Regular Meeting - 3/25/2025 6:30:00 PM

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thank you all for being here uh standing
room only I'll call to order the uh
regular council meeting of March 25th
2025 first item on the agenda is a call
to
order apologies mayor Mayor Scott
Anderson here vice mayor Bobby Buckley
here council member Chuck Giovanni I am
here council member Kenny Buckland here
council member y Kowski here council
member Monty Lions here and council
member Jim torguson aquarum is present
thank you our invocation this evening
will be by Pastor Magdalena Schwarz of
community Vineyard
Church Pastor are you
here
no in that case I will give the
invocation thank
you our Father in heaven we are indeed
grateful to be together this evening
we're thankful for uh the influence that
thou does have upon the public business
that must be carried out here we ask
that thy spirit will be here with us
that we will appreciate those things
which bless the lives of others and that
we will be mindful of the needy and
those who look for our help we are
thankful for those who serve the
community and for all that they do
please bless them be with us this
evening that our decisions will be those
that will be in the best interest of
this community this beautiful Community
again we are thankful to be together
this evening we say this in the name of
Jesus Christ amen
amen our Pledge of Allegiance tonight
will be led by council member
Lions I pledge allegiance to the flag of
the United States of America and to repu
for which it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liy and justice for
all thank you everyone presentations and
proclamations this evening will start
with a proclamation declaring March 29th
2025 Gil as Gilbert's Veteran
War Vietnam War Veterans Day and I
believe council member Lions is leading
this down
there years ago
of March 1973 the last 2500 American
were withdrawn from South Vietnam Indi
military involvement in what is now the
longest war in our country's history and
whereas due to the turbulent cultural
climate of the era and the unpopularity
of the 11-year conflict many of the
returning veterans did not receive the
respect and gratitude they rally
deserved for serving their Nation so
aply and honorably and whereas more than
600 men and women from the great state
of
Arizona made the ultimate sacrifice in
the defense of their country during the
war and whereas the spirit of Pride and
gratitude it is a time to honor the
heroic accomplishments of the 58,000
service men and women whose names are
listed and edged on the Vietnam War
Memorial and whereas the 2008 National
Defense authorization act authorized the
United States Secretary of defense to
conduct a program to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and
provide that the secretary shall
coordinate support and facilitate other
programs and organizations in
commemoration of the Vietnam War and
whereas The National Society Daughters
of the American
Revolution Governor George WP hunt
chapter is a commemorative partner of
the United States of America Vietnam War
commemoration and whereas the of Gilbert
desires to pay solemn tribute to our
Vietnam veterans I therefore Monty Lions
representing Mayor Scott Anderson and
the rest of the Gilbert council do
hereby Proclaim March 29th as the town
of Gilbert of Arizona Vietnam War
Memorial
[Applause]
Day get a photo
if members of our veterans Advisory
Board want to come up as well we'd love
to get a photo with you
oh yes yes Mr Lions on behalf of the
Gilbert um chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution the George WP
hunt chapter we want to thank you for
this Proclamation and have you know that
this is our honor to take care of
remembering our veterans from the
Vietnam uh era and uh we thank you again
very welcome thank you ladies thank
[Applause]
you Karen from Parks Taran there she is
does she have the proclamation
joog you can just hand it over
there come on
here I'll give you your own mic how's
that that's fancy I like that there you
go you good evening mayor Anderson
council members and everyone in
attendance my name is Taran Cantrell and
I am honored to serve my community as
the town of Gilbert adaptive Recreation
coordinator today we shine a spotlight
on the outstanding athletes and coaches
of the Gilbert Parks and Recreation
Special Olympics program it is an honor
to recognize the incredible individuals
who represent Gilbert with skill spirit
and sportsmanship through throughout the
year Gilbert Parks and Recreation
competes in special Olympic sports such
as basketball cheer bowling botch ball
Top Golf and even
ukulele I'd like to begin with a
heartfelt Round of Applause for the
Gilbert Wildcats basketball team
basketball skills team and cheer
team these athletes embody perseverance
teamwork and passion whether they're
dribbling down the court perfecting
their shooting techniques or energizing
the crowd with exciting cheers our
basketball and cheer athletes have
demonstrated incredible dedication
attending weekly practices since October
to prepare for the Special Olympics Four
Peaks competition in February and the
State basketball and cheer competition
in March on March 7th and 8th they
showcase their hard work and talent at
the Special Olympics Arizona state
competition we are thrilled to celebrate
our cheer team's outstanding achievement
of a gold medal victory in their
division and our basketball teams
remarkable fourth place finish in theirs
with over 160 basketball teams 15 cheer
teams and 100 basketball skills athletes
from across Arizona participating that
weekend we couldn't be more proud of our
athletes and their extraordinary
accomplishments I'd also like to
acknowledge our exceptional coaches who
dedicate their time and expertise to
nurturing and empowering our athletes
their guidance goes far beyond the game
it shapes character Fosters confidence
and creates a sense of community
McKenzie Cox Trevon Bowser Darren hilos
Nikki morera and Jessica fatten thank
you for your unwavering support and
commitment I would also like to extend
our deepest gratitude to the parents and
families of our athletes Your Love
encouragement and support plays a
pivotal role in our programs whether
you're cheering from the stands ensuring
athletes make it to practices and games
or simply being their biggest fans you
are also an important member of the team
thank you to our athletes who are coming
up now
[Applause]
to our athletes you inspire us every day
with your unwavering dedication and
passion for the game greatness is not
solely measured by your amazing talents
but by the heart determination and
camaraderie you bring to every moment
you are true champions in every sense of
the word and Gilbert takes immense pride
in celebrating your achievements and
calling you a Gilbert wild cat on behalf
of the Town Council and our we celebrate
your achievements honor your hard work
and cheer you on in all your future
endeavors thank you for being true
ambassadors of inclusion determination
and joy Gilbert is better because of you
go wild cats
[Applause]
con
[Applause]
spe
thank
you we'll give them a chance to move on
out
world first yep
I hope that all of you had the
opportunity this year to participate in
the light the world giving machines that
were down in the Heritage District this
is a special time when we find out what
the giving was and how much Gilbert is
serving virtually the entire world in
some way or another and uh I want to get
right to it and invite Dave merett who
is our city lead for the uh light the
world giving machine this year and I'll
ask Dave to introduce everybody like to
come up and we'll present to various
organizations the results from uh light
the world giving
machines thank you man understand and
thank you Council it's wonderful to be
here and with each of you my name is
Dave merett and uh I had the opportunity
to serve as a light the world committee
lead over the 2024 East Valley giving
machines and we are excited to have with
us tonight the wonderful Charities we
have six Charities that participated
with us in this year's East Valley
giving machines the giving machines
provide a way for our community to come
together during the holiday season and
celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in a
unique way the work done each day by
these Charities embodies the verse in
Matthew where Jesus says As you did it
to one of the least of these my brothers
you did it to me we also want to
sincerely thank our East Valley
Community for coming out to visit the
giving machines and donate to the
Charities each donation at the giving
machines represents an act of love and
compassion for our friends in need as
well as a gift for Jesus this year
visitors to the giving machines could
choose items provided by six East Valley
organizations such as hygiene kits
sleeping gear children's books household
supplies a week of groceries infant care
kits and even therapy sessions
supporting atrisk children and teens
exploited and trafficked women and Comm
communities struggling with food
security and or
homelessness I want to show a video a
short video of some footage here in the
Gilbert East Valley at the giving
machines down near the water tower here
it's very F if you want to
along imagine a good holiday song in
your mind at this
time look at the Expressions on
individuals faces this is my favorite
part is seeing people excited to give to
love others to serve one another and to
come together as a community what a
great Gathering and secure place to come
and during this holiday season so the
omnian and the feeling is there so we
hope you have a chance to come out this
year when we start up in in thanks
around Thanksgiving here are the numbers
we had six local charities 20 over
25,000 items were purchased close to
$700,000 were donated to these six local
charities and over 16 million dollars
have been donated worldwide with these
machines these giving machines continue
to grow and pro progress across the
globe the Church of Jesus Christ the
latterday Saints covers all operating
cost for the giving machines ensuring
that 100% of every donation goes to the
designated nonprofits this endeavor
would not be possible without the
collaboration and support from the town
of Gilbert and the hell Center theater
we want to express our deep appreciation
for the support we have received from
the town of Gilbert and the neighboring
cities and towns in the East Valley and
we also want to express our appreciation
for the dein family U that owned the
Health Center theater in downtown gber
they were wonderful to work with and
their Hospitality was very generous and
we're grateful for them and now without
further Ado we would like to present the
checks to each charity I would like to
invite the ays foundation to join us on
the floor right now so if you want to
come forward we have your check for
you and Elder Lewis if You' like to come
up
too turn so the arys foundation believes
there is no way to escape homelessness
there is no one way to escape
homelessness corrected together yeah
sure right here there is there's no one
way let make that clear um in addition
to feeding 150 to 200 people every
Tuesday and I she just got here from
that so she's been outside and it was
hot today and they smell great um but we
we are grateful for
them oh over
here over my
face all right thank you all right thank
you are
awesome thank
you thank you you're awesome you're
awesome keep yes take it home with you
yes CC's Hope Center is next please come
forward CC's Hope
Center improves the lives and future of
18 to 30y Old females who are at risk or
the survivors of human trafficking and
sexual exploitation in Bridging the Gap
available services and
[Applause]
support right
there we were with with you okay we'll
make it work there you go
all right thank you everyone thank you
awesome great experience thank you very
much thank you that's a bless great it's
great thank
you kids need to read please come
forward by providing thousands of books
to Children lacking adequate access to
reading resources kids need to read
encourages kids to develop the joy of
reading and the power of the lit
literate mind
[Applause]
here we go and we're over here
[Applause]
okay next save the
family please come
forward founded in 1988 save the family
is one of the East Valley's leading
providers of Housing and services for
more than 600 homeless and IM and
families and children each year they
seek to ensure the families long-term
housing and financial stability
[Applause]
over
here all right thank you
all so thank
you
awes Tempe Community Action Center since
1966 please come forward
they've dedicated its resources to
strengthening families and neighborhoods
through initiatives that address the
causes and effects of poverty they focus
on food security health and well-being
housing stability and economic
Mobility
nice yeah
all right thank
[Applause]
you are awesome thank thank you with
awesome you're
welcome okay United Food Bank please
come forward
United Food Bank believes in the power
of unity to create food Security in our
community Through collaborative efforts
they strive to ensure that no one in our
community goes hungry
[Applause]
the 1 million Mills initiative begins
now right 1 million M Mills this summer
is what they're trying to do it's a
great thing you guys are awesome thank
you so
much okay to in addition to our local
charities over
$25,000 were also Don donated to Global
Charities Church world service and right
to play providing items like live
chickens those are very popular we get
that quite a bit um vegetable seeds
soccer balls and school supplies for
impoverished Nations around the world so
this continues to grow we would also
like to recognize the invaluable
contribution of John lions and his crew
we call him the miracle moving crew
they're Unfortunately they can't make it
here tonight um but they are wonderful
they donated their time their trucks
their equipment to safely transport the
giving machine not just to the Gilbert
location but to several locations around
the State of Arizona John and his wife
are wonderful we're grateful for them
from the bottom of our hearts we we
appreciate
[Applause]
them now we're going to turn some time
over to Elder John Lewis he's former
mayor of Gilbert president and CEO of
Phoenix East Valley partnership he
currently serves in the church as the
area 70 over the Gilbert and Queen Creek
areas and he will now address us thank
you my favorite
mayor when the Lewis family arrived in
Gilbert in
1985 at the southeast Corner oh you got
to stay here for a
minute at the southeast corner of
Gilbert and Elliott and you'll remember
this was the big huge sign that said
welcome to the hay capital of the world
and I inquired about that and I learned
that over a hundred years it's now been
I think 120 years ago the local farmers
any extra hay they had and in some cases
their hay they donated to the US Cavalry
serving in
Europe thus we were known as the hay
capital of the
world so light the world giving
machines as citizen John Lewis I have
absolutely no authority to do so but I
guess with the mayor standing by my side
if if we could put up another big huge
sign of the southeast corner of Gilbert
and Elliott I think it could
say welcome to
Gilbert giving capital of the
world
[Applause]
just the reason that that is significant
is of the top 100 cities in this entire
nation and we're talking about all the
big cities we are ranked fourth in
giving and caring for our community so
I I think maybe the mayor just said
we're going to put that sign up no uh to
the Town Council to town
leadership to the citizens of
Gilbert on behalf of the Charities were
just up here and those in the community
that are being
served thank Youk
thank you
everyone we're going to move on to our
last
recognition which is our community food
drive Gilbert feeding families very
significant event that we also do in the
community and I would ask that anybody
in attendance from the food food drive
please come up to the front now
[Music]
okay
as they're all coming up I might point
out that we have 53 participating
locations that included 18 schools 16
businesses 19 churches and two
restaurants we collected 40 almost
46,000 lb of food which is 40% more than
last year we received $25,000 in
financial donations also higher than
last year this provides to 164,384
to those in
[Music]
need let's just go ahead and do the
photo now I guess if you want to stand
theot
no
all right
oops okay and I understand that none of
them know who the winners are tonight so
as I announc this this will be a
complete surprise to
them um the special recognition of the
food drive top performers they they'll
be receiving a swag bag and a
certificate okay
in the category of the top school Ashlin
Ranch was the heavyweight
hero
2,220 lbs were collected by Ashlin Ranch
the top business Unison Bank as a
heavyweight hero contributing 385 pounds
top restaurant spinat Pizzeria who
raised
[Applause]
$547 and we have the top three overall
contributors Redemption Gilbert
contributed
4,576
[Applause]
pounds the Church of Jesus Christ of
latterday saints the Gilbert stake
contributed
4,722 pounds
[Applause]
and the Church of Jesus Christ of
latterday Saints Highland West Stake
contributed
5,984
[Applause]
pounds let me just recognize that these
efforts that are that are done by these
these groups help sustain our two food
banks and six food pantries that are
serving Gilbert and please don't forget
to save the date next year for Gilbert
feeding families thank you very
[Applause]
much thank you everyone thank
you
e for
we'll now move to the public hearing
portion of our
meeting um we have items 5 six 7 8 N9
and 10 I do know that item six will be
discussed separately are there any other
items to be
discussed
no now then the public
hearings if not I'll open the public
hearing on items five 7 8 n and
10 and close the public hearing and
entertain a motion on those it
items oh oops do you want a motion item
10 will also be pulled off for separate
consideration so it's just items five
seven 8 and
nine I'll make a motion to uh approve I
second it it's been moved and I'll close
the public hearing it's been moved and
