Regular Meeting - 12/12/2023 6:30:00 PM

e
good evening
welcome to the December 12th 2023
Gilbert Town council meeting I'll call
this meeting to order the first item on
our agenda this night is an invocation
by Dr Dan money senior pastor at Elliot
Road Baptist Church Dr Mooney if you
could please come to the
podium there's a microphone button to
turn that microphone on and it will
light up red when it's turned
on thank you
perfect let us
pray our gracious Heavenly Father we
come before you this evening we are
grateful to you that you are the author
of all life that you are the ordainer of
all human authority and government we
thank you that in your wisdom you
ordained human government we ask this
evening that as our Town Council meets
that you will grant them your wisdom
your guidance your direction
as they consider the matters and issues
that are necessary and important in the
smooth operation of our town we Grant we
thank you that you will grant this to
them we ask that you help us to keep
them in our prayers Faithfully we ask
these things in Christ's name
amen thank you Dr Mooney we appreciate
your your time this evening and leading
the invocation now we'll be led in the
Pledge of Allegiance by council member
Kowski please rise
of the United States of
America
stand
indivisible Town cler Herrera please
conduct the roll call Mayor Bridget
Peterson here vice mayor Kathy tilky
here council member Scott Anderson here
council member Chuck Bon Giovani here
council member Bobby Buckley here
council member young Kowski here and
council member Jim torguson here aarum
is present thank you cheli our first
item on our agenda this evening under
presentations and proclamations we have
a presentation introducing the Park
University women's soccer team of
Gilbert and this will be presented by
Maya mudrey
Katherine to put my GL corlette and
Alexandra White
the microphone's already on for
you
okay hello everyone we are the Park
University Gilbert women's soccer team
and we first wanted to start off by
saying thank you to the Town Council for
having us here tonight and giving us the
opportunity to introduce ourselves to
you guys my name is Maya mudrey I am a
senior majoring in interdisciplinary
studies
my name is Alexander white I'm a junior
and I'm currently studying business
construction management and my name is
Katherine corlette a senior majoring in
exercise
science all righty so I'd first like to
introduce my team right here behind
us
righty so to begin with my team has been
hard at work uh creating and finalizing
a new culture here at Gilbert Park Unity
univiversity
righty a little bit about the women
behind the
jerseys um most of our team is made up
of local Gilbert residents and we
proudly represent local high schools
here local Arizona Youth Soccer Clubs as
well as local transfer or local
community colleges like it shows on the
screen 65% of us are Gilbert residents
and along with that 34% of us graduated
from a Gilbert public school so give a
little shout out I graduated from Higley
High School I grad uated from Castile
high school and I graduated from Camp
over high school and along with the
local high schools a few of us including
myself are proud graduates from Chan the
Gilbert Community College where we are
equally as proud to continue our
education close to home here at
Park
okay on the field and in the classroom
we strive and continue to set goals and
meet our
standards within a span of 2 years our
team's GPA climbed from a
2.47 to a
3.59 thus out of 32 30 of us have a 3.0
or higher leading us to have the highest
GPA on campus in addition we have
received multiple Awards uh to to
mention uh a team award champion of
character and then a handful of the
girls on the team have received Award of
academic
allamerican okay along with our
standards we value giving back to our
community
uh so far our team have participated in
canned food drives um Christmas toy
drives uh walking alongside best buddies
uh Feed My Starving Children and our
annual Kids Sports Camps we are proud to
host next we value bringing our
community together by promoting local
Gilbert businesses for example we have
supported our local restaurants for
various events on campus including
senior night Christmas Gatherings and
more along with all of those things that
Alexandra just mentioned we pride
ourselves in being a team of many
different individuals all of us being
different and unique in our own ways
because of this we strive to represent
all of those and celebrate and uh give
thanks to all the things that we support
along the season we have been able to
celebrate breast cancer awareness at one
of our game days as well as mental
health awareness week for student
athletes along with pride
week I want to take this time again to
thank you for giving us this opportunity
to talk about Park University women's
soccer the college soccer team of
Gilbert
Arizon nice
job well ladies thank you for being here
the only thing that I would say is it's
not Chandler Gilbert Community College
it's Gilbert Chandler Community College
when you're in Gilbert that's what we
call it and I heard we own it now so
we're going with that congratulations
for being such a great team for for
raising your grade point averages
together as a team that's amazing I know
that you guys the ages that you are and
the years that you're in college you've
had some interesting situations between
the pandemic and graduating high school
and then ending up into in the
University so congratulations on that
thank you for being the Gilbert women's
soccer team for Park University we love
our relationship with Park and we're
very happy to have you here
congratulations and here's to a great
season when is your season over yet or
just you just finished well hope it was
a great one and look forward to next
year thanks for all you're doing in our
community too thank
you
[Applause]
yeah let's celebrate that that's what
we're here for to recognize all the
great things happening in Gilbert um and
this evening before we start
Communications from citizens I want to
say that we do recognize some of you are
here to speak during citizen comment
regarding Prest and Lord and violent
acts occurring in surrounding
communities and at the end of
communications from citizens our police
chief has a statement to provide the
public in the investigations after we
hear from you vice mayor I'll turn it
over to
you thank you mayor um the Gilbert Town
Council values citizens comments and
input anyone wishing to speak before the
council must fill out a request a speak
card for each item they wish to speak on
and submit it to the town clerk or place
it in the bin provided prior to the
start of the meeting the communications
from citizens portion on the agenda
provides citizens an opportunity to
identify for the Town Council matters of
Interest or concern related to town
government under the provisions of the
Arizona open meeting law the Town
Council is prohibited from responding to
issues that not have not been properly
noticed therefore the Town Council may
only listen to citizens who wish to
address them and at the conclusion of
the open call to public response is
limited to individual members of the
council responsing responding to
criticism made by those who have
addressed the public body asking staff
to review a matter or asking that a
matter be placed on a future agenda that
we ask that when your name is called you
come forward to the podium state your
name and place of residence and then
begin speaking all speakers are are
expected to observe common standards of
decorum and courtesy the first oh I see
the microphone's already on so you don't
have to worry about that you'll have 3
minutes and you will see the timer on
your monitor and there will be one up on
the screen as well and you'll hear a
button at the end um a bell I should say
at the end of 3 minutes uh first up we
have Katie mcferson following Katie is
Jam and I I couldn't read your last name
but I think you know who you are thank
you good evening thank you so much for
giving me the opportunity to speak
tonight um I'm a resident of Queen Creek
but Gilbert in my heart um just moved to
Queen Creek from Gilbert um mayor
Peterson vice mayor a tilki and esteemed
council members as well as law
enforcement and our chief I think is
somewhere here I stand before you today
with an extremely heavy heart yet
hopeful for the opportunity to speak
with you this evening our community has
lost a tremendous young man Preston
William Lord while I did not know
Preston he is all of our children he
looks like my children he acted like my
children and he has quickly become our
Town's child in the past 6 months
several friends of mine have had their
children
assaulted beaten and threatened in much
the same way as Preston another friend's
child at the mere age of 16 performed
CPR on Preston as he frantically tried
to save his life a perfect storm of
collective trauma has hit our region it
is imperative that we heed the warning
that these children are signaling
proximity matters when it comes to abuse
it is easy for us to disengage and
disconnect when it is happening to
someone else until it happens to you it
is right here now in our region is not
held harmless many are deeply impacted
in public health there are three lanes
of well-being well-being distress and
crisis it is glaringly obvious we have
more than a few children in destructive
crisis but more importantly that we must
intervene now and recognize that I stand
