Regular Meeting - 8/5/2025 6:30:00 PM

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Thank you again for attending a Gilbert
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We'll get started in just a couple of
minutes here.
We'll go ahead and get started.
I'd like to uh call to order the regular
council meeting of August 5th, 2025.
Um our invocation this evening will be
offered by Vicer Terry Polarski of
Resurrection Episcopal Church.
inviting me.
Push the button.
There we go. All right. Thank you for
inviting me. This prayer is offered from
the Episcopal common prayer. It's a
prayer for local government. Almighty
God, our heavenly father, down upon
those who hold office in this town of
Gilbert, a spirit of wisdom, charity,
and justice with steadfast purpose they
may faithfully serve in their offices.
promote the well-being of all people,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Amen. Thank you. Our
pledge of allegiance will be led by
council member Bonjiovani this evening.
Pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America to the republic
for it stands one nationy
and justice for all.
We'll move on to roll call.
Mayor Scott Anderson
here.
Vice Mayor Bobby Buckley
here.
Council member Chuck Boniovani
here.
Member Kenny Buckland
here.
Council member Young Kapowski.
Council member Monty Lions
here.
And council member Jim Torus
present.
The quorum is present.
Thank you. We do want to excuse council
member Kapowski who was unable to attend
uh this evening.
Uh there are no presentations or
proclamations this evening. So we'll
move directly to public hearing items.
We have uh
nine public hearing items. I'll ask the
council, are there items that you want
to have separate discussion on?
Item three.
Any others?
three.
There are none others. I will open the
public hearing on items one, two, four,
five, six, seven, eight, and nine and
close the public hearing and ask the
council for discussion andor motion on
those items.
I move to accept all those items as
written in the agenda.
It's been moved and seconded that we
approve items 1, 2, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, and nine. Please vote.
Motion carries 6. We'll move on to item
number three,
general plan GP24-08,
zoning Z24-20.
We'll ask staff for a presentation to
begin.
Good evening, Mayor and Council.
Right. Thank you. These items before you
tonight are GP 2408 and Z2420
uh also known as Ora Santan. Uh the
first request GP 2408 is a request for a
minor general plan amendment on 14.24
acres. It's located along Market Street
south and east of the southeast corner
of Al Vista and POS Road. And the
request um related to the general plan
is to change the land use classification
from regional commercial to uh
residential 25 to 50 dwelling units per
acre. The companion KC 2420 is a request
to amend the Val Vista Square P A on
those same 14.24 acres. Um and the
request in that case is to reszone from
regional commercial with the planned
area development to mixeduse large with
the planned area development. Uh, as I
mentioned, the site is located south and
east of the southeast corner of Al Vista
and POS Road. Um, it's the area
highlighted in blue. It's currently a
vacant property. Um, along Val Vista
Road to the west of the subject site is
the VA hospital to help orient council.
Um, and then the the kind of notch uh to
the northwest is the novel multifamily
project. And then north of the site is a
bank and an Aldi grocery store.
Uh this is a a copy of the general plan
map showing our planned uh land use
classifications in this area. Um it's
the area highlighted in blue. Um you can
see that most of the properties in the
immediate area are zoned for general or
are uh have a land use classification of
general commercial. Um there is that
small notch that I had mentioned before
just to the northwest that's uh got a
similar uh land use classification is
being proposed on this property of
residential 25 to 50 dwelling units per
acre.
Looking at the zoning map we see a very
similar pattern here uh largely
surrounded by commercial. Across the
street uh across Val Vista is general
commercial and that's the Autolex. uh
surrounding the area largely as regional
commercial zoning district um with that
multif family high zoning district um
just in proximity to the site.
Uh the applicant provided a zoning map
which depicts the area that is the
subject of this reszone. Uh it's 14.24
acres as I mentioned. I thought it also
might be helpful to walk council through
the development history of this
property. Originally it was zoned in
2012 under the Val Vista Square
development plan. This is the
development plan that the applicant
seeks to amend as part of this request.
Um it's a portion of the development
plan. Um it when this originally came
in, it was that whole development
property at the southeast corner. Um it
provided for a variety of commercial
uses, uh connectivity between the
various uses, including pedestrian
connections and roadways. Over time,
this development has been modified. In
2019 specifically, uh the applicant came
in and requested a reszone for that
multif family project that I mentioned.
In 2019 was the time that the town uh
adopted a multifamily high zoning
district. And this was one of the first
projects that came in under that
classification.
And that brings us to today where the
applicant is looking to further amend
the Vista Square Pad. Uh again, they're
requesting to uh change the general plan
to a residential category and uh propose
a mixeduse development on the property.
This would still remain part of the
Valve Vista Square Pad, but would alter
the development plan for this specific
portion of it.
Um the applicant is processing a
concurrent design review application and
so I wanted to provide the council um
just a a image of what that concurrent
application that is being reviewed looks
like. It proposes 357 units with a
density of 21 25.1 dwelling units per
acre. It's broken up into three
different buildings. Buildings one and
building three provide office space on
the ground floor. Um building one
provides 10,727
ft of ground floor office where building
3 provides 5,000 ft of office on that
ground floor. Buildings one, two, and
three vary in size or in height from
three to four stories.
With this application, the applicant is
requesting a number of deviations from
our uh standards within the mixeduse
zoning district. Um specifically in
mixed use, uh the idea behind this
zoning district is that um they
oftentimes are infill development, uh
with the goal of of pulling these
buildings closer to the street. And so
unlike a typical zoning district that
has a set back requirement where the
building is is has to be a certain
distance from the property line in the
mixeduse zoning district one of the
requirements is to pull that building
closer to the street. And in this case
the requirement is that the building be
built within 10 ft of the property line.
There are some existing constraints with
the property and in um terms of
easements that exist that prevent them
from building uh to that build two line.
So the applicant's requesting a
deviation from that standard where they
would build the building 45 feet from
the property line.
Uh in addition, the mixed use zoning
district requires 40 square ft of
private open space where this developer
is providing uh 60% uh 60 square ft of
private open space. In addition, the
open space minimum in mixed use large is
20% where in this development the
applicant is proposing 28%.
Uh and the final deviation that they're
requesting is a reduction in the amount
of uh floor space that must be retained
from the original um zoning district. So
um with our mixeduse zoning districts,
we do require that 20% of the total
floor area of the development be a
non-residential use. In this case, uh
the total building site is uh 460,540
ft, which would amount to the applicant
being required to provide just over
92,000 square ft of of non-residential
use. In this case, the applicant is
proposing 16,000 square ft of uh
non-residential use on the ground floor,
which is a reduction from the 20%
requirement to 3.49%.
Uh to provide some additional context to
the area, the site is located within the
central 202 core growth area identified
on the general plan. Uh as you can see
on this density map, the property is
located where indicated on that yellow
star. Uh one of the areas of highest uh
multif family density within the town.
That being said, uh the growth area does
support highdensity residential
development where residential uses are
closely integrated with retail office
uses in a compact development. So when
the applicant first approached staff
regarding development of this property
for a multif family use, we understood
that there were merits to residential in
this area and suggested that they
consider a mixeduse zoning district.
Um the mixeduse zoning districts were
created in uh 2023 um within the land
development code and the standards
developed at that time were very mindful
that the town that as the town
approaches buildout retention of our
non-residential employment generating
land uses is of significant importance
and was the basis for the 20% of
retained use requirement. Um as you can
see from this graphic residential land
use makes up the bulk of the community
at 70.8%.
commercial land use makes up 9.5% and
while staff understands the context of
the area and the commercial development
in the area, we're not in support of the
significant deviation um to the land
development code in the case from 20%
down to 3.49%.
Um in addition, staff took this to the
Chamber of Commerce in March um of this
year and the feedback that we received
also from the chamber was that um they
do believe that the project is a fit for
the mixeduse concept um but they were
encouraging the applicant to conform to
the town's requirements for the mixeduse
zoning district.
Um so based on that significant
deviation from the land development code
staff's recommendation on these items is
denial. Um, however, should council wish
to approve these, uh, there are
conditions of approval that are included
in your packet that we would, uh, ask
that you include in any motion, planning
commission did hear this, um, last month
as a, uh, one of their hearing items,
and they recommended approval of both
cases. I'm happy to answer any questions
that council might have.
Thank you, Ashley. Questions?
Council member Tores.
Uh before believe you said it was zoned
in 2012. What was the zoning before
that? Do you know?
Uh Mayor, Council Member Toruson, uh I
will have to look that up and I can get
back to you. I don't recall off the top
of my head.
Well, that's okay. It was just And when
did the current owner purchase this
property?
Another question that I'll have to get
into.
Thank you,
Council Member Bonjivani.
Thank you, Mayor. What was the um final
vote um from planning commission? Do you
know?
Uh mayor and council member, the final
vote was seven though.
You might have said that. I'm sorry. I
missed you. Thank you.
Could you uh summarize for us, Ashley,
the discussion that happened at and
maybe council member Lions can help with
that also about this item, the
discussion at the planning commission?
Yeah, mayor and council. Um that's a
great question. So, uh, the commission,
I think, understood the the challenges
with this property. Um, given its
location along Market Street, it doesn't
have arterial footage. Um, and so I I
think largely based on that, uh, they
were comfortable with the applicant, um,
moving forward. Having said that, they
provide a a portion of the ground floor
as an office space. Um I think just
ultimately they recognize those
challenges about vehicle trips and um
the ability to develop that on a on a
road that doesn't have great visibility.