seconded that we approve those items all
in favor please vote
motion passes 70 item six we'll start
with a staff
presentation this is a general plan GP
20 GP 2402 and Zoning case z 2410 Moda
Gabriel point
mayor Anderson members of the council
good
evening um the request before you
tonight is for the Moda Gabriella Point
project um which as you've already
stated is a general plan amendment in a
pad
rezone the project site is located south
south of the southeast corner of Higley
and Warner roads within the northeast
corner of the Gateway character area
more specifically it
occupies 14.99 Acres of a larger
commercial parcel at that northeast
corner of Higley Road and Alona drive
and you can see it highlighted on your
site there on the on the on your screen
there and it's it's also within the that
Gabriella point Commerce Center
development which
contains existing multif family
currently under construction that you
can see along Warner Road and future
Business Park zoning which is about 57
acres in
size so as I've already stated the
request is for a minor General plan
Amendment on 10.53 acres and then a and
then a pad reone for the whole entire
project the whole entire uh
property so this slide I'll show show
you the portion of the site that is
proposing the general plan Amendment
so the part of the The Proposal um
that's for the general plan amendment is
the back half of the property which is
about 10.53
Acres um the applicant is proposing to
change that the general plan land use on
that back portion only and you can see
it's highlighted in kind of a black
heavier Line work there on this on this
exhibit um from
um Regional commercial to residential 25
dwelling units to up to 50 dwelling
units per acre the remaining 4.26 acres
in the front along Higley Road is the
commercial portion of the site and will
retain its current Regional commercial
designation the zoning that is
proposed uh the applicant is requesting
a rezoning on that 10.53 Acre Site at
the rear of the site from Regional
commercial to multif family res multif
family residential high with a plary
development in addition the applicant is
also proposing to rezone the front 4.46
Acres from Regional commercial to
Regional commercial with a pad
overlay let's take a closer look at the
revised at the development
plan the as I said the front 4.46 Acres
within the region is within the regional
commercial district is what they're
proposing and that's along Higley Road
will feature three-story mixed use
building or or or three three uh or it's
it's a actually a large one it's
basically one building it's a
three-story building this building is
anticipated to include about 15,000
square feet of commercial space on the
ground
floor with residential units on the top
two floors
we call that in in Our Land Development
code it's it's basically called a loft
unit which is a permitted use by wri in
the regional commercial zoning District
they are proposing oh let me show you
the the um the prettier picture I forgot
I included that here so you can see the
commercial on the front is the pink the
one three-story building with commercial
on the ground floor and the residential
on the top two
floors and there's also they're
providing a pedestrian access which
we're not the location of it's not
settled yet but they want to have a a
pedestrian bridge uh above like I think
it's at the second floor that would
connect the commercial to the um
multifam building that's to the east of
that red dash
line the rear 10.59 Acres will include a
four four-story residential buildings
nine garage buildings and surface
parking and parking canopies that you
can see in those in the brown the
development proposes is um a total of
335 residential units with an average
density of 28 dwelling units per acre
vehicular access will be available from
higgle Road Alona drive there there's
one off of Higley there's two off of
Alona drive and there is one off of
Martingale drive or Martingale Road
excuse me and through the future
commercial development to the north um
with surface parking serving both the
commercial and residential components
as far as open space is
concerned um the site will have a total
of um 27% common open space in the
multif family portion of the development
which is under the 40% that is required
per code and the regional commercial is
43. 47% open space which is quite a bit
above the 15% that's required per code
when you average those to those two uh
re the commercial and the residential
open space together you get about
31% total open space throughout the
whole
development and you can see that on the
screen in
green I just wanted to quickly flip
through a couple of renderings now
remember these are conceptual
renderings um nothing is set in stone
yet as far as these rening renderings
are concerned they will be reviewed as
part of the design review process so I
just wanted to show them you what kind
of give you an idea on what the
buildings could look like so this is
facing Higley Road you can see the
residential above uh on the top two
floors and then on the ground floor of
the
commercial there's another view of
that and this is that Sky bridge that I
showed you a minute ago on the site plan
and then you can kind of see in between
the buildings and kind of the
relationship between the front building
and the um the the residential building
to the East and here's kind of another
view of
that of the retail the backside of that
retail
building okay as far as um staff's
concerns
um there are two major concerns that I
wanted to talk to you about tonight um
so staff um does not support the
proposed minor General plan Amendment p8
rezone and just wanted to highlight two
of these
concerns that have resulted in this
conclusion the first involves the loss
of regional commercial uh land that is
which is in the Santan freeway Corridor
area and along higgle Road in this
interchange area according to the
general plan 2020 this site which is
located in the Gateway Car area is
intended for campus style office office
and light industrial uses and Commercial
activities that serve the surrounding
neighborhoods and communities and not
more multif family residential
we prefer the site remain zoned Regional
commercial to fulfill the vision for
this area as established in today's
General plan and evidence by the
existing zoning and the surrounding uses
in the
area so as the town nears build out land
use changes from commercial to
residential must be carefully considered
and evaluated to ensure responsible and
sustainable
growth in the Gateway character area
development focuses on traditional
neighborhoods that integrate commercial
employment and Business Park uses
introducing additional highdensity
residential development on the subject
site would undermine the Gateway
character area's intended character and
long-term Vision that has been
established for many years disrupting
its development
framework growth must prioritize the
town's economic vitality and
sustainability to in further this Vision
that has been long established in this
area as a side note I wanted to note
it's not on the screen in front of you
that 99.5% of land in the town of
Gilbert is commercial of
that um 234 acres is regional commercial
Zone land and of that Regional
commercial Zone land only 1.7% of that
land is is actually
vacant so the next concern I wanted to
discuss with you is the amount of
multifam in the immediate area
there are two um nearby multif family
developments um Tuscany I'll show you
this little map it's kind of a better
map that shows it Tuscany at Gabriella
point which has 760 units and it's the
the large apartment complex kind of to
the Northeast right along Warner which
is under construction that has 760 units
it's basically two apartment complexes
in one it's a and and also the morson
ranch apartments which are kind of more
like town houses but they're still Zone
multif family and that's on the north
side of mner road and that's 231 units
so this results in 991 units when within
a half mile of the subject site within a
half mile
radius and if you and if I show you this
map again I I kind of highlighted on the
map where the side is and you can see
that dark kind of
um uh area right there that it's
highlighting looks like a little beehive
that shows you the concentration of
multif family in that immediate
area um which with this proposal would
mean within a half mile of the site
there would be 1,300 units of
multifam creating the highest
concentration of such units in the whole
entire town of Gilbert outside of
station Village Center area which is
also highlighted there in that little
map I have for you which has more than
that so unlike k station which has in
which was intentionally planned for
higher residential density in a
neotraditional Village Center design
this site has been envisioned as a use a
yet a use an area that is less dense it
is intended to feature traditional
single family development with regional
commercial and business park uses near
the Santan freeway the proposed increase
in residential density is inconsistent
with this Vision that has been
established for many many
years so as far as the deviations that
the applicant is proposing they are
proposing only a few
deviations on the eastern boundary where
between residential and Commercial uses
the setback is 75 ft they're proposing
zero feet to provide integration between
the the commercial and the
residential and and then on the
residential and then the and then the L
Cape setback is going they want it from
it's required to be 40 and they're
proposing zero so they can have that
integration um so same same thing on
this uh the integration between the in
the the commercial and the residential
on this this um setback as well for the
mfh portion and then the common area
open space the they're requesting uh the
27% for the mfh portion but overall
they'll have about 31% open space when
you combine
both uh commercial and residential
together so as far as public
participation is
concerned um the applicant held a
neighborhood meeting on November 21st
one surrounding resident attended and
and expressed concerns with the addition
of more Apartments the potential traffic
concerns or conflicts with ala and
increasing traffic volumes and impacts
uh to the existing Street
Network after that neighborhood meeting
we had five nearby residents that have
that sent us emails expressing concerns
and are opposed to the development and I
believe those emails have been provided
in your
packet um yesterday we staff received
seven public comment surveys
uh that were emailed to us and and they
were also in opposition of the request
and I have those uh surveys somewhere
they don't have a lot of information
they basically just State whether or not
their their name and whether or not
they're in support or or not so if you
want to see those I have I have those
with me in hard copy you want to see
those I'll walk them up
quick okay thanks
thank you Ava so that as a result of of
everything I just talked about um
staff's recommendation is to we
recommend denial that you count as a
council deny the general plan Amendment
for M Gabriel appoint and we also
recommend for reasons set forth in the
staff report and everything I've
discussed we move that you re the move
that you recommend that you deny the
rezone case for Modera at Gabriella
Point um I want to make note really
quick before I end my presentation that
I want to make you aware of a a a
condition of approval that we received
uh that was sent to us on on Friday we
didn't get it till yesterday uh the
applicant has proposed an additional
condition concerning improvements to the
higgle Road and Alona Drive intersection
they have requested as
follows that you add this condition uh
if if you deem the application is to be
approved uh prior to the issuance of any
building permit the developer shall be
responsible for contributing
$200,000 toward improvements to the
Higley Road and Alona intersection to
enhance traffic circulation payments
shall be made to the town of Gilbert and
designated specifically for the
aforementioned intersection
improvements so please note that that
staff has not had time to vet this
proposed condition and while the Gen and
while we appreciate the generosity by
the applicant we are highly concerned
with this proposal as we have not been
provided with proper
documentation or a study showing that
this is what improvements would actually
cost and what additional improvements
could improve circulation and traffic
congestion on Higley Road which as you
all know is a very busy uh
roadway um while while a CIP project
Beyond 2028 has been discussed to
mitigate traffic concerns along Higley
Road it is unfunded at this time so I
just wanted to let you know that um so
given that um in my recommendation um I
am open for any questions if you have
any and I believe the applicant uh
Brennan Ray is also here and probably
and I am pretty sure he has a
presentation he would like to present as
well so thank you very much questions
for
staff mayor yes thank you mayor
so at the the developer and um Brendon
Ray had met with some of us um Shilling
this all the stuff I expressed at that
time my I drive through this almost
daily uh I watch Cars backed up from Ala
all the way to and through Warner Road
and uh often times left uh West to
southbound left Turners actually stuck
in the intersection blocking traffic
because at certain times a day traffic
is just a mess and so kind of my biggest
concern is traffic which you articulated
a concern in there but they had shown
some data I had asked uh for data to
show what they're seeking what does that
do to the you to the traffic impacts as
compared to what it currently is zoned
uh they presented some data uh I think
we they showed
me a week or two ago I had asked that to
get to staff my understanding is it did
not get to you until today I'm guessing
you've not had time to review that but
it um had something to do and and Mr Ray
you may have that I don't know about um
a large difference
in a reduction in traffic from what
they're what they're proposing as
compared to what it's zoned struggle to
trust the data and I wanted you guys to
review it check it uh challenge it um
I'm guessing that has not been
done um mayor Anderson um council member
Buckland um we have reviewed a traffic
impact analysis and now actually have
Susan strubel here our town engineer
that can probably answer that question
better than me we have uh reviewed a TIA
for the project but as far as the
additional information uh that you have
received I don't know if we have
received that but Susanna I don't know
if you have any if you want to answer
that question she's she's the expert not
me thank you council member Anderson and
and coun excuse me mayor and and council
member buckin we received some
information today about noon um so we've
had absolutely no time to review
anything that has been provided at this
point in time as it relates to I think
the question or the information that you
that you had been shared by the
development
so council member torgus sir my
understanding though is that uh
residential uses tend to have a lower
impact on traffic than commercial uses
is that generally
true there is a potential of that but
there can also be a potential the other
way as well depending on what that
commercial development is so on a
case-by casee basis we would look at it
based off of exactly how they would
would lay out the the you know the area
and and we'd look at it based off of
those uses that they're putting in there
it's really hard to say yes or nay you
know without having true true data so
but generally residential is lower and
my concern not for just them is anybody
ala was Annex for whatever reason and it
brought more traffic and to the point
are we are we impeding any development
are we going to hear the traffic comment
on everything oh they want to put in a
Dairy Queen that's too much traffic
because it's across from Ala have they
damaged that area for development
ala damaged it I think it definitely has
put a a challenge on the system for sure
in the way that it is is structured so
um couple of things that uh were brought
up that concern me one is the the
percentage of commercial in town our
goal is should be about 10% and that
kind of concerns me if for we've Fallen
to 9.5% that's one of my initial
concerns the other is you mentioned in
the report that it seems as though we
saturated with apartments in that area
do you know the vacancy rates of the
ones that are
existing um mayor Anderson um I do not
know the V vacancy rates of the ones
that are existing now um actually those
are under construction so vacancy rate
right now would they wouldn't have any
but but as far as like whether or not
they have reservations for for future uh
rental applications I don't know that
information but those are all under
construction but no I don't I don't have
any further information on that uh I
would tend to equate saturation with
vacant units and I don't know that
that's the case in virtually any project
in town There's a large vacancy rate
thank
you any other questions of the uh vice
mayor I just wanted to make a comment um
because of the saturation of the multif
family that is there
already I I would think that leaving
this as Regional commercial that all of
this commercial could very much benefit
the apartments and the people living in
them because they need we need the
commercial to support them those and if
if we add more and take away the
commercial then we could end up being in
a position where we don't have the
commercial to support the people that
are living
there so I I I have a a big issue with
down zoning our commercial because we
need that we need the income to support
our
sustainability and buildout which we're
very close to being in in buildout and
um so that's that's my biggest issue
with this is is I can't I just can't
down Zone commercial right
now thank you thank you have you seen
the the master plan that was done for
the uh the
entire piece there included Gabriel app
Point um mayor Anderson members of the
uh
Council so as of right now they don't
have an approved master
plan um the apartment portion not
approved but it's one that's been shown
what uh could be H happening on that