before you tonight to request just three
things from you as Leaders to publicly
condemn the act of violence that took
Preston Lord's life so that teenagers
and adults alike recognize that this
leadership
and Public Safety officers will not
tolerate such violence in our community
the runway to this event occurred many
times here in Gilbert Chandler as well
as Queen Creek and Mesa to open a series
of listening sessions with adults and
youth around the topic of safety and
violence prevention violence prevention
relies on children having trusted adults
and healthy adults in their lives
unfortunately kids don't get to choose
their parents and the Environ
and when those environments don't meet
the needs of I see you I hear you I love
you they will find other ways to be seen
heard and loved and form a crew and a
cause and that is what has happened here
I'm hopeful that together we can see
here and love each other and our youth
they need us now more than ever thank
you so much for your time I appreciate
it thank you Katie um next is jam and
following Jam is Nikki
connley hi good evening ladies and
gentlemen councils um my name is Janice
o legally but everyone can call me Jam
like you know strawberry jam um so my
family and I had moved here in Gilbert
with the impression that it is a safe
space to raise my three children until
all of these cases had happened and as a
mother of a high school student about to
be in middle school and an elementary
student this really scares me like I I
cannot send my child out there thinking
that there are other kids harming other
people
so presence death is not even the first
but a wakeup call to everyone that
there's something wrong this children
needs help and my eldest is a freshman
of Williams Field high school and all of
this death of Preston Haley and
jir brings fear in me as a mother I
believe the alleged perpetrators are not
born evil they're always a reason for
how they become it all starts at home
community and
values not every child has a perfect
family not every parent is perfect
there's no handbook to be a parent or a
perfect child and there's no such thing
as perfect but if there were multiple
occasions that your child was
reprimanded for their behavior step back
and reflect it is okay to be not okay
but it is not okay to be not okay and
not do something about it start noticing
your children at an early age be present
ask your child what is bothering them
and what makes them do such heinous
act help them we need to help our
children parents education I am lucky
enough that I learned mental health is a
huge factor of raising decent human
beings but not all parents have this
opportunity chaperal Elementary School
got the chance to be the pilot school to
host the bullying awareness of parents
and students last November 16 in
partnership with Higley Unified School
District and Oasis Behavioral Health and
I'm here pleading to you councils that
we do more of this more education to our
parents and to our
community not everyone has the
opportunity or access to private mental
health care I can only speak for my
children but they
get therapy but not everyone does so if
this is available in our Public School
those children that doesn't have the
access could have it as I always tell my
patient early diagnosis is the
key and from the East Coast you always
hear in the subway if you see something
say something if you see someone
struggling talk to them as my young my
8-year-old daughter came to me last year
on her first year here in Arizona saying
mommy I don't want to go to school one
of my classmates told me his uncle have
a gun and he's going to kill me and my
family at 8 years old those words should
not be even possible we need to teach
our children more that it is okay to
speak up be part of the
change so I know my time is almost up it
is up yes but yes um but yeah just to
end it as a parent of a high school
student about to be Middle School
elementary I will keep Preston Haley and
jer's name loud and clear until we get
Justice and promote emotional and mental
support to the students that are in need
the best way I can thank you and thank
you for the extra time thank you than
you
jam Cassandra
next oops sorry Nikki Conley next and
then Cassandra I
apologize hello thank you for having me
today and letting me speak um I'm in
here in solidarity with these mon these
wonderful mothers here um I'm a Chandler
resident but I am here because I believe
that our community as a whole Chandler
Gilbert Queen We Belong Together our
kids all hang out together we see each
other they see each other out and they
are all friends so I am the face of a
boy who was a victim of a jumping uh he
was at the Chandler Mall with four
friends last November November 19th
2022 they were walking to the movies and
they were jumped by 20 boys my son
screamed at his friends to run his
friends ran unfortunately my son
couldn't run he got punched in the side
of the head he fell on the ground and a
car pulled up and about probably 10 more
kids came out and just started stomping
him in his head and beating him as much
as hard as they could um there was a
plenty of people around it was a busy
mall uh it was earlier in the evening he
heard one of the boys scream stick him
stick him and he thought I am going to
die and and he wasn't sure if he was
going to survive that moment um
fortunately one of the people at BJ's
Grill on the patio called 911 she
refused to give a description of the
kids and she refused to give her name
the Channeler PD called my husband and I
down we went down there we filed a
police report as a mother my immediate
reaction was what did you do you know
like that's what you always want to you
don't want to think your child didn't do
anything he said nothing we were just
walking the channel uh the officer that
helped us that day um said this is
happening here all the time they're
coming they're jumping kids and they
scatter and your child is left with not
only the physical uh bruises but the
emotional ones as well uh it was hard to
bring him home and explain to him why
this happens we tried different Avenues
we we I know our our police are you know
the resources they have available to
them are are there's not as many as they
should have so we had a hard time
getting the information in the in the
video um we didn't get very far with it
we finally just decided to move on with
our life as best we could he's a strong
kid he's a smart kid he's a football
player so he knows you know he knew how
to defend himself he knew to lay on the
ground he knew to put his hands over his
ears and he knew to cover his neck so he
didn't die um so I'm grateful that he
had that experience as far as knowing
what to do in a situation where he was
being attacked uh we decided to move on
and just go on with our lives um he's
fine today thank goodness he was one of
the lucky ones Preston unfortunately God
Rest his soul was not and um I just feel
like at this point it's getting worse
and I think the communities of Gilbert
Chandler and Queen Creek the uh City
councils have to come together and
figure out a way that we can help these
kids and make this stop thank you for
your
time thank you Nikki Cassandra Irvin
next
hello Mrs mayor and council members of
Gilbert thank you for your time and
attention this evening my name is
Cassandra Irwin I'm from I'm from your
neighboring City over here in Queen
Creek I'm a concerned but I'm also a
hopeful
citizen youth violence is a national
crisis and in the aftermath of three
recent deadly assaults the connection we
have with our Community it's more
fragile than ever
before our children they're fractured
our parents are broken and our region is
damaged Council I stand here and I
Venture that we all want the same thing
that's to not let these senseless acts
drop the ball on our community so I'm
asking you all One Singular actionable
item with a couple different bullet
points respectfully my request is for
the town of kilbert to be the second
town to make a strong public state
statement condemning the acts of
violence and intimidation plaguing our
community community while supporting
those who also have information that can
lead to Justice bullet point number one
a strict Zero Tolerance message this has
been said a couple of different times
from the Apex of our Town's government
is necessary for children and families
to feel protected your your bold
statement is an added layer of safety
that cloaks our
community I've said it a few times
before Jason alen's song try that in a
small town has come to mind several
times throughout this
movement clear direct condemnation of
violence and retaliation must remain
omnipresent in the minds of local
predators in effort to mitigate future
attacks let our voices serve as a
reminder don't try that in our small
town lastly our children's narrative it
changes with
us currently retaliation governs the
minds of our children in har harboring
embarrassment they're harboring
fear and their harboring of their fear
of regressive stale outdated Neanderthal
behavior that they fell victim
to with clear vocal conveyance of
encouragement from our government Le in
bodies we Empower our children to uphold
a level of social justice and integrity
we teach them commitment to value of
life and Liberty we teach them personal
responsibilities their voices will not
be shushed their voices will be a
contribution to our community they are
after all the
future let it be known the Forward
Thinking cuttingedge developmentally
