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

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[Music]
I'll go ahead and call to order the
regular council meeting of May 6,
2025. And we'll start with an invocation
and pledge of allegiance. Our invocation
will be offered by Greg Ner of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Thank you,
Greg. Push the uh push the red button,
the button that's up there.
There you go. There we go. Thank you.
Dear God, our heavenly father, we
approach you this evening with humility
and with gratitude for the opportunity
to be here this evening at this town
council
meeting. We thank thee, Father, for the
many blessings that we enjoy, for this
beautiful town that we live in, for our
state and our country. We're grateful
for the principles of freedom and
liberty upon which this country was
established.
We recognize, Father, that there are
many varieties of opinions and feelings.
And we pray that thy spirit might reign
here this evening uh in a an effort of
peace and community uh that we might uh
discuss the things that need to be
discussed
in in harmony and with respect one for
another. We are grateful, Father, for
those who
are uh who
have been chosen to lead and guide this
town. And we pray for them. We pray that
thou will bless them with guidance and
direction and inspiration to do those
things that will help each and every one
of us to to find joy and to prosper and
to enjoy our our
community. We love thee, Father. We
thank thee for all of our many blessings
and we dedicate this meeting unto thee
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Thank you. Our pledge of allegiance will
be led by council member Banji.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic which stands one nation under
God
indivisible and justice for all.
The clerk will call the role. Mayor
Scott Anderson here. Vice Mayor Bobby
Buckley here. Council member Chuck
Boniovani here. Council member Kenny
Buckland here. Council member Young
Kapowski. Council member Monty Lions
present. And council member Jim Toruson
here. A quorum is present.
Thank you. We have a couple of
proclamations and a presentation
tonight. First, we'll start with a
proclamation declaring the week of May
4th through the 10th, 2025 as National
Travel and Tourism Week and the week of
May 12th through the 16th as Economic
Development Week. Vice Mayor Buckley, I
think, will be doing this.
Thank you.
Are we
missing Dan Henderson? Is he
Oh, he is. Okay. All right. Well, you'll
get to speak. Do you do you guys want to
introduce yourselves and and then I'll
read your proclamation or
I Is this on? Can you guys hear me?
Okay.
Hi, I'm Sandep Sabu.
Hi, Glenn Schlottman, tourism manager.
Mike Martella, senior project manager
for the office of economic development.
Mackenzie Wilson, economic development
project manager. Michelle Strereer,
senior pro project manager, marketing
and communications.
Liz Mangan, tourism project manager.
Linda Yap, administrative assistant.
Sydney Bethl Price, redevelopment
project manager.
Thank you all very much. With that,
we'll go ahead and uh read the
proclamation. So, this is for National
Travel and Tourism and Economic
Development Week for
2025. Whereas, Gilbert is part of the
International Economic Development
Council and US Travel Association. And
whereas the international economic
development council is the largest
professional economic development
organization dedicated to serving
economic developers. And whereas the US
travel association is the national
nonprofit organization representing and
advocating for all components of the
travel industry. And whereas Gilbert was
the first economic development
organization in Arizona to be recognized
by the International Economic
Development Council as an accredited
economic development organization. And
whereas the Gilbert Office of Economic
Development promotes economic well-being
and quality of life for the community
through a program of work focused on
creating, retaining, and expanding jobs
that facilitate growth, enhance wealth,
and provide a stable tax base. And
whereas travel is a pillar of economic
growth, creating jobs at a faster rate
than other sectors nationally. with
tourism in Gilbert welcoming 5.7 million
visitors and generating $370 million in
visitor spending in 2023 and saw annual
occupied hotel rooms grow by 2.5% in
2024. Now
therefore, I, Mayor Scott Anderson of,
well, I, Vice Mayor Buckley, on behalf
of Mayor Scott Anderson of the town of
Gilbert, do hereby proclaim May 4th to
the 10th, 2025 as National Travel and
Tourism Week and May 12th to the 16th,
2025 as economic development
week. And with that, thank you. Do you
want to say something, Glenn? Do you
have Are you got any any of you want to
say anything? Well, congratulations.
I'll I'll give this to you since you're
uh here and it's for all of you and
thank you all for what you have done and
and I I enjoy being the liaison for
tourism. It's uh it's never a dull
moment, right? All right. Well, thank
you all very much.
Our next proclamation will be presented
by council member Buckland. A
proclamation about municipal clerk's
week.
Thank you,
Mayor Shali. Would you and your amazing
staff come join me, please? I won't make
you speak.
This proclamation is for municipal
clerk's week. Whereas the office of
municipal clerk is a timehonored and
vital part of the local government that
exists throughout the world and remains
the oldest profession among public
servants. And whereas the office of
municipal clerk serves as the official
legal information center and
professional link between citizens,
local governing bodies and the agencies
of government at other levels. And
whereas municipal clerks have pledged to
be ever mindful of their neutrality and
impartiality, rendering equal service to
all. Whereas Gilbert's town clerk staff
have completed autism certification that
ensures successful interactions with
Gilbert communities members. And whereas
municipal clerks continually strive to
improve the administration of affairs of
the office of municipal clerk through
participation in education programs,
seminars, workshops, and annual meetings
of their state, provincial, county, and
international professional
organizations. And whereas it is
appropriate that we recognize the
accomplishments of the Gilbert's Town
Clerk Office for their time and their
efforts. And now, therefore, I, Kenny
Buckland, council member, on behalf of
Scott Mayor, I mean, Mayor Scott
Anderson of the town of Gilbert, do
hereby proclaim May 4th through May
10th, 2025 as Municipal Clerk's
Week. And I just want to say thank you
on behalf of this council. You keep us
straight. You do show impartiality and
neutrality. Amazing team making sure
that we're always set up to do the right
things the right way for the right
reasons. So, thank you all.
Last week, we have a special
presentation, the Green Gilbert
Partnership Program, the uh new
certifications and student art contest
winners. Council member Toruson is going
to be doing this one.
Well, since I am admittedly very ill
equipped to speak about green, I am
turning this over to Aaron because he is
the point man. He gets it.
Thank you, Jim. And thank you, council
members, for having us today. Um, we're
very excited to be here. Uh, my name is
Aaron. I work for the environmental
compliance office for the town of
Gilbert. Uh, I also help oversee the
Grand Gilbert partnership program, which
is a coordinated effort between us and
three other divisions, our wastewater
pre-treatment, our solid waste and
recycling, and our water conservation
team. And what we do is we basically go
to businesses around Gilbert and we
certify them for doing all the things
that we like to see from businesses. all
those green practices, all those good
initiatives, all those best management
practices that um we want to see all
these businesses um implement so that
they are um creating a positive impact
on our environment. So today we have
four uh excuse me, three new businesses
and one reertification that has been
reertified at an elevated level today
and I'll just highlight a little bit of
them. Thank you. Uh there's a little bit
about who we are. Sorry. Uh first off is
Live Northgate. Um Live Northgate, they
are an elevated apartment community with
an emphasis on maintaining a responsible
and sustainable lifestyle. They practice
many actions including installing energy
efficient appliances and smart
thermostats in all of their apartments.
Their dedication to keeping their and
their residents environmental impact
minimal is why we are excited to welcome
them as new members into our program.
Our next member, Soul Sports, is a
locallyowned, specialty running and
walking store based in the valley.
They're designed to help relieve people
from the difficulties of the big box and
online shopping that can be very
difficult, especially when buying things
like running shoes. Um, they offer a
more personal approach to those that are
avid runners, joggers, power walker
enthusiasts. Um, and they have
implemented several sustainability
features within their business model,
including a shoe box recycling program.
Um, and several other steps. And it's
because of these steps that we are
excited again as well to have them in
our
program. Uh, our next business, The
Nook, is a quiet little daytime ery
located right on the corner of uh, Queen
Creek and Higgley where they serve up
breakfast and lunch. They've been in
business since 2013. Uh, and they've
made it their mission to continue to
give back to the community in any way
they can. And this includes sponsoring
local teams, cleanups, other things like
that. Um, they implement all the best
management practices that are expected
of restaurants which tend to have a
little bit more of stuff that they got
to worry about with food waste and all
that other fun stuff, um, oil disposal.
And because they're have done such a
great job in everything that they do, we
are um, honored and excited to certify
them this period. And our last business
is One Small Step. Um, and they are
actually the ones that are being
reertified into the program. and they
are one of our earliest members that
joined us when we first started over 5
years ago.
Um uh they are being reertified at the
innovator levels due to their longevity
as well as the additional green uh
achievements that they have implemented
uh since becoming into the program. They
are designed to be a clothing cabin as
well as offering many other services um
for those that are in need. Their entire
business model is centered around
ensuring nothing that enters their
premises ends up in a landfill. So
everything either gets reused,
repurposed, um, or recycled. Um, and
they get everything from clothing,
games, toys, stuffed animals. They all
make sure it finds a home. So, we're so
excited to be able to s reertify you
guys at this elevated level, and we're
so happy that you guys have been
involved in the program for as long as
you have.
And next, we wanted to highlight our art
contest winners. So, one thing our
program does every year is we set up a
little art contest amongst all of the
Gilbert schools as well as the Higgley
School District in the junior high and
high school students. And any of them
are able to enter this um contest. All
the artwork gets submitted to us and
then we send it out to all the town
leadership and management. They all vote
on it and then we get to then our
winners get announced. Um, so in third
place this year from Campo Verde High,
we had Brooklyn Narde with her think
green act clean artwork that you see on
the right there. Also, what you see on
the screen here was actually blown up
and put onto garbage trucks that will be
um driven around the town as
well. Our second place winner, who is
here with us tonight, Dwayne Chandler
from Highland Junior High, his Cleaner
Pipes and Cleaner Tomorrow on the right
there as well.
