corner of North John Wayne Parkway and Smith-Enke Road, just east of CVS Pharmacy.
* The Council agreed to change the number of Merit Board members from five to three temporarily pending the possible recruitment of additional members. In the meantime, the three member-board will also serve on the Public Safety Personnel Retirement Board.
* The Council approved a sign package at Desert Cedars Center which includes new Circle K wall and monument signs at John Wayne Parkway and Bowlin Road.

Photos by RuthAnn Hogue