accelerated child is compassionate
they're connected and they take
responsibility for their behaviors the
direction our region is going is rooted
in a growth mindset any Behavior other
than that is being left behind thank
you thank you Cassandra U mayor that is
all of the communications from citizens
thank you vice mayor can I ask police
chief Michael soberg to please come down
to the
podium
good
evening uh mayor council and members uh
in our uh Council chamers today prepared
a statement regarding uh what you just
heard and uh reiterating some of those
points I want to thank those who took
the time to come to our council meeting
tonight and for those who have expressed
their concern through their emails to us
I want to acknowledge the fear and
frustration that the community is
filling after the tragic deaths of three
East Valley teens Preston Lord in Queen
Creek Haley Stevens in cagr and jir
Jenkins in panel County although the
three in recent incidents are unrelated
they have greatly impacted our
respective communities due to the
violence that has led to the tragic loss
of these three youths AR have been made
in both the CAG Grande and panel County
investigations Queen Creek Queen Creek
PD is actively working on their thorough
investigation and providing Community
updates as it progresses it would be
inappropriate for me to make any further
comments regarding the Queen Creek
Police Department
investigation but I'm here to tell you
that we do condemn any violence within
our community and I here tonight to
reassure our community members that we
will do
everything we can do
to successfully investigate and
prosecute those who have committed
violence within our community there has
been a lot of speculation and
misinformation spread over social media
regarding these and other incidents
which have occurred in Gilbert and other
communities Gilbert PD has investigated
all reported incidents and taken the
proper actions to ensure any concerning
behaviors or Trends are addressed
promptly we continue to encourage any
concerns or relevant information be
shared directly with Gilbert Police
Department or other appropriate
jurisdiction
to avoid potentially creating online
confusion or misinformation more
importantly providing information
directly to the police department will
ensure proper followup Andor
investigation is conducted so that
Justice will be provided to the families
of the victims Gilbert PD will continue
to work on continued teen safety
education via our school resource
officers our crime prevention team and
our social media channels thank
you thank you Chief we appreciate your
time now we will move on to the next
part of our agenda vice mayor consent
calendar thank you mayor um I have no
request to pull uh any item from the
consent calendar and with that I would
make a motion to approve items
2 through 21 which includes the
Amendments uh 16a and
16b I have a motion by vice mayor tilky
I'll second it second by councilman ran
Giovani please
vote oh um they don't have the vote
screen
cheli let me close and restart one
sec
my do you have a vote screen
now
it yeah it's not there it's on vacation
already it's on it's on holiday break
just she's
checking mayor would you like to do a
Voice vote and we'll get it to look at
those I'd be happy to so we have a
motion by vice mayor tilki seconded by
council member Bon Giovani all in favor
please say I I any opposed hearing none
motion passes
70 moving on thank you vice mayor moving
on to the public public hearing portion
of our agenda we have no um request to
speak and I have no public comment
received online for the items on our
public hearing agenda which includes
three items this evening one
is zoning is z excuse me I'll open the
public hearing z
23-05 z 23-10 a and number 25 is listed
on the agenda the code of Gilbert update
for an ordinance um related to
fireworks would anyone like a
presentation on any of
these Readers Digest presentation on
tracks can I I will okay I will I would
appreciate a motion on the other two
items I'll close the public
hearing I have a motion to turn your mic
on please thank you I would like to have
a presentation actually on zoning is
what I I he you hope to have a
presentation on zoning item Z
23-05 yes I will I will call that up in
one minute if we'd like to take a motion
on the other two items on our public
hearing agenda z23 d10a and the code of
Gilbert number 25 on your agenda I move
to take a vote on that second we have a
motion by council member torguson
seconded by council member
Anderson all in favor please say I I I I
any opposed hearing none motion passes
70 so that was on those two items cheli
23 and 25 moving on to item Z 23-05 I'll
open the public hearing and ask staff to
come down and do a presentation reader
digest version we're gonna have to stop
saying that because I think generation
is gone of Readers Digest version people
so hi
Keith mayor Peterson members of the
council good evening if I remember
correctly the readers digest is a pretty
thick little magazine so just kidding
with very short versions of stories I
know I understand that um so my my um
project before you tonight is for as
you've stated for tracks at
station um the site is located as you
can see highlighted looks like a home
plate um it's highlighted on the screen
in front of you it's west of the
southwest corner of um re of
williamsfield and verie drive right in
the middle of farmfield within the
 station uh uh planned area
development um and here's a little
 station context map you can see
on here I've added you can see the site
and then on and then we've added all the
developments in the area that have been
approved over the last several last uh
10 years 15 years or so um the ones in
White have been approved within the last
three or four years so there's been a
lot of activity taking place in this
area um as far as the request tonight
it's for a proposed pad Amendment um to
the existing pad that's out there for
 station to um change the
development original development plan
and to re the applicant to request a few
deviations increasing um permitted
building Heights and reducing building
and Landscape
setbacks and this is the zoning exhibit
pretty pretty simple I don't really need
to go over this um here's the previously
approved development plan just wanted
to
oh somehow my mic cut out just wanted to
show this to you for context um the
parcels in that blue color that
turquoise color and as you can see on
this development plan which was was
originally approved in
2007 um the property is already zoned
multifamily medium back in 2007 so the
applicant is not requesting to change
the zoning from multifam medium they're
proposing to change the pad just to like
I stated a few minutes ago add some
deviations and change the original
development plan and speaking of that
development plan here it is um 568
apartment units they're
proposing um 22 and A2
Acres uh
2498 dwelling units per acre on the
property uh there's total of 10
residential buildings two two at five
stories along the williamsfield road
Frontage and you can see those on the
screen in front of you the rest of the
buildings on the site residential
buildings were four stories
um except for the car the carriage units
on the E East Boundary or or our two
stories and then you have a twostory
clubhouse and the applicant will
probably go over all the amenities you
have two different amenity spaces and
then you have an internal parking garage
that is wrapped it's in that big
building right at Wade in williamsfield
and I'm sure you've seen versions of the
site plan a conceptual site plan the
units wrap the building and the
applicant will go more into those
details so you won't even see the
parking
garage so as far as proposed deviations
there's just just a few of them um uh
minimum net land area from they're
requesting to go down to 15 52 Square ft
per unit um and then one of the biggest
ones is probably the major deviation for
this request is today the code allows uh
56 the buildings to be 56 ft and four
stories by right um per the vertical
development overlay District that is on
the site um they are allowed to
technically go up to 84 stories and six
stories or sorry 84 feet in height and
six stories in building side uh stories
of building that would be a really tall
building that would be very tall
building right so that's with what we
call the bonus maximum so that's if they
want to exceed
56 56 fet in four stories that's they
have to use the pad tool to go beyond
that so that's one of the main reasons
we're here tonight is to reach that 69
ft and 5 stories and then along the
eastern boundary the the building
setbacks are 20 ft they want to go down
to 10 for those carriage units and then
the landscape setbacks at 15 along that
eastern boundary and they want to go
down to 10 to be able to accommodate
those twostory carriage units so those
are the proposed deviations which staff
supports
um so one thing that um I wanted to
bring up really quickly is the water
usage on the site I know we have a
statement in our staff report that talks
about there will be minimal impact uh on
the water um use projections as far as
that is concerned
multifam I'll just go over this really
quickly is about 48 acre feet of water
per year that will be used with if this
was zoned single family and it was
filled with about 120 or so single
family unit units at about 5,000 ft Lots
you would you would see about 36 acre
feet per year of water usage if it
stayed currently as it is today