Great.
Council member Lions.
One of the things that I I think needed
to be brought up is that this was
originally um well I say originally it
was impacted by the um COVID 19 pandemic
and how people built things out. And um
there were some other developments just
north of there that were able to get
established quicker and uh ended up
putting this particular parcel at a
disadvantage for development. So because
there's no real traffic down through
there that would drive people toward
businesses, it it provided some
challenge for them on how to develop it.
Vice Mayor,
um so I I just want to clarify. So this
is regional commercial right now and
this is
we're we're not I don't know I'm not
comfortable with
taking a regional commercial zoning and
putting into high density properties. Uh
we're we're already low on our
commercial
uh zoning and and commercial that we
need and the town needs that. And I I
just wanted to confirm that I'm, you
know, looking at this correctly. And I
know that the planning commission
did deny that for and for all the
original denial I, you know, I totally
agree on. Um I I just
don't I I don't know. I'm just wanting
to say that I'm not in support of this.
Mayor and Council Member Buck Buckley,
just to clarify, you are correct. They
are looking to reszone from regional
commercial to mixed use, which would
allow for residential. Um, the staff is
recommending denial, but planning
commission did recommend approval.
Okay. Okay. And that makes me that makes
me feel a little bit better. But I just
wanted to confirm all of that because I
did see I did see where someone denied
it and someone else approved it. So, all
right. Thank you so much.
Council member Buckler.
Thank you, Mayor. I uh I also noticed in
the packet that planning commission and
our staff were on different pages on
this and um it's not always typical,
especially on a 70. So, I I had actually
reached out to staff just to get kind of
an underlying why um before coming to
this meeting. And my understanding is um
you know what I was advised was that um
it makes sense but staff's denial had to
do with the um letter of the law or the
code. Uh it it's not doesn't comply with
the code as is. So there was a note. Um
I'm tending to look at it more in the
spirit of the law. I know that the
chamber uh had said um that it does make
sense as long as there are some of these
mitigations to add in this office space
in there. Um the planning commission was
100% unanimous that it made sense based
on where it's at and the obstacles that
um uh you just stated um with it not
being on our terror road and difficult
for commercial. So um I wanted to just
get that on the record that I did do ask
some questions behind the scenes to get
why why were they not on same pages.
That was what uh what I learned.
Good input. Thank you, Council Member
Torres. Just to clarify from Sarah to
me,
while the Gilbert Chamber believes the
parcel for the proposed project is a
strong fit for a mixeduse concept, we
encourage the applicant to conform to
the town's definition of mixed use to
meet the standard requirements. Right
now, they are at 3.49 when the
requirement is 24 20%. So, they do not
meet the requirements. Therefore, they
do not have that endorsement.
I understand that.
Thank you.
Other comments, questions of staff.
If not, thank you Ashley. We'll invite
the applicant. I'll open the public
hearing at this point and invite the
applicant to come down.
Mayor and council, thanks for your time.
Uh, Adam Ba, 2525 East Arizona,
Builtmore Circle. I will do my best to
answer your questions, but you may stump
me on one or two, but the good thing is
I watched a TV show one time called How
to Win a Million Dollars or something
like that. You can phone a friend. So,
I've got an architect and a land owner
here. So, to the extent I can't answer
your questions, I think somebody smarter
than me can. U, Councilwoman Buckley, I
I certainly appreciate your position. I
hope my presentation might help provide
some clarity and maybe if I'm lucky
enough, change your mind. But
thank you for that. I appreciate it. Um,
you might need to jump in your Delorean
a little bit to go back uh 21 years to
understand the history of this case. And
so if you give me the grace to sort of
walk you through the why, I think you'll
see that this is actually more in line
with the original approvals were to
begin with. And as you look at this
property, here's some of the context
that is surrounding us. Um,
there is the novel apartments kind of
north of us and Aldi grocery store north
of us. the VA hospital west of us, three
hotels to the south, and the other
vacant piece will be a fourth hotel, a
Bikini Beans coffee shop, um an office
right there where Mountainside Fitness
used to be directly south of us is a
retention basin. And I think that's
going to play into part of my
presentation a little bit later on. And
then you have the WCO, but I I wonder if
any of you have ever actually driven
this road, and I'm sure you have, but
probably not frequent enough to realize
what is not happening here. And the the
story that is valuable for you to
understand is how we got to this
particular alignment and why this
application makes sense because of that
alignment. Now when it was annexed in
1999, this was all green field and lots
of opportunities to create a better
design project. And at the time in 2004,
there's a group called Woodbine,
Woodbine Partners, and they are the
folks who developed Kieran Commons. And
Kirland Commons in Scottsdale is a big
mixeduse project with residential above
lofts and commercial on the bottom. And
they had a lot of success success with
Kierland. And they wanted to create the
same thing here in Gilbert. And so they
created a pad called Main Street
Commons. And the reason why I circle
these boxes in red is it shows that
their intent at the time was an outdoor
kind of mall concept. The future residue
residence uses were proposed ground
floor commercial and this circulation
that flowed with an outdoor mall. and
they worked closely for that and I think
that plan made a lot of sense and they
were anxious and there was a lot of
publicity in it. The unfortunate part
about that project was that nobody could
predict what would happen in 2007 2013
and at that time there was a recession
and their failure to get out of the
ground prior to the recession ended up
becoming the greatest hindrance to this
property today. And so as a result, this
property and what was multiple parcels
were split up and in a distressed cell
sold to multiple different owners.
And the idea of this uniform vision of
this outdoor mall really couldn't be
achieved with different ownership groups
and no um combined uniform vision.
Different people started by different
parcels and some people got some and
they put together a new plan called
Valve Vista Square, but it was just a
concept. They weren't developers
themselves. They're just now property
owners of distressed assets and figured
we'll find fish that will bite on this
at some point later on. And so here we
are today, 25 years since the original
zoning of commercial and 21 years since
this whole outdoor mall main street
commons concept came into play. And yet
there's never been a single preapp on
this property nor a development
application.
And I think the reason is because of
this roadway alignment that faces this
property. Now here's a map of Kieran
Commons and the mix of uses in that
area. You see a good balance between
retail and flexindustrial and office and
multif family and hotel. When I look at
the trade area here, it's a
predominantly retail trade area about
66% twothirds of it. And I don't fault
this at all. I think this is actually
great. And frankly, we wanted to have
retail on this property for for several
years. At least 21 owner 21 years since
Main Street Commons and at least 26
since the original 1999 commercial
zoning. So, this isn't a rush to do
something out here. It's actually
probably waiting too long for something
to happen. But as you can see, this
balance of what was should have been a
Main Street Kieran Commons focus hasn't
really been able to materialize. And
this is one of the last pieces. And the
reason why it is I'll get to in a
second, but I want to share what we're
doing today. 16,000 plus square feet of
commercial on the bottom floor, 357
units above. Of the three buildings, two
of them have ground flooror commercial.
And part of this is to achieve this
urban design. We'd have buildings closer
to the street more of a walkable
environment with residential living
above. If I was to develop under my open
under the current zoning of RC, there is
no open space requirement. We not only
meet the mixed use standard, but we
exceed it at 28%. And our parking spaces
at 636 are tremendous. And I'll tell you
a little bit of how we got there because
that's not where we started. As some of
the council members may know, I was
significantly less parking when I
started this case. But the reason why I
show you this image is to show you how
it interrelates with the context around
there. There's multif family right next
door to me, but there's a retention
basin directly south. And so because
this street has so much of a retention
basin, but no one's no building will
ever be built there. There's not a lot
of reasons to drive this street.
It it is not a street of significant
traffic. It is the biggest reason why
nothing has been proposed here over the
years. This helps you give us get a
sense of what the ground floor looks
like. Areas in blue is our commercial.
Areas in yellow are our parking garages.
Areas in red is the kind of supporting
services of the ret of the residential.
But everything in white is a residential
serving purpose. And so we've started a
case with significantly less commercial.
And that's when the chamber first saw
this. At the time we only had about
9,000 square feet of commercial and that
was it. And the chamber saw why this
made good sense. They just wanted us to
get closer to what the ratio is. But nor
did they understand how the town does
the math on the ratio. I'll cut right to
it. When the town does the math, they
count all four stories of the building,
including the required parking garages.
So, we're sort of being penalized
because the parking garages goes into
the numerator. So, as a result, it looks
like we are significantly lower. If I
was to take out the parking garages,
were more like 16% of the ground floor.