And our first place winner from Gilbert
Classical Academy, Ava Goodwin with
their think green artwork up at the top.
So please give a round of applause for
those artwork contest
[Applause]
winners. Uh and now we will ask the
businesses that are in attendance here
to come on up and receive their
certificates. Uh we will start with one
small step if you want to come up here.
the mic. All righty. Thank Hi there
everyone. My name is Gabby Atono
Rodriguez. I am the program specialist
at One Small Step. Just like Erin said,
we are really passionate of making sure
that all of our items that are donated
to us by the local community goes and
ends up in the correct place. So that
means that we either if we cannot use
it, we will go ahead and find other
partners who um have larger facilities,
make sure that um all those items
actually go into the right place. Um for
ourselves, we can help the community. We
give out clothes for free to anyone in
need. We also help provide um back to
work items. So if anyone you know is
needing um for example steeltoed work
boots or non-slip shoes, we can also
provide that for free. And then we also
help our unsheltered community making
sure that they have a place that they
feel welcome and dignified and they can
receive u shower services, laundry
services in a mailbox for free. All
righty. Thank you. What is our next
step? Young lady, do a photo. Everyone
wants to come together.
And then we'll ask Soul Sports, the
Representative Piper, come on up here.
I'm
sorry. Wing,
please introduce yourselves or just
yourself.
Hi, I'm Piper. I'm the manager of Full
Sports Gilbert. We're the fifth location
in the valley, locally owned, and so we
specialize in running, walking, just
getting you in the right shoes. Your
feet take a beating. So, we just want to
make sure they're being pampered. And
so, with our services, we can get you
into the best fit. Um, a nice program
that we do offer is that we do recycle
sneakers, um, trainers, tennis shoes,
whatever you want to call them, um,
running apparel, and socks. And so they
go into a program where they will be
repurposed into playground equipment or
if there are shoes that can be donated
to those in need, they also go to that
direction.
Well, okay, we're here.
Let's get right where Scott is. He has
to
move every time. Just a little further.
We're done. We got the art contest
winners. And then if we could just ask
our art contest winners to come on up
and get a photo up here as well. Dave,
Dwayne, and Ava, you are with us
tonight. So if you come on
uprook and Brooklyn is here as well.
Thank you.
Sorry introduce yourself. Okay. I'm
Dwayne Chandler.
I'm Brooklyn Lonarte.
I'm Ava Goodwin.
Yeah. Why don't you guys get in the
middle here?
Thank you so much everyone.
Thank
you. We'll move on to uh the public
hearing section. We have two items, four
and five. Uh I do have a request to
speak on four, so we'll do that one
separately. But item
five, um, there's been a request to
postpone this until May 20th by the
staff. I'll open the public hearing on
item five and close the public hearing
and entertain a motion from the council
on
continuence. There we go. I'd like to
make a motion to continue this till what
was the date then? May 20th. May 20th.
Is there a second? I'll second.
It's been moved by Council Member
Torres, seconded by Council Member Lions
to postpone item five to May 20th. All
in favor, please
vote. Did yours vote? Did
you There we go. Item passes 60.
Oh, okay. Yes. Council member Kapowski
is not with us
tonight. We'll proceed on to item
four. Item four is a zoning
Z2422 Bellistoria P
Amendment and we'll ask staff to give us
a presentation.
Mayor Anderson, members of the council,
good
evening. So, my uh project before you
tonight, as you've already stated, is
for Bellistoria Apartments uh um parcel
B. It's a PAD amendment. I'll go over
those details in a second here. The site
is um located in the original
Bellistoria planned area development um
which is approximately um um 76 gross
acres and you can see the overall P A
boundary is highlighted at the red color
and the subject site tonight that I'm
I'm bringing before you is is is
highlighted by yellow and it's parcel B
and it's only about 13 or so net acres
about 15 almost 16 gross
acres. So the request oh I don't need
input but the request um uh tonight is
to amend the existing development plan
on parcel B of of the Bellistoria P A to
accommodate a new redesigned apartment
uh development with 367 units.
Um the proposed uh P AD amendment is to
reconfigure the whole entire site and I
will show you how the applicant is
proposing to do that. First of all, I
will show you the existing overall
development plan. Um this was approved
in um October of 2023 as part of the
overall Bellistoria
uh planned area planned area
development. a little over 70 70 acres
in size. The whole thing and um about 60
so or so acres as you can see on the
screen is is
residential. Um the overall density for
the whole entire project is about 11 and
a half dwelling units per acre. There's
two multifamily there was originally
approved two multifamily apartment
complexes about um 628 units between two
of them and about 30 acres total
um 32 acres of single family at 226 lots
which you saw the single family portion
which is in that northwest corner you
saw that come before you I believe about
seven or eight months ago for for
approval uh for a P8 amendment as well
to tweak a few things and then there's
There's a 16 acre commercial corn
commercial corner at the hard corner of
Power in Williamsfield. So you can see
that the parcel B which is at that
norththeast corner of Power or excuse me
of Williamsfield Road and and Delator
Boulevard is the subject site. And you
can see just take a mental note of how
that is designed. A pretty standard
apartment
complex. Um and then here's the new
development plan overall development
plan. But I'm I'm I'm going to show you
the next plan um which shows the site in
in more detail and with more context. So
if you took that mental note of that
previous design, this design is quite a
bit different. This is a brand new
developer that has come forward that
wants to change the design. And since it
the design is not in substantial
conformance with the original design
that was approved in October 2023, it
required them to come back before you to
amend it. Um they are proposing 367
units where the old one was um a little
over 300 units. I didn't write that down
on the slide, but so a few a few more
units about 23 uh dwelling units per
acre, which is which is just a little
bit more than the old one. It was about
21 dwelling units per acre. Um there's
nine total uh
buildings. Um the building up front,
building number one, is a four portions
of it are fourstory. Um and then
portions of it are threetory. It's kind
of mixed the way how the roof lines work
and things like that. Um but that
building be right up along Williamsfield
Road just like the old one. You can see
the there's a big courtyard that kind of
opens up to Williamsfield Road. that you
can see into the amenities from
Williamsfield Road, which is a really
big feature for the applicant and
something that uh is is attractive to
not only the the developer, but to the
town. And then there's a smaller amenity
area that's going to be to the to the to
the west side that you just it just it's
not labeled, you can't see it. It's that
other really big inlet.
And then buildings two and three on the
east side of the project next to a big
open space area are um three-story
buildings. And then there's six twostory
buildings in the back that are that are
much smaller. They only have two units a
piece. And then in the center of the
site kind of buffered by all of the
buildings is a parking garage. It has
over 200 parking spaces. And then you
also have some surface parking. So, in
total about 600 or so, 607 parking
spaces. Here is the prettier design for
you. Wanted to show you. Uh, you can
kind of see it in a little more context.
Buildings close to the street, close to
Williamsfield Road, similar to the old
design, but in this design, there's a
parking garage. Most of the parking is
pretty well screened by the buildings,
and you won't really notice a lot of it
from the street frontage, which is a
huge um um upgrade in design of the
site. All of the open space is in the
parking lots along the street frontages,
but their open space amenities are in
between the buildings, the building one,
those big amenity areas with a pool and
all kinds of grass areas and grilling
locations. And then you will see along
the eastern border is a really cool open
space area that kind of allows this
project to further integrate itself with
the future shopping center that will be
located to the east of the project.
So that that's the project in a nutshell
and and like I stated earlier because of
the brand new design being vast greatly
greatly differing from the original
design it required an amendment to the P
A and to be brought back before you for
reapproval. So that is the main reason
why the uh this is item is before you
tonight.
Um, from a public participation
standpoint, um, staff or the applicant
held a neighborhood meeting in November
of 2024. No surrounding residents or
surrounding property owners
attended. Um, so that concludes my
presentation for you tonight. And for
all the reasons in the staff report and
based on all the conditions, we move uh
to recommend approval of this PA
amendment for parcel B of Velistoria
subject to conditions in the report. And
um I'm open for any questions now if you
have any. And the applicant uh from the
law firm of Whity Morris Ba, Ben Tate,
is also here. He can answer questions
and he I believe he even has a
presentation if you want him to give
one. So um thank you very much. Thank
you, Keith. Questions?
Council member Bonjivani. Thank you,
Mayor Keith. Why the change 67
apartments? Why?
Um, Mayor Anderson, um, Council Member
Bonji Bonjivani. So, you're talking
about the difference between the old
number and the new number. Um, I would
like to defer that answer to the to the
applicant.
Any other questions of staff, Vice
Mayor?
Uh, yes. I So, I have a question uh
here. So, you're saying that this was
approved. It's already been approved.
And why is it in zoning then? Why is
that? Why is that a zoning question
versus just a change?
Um, Mayor Anderson, um, Vice Mayor
Buckley. So, yes, to answer your
question, uh, the previous design was
approved like what you see on your
screen for for a multifamily medium
apartment complex. It already has the
zoning staff already approved the
develop previous development plan
through the original zoning in that
design.
The reason we're bringing it back before
you is because town staff we the new
design is not in substantial conformance
with the old design. So it was greatly
different. So we require it to come back
before you uh to to get a reapproval if
that makes sense. It it is going up in
in the total number of units by about 67
units. But since but the biggest thing
is is in our code it it does state that
if if a design if a previously approved
design is not in substantial conformance
which we deem this not to be because of
the location and placement of buildings
the building configuration being
different a few more units and the
design and open space being located in
totally different areas um we were
required to bring it back before you for
reapproval. I hope I'm answering that
question correctly. Um, but that is the
reason why it's coming back before you
because it wasn't in substantial
conformance with the original
approval even though it has the same
exact zoning because of the changes you
have made. Correct. That's correct.