agriculture you'd see between 100 and
120 acre feet per year of water so this
request is actually reducing the amount
of water use on the on the project site
just wanted to to share that with
you um as far as public participation is
concerned um they've had one
neighborhood meeting we had uh only two
people uh show up uh actually sorry one
excuse me we had a reporter from the
Gilbert Sun Times ask general questions
and then we had no other property owners
uh uh attend and we haven't had any
members of the public reach out to staff
concerning this
request so that concludes my hopefully
that was enough of a reader digest
presentation for you as you as you know
mayor Peterson I can probably go on for
about 20 more minutes but I won't do
that so um staff recommends uh that uh
you you make approve the findings a fact
and adopt this ordinance tonight and if
you have any questions for me I am
available and the applicant ree Anderson
from PE and lake is also here to to um
potentially provide a brief presentation
and answer uh even more questions that I
I may not be able to address so thank
you very much thank you appreciate your
presentation and the brevity of it I
think it's pretty straightforward and um
does anyone have any questions for
council member ban Giovani uh thank you
mayor I just want to set the records
straight we did have one complaint um uh
email one email I believe it was
yesterday the night before so just want
to make that straight for the
record thank you to the council Yes Yes
actually thank you for that I just
literally pulled it up we received it
yesterday afternoon from one resident um
asking us to not pass this project so
just to be on the record with everything
any other oh council member
Anderson Keith is the only way that you
can use the vertical overlays by
pad um mayor Peterson council member
Anderson so per the vdd like I stated
before they can go up to 56 feet four
stories uh that's by right through the
VOD in order to go beyond that 56 feet
and four Stories the only way to go up
to up to 84 feet which is through it's
we call it a bonus maximum and the only
way to get that approved is through a p
yes so that's correct that second that
second tier the only way to to allow
that is through a p up to 84 ft thank
you yes council member torison I um keth
was there not some to the west and to
the east there were some varying Heights
that were already approved by right
weren't there one was like an 11 story
building as I recall and one was a
six-story building is that correct um
mayor Peterson council member Torus and
so to the to the to the West there
aren't any other buildings that are um
that are it's just the Potato Barn and
that's only like a one-story building um
so so that's that's to the east to the
west of this project there is a we have
received the submitt of a design review
case for a hotel that's about four
stories and then also some some other uh
commercial and Retail buildings there's
a a another apartment complex kind of
near it that'll be that'll be up to four
stories and then if you go further west
into East sorry I meant East sorry
excuse me if you go further east into
the ver at station development
you'll see a three-story building right
up along along williamsfield road but
that's those are all the buildings you
you do have some buildings up to four
stories in the verie at station
development I I think you misunderstood
what I said I think there's some land
that is approved for higher Heights when
we had a meeting with the developer
there was there was talk of some byright
builds in that area that were much
higher um mayor Peterson council member
ton I apologize I didn't understand uh
your question you may be talking about
the the project at the northwest
corner of of uh williamsfield and
wrecker the district at station
cuz I I'm not sure if that's what you're
referring to CU that was recently
approved at four stories so I'm not sure
what which Parcels you're talking
about I think I think maybe what you're
talking about is the vertical
development overlay District that would
allow up to but it would have to go
through this process of a pad and the
vdd was put in place in
20056 I can't remember um that was put
in place along the railroad along the
freeway very specific areas that a
height increase could be requested under
a process like this
am I good yeah I believe I believe and I
think maybe ree Anderson might be able
to answer that when he comes up to speak
too okay don't think
anything council member
Buckley uh good afternoon
evening I I have a question because um
can you bring the slide up that shows um
the project area larger
than and it shows the um
that one okay yeah and so so your site
plan or your plan here is it shows four
story buildings you know on the three
sides and you're requesting to increase
those to five stories
correct and so
and and if it's my understanding from
from our prior meeting that you're
wanting more open space but yet what you
have here provides adequate if not more
open space
already is there are there any other
reasons that you're wanting to to
increase the height I'm I'm having a
real problem with a five-story Heights
can can I just interrupt for one second
I think the question that you're asking
is better suited for the applicant and
not our town staff so can I ask you to
hold that question and we'll sure let
Keith sit down and we'll bring Reese up
to do his
presentation okay perfect because
Keith's not making the request for the
height increase the applicant's making
the request for the height increase so I
think that's where your question is
better suited okay perfect anything else
for Keith at this time you're welcome
thank you thanks Keith all right much
ree Anderson with Pew and Lake if you'd
like to come up to the center Podium
please and press the button with the
picture of the microphone on and it will
light up and I know you're going to have
to raise that up because you're a little
bit taller than our last speaker
mayor members of the council good
evening I know uh the council meeting
started with a very somber
topic and uh thank you for giving me
that and so um with with humble heart
and heavy heart though I still wish to
wish each of you and your families and
everyone that's watching a merry
Christmas and happy holidays it's still
a season to Rejoice because there still
is a lot of good in our community uh
mayor Reese Anderson with PE and Lake my
address is 1744 South Al Vista number
2117 and it's a pleasure to be with you
this evening um I do have a presentation
some of the slides might be a bit
duplicative so if I skip too fast would
you just please shout out at me and just
let me know to back up and I'll do my
best to make sure we're so just you all
know about station so I won't
spend a bunch of time here but really
for 20 years this has been the plan and
this site's been zoned again this is uh
parcel four of station or the
home plate
parcel this is the general plan map that
you have today and it's been this way
for 20 years showing it as multif family
medium so really tonight is a
fulfillment of that plan and I also want
to make clear for all of you including
those watching at home that there's no
request before you to increase the
number of units that's allowed on this
site what we're talking about is getting
a better project through the creative
use of parking garages and open space
and we do have more than the minimum
required so I'm going to answer your
question council member Buckley and I'm
also going to answer yours council
member
Tuson uh this is an interesting picture
if you if you look carefully this is out
of the original pad there's a recorded
document it's a little hard to read but
that's parcel
4 and if you look closely the the number
of units there ranges from 352 to
829 so early on they were expecting
somewhere in that range tonight
568 which is again not exceeding the
number that's allowed just under the
base zoning today I want to make sure
that we're all clear on that this is
your zoning map Zone multif family mean
that yellow cross-hatching means it's in
a vertical development overlay district
and this is where I'm going to this is
we're in area three that's the one in
green again this is one of your uh Town
zoning Maps so to council member tason's
question if you look down at the the Top
Line there multif family medium base is
56
for and by by using the pad tool you're
able to go a little bit higher that's
what we're asking for tonight we think
we we Merit that and we can explain why
what we were talking about and I think
your question councilman tus was the GBC
District right next to us to the east so
let me back
up and go to that one if you can see our
our uh site outlined in red right next
to us is a light green that's Gateway
Business Center that parcel and let me
skip forward again would have by right
the ability to go 90 feet in six stories
and then using the pad tool and the
bonus maximum as Keith was explaining
you could go up to 11 again you've got
to qualify for that by showing that
you're a superior project Superior
design Etc and so does that help answer
that question council member that's
that's exactly what we were talking
about um again nothing's changed so
tonight um again this is an interesting
one because it's a rezoning technically
but it's a rezoning for multif family
medium to multif family medium with a
pad
overlay and that's so it's not a change
in land use I want to make that clear
too for anyone that's watching at home