corner um mayor Anderson I I have I have
seen that is very
conceptual very uh we have no clue if it
would even develop that way but if
you're referring to that document yes I
I have seen that but it it has not been
reviewed by staff whatsoever so okay
thank
you other questions for
staff we'll ask the applicant if you'd
like to come
up uh good evening mayor members of the
council Brennan Ray uh
2325 uh East Camelback Road here on
behalf of mil Creek residential we're
certainly very excited to talk to you
about this development tonight um we've
worked closely with staff uh on on the
design to ensure that the quality of the
development meets the high standards
that the town has expected as
developments come forward we appreciate
all the discussions we've had um all the
uh Direction and homework that we've
been given uh along the way and we
believe that what we're talking about is
the difference between good better and
best um and as we look at the totality
of The Proposal taking a look at what's
in the area what exists in the area and
what um current constraints are we
believe that what we are proposing is
the highest and best use for this
particular piece of land this 15 Acres
that's located uh off of Higley uh and
Alona um and tonight I think I'm I'm
going to focus on some of the positives
that we believe this development brings
uh in spite of some of the concerns that
we we've heard as we've gone along the
way does this
work yeah who play with it so the sight
something certainly that you're all
familiar with and I think has been
touched on one of the key things that's
impacted the development of this area uh
exists what's on the west side of Higley
Road ad Alona um and another thing that
consider when we talk about the
commercial and I'm I'm mindful that um
percentages were thrown out about the
commercial land that's left the question
that I would ask is has anyone done a
deep dive study to see the viability of
those commercial uh amounts that staff
just indicated and so when you look at
it especially with the seismic shifts
that have taken place in the brick and
mortar uh in the expansion and the
effective kerosene that was thrown on
online sales through the co B pandemic
there have been cic shift in the way
that commercial properties operate today
and what we're really talking about at
the end of the day is talking about a
change of 10 acres we're not talking
about a change to 45 Acres we're not
talking about a change to 50 acres we're
talking about 10 acres it's located on
the corner of two arterials or excuse me
two collector streets with limited front
Frontage and visibility from Higley Road
there's a portion that I can build by
right today and that's the portion in
the pink on the left and we are
proposing
15,000 square ft of Neighborhood
Services retail we think that certainly
is a little more appropriate for the
towns desire to have walkable
interactive commercial developments
rather than having a bunch of pads and
drive-throughs in this particular
location we're trying to create
something special so really what we're
talking about is effectively the back 10
acres the area that's in the yellow
buildings and stuff like that Keith
talked about the conception um these
concep Dev conceptive
uh
elevations um and as we've gone through
the process we haven't heard any
concerns expressed about the quality of
it one of the things again that we're
trying to do is create something a
little bit different a little bit unique
and that was the challenge that was
given to us that's why we have this um
pedestrian bridge Sky Bridge that's
connecting the two something that I
don't believe exists in the town today
as we look at it and so you can see that
one of the things before I get into it
we know as we look at the town of
Gilbert's Mission values uh vision and
values in the four areas we believe that
we are satisfying them in a number of
ways and I'll just touch on a few of
them um we believe that this development
will increase local spending power to
strengthen commercial viability we
believe that this development will be a
catalyst for future um development
within Gabriella point we are certainly
providing additional housing options in
what is as we all know is a very
desirable part part of the town to live
there was a question asked about the
vacancy I can tell you that within a 5
mile radius of this site the vacancy of
the existing multifam is 94 95% which is
effectively 100% in the leasing world
and so there are no housing additional
housing options in this very desirable
part of the town to live in we're trying
to create a cohesive development that we
believe helps going to raise the bar for
future
developments um we've listened and made
changes based on the feedback that we
received and we believe that really what
we're talking about is creating an
appropriate balance of commercial and
residential um uses that will be a
complement in the area now there are
three things that I'm going to touch on
the first being traffic uh as council
member Buckland raised and as as we've
heard we did um through this process um
despite what staff said we actually had
two neighborhood meetings on this case
um grand total of one neighbor showed up
at those neighborhood meetings um we
certainly uh are aware not aware of the
additional seven uh notes and opposition
that came in today those were not
provided to us um so but as we look at
traffic as and we talk about it um one
of the things that we talk about and
this was prepared by our traffic
engineer uh and I did uh through the
mayor council member buckin have a
conversation with staff today about it
um but as we look look at this um this
is a reasonable very conservative
estimate of what could be built on this
15 Acres now like anything there's a
combination of things that go into this
um drive-throughs uh inline shops
there's a variety of things that come to
this and so we took a very conservative
approach when we looked at this and this
is within a 24-hour period that's what
that weekday number there're over 9,000
trips which are movements not vehicles
that are going to be generated by this
development when we compare that with
our site you can see there that we're
roughly right around 2200 Trips Again
that includes the commercial on the
Frontage with the residential in the
back so that when you look at it an
Apples to Apples comparison recognizing
that depending on the mix of commercial
uses th those at 9,000 will go up and
down but as is well known and understood
and as was expressed by council member
torguson um an all commercial
development is going to develop to um
significantly exacerbate the problem
when you look at that impact on Higley
Road today this thermometer gives you
pretty good idea of when compared to the
capacity of this of what exists on
Higley today the commercial being on the
left in red and our development on the
right in Green in terms of what we are
doing so this additional stipulation
that was um discussed with staff and I
did have a conversation with the city
attorney about it as well today
um but as we look at it we recognize
that there are a number of things that
affect traffic on Higley again as was
mentioned there's somebody on the west
side of Higley that significantly
impacts that um and it also um not only
affects the intersection but will affect
this proposed development if approved by
staff and so in an effort to um help
with that um and help try to get a head
start on um figuring out a solution to
it um the developer is proposing this
additional stipulation as staff
indicated and we think this is a good
thing so when we talk about the
Gabriella Point development potential um
mayor Anderson in response to your
question this plan was not shared with
staff contrary to what Keith said this
plan was not shared this was a plan that
we had pulled together kind of at the
last minute um that was asked hey how
does this development fit in with the
current zoning that exists in Gabriella
Point as you look at it and what you can
see on there is a number of things
starting with the area immediately north
of us and that is a roughly 28 acre um
commercial development that will have
approximately 236,000 ft of retail and
as we talk about retail and commercial
land and what is appropriate um I
couldn't tell you why this Regional
commercial land has not developed as far
as the things that make it appeasing for
a commercial developer traffic counts is
always very important what happens on
our cherial streets and Northbound
Higley eastbound Warner is the going
home going home Corner that makes it
very desirable from a commercial
development standpoint we're certainly
familiar with the demographics in the
area and I could not tell you why the
only conclusion and and I'll get into in
a little bit is that 45 Acres which is
on the screen today is too much
commercial um it is that would be akin
to having two or three major anchors I
know in the paper today was an
announcement um for uh I believe it was
Whole Foods and dicks two big anchors
that are going down at SanTan and
williamsfield uh if I remember correctly
of that so as we look at the balance of
the site up against the freeway um what
you'll see immediately south of the site
is some commercial you will see a
four-story hotel with some restaurants
um I like that so much that I've talked
to my hotel clients because I think that
is a good use of that Regional
commercial land and then when you look
at the balance of it those um six
buildings uh as well as the buildings
north of it that is the business park
and this plan um was pulled together by
um Butler Design Group that may not name
might not mean anything to you but they
are one of the preeminent design firms
of non-residential developments um they
like this plan so much that they drew up
that they are waiting for for the
opportunity to actually share this with
some of their clients in particular
focusing on the 20 um the commercial up
at the corner of Higley and Warner so
when we look at this and talk about
benefits and considerations we had an
economic um study prepared that was done
by Jim rounds um and he's prepared
multiple studies relative to this and I
think there are some things when we look
at the existing environment that are
important factors when looking at this
particular particular site again the 10
Acre Site um that within the existing 5
mile radius you see there that while
there's a lot of commercial in that area
there also is a little bit of leakage um
that occurs to the tune of about 6.5
million because of vacancies within that
5 mile radius the graph the um text on
the on the uh right um again indicates
and shows what I mentioned about
accelerant being placed on internet
sales and how you can see that uh over
the course of really the next decade and
we're you know year 25 of that 10 years
the significant increase of online and
e-commerce sales so when we look at this
development and the benefit that it does
provide it does those this this
community which will be comprised of 318
new households is estimated to
contribute $12.4
million um back into the Gilbert economy
that provides a significant amount
amount of support to the existing um
commercial businesses that exist in the
area on top of that uh we're paying over
4 million in Impact fees and those are
the new fees um that this group adopted
paying another 5 million uh in fees in
permits as we go throughout this process
and so as you start to look at it you
can see the other things there but I
think it's important to note when we
talk about multifam yes we are talking
about density but there is considerable
spending power that as you look at the
density um and the number that Keith put
up relative to how much is within a half
mile um that uh first bullet point there
that represents roughly 1,59 households
those households on average are going to
put $49 million within a f mile radius
which makes sense if you think about it
people shop where they live uh and this
is certainly a very desirable area of
the town to do it um
and with respect to Gilbert becoming too
much
multifam I can go into more details if
you need to but for the town of Gilbert
to be considered average as it relates
to multifamily you would need to approve
another
12,000 units just to be considered
average relative to the amount of multif
family housing so when we look at it uh
on whole um we again believe that um as
we look at it there are number of
benefits and the focus really is on 10
acres um and um as I showed you we think
that there still is a lot of development
potential in the area and shows how this
isn't going to be a straw that breaks
the camels back relative to Future
development in this area but how it can
be cohesively designed integrated um to
be a master planned um development that
the zoning would propose um that the
current zoning uh and our proposal would
allow so with that I'm happy to answer
any questions you all might have but we
would request um your approval um with
the additional
stipulation thank you questions to the
applicant council member
bonani um what is the what will be the
average rent per
apartment um mayor uh councilman uh
bovani um I would need to confirm that
with my client but I believe the average
rent is going to be somewhere around
$2,400 okay thank
you council member tus just one thing is
that within three miles according to
co-star there's 815 units with a vacancy
rate of
8.7 under construction is 1272 at this
time so if that alters your numbers a
little bit that'll I don't know if that
helps or hurts you but uh you know when
you talked about a deep dive into it
previous councils tended to reone very
easily in my opinion I looked and I
thought I apologize mayor councilman
Tuson I'm having a tough time believe it
or not hearing what you're saying I
apologize no no problem did uh let me go
back and restate co-star says within
three miles existing inventory of
Apartments is 815 units with a vacancy
rate of
8.7% under construction is 1272 units so
that is a little shy of the numbers I
think that you were talking about but
within within the discussion um what I
wanted to say is you talked about deep
diving into things previous councils in
my opinion whole heart just threw it on
the table and resed a lot of commercial
a lot and they shouldn't have I can
think of a couple where uh people wanted
the property for commercial and somehow
it ended up being residential uh that's
it's damaging but the argument
of traffic I don't think should I don't
think anybody
here can I don't see how it could be
held against you because it's you I
believe your numbers are correct I've
I've had to do this for something years
ago and I found that residential was
lower but if if we're at a point where
we can't discuss
commercial across the street from a a a
school because the school's done so much
uh
damage with traffic we have to rethink
what we're doing on the street itself
we're going to have to think about
expanding that street changing traffic
pattern something because there's no
reason to say we're devaluing people's
property if we're going to do it on
traffic they've they' certainly bring
too much traffic I go up that a lot and
especially around school openings and
you know it's pretty miserable uh so I I
I want to say that
you're I don't want to hold the traffic
against
you uh I have other issues that that I
think we all need to talk about but one
issue I'm going to try 297 per
fewer think about that for a second I'm
giving you a hard time because it's
supposed to be the other direction
you're providing about
onethird just giving a hard time on your
math but I wanted to state that about
your traffic and that's everybody's
edification to your number about
vacancies and how many apartments there
are within three miles not
five yeah thank you mayor councilman
torguson um yeah 8% that puts it 92%
occupied certainly within the margin of
error as you look at it but with respect
to um the comment about prior councils
and what they've done relative to
multifam um I've had an opportunity to
stand before um not this Council as
comprised today but had the opportunity
to talk about multif family in the past
and I can tell you that as we look at it
and as we've been um had lots of
discussions along the way um I I don't
recall ever having to get this granular
with the positivity um that this type of
a development can bring but I think it's
important uh to note and to see um just
exactly what we're talking about because
when we talk about loss of commercial we
sometimes think that means zero um that
there is not going to be any positive
not getting into what the state's done
with the rental sales tax but I think
what's important to note as the
commercial pie and the available um
commercial businesses that can locate on
sites it's about right sizing the amount
of commercial at this corner again I I
cannot tell you why um it has not
developed um other than 45 acres is a
lot to develop at this particular
area council member
kovski hey Brandon thanks for your
presentation
um I have a question about the site plan
and the amount of
commercial there's just the one building
shown as
commercial and I with the pink and the
yellow that that one um I didn't look at
this as closely but in previous
Renditions I thought there was
additional commercial in that second
building um but now you're showing at as
as all residential can you talk a little
bit more
about um why the commercial can't be
enhanced or increased to second building
yeah through the mayor council member
Kowski um yes you you are thinking of a
prior version of this um site plan um
where there was um a thought that we
would provide commercial at the ground
floor of the Residential Building um the
one closest to it um as we visited with
them there was some questions about
the viability of of that commercial and
by that I mean what we were proposing in
that area uh was looking at um using
some of the uh the workout the lounge
area the business center some of that um
that were more residential amenities um
to be able to count towards the
commercial use um I don't recall that we
had planned any significant commercial
use as we are showing on this site plan
um that's before you now um and