And so in a lot of ways, I don't think
it was intentional. Just sometimes when
you draft codes and ordinances, you
don't think through some of those
unintended consequences of it. But when
I started this case and as I met with
some of you early in the beginning, um
part of it is to get some feedback. Part
of it to get some coaching, part of it
to learn what I need to fix. We were 366
units, 9,000 square feet, and only 563
parking spaces. But as we met and
realized we need to do more to provide
more parking, we need to do more to
provide more commercial. And as we heard
from the chamber, they encouraged us to
get closer to that standard. And as a
result, I can only add commercial
relative to the parking spaces to serve
the commercial. I would love to have a
whole lot of commercial on here, but if
I don't have the parking spaces to serve
it, I can't squeeze it in there. Under
the town's method and math, it would
require me to have 90,000
square feet of commercial. And if 90,000
square feet of commercial could be built
here, we would just have built it to
begin with. And hopefully there'd be
enough parking for that as well. But as
you can see where we've changed it,
we've added um 16,000 square feet
commercial and 3,000 square feet of
outdoor commercial plaza areas. And the
reason why I say that is because the
code doesn't make me provide parking for
these outdoor plaza commercial areas,
but they are commercial amenities
because they strengthen the commercial
ground floor levels. It gives more
outdoor areas. It gives a greater street
presence because these outdoor plazas
are along the street. So you can have
outdoor seating, outdoor greeting areas,
outdoor amenity spaces, but I don't have
to count for parking code. And as a
result, it actually makes my storefronts
more visible, more activated from the
street level without penalizing me by
having to park it. So we've come and
we've done something beyond what the
code requires related to open space and
to the um commercial amenity space
outdoors. So I know better to bring
something before you without having a
good reason. And I hope I at least can
explain four reasons why we're here
today.
There's things that we couldn't control
that are in direct um hindrance to the
execution of this project. So, I'll walk
through these four here. First of all,
and council member Lines alluded to this
briefly, but I remember reading the
Gilbert News section of the Arizona
Republic. At the time, there was two
projects coming at exacting time of
similar nature. Santan Village outdoor
mall and Main Street Commons outdoor
mall. And in fact, they were at such a
similar pace that they started competing
for tenants. So we called it a little
bit of an arms race and because the
outdoor mall at Santan Village got ahead
of um leasing before Main Street
Commons, Apple who was committed to Main
Street Commons jumped ship and went to
Santan Village. Well, the folks at Main
Street Commons still believe in their
project and so they started to put in
the infrastructure and they put in that
curvy road that's right in front of our
project
and as a result they started to get in a
sort of a heavyweight boxing match with
with Santan Village. But what they
couldn't control was that the recession
came. And so even though they put in the
road, the recession caused this project
to stall. Santan Village was deeper down
the process and didn't have the same
impacts that this one did. So that's why
zero tenants were able to come out of
the ground here. Even though the street
lights, the roadway, the curb, the
gutter, the retention, all were in
place. And so as a result, when these
distressed assets get taken back by
lenders and sold, they become broken.
And this great vision could not be
executed anymore with multiple owners.
They start to do what they do best,
which is just buy assets, hold them,
hopefully someone will buy it. And
trying to corral four or five different
cats is a hard thing to do. And so the
project failed. But this is the second
part.
When they Main Street Commons came in
and put in that street, which is here in
red, it had served a great purpose
because that's what you would do with an
outdoor mall. But when that product
deleted itself, commercial traffic isn't
driving this road anymore. And as a
result, this back part has been
neglected and overlooked. And so, while
it's been consistently marketed for
commercial purposes, no commercial user
wants to come here because of the
significantly low volume of traffic. And
this is the town's uh street traffic
numbers. And I think this helps tell the
story best. The difference between the
dot and the circle three which is at the
top and the circle six which is at the
bottom is a difference of almost 850% of
traffic volume at the top versus the
bottom. To give you some idea, if I was
to combine the east and west traffic
during the AM peak time and then evening
peak time, it's about 29 cars a minute
on POS road.
Compare that to our property frontage.
It's three cars a minute on Market
Street. And this is the town's traffic
data. And the unfortunate part of the
ownership and I don't represent the
owner. I represent the developer who
wants to purchase this from the owner.
The owner is here tonight though is for
the unfortunate part for the owner is
trying to convince a commercial user to
buy this property with three cars a
minute
is a very very difficult almost
impossible thing to do. But something
else happened because you had two
different owners. The owner of the VA
hospital had an opportunity to sell this
land to the VA and the town was excited
about it and everybody was happy about
it. And I think this has been a benefit
for our community. The unfortunate
consequence is once the VA hospital came
in, the whole idea of Main Street
Commons ended, but the roadway was still
in place. And so it it sort of killed
that vision and you had to start to work
with what did you have left over? What
are the bones? And so as a result, you
start to see these little hodge podge, I
call it peace mill type of development.
a bank comes in the Aldi's
then you see the apartments and then you
see the bikini beans down here and that
vacant piece next to it it's going to be
a fourth hotel and as a result these
frontages along POS road in Val Vista
are coming in because that's where the
trips are but I don't think you'll see
anything coming along market street
particularly because there's a retention
basin so no one's driving it over for
that reason and only three trips a
minute isn't enough to move the needle
for a user who wants to come there so as
a result this VA hospital as much as
it's a benefit to communities really
changed what the f what the intended
land use plan was here so then we start
to look at other options and you ask
yourself well I think retail story just
spoke for itself I don't need to double
down on that one so you'd say well
should we do single family homes here I
don't think anybody on this council
would ever invite me back in this room
if I was to bring single family back
over here so you ask yourself well how
about industrial but there's certain
areas where industrial works really well
in town where you intent potentially
have it steered and this isn't one of
those areas, particularly with the
semi-truck traffic that comes with it.
So, is this a a land that would be maybe
a government-owned facility? Would the
town like to build a park or another
municipal facility? I don't know, but
we'd be willing sellers if you want to,
but I don't think this really fits in
with your master plan either. And so
then we look at, well, is this a large
office campus site? Because frankly,
that would be my first guess. This
should be an office property.
Why is this not an office property?
Well, directly south of us is 40,000
square feet of vacant office. It's been
marketed for a year and a half. So, if
someone wanted to come in and buy
office, they can do it right now. It's
ready. You just got to change the
utility bill into the new name and you
can go occupy that space. Or if someone
wanted to rent, let's say, 4,000 square
feet of just a small little office, you
can go directly north of us at Rome
Towers where there's empty spaces.
And so there's no world world where I
can build a large campus of office
postcoid environment when I can't find
people who want to occupy the existing
office right nearby. And obviously if
they wanted to build office, they would
go to Rivlon where there's a lot of
empty big box office there. And so if
I'm going to poo poo the idea of office,
why would I there dare present to you a
plan with office on the bottom?
In the office market between Chandler
and Gilbert, there's 8.5 million square
feet of office inventory.
That's currently 31% vacant. In Metro
Phoenix, there have been five office
buildings built in the last year. Four
of them are built a suite, which means
there's a user who's saying, "Build me
this office." But no one's building
speculative office. So, we think though
that we have the right use. If office is
so bad, why are we proposing it? There's
a Goldilock zone that works.
Our groundf flooror office space can be
demised as small as 1500 square feet to
4,000 square feet or bigger.
And that's what's missing in this area.
I will be honest, the cost to build that
office square feet. I can't rent it out
for the cost it is to build it. It's too
expensive to build it. But because I can
have multif family above it, I can
subsidize the cost to build it. I can
underwrite it that way. And so even
though there's a whole bunch of office
conos just north of us on Valveist Road
in Boston Plaza and Gilbert Spectrum
that were built 25 years prior and have
probably lower basis and cheaper rents,
we can compete on those rents because I
can subsidize it with my multif family
above it. And now I have the quick
goldies lock zone where I can
accommodate people who might be a
service provider of the VA hospital next
door who's like I only need 15 to 2,000
square feet and you're within walking
distance or someone who says I I'm a tax
guy and I need 4,000 square feet. This
is the Goldilock zone of what works for
us. And so I feel like in a weird way
it's come full circle. I'm back to what
the original plan was which was
residential above commercial. That's
what Main Street Commons was. And while
the rest of the project area, the VA
hospital, the Aldi's, the bank couldn't
achieve that vision or even the novel
apartments next door, we're actually one
of the ones that restore it back to what
it was supposed to be all along. And you
see these areas in pink right here. You
see that area going from the building up
towards Aldi. The reason why we have
that pink, that's an intentional
pedestrian node shaded with trees,
grass, and canopies because we're trying
to drive people in a walkable way to
Aldi's. And the same thing to the
Windco. see that on our east side. We're
trying to drive them in a walkable way
to the WCO. So, the only two retail uses
next to us, we are pushing people in a
walkable way to those places, restoring
back what was supposed to be all along.
Someone asked me the other day, well,
what's the difference between the
current zoning and this zoning? And the
reality is the current zoning can
already allow this. It's just that my
main building in the middle doesn't have
commercial on the bottom of it, and
that's the only difference. But the
benefit is under this mixed use I
provide 28% open space and under the
current zoning I wouldn't have to
provide any. Now chamber of commerce did
write a letter and at the time it was
very early in our process. I would say
we were probably on our first submitt
and I think the coaching that comes from
that type of um opportunity directed us
to improve the site and bring in more
commercial and we we struggled. we lost
um a number of units to add more
commercial, but when you lose one unit,
it's one parking space per unit, but
it's not the same ratio for commercial.
It's one parking space for 200 square
feet of commercial. So, it's not a a
simple one to one. And but what we did
is by decreasing our open space and
putting in more parking, we went up to
almost 80 more parking spaces, which
allowed us to get more commercial. The
unfortunate part is there's literally
nowhere left where I can squeeze in one
more parking space. So, I don't have the
room to get a single extra square foot
of commercial. With that being said
though, I think the planning commission
saw what was happening.