this is not a change of of a existing
land use to something that's multifam
this is a fulfillment of the 20-year
plan and vision that's been for K
kation so you've seen this here um today
but that's really what we're we're
talking about so Keith laid this out I
I'll go back to it if you want me to
so those bonus Matrix guidelines that
are appear in the Gilbert zoning
code we're using those to do a couple of
things the added Building height allows
for better orientation and grouping of
the site open space so your code
requires a minimum of 40% open space and
and we've uh there's a stipulation in
this case that we maintain a minimum of
44% common open space that's a
significant increase when you think
about it in reality between what we have
in both common and private open space
we're we right now we calculate at 48%
that's a significant jump and the way we
get there is using that additional
height on buildings two and six which
are along williamsfield only which
that's using good planning principles to
move those further north further away
from any residence to the South and
that's why it's there also with that
parking garage you you uh which is I
think a really cool feature you're able
to park on on the floor you live on and
then access your unit directly and then
because it's a wrap now that again that
that phrase when we say wrap means that
building wraps all the way around the
park garage so it's not visible most
parking garages aren't the most
beautiful buildings and so in this case
you wrap that building and so the
concern was expressed to us about hey
want to make sure we just don't have a
flat plane along wings so we want to
make sure it has good architecture and
interest we think we've achieved that
and um so this is the concept well let
me back up that's the conceptual site
plan you saw that Keith presented we've
been working on getting even more
detailed and we'll present this in the
drb case the design review board case to
follow this zoning case but this is this
gets to be a bit messy when you see it
in black and white so what we did is we
asked Jose pombo who's with us here
tonight and forgive me but also Mike
Crone is here from the Franco family
trust and all of us are able to answer
any questions so we had Jose and the
design team color up this site plan and
and then they numbered all those
amenities and I think this really helped
me get a site get an idea of the scale
is also you can see there there's an
East and West
Courtyards excellent amenities and when
you can talk with the staff but this
project has more amenities in it than
most of the other multif family projects
do so they're very pleased with what
they're seeing so far I also wanted to
share with you all of the indoor
amenities that are part of that
Clubhouse
and for what it's worth I'm trying to
organize a pickle ball tournament at the
Grand Opening all of you are invited
okay and the winter gets a chocolate
shake on me on yes not not you can't
pour it on me not that fa but I will
buy anyway we could go through this list
and I'm happy to detail it but the but
the bottom line is here this is a very
welld designed well thought out highly
amenitized project it'll be a great
asset to station and the town of
Gilbert overall
so back back to some of the elevations
what what will you see along
williamsfield Road and the design team
has done an excellent job so with within
 station you might recall that
there's actually the design calls for
the buildings to be brought closer to
the street and so here we've got facades
that vary in depth between 9 and 28 ft
so let me this The Architects put
together this plan I know it's hard to
see in its current form so I tried to
zoom in a little bit
so I just picked this is the Western
Building there and those numbers above
are not building Heights those are the
distances from the RightWay line so
starting on the left where you see
Limestone and brick that would be 16
feet back and then the next one is 28t
back then you come forward to 18 back to
27 forward to 12 again and and the one
of the great things about this using
these neotraditional design principles
that the staff has asked us to
incorporate the design team's done a
wonderful job of making it look like a
series of individual buildings but even
then they're not on the same plane they
vary as you go up and down the street if
you were looking at it straight down and
I just put the black and white up there
there's those same numbers and you can
see how that building moves so they've
done a they've done a great job I just
went to the the longer building on the
East and you can see that parking garage
there but those are the again the
movement of that building that would be
on the west
side so backing up a little bit what you
see here on the top would be the West
the East Building the East Building and
on the bottom would be the west building
where in that corner unit that's there
the Limestone and brick and the brown on
the right bottom that would be where
Wade is to help orientate
you so I know that uh also Gilbert's
values are important this is one of our
council members and so I wanted to make
sure that I was answering that question
here if I I I welcome other feedback but
this was my best attempt at it to be
driven I thought this project here um
helps Drive the cooie station area and
support that area and know directly
support the existing and planned retail
and in the station in the nearby
areas and I think the use of the parking
garage is to maintain a greater amount
of open space and including the height
are shows that the the project design
team and the owner are driven to provide
a superior project in interest of being
kind to me I thought that the increase
in open space the architectural interest
and diversity along williamsfield
including the other buildings that will
have a similar look and feel and keeping
within the approved height limits on the
South Side shows shows
kindness I also think it um this
demonstrates a level of commitment
kindness to the station plan by
matching the neotraditional design
principles as far as being
bold I think the design of the site
again using the parking garage with a
wraparound building the additional
height which helps us maintain a greater
amount of common open space is is a way
to be bold and we think it's consistent
with the town policies and plans of this
area again been in place for 20 years
and as far as being humble we I think
that this project meets that by not
asking for more than what it's entitled
to with the exception of height but
again that to me I don't view that as a
deviation I view that as using the pad
as a tool where you can show that you're
are superior designed project meeting
the criteria that are there in your code
and we think we qualify for that we and
of course we say that humbly but we
think that we meet not only the goals
and policies of the town we also think
we meet the Gilbert Town
values may I tried to go quick and I
probably spoke too fast and stuttered
somewhere if someone has a question I'd
love to answer it again uh M cron is
here from the ownership group as well as
Jose pombo with the design team all of
us are happy to answer questions thank
you ree can you put the um the slide up
that had the buildings in color I think
that's probably the best one to see the
best one in in color with the layout of
whole um
plan that one yes ma'am uh yes that one
because it has the buildings numbered um
council member Buckley's question I
think council member Buckley on this
slide maybe it's easier to see building
six on the top corner and then building
one on the other corner are the two
buildings that they're requesting five
stories the others are all just four
stories with correct marif I would add
to your answer and thank you and I
didn't certainly did not mean to skip
over your question the only thing I
would add is that building seven 8 n and
10 along that East Side those are two
story Carriage units so you there's
garages underneath and then there's two
units in each of those buildings above
just adding some additional interest to
the site across the way as the hotel and
future commercial against staff there's
no issues there
whatsoever council member thank you uh
no I I understand you know which
buildings and everything um you know
without the changes I think the project
works well you know it works well
without I you know increasing the
Heights and and that you know obviously
is um your choice to you know to to have
that presented just have a a bit of a
problem with with uh going higher and
still having the same number of units
that you
know yeah I I understand that concern if
if I could address it for a second just
ask you to consider the thought which is
this project could be built with the
same number of units spread out over the
site we would likely lose the lose the
parking garage and we would lose some of
the amenities in the common area open
space so by doing this in an area where
the land use has already been set and
the VOD policy where additional height
is appropriate we think this is the
right place at the right location to use
these tools and get a better project and
so I just put that forward for your
consideration right right then thank you
I thank
you sorry sorry um it's not telling me
who's who's even requesting at the
moment so I looked over and saw your mic
on I apologize yeah no thank you madam
mayor um so we so just to clarify um if
you stated four four stories you would