certainly if if there's a need to to go
back and look at the amount of
commercial we certainly can consider
that part of the idea and thinking if we
go a few miles down the road to Higley
and Ray um we've seen the success of
agritopia um we've seen the success
that's gone there with the ground floor
retail and the residential above um mil
Creek is developing west of the
southwest corner um with ground floor
retail and Loft above and based on the
the feedback and the interest that they
knew was in that area including feedback
that they had received for local
businesses um again the neighborhood
commercial variety um they felt that it
was appropriate to try to continue that
so they've taken what they did down
there enhanced it 2.0 to be able to come
up with a proposal that's before you
today and and when we look at it and we
look at commercial the farther away uh
as you are probably aware you get away
from an arterial Street the more
challenging that the smaller commercial
does tend to have unless it's tied to a
fries a Home Depot some of that larger
stuff so when we looked at that looked
at the depth and visibility as you're
coming Northbound on Higley um it really
made us scratch our heads what's again
the best use of this 10 acres this
Frontage and the commercial that's there
it has the visibility it has the
exposure that the commercial developers
want and so we believe that what we're
providing here given the depth and
constraints and all that stuff um is is
appropriate and we are providing you
might not be able to see it or be aware
but there is a connection um to the to
the north for that future commercial um
because we see that as a positive and we
believe that as I mentioned that this
development can be a catalyst um for
future commercial north of
here I I I I do like the connection to
the Future parcel but I do wish there
was more commercial um I I think that
neighborhood commercial areas are kind
of the future especially in Gilbert we
have these small Pockets that are going
to support the people um but I do wish
there's more commercial
here councilman Reliance thank you mayor
Anderson um couple questions uh Mr Ray
one you talked about a million square
feet of vacancy of commercial property
within five miles do you know how much
of that percentage is within South Mesa
because South Mesa is just um roughly 2
miles up the road so you've got
superstition mall that's up there that's
pretty vacant was that included in your
figure
or uh mayor council member Lions if you
permit me to ask my client that question
just give me one minute okay
uh through the mayor council member
Lions um we believe but cannot say with
certainty that it would not have
included Superstition Springs but I
can't stand up here and AOW that it did
not include the Superstition Springs
mall area if that's some additional
homework that we have to do depending on
the rest of the discussion tonight we're
certainly more than happy to to drill
that in as well all right and that kind
of leades me a second question you've
said a couple times that probably a
developer would be or uh an anchor would
be um reluctant to develop such a large
piece of uh parcel at the for was it 40
some Acres have you guys did I hear that
correctly first of all yeah through the
mayor council member Lions as we look
and I'll go ahead and pull it up since
we're kind of talking about the overall
as we look at this and you can see what
on what is on here there is a what I'll
call a major major and then a minor
major um 45 Acres uh if you drive around
town think of think of the development
off of power and the
202 um of more of a power center and so
when you talk about commercial
developments of this particular size
again 45 Acres that is a power center
size not a traditional shopping center
size um I believe the fries at um within
 station uh around there which is
a great example they're roughly 25ish
acres and I had the opportunity to work
on that and so as you look at where the
traditional um centers have gone their
acreage is roughly 25 20 to 25
acres I noted that um I I like the idea
of the hotel uh in the area that you're
putting it down there near the U-Haul
Storage but along that line have you
approached any developers about maybe a
smaller portion to work rather than 45
looking at 25 or 30 and trying to peac
mail this in have you guys looked at
something like that yeah through the
mayor council member lines certainly I I
can't say that my client has but in
understanding and having discussions
with the seller um this property's been
Zone Regional commercial since
2018 and so um there was um the runup
that occurred before Co and then
everything exploded for a minute after
covid and so as I visited with them and
as my clients visited with them about
interest and offers that they received
over time there have they have not
received any offers for commercial
development of this size now I certainly
can't speak to whether or not they were
talking about 45 Acres versus 26 Aces I
know and I had a conversation with the
gentleman that that Drew this up today
that he is um waiting for the
opportunity to be able to go and talk to
his clients uh about this 26 Acres
because he believes that there is a a
potential opportunity there um again
he's been doing it a long time I've been
doing it a long time as I look at the
site in the area I think 26 Acres um
plus you know the Frontage that we're
providing uh is is again the the
probably the highest and best use for
this area all right thank
you council member bonani thank you
mayor Mr R I I I love this this um
rendition you have here Hotel the whole
nine yards is your client willing to
wait to see if we can get some of these
other things
developed uh through the through the
chair uh through the chair excuse me
through the mayor council member Bon
Giovani um you know time is a funny
thing um in that as we look at it and
and look at what could come online um I
I don't I don't believe that the passage
of time um will um have a a material
effect on the viability of this 10 acres
that we're really effectively talking
about okay I'm going to put you on the
spot for a second I apologize for it um
but you know that 318 apartments at
about 2,400 a month we would have been
looking at rental tax for
$183,000 a month I mean a year now it's
not your fault that the state took away
our rental
tax but
since they did take away our rental
tax why would this
Council ever
approve taking away R uh taking
away um commercial property for multif
family apartment yeah uh through the
mayor council member ban Giovani I think
as we look at it I think the the initial
first question that needs to be answered
uh with respect to your question that
you just asked me is how viable is 45
Acres of commercial at this location and
as I've had discussions with numerous
people um that is a very open and valid
question to ask again if you look at the
way the commercial Market has gone and
I'm certainly sensitive to um giving up
commercial dollar sales tax dollars
relative to the town as well but I think
as you look at it it it it does beg the
question what is viable and what is
going to make sense again tucked back at
the corner of two our
materials you know and if you look at
again we just had Whole Foods and dicks
two major anchors that would be great
for this site um that have landed
elsewhere and so if you look at um the
commercial pie of what it is it has
shrunk considerably it has been
significantly impacted um with internet
sales and e-commerce and stuff like that
that trend is not changing anytime soon
and so when you look at that you look at
some of the Mom and Pops that have gone
out of business the mergers and
consolidations that have taken place
across the grocery market and you look
at the major anchors the the big draws
that you would need for this type of a
development you start to run out of you
know relief pictures that you can call
in for this particular site and that's
why again as we looked at it and went
into the deep dive there still is a
positive that comes back to the town of
Gilbert with the spending power that
these residents um will have to bolster
the town's
economy okay so what you're saying is
that this I I call it a master plan
tongue and cheek but the master plan
itself is inv
viable uh no through the through the
mayor council member Bon Giovani um I
think as this has this as this image is
before you obviously exist today but as
I look at it this is um a very viable
solution for how these other other
Parcels that aren't before you can be
developed um we are all aware of the
importance of freeway
visibility um and certainly you know
having that business park uh down there
um those are very viable um options
within the business park um District
same thing with the office medical
office that's that's there um um and I
think as you as you look at it and think
about it again what this area was once
envisioned for Higley and the
202 um that Vision has been altered with
what went in across the street um and we
can't ignore that we can't ignore the um
you know self- storage facility that has
already been built at the southern end
um all of those constraints impact it
and again as I look at it and have
worked with numerous commercial clients
and developers all the big ticket items
that one would want for commercial
development traffic and demographics are
here in Spades M and yet for some reason
this has not
developed so what would stop another
developer coming in front of us six
months from now saying this stuff hasn't
sold so we want to put another multif
family
there um through the mayor uh council
member Bon Giovani I don't know okay
other than to say you guys still control
the
keys I again I I I love what you had
here you know when we met you went over
this with me before I love the whole
concept I just you know it's it's tough
to to say yes yet let's get rid of
commercial for a multif family if we
don't have these other components
already lined up there but
thanks through the mayor council member
certainly understand and recognize your
comment but again and I apologize for
for for repeating myself we are
providing commercial on the Frontage in
the appropriate location the the
microscope that we're under is the 10
acres in the
back vice
mayor okay um I I just wanted to kind of
bring up something because a lot of of
and I know you've done massive research
and and and I'm very impressed by that
uh
but we keep and and I've heard this from
other council members talking about the
school that's causing all the traffic
issues uh there none of us know if maybe
six months from now that school may
decide this is just too dangerous to be
there and we're going to find another
spot and and then that leaves all of
that land and the commercial and what
I'm saying is a lot of this is
guessing because as you said before we
don't know what's going to happen and I
just I just wanted to bring that up
because it it's put out like the school
is there something is going to have to
be done about the traffic with the
school and I agree with council member
torguson we need to put an extra Lane in
there something but that's for another
time but there's nothing that says that
school might not move and then we've
lost both
sides of
income yeah through the mayor vice mayor
Buckley certainly uh uh understand the
comment um I don't know that a charter
school that's as busy as that one is in
danger of relocating anytime soon um but
I'm also not in the charter school
business but as I understand it I
believe through a conversation that one
of the ideas that if that site does go
for whatever reason the school moves
away that it potentially would develop
as a commercial center uh and so then
what you would have then is commercial
on both sides and that leads us right
back to the discussion that we're
talking about now is how much commercial
is too much versus how much is
appropriate and right siiz to create a
viable and long-term sustainable
development right the this I mean I know
this and and I'm sure you do too but
that is that is a Prime commercial
freeway almost freeway Frontage
commercial piece of land and it it it's
tough to let go of that uh because it it
could potentially bring and we we don't
know why that hasn't sold we don't know
why other different commercial spots
haven't sold yet and maybe the town just
hasn't been you know aggressive in
trying to get that sold up to this point
but that that just some points I wanted
to make thank you thank
you any other questions comments for the
applicant council member buckin thank
you mayor I just a comment um to kind of
wrap up I think where I'm
at um I had mentioned before traffic's
my biggest
concern I'm I've not been in favor of
exchanging commercial for apartments I I
recognize that we are extremely low in
apartments um compared to other
cities I uh recognize that you may be
right in terms of um we may have to
think differently at some point here
because why hasn't it why is nothing
developed that's primeland nothing is
developed there there's a lot of
unknowns my biggest concern I where you
got my attention Mr Ray was in the data
you showed me
showing whenever matter no matter what
goes there traffic is going to go up
that's a given right and like Council m
t said we're not going to hold you
accountable that where you got my
attention was what you showed was a
significantly uh smaller
impact based on what you want to do as
compared to how it's zoned so that's
huge for me because that's 6,000 less
cars a day jumbling things up my biggest
problem is that uh in and want to
support this right now is that and I
went back in my calendar we met on March
11th and you showed me that data and I
had asked you guys to show the town
staff that so they had an opportunity to
review it to agree with it to challenge
it and work through those things
together to come to the right outcome of
what that data really is to useful
information and it didn't get to them
until today they've not had time to
challenge it I want to trust your
engineer I don't know him um I want our
team to be able to collaborate over the
same data um so that we can make smart
decision and I think getting it to them
five hours before this meeting is just
too late so that's that's my biggest
hang up right now um in being able to uh
move forward yeah uh through the mayor
council member buckin thank you and
certainly if this if this Council deems
it appropriate that um we need to go do
some additional homework maybe talk to
some more people um and come back before
you when we've vetted things a little
bit more uh and dug into things a little
bit deeper we're certainly um happy to
to accommodate that request to to do
more homework um at every step of the
way we've tried to be very responsive as
we've listened to concerns and comments
um have made changes to the site plan uh
and the proposal based on the feedback
that we've heard and if there is a need
for us to go do some more homework um I
think my client would be agreeable to um
doing more homework
thank you any other comments
questions thank you thank
you I would add that uh the the we do
have the seven names of those who
submitted U comments online all opposed
Daniel straza Sarah straza Brian Mosley
Jennifer W Kelly Min Johnston Ryan
Handelman staa elen
with that I'll U close the public
hearing and bring it back to the council
for discussion and or motion Council tus
is can someone on staff delineate all of
the possible uses for retail
commercial um mayor Anderson uh members
of the council um so for regional
commercial it it actually has a a quite
a wide range it's of commercial uses
it's the uh zoning District in the town
that H that re that allows the most
commercial uses um besides it can it can
things such as uh Hospitality uses um
entertainment Recreation uses personal
service type uses and office
developments um so it's a very wide
range
um of of commercial uses um Town staff I
just wanted to to to to uh add this town
staff has presented the Gabriela Point
project and this is in your staff report
um to several interested entertainment
and Recreation users in recent years who
were encouraged to engage in discussions
with the property owner by by Town
staff um but this
interest uh uh this interest
demonstrates the potential for these
diverse amount of uses that I just
mentioned Beyond retail their Market
study only addressed retail it did not
address the entertainment and the
hospitality and the office component of
things that are allowed in Regional
commercial traffic study also only
addressed retail and their traffic study
only also addressed retail it did not
address these other uses that could
generate potentially less traffic than
General retail would um so just wanted
to mention that I hopefully that answers
your question council member
torison yeah and just if you have if
you're able to confirm
it I
believe the uh commercial vacancy rate
in five M within five miles is
4.3% whereas the overall of Gilbert is
3.3% do you have that same information
uh mayor Anderson um council member
torguson I I don't have that
information um I don't know if our if
our economic development team is here if
they have that information or not I I
don't have it though personally myself
I'm pretty sure that's right
um okay thank you you council member
bani thank you mayor um for me this is
kind of like the which you came first
the chicken or the egg and since eggs
cost more than chickens these days it's
it's kind of strange for me but you know
if if if this apartment complex was
built would it bring more commercial in
the
area I would think that since the 750
odd apartment complex is being built now
we would we would see some of that
activity um if the if the other
commercial if the commercial interest
was there I would love to have this
project there but but I I for me
personally um I don't want to take the
risk of saying yes to a multif family
there not and not developing with
commercial around it and then a year
later six months later we're in a
situation where we have another
developer saying I don't want to build
550 Apartments here so I'd like to see
the area develop a little bit first
before I make any decision to change
Zoning for apartments that's that's how
I feel about it