This property is never going to be a
retail center. This property but for its
roadway alignment would have had a
tremendous success as a big big power
regional retail center. But the
infrastructure came in before the
recession and we had to live with the
consequence of it. But it's not a
question of me doing this too soon. I
almost think it's me waiting too long or
in my case the owner waiting too long to
try to direct force something to come
here and nothing would come. And so by
doing this change to mixed use, we're
bringing it closer in line with what the
original zoning was. We make meaningful
use of this property. We accept the
reality of this corridor that's not
really being driven the way it's
supposed to be. And I think we don't
cannibalize the office of market that's
already struggling here postco to begin
with. But we actually make a meaningful
use of the property. I don't believe
there's anybody in opposition, but I was
very grateful for the wisdom of the
planning commission who liked the use
and recommend approval 70. And while I
can appreciate staff's position, I
actually appreciate their position. They
like the use. They just wish we had more
commercials. So, it's not really a
question of this improper.
The consequence unfortunate for us is
that when you do the math and the code,
they make us count the parking garages
on the ground as part of the the total
denominator, which unfortunately
deflates what is our commercial
provider. I think it's one of those
things where we'd probably go back and
revisit if we if we could have seen this
three years ago when the code was
written. But nonetheless, that's the
proposal. And I know I've rambled and
talked way too much, but I'm happy to
answer any questions you could have. and
um hopefully I've been able to tell you
the why behind why we're here.
Thank you. Questions for the applicant.
I have one rem as you so aptly uh
pointed out during your presentation,
the RC does allow residential
development along with commercial. What
led to the decision to do a reszone
rather than work within the RC?
Excellent question. I'll come back to
here.
The middle the middle building on the
bend of Market Street. It's the only
building that doesn't have ground
flooror commercial.
As a result, I'd have to I'd have to
resone at least that little building
there. But even my parking garages,
this is the funny thing about the code.
code requires you to have covered
parking and parking garages for
residential units, but then the code
then tell me I'd have to uh commercial
and so I don't have ground floor
commercial where the parking garage is
or where that middle building is and
that's really the only reason.
Thank you.
Other questions? Council member
Bonjiovan.
Oh, thank you, Mayor. Um, Adam, so the
commercial on bottom two buildings, are
you saying it's just office or what is
it?
Yeah, look, I don't have a lot of
confidence that it would be successful
retail along that band. It would have
come to begin with. I suspect it'll be
mostly professional offices.
Maybe if we're lucky, coffee shop
possibly, but suspect mostly
professional office.
You got four hotels soon.
Well, those hotels unfortunately aren't
known for their food. So, you've got
potential for restaurants, you have
potential for coffee shops,
you have other potential there. Um, man,
this this one's tough for me because I
was very excited about this and you know
that.
Um, I felt that general commercial
wouldn't work here. Maybe it's over the
years we, you know, made that mistake of
whatever happened. I was really looking
forward to mixed use here. Um, but to me
at 3% I mean it this isn't mixed use.
It's it's just use, you know, and
not for me not taking advantage of the
more commercial
offices that you could have had there
with all those hotels.
Um, I think mix, you know, missed the
mark on this, you know. Um,
uh, I'm kind of
I'm kind of unsatisfied compared to what
I was when we first started talking
about the possibilities that could be
here.
I could I politely sure push back.
If you look hotel south of us, we
actually have our commercial directly
across the street from them. That's um
the area on our west end. So, we put our
commercial closest to where that might
be used on the bend of Market Street.
There's just a retention basin across
street from
I know the area well I okay I have
conferences in that and with those
hotels
that area along Marus Street is the spot
that's actually furthest away from where
a commercial customer would have to
park. So it's very unlikely that that
commercial bend would be
utilized in the same way. So we tried
our best and that doesn't mean it has to
be professional office. It could be
hotel serving frontage there. I my hunch
tells me something different but I could
be wrong. Okay, all my questions.
What year did your customer or the
seller buy this property?
I think it was 2010 to 2012, but he's
here and he might be able to I know he's
put in a speaker card, so he can he
probably answer that question when he
gets up here.
And then in 2019, a portion of it was
reszoned multifamily high.
I Well, I wasn't the applicant on it. I
I don't know the story of it. Um,
I'm just gleaning that off of what I
heard.
That's that's what you see in the map
right there next to us.
It was purchased as regional commercial
and in 2010 or so and in 2019 a portion
of it was reszoneed multif family high.
Yeah.
Now we're sitting with what's left of
the cake.
Yeah. So, someone might ask why didn't
they just reszone all the piece back in
2019? Um, the owners should probably you
should probably ask that question from
what have they been trying to do to
attract their
They've been resistant to do anything
but retail here. So, I think they were
holding out, but they can probably tell
the why and the efforts of marketing the
uses that they've had over the years.
Other questions?
Thank you, Adam. I do have some u
request to speak cards. I think one of
them is the owner, uh Morgan Neville.
Uh, thank you, mayor and council
members. My name is Morgan Neville. I'm
a resident of Chandler close by. Uh, I'm
with the Park Corporation. We're the
owners of the property. We purchased it
in 2009,
kind of right in about the worst part of
the recession. We purchased a total of
58 acres uh in the immediate area uh all
contiguous and uh I've been managing
that asset from that time till now. Uh
the property was regional commercial
with with the mainream Main Street
Commons P A that was the uh zoning when
we when we purchased it and started
combining some of the parcels from the
various owners that Adam was talking
about.
Uh I've worked in that period of time uh
very closely with the town staff and
previous councils uh over the whole time
period. We've worked on plats and
replats and engineering and design
guidelines and several of the resonings.
Um strategically we always viewed the
entirety of the 58 acres as one big
mixeduse parcel. And to date of the 58
acres that we originally acquired 34
acres have been developed. uh 17 of
acres as retail. That comprises two
grocery stores, two banks, a veterary
practice, assorted neighborhood retail,
uh quicks serve restaurants, uh and um
also 9 acres of medical with the the VA
clinic, uh 8.6 6 acres of the novel
project uh that's been alluded to uh
which was the previous multif family
high reszone and that was done by that
developer. They uh um tied up the
property and and came before council and
was granted that reszoning. Um so this
leaves uh 24 acres left. Uh uh
12 1/2 acres is a subject property we're
talking about this evening. The other 11
and a half acres uh is where we're going
to do all the retail that someone was
just asking about. Uh it's it's three
pads and then one super pad, the hard
corner, Val Vista and POS. That's 7.3
acres. And uh so we've always had very
high hopes for all the property. We've
said no to 50 or 60 uh different users
that just weren't right for this
property that just would wouldn't fit
the overall ultimate vision of what we
were trying to do. That's to the
consternation of the brokers who've been
working with us that whole time just
bring us things and we uh ownership has
declined. Lots of things I don't think
us or the town would have been proud to
have there. We could have done it, could
have sold it and wiped our hands of it,
but we but we have not. Uh we've been
waiting for the right things. But of the
11 and a half acres that's remaining, uh
if this resoning goes through, uh
there's three pads that are pad ready to
go. Those will be restaurants either sit
down or um um also does that mean my
time's done?
Yes, you have three minutes.
So I'm done.
Finish up.
Okay. Uh we tried to market the property
as class A office space for seven years
from 2013 to 2020. Three different
national developers uh trying to do
office space there and then co happened
hope co happened and um it was heavily
marketed. Uh retail has never been uh an
opportunity there and so that's why
we're standing uh here in front of you
tonight. Adams pointed out the reasons
why this subject property has dismal uh
retail uh potential. It's been
exacerbated by the fact that no one's
talked about, which is there are no
immediate rooftops in this area except
the multif family to the immediate
north. But for a normal retail
environment, you need rooftops within a
a mile mile and a half radius. But we've
got a freeway that blocks uh 50% of the
site's access, a retention basin, a
regional park, an auto mall, a huge
medical campus, uh and uh a giant large
scale retail center to the north of us.
So, uh there's not enough roof rooftops.
So, the only thing missing is rooftops.
Uh and um that's what we're proposing to
put here uh in a very uh succinct way.
The last thing I'd like to say is that
um you know, not only do we think we
have the right developer here, but we
just think this is the right time for
this. We're in a national housing
crisis, a na national housing crisis.
Our metro area suffers even more from
that. Um and we think this is the right
use for the right time. Highdensity
multif family housing is the most
efficient form of housing to develop to
to put roofs over people's heads. and
the people that are already at Val Vista
Square, the banks, the grocery stores,
they want this, they support it. I'm
pretty sure a couple of them have
submitted uh comments in support of
this. And lastly, there's been no
neighborhood opposition to this
whatsoever. And I'm here to answer any
other questions you might have.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next up, I have Tim Rice, who has three
minutes also.
Thank you, mayor. Thank you, council
members. Uh, my name is Tim Rice. I have
I am a almost 20 year resident of
Gilbert. Um, I've been the last 12 years
in uh more the Morrison Ranch area. So,
this is really kind of my backyard. Um,
and I I had more to say, but uh I would
like to say that most of kind of what I
was saying on in an observational
perspective,
the guys before me kind of put all the
numbers to it. Um, you know, uh, when we
first moved here, uh, we lived in an
apartment building. Uh, most of the
choices, you know, Gilbert was a great
place to live and raise my family. um
all the apartments in the area were 80s.