be losing what for the for the residents
you mentioned the parking garage what
else would you be losing I think we
would lose certainly we the risk of
losing that parking garage risk of
losing open space I know we would lose
open space and lose lose amenities I
mean here we've got two pools two bog
Parks there's two outdoor pickle ball
indoor and list goes on but what happens
is is is that space gets eaten up with
parking or buildings right it's the same
it's the same concept for just anyone
who's who's listening if taking a a a
home that you and I live in and a
two-story home versus a single story
home with the same square feet you just
get a bigger footprint and so you're
just eating up land with footprint so
you you could have not asked for the
five five stories and you wouldn't even
be in front of us because it was by
right you could have had that but by
asking for the extra story the residents
are actually gaining something from this
Council mayor banan correct okay so
we're not we're not voting for more
units than we're already zoned for
correct correct okay okay that's the
questions I have thank you thank you
mayor vice mayor thank you mayor um
thank you ree for your presentation and
for taking the time to meet with us I
had um a lot of concerns and I
appreciate the time that that you took
um providing
the con conceptual drawing was very
important to me because I was very
fearful that when I first saw the
request that five stories was just a
straight building and it would feel like
a tunnel and I was very much opposed I
was at a hard no as you know um but the
change in the elevations and the unique
product that you are showing has changed
my mind and um and I understand all the
things you have already mentioned about
this is a pad all of that but it was a
concern um so I just mentioned that um I
think it's important um this particular
Council um when clients come or
applicants come forward to us and are
asking for changes even a simple one
like this I think this Con providing
these conceptual drawings are are very
important so that we understand the
product that we're getting I I know
we're not we're not having a thing to do
with design review right now I get it
but I think it's important for the
community to know that we are
understanding the product that we're
going to get at the end so thank you for
that um the connectivity to the Future
commercial area is is very important to
me and I we talked about that and I I
just wanted that on the record for staff
to know that that was important and and
let's see and I I do appreciate the
additional open space and amenities that
you have so thank you very much thank
you and and we're happy to put it on the
record too we agree with
you council member
Kowski thank you I just wanted to make a
few comments thank you for your
presentation um station has been
planned as a higher density urban area
in Gilbert and while I I don't think
that this development would be
appropriate for anywhere in Gilbert I do
feel that it is appropriate for
station um I appreciate the wrapping of
the garage I think that's really
important to have that detail and design
and I think that that makes sense for
the request for the height um request
for for that bonus height that is
allowed in this
area I I think that what I do like about
this project is also The Pedestrian
connectivity which is one of the
components that is an important aspect
of station um we are seeing so
many businesses in this area and now we
have the potential for the population to
support those businesses and really make
this a vibrant area of town um the open
space that has been provided and the
amenities is really fantastic we just
had a presentation about needs in our
community and one of the topics and ways
that we saw a potential um for the
private sector to help with those needs
was to provide and count amenities like
this in those projects and so I think
it's very valuable um to see the
investment that developments like this
are making in our community because
they're taking on an area where we may
not necessarily take that on ourselves
um so I'm in support of this project I
appreciate um the layout and the
attention to the amenities provided to
the residents and that um matching that
kind of feel and vision for
station thank you thank you thank you
very much council member bonani thank
you mayor um ree I also want to thank
you for taking the time
to uh evaluate the Gilbert values into
this project and taking the time to make
the correlation between our values and
the project itself thank you thank you
thank you mayor any other comments
council member Anderson I don't know if
this is appropriate for you ree or for
Keith but I'd like one more time just
for everybody's benefit for one of you
two to explain why we plan for density
at this
location oh I'll take my best shot but
that sounds like a question probably
better for the staff because they have
the the institutional history on it but
I'll I'll take it if you'd like but I
I'd probably defer the staff to answer
it first yeah I could probably
I know I could give you the history of
it but to Keith expain I know you could
too thank you I'll sit down and if me
come hold one second Reese because
council member Tuson has a comment or
question we'll get back to you council
member Anderson yes sir just remember
you're standing in the way of sha Lake
right now the U uh what I appreciated
from this is that you've thoroughly
explained that there's not more
apartments and there's more open space
and that to me is a win because as we've
talked about amenities for the public
our public you know our parks and wck
there's pools here for people they're
not they don't have to drive 10 miles to
get to a pool they have things to do
aesthetically it is not a
monolith and it you know it doesn't
appear that especially since it's the
north side of the property it doesn't
appear that it's going to affect any
single family homeowners at all correct
no sir I mean it's I can say with
absolute certainty that if you live to
the south of here you're living across
the railroad tracks
Etc these buildings are just screened
from your view I mean you're so far away
and then the the other buildings that
are there that are allowed by right
absolutely just screen your view so to
all of your points I agree 100% thank
you for your time sir thank
you thank you Rees Keith would you like
to come back up and give council member
Anderson's comment or question a
stab turn there you go mayor Peterson
council member Anderson thank you so
council member Anderson C can you repeat
that question one more time please I
just want to make sure we have it on
record about why in this location the
kolie station why it is that we are
seeking more density here in in Gilbert
because there's a lot of people that
don't understand that and there's a
reason that we did that and I just
wanted you to again explain Short
history about why we why we did this
so um mayor Peterson council member
Anderson so this station area as
as you know from the very beginning 738
Acres or so um over the years has been
developers have worked with staff to
capture this neotraditional
feel um of neighborhoods with with the
ability to walk to amenities and to
shops to schools to school to work a
future potential uh um um Transit Center
to the South that along this Village
Center that's in a more walkable Urban
type core um and the the the character
area and this Gateway character area um
we have created streetscape guidelines
and standards that have created this
this walkable streetscape that embodies
a more pedestrian friendly
environment um and that and and that is
what we are trying to do we're trying to
make sure that all the developments in
this area have that look and feel of
that of a traditional neotraditional
Urban Village um we kind of patterned
the original development of coie station
in the original design of the master
plan um after a there's a city in Oregon
called the renco station that's very neo
traditional in style and in design to
create that more walkable Urban
um pedestrian friendly environment so
that things are close together and and
it creates a more um
um more livable type environment um and
and that's kind of the the basic Vision
behind um behind station um I
hope that answered your question I'm
sure I could probably go on longer but
it's to create that walkable friend
pedestrian friendly environment where
services and businesses and where people
live are are are closer to one
another hopefully that answers your
question council member
Anderson thank you Keith I think it was
also designed with in mind that Phoenix
Mesa Gateway in ASU East and chanover
Community College are just over the
power road line just east of this
neighborhood thinking that the density
would be needed and required in this
area for folks to live work and play
right in that right in that area and the
cooie station plan was approved by
Council I think in December of 2004 so
it's been a long time coming there's
been some minor changes over the years
but I mostly appreciated the slide that
was shared that showed that this this
location this land could actually be
anywhere between I think it was 386 and
eight or n something 900 units so you're
really coming in right in the middle of
what it could be under the MFM Zoning
for this property so I appreciate that
thank you you can feel free to sit down
definitely welcome thank you thank you
for adding all that additional
information about the airport East thank