council member
Kowski I know this Council has given
Direction in the past to not rezone
commercial land but
um every project has its merits and
needs to be evaluated on a Case by case
basis uh the things that I did like
about the project were the commercial
neighborhood experience and the
connectivity to the future parcel and
the location at the freeway access I
think that that would mitigate a lot of
traffic I know we talk about traffic at
the school but schools generate traffic
and that's not something that is going
to be mitigated by adding more Lanes in
this case um Higley Road is fully built
out and I'm surprised that we haven't or
I'd like to know more about the
developer contribution to the
infrastructure improvements because
normally a development in this area if
this road wasn't built out would need to
contribute and that
$2,000 level you know that traffic
signal alone is probably
800,000 so one quarter of it where they
are I mean seems reasonable um if
Gilbert built higgle Road in that area
through a CIP project I don't I wonder
why we're not obtaining that um
developer contribution
we've also raised system development
fees a lot um so I think all of our
future projects as we go through
buildout are going to be their the
commercial or the multif family I think
that's a reality we have to
face um I do believe that commercial
must be supported by people that are
there um this project could stimulate
adjacent
development and so as we continue to
look at these projects I do think that
that increase population also equates to
increase State shared revenues increase
sales tax revenues and keeping our
property tax low so that's what I'm
looking at whenever I evaluate these
projects but for this project as
presented
today I don't think there's enough
commercial and I would propose that we
table the item and allow the applicant
to do additional research come up with
addition
information that can be vetted by staff
um before they come
back Mr
Ray mayor if it is appropriate um I
jumped out at council member cow's
comments because as I've listened to the
discussion um sounds like we need to do
some more homework um and so with that
we uh would um support council member
cow's request T the matter that it be
that it does be continued so that we
continue to dive deeper we appreciate
and understand the sensitivity of
talking about the loss of commercial
land and we believe that in light of
that in light of the discussion that we
are grateful that is had tonight um that
the dive needs to go deeper uh into what
it is that we're proposing and so we
would request a continu in did you
understand the questions that were that
are out there that need more analysis
uh mayor I I believe that I do um if if
I don't I will certainly be the first to
speak up but I I think I've got them in
my head and on my
sheet thank
you Council any further discussion or I
entertain a
motion mayor Anderson if I may just jump
in I know there's been some talk about
potential uh tabling the item or
continuance just want to remind the
council under our rules of procedure a
motion to continue is you pick a date
certain you find a future date and
that's when that will be reared or
heared again um if it's a motion to
table um that means the applicant would
need to come back and do all the all the
appropriate notices that they would so
my recommendation would be if you want
to bring it back to a motion to continue
to a date
certain mayor in light of what City
attorney said we would request a
two-month
continuance what would that date be
mayor Anderson members of council um if
we're looking two months out that is the
end of May May 20th would be that
date that work May 20th
yes Council council member buckin thank
you mayor uh to staff does that give you
two months because I know there's a
million projects going on does that give
you enough time to review the traffic
engineering data that was presented to
us but not to you until SE
mayor council members Ava cutra planning
manager um I don't know the answer to
that staff was actually quite surprised
that there was a site plan discussed
tonight and shared with Council that
staff had never seen same thing with the
traffic study so we don't know because
we right now all that we're prepared to
discuss is a 15 acre parcel there was a
lot of other discussion tonight that
staff has no background on nor could
comment on so two months may be enough
time it may not be I don't know what is
being proposed at this time thank
you
counc what's your pleasure council
member
Kowski I move to continue can I ask a
question I'm sorry first vice mayor uh
yeah sorry I don't unless it's send my
email now I asked for a copy of that
traffic study as well and I have not
received that either so I mean if this
is going to move on I would like to to
see that through the mayor vice mayor
Buckley we certainly um will comply with
that request thank you I think he
understands everything that's
needed council member Kowski I move to
continue item six to the May 20th
council meeting I'll second
that it's been moved and seconded that
we continue the item till May 20th
please
vote motion passes 70 thank you thank
you we move on to item
10 conduct hearing and consider adoption
of ordinance number 2 2936 amending the
code of Gilbert by amending chapter 4 42
offenses and abatement of public
nuisances article 8 abatement of public
nuisances division 2 Community
preservation ordinance part three
Administration and
enforcement section 42- 322 notice of
violation relating to notification
requirements and declaring
emergency
AA good evening mayor council members uh
this was presented to you at AUD session
on February
11th the community preservation
ordinance was approved by Town Council
in June was effective in July we have
used it now for a little more than half
a year and we've realized during the use
of it that it had mentioned that the
notice is go out by certified mail which
is very costly and we spoke with legal
court allows certified or first class
mail so staff is recommending a very
minor change to allow first class mail
for notification to Residents right now
in the four months that we've been
keeping
figures first class male is about 73
cents certified male is $9 so we're
spending about $400 a month because
right now the community preservation
ordinance only allows for in-person
service or certified mail so by adding
First Class M we would still use it when
needed but we think that I'm sorry
certified M would still be used when
needed when we would need proof of
receipt but for the most part first
class mail would suffice to notify
people of
violations so the motion is to to
approve the proposed change again the
change just adds first class Mal as one
of the three options for
notification council
members council member
torguson I'm probably I think I was the
only person that voted against this
particular code uh and I'm asking this
because if we're going to have a code we
want to enforce it right if we're going
to do it let's do it do it
but are you are you anticipating that
first class will get the same results as
certified
mail um mayor council member
torguson I am asserting that and
actually it may get better notification
I've done code enforcement for over 30
years certified mail you have to sign
for certified mail often does not get
picked up people that know they are an
enir ation will avoid certified maale
first class maale if they refuse it it
gets sent back to us so we're aware that
it was refused while we don't have a
signed document we still have proof as
to whether or not it was delivered also
most people don't fight the violations
we make them aware of it they work with
code enforcement to solve them but it
does anger residents when they come home
and there's a node and they have to go
to the post office to pick up the
certified mail again if it just came in
the mail they would notify us yeah give
me two weeks I'll get the grass
clippings or the weeds done so just from
past experience first class mail works
just as well and is actually more
convenient for our residents we want to
keep certified mail in that and of
course we would work with the legal team
for when we think that might be
necessary for instance if we think
something will not be resolved and may
go to court maybe we try twice by first
class mail and the last time by
certified mail but again the court
accepts either first class or certified
mail okay it was a question I didn't
answer ask during our study session I
thought are we wasting our time by doing
first class but your feeling is we're
going to get better results really I do
um when I did this at a previous town we
did all certified and we had more people
not picking them up or coming down to
town hall like really you may be just
annoyed couldn't you have just let me
know that I had weeds and then when we
switched to First Class M we didn't have
as many disgruntled customers and we did
have the same results all right thank
you you're welcome thank you AA I have
no other
further comments by the public I'll
close the public
hearing council member Kowski
mayor I I just have a comment U maybe
this is for chali but in the packet on
item 10 at the end of the paragraph it
says and declaring an emergency just
wondering if that was a
error that would need to be
documented council member Kowski we're
pulling that up right now and we'll
verify if that was a clar thank
you thank you have comments ments I'll
close the public hear and bring it back
to the council for discussion Andor
motion I move to accept 10 as written
second before you vote Council just want
to clarify something to council member
cpr's question it is in the ordinance
the idea of that was that it could if it
does pass tonight it'd be effective
immediately rather than having to wait
30 days for it to come into effect right
okay I still second thank you you still
seconds it's been moved and seconded
please
vote motion carries 70 thank
you we move on to the consent calendar
vice
mayor thank you mayor Anderson uh to
begin the consent calendar portion of
the meeting tonight I will pass the time
over to our town manager Pat bager to
provide an
over I even I even have it written down
I have a thing with this mic it's just I
have it written down mic
on all right I'm going to start over to
begin the consent calendar portion of
the meeting I will pass the time over to
our town manager Patrick Banger to
provide an overview of the items on the
consent calendar this evening and those
are items 11 through 33
and Patrick over to you thank you mayor
thank you vice
mayor go ahead and bring the
presentation up okay as we're all aware
uh items on the consent agenda are
largely uh matters that are have to do
with the general business of the town
and delivery of
services what we've put together tonight
for you is a um overview of those items
and providing you with some additional
context on what those items mean for our
community outside of just contracts and
agreements that you approve to help
bring uh better clarity as to what those
go towards like projects of of critical
importance for our water infrastructure
our transportation systems if you have
any questions on any of the matters
because I'm just going to touch upon
them on a high level uh please feel free
to ask questions we do have staff here
uh as always to answer any additional
questions you may have about matters
before you uh to be acted upon and if
you have any feedback on this format
going forward please let me know that as
well and we can continue to tweak it um
as we develop uh something or finalize
this in uh what we believe is in the
best interest of our community so to get
going you're going to see that the items
from the consent agenda will not follow
in Num numerical order we have grouped
them into our three areas of focus
around a strong economy prosperous
community in an exceptional built
environment we'll start with the strong
economy item number 19
these are essentially marketing
activities to drive tourism business and
activity to our hotels our shops our
restaurants um and our uh tourism based
amenities that we have in gilber Arizona
the funds that we use for that come from
our bed tax funds which are are
specifically earmarked for these types
of activities and it's a variety of
agreements as required uh with various
agencies that we will contract with to
carry out various components uh uh
portions of those
components fire department Regional uh
Partnerships first the IGA with the S
city of mopa authorizes Gilbert Fire and
Rescue to provide fire service training
to Maricopa fire and medical personnel
as an automatic Aid partner Maricopa can
serve the residents of gil Gilbert and
therefore the town benefits from the
training they receive at our facility
and then we have a 2004 Pierce Quantum
pumper that has reached the end of its
useful life for us and this agreement
would provide this Surplus piece of
equipment to the hellsgate fire district
up in the more rural uh Northern
sections of our state um and they will
provide a 5 thou they will provide the
town with
$5,000 uh for this piece of equipment
which is its its useful value on an open
market next IG supporting uh school
resource officer funding in the Higley
and Gilbert unified school districts
these are agenda items number 12 12 and
13 these are not new positions these are
existing SRO we have uh on our police
force right now and this is uh primarily
provides for reimbursement from the
school districts for those costs tied to
the SRO so three with the Higley Unified
School District Five with the Gilbert
Unified School District and our school
resource officers are a critical
component to uh our ability to engage
with our youth and help deal with youth
uh related issues and youth related
violence issues issu so critical U
members of our team and this helps uh
provide funding for those programs
agenda item number 31 uh we're using
funds from the Arizona opioid settlement
funds to create an FTE position for
Behavioral Health in addition uh
co-responder for the police crisis
response team we private we previously
contracted with a private vendor who is
no longer continuing this line of
service so in evaluating the op and
who's out there we believe it's best to
bring this position in house and these
are uh this is a critical member of that
team to support people that are in
crisis that interact with our First
Responders and our Police Department in
particular next item up have to do with
some utility projects two of these item
number 11 and item number 26 are for our
well program as you know we've got an
accelerated well project program
underway so that we can prepare best
prepare the town for any uh additional
drought conditions and restrictions that
may be placed on our Colorado River
water supply in particular to meet those
Peak demands and then item number 25 is
a j contract for some electrical
improvements at our South Reservoir
system Street infrastructure projects uh
deal with agenda items 15 22 and 24
they're pretty straightforward one is an
IGA with mag for an Artis arterial
capacity Improvement project at McQueen
and Elliot 22 is pmcm service contract
for improvements to the intersection of
hickley and Queen Creek the source of
those funds would be our 2022 Geo bonds
and item number 24 is an annual contract
with Sunland asphalt for various asphalt
related work and maintenance of our
street infrastructure so that we can
maintain its performance and enhance uh
the maintain extend the life of those
ass and enhance the performance of those
assets over their useful life genda
items 27 28 and 29 more Street
infrastructure projects 27 is signal
improvements at Recker and Galveston and
those come from our signal SDF as well
as our roadway and maintenance funds
item number 28 is a gen a change order
for additional QA Construction Services
on the mosquite road Improvement project
source of those funds is our 2022 goo
bonds item number 29 is a change order
for improvements to the water main
Connections in the area of aao road that
coordinates the work of the street
projects with a future planned water
system upgrade it's cheaper for us to do
that work as part of in analyzing it it
was cheaper for us to do that work as
part of this project as opposed to doing
it later with the uh project which will
be coming and item number 30 uh CIP
contingency from use roads improvements
to address changes to rightaway costs
for three properties for a total of 263
,000 on contingency from a roadway
maintenance fund of which 108,000 will
be reimbursed from the mag congestion
mitigation and air quality
funding items number 16 and 18 are
General projects in nature number 16 is
a Cooperative purchase agreement
supporting the purchase of uniforms and
related services for multiple
departments for the town for up to
$210,000 annually for the next six years
that will be funded from each
Department's individual operating budget
for uniforms
number 18 is a telecommun
telecommunications license agreement for
flying bow internet LLC it's a private
fiber Broadband company they are a
licensed uh utility provider under the
State of Arizona and this would give
them access to our rideway they are from
what we understand smaller and would be
doing uh smaller deployments in scope
and uh targeting areas that um are
smaller Pockets that may not get served
by other providers
items 20 21 and 23 20 is a contract and
amendments to two existing Cooperative
contracts to address needs for our Parks
irrigation pump systems some of these
systems are quite old we're doing our
best to extend the life of those
infrastructure assets uh but they do
break down from time to time and so this
is just to continue to keep the system
in good working order item number 21 is
an agreement that will facilitate the
replacement upgrade or refurbishment of
35 existing bus stop shelters in Gilbert
and that is funded by metro public
transportation funds and item number 23
is the Joc contract for fencing and
pathway installations at the Phoenix
Avenue Pedestrian Mall near Gilbert and
Ash that mall for those of you who may
not be aware is what runs adjacent to
the railroad through the Heritage
district and this is to help Safeguard
pedestrian travel in that area and uh