Um and since then I've watched very
little happen until recently. Um and I
will I wanted to say uh my biggest
support of this project was in a lot of
ways it's one of the first ones that
I've seen where it's going in a place
that's you know it it's a vacant parcel.
The infrastructure is there. I've seen a
lot of properties and units going up on
pieces of property that are surrounded
by regular single family residential
um have good access with streets, but
they're residential streets. They get
congested. They get crowded. Um and
still a long ways from grocery stores,
gas stations, coffee shops, restaurants,
all that kind of thing. this project,
all of that stuff is in place, just like
the gentleman before me said. So, from
an observational resident standpoint,
this project on this site seems to make
more sense than a lot of the units that
I've seen go up. And so, I just kind of
wanted to say that and I appreciate your
time. And uh if you have any I don't
know if you have any questions for me,
but uh that's what I wanted to say.
Thank you.
Thank you. I did receive some u public
comments online um from Brandon Hall,
Jeffrey Hall, Sharon Hall, and Chris
Yakob. All in favor of the project. So,
thank you for that. At this point, I'll
close the public hearing and bring it
back to the council for discussion andor
action on this item.
Council member Buckland.
Thank you, Mayor. like to um just make a
couple of statements and then offer a
motion.
So, I think there's no dispute that
anybody on this council, those who are
here and those the one who's vacant
tonight,
we we want as much commercial as
possible, we don't want as apartments um
per se just because of the the rental
tax is gone.
But right now, it is a big hole in the
ground. Um the
chamber
the um advisory board
um staff one of the staff leadership
agreed that mixed use really fits based
on all the things that were said and I'm
not going to rehash
but it makes sense for mixed use. I
think what where we end up squabbling is
on the details. Uh you know how much
commercial how much open space we we
tend to go through those circles. Uh, I
will say when I first saw this, um, the,
uh, developer and Adam had a long way to
go and, um, I think that they, they let
they stepped it up. They made
improvements. Um and I think that um I
always worry when we draw lines in the
sand that no matter what can't have this
time the situation requires us to use
critical thought and um it is a hole in
the ground that is producing zero
revenue right now. Our staff is short.
Um we need to raise revenue for a lot of
different services. We're the, as
Patrick showed in June, we're the the
lowest uh in terms of take from citizens
to provide services and we have to raise
revenue. I realize that we're not going
to get the rental tax out of it, but
what we are going to get is um 300 I
think in 57 apartments in the right area
that are going to be um spending money
in that surrounding area in here in
Gilbert that are going to be many on
Amazon and we have the use tax. So I
think that um from where I sit,
everybody has done a lot of good work um
between the developer council
discussions, the staff, the um advisory
board in getting us to a close point of
compromise. Um therefore, I would like
to make a motion to approve this as
written.
More discussion.
We'll have some more discussion.
I withdraw the motion for discussion.
Save that.
Yeah. Thank you, Vice Mayor.
Okay. I I just want to clarify that and
what no one is talking about is
commercial and we need the town needs.
We're already low on commercial land. I
have nothing against this development.
have nothing against the apartments that
are there, but the the town of Gilbert
and I'm looking I just want you to know
where I'm looking from and that is we
need the income from our commercial
properties to sustain the town. We're
almost at buildout. that that is a huge
uh you know point to be at. Once we get
to buildout and we if we let all our
commercial property go, we are not going
to have the income to sustain this town
after buildout. And if we keep doing
this because we, you know, the
developers keep coming in wanting to put
in either apartments, which is fine and
and that's all fine and good if we if
you put it in something other than
commercial zoned property. And that's
where I'm coming from. And uh because
you know, I kind of just blurt it out as
I usually do what I think. And I wanted
to confirm a little bit about why and
where my thoughts are coming from. And
I'm I'm very adamant that whatever
tenure I have here, I want to do what's
best for the town of Gilbert, what's
best for the residents in Gilbert. And I
just don't think that agreeing to
certain developments that do not give us
the commercial that we need and to have
to have that income. So anyway, that's
that's it for me. Thank you,
Council Member Bonjivani.
Thank you, Mayor. Um I agree a lot with
what um Vice Mayor Bley said.
You know, normally I don't want to give
away commercial space for residential
unless it makes sense,
and this is one area that I believe
makes sense, but I was hoping I was
hoping to hit it out of the park on this
one. Um, there's only a couple of
properties that I know of coming before
us the next couple of months where I
would be more apt to say, "Okay, I'll
change I'll I'll agree to the vote and
and change uh commercial to
residential."
Again, this was one of them. Um, I just
think where we missed the mark on this
one was office space on the on the
bottom. I I fully believe those hotels
would have brought in enough customers
for restaurants and and some coffee
shops or or maybe little, you know,
boutique shops um to take advantage of
all those hotels there. Um I I really
wanted to hit this one out of the park
because I really like this property idea
uh because I don't think general
commercial would have worked in this
area because of the factors that u Mr.
Ball mentioned. Um, I just I can't
support it with with just um office
space on the bottom. I'd rather see more
revenue generating um businesses
underneath there.
Other comments. Council member Lions.
Um just a couple observations. Um today
as I drove down um Greenfield Road
toward this area, there's a couple large
developments there with large vacancy
signs on them. And um when I look for I
know the applicant talked about the uh
housing um crisis that we have in the
country. I think what people are looking
for though is single family homes they
can purchase. And I'm starting to see uh
homes rent being built. Um, and I think
people want things that they can buy.
Um, so from my perspective, I I think
we're reaching the point where and we've
had several developers come with us with
these ideas for these multiuse high
density housing. And I just think the
time for that for me personally has
passed. Uh, to what council member uh
Buckley said, um, the commercial is
critical at this point. We're reaching
buildout. There's a lot of I I would
characterize as orphan pieces of
property. This is where it becomes
difficult for us to find fits, but I
know in some of the cases where we've
had developers tell us this is the only
thing that, you know, is viable, I have
been told that there's been people that
have approached them and it's uh they
don't want they don't want to do it. And
uh so I think that there's a return on
investment that that the property owners
are wanting. Um, and I understand that
fully, but it it needs to be considered.
What does the town of Gilbert need and
its citizens expect? So, for me, that
that's an issue. And and you know, when
I look at the commercial, going from 20%
down to down to three, that's just not
adequate. And I know there's a town
close to us here to what council member
Buckley had talked about. You can't
sustain a town in the services that
we've come to expect without the
commercial
property available. And just one last
thing on the traffic issue to what
council member Bonjiovani said as far as
the uh hotels being there. uh those are
going to need restaurants to service
them and uh having I think that there's
some opportunities there with that
property that um if you focus on those
kind of things to provide services for
the people that are there there there
may be some options. So I'm just not
personally comfortable
um with the reduction in the commercial
space. I don't think it's in our best
interest honestly and a lot of that was
my opinion. So, and I'll give you that.
But, u I think it's critical that we
know when we get to this these final
pieces in town, we need to be very
thoughtful about what we're doing. And
I'm not really keen on giving up a
single square foot of commercial land in
the community. Just be personal.
Council member Torus,
the uh a couple things I just want to
note. No neighborhood opposition.
There's kind of no neighborhood there.
So, let's get that perspective.
But uh just in the residential area, it
would bring in $5.3 million plus of
system development fees, which is
substantial, plus the commercial system
development fees. Uh unfortunately, I
would rather see fee simple because
Gilbert is a place where we want people
to
acquire the American dream. The American
dream isn't renting the rest of your
life. American dream is owning
something. Uh we've talked a lot about
retail, but destination things, events,
uh a university, a hotel, god forbid, a
hotel went across the street instead of
here. Um
the failure for me is the fact that
there's just not enough whether it's
retail, office, some sort of commercial
to meet some sort of standard
to get there. I I agree that it is not
an optimum uh spot. I agree that it
could be much better, but through the
years it's been cut into for various
reasons. Whether it's uh somebody going
broke and fire sailing it, uh somebody
selling off a portion for multifamily
high, whatever it would be, we can blame
a lot of reasons. But that 3.49%
is scary to me. and to know that I have
yet to see somebody say, "Gee, I want to
turn multifamily high into commercial uh
because it reduces the property value.
It increases the property value to go to
multifamily high where you're building
25 to 50 units in an acre. Um
I find it very difficult. I just, you
know, hopefully we can all sit here and
balance what the pros and cons are." And
certainly I think uh Adam did a
fantastic job of bringing a solid case
forward as he referred to it as a boxing
match. Uh if this were our boxing match,
Adam and I consider you a friend. You're
Frasier and I'm Foreman. Um
I'm not comfortable.
Thank you. You want is this something to
add to our discussion before? Okay.
I don't know if Frasier Foreman had a
round two, but I know Holly. Okay, good.
Okay,
I did watch the Tyson Holyfield one a
couple of times. Um, one of the things
is I'm really good at reading the room.
I think that's helpful.