Okay. So, and do you recall when this
was approved? Um, by council, right?
Yes. Mayor, Mayor Anderson, Vice Mayor
Buckley, the original design was of this
design that's on the screen was approved
in October of 2023.
And back at that time, the developer was
totally different. And now a new
developer has come in and wants to
change it to fit their more of their
business model and the design that they
want versus versus having to use the old
design. Okay. Okay. Well, I I myself
have have a bit of a problem increasing
the units in here. Um, you know, just to
make a note of that. Um I I have an
issue with
that. But so we're ch the zoning is
where I'm having an issue. You're saying
and I want to make sure I'm clear on
this. We're not changing any zoning.
We're just bringing the zoning into con
conformance. Correct. Um Mayor Anderson,
Vice Mayor Buckley. Correct. We're not
changing the zoning. The zoning will
stay a multifamily medium. The only
difference is is they're changing the
design of the site which was established
and approved by you as a council in
October of 2023. So, but the zoning
stays the same. Well, it wasn't by me
but or by by the by the previous
council. Yes. Excuse me. But, uh Okay.
All right. Well, thank you very much.
You you've answered those questions. And
may may I add really quick though as
well, just to kind of add a little bit
to it, um we we are currently reviewing
a design review application for this.
It's a concurrent review and um per
staff's um
um review. This this is a we deem this
to be a more superior design than the
previous design. I mean all of it's got
more landscaping, more open space. The
parking is is is highly buffered and
screened by a lot of the buildings, so
you won't see it as much as you drive
down Williamsfield Road and and along um
uh Delator Boulevard. There's a parking
garage, so they can have a little bit
more room and space to add like things
like landscaping and provide a more
enhanced design.
Okay. Where just one more question,
where where are they adding the extra
units? is like another 63 units maybe.
Um, Mayor Anderson, um, Vice Mayor
Buckley. So, th this building one, the
bigger building is is a little bit
taller. It's about four stories. So, I
think they're they're they're adding a
few units there. There's a portion of it
that's four stories and a portion of the
building is three stories. It kind of it
kind of varies. So, I think they're
adding a few more units there. And then
also the units in the back, those
twotory buildings that you see along uh
one there's one along Haskell Street or
not Haskell, excuse me, um Delator
Boulevard to the west. And then there's
also some twostory buildings along
Haskell Street to the north, which is
actually a better transition too from
the single story home this the single
family homes to the north. So it it's
actually creates a better transition to
from single family to multif family as
well with those with those buildings
along Haskell Street. So but that that's
I believe where they're adding the
units, but the applicant can answer that
question probably better than me. Okay.
Are they here or um Yes, they are.
They'll be coming up in just a moment.
Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, I you've
answered my questions and stuff, so that
that's all I need.
Council member Lions. Thank you, Mayor
Anderson. Um, you're looking at a 20%
increase in the number of units on this
particular site. Was there a traffic
study done to determine the impact of uh
that change? Because you're looking at,
I'd say, a significant increase in the
amount of traffic that would be expected
in there as well. And that intersection
is quite busy. So, was there a traffic
study along with that to give us the
impact of that kind? That's a
substantial increase, 20%. So, um, Mayor
Anderson, um, Council Member Lions, we
are concurrently, um, reviewing the
design review application and there is a
traffic impact analysis that has been
reviewed
and our traffic team has accepted it and
and is okay with the additional units
and um, has approved that portion of the
traffic uh, impact analysis. Does that
include the uh, ingress and egress at
the site? Was there any change to that
with this new design? Uh, mayor, I
understand, council member Lions, there
there is no change to the ingress and
egress locations. Okay. On these new
buildings, does the number of stories
change? Is this went from three to four
or is it stay or what was as what was
approved before? Um, council member
Lions, it it's it's the basically the
same. The other the other ones, there
was a four-story component to those ones
as well, but they had more parking
spaces that weren't in a parking garage
like this one has. So they didn't have
enough room to spread out and spread out
the distribution of the units. So they
did have fourstory buildings. So the new
story buildings more than the last
design. Um council member Lions um the
the new design um has has a few more
buildings. Yes. Fourstory building. They
have they have one four fourstory
building. See building number three. If
I point over here, building number
three, the building is kind of a partial
three and four-story building. There's
portions of it that are four stories and
portions of it that are three stories,
but it's not a straight up fourstory
building. It's kind of mixed. Okay. So,
this is all wood construction, though.
Correct. Um, Council Member Lions, um, I
believe that is correct. Okay. Thank
you. One more question.
Thank you, Keith. Welcome. We'll ask the
applicant at this time if you'd like to
come
up. Thank you. Uh good evening, Mr.
Mayor, members of the council. Benjamin
Taye with you Morris BA 2525 East
Arizona serves Arizona more circle on
behalf of the applicant Vista
residential partners I have a
presentation I'd like to give as well
but I I think there's some more context
here that's really important for why we
are back in front of council on a case
that was as you pointed out vice mayor
you know approved fairly recently
through the zoning process and it's
because when you have a p a pad the
planned area development sets the
development standards so it sets your
lot coverage your height your density
all of these things those are ultimately
the zoning standards that dictate
sort of the envelope of development for
any particular project. But then as a
part of that, there are development
plans that are stipulated along with
that. If you change one of those
development plans where you're
stipulated to general conformance and
change it to such a degree that staff
can no longer make that finding of
general conformance, then it has to come
back as as a P Amendment. And frankly,
that's why we're in front of you today.
But the the most important piece of this
that I really need to emphasize
throughout my presentation is that we
are staying completely within the
development standards that were approved
by this council when the the Bellistoria
PD was approved. So we are within the
density of medium density multif family
that is permitted. We're within the
height that's permitted. We're within
all of the development standards that
are permitted. We're simply changing the
site plan to reflect this new project.
And the reason we're doing that is
because when this PA AD was approved by
the council in I believe the fall of
2023, there was no developer or you know
ultimate enduser developer for the
multif family. So the the applicant who
brought this P A through was doing it
somewhat speculatively. So they wanted
to get the land use entitlements in
place to then go and market each of
these individual part parcels to an
eventual developer and builder. And
that's what Vista Residential Partners
is. So they they became aware that the
PED was approved. They saw the
development standards that were
available, but the site plan that the
original applicant brought through
because they weren't the end builder.
The site plan that they proposed for
this site was really just their best
guess of what an an end multif family
developer would want on this site. And
you know, when we approached Keith and
staff, who I I I just want to take a
second to recognize them, um, have been
truly wonderful throughout this process
and worked with us and recognized that
the the the design that Vista was
proposing for the site, as Keith noted,
was truly a superior design in in a lot
of ways. And that's really what I'd like
to highlight is we're simply taking the
development standards that have already
been approved by the town for this site
and providing a better product in a lot
of different ways.
Where do I need to point this
to? There we go. Uh, so as as Keith
point out, it's and that should actually
say the northeast corner of
Williamsville and the Delator. I
apologize. It's a little bit less than
16 gross acres and importantly it's
zoned for multif family medium and that
allows up to 25 dwelling units to the
acre which we are underneath. We're
around 23 units to the acre. The
original project was around 21 units to
the acre. So it's on the whole it's a
fairly marginal difference in terms of
uh to our north we have single family
attached and single family detached
which is also part of the Bellistoria
Pad. To our east is the general
commercial portion so the retail and
commercial portion of the of the
development. To our south um general
office and and commercial uh and then to
our west some multif family and some
single family
detached. Uh so yes, Octo it was
originally approved in October 2023, so
about 18 months ago, give or
take. Uh so this just gives you a sense
of what that original site plan looked
like. This is a little bit more rendered
version than the one that staff had in
their presentation, but I I do want to,
as Keith pointed out, just kind of draw
your attention to the way that uh the
original site plan was laid out. And and
uh to I believe it was Council Member
Lion's question earlier, all of the
buildings in the original plan were four
stories. and we're just uh kind of
circumnavigated the perimeter of the
project with just surface parking in the
middle. And one of the most important
things that we've done in this redesign
is take some of that surface parking and
turn it into a a just a two-level
structure, which allows us to have more
open space. It allows us to actually,
you know, uh be a little bit more
creative with the building design
because we don't have to have just a
massive surface parking field in the
middle of the project. And it allows us
to just
sort of better configure the site to be
more um compatible with our surrounding
neighbors. Uh so here's how that uh
updated site plan now fits into the
overall Bellis story of P A. It is a mix
of three and four story buildings. So
whereas the original project was all
four stories, as you'll see here, there
are some elements of that large
building, the one that's down in the
southwest corner of the project that is
four stories, but that's the only
portion of all of our buildings that is
actually four stories. So on the whole,
we've actually reduced the height of
this project and only kept a single
building and only part of it four
stories, whereas the rest of it is
either three stories or shorter.
uh we we took what was a fairly I
guessed one-dimensional is is the best
word I can think of building design
where it was just these buildings around
the perimeter and we've created a little
bit more push and pull and articulation
to create a lot more visual interest for
the buildings from the street which is
something staff had really encouraged us
to do throughout this project was to
really elevate what was that original
building design which uh I hesitate to
be a little bit peorative but was kind
of unimaginative in that original design
and was really just sort of an
off-the-shelf four-story apartment
project where we've taken it and made
this one a little bit more unique. So,
as Keith pointed out, the large
courtyard area in the middle there that
has all of our amenities which opens up
to the street and just creates a little
bit more visual interest and a little
bit more um I guess texture in the
relationship with
Williamsfield. And there's that
two-story parking structure which again
allows us to have more open space to
work with, more landscaping to work
with. So, it's not just a large surface
parking field in the middle. And all of
our buildings screen it. And because the
parking structure is only two stories,
and because it has buildings on all four
sides, you're not going to see it for
the most part from the street. All of
our buildings screen it from the
surrounding public rights of
way. Uh along our eastern side, we've
taken those three-story buildings and
put in a large uh set of active
amenities. So, we've got some lawns,
we've got a a a um a fountain, we've got
some sports courts and a dog park, which
creates a transition between our project
and the commercial area to the east
where it didn't exist before. So, now it
feels like a more cohesive development
between the multif family project and
the commercial that's going on to the
east and really makes it feel like a
true mixeduse project where before it
just kind of felt like some apartments
next to some commercial and it feels
like there's a little bit more uh
integration into those two elements of
the project.