prevent people from crossing over onto
the tracks of the active rail line and
with that you know I think I might have
put push through one real quick I did
agenda item number 32 which we're all
well aware of this is the additional
positions to support our quality of life
project uh initiative these are the the
items that we talked about last fall at
the um strategic uh Retreat as well as
our quality of life project retreat in
general and this is to support the
effective planning and design project
management and constructions of these
vital projects for our community moving
forward and with that that is the over
view of the consent item agendas for
tonight okay do uh does anyone have any
questions I council member tenson just
quickly on uh number four was it
14
uh are we being re you how are we being
reimbursed on this is it simply time or
is there's anything
towards the investment we've made with
this so they would sign our standard
agreement and we do have charges for
fees for use of the facility and we are
going to be doing a full review of all
those fees in the upcoming fiscal year
as well all right so when we do the over
will we be considering the investment we
put into that building uh for the fees
themselves currently right now we do not
um but we're going to do a total review
of all of our programs and and possibly
come back to Council in the next fiscal
year with some requested changes right
12 and 13 are protecting our kids so
that's pretty much keeping the
keep the lights on for the
sro's and 21 I want to ask the funding
you said it was from Valley Metro this
is not something out of our our general
fund that is correct okay otherwise I'd
be asking why but I don't care if it
comes from that that is correct and um I
believe it was
28
no oh yes it was 28
29 uh they're seeing change orders is
that a change order or is that the
phasing that we talked about earlier no
these would be actual change orders uh
going forward if it's a phased uh
Amendment planned amendment to a
contract they will be titled as such
these are actual change orders again for
29 that is after evaluating the current
project and a future project that will
be coming in that area we realized it
would be cheaper to do this as part of
our current project and have that ready
to then Connect into the future project
number 28 I probably would need to call
on on Jessica Marlo or Susanna strubel
um but I think it's some minor
additional improvements for our mosqu
road adding some additional turn Lanes
to that project but overall the change
order is actually saving us money on
this not an addition on 29 yes all right
thank
you okay does anyone else have any
questions okay with that I will move to
approve the consent
Jim are you finished did you want to say
something else okay sorry I just wanted
to double check uh okay I I will uh move
to since there's no other questions to
be answered I will move to approve the
consent agenda items 11 through 33 can I
have a second I'll second
that okay uh we have a second by was
thatc council member Bon
Giovani uh please
vote that concludes okay uh yeah motion
carried 70 and uh back to you mayor for
the
administrative thank you we have no
specific administrative items for the
council to discuss or action tonight
however before we go to Communications
I'd like to ask Chief soberg he come
forward to make a short
statement mayor and councel uh Mike sber
chief of police with G Police Department
before I begin I want to thank those in
attendance here the family and friends
of Nick Cordova and for being here to
support Seeking Justice for him the G
Police Department recognizes the concern
surrounding the active homicide
investigation into the tragic death of
Nicholas Cordova on May 27th 2020
Nicholas Cordova was killed while he and
his business partner were inside their
business Gilbert air located at 511 West
Guadalupe in Gilbert Arizona over the
past 5 years the Gilbert Police
Department has dedicated extensive
efforts to pursuing All Leads and
collaborating with state and federal
agencies to hold those responsible for
his death accountable and in doing so to
bring Justice to the Cordova family
family we recognize it has been a long
and painful 5 years for the Cordova
family and we are committed to
continuing to provide as much
information as excuse me as we
responsibly
can unfortunately there are critical
limitations on what we can what can be
shared publicly at this time as
maintaining the Integrity of the
investigation and safeguarding future
prosecutions is Paramount we recognize
this may not bring immediate comfort to
family and friends of Nicholas C and
want to assure the family and the
community that Justice for Nicholas
Cordova maintains our unwavering
priority our commitment to diligently
pursuing the case will not falter and we
deeply regret that the necessary
restrictions on releasing details May
compound
frustration however every measure we
take is to ensure accountability for
this devastating loss as we continue to
work with state and federal agencies we
humbly ask for patience and
understanding and extend our heartfelt
sympathy to those graving the tragic
loss while we cannot release additional
information at this time that could
jeopardize our investigation and any
future prosecutions the gerbert police
department stands with the family and
the community in Seeking Justice for
Nicholas Cordova thank
you thank you Chief we move on to
Communications vice
mayor I have the mic on so we will we
will start I'm going to start with
reading the rules of
decorum so we whoops we value the
participation of our community members
and the robust exchange of ideas however
it's essential that this discourse
remains respectful and constructive
reflecting the professionalism expected
in such forms misinformation and
personal attacks undermined 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 issues
impacting the town accordingly the Town
Council will not allow for moments of
silence or the playing of music or other
recorded materials which could distract
from 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
distract from the respectful atmosphere
we strive to maintain tonight we will
invite you to come up to the podium when
you come up to the podium please state
your name and your city of residence and
you will have three minutes to directly
address the Town Council unless
otherwise
indicated if the current Speaker will be
using three minutes of another person's
time that person should State their name
and you can just wave or whatever and
acknowledge uh your state your name the
city and that you reside in and
acknowledge that you are donating their
three minutes to the current
speaker and with that our first speaker
will be Josh
Reynolds oops
hello uh mayor and members of the
council uh thank you for allowing me to
speak tonight my name is Josh Reynolds
and I've lived in Gilbert for 39 years
uh I was a town employee with your fire
department for 20 years until I retired
in July of
2022 I've been around the department
since day one when my father was lucky
enough to be one of the first 20 members
who started the gfd on January 1st 1993
I've grown up around here in these
firehouses and was lucky enough to get
hired myself when I was 23 during my
20-year career I served as head of our
firefighter Charities for nine years and
was an engineer for 16 in my 20 years I
got to live out every little boy's
Fantasy by getting to drive a fir truck
around the town I grew up in I have
wanted to come speak to you for quite
some time but was prevented from
speaking by your fire chief who has
tried extremely hard to silence me I was
planning on on telling my story tonight
but I will need to come back to a future
meeting for that tonight I need to talk
about some recent events that I would
like you and the community to know about
after I retired in July of 2022 I
delivered a Christmas card in December
of that year to multiple Town employees
I was also vocal on social media about
the current Administration both running
your fire department and the town a
month later in January of 2023 I
received an order of protection from
members of your team such as Rob dougen
Leah reinheimer Nathan Williams and Dana
birchman again I delivered a Christmas
card where I was dressed as Buddy the
elf and the card says keep the pension
checks coming very light-hearted card I
had some of the I had these charges some
of these charges dropped after I
challenged them in court in 2023 I was
asked to be on the 360 podcast which is
run by a Valley Fire Department it's a
podcast with a cur with current and
former firefighters on their careers and
what they are doing in
retirement I use this platform to talk
about my career and to promote our
family business my father and I run the
smoke detector man which he's done an
amazing job
growing excuse me I'm sorry on Thursday
November 23rd I started to promote the
they started to promote the podcast that
I was going to be on exactly one day
later your fire chief called that fire
department um that Friday November 24th
and talked to the fire chief of that
department and told him that he was
calling on behalf of the town of Gilbert
and if they aired the podcast they could
be in legal trouble is that normal for a
fire chief to use his position and power
to shut down a podcast from a former
employee it doesn't sound legal or
ethical to me I came back to council to
speak in January of 2024 and your fire
chief had PD escort me out of the
building even though my order protection
had ended he then hired Grasso Law Firm
to represent him and tried to get a
misdemeanor charge against me ultimately
they dropped the charges the day before
the trial was to begin because they knew
they didn't have a case this citizen
should know that your tax dollars are
going to fund the fire chief to have a u
a lawyer to come after a citizen a
retiree I retired from the fire
department in good standing I was given
a retirement party and a final call at
the fire station which is a tradition if
you're
unfamiliar I have endured all that have
been thrown at me since I retired I
adhered to all the legal orders I was
Vindicated in court I'm almost done and
now that I and now all I want to do is
take part in Traditions that are
afforded to every retiree I deserve to
be treated like a normal citizen which
means the ability to have my first
amendment rights protected I've been
targeted and Har asked by your town
leaders and your fire chief I'm asking
that you investigate what I've told you
tonight you have some of the best men
and women on those fire trucks here in
Gilbert and they deserve to work for a
true leader thank you for your time
tonight I look forward to Future meeting
when I can share a little more about my
situation thank you Gilbert okay thank
you our next speaker is Dan Reynolds
uh my name is Dan
Reynolds um I'm a former employer
employee here and a current resident of
about 35 40 years
um I'm glad you finally got to meet Josh
um I wish Patrick would have been
watching him and listening to him but
maybe he wasn't and I just don't know
it um I want to tell you the story what
Josh has talked about at our last
retirement uh
breakfast um it's a place where we all
get together and get to catch up with
people have good
conversation was going great and Josh
was working he got in between his first
job came over there saw him he said hi
to me said hi to another firefighter
another captain saw him
said hey Josh how's it going talked to
him a little bit invited him in the
station for a cup of coffee Josh went in
there Chief Dugen confronted him and
said you're not allowed to be
here Josh said I'm a retiree and he
looks at his assistant chief Corey
Gerard and says he's not listening to me
I'm calling the cops which he proceeds
to
do I go up to Rob dougen while he's on
the phone and he says excuse me I'm
calling
somebody okay so we stopped and we
waited
um he calls the police officers and they
show up
and four of them including a lieutenant
and a a sergeant show up and these are
my words because I'm not going to speak
for them uh I I felt horrible for them
they were extremely
professional and probably had a hard
time trying to tell that we needed to
leave so I I really felt bad but I want
to say that they were extremely
professional and super nice about
it
um they had to go back and forth to I
believe our town lawyer and I believe
our police chief is what kind of the
impression I got to see if Josh was
doing anything wrong um they had a
little bit of I don't want to say
trouble trying explain it to us but it
was somewhat unclear it seemed obviously
unfair um we were cordial with him they
appreciated that after much back and
forth and them checking his records
because of all the injunctions they put
on him and Orders of protection they
said you know the town has a right to to
tell you whether you can be here or not
turns out that uh a recent uh change to
the policy
says from I I can't remember but I think
it was in
2023 where it seemed like they were kind
of gearing it towards Josh Reynolds or
why he couldn't be there I would love
for you guys to look into that and see
what you can find
out because it seems coincidental that
uh all of a sudden somebody that's a
retiree from this fire department
couldn't go to a uh retiree
breakfast um
I would like to say that with the
exception of two of the council members
here and I'm going to give uh councilman
lions and Buckland a pass because
they're brand new
but nobody has wanted to talk to us
about this I would love for you at the
end of this uh meeting to go out in the
lobby and exchange uh names and I'll
give you my phone number because I think
there's a lot you guys need to
know um last thing
this fire
department is is is run by a
egotistical toxic person and the culture
here is toxic and the reason I know it's
toxic is because nobody will has the
guts to come up here and talk about it
for fear of
Retribution that's toxic that shouldn't
be
happening I also like to say thank thank
you for removing uh Leah Rimer from the
PD and
fire uh part of uh the town management
because she's partially responsible for
our current fire
chief thank you for your time okay thank
you very much our next speaker is Travis
h
hello I if if you could yeah state your
name and the city you live in uh well
thanks for hearing me today my name is
Travis I live here in Gilbert um I'm in
ld14 okay and your your last name as
well for the clerk she has to record
everything oh uh Heth
HTH um so my story is I've worked with
people with special needs since 2013
here in the state of
Arizona uh during that time I've worked
with families from Santan Valley to Sun
City from Maricopa City to North
Scottsdale and I've worked with many
families right here in
Gilbert during my time here I've learned
quite a bit about everyday
arizonans I've served with both
Republicans and Democrats Mormons and
Baptists truck drivers and
doctors helping people with special
needs is an issue that unites all of
us as a citizen of Gilbert I'm here
today to urge your support for Gap
funding for the division of
Developmental Disabilities or
DDD the DDD empowers individuals with
developmental disabilities to lead
self-directed healthy and meaningful
lives people eligible for these
supports um include people with Autism
cerebral py epilepsy intellectual
disability
Down syndrome and others the DDD not
only improves the lives of an estimated
50,000 citizens of Arizona but it also
saves money otherwise spent on
restrictive and expensive
care such as committing individuals to
institutional
settings right now there is a budget
deficit and funds will run out in May
and June 2025 for all DDD programs and
services if appropriation funding is not
provided by our legislature before them
approving this Gap funding is not about
bailing out government mismanagement
it's about fulfilling an existing
obligation and addressing a critical
need the Gap funding is also essential
to prevent a deeper crisis one that
could lead to increased medical
emergencies hospitalizations and
institutionalization for vulnerable
disabled children and
adults on top of that caregivers of
people with special needs may find
themselves with increased costs at the
same time that they lose their
jobs I recently discovered thanks to
council member Buckland that the Gilbert
Police
Department achieved the uh certified
Autism Center
designation and about the uh bring me
home
program I think those two programs kind
of demonstrate to me that Gilbert really
cares a lot about people with special
needs and people in general
I ask and request that the city of
gilbertt take an active role in getting
DDD Gap funding approved before May
thank
you thank
you our next speaker is Michael
Clark Michael are you still
here I saw him earlier I don't see him
so I'm guessing he
left so the next speaker is Justin
Brooke Justin are you here oh
okay and Justin if you would State your
first name last name and the city you
live in for the
record yeah I'm Justin Brook U from
Scott still thank you
um I'm here for Nick
Cordova Nick Cordova was my cousin um
not only that one of my best
friends he was a man you can call at any
time for any reason and he'd be there
for
you he was a person everyone
loved being around
including my
kids but mostly because they just liked
messing with
them uh he'd go back and forth with him
usually but he'd lose um I have lots of
memories with Nick growing up like
camping together with our family going
to the Salt River and
swimming riding three-wheelers and
four-wheeling with our
uncles camping and hunting up
north and spending time at our property
and
young um working on all the many
vehicles we had over the years
but for me my favorite memories with
Nick were our later
years years we spent together at their
families going going on trips to San
Diego
camping zoos family boating trips to the
Lakes F uh fishing and hunting with our
kids unfortunately all those memories
sudden came to a stop 5 years ago when
Nick's life was brutally taken from him
since then my memories consist of his
wife and kids trying to figure
out life without their husband and
father
his daughter not having a dad there for
birthday parties summer
vacations daddy daughter