One thing I could would love to do if
you grant me the opportunity to consider
uh continuments is to analyze
if there's a way to put more parking to
provide more commercial
council Bonjivani and Lions under the
town's code. I essentially have to have
two stories of just office and
commercial which doesn't happen unless
you're in an urban area like DC or New
York City, you know. Um it it's a
significant amount that just isn't
possible. I think we are unintentionally
penalized because we got to count the
parking garages in that ratio, but then
the town makes me put parking garages
for my project. But if um you'd be open
to giving me a continent, we can go back
and maybe look more at the bottom floor
units. I don't know what that number
would look like because it's going to be
triggered by parking. The other thing I
can look at is in the mixeduse district,
funny enough, it allows you to have a
parking reduction because these parking
spaces for residents are open for
commercial in the daytime. And so if a
resident leaves in the daytime, that
space becomes available. And maybe I
don't have to actually add a functional
space, but we can look at that 10% ratio
that the mixeduse district does allow
you to to utilize. If I can look at that
math differently, maybe there's a way to
put some more uh ground flooror
commercial. So, I don't know what that
number is without doing exercise. If
there was an opportunity for
continuence, it it gives me a chance to
explore that. I don't know if it's going
to move the needle a lot to be honest,
but I do think it's worth evaluating
because then I can come back with maybe
something more realistic. I can tell you
that there's a lot of great dining right
nearby for all those hotel users. Um,
Market Street near Sam Costco, Sam's
Club, and the mall has fantastic dining.
I don't know um if we'll be able to
compete with them, but I do think
there's room for us to do some
improvements if you would be willing to
grant me that consideration. I can do
our homework and see if we can um
address the the common concern that I'm
hearing.
Thank you. We'll consider that. Let me
uh make some comments before we uh take
any others.
Um while I generally do feel the same as
the the council,
um we have to be very careful and take
each of these on a case-byase basis. Um
I would encourage all of you if we do
continue this for a period of time and
have I would I would prefer to get some
more commercial development in there
also. That's that's I think increasing
that 3% up would be advantageous. But I
would encourage the council if we do
have some extra time between when we
take action on this, pull out the book
that was given to us when we started
talking about the city of the future
initiative. You remember strong towns?
Remember the importance of density in in
creating density is what creates revenue
for us. Uh the density is what brings
commercial development. So, and you'll
remember those maps that were drawn that
shows u where we are in Gilbert. And I
think the location of this site makes it
pretty clear to me that
from land use perspective, I think it's
appropriate what they're doing. But I
would like to have some more commercial.
I'd like to have him explore that and
see if we could get to that point. So,
I'll entertain a motion if you're
willing to look at doing that. I'm
willing to make a motion to continue
this until what would an appropriate
date be to allow the applicant to uh
revisit this
have to have a solid time to continue.
Yeah.
How long, Adam?
Yes, ma'am. First meeting in September.
Uh, mayor and uh, council, I was going
to suggest October 14th. Um, you have a
meeting on September 9th as well, but I
think the turnaround on that might tight
for them to um, do their do their work
and then for staff to review the the
changes.
So, I would suggest October 14th.
I'll second that.
If Wait, hold on. If that's amendable to
the applicant, can you comply with that?
overhaul.
Yeah. Okay.
So, for October 14th, I'll second that.
It's been moved and seconded that we
postpone the item until October 14th.
Please vote.
Yes.
Motion passes 6.
Thank you.
We'll move on to the consent calendar.
Vice Mayor.
Thank you, Mayor. Okay. So, we're moving
on to consent.
And we have Does anyone We have items
number 10 through 35, I believe. Let me
look. Uh 10 through 3.
Yes, 35.
Uh, Council Member Torresen, we're going
to add number 37 at the end so you can
announce the boards and commissions.
And does anyone have any questions on
um items 10 through 35?
Do you have any questions?
No.
No questions. All right. Council member
Toruson, if you would like to
afraid.
I thought she was going to grab the
microphone for a second. All right. So,
this is actually item number 37. Uh,
this is regarding the public works
advisory board and the appointment of
five individuals. And just as an aside,
the public works advisory board are
people that look at things such as your
sewer and some water. uh it's the
citizens of this town that that comprise
that and look at uh different things
whether it be rates or repair schedules
or different items that are brought in
front of them. So it's actually a very
important board and uh every applicant
that applied was actually worthwhile.
Every single one of them was good and I
was very impressed by most of them.
Young Kapowski is the liaison. And so
for our boards and commissions, we will
consider the appointment to the public
works advisory board of Seth Templeton,
Greg Freyick, Mark Horn, and Jason
Robinson with terms beginning August 15,
2025 and ending August 14th, 2028. And
Eric McClesy with a partial term
beginning August 15, 2025, and ending
August 14th, 2026. and a full term
ending August 14, 2029.
And I'd like to make a motion to accept
that or no, we can keep that in.
I'll do the overall motion. Yeah.
All right. Thank you, Council Member
Toruson, and congratulations to the new
board members for the
new board for the board. Um, okay. So, I
would like to uh if we have I'm going to
ask one more time. And mayor, do you
have a question?
No, I don't.
Oh, okay. Um, no one has any questions.
Then I will make a move to approve items
number 10 through 37.
And can I get a second on that?
Second.
Seconded by council member Buckley, I
mean Buckland.
Oh, we're forever doing that. Um, okay.
So, um, all right. I have a motion and a
second. And please vote.
And it's carried 6.
And with that, I am going to give this
back to the mayor.
Thank you.
We'll move on to item 38 and
administrative items. Special district
consider adoption of resolution 4591
consenting to the formation of the
Colonia Home Ranch Irrigation Water
Delivery District and submit a special t
taxing district impact statement to the
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and
authorize the mayor to execute the
required documents.
Do we need a presentation from staff on
this?
Mayor, members of the council, we don't
have a presentation ready, but we do
have Lauren Hicks in here if there are
any questions that she can answer for
you.
Any questions for Lauren?
Nope.
I'll entertain a motion.
I'm I make a motion to approve item
number 38 for a special district.
I'll second that. It's been moved by
Vice Mayor, seconded by council member
Toruson to approve the item. Please
vote.
Motion carries 6. Item 39 is uh council
administration consider adoption of the
council meeting schedule for the
calendar year 2026. I hope you've all
had a chance to peruse that.
Looking for a motion to
adopt our schedule for next year.
I'll make the motion to approve.
I second it.
Moved by council member Lion, seconded
by the vice mayor. Please vote.
Motion carry 6. We're now at
communications from citizens. Vice
Mayor.
All right, we're moving right along here
tonight.
Um okay to start communications from
citizens I'll be reading the rules of
decorum
and um here we go.
So we value the participation of our
community members and robust exchange of
ideas. However, it's essential that this
discourse remain respectful and
constructive reflecting professionalism
expected in such forms. Misinformation
and personal attacks undermine the
collective efforts and do not contribute
to the productive dialogue necessary for
our town's progress. This is an
opportunity for the public to address
the town council directly about issues
impacting the town. Accordingly, the
town council will not allow for moments
of silence or playing of music or other
recorded materials which could distract
from the meeting decorum or violate
copyrights. While we understand and
appreciate the passion our community
members bring to this session, we remind
everyone that clapping during the
meeting is not acceptable. This practice
can disrupt the flow of discussion,
potentially intimidate others, and
detracts from the respectful atmosphere
we strive to maintain. Tonight, we'll
invite you to come up to the podium.
When you come up to the podium, please
state your name and your city of
residence, and you will have three
minutes to directly address the town
council unless otherwise indicated.
If the current speaker will be using
three minutes of another person's time,
that person should stand up. Well, you
don't have to stand up. to state your
name and the city you reside in and
acknowledge that you are donating your
three minutes to the current speaker. In
accordance with the state law, we are
unable to provide responses to public
public comments during the meeting.
Please be assured that your concerns and
inputs are heard and valued.
So, our first speaker, and I'm just
taking them in the the list that was
handed to me, not in any particular
order, is Bradley Hec.
Are you still here, Bradley?
Madame Vice Mayor.
Madame Vice Mayor, thank you very much.
May I take a point of privilege and ask
if I would like to speak after Commander
Frank of the American Legion speaks
first and I would like to speak after
him.
Okay. I I don't I don't think problem
with that.
All right. Um Frank, if you would like
to come up, you will have three minutes
to speak.
Thank you. My name is uh Frank
Banchesky. I'm the commander of American
Legion Post that has uh 2,000 members
there. I'm also a first responder of 911
of a Afghan vet and a Iraqi vet. Um also
earned a bronze star. I want to uh thank
the police department and the fire
department. Um if you don't know, a week
and a half ago, one of our vets uh
committed suicide in the driveway. Um I
failed to get there in time uh to stop
it. I was 3 minutes late. Um, but the
professionalism of the fire department
and the police department must be
recognized in this matter. They uh
treated the scene and and the vets that
showed up there with respect and they
protected the body by putting a cover
over it when um neighbors were trying to
take pictures of it. So, I just want to
personally thank that. Um, also want to
thank Dan and the T and his team at the
town council for allowing me uh to see
the plans coming up uh for the road of
Ash Road there. And unfort unfortunately
with the current plan um it would um
basically take the American Legion and
shut us down. Uh the amount of parking
space is lost. uh about 30% of my
membership is over 65 uh years old and
would not be able to get to my American
Legion Post. My Legion Post uh if you
don't know uh provides approximately
about $300,000 worth of charity a year
to the local community. Um and we also
provide affordable meals uh for members
and public um at this time. And I know
we're opening to the discussion board
and I look forward to working with uh
Dan and the council and trying maybe to
resolve this issue uh currently, but I
did want to bring it to your attention.
So, thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much.
And uh Bradley, if you would like to
come up.