This is probably what I would consider
the most important piece of the project
from a compatibility standpoint. So
where in the original project there was
a four-story multif family building on
this north part of the site adjacent to
Haskell Street, we've put in a series of
twostory twounit condo town home style
residences. And that's really important
because on the north side of Haskell is
single family. And before where you
would have had a four-story apartment
building looking down into that
neighborhood and looking down into
people's backyards, we've created a more
appropriate and a more compatible
transition with single family by putting
twotory town home style units along that
streetscape there, which is just a it's
a better condition for what will be the
single family neighbors to the
north. Uh, in this new version of the
project, we've got 42.8% 8% open space,
which is an increase over the the the
site plan that you have in from the
original approved
version. That's just a better look at
those elevations. So, you can see how
that height does sort of um waver
throughout the project and and goes
between three and four stories along the
public streets. And then as you go back
towards Haskell, you've got the
two-story units on the back side there.
And this gives you a little bit better
sense of what those condo style units
look
like. Uh so, All we are simply asking
for today is to switch out what was the
original approved site plan uh with the
site plan you now have in front of you
today. Staying within all of the
development standards that are permitted
within the Bellistoria P AD. We've got
less surface parking. We've got more
open space. We've got a more engaging
and more elevated building design,
better transitions between both the
commercial and to the east and the
single family to the north. Uh and a
greater diversity of building and unit
types. Uh, as Keith noted, staff is
recommending approval of this project
and uh, I think it was uh, Council
Member Lions to go back to your question
about the traffic impact analysis. Yes,
we did have Southwest traffic
engineering do a traffic impact study on
this. There is a obviously a marginal
increase in traffic as a result of the
additional units, but it is such a
marginal number that it doesn't
necessitate any additional street
improvements such as additional signal
signalization, additional medians.
Um, upon review by the city's the the
town's traffic engineering department,
uh, they are also not recommending any
additional traffic mitigation as a
result of this marginal increase, uh,
and have approved our traffic study. And
with that, I would be happy to answer
any questions the the council may have.
Thank you. Questions?
Yes, Council Member Buckland. Thank you,
Mayor. In regard to the parking the the
previous plans, I know it was
speculative, but what do you know the
number of parking spaces and the
different you figure you've gone up 63
apartments. What's the change in parking
spaces? I would have to look. I don't
have that number off the top of my head.
It would we are obviously staying within
whatever the town would require us to
have in terms of parking. I believe
we're actually slightly overparked to
that degree uh just to make sure that we
have enough parking spaces both for the
residents and their guests so that we
don't have you know anybody parking out
on the streets or anything along those
lines. It's always in our interest that
we have enough parking. Uh I don't have
that number off the top of my head what
the what the delta is. Okay. And and
looking at it I didn't feel like there
was
enough previously. I think um just
comments I don't like the idea of adding
63
apartments understanding and I don't
like the idea of approvals based on
really imagination speculation of the
past but it is what it is that was the
process. Uh, I do agree with staff that
aesthetically this looks more like
Gilbert than apartments backing up to
single family
homes. So, I do think there's a better
transition there to help keep those
single family home values up. Um, and I
do think the parking structure is an
added benefit. uh like to see the
numbers, but um it looks to me like it's
going to do more to keep off the street
parking and and uh areas where they
shouldn't be. So, I'm I'm satisfied.
Council member Bonjivani,
mine was
first lines. Okay.
Okay. Okay.
Um talk to me about the developer. How
many How long has the developer been in
business?
Uh, I would defer to Keith uh, for that
question. I think Vista Vista is is
relatively new to the Phoenix market,
but I I believe they've developed
somewhere north of 22,000 units around
the country and manage a portfolio that
is in in the billions.
Okay. How long does a developer usually
hold on to the properties?
That's a Keith question. Or sorry,
depends on the typically we're going to
see it through. Could we have you come
up and introduce yourself? So Tristan
Charlessworth is the developers
represent. Thank you.
My name is uh Tristan Charlessworth. Uh
I'm the local uh partner and managing
director for Vista Residential Partners
here in
Phoenix. Um to answer the first
question, uh Vista Residential has been
around uh since 2000. Uh I have been
doing this in in Phoenix for the last 10
years. Uh this will be uh my ninth
project in the Phoenix metro area. Um
I'm uh local here, went to ASU, um and
uh happy to continue uh developing here.
Um second answer or second question,
uh depending on the asset, we tend to
you know uh be a long-term holder. We
are
um invested as a company in each one of
these projects uh within that capital
stack. So we have direct ownership in
these
projects. That answers your question.
Okay. What's um expected rent for the
apartments? Uh we're under 2,000 uh unit
on average.
Does it pencil at 300 units? No. So, and
the reason that we are increasing the
unit count here is to allow us to do
some of the things that we were not able
to do uh under the other site plan. Uh
we could have come in and said yes,
we're going to do that site plan uh and
we would not have had to go through the
zoning process. Uh however given the
site uh and the overall master plan B
story master plan we wanted the
opportunity to design a project here uh
that was differentiated by quality. Uh
and some of the ways that we've done
that is we've added m multiple types of
housing here. We don't have just uh
apartments here. We've got you know
condo type units in the front. uh those
will be for rent, but uh those come with
garages as well. Um adding the garage is
a significant expense, but it's also
allowed us to create that transition
area to the east to the future retail
there. So, we're creating a much more
walkable environment. Um it's allowed us
to do a lot of the other things that
we've done here, including improve the
aesthetics of that building. Uh this is
not a box. Um, we are spending, you
know, significant dollars on the
aesthetics, the roof. Uh, we are adding,
you know, significantly more open space
on the project. Uh, and we've put a lot
of thought into this. We've worked
directly with the new home company, uh,
who has, you know, now broken ground on
the master development and, uh, is
building to the north of us. Um, and
they, uh, much prefer, uh, the units
that we have on the northern boundary.
So, the quick answer is uh the
additional units support the
improvements to the site that we've
made. Thank
you, Council Member Lions. Uh he's
answered my question, so thank you.
You other questions?
Thank you. We'll reserve the opportunity
to come back if we do. Council member
Torres, I'm curious why you didn't bring
this to us earlier.
and we haven't met with you. We haven't
heard from you. This is where we're
seeing it.
Council member Torgensson, are you
referring to bringing this to the
council uh in a public hearing or
I'm as typically done by your company,
somebody comes in and shows us changes
that they're looking at, gets feedback,
uh sees what's what the uh the appetite
is for changes. and this wasn't done
this time. I'm curious as to why. Uh,
Council Member Torgensson, I think the
uh our thought process going into this
case and and frankly when we met with
staff in the very beginning back in the
fall of um
2024. We were working very hard to
actually try to keep this project even
within the bounds of general
conformance. And we spent probably a
month and a half going back and forth
with staff to try to make this design
work within the bounds of general
conformance to where this would just be
an administrative approval. And what
ultimately came out of that was although
staff's feedback to us throughout this
process has been yes we think this is a
superior design to what was there
before. Yes, we think this is a great
project. we just can't ultimately make
the determination that this is close
enough to general conformance to fall
within the bounds of an administrative
approval. So, you're going to need to
take this through the P
Amendment process. That being said,
unlike a zoning case where yes, we we
that that's always something we would
do, especially early on to bring
something, you know, you know, sort of
on an informal level to members of the
council to get this early feedback. You
know, this is something that the council
had already made the legislative
decision with the original case that
multif family was appropriate for this
site, that multif family medium was
appropriate for this site. And from from
our perspective, all we were doing was
taking I guess reimagining what had
already been approved, but staying
within the bounds of what the council
had approved with respect to density,
with respect to height, with respect to
parking, all of the things
uh that sort of feed into that that
legislative decision uh to make a zoning
decision. And so I guess from our
perspective, you know, we were just
taking what the council had already done
from a a sort of a a policymaking
perspective of deciding that multif
family was appropriate for this site and
applying that to a specific builder's
design rather than, you know, as I
pointed out a a zoning case in which
yes, that is a a brand new decision for
a site to make a land use decision. From
our perspective, this is not really a
land use decision. This is more of a an
aesthetics and design decision.
Thank you for not really answering my
question. It's substantially out of
conformance. That's why I would think
that you would want to get input from
people that sit here and have to pass
judgment on it and make a decision. But
thank you. Understood.
Thank
you. I have one request to speak card.
Noah James
Markham, give us your name and place of
residence. Aloha. Uh, Mr. Mayor and, um,
Miss, uh, vice mayor. Um, my name is
Noah James and to the rest of the
committee, my name is Noah James
Markham. I'm a resident of Tempee. Um,
and I'm here to speak on item number
four. I am a no for now um on this bill
because um I hope that you take into
great
consideration with your votes.
But I would love to see homes and
apartments built up in Gilbert, but I
have a problem right now in Gilbert. We
need to think about section 8 apartments
in Gilbert and where we can have more of
these in Gilbert. So my vote would
change to yes if Gilbert considers
section 8. Mahalo and thank you for your
time. Thank you, Noah. Thank you.
It's the only card that I have. I'll
close the public hearing and bring it
back to the council for discussion and
or a motion.
I move to approve item four as written.