you thank you and Phoenix Macy Gateway
has taken years to come up to what it is
today and what we're seeing out there
with with Gulf Stream and Virgin
Galactic building the mothership out
there I mean we're just seeing so much
growth in this area that has taken coie
station I mean right after this was
approved we had a recession and so it
took years longer than any of us
expected for Co station to actually come
up out of the ground but thank you for
um ree I appreciate your presentations
and meeting with us you're good you
don't have to stand back up please and
um the explanation that you have I love
the idea of the wraparound the
wraparound multifam with the parking I
can only think of one other building in
Gilbert that does that that you park on
the same level that you work on um Rome
Towers in Gilbert that's the only one
that I can think of that's like that and
I appreciate different and unique
amenities when we're bringing projects
like this forward so thank you for that
and I think it was council member Kowski
that said this this project wouldn't fit
just any place in Gilbert but it fits
 station because of the design of
the area and um looking forward to it so
with all of that said I will close the
public hearing bring it back to the DI
if anyone has more discussion or if
someone would like to make a
motion I'll make a motion to approve um
zoning Z
23-05
second I have a motion by council member
kosi seconded by council member Anderson
all in favor please say I
I any opposed please say nay nay we have
a motion that passes by six to one um
the one nay was council member Buckley
just for the record in case you didn't
catch that cheli thank you moving on to
administrative items we have um two
items on our administrative
agenda this evening
and um the first one is uh Council
Administration discussion on status of
me and participation in open meeting law
training um vice mayor thank you mayor
um first I just want to thank the
Arizona leag of cities for their
flexibility and scheduling training so
quickly a virtual training occurred on
December 8th and was attended by mayor
Peterson vice mayor tilki council
members Bon Giovani and torguson and I I
really appreciate Nancy Davidson's
ability to share best practices she has
witnessed throughout the state to assist
our mayor and Council managing meetings
to ensure all are heard and The Business
of the town can be completed um with the
completion of this train training I
recommend that this matter be closed and
no additional action is needed thank you
mayor thank you vice mayor doesn't
require any kind of um an action we'll
move on to the next item on our agenda
which is 24a Council administration
review discussion and possible action of
final report and recommendation of code
of ethics complaint filed against
Gilbert toown Council by Bill Spence um
would
anyone like to make any comments on this
item council member B Giovani sure thank
you mayor um I just kind of want to say
I support any residents's right to file
an e this complaint or request an
investigation at any time however I'd
ask that the citizen have a a concrete
presumption that something has actually
occurred um hats off to the investigator
who had to had to Ravel through
thousands of emails that we have sent in
over the past year thousands of um voice
messages text
messages uh and try to make sense of it
all um to me this investigation was
nothing against the investigator but
what she had to work with was kind of
like throwing parts of an a uh part
parts of an airplane in the air and
hoped an airplane would come down uh to
me uh it was a waste of five months of
our time and taxpayers money um however
it did do some things that created chaos
created mistrust in this dis and with
help of Matt our mediator the good thing
that this investigation did do um was
unite this Council so um that's all I
have to say
any other comments vice mayor tilky
thank you mayor
um this um complaint morphed over time
and so the regular process for us to
address it is um very unusual because
there isn't just one person who the
complaint was about and so um I at at
the end of the day I'm not sure who who
was who was really part of the complaint
or not at the end of the day um so I
would
recommend that we there's two options
for us as a council um we could
address each of the complaints and just
for the record and then take an action
or no action at the end or go directly
to the action um because it is a a very
strange situation ation to have
everybody named at one point or another
during a complaint um I'm interested in
just the transparency of saying that we
addressed each one of those complaints
but if the council prefers we can go
directly
to um the action items that are are are
the options before us so
I yes cons member tenson uh I just want
to say through the process there is at
least some learning through the process
which which is great I operate as a as a
businessman I I'm used to dealing with
that and not in a more formal of a uh
governmental settings so you know you
get a certain awareness that uh possibly
I lack at times but it gave me
appreciation for the skin that everyone
on this Council has gives me
appreciation for the skin the mayor has
she's seen a lot of this over the last
two years and it's not fun uh and you
know you get more appreciation for what
people go through whether it makes sense
or not and for that I'm
grateful any other
comments M mayor I just have one I don't
know if the vice mayor discussed this
with Chris but um Chris is it
appropriate for us since we're all
involved in this that we should vote at
all um mayor council member bovan that's
a great question um this code falls
under the old code which doesn't
expressly say that people should recuse
themselves council member should it's
always been the best practice the way
it's always done the new code absolutely
requires it um there's two there's a
couple of options I think the council
could do if the council takes no formal
action then the complaint will just die
it will be dismissed um if you do want
to take an action and vote to accept the
findings the best practice would be to
do it
matter by matter the the investigator
found seven different complaints and and
each one's against different council
members and so the best practice if the
council did want to take an affirmative
action would be part by part each seven
make the findings on adopt the findings
for the first one and then then move to
the second one and whatever council
members named in each one they would
recuse themselves and not vote on
that
what would the council like to do I
don't under the circumstance I haven't
made a comment yet I didn't know you
were going to jump right into going to
legal advice
um I don't like the way this
investigation was done I think it was
very poorly done I know it took a long
time and it had a lot of parts to it but
uh there was a lot of information that I
think was overlooked and yes it's a a
long explanation of me many items but um
I'm disappointed and I I will say that
having been on the other side of many of
these ethics complaints and seen them go
through this one is was not done to my
satisfaction at all and having the
discussion that we had two weeks ago
about an Ethics complaint I wouldn't
think that this Council would even want
to accept the findings of this ethics
complaint but with that said I don't
think under the code that because all
seven of us are named in this ethics
complaint that we should be legally
voting on it as a group on unless what
Chris just said we do part by part by
part so I'd like to hear some um
feedback as to how you would like to
handle
this I'm thank you mayor I'm good with
whatever the council agrees as a for
this council member Bley yeah I I I'm
not comfortable voting on this I I like
what Chris said I believe he said if we
take no action then it just dies and
we're we're done but I'm not comfortable
voting myself
but thank
you any other
comments no other comments mayor I just
said again I mentioned
that I'm comfortable listing each one of
the allegations and any action that was
needed or was already taken just for the
record um in doing so after each item
there could be no action taken but it it
it's on the record so but it the other
option is to do nothing and just take no
action that means it's dismissed with
prejudiced so that's up to the council
if because I guess at this point you
don't say I make a motion to do nothing
you just do nothing so that's I guess
silence means nothing which is okay but
I I think I just wanted to clarify that
by saying saying nothing you're saying
we're going to do
nothing it's it's an interesting
situation because um we have we've set a
precedent of the way that we're handling
these and when all seven of us are
mentioned in the complaint um that none
of us should be voting on it in my
opinion but it did cover an awful lot of
ground like you mentioned um if you
would like to mention all of those items
on the record I'm going to ask for a 5
minute break first because it's phrasing
in here and I need to use the
facilities if the rest of the council
wants if they don't I'm fine if nobody
wants that but nobody's speaking up do
you want to cover each individual item
or do you want to just do no vote and
move on let it die let it die okay yep I
agree Let It Die okay then we're moving
on next item on the agenda is policy
number 20 24-1 consider approval
of the council policy on 20241 regarding