Honorable mayor and um madame vice mayor
and councilman
um the reason I wanted to talk in
addition to Frank is we are not against
by the way I'm a me I'm a resident of
Queen Creek but I've been a member of
American Legion Post 39 for
approximately 20 years so I actually
think Gilbert is not Queen Creek but
please understand that Um,
why I'm here in addition to Commander
Frank is to explain
we are we are open to
uh some negotiations on this. I
understand from looking at the plan and
we've talked about the plan for numerous
years about the extension of Colmer and
Ash to go around the downtown area. I
just want to throw out the option to you
folks to say we are open to negotiate.
Is there something you can do to help us
maybe move to a better location but
still be in the downtown area of Queen
of of Queen Creek? Sorry about that. Of
Gilbert. Um so just want you to know
that please call us. We'll be happy to
work with you. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much.
All right, our next speaker
will be Josh Reynolds.
Uh, Mayor, members of the council, Josh
Reynolds. I'm a resident of Gilbert and
a former employee of your fire
department. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak. Um, after a recent
post by the Queen Creek PD social media
promoting coffee with a cop, I had to
come speak tonight. It was a funny,
light-hearted video that went viral and
has been the most successful post that
that account has ever created. As an
officer ordered a black cup of coffee,
so I'm here tonight to try and explain
my situation when I was employed here.
It might be new to you um, and new to
those watching, but it's nothing new to
Patrick Banger, Leah Reinheimer, Rob
Dugen, or Dana Burchman. Before my
forced retirement in July of 2022, I
posted a video with a co-orker telling
him how I liked him like I like my
coffee, strong, bold, and black. Um, it
was a well-received by almost everyone,
including the firefighter who I made the
video with. On February 22nd, a week
after I posted that video, I was called
by my assistant chief letting me know I
was being investigated and put on paid
administrative leave effective
immediately for a post on social media.
Fast forward exactly one month later on
March 22nd, that same chief called me to
update me on the investigation. And I
was told that it was determined that
they were needing to take this
investigation to a third party, an
outside third party um due to the
complaint that came in on March 3rd. So
my response was, if a complaint came in
on March 3rd, why was I put on paid
administrative leave on February 22nd?
He was definitely taken by surprise.
Told me he would get back to me. He
called me a few hours later and told me
two complaints had come in, one internal
and one external. This conversation
grabbed the attention of my lawyer and
I, and we requested and received the
external complaint. That complaint was
an email from a Jason Smith and our
research through metadata and foyer
requests showed Jason Smith is not a
real person.
It was an email that was created on the
day, sorry, let me back up. Is not a
real person. It was an email that was
created on the day the complaint was
sent in. Leah Reinhimr and Chief Joe
Bush, the fire chief at the time,
responded to this complaint via email,
and Jason Smith never responded back to
them. In fact, the email was never even
opened. In my opinion, it was all
fabricated to cover up the person who
made the internal complaint. I would
imagine Dana Burchman, the former
digital media director, has a pretty
good idea who Jason Smith is. So over
the next three months, I was sent to an
outside investigator and they did
multiple interviews with me and many of
my old co-workers and they didn't get
the information in those interviews they
wanted. The town uh the town still
pushed forward and dragged this into
July. So on the first week of July,
exactly three weeks before I hit my 20-y
year anniversary, they presented me with
an option to stay on paid administrative
leave until the end of the month and
retire in good standing. And if I didn't
choose that option, they were
terminating me effective that day. My
lawyer informed me that I had caught the
town in a lie and I had a tough decision
to make. I chose to retire and leave
with my pension and pursue other things.
Fortunately for me and the fellow
taxpayers of Gilbert, the Goldwater
Institute did an investigation into my
situation, including what role Dana
Bertin had played. When that story broke
in January of 24, 2024, that was all
over the news. It was at I'm almost
done. It was at that time Dana was
forced to resign in it was either March
or April of 2024.
That story that the Goldwater Institute
did, in my opinion, is the only reason
why Patrick Banger acted and finally
held her accountable for her actions.
This was this was the fast three-minute
condensed version of my story. But until
Patrick Banger, Rob Dugen, and other
town leaders start to own their
wrongdoings and show some
accountability, I will continue to speak
and tell my story and other stories of
this corrupt leadership here in the town
of Gilbert. I won't stop and I won't be
silenced. Thank you, Gilbert.
Thank you. Um, our next speaker will be
Steve Laval and Dan Reynolds. Uh, are
you here?
Okay. And you're donating your time.
Okay. All right. Steve, you'll have six
minutes to speak.
And if Yeah. And if you'll state your
name.
Yeah. My name is Steve. Great. Well, you
guys know me. Uh, a while. You guys took
a little vacation. Uh, I kind of miss
this place. Um, let's see. Where do I
start? I don't know, man. It's been so
much going on in the national scene.
We've seen so much in the news about how
people in position of power abuse that
power and lie to us and how the news
themselves present that misinformation
and disinformation that we always talk
about in these meetings before we get up
and talk. And uh the same thing, the
field dossier is the same thing with the
Banger dossier that I brought up a while
back when they had a law firm do an
investigation, of course, an outside law
firm. And uh I've proven many of those
facts and that be false and misleading.
Uh but yet nothing really has happened
to those who continue to act
uh out of
uh how do I say this without without any
real integrity and they do it because
there's no accountability held to them.
All right. Unfortunately uh it's been
three years now since I was working in
this fire department and uh was getting
it written up for saying black coffee.
They didn't like my response. They fired
me. So, it's been three years and I'm
not going to stop because I believe uh
nationally it's been about eight or nine
years and it's starting to come the the
truth is starting to come out. So, the
truth will come out. Uh what's really
important right now is um there are uh
there there's an assistant chief that's
actually leaving this department going
department in Idaho uh by the name of
Cory Gerard. He he was uh head of the
training division I believe when the
hosegate stuff went down and three very
good employees that never had any
disciplinary action. Two of them decided
to leave this organization. Uh one of
those guys was uh well Corey happened to
be his uh best man in his wedding.
27-year friendship. Cory chose to lie
during an outside investigation there to
protect Cory's job. Stuck his friend in
the back. did not have his six and lost
that friendship. 27 years just gave it
away so he could keep his job, his his
position. Why do I bring this man up?
Well, he's leaving. It's one reason to
bring it up, which is good for the town.
The other side of that is that there's
another gentleman in the town that
unfortunately had his career adversely
affected by this same man. He doesn't
work in the fire department. He supports
the fire department. Happens to work in
the fleet department.
And as you guys are going to see on your
consent calendar, there was something in
there about Hughes. Well, the way this
kind of works is Pierce manufactures the
firet trucks for the town. And Hughes a
lot of the mechanical work maybe our
fleet can't do or they give advice to
our fleet. Well, this particular
gentleman in the town had a great
working relationship with Hughes and
Hughes happened to have a job opening
come up.
Well, because Cory was responsible for
that fleet department and this
particular individual was probably the
main person in charge of our fleet. Cory
couldn't let that guy go to Hughes. So,
he couldn't let that man take an outside
job
for an interview. He contacted his
contact at Pierce, made some comment
roughly, don't quotes here, not not
verbatim about, hey, I can't have him
leave. I can't have Hughes hiring people
from the town cuz then I'm going to have
to outsource all my mechanical work.
Who gave Cory Gerard the right to stop
that man from bettering his career,
moving on to a different company, and
allowing him to provide for his family
and his children? Who gave Cory that
authority? And how how does he how does
he even look himself in the eye? It's
disgusting. If Cory wanted to keep that
man, he should have countered an offer.
If it was that important to the town,
that's what they should do. But Patrick
manager refuses to hire from outside. He
continues to push diversity, equity, and
inclusion on the inside. He hires it. He
doesn't want any diversity when it comes
to hiring from the outside
because if that happens, he's going to
get people that have other experiences
and other capabilities and it's going to
show how weak their leadership team is.
So, unfortunately for that man, he
didn't get Hughes never interviewed him.
He didn't even get a chance to go to the
job even though Hughes had told him they
were very interested in him. So, it's a
good thing for the town that Cory's
leaving because I don't think he's a
very good person and I think he he lacks
integrity.
The last thing I'm going to leave you
with is we all know who the next
assistant chief's going to be. His
name's going to be Ryan Caden. All
right? And I just want you guys to know
that because it's pretty predictable
what goes on in these organizations on
the inside. Okay? Ryan's a good person.
He's a smart man. I don't think he's I
don't think he's dummy at all. Okay? I
just hope he can keep his integrity. I
hope he keeps his spine and is able to
say no to this leadership team that
actually doesn't lead but rules with
authority and doesn't hold themselves to
the same uh rules and and and uh
internal policies that they want to hold
all the employees to. So, thank you for
your time.
Okay. Thank you. With that, that ends
the consent and I'll give it back to
you, mayor.
Thank you.
Under future meetings, uh we have a
couple of items to come up on study
session. One is a uh study session
related to electric vehicles that may be
purchased by the town and a study
session related to bike helmets and uh
helmets for miners on ebikes and so
forth. So those are future items. Yeah,
mayor, members of the council, we are uh
going to schedule the discussion on
electric vehicles at our fall retreat as
a fall retreat item. And then the
electric vehicles bike helmets will be
on August 26th. There's an additional
item that will be on that night as well
in regards to water rates and our water
system.