I have some discussion on it.
Same. I want to discuss some stuff.
Go ahead. We have a motion on the floor.
Um, we can go ahead with discussion.
That okay, Chris,
Mayor Anderson? Yes, that that's fine to
have that discussion and then we can All
right, buddy. Council member Buckland
could remake the motion and see if
there's a second at that point. Thank
you,
Council Member Bonjivani.
Did it again.
Um, here's my general concern.
Um, a
20%
increase. I know there's been a
different
developer, but we already approved it at
300.
And I would hate to have
um a president set that we can come back
and come back and ask for more
apartments.
My my concern isn't generally is is not
necessarily this particular project. My
concern is like right now our our
economy is unstable and
unpredictable. And I'm I'm more
concerned about unfinished projects
um being abandoned if the economy
continues the way it the way it does.
That's why I asked how long they usually
hold on to a project for. A lot of
times, um, developers build these and
then sell them right away. I'm not
saying that's the case in this
situation, but,
um, I'm just I'm just concerned about
the speed of increasing a lot of these
um, projects, especially right now, uh,
with the economy the way it is.
And I just I just don't like I agree
with uh, Councilman Torus. just don't
like the idea
of not approaching us prior to to
discuss these project to to discuss this
spec specific project. Um to me as a
council member that just says I'm very
confident that we're going to get this
passed
um without discussing any kind of
feedback with us uh to begin with. and
your
firm does that quite a bit. So I I agree
with Councilman Torus and I'm just
concerned of why it wasn't done this
time and it is a 20% increase. Well,
those are my concerns.
Council member Lions, I would like to u
just concur with uh what Councilman
uh Chiv Bonivani said. that the 20%
increase takes me back um a bit and and
my real concern with the increase and
with and why I ask about the traffic
study. Um I have a real concern about
our infrastructure and some of the
things that we've done and you putting
that many more cars on the road and
we've already got some challenges with
infrastructure that we just had to
raise, you know, uh sewer rates on to do
repairs. Our roads are going to wear out
earlier with the amount of traffic that
we're putting on them. I don't think
they were designed for that personally.
Um, so I I I I have an an issue with the
change without being able to look at it
ahead of time and study it. I know
there's traffic studies that say to be
done, but the devil's in the details and
I would want to see that ahead of time
before I would be comfortable with this.
And the other thing is a matter of
policy moving forward. I I don't want to
see another project brought in and
brought before this council that's
speculative in its nature at the
beginning. I want to know that ahead of
time. uh that puts us in a very bad
position and I don't agree appreciate
being put in that kind of position. So
um and our our uh community needs to
know definitively what's going to be
done and as as a matter on on the other
things. I do appreciate with the design
that they're dropping the two or
threetory design. and I'm uncomfortable
with the four-story designs from a fire
perspective and it's something that that
I I would like to look at moving forward
for the safety of our firefighters and
and the uh um long-term u
maintainability of the of the building.
So um that's that's my end of my
comments on that. Thank
you. I'll make a a comment being the one
council member that was here when it was
originally done. I think that we could
we should have a reasonable assurance
that what comes before us is going to be
built the way it's represented on a
plan. And when that changes sub and I
call this substantially
um it concerns me that we're using a
process of improving design to increase
density. Uh that doesn't fit very well.
I don't think not with me it doesn't.
Um, I could see a smaller increase of
number of units, but I think this is a
pretty large increase and quite a
deviation from the plan that the
previous council did approve with an
assurance that that was the way things
were going to develop. So, that also
concerns me as it does the other council
members,
Council Member
Buckman.
um very very solid um discussion uh
arguments why I totally understand all
of that makes sense. My concerns
are
that as designed this builder can just
go back and build it and now we have
less open space. We have and again I too
don't like the idea of adding more
apartments. I would love it, you know,
be able to keep it the same. But I do
like the the improvement in parking
through the garage. I like the open
space and I really like that transition.
I'm concerned that they're going to go
back and they're just going to build it
and they can. Um it fits in the zoning
for the number of apartments that
they're putting in. Whether whether I
like that or not, it does fit. Uh so
that is acceptable by zoning. Um but I I
just don't want we don't want apartments
stacked over the top of houses. that
transition I think is really important
aesthetically keeping those values up.
Uh the uh the theme of Gilbert
continues. So that was that's that's my
why. That makes sense. Thank you. It
does. I see the applicant is down here.
Did you want to add to the discussion?
Uh Mr. Mayor, members of council. So,
uh, Council Member Buckland, I I I
appreciate you saying that because
that's, you know, the I really want to
just kind of highlight the the
applicants aim here. You know, as you've
pointed out, you know, that there is the
ability to just move forward with the
the 300ish unit project. The reason that
we've gone through the time and expense
of redesigning this is that we think
that there's a better way both in terms
of the quality of the design, the
quality of the transition between this
development and the single family to the
north, the the commercial to the east,
that there's there's an opportunity to
actually invest more money and invest
more thought and invest more time in a
superior project. And and that's frankly
what this application is about. This is
this is a more expensive project to
build by a fairly considerable margin.
And that's and that's really the impetus
behind the additional units. It's these
additional 67ish units that
subsidize uh the more expensive
materials, the more expensive design,
the more, you know, complicated build
that this is going to be. This is a this
is a ninef figureure construction
project in in in the form that we have
in front of the council. Uh, and you
know, just in from a a timing
perspective, uh, as as Keith pointed
out, we do have to go back. We have our
design review public hearing, uh, in in
June. So, if uh, if the council's not
quite ready to approve this project
tonight, and they would like us to go
back and, uh, provide a little bit more
detail, we're certainly open to that.
Uh, we would we would certainly welcome
and and um, appreciate a vote of
approval tonight. But if the council is
is not quite at that point, then we're
opening we are open to
uh continuing to work with the council
and staff to get to that point. Thank
you,
Council Member Torres. I I actually
believe I was on council the time this
was annexed in. Yeah. And Bobby was and
Chuck was and I I have a problem with
people coming back for a second bite at
the app. I have a huge problem with it
because it puts you in the position
twice. And while I can recognize there
are property rights that that should be
honored in some ways, this also was a
planned area development that had
offsets, reasons to approve this this
way uh and was presented in a particular
way. It is substantially out of
conformance with what was approved.
I recognize that it may it may be a
superior build by the drawings we saw.
Fantastic. It's it it looks
better. Is going to change
again? Is it going to change again
between now and June? Are you going to
tell me that it's not going to change
again? Council member Torgensson, in
order for that to occur, if we were
going to change it to such a substantial
degree, such a substantial degree again,
we would have to be back in front of
this council with another PAD amendment.
But you don't when you dumb it down
because I've seen things come forward
and they look spectacular and then it's
still within conformance, but we're
offering this instead of that. It's
still the 367 units. And I'm
just I'm not
comfortable with a rolling disclosure of
how this is developing. I don't like it.
Uh I
am I'm not happy with the way this has
played out at
all. I can see that it's apparently
going to be a nicer build with 20% more
apartments.
uh and a a ninef figureure build which
is fantastic but I am very uncomfortable
with rolling disclosure changing uh
things we do this and then it dumbs back
down. We're going to see some things
come forward probably beyond this
that'll do the same thing where it's hey
this is you know five star okay well now
it's four star now it's three star but
we're building it and
uh I feel that that I feel I I stepped
pretty far forward in in approving the
annex and the pad and now I'm feeling
like I was not
uh it's not being
honored. Thank you. I'd like to hear
some comments from the rest of the
council about uh what the applicant's
suggesting. I would be interested in
having further discussions uh having it
postponed to have further discussions
with them to understand how design
equals higher
density. I'm not there yet. That's where
I was at.
Any other comments? Council member
Buckler. Thank you, Mayor. I am willing
to if if it's desire of the council to
give more time to review this um look it
over, recommend some changes, I'm more
than happy to amend my motion. Okay.
You're looking at June.
Uh yes, time frame.
If if we are able to come back in June
and and have a continue this to a date
certain after we've had an opportunity
to have our public hearing with the
design review board as well, I think
hopefully that's enough time for us to
address these concerns. Yeah, mayor. May
I may I make one comment? Council member
Lions. Thank you. Just like I said, my
biggest concern about this is we
increased the number of units by 20%.
And if I understood what you said, this
had to do with making the pencil work as
far as getting your ROI on the build. Is
that correct? Uh, Council Member Lions,
it it really comes down to the Let me
put it this way. the the current
iteration of the project if we were to
just move forward with the site plan
that's currently approved in the PAD
today that project pencils too. Uh but
it's it's really this difference in
design and quality that we're seeking to
do just because that's what Vista is
really interested in is providing an an
elevated project. But based on the way
the original one was was designed,
there's only so much you can do with
that site plan and and have it have the
real elevated look and feel that I think
Gilbert's looking for. So both projects
ultimately are pencil out and are
profitable, but it's we think it's a
better design ultimately for for the
residents, for the people around
Bellistoria, for the town of Gilbert
with what we're proposing. And so it it
really just comes down to a question of
the design, which again
is the purpose of the application.
Okay, understood.
Um we're looking at a meeting in June.
What uh are the dates? Yep. Mayor
Anderson, members of council, there's
two meetings, June 10th and then June
24th.
What would be enough time for you to be
able to meet with us?
Mayor, members of council, I think just
in terms of timing and and I'll have to
defer to Keith, the date of our DRB
hearing because I think it it only makes
sense for us to come back after DRB has
had a chance to review it as well. Um C
um Mayor Anderson, uh members of the
council, um ju just wanted to to
reiterate, um we were hoping to take it
to a a design review board hearing in
June, but it's not officially scheduled.
And town staff, we will not bring it to
a design review uh uh board hearing
until the council makes a decision on
the zone on the on this PD amendment.