dances and his son not having his dad
there to help work
on bicycles dirt bikes or even jump
start a vehicle in the
morning the people who stopped these
memories need to be brought to Justice 5
years is too
long I'm here to ask you you please help
us make noise for
Nick put pressure on Gilbert PD to do
something and find Nick's
Killers this family needs
closure thank you thank
you our next speaker is uh I believe is
Jeremy G
Garcia and if you would State your full
name please absolutely I'm Jeremy Garcia
Ramadan a resident of Phoenix Arizona
Mary Anderson council members thank you
so much for giving our family the
opportunity to speak to you today today
about Nick Cordova and what he meant
because we're in Gilbert I want to talk
to you all about Nick's connection to
Gilbert not just that he was brutally
murdered here but the happier pieces of
his life in
Gilbert Nick's two children were
actually born in Gilbert Arizona at
Mercy Gilbert hospital and one of the
memories that I will cherish of Nick
forever is being with him with his mom
uh his mother-in-law and his sister as
he holds up his first baby boy in the
little viewing area at Mercy Gilbert
where you could see the brand new babies
having this big macho man that Justin
just described that's you know out there
camping and all of these things working
on his cars but this big Macho Man with
tears in his eyes being transformed into
a father that happened in Gilbert
Arizona Nick was also a business owner
in Gilbert Arizona he built Gilbert air
um into a thriving business that
provided jobs for people in Gilbert that
provided essential Services living in
the Valley of the Sun we know that hbac
is a critical service and one that he
was the type of business owner that his
clients knew they could call him at any
time day or night weekends holidays and
he would be there for them making sure
that their families were safe with
adequate heating and
cooling it is for those reasons and his
connection to Gilbert that it is so
essential that both his family and the
community of Gilbert get
Justice Alicia his widow my
cousin deserves to feel safe deserves
for her children to feel safe Nick's
killers are on the loose in the
community that we all live and
enjoy so our request is alongside
Gilbert Police Department to support
bringing those Killers to Justice
well I'm happy that the police chief was
here today making a statement
reiterating what I know is the
commitment from the brave women and men
that serve Gilbert Police Department
clearly something has gone wrong here it
has been 5 years and we still do not
have Justice we still do not have peace
of mind that the people that killed
Nicholas Cordova are no longer a threat
to the community of Gilbert thank you
for your time thank you than
you our next speaker is uh I believe
it's sharissa
Arnold if you would please State your
full name and the city you live in
Carissa Arnold Gilberts um thank you for
your time tonight mayor and councel I'm
here tonight speaking in frustration
with how my daughter's case has been
handled back in July both my daughter
and I submitted requests to obtain the
video footage regarding her interview
the interview of the guy who hurt her
and of all police reports and dispatch
calls on the aftermath when we received
the sex crimes report we were
immediately frustrated the report was
dummy down to make it look like this was
a one-time simple incident between a
boyfriend and a
girlfriend the report left out
information from an of Protection
hearing it was a text message in there
in which he admitted to the fact that he
had issues with stopping when he was
told no nothing was included in the
police report on that a big
deal it was admitted in that hearing
that they were getting in arguments
after these situations were happening
none of that was included in the police
report at
all no wonder why the County prosecutor
dropped the charges against him and we
all know that he went on and assaulted
other girls after he assaulted my
daughter when the sex crimes victims are
treated this way why would they ever
want to come forward it has been stated
by your own former sex crimes sergeant
that they are the undermost reported
crimes across the board but this doesn't
give them any more of a backing to why
they should ever come to their own
Police
Department the vandalism that happened
on the school property was another issue
the officer told us that she it wouldn't
do any good for her to come out and take
fingerprints because we had previously
touched the stuff that was vandalized
when it was put in the report so we we
thought that this was the case the SRO
the next day said no you should have
called a sergeant out because that
officer was wrong what was put in the
report was that she did not come out was
because we had touched this stuff as
though we had touched it in the
aftermath you go back and you listen to
the body cam footage and it will reveal
the truth of what was stated to the
officer during that phone
call as I've been trying to acquire the
reports
from my daughter's case I've run into
numerous situations where I've asked for
searches by phone number I've been told
that can't happen and then I got told it
can
happen I attempts have been made to
charge me for the reports and I've had
to fight for that to get corrected which
it eventually did the latest has been
the retention calls in January I asked
what was going on because we've only
received a couple reports in regards to
her case and I was told that the
dispatch calls are all gone there's no
way to go get them so so I was
frustrated I sent an email to Mr Banger
and I sent an email to assistant chief
Bley to which I got told that there's a
retention period And I was given three
different answers on What that retention
period is the latest retention period
that I was given was a document that was
7 years old stating it was only 60 days
so my question went back and why wasn't
I told this back in July of last year so
we're sitting at almost a year now since
I filed the request okay I required I
filed a foyer request for information on
when those changes were going to be made
it was denied by assistant chief ble I
was told that I was not going to get any
more information which was a violation
of rights that was not any sort of
critical information surrounding the
police department and he denied
it thank
you our next speaker is Linda Taylor
good evening mayor and council
members I'm kind of a little
nervous I'm a board member of the
Gilbert Visual Art
League Linda Taylor and I live here in
Gilbert and you might say that I'm a
reporter for Gilbertville Visual Art
League because I'm the editor of the
newsletter which has over 400
subscribers
each of you are cordially invited to our
jured art show of over 100 pieces of art
created by local artists on Sunday the
30th from 2: to 4:00
p.m. I have special invites for you that
someone over there can give to you later
so you won't forget okay it's
Sunday I'm coming here tonight
requesting your help
we would like to be a bigger part of the
town of
Gilbert we would like to be a permanent
part of the I'm sorry I'm standing Too
Close of the town's
website how do we do that we would like
notifications of events where we can
take part and get more
recognition how do we do
that we need a larger place to have our
art shows which we have twice a year a
member show in the fall and the current
jured art show the gallery we are using
is too small it's at HD
South we have a limit we have to limit
our art pieces due to the capacity our
receptions are crowded and it is hard to
hear when the awards are being given you
know this sounds so trivial after
everything I've heard tonight but we do
want you to know about
us we don't generate to revenue to rent
a buildings so we need a town of Gilbert
location that would be very low rent
will you help
us we would like the town's monetary
support by purchasing pieces of art from
local artists to be displayed on the
Civic Center walls and or to make
monetary donations for awards to these
local artists at our jured art show like
the town of Gilbert recognition
award that could be a great article for
the the Town
Newspaper you know with a population of
over
250,000 people it is important to
support the visual arts too and it's not
being done right
now so let me tell you about us we have
been in existence since 2003 we are a
5013 C3 entity since
2006 we are a nonprofit and we support
HD South and we attend the Gaya every
year we are the only Art League in
Gilbert and the only art group that
supports the town of Gilbert we have a
membership of over 75 people I'm going
to hurry because you've got me down here
so here we go we have the House of
Refuge which Services children we are
Verina Independent Living which is
teaching seniors we are HD South for all
all ages we are clarendale Assisted
Living teaching seniors we're at kolie
Middle School reaching out and helping
with the teach teaching of Art in that
school and we support Higley High School
Art Festival which is a one-time event I
have sent each of you an email what I
just told you tonight so that you can
recall all the things that I have said
we solit solicit your patronage of
Gilbert Visual Arts league and ask for
you to begin tonight by verbalizing that
you will look into our needs can you C
can you we count on you thank
you thank thank you
Linda our next speaker is Steve
LVL all right mayor council I'm Steve
lval and uh I sent you guys an email
tonight before we came kind of breaking
down I would really like to talk about
the
vola which is your electric fire Tru so
uh a report came out um about the
voltera I believe it might have went to
you guys that's the wrong report there
it is and it talks about uh let's see
this thing is titled the Gilbert Fire
and Rescue volara year 1 report now this
is a pilot program and I believe your
fire chief Rob Dugen and Cory Gerard are
going to come to you and they're going
to want you to purchase three of these
trucks and you really really need to
dive into the information they're
providing you cuz it's not accurate uh
they're not being forthright with the uh
vehicle itself and and its reliability
number one which is the most important
thing because reliability means that the
truck can't respond on a call so they
did talk about reliability in this
report and they actually do say that the
reliability of the voltera is 76% which
is the lowest of the trucks they're
comparing it to what they don't tell us
is how old the other trucks are and of
course all the other trucks by the way
run uh Detroit diesel engines that's
just the way a fire truck runs just so
you know what we're talking about here I
believe it's a little political for them
because they want to you know be the
first fire department with a bunch of
electric trucks but that reliability
part I I I'll hit a little bit more on a
little bit deeper here at the end uh but
they do admit right there at the
beginning that's not very reliable they
talk about call volume which is good
then we get into the consumption part
they talk about the electricity
consumption they about repair and
maintenance of the vehicles they talk
about fuel consumption so I put together
a spreadsheet that I sent all you guys
about all that so just so at the very
end of this report they talk about uh
the analysis about the volara and how
you know its energy consumption is lower
than a diesel energy consumption I'll
talk about those numbers here in a
minute um but the big thing here in this
analysis they talk about pros and they
say um no diesel emissions kind of true
not kind of true it does have a little
bit of a diesel engine in it when you
learn about the vola uh quieter
operations probably too cooler
operations they they kind of highlight
those three things but they don't
highlight this cons increased cost at
$1.1
million per truck that's not that's on
top that's 1.1 more than if you were
just to buy a an engine with a diesel in
it okay $1.1 million more I think he
raised my taxes five times last last
year and now you want to pay 1.1 million
more because a truck runs on
electricity they put it in there uh they
don't know about the infrastructure cost
and maintenance which are not part of
these numbers I'm talking about wow I'm
getting close on time here uh anyway the
battery life replacement they don't know
about long-term durability they don't
know about replacement cost I basically
did the numbers for you if you look at
the repair and maintenance savings they
say 21756 high-end for year fuel savings
6 02 per year okay uh if you take that
monthly energy consumption the
difference was 434 you tie that into the
fuel savings that comes to your 1602 you
add all that stuff up together basically
the total annual savings and it's in the
report I sent you guys total annual
savings is
$26,600 a year if we go with that
electric truck at $1.1 million a year
Well you get that return on investment
in about 41 years that's the best end
numbers of those real quick and I'll let
you go I just want to pull this last
part part up because I think it's very
important that I talk about this okay
the EMT system in that truck is not
proven it has not been compared has not
been paired with the cumins and the
parar motors that's the problem with it
it has to have a redundancy built into
the system but the redundancy is what
keeps breaking so when that electricity
in that truck goes down right the motor
the backup motor can't run either and
they tell you that that truck's reliable
I tell you this I'll leave you with this
that truck at at least four times when
responding to a call broke down and
could not respond and they had to have
another truck they had to call alarm and
cover for that truck four times I think
that might have happened one time in my
20 plus year career here running a
diesel engine and if that if that one
call is I don't know say a kid
drowning and that truck can't make it is
it worth it I think you really need to
dive into this I have a lot more
information on this I sent you all
emails if anybody would like talked to
me in detail about this I'd be more than
happy to sit down with you I have a lot
more information where this came from
thank you for your time okay thank
you okay so our next speaker we have
Robert Bach Huber is donating his time
to ranne Wood so Renne it's your
turn and you will have six minutes
mayor and council members I'm
ryanwood Gilbert Arizona residents um
I'm here to talk about College Park
Country Estates once
again first I would like to talk about
the Covenant letter that was sent out to
a few Property Owners a few months
ago under Section letter B quote Gilbert
own operates and maintains public
streets roads highways alleys rights of
way public utility easements within the
boundaries of the town of Gilbert
including the 60 feet wide Street known
as North Riata Street and the 50 Street
wide Street known as country
Plaza bullet point number
two non- removal of the
trees
quote provided that owner property
maintains the Trees persu of section one
Gilbert agrees that it will not remove
the trees except in the instances where
they pose an immediate Hazard to the
health and safety of the
public in the event that the trees pose
an immediate immediate Hazard to the
health and safety of the public Gilbert
will remove the
trees so let me recap those two
paragraphs Gilbert owns and maintains
the public RightWay on Riata and Country
Plaza the trees are not currently a
hazard because you're willing to turn
them over to the property owners and if
they become a hazard Gilbert will remove
the
trees
so is it a hazard or not it seems odd to
me that at Town council meeting the town
staff Town Council
and the previous mayor all stated how
these trees are a
hazard once again you all are not
telling the truth you are talking out
both sides of your mouths you're
presenting you're presenting only the
information that benefits your point of
view next I'd like to address the
communication that was recently posted
on the College Park Country Estates
website
section interesting that this is the
first actual item that had been
posted paragraph number one
quote Town records indicate that in 1998
the town replaced some trees on the
right away and ass assumed maintenance
of all these trees in the right of way
in the neighborhood as a result the town
maintained approximately 40 trees in the
rideway of College Park Country state
for nearly 30 30 years at no no cost to
the residents even though the town has
been maintaining these treat it is not
legally or contractually required Rec
I'd like to recap and or have questions
for that paragraph why does the town
staff and the lawyer not mention the
approved
plat and the easement agreement nowhere
are those mentioned the Covenant letter
stated that you own the property and the
60 feet on Riata Street
and the 50 ft on Country
Plaza the easement agreement also states
that you bought the land and that you
must maintain it and be responsible for
the
damages our approved plat has no mention
of ab budding Property Owners being
responsible this community has no HOA or
pkid and neither are mentioned on the
approved
plat paragraph number two quote College
Park Country States was developed prior
to the Land Development code it's glad
that you have acknowledged
that it's however quote not exempt or
grandfathered
in my questions and comments how can sta
how can Town staff pick and choose what
codes they want to change or they want
to
enforce how can you not acknowledge the
agreement on an approved
plat how can you ignore the assessment
the assessment
agreement how can staff pick and choose
what parts of a code they want to try to
enforce how can you not hold every
community and
business accountable to the same codes
and finally the code States new
subdivisions all new subdivisions we are
not a new
subdivision paragraph number three
quote aside from a
limited locations in the Heritage
District glad to see that you
acknowledge that the hery district does
have landscaping and maintenance College
Park country states is the sole
remaining neighborhood in which the town
maintains landscape in the right way
along internal resident streets and
where it has not enforce the LDC code
the Land Development
code per records request at the last