Thank you.
Next is a report from the town manager.
Thank you, mayor, members of the
council. Tonight I'll start with our
department and division highlights
and it is August 14th is n national
financial awareness day. We're going to
highlight our finance management
services department. This is the team
right here led by Hawin Johansson. He is
the director of that department.
And I'll run through some of the
services. They have actually a broad
range of services they handle in that
department. our finance, our accounting
and financial reporting, procurement,
tax compliance, and utility billing. And
if I could, I want to take just a m
minute minute and talk about the
conversion to our new utility billing
program. And um again, uh provide some
guidance on how to get your new account
set up. But um the driving need for
switching that over is our other system
was over 15 years old and it was no
longer being supported by that vendor
and we would be open to security
concerns as well as uh no additional or
new updates to provide the latest
features to our residents so they could
uh best manage their water usage and
their accounts uh with the town. The new
system is from a different vendor so we
were not able to just port all of the
accounts over into the new system. So,
it required or necessitated setting up a
new account. And we want to make sure
our residents understand you don't
actually need to do anything until you
get your new bill. And it'll have your
new account number on it. And then you
can go to the website and enter that in.
It takes less than 5 minutes to set up a
new account. If you don't use our new
system or if you don't use an online
system, if you just mail it in, then you
don't have to do anything at all. You
can continue to mail your check in as
you always have. Uh and to again remind
everybody during the transitionary
period there will be no late fees or no
disconnections. And a quick update in
our old system we had 44,150
users who were registered. So in the
first five weeks we now have 49,575
registered users. So we're actually
seeing more users uh set up their online
accounts. That represents about 50% of
the accounts we have at the town.
There's almost 100,000 account holders
now. Um, and again, if you'd like to
learn more about this, you can go to our
website where you can find more
information. Um, we've also got a link
to an email address for those that would
like to get their new account number
ahead of their latest bill. You can
email that. That is the quickest way to
get a response to us. We have added
additional phone lines and additional
personnel to answer the phones, but
unfortunately waits are still longer
than we would like as we've got a large
number of people calling in. But we'll
continue to to apply resources to that
and get everybody set up and
transitioned over. Want to highlight the
department itself. Um for the 33rd year
in a row, they've received the National
Award for Excellence in Financial
Reporting as well as a clean audit
opinion. In 2025, they issued 2,235
contracts. Gilbert has over two 23,000
licensed taxpayers.
We've got it. Uh we've increased
department revenue by over 400,000 in
fiscal 25. And again, Gilbert is has AAA
ratings from all three national credit
bureaus.
Moving on to retirements, recognitions,
and awards. We want to recognize Captain
Adam Helman for his 32 years of
dedicated service to the Gilbert Fire
and Rescue Department. Adam was one of
our original uh firemen who uh joined
the department when he was first uh we
when we stood up our municipal
department back in the early 90s and he
has been a valued member of the team
through the years demonstrating
unwavering commitment, bravery, and a
true passion for service.
Moving on to organizational
accomplishments, I want to highlight
something that we discussed last year,
our preventative MRI program update.
Thus far, we've had two employees have
recently had early stage one cancer
detections thanks to the T town's
preventative MRI program. Early cancer
detection has the opportunity sign to
significantly improve outcomes. Rates of
recurrence for early stage cancers are
less than 5% as compared to over 20% for
advanced stages. Treatment for stages
one and two cancers typically range from
15 to 60,000 in cost versus 60 to
300,000 or more for stage three and
stage stage four treatments and the
invasiveness and the time of care
significantly reduced in early stage
treatments. I also had the uh people
team put together some costs to our plan
outside of providing uh enhanced
services to our employees to to help
them maintain their health and wellness.
It also saves our plan money as well. If
you look at the various forms of cancer,
the early stage average cost versus the
late stage average cost in all of those
categories, you'll see it's
significantly more expensive to our plan
to treat these in the late stages. So
again, thank you for your support of our
workforce and this program and we look
forward to more of our personnel taking
advantage of this through the years.
Lastly, I want to welcome Mario Piagua.
He is our new assistant town manager. He
will be overseeing finance, management
services, management and budget, the
people team, and parks and recreation.
Mario joins us uh after a 27-year career
with the city of Phoenix with the last
10 years spent as a deputy city manager.
So, I'd like to now ask Mario to come up
to the microphone, introduce himself to
you, himself to you, and to our greater
community.
Thank you so much, Patrick, mayor and
vice mayor, members of the council.
Thank you for this opportunity to
formally introduce myself to you. Uh I
just can't say enough about how thrilled
I am to be part of the Gilbert uh
leadership team. I am now one week in to
the job and uh I I uh I'm so impressed
because everyone that I've met uh truly
espouses and reflects the values of the
organization being kind and driven and
bold and humble. These are these are not
just empty words. These this is not
about uh trying to cultivate an image or
or a farming or um just trying to create
an empty facade, but these are genuine
uh uh values that the employees uh truly
exhibit day in and day out. And so I'm
I've been very impressed with that. I'm
excited to work, mayor and council, with
each of you to advance the city uh
forward as a as to continue as a top
winning award-winning city uh a town uh
municipality and uh I'm just excited
about that. you know, as I've as I've
spoken with folks uh that I previously
worked with about coming to this
position, many of them actually live in
Gilbert and uh as I talked to them about
this community, uh I've been waiting for
somebody to say anything negative about
the town and uh that just hasn't
happened. And that's I'm sure that's no
surprise to you that I've heard nothing
but great things about this community.
So, um I just want to uh express my
thanks to you all and I feel very
blessed to have this opportunity to be
part of the team.
Thank you. Mario, did you give him a
secret word?
He did. Did you catch it?
I didn't catch it. I saw Mary laughing.
So,
he was very clever how he worked that
into his speech.
He took a page from the mayor's post
about assembling his squad for the youth
council and it was oring.
Or far. Okay.
Yes. I've never heard of that before,
but we tapped one of our Gen Y employees
to help us out with that.
Thank you, Mayor and Council. That's all
for tonight.
Thank you. Well done, Mario. You stumped
us.
Uh, reports from the council.
Council member Bonjiovani.
Thank you, Mayor Parks. Rick, here we
go. Dive into a splashtastic evening at
Gilbert's Last Splash. Skip, hop, and
swim your way to Mosquite Aquatic Center
Saturday, August 16th between 5:30 p.m.
and 8:30 p.m. for a whimsical water
adventure like no other. Whether you're
a resident or a visitor from a far off
land, all are welcome to frolicing waves
of fun. Enjoy toetapping tunes, swirly
water, water slides, giggly games, and
glowing delights. Grab your goggles and
get ready for a spectacular memory.
Also, step right into the world of
support and smiles at Gilbert's first
ever adaptive resource fair. On
Saturday, August 23rd, from 9:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m., the Gilbert Community Center
will twinkle community spirit. Whether
you're seeking new con connections, or
valuable resources, you'll find a
delightful mix of local organizations,
party support services, cheerful social
groups, and vibrant vendors all under
one welcoming roof. Bring your curiosity
and join us at the full fair of
friendship and discovery.
Thank you.
Other reports,
council member Buckland.
Actually, just a question. Mayor, thank
you. Patrick, can you uh have someone
send out through email or something so
that uh when you talked about the full
body MRIs so that our hardworking
employees know how to access that
easily?
Sure. Well, Kenny, we we did quite a bit
and we'll continue to do so, but I'll
have other people send some out.
Thank you. Welcome,
Council Member Lions.
Uh, yes, Patrick. Um, was there a reason
we're pushing the electric vehicle
conversation out to the fall?
U, mayor, council member Lions. Yeah.
So, we talked about what the timing for
the need for that vehicle is, and we
believe we can wait until the fall
retreat, and then that would give us a
good period of time to do a
comprehensive analysis of electric
vehicles and then have a conversation, a
robust conversation at the retreat.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
I have a couple of items I want to
report on that u I've had I had the
opportunity the past couple of weeks to
attend a couple of events. Uh first was
that I wanted to recognize Redemption
Gilbert uh church here in their heat
relief uh program, their respit center.
I had the opportunity to tour that
center and I was very impressed with the
services they're providing to those who
want to get out of the heat, the
homeless, uh people are in various
situations during their lives and and
uh Redemption Gilbert is doing a
wonderful job in providing for them. I
know there are various other churches in
the community. They're also providing uh
cooling spots where people can go if
they have nowhere else to to go. The
other thing that I was able to do, um,
the second slide was Gilbert Fire and
Rescue sponsored a back to school
shopping event with our great partner,
uh, Kohl's.
And, uh, we had 60 students from Gilbert
Public Schools who were selected and
were were taken around by volunteers and
firefighters to buy back to school
clothing at at Kohl's. And uh we want to
thank everyone uh like SRP, American
Legion and others who have donated to
this. Thank you very much. And um last
thing I want to report on was something
I did today which was a listening
session at Gilbert High and that went
very well. I I had the opportunity to
sit down um officer King and myself had
the opportunity to sit down with about
uh what we just Valerie about 40 or 50
students and had the opportunity to talk
about uh what's on their minds about
Gilbert. It was a very productive time.
Anything else? If there's nothing else,
I'll take a motion to adjurnn.
I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
So moved. We are adjourned.