We'll wait till July or August. will
push it back until you make a decision
on this PAD amendment.
I'll look to the council for
action on this. Council member Torres,
there's one thing I don't want you to do
with me in a meeting. Don't try to
convince me that this is for Gilbert and
you're doing all this this wonderful.
It's only for us. It's 20% more units.
You're in business. You're representing
business people. It's for profit. Don't
blow sunshine at me. I want to hear real
things. I want to understand why this is
good for the people of Gilbert because
it's obviously good for your
client, but don't pretend that it's just
it's just to make us all happy that
we're going to spend $100 million cuz
that's not what it is. So, I am going to
propose that we put this off until June
10th
so that we can all have a discussion
about it. Got a couple other people like
to make comments. Vice Mayor
Um, I I I want
to make it clear I'm all of the things
that are said I I I don't want to repeat
all of that, but I I agree with it. My
my issue, as I said just from the
beginning, is the addition of the extra
apartments. My other big issue is we
haven't seen the parking study. I want
to I want the traffic study. I want to
see that. And if I don't see that, I
mean, I'm I'm open to listening and and
hearing what you have to say, but we
need the right information. And there's
it isn't just this one. For some reason,
the council's not getting the the
traffic and parking studies. My other
concern is that you've increased the
units and you decrease the parking. Why
not leave the the you said this, excuse
me, something about the parking and the
middle that you decrease the parking.
Did I hear that wrong? Uh vice mayor,
just to clarify, we have considerably
more parking spaces than the original
development had. We have to because we
have more units. In fact, I think we're
parked at a slightly better ratio. It's
that because we've done a two-story
parking structure in the middle of the
complex, which obviously allows us to do
two levels of parking, we don't need as
much Okay. surface level parking, but we
overall we have more parking spaces than
the original development did by a
significant margin. Okay. So, you have
you already have enough parking spaces
to cover the 63 extra units. That's
correct, Vice Mayor. Okay. Excellent.
All right. Well, thank you. I just
wanted to confirm that. But without
without seeing this parking study and
the or the traffic study,
um I don't I don't know how much further
I could go on this. Understood. Okay.
Thank you, Council Member Bonji. Thank
you, Mayor. I just want to reiterate
again
that normal protocol is if you're going
to make changes like this, so maybe you
didn't see it as a big change, but being
on this council and approving it the
first time and then having to come in
front of us the second time puts us in a
real bad situation, real bad, you know,
feeling up here that we're asking to go
to the well for the second time, you
know, and not having that information
directly from you and just hearing it,
seeing it in our packet, hearing it from
the first time. um after we already did
approve it, um I'd like to and I know
all of us would meet with you to discuss
it a little bit more uh to find out
exactly what the reasons were, you know,
the changes that that you're proposing.
Uh but to to put us up here and put us
on the spot like this when we took a lot
of heat for approving it in the first
place and then coming back and asking
for more. I I you know, I don't like
being in that position. I I don't
appreciate being in that position and
now you got some time to make it up to
us and talk with us and get our
feedback. Understood.
Do I have a motion to postpone?
So moved to a date. The date
June 10th. June 10th. There's a motion
to postpone till June 10th. Is there a
second? Does he have to redo this
motion?
No, it need a second for this. Second.
It's been moved by council member
Bonjivani, seconded by council member
Buckland to postpone this item until
June 10th. And in the meantime, we'll
have the opportunity to go over more
details with the
applicant. Please
vote. Motion carries
6. Thank you. Thank you, council. We
look forward to speaking with you.
That brings us to the consent
calendar, Vice Mayor. And I I believe
that u we will be adding an item to this
by council member Bon Giovani.
That's
correct. So we you want me do you want
me to announce the addition now or at
the end? Yes. Let's let him go ahead and
read those names now. Thank you. A
motion to appoint for the parks and
recreation board Brian Cannon and Ben
Kaufman as regular members with terms
beginning May 13, 2025 and ending May
12th, 2028.
Thank you. That'll be added to the
consent calendar. Okay. Thank you. All
right. So, to begin the consent calendar
portion of the meeting, I'm going to
pass this over to our town manager,
Patrick Banger, to provide an overview
of all of the consent items on the on
the calendar calendar this evening.
Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Buckley,
members of the council. I'll run through
high level the items that are on for
your consideration on our consent agenda
tonight. As always, if you have any
questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
We also have members of the staff here
to answer any questions that may be of
more depth uh that you have an interest
in. So, to begin with, for the general
public, we follow along
our we might follow along. There we go.
Our three areas of focus with strong
economy, prosperous community, and
exceptional built environment. Then I'll
run through the items along those lines
tonight and highlight which where they
fall on the agenda. First with the
addendum that was just added, agenda
10A, the Heritage North partial
assignments. A motion to approve the
agreement for partial assignment and
assumption of the rights and obligations
under the development and disposition
agreement between the town and Heritage
North partners for the development of
the 9.1 acres along uh south of Juniper
along Gilbert Road. Uh simply this is
the large Heritage North project that we
have been working on for quite some
time. This is the final step for them to
get the first phases of that going. Um
so we should see construction moving
soon. You recently saw the demolition of
the old Burger King site that was
there. Next agenda item number 20,
authorization for the application and
acceptance of Prop 302 grant funds from
the Arizona Department of Revenue and
Arizona Office of Tourism. These are
dollars that are afforded to the town.
It's approximately
$230,000 of grant contingency general
funds you're being asked for and it will
be reimbursed with the acceptance of the
grant. We use these to enhance tourism a
uh efforts here in the town and draw
tourists to our
community. Agenda item number 10, the
Voya benefits contract. It's a motion to
approve the Voya benefits company LLC
contract. They administer our health u
savings account and our flexible
spending account on behalf of the town
for our
workforce. Agenda item number 21, CDBG
grant consolidated plan in 2025 2026
action plan. This is a motion to approve
the CDBG block grant consolidated plan
and the annual action plan for the
upcoming fiscal year and to submit each
to the US Department of Housing and
Urban Development as required for
recipients of federal CDBG funding.
Plans provide the town with a strategic
approach to address the needs of the
community and were developed with the
input of many town county stakeholder
groups. Town is anticipated to receive
about $5.5 million from CDBG and $1.5
million from home funds over the next
five
years. Public works advisory board
agenda item number 22. It's a motion to
remove a member of the public works
advisory board under the code provision
of meeting attendance
requirements. Agenda item 19, IG with
the town of Queen Creek for portable
water solutions. This falls under
exceptional built environment. It's an
IGA between Gilbert and the town of
Queen Creek that provides Gilbert's
portable water system with redundancy
measures and addresses potential
operational and water delivery problems
which could could arise due to surface
water shortages. The agreement addresses
operational flexibility, long-term
portfolio sustainability and water
conservation and efficiency efforts.
There are no immediate costs tied to
this, but in the fiscal 27 budget, which
will be the following fiscal year from
the one that we're considering right
now, there will be projects tied to
this. And those projects as funding
source will be uh rate supported from
the water fund
itself. An amendment to the IGS with the
Arizona Department of Transportation.
This is agenda items number seven and
eight. It's amendments to our Department
of Transportation funding for through
the FHA administration for the
procurement of automatic traffic signal
performance software and the procurement
and installation of 63 new advanced
detection video camera systems and 30
CCTV cameras. And it will enhance the
safety of our roadways, also helping
with traffic congestion and helping to
mitigate
that. Agenda item number 11, engineering
design services for storm water rehab
projects. It's contract for engineering
design services with Hazen and Sawyer
for two CIP projects that address storm
water channel rehabilitation. It's
approximately
$191,000 and it is paid for from the
rates uh through the environmental
compliance replacement fund. Agenda
items 15 and 16, street projects change
order and task order. Number 15 is a
change order for AE services with
NFRA. I can never pronounce the name of
that company for the streets improvement
project along Melanie Drive and Pioneer
Drive. Coordination with property owners
has resulted in changes to the design
necessary to complete the project. It's
roughly 23.5 or
235
23,598. Uh the funding source for that's
the 2022 go bonds. Item number 16, the
task order with Talis Construction for
the design and construction of the
streets improvements project at Apple
Applebe Road, $1.4 million. That is from
the roadway maintenance fund and that is
supported by our vehicle license
tax. Agenda item number 17, rightway
property acquisition and required
easement. It's for acquisition and
required easements for property located
at the southwest corner of Gilbert
Elliot. Uh that is the location of the
HD South History Museum for the town.
It's about
$536,000 of CIP contingency funds coming
from the 2022 go
bonds. Agenda item number 14, a change
order for change order of agreement for
quality assurance testing. It's a change
order to the contract agreement with
integer consulting LLC that supports the
quality assurance inspections and
testing of private construction projects
with impacts to the town's public
infrastructure. Recent tests under this
program result in identification and
subsequent remediation of workmanship
deficiencies and several projects and
the need for additional QA testing. This
item supports the addition of funds to
support that. And these are public
infrastructure being put in by private
parties that will then be turned over to
the town. And we're doing everything we
can to ensure that that project is that
that infrastructure is putting in with a
quality and meets the specifications the
town
requires. Agenda item number 16,
contingency funding for cost escalation
of HVAC
uh unit replacement at Freestone Rec
Center. These are original units that
are reaching the end of their useful
life. It's about a a very complex units,
not off the shelf. It's $140,000
contingency request from the repair and
replacement uh in the general fund. And
these repair and replacement funds,
you've seen several items on tonight's
agenda hitting that fund. What it's why
it's so critically important that we
fund those adequately so we can address
issues like this when they
arise. Agenda item number six, IGA and
grant authorization with the city of
Tucson for the highintensity drug
trafficking area Phoenix El Dorado
Financial Task Force. This is B
essentially to reimburse overtime costs
incurred by the Gilbert Police
Department for those times when they
participate in those task force with
various
matters. Jen items 18 and 19, grant
application and acceptance
authorizations. the state 911 program
grant, Governor's Office of Highway
Safety. Item 18 is the 911 program. This
is covering the cost of Gilbert's
operations for its 911 system. Gilbert,
if for many of you who were around at
that time, led the way in the conversion
over transition over to the new 911
system, which has much greater um
functionality and capabilities for our
residents um during those important uh
calls that are made. And on item 19,
it's a grant with the governor's office
of highway safety that supports funding
the annual click it and ticket campaign
um and uh reimbursement for those costs
tied to that. Agenda item number 13,
Axon contract change order. It's a
change order contract to support the
purchase and installation of fleet 3-
camera systems to 13 new patrol
vehicles. These support systems support
the use of digital evidence ga g g g g g
g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g gathering
as about $300,000 over the next eight
years with 40,000 from general fund
contingency in fiscal 25 to support
that. And that is all for the consent
agenda tonight.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Banger. We
appreciate it. Um are there are there
any questions? Does anyone have any
questions? I do.