Town council meeting I presented several
other neighborhoods that were identified
as having maintenance completed by the
town so what is the real
truth paragraph number six quote the
town has determined that the eight red
gum eucalyptus trees in College Park
Country States neighborhood must be
removed due to safety
concerns so here we go again Town says
it's a safety concern and they should be
removed however previously in the
Covenant letter it says if they become a
hazard or a safety issue the public to
the public they will be removed you're
contradicting yourself over and over
again so which one is
it you all keep talking out both sides
of your
mouth are they a safety concern or not
or is it a c liability issue or is it a
code issue do you even know which one it
is I have been respectful and try to
respect your positions with within the
town of Gilbert however you are not
truth you all are not truthful you've
lied you presented half of the
information you omit information you
spin the information to your own
agenda all this is for one of the the
oldest neighborhoods in
Gilbert you have no respect for our
neighborhood and I have no respect for
you and I mostly have no respect for
your decisions when you only have half
of the
information thank you for your time okay
thank
you so our next speaker um Allison H
where are you are you still here you're
donating your time okay
to Brandon wood
okay and you you will have six minutes
and if you'll State your full name and
the city you live in
please mayor and council members my name
is Brendan wood I'm a resident of
Gilbert
Arizona um I stand before you once again
not just as a resident but as a voice
for my
neighborhood a neighborhood that is
being unfairly targeted by the very
government that should be protecting
it this isn't just about trees it's
about fairness honesty and the town's
responsibility to uphold its own code
and
commitments the Land Development code
being used to justify the removal of our
Landscaping explicitly states that it
applies to new
subdivisions the town itself admits this
code was adopted in
1982 and our plat was approved by the
town 10 years
prior how can you apply a regulation
that didn't exist when our neighborhood
was
built this is arbitrary enforcement at
best and a gross overreach at
worst even if you do enforce the Land
Development code let's be clear it
requires trees in the rights of way Land
Development code section
5.4.4 D subsection 4 mandates a 10-ft
landscape area along collector and local
streets with trees planted at 1 per 30
ft of
Frontage if the town is upholding the
code why isn't it following its own tree
planting requirement you're going to
remove our trees but not plant new ones
the code says you have to have trees
there additionally where in the Land
Development code does it exempt the
Heritage district from ride of away
Landscape Maintenance nowhere I've read
it a thousand
times yet the town is still selectively
enforcing this code against our
neighborhood while while ignoring it
elsewhere this is not equal application
of the
law the town's proposed Covenant for
ongoing Landscape Maintenance states
that the trees will not be removed
unless they pose an immediate
Hazard I've already came in here time
again stating the ARB report
commissioned by the town determined the
trees to be low risk why are they being
removed why does the town's own
documents contradict its
actions council member
tasen you stated our subdivision is the
only one with red gum trees that's not
true there's Town
parks and along the SRP Trail there's
red gum eucalytus trees this is a photo
I took you can see the plaque right here
at the bottom town of Gilbert this is a
red
gum this is a red gum tree a town-owned
park here's another red gum tree at a
town owned
Park here's another one you guys saying
these trees are dangerous they're all
over the
town here's another one on SRP Trail I
got all these information from a public
records
request you were emailing my neighbor
Joe he said we're the only place in the
town that these trees exist that's not
true worse yet you are allowing Town
staff to bulldoze the situation both
figuratively and
literally they are forcing this outcome
with no transparency no real dialogue
and no
accountability the destruction of our
neighborhood directly contradicts the
goals set forth in the shade and Street
skate master
plan a plan in which our neighborhood is
featured I know I've showed you guys
this before our neighborhood is featured
in the shad and Street skate master plan
you want to remove 25% of the trees
right off the
bat how can you promote the value of
shade in urban forestry while allowing
this destruction in a community that
embodies the the very principles we're
talking about in this
plan council member
torguson after sitting through numerous
meetings I've heard you say more than
once that council members make
mistakes well Mr torguson I think this
council is making a
mistake a mistake that will not be
forgotten by those of who by those of us
who live in this community a mistake
that will permanently alter the
character and value of our
neighborhood a mistake that will call
into question the Integrity of its
council's decisions for years to
come and in case staff did not did not
inform me these trees have already been
marked for
removal and last but not least i' like
to talk about the history of these trees
they were planted in 1975 when Gilbert's
population was only about
3,000 today Gilbert has 275,557
long before most of us got here and yet
now when shade and mature trees are more
valuable than ever the town is rushing
to remove
them I urge you before this mistakes
come becomes irreversible to stop this
unnecessary destruction and honor the
promises made to our
community the residents of this town
deserve better thank
you thank you our next speaker um Sarah
Brennan are you okay and you you're
donating your time to Teresa
Cordova and Teresa if you would say your
full name in the city you live in and
you will have six minutes thank you
council members and mayor
Anderson name is Teresa Cordova I
currently reside in Santan Valley I'm a
native of
Arizona I'm here to speak off speak on
the behalf of my son Nick Cordova who
was brutally
murdered May 27th
2020 here at in
Gilbert it has been 5 years since he was
murdered and Gilbert PD has failed to
bring forth the person persons
responsible the system has failed
Nick failed
me and failed his family and
friends with all due respect to Gilbert
PD showing up today and making a
statement words are just words we've
heard for The Last 5
Years I am a mother grieving the
unimaginable loss of a
child a loss has that shattered my world
and left a void that can never be
filled his mama son bear hugs that I
will never fill again his smile of joy
that I will never see again he was the
man of Faith his family was his
world in the wake of this tragedy I
placed my faith in the justice system
believing that those responsible would
be held accountable I trusted that the
truth would be pursued and my child's
life would be honored but instead I been
met with the silence neglect and excuses
that deepen my grief and erode My Hope
for every day that passes without
answers without action without
accountability my pain grows heavier my
child deserves Justice and my family
deserves
closure we are not just statistics or
Case Files we are human beings with
hearts the break dreams that were taken
away and memories we hold dear
today I stand before you to demand
Justice accountability and change my
son's life Nick matters thank you for
your time thank
you our next speaker um will be we have
Rosanna is it Garcia and are you still
here yes uh okay okay and you're
donating your time
I'm sorry I can't read your first name I
apologize your last name is Cordova so
if you would State your full name and
the city you live in please my name is
Alicia Cordova and I live in Scottdale
Arizona thank you and you have six
minutes
sorry in Gilbert Arizona on May 27th of
2020 my husband Nick Cordova was
brutally Shan killed while at work while
on FaceTime with our
children at the time Cruz was five sorry
Cruz was eight and Capri was
five I'm here speaking tonight not just
as a grieving Widow but as a voice for
my husband who no longer has one for our
children our family our friends and for
everyone who has suffered because of
this
Injustice my husband was taken from us
in a tragic and senseless act and yet
the very institution meant to serve and
prot protect him and us has failed to do
so from the moment that I lost Nick I
trusted that the Gilbert Police
Department would do right by
us I was confident that the detectives
on the case mind you we on our fourth
detective now would fight for the
truth I believed in them their
commitment and the promises they made to
get Justice for my
husband the negative experience I have
had over the years has just
proved how much sorry how uninvested
they
are the lack of care communication and
urgency is unacceptable and it is shaken
my faith in the
system days have turned into weeks weeks
have turned into months months into
years and four and a half years later
still I have been left in the dark there
have been nothing but broken promises
calls left un return interviews never
conducted follow-ups pushed aside
evidence left unchecked
the longer Gilbert py takes the further
away Justice
slips it is another day that my
husband's life is treated as another
murder case that they deem too
complicated or too inconvenient to solve
instead of the tragedy that it truly
is this isn't just a murder case this is
about a
person it's about Nick Cordova my
husband and the father of my
children the man who I was with for 17
years my heart my rock and my future
just robbed of all of that his death
didn't just take him away from me and
his children it truly W rocked our
entire family it ripped away the life
that we had built together leaving
behind nothing but grief anger emptiness
and an endless amount of
questions I have to wake up every day
with a pain that's never going to fade a
hole that will never be filled every
holiday every Milestone every ordinary
moment that once brought Joy is now a
reminder of all that was stolen from
us the weight of this loss is unbearable
and yet the men responsible for
murdering Nick still walk free while my
family has to struggle to pick up the
broken pieces of our lives and it's just
not
fair so I'm here today to say to the
mayor and the members of the council who
sit before me as respectfully as I
possibly can no more no more delays no
more excuses no more unanswered
questions you oversee the Gilbert Police
Department it is your responsibility to
make sure that they do their jobs that
they investigate that they pursue the
truth and they're not doing that they
have proved their incompetence to do
so with that said I urge you to
intervene and have an internal
investigation done on Nick's
case not only so he can receive Justice
that he deserves but also to restore the
trust of this community in law
enforcement until that happens and until
the men are responsible for murdering my
husband are held accountable I will will
not stop speaking and I will not stop
fighting I will carry my husband's
memory forward demanding that Justice
that should have been Ours from the very
beginning thank
you thank
you with that that concludes our
citizens comments and I will turn this
back over to the mayor thank
you Patrick did you make some notes on
some of those we could specifically with
Mrs Taylor and and have a staff person
meet with her from the Arts uh League
thank
you future meetings we have a stud
session proposed on traffic accident
data coming up from Communications
report from the town
manager thank you mayor members of the
Town
Council got to we it advance to the next
slide so going forward I wanted to um
talk about some changes um and a new
approach I'll take to the manager's
update and some of the information that
we'll cover um at our Council meetings
I'm going just to um start highlighting
our
various do we want to give a second let
everybody clear out
okay thank you okay so um going forward
I'm going to uh start providing some
additional levels of information during
manager's update one of the things I'm
going to do is each each meeting I will
highlight a different department and
Division and the work they provide to
this community any special recognitions
certifications accreditations they have
but start highlighting the great work
being done by our men and women in our
various lines of service in service to
our community that are such a
foundational piece of the quality of
life that we enjoy in our community I
will continue to highlight retirements
recognitions and awards for various
staff members that we have talk about
organizational accomplishments and and
certifications and recognition we we
receive also I'll take some of our
dashboard metrics that we are continuing
to um finalize and finish up we've got a
bunch more that'll be published soon but
highlight some of our dashboard metrics
and and highlight how we're doing in
various areas of importance to our
community and also use it as an
opportunity to talk about our Capital
project status and Milestone updates
we've got a number of those projects in
various stages of planning programming
design construction and I'll use this
time to also keep you a breast of those
various projects and where they
stand with that we'll move forward want
to highlight uh the Aspire Academy that
was hosted by GPD and gfrd in part
partnership with neighboring Public
Safety departments on March 13th through
16th we had a number of um individuals
participate in that Academy and um our
fire chief can go into more detail if
you'd like but it was just a wonderful
time and and uh great opportunity for um
our youth to uh learn more about what
it's like to uh serve in Gilbert Fire
and Rescue and and police departments
the next slide our sensy awareness
family event Public Safety day is this
Saturday March 29th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:
p.m. that'll be at the Public Safety
Training Facility here in town the event
gives G members of the special needs and
autism communities the opportunity to
interact with firefighters and police
officers in a safe setting activities
include the chance to take Ride Along on
a firet truck experience a police
traffic stop and see police and fire
gear up close we have local resources
we'll also be on site for Gilbert
residents and families with autism and
special needs go to the next slide want
to uh congratulate Eva cro who will be
retiring in the very near future she's
been a longtime member of our planning
uh Department as the planning manager
and done a great job for us so we sad to
see Eva grow but wish her the best with
her
retirement the next slide and then we
want to recognize Dan Henderson our
director of Economic Development he was
honored with the Jeffrey a finle
organizational leadership award for the
great work he has done for the town of
Gilbert which we all uh see the benefits
of um with each passing month as this
community continues to build out
congratulations
Dan we were also just recognized as one
of the top five cities for firsttime
home buyers Good Morning America
featured consumer affairs research
recognizing the top cities for firsttime
home biters with Gilbert ER Arizona
coming in at number five and ABC's
Rebecca Jarvis also acknowledg Gilbert
as Phoenix's coolest
suburb and with that that's all I have
for the update tonight thank you
mayor thank you uh report from the
council I know council member Lions has
something thank you
mayor um in Gilbert we proudly honor
those who have served our country
through the military tribute Banner
program uh there's still time to
recognize a loved one with a tribute
Banner it'll be displayed in the
Heritage district for Memorial Day
Independence Day and Veterans Day each
Banner is $130 and features the honorary
the honor photo service Branch rank
service dates family name and more uh
after being proudly displayed the banner
will be yours to keep as a meaningful
Keepsake I wanted to uh highlight that
the deadline is next Monday uh March
31st so if you want to do this please
get with us and uh I would encourage you
to do so thank you thank you council
member bonani sorry I'm having a little
allergy attack over here okay uh things
is going on and Parks re uh Gilbert
Global Village Festival Festival will be
held sat uh on Saturday April 5th on the
Gilbert Civic Center lawn from 9:00 a.m.
to 2: p.m. the festival is free
Multicultural celebration for all ages
Gilbert is focused on creating a safe
and respectful environment where
authentic connections Thrive opinions
are equally valued Alliance are is
encouraged and differences are shared
and celebrated uh glow up Gilbert join
us for an unforgettable night of music
games and glowing fun at the mosquite um
Aquatic Center on Saturday April 5th
from 6:00 p.m to 8:00 pm this exclusive
event is just for high schoolers so grab
your friends and get ready to light up
the night plus enjoy free food while you
party
that's it thank you any other reports
council member Kowski just a quick
update that the Gilbert Symphony
orchestra's final program of the season
is Monday evening 700 pm. at the higy
Center for Performing Arts and it will
be classical music from classical CTO
from classic
cartoons thank you any other reports
report for the mayor I only have a
couple of items one is uh tomorrow
night Gilbert is the place to be on the
red carpet so I look forward to uh
seeing anyone who uh is going to be
attending our the state of the town
tomorrow night uh look forward
to um being there with you and other
members of our community so starting
tomorrow night at six do open at six
o'clock and I think the actual program
begins I think it's 6:30 or 6:40 6:30 I
believe
the only other thing is uh we want to
wish
a post celebration I guess a birthday
celebration for council member kosi and
vice mayor Buckley happy birthday you
both had birthdays this month thank you
yes hers was the 13th and mine was the
14th oh well thank you with that I'll
entertain a motion to
adjourn I'll make a motion to
adjourn been moved uh we are adjourned
for