Uh, M. Council member Toruson. Patrick,
just with the grants, I'd like to know,
are there any ongoing expenses
associated with accepting any grants
that are on? Mayor, council member
Toruson, if there's a specific one, all
of the grant funds that we are accepting
are the normal terms and conditions.
There's nothing out of the ordinary with
any of those.
Okay. Does anyone else have any
questions? Are you good? All right.
Well, with that then, um, I want to note
that we've added item number 24 to the
consent agenda, and I will move to
approve the consent agenda items number
six through
24. Can I have a second? I'll second
that. Okay. Seconded by council member
Bon
Giovani. And please vote.
All right, the motion carried six to
zero. And with that, mayor, I will pass
this back to you for administrative
items. We took care of the
administrative item on the consent. So,
I'll throw it back to you for
communications. All right. So we will
now move on to citizens
communications and uh to start that off
I will read the rules of
decorum. Okay, here we go. So we value
the participation of our community
members and robust exchange of ideas.
However, it's essential that this
discourse remains respectful and
constructive, reflecting the
professionalism expected in such forums.
Misinformation and personal attacks
undermine our 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 in issues impacting the
town. Accordingly, the town will not
allow for moments of silence or playing
of music or other recorded material
which would 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 detract 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, 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 state their name, the
city they reside in, and acknowledge
that they are donating their three
minutes to this current speaker. In
accordance with state law, we are unable
to provide responses to public comments
during this meeting. So, please be
assured that your concerns and input are
heard and valued.
And our first speaker, our first and
only speaker tonight is
Susan Berea.
And I hope I pronounced that right for
you.
Um, Mayor Anderson, Vice Mayor, council
members, and town council um staff. My
name is Susan Borea. I'm a resident of
Adora Trails in South Gilbert, the
cattlecow community, and I wanted to
come this evening to give you an update
on what our status is. Um, at the
moment, it's a good one.
We're 70 to 90% improved with uh the
cattle coming into our community. And
I'd have to say the residents and the
people who drop off their kids at the
school that's in our community are
thrilled. How did this happen? Um well,
first of all, the community built a rail
fence along the back this south border
of the community. And a huge shout out
to Patrick Banger for expediting our
building permit so that we could get it
going very very quickly. And um also big
shout out to our landscaping company,
Lanccom, who had it fabricated and in
place ahead of schedule, so it was done
before the end of April.
So there are other residents in the
community who have been working with uh
people who live outside of Adora Trails
but a little bit east of us but again on
that southern
border because the cattle couldn't go
through our community. They were going
to the east a little bit and their
fencing was um ruined. So these people
have been helping them to reinforce
their fencing. So that's very much
helping on that southern border. Our
western border we're in constant um
having to repair because the cattle are
still trying to get into Club Adora
Trails and are either musling their way
through the barb wire fence or jumping
over it, believe it or not. So, we're
constantly repairing that and um
hopefully we'll make even more progress
so that next time I come I say
100%. Um ultimately the reservation has
to be involved for it to be completely
resolved. And I want to give another big
shout out to Patrick Banger for um
making the contacts possible for our uh
property manager Don
Haskkins to um start setting up some
relationships with people on the
reservation so that um we can get them
involved.
Um thank you to the council members that
took time out of their busy schedules to
come to our community to either
experience and or just see what our
issues were. And um a huge shout out,
can I just go on a little bit more since
I'm the only one? Um a huge also shout
out to the Gilbert Police Department um
and the the men on the street who did a
wonderful job in showing great patience
and hurting skills. And I'm pretty
positive that that was not part of the
job description when they applied for
the job to be a police officer. So,
thank you. We
um now we we look forward to being
confident that we've resolved it enough
that we can start beautifying our
community again because we lost a lot of
landscaping um lot of
um our irrigation, although we were able
to get the water wise award again this
year. And thank you for having a new
department in the police department to
address the youngsters so that they
learn to have respect for um our police
officers and the the things that they
need to pay attention to to keep
themselves uh safe and the community
safe and in particular the electric
bicycles. That's going to be our new
challenge. But thank you again and thank
you for listening to me and I'll see you
again. Thank you so
much. Well, with
that then I will give this back to the
mayor. Thank
you. Future meetings, you can see that
we have uh study sessions. one's I know
is scheduled to talk about traffic
accident data that's coming up fairly
soon and then there's another request to
talk about the process for uh accepting
board and commission applications and
the evaluations of those. So we'll
schedule that also. Next under
communications report from the town
manager.
Thank you mayor members of the council.
I've got a number of items for you
tonight, but we'll start off on a somber
note. Um, we recently lost retired
firefighter Bren Brendan BJ Ko. He was a
dedicated and courageous firefighter who
left a lasting impact on our community
and his unwavering commitment to service
and protection will never be forgotten.
May rest in peace knowing his work made
a difference in the lives of so many.
Uh there was a memorial uh last Friday
and BJ was a 27-year veteran of the
Gilbert Fire and Rescue Department who
retired in 2019. He also served previous
to that with the rural metro in Gilbert
prior to joining GFRD. He was one of our
early firefighters when we stood up a
municipal uh fire department. He's
finally remembered as the best
storyteller in the department and his
legacy is deeply rooted in the hearts
and minds of members and retires
retirees of the
department. And there was a large
turnout of his family, his friends,
current firefighters, retired
firefighters. I can tell you the impact
that man had on people's lives and I'm
sure the lives of the people in our
community that he served over his
decades of service. Um, he is sincerely
missed by all. We're very saddened by
his passing.
Next, mayor and members of the council,
I'll cover a few of our departments and
some division highlights. Starting with
Thursday, May 1st is National Law Day.
And this highlights our town attorney's
office and that's all the members of
that office. And for those of you who
may not be aware, that also includes our
prosecuting attorney's office as well
that is part of that
team. Yeah. And the primary areas of
focus and service they provide is legal
advice and counsel to the town. They
provide risk management and litigation
support. They oversee our risk
management pro uh program, represent the
town in legal matters and protect the
town's interest, assets, and legal
standing. And then the prosecutor's
office. Then they prosecute prosecute
misdemeanor crimes and civil violations
within the jurisdiction of the Gilbert
Municipal Court that helps maintain
public safety and order. Some
highlights. The risk management division
is on track to recover over $500,000 in
damage done to town property by third
parties and the town prosecutor's office
participates in a variety of specialty
courts includ including the domestic
violence court and the east valley
regional veterans court to provide
targeted support for victims and
tailored resolutions for defendants
ensuring accountability within the
specific context of their cases. We're
very proud of the work they do. Also
this week, professional municipal clerks
week as noticed by your proclamation to
our town clerk, Shelley Herrera, and her
great team, professionals that support
her. Our clerk's office, some highlights
from 2024. They managed the Arizona
primary and general elections from last
fall. They've handled 75 council
meetings, 490 council actions, 97
resolutions, 35 ordinances, and 582
pages of minutes, as Chris and I can
attest to because we have to review
those before they get finalized. They
also support 15 different boards and
commissions and n the 93 volunteers who
serve on them, and they've handled
27,328 public records requests across
the organization. They've also been
involved in several initiatives. the
consolidation of all town departments
into a unified public records database
system with the exception of courts.
Assisted with mock council meetings for
the student government day and Gilbert
leadership class 33. Participated in
various committees and trainings with
the Arizona municipal clerks
association. Reinforcing the town's com
commitment to excellence in local
government. Some upcoming projects they
have underway. The digitization of
historical records. Continued training
and knowledge sharing. Clerk department
visibility through voter outreach and
election education, agenda management
program upgrades with stakeholders and
public records request platform upgrade.
Very proud of Chaveveli. Also, we just
found out today that Chaveveli Herrera
was added to the 2025 municipal clerk's
honor role for her dedication, hard
work, and commitment to excellence,
having made a lasting impact on our
community. It's a well-deserved honor
celebrating her contributions as an
unsung hero in local governments. We
appreciate everything she does to make
all of our operations run so smooth and
I'm not clapping for her again. This
feels like the Chaveveli Herrera show
tonight, but we're very proud of her and
she is an outstanding town clerk for us.
Also, Wednesday, May 14th, World
Facilities Management Day. Uh facilities
is a division underneath the parks and
recreation department. Here are some
shots of our team and I think you're
going to be shocked when you see the
breadth of work that they do and the
facilities they support across
organization. Um they handle maintenance
repairs, space resource and management
and health, safety and compliance issues
for us among other items. They've got
over 1.2 2 million square interior
interior square feet that they manage
and 2.5 million total square feet with
buildings that operate 24/7 365 days a
year. We have a total of 60 buildings.
They handle a lot of reactive and
proactive maintenance. They handle con
minor construction and remodels. They
are involved in all of the major
construction uh and remodel projects we
do. They handle town security, custodial
services, landscaping, and fire and life
safety items. The building components
themselves, we have $ 1.5 billion in
assets in that space. 337 different air
conditioning systems, 60 AED units, and
18 elevators. They also handle 159
exhaust fans, 126 air handlers, 88 swap
swamp coolers, and 39 generators. Again,
these are the kind of things that most
of us never see or touch. We just feel
it when these systems go down. They do a
great job uh with the uptime of those
systems that go down very seldom. Uh and
we couldn't do what we do without them,
but they are behind the scenes. Seldom
get the recognition they so rightly
deserve. By work orders, I'm not going
to break all of this down for you, but
anybody can jump into this and and see
the type of work they handle. It is
extensive and wide ranging. They're also
part of our long-range infrastructure
plan, ensuring the Gilbert facilities
operate effectively now and into the
future. roofs, painting, parking lots,
on the interior, lighting, HVAC boilers,
on the security side of the house,
cameras, gates, and locks, and with
power generators, VFDs, and
panels. Moving on, it's also travel and
tourism and economic development week,
as evidenced by the proclamation you
gave to Glenn and his team that are
embedded in within our economic
development department. Again, they do a
great job marketing Gilbert and
attracting tourism to our community.
Here's a snapshot of the economic
development team themselves. This was
the ribbon cutting for the new
partnership with the Gilbert Chamber of
Commerce. And I skipped right past that
slide. The primary areas of economic
development that the team focuses on is
on bu business development, attracting
new businesses to Gilbert and supporting
the existing Gilbertbased businesses and
entrepreneurs. redevelopment focused on
providing a vision for the future,
attracting economic development and
supporting neighborhood improvement in
Gilbert's two redevelopment areas. That
Heritage North project that you voted on
tonight, single largest redevelopment
project to come to our heritage district
in its history. And in tourism works to
increase visitors and visitor spending
in our community and supports the growth
of Gilbert's based businesses. Supports
the financial sustainability of our
community overall. in business
development. Some of the metrics over
the last five years, I won't hit all of
these, but we've seen a uh substantial
increase in STEM and STEM related jobs
versus total wage growth. Those are
great positions. Many of those are
future focused positions that are where
uh the industry is headed. our business
and workforce assistant programs,
456 registered in the Gilbert Next Level
Hub Platform and 377 370 MCCD
scholarships awarded redevelopment by
the metrics 5.1 million visits to the
heritage district from out of town
visitors 15 they're supporting
1555 plus businesses in the heritage
district and a 2.47 47 million value
creation per acre in the heritage
district alone and we collected
1.75 million in sales tax dollars from
that area and to keep that in mind
that's only.3 square miles and Gilbert
is over 66 square miles in size tourism
metrics in uh 3770 million in visitor
spending 87.9 million visits to Gilbert
from out of town visitors 2.5% growth in
occupied hotel rooms. 70% of Harvest in
the Heritage District visitors were from
out of town and 47% of the Sound Bites
music festival attendees were from out
of town as well. So, great job to Dan,
Jen, Glenn, the entire team that are
marketing this town well and attracting
new businesses and helping with the
redevelopment of areas, specific areas
within
Gilbert. Some of the highlights, the G
Catalyst Business Resource Center
officially launched in 2024. or that was
the ribbon cutting photo shown. The
digging the district campaign launched
in fiscal year 25 to support upcoming
construction scheduled in the heritage
district. If you've not had a chance to
go to that website yet, they did an
outstanding job with it with a lot of
great information of what will be
occurring in the heritage district in
the very new near future. Council
adopted the Northwest Redevelopment Area
Boundary in June of 2024 and the team's
now working on the redevelopment plan
for that area. Director Dan Henderson
was a recipient of the 2024
International Economic Development
Council Jeffrey A. Fininkle
Organizational Leadership Award and
Deputy Director Jennifer Graves received
a President's Award at the April 2025
Arizona Association for Economic
Development Spring Conference. They do a
great job. Great job to Dan and Jen in
their recognition of their great work.
Then we've got a lot of upcoming events.
National Tourism Travel and Tourism Week
and Economic Development Week. We've got
QR codes there if you'd like to go and
learn more about some of the great stuff
coming up being put on and hosted by
that
department. Retirements, recognitions,
and awards. We want to congratulate
Gilbert Parks and Recreation. They were
n named a finalist for the 2025 National
Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park
and Recreation Management. Gilbert is
one of four finalists in class 2
representing populations between 150,000
and 400,000 residents. One agency in
each class will be awarded the grand
plaque, the highest honor in the field
in September. And being a finalist
showcases Gilbert's dedication to parks,
trails, and community focused
recreation. So great job to Robert and
his entire team who are pictured below
in the exceptional job they do in
maintaining our parks and delivering
parks and recreational programming to
this
community. And with that, that's all I
have for tonight. Mayor,
you must be exhausted by now. I'm sure
you guys are tired of hearing from me
tonight.
Report from the
council. Council member Buckland. Thank
you, Mayor. I just want to um remind us
that Sunday, May 11th starts uh National
Police Week. Um there will not be
another council meeting before that, but
that week um is a very difficult time
for uh chief and our officers as uh we
remember Rob Targos and Eric Shuandler
um and the many uh brothers and sisters
that we've lost uh throughout the state
throughout the nation. So please uh just
uh lift up the families of Rob and Eric
in your uh thoughts and prayers uh as
well as our officers who have to serve
at a difficult time uh throughout next
week.
Thank you, Council Member Bonjvani.
All right, parks and wreck report. We
have a pitch, hit, and run competition.
Cactus Yards invites baseball and
softball players ages 7 to 14 to join
Gilbert's free local MLB pitch, Hititt,
and Run event and compete for an all
expense paid trip to the 2025 MLB World
Series. This event allows young athletes
to showcase their baseball and softball
skills in pitching, hitting, and running
while being but while being tested to
accumulate points and move forward into
the competition. The event will take
place on Mar 15, 2025 from 5:30 p.m. to
7:30 p.m. at Cactus Yards. And on a
personal note, I did this 50 years ago
in upstate New York, and I remember it
to this day. I could pitch, I could hit,
but I couldn't run even one of the door
trails behind me. So, uh, uh, next is
Adaptive Recreation Shining Stars Prom.
This is pretty cool. On Friday, May
16th, from 600 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the
Gilbert Community Center will host the
Adaptive Recreation Shining Stars Prom.
Step into a magical evening where dreams
take flight. Dress to impress and get
ready to dance the night away with your
friends at this amazing event.
Council member Lions. Yeah, just an
update from our veterans advisory board.
Um, want to remind everybody that our
military uh tribute banners are going up
in the Heritage District uh beginning
May 15th and we'll be there through July
8th in recognition of Memorial Day and
those who have served our country and
gave their life in doing so and the
Declaration of Independence celebrated
on Independence Day. So, if you get a
chance, uh, you know, appreciate that.
The members of the board, uh, got
together last Sunday, uh, at the
American Legion to kick off the first
meet and greet efforts to try and get
the word out about the board and how
residents can get involved. Encourage
you guys to, uh, when you see a veteran
and you're thanking them for their
service, ask them about their service
and see uh, a little bit about who they
are. So, we appreciate that and want to
share that. Thank you. Thank you,
Council Member Torus. Okay. During the
last fiscal year, the Heritage District
have over one 5.1 million visits,
collected over 1.75 million in sales tax
and boasted over 155 unique businesses.
Added five new businesses to the
downtown, including our f first
bookshop, the Bookish Shop. The value
per acre of land in the heritage
district, and this is overwhelming, has
increased to over 2.4 million per
acre. and several major public
investments were completed in the
downtown, including the renovated water
tower plaza and a major sewer project
along the Western Power Line Trail. We
have many exciting projects starting
later this year and hope to have another
successful year in in the Heritage
District. Of course, we saw the loss of
the wonderful BK, but I'm sure you're
going to be extremely happy with what's
going there. Uh for more information
about the Heritage District, though,
please attend Thursday's meeting this
Thursday the 8th. There's a quarterly
meeting from uh 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. about
current and future
projects or actually this just got
bifurcated with something else. Thursday
there is a meeting at I'm going to find
this here. Let me wrote it down. I
believe it is 1:30 and it's a meet and
greet in the downtown. This was a
misprint on my sheet and it will it's
businesses uh people that are interested
in seeing the projects that are going
on. There's a mixer. Uh it's at no
charge and it's hosted by the chamber.
So please uh if you have the time
Thursday, it's it's worth meeting some
of your neighbors. It's worth seeing
what's happening there and seeing if
there's something for you there. So
please if you can attend Thursday, do
vice mayor. Thank you, mayor. Uh this is
a little uh additional information on
tourism and um so Discover Gilbert
launches a new digital passport in
celebration of the US travel
association's national travel and
tourism week. Discover Gilbert has
launched their largest digital passport,
the Make It and Take It Pass. It's
designed to highlight Gilbert's most
handson and exclusive offerings and
experiences. The pass is available via
an online registration form that
connects visitors to a digital guide
that can access that they can access on
any mobile
device. So, be sure and look that up and
and
register. That's it for me. Thank you.
Only one item from the mayor. Uh, it's
council member Lion's birthday that we
celebrate. You want the whole room to
sing to you? Happy birthday.
Or just No, please don't. Just Patrick.
Just Patrick. I'm not going to put him
through that. That'd be cruel. I don't
sing to 29 year olds.
Well, anyway, happy birthday, council
member. Appreciate it. Big 62. All
right. I'll entertain a motion to
adjourn. I make a motion to adjurnn.
I'll second that motion. We are
adjourned.
Pass that down to
didn't want any.