purchases for members of the governing
body do we need a vote on this we do yes
mayor thank you um anybody have any
questions on this need a presentation
questions from staff
anything no I'm ready to make a motion
make a motion to approve move to approve
we have a motion by vice mayor tilki a
seconded by council member torguson all
those in favor please say I I I any
opposed please say n motion passes
70 moving on to um Communications report
from the town manager the Dapper looking
holiday dressed Town manager I couldn't
resist thank you mayor members of the
council I can assure you that sentiment
has not been shared with me
today uh a couple things first I want to
recognize four retirements we have
coming up in our Police Department I
also want to thank our chief for putting
it in an enlarged font for me whatever
that means Mike this uh first we have
Pamela far she has been a dispatcher for
Gilbert PD for over 19 years and her
dedication dedicated service to our
community will he sorely missed Sergeant
John Gillis has 26 years of service with
Gilbert PD he was instrumental in our
Emergency Operations planning and
various assignments through Gilbert PD
lieuten Lieutenant Ken Davis has over 21
years of service with Gilbert PD
Lieutenant Davis held numerous
assignments Within including our first
training lieutenant in that role he
helped develop our police academy and
advanced training programs and lastly
detective Ralph Coro who has over 26
years as a police officer 18 of which
which were here with Gilbert PD
detective Coro has provided valuable
knowledge and experience throughout our
criminal investigation divisions we
congratulate these employees on their
well-deserved retirements their
leadership and influence will be sorely
missed at gilber PD and with that Mir i'
just like to thank and all of the
employees with the town of Gilbert and
wish them and their families a wonderful
holiday season and we certainly
appreciate all the great work they do
for our
community thank you Patrick um next we
have any reports from Council Members
council member Anderson um could I jump
Back to Future meetings for just a
second sure I didn't even yes um I just
want to bring something up that I was
advised as best to do it at Future
meetings I would like to reconvene the
subcommittee on Code of Ethics there's a
item there that we need to consider
about
uh discussing part of the process and I
if the council's okay with that we'll
reconvene that committee
um probably after the U yeah sometime
after the first of the year did you hear
that staff that council member
Anderson's asking to reconvene I'm fine
with that reconvening the subcommittee
on the code of ethics um to discuss some
of the items attached to it it's
probably a good idea I think we've seen
a bunch of different issues come up
council member Bon Giovani are we moving
on to the yeah comments from Council
Members okay I want to thank uh Rob and
Rocky from Parks W who wrote me up
something to make me sound like a radio
announcer but um some things are
happening in parks and W repair and
after dark the repairing preserve comes
alive with a holiday glow during
Gilbert's annual repair and after dark
event stroll around the park of 1.5
miles of trails and walkways that weave
through the park and enjoy thousands of
holiday lights and displays local food
and drink vendors will be serving
delicious holiday treats and that's
nightly until December 19th at reparan
preserve from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Nerf
wars uh get ready to master your skills
in Gilbert Nerf Nerf wars attendees uh
ages between 7 and 14 I wish we could go
years old will have the opportunity to
put their skills to the test in a series
of Nerf war games on Wednesday December
27th in Gilbert Regional Park from 6
p.m. or 4 p.m. to 6 6: p.m. but wait
there's
more New newon Year's Eve Carnival join
the team at freest Stone Recreation
Center for a fun morning of games crafts
and rock climbing contest Bingo and a
ball a b a balloon drop at noon followed
by a cheers followed by a cheers toast
uh of ice cold apple cider on Wednesday
December 30th at Freestone Recreational
Park starting at 11: a.m. and there's
one more it's the annual po polar pledge
plunge whether you're ready to whoa
whether you're ready to Brave the depths
of a chili pool and grab a wet suit uh
and get your first swim of 2024 please
join us at our inaugural Gilbert
Aquatics Polar Plunge take a drive in
take a dive into freezing cold pool and
then warm up with some games and hot
cocoa and that's exclusively on
September January 6 at williamsfield
pool from 2: to 4:00 p.m. thank
you council member Taurus but wait
there's more
I just wanted to we thank Dan and his
team but thank the chamber for
Thursday's tour of the Heritage District
uh Sarah Watson and our staff hosted 65
attendees to walk through the Heritage
district and see some of the changes
coming and on Wednesday the 20th
there'll be a Redevelopment committee
meeting and topics will include what's
happening at the old Clemens garage
Heritage Park the lumber yard and
everybody's favorite Bottled Blonde yes
that's more uh uh you can find the
agenda online at gilbertaz.gov and uh
hopefully we see you a week from
tomorrow council member Buckley and
there's even
more so I I'm going to give you more
information from Dan Henderson the
director of Tourism which I am the liais
on for and I love this position it's so
much fun um so oops let me get back to
the beginning uh
number one is small business Saturday
holiday shopping campaign launched on
November the 3 I don't not sure that's a
little bit ago I'm not sure why that's
there but I'm going to read a and that
may tell us why I can't compete with
these two so you're going to have to
deal with
me and the campaign supports the Gilbert
Small Business Community by promoting
consumers to shop to Gilbert to shop in
Gilbert this holiday season through
business awareness ease of access
through promotional web page and
incentive uh incentivized initiation
initiatives a uh B is through campaign
efforts discover Gilbert connected with
over 125 small businesses received 25
small business special shop Gilbert
promotions and made over 20,000 social
Impressions through Discover Gilbert and
social platforms the tourism action
group met last week week December 6 2023
to discuss the current tourism market
and the Parks and Recreation master plan
fellow tourism Partners businesses and
stakeholders attended the meetings at
the nearly uh at the newly reimagined
the acre event venue that was very very
nice they do weddings they do all kinds
of so if anyone needs an event it it's
it's really a cool place um let's let me
see where I'm at okay in partnership
with the Arizona office of Tourism
discover Gilbert was highlighted as part
of the Arizona wine focused
International Group I'm liking that um
press tip on December 3rd and fourth
Gilbert was part of the V part of the
visit Ava Arizona American vertic
culture area designated regions where
median uh media learned from wine makers
themselves about Arizona's wine regions
while um press was in Gilbert they were
they participated in a walking tour of
the Heritage District had an IM an
immersive experience at undertoe dined
with the Gilbert Community at the uh
garage East Community dinner featuring
wines from Vino stachi Winery with wine
maker Brooks Lowry idy enjoyed a Sunrise
walk at the raran reserve and finished
with a tour of the Hayden flower Mill
here in Gilbert as always whoops okay I
think I'm
finished yeah I well that's the end
that's the end of the more more
more anyone else council
members seeing none um comments from the
mayor I'd like to just Express that I
was lucky enough to uh visit Washington
DC last week on December 6th and 7th and
attend some Ceremonies for Pearl Harbor
Remembrance Day um I've had the honor of
now attending three years in a row in
different locations and to say how proud
I am of this community being the host
town for the under construction
submarine the USS Arizona that will hold
the name of our famous Battleship that
was taken down on December 7th 1941 I
can't even begin to explain that to you
um we had one event at the naval
Memorial and then we moved over to
Arlington National Cemetery where I was
able to watch The Changing of the Guard
in the presentation of AR and the
veterans Advisory board chairman Dave
Rosenfeld also made the trip and we just
were thrilled to be part of it we got to
meet the commander of the new submarine
and several members of the crew that
have already been chosen to to take part
in that submarine as it as it comes on
board in a couple of years um and then
Friday evening I made my way back to
Gilbert's so that I could attend a
graduation for Gilbert Fire Academy and
it was a small But Mighty group there
were four members that graduated three
from Queen Creek fire and medical and
one amazing young woman from Gilbert
Fire and Rescue and chief um Dugen now
that he's chief he gets F clumped every
time he has to speak he he gets a little
choked up he has it has come with the
position I think and he does a great job
but um congratulations to those members
joining both of our organizations in
both of our communities I want to say a
very big thank you to our um amazing
staff I want to especially thank the
Gilbert police officers that stand
around us in this room on Tuesday
evenings I very much appreciate
everything that you do you've done
everything from carrying my stuff out to
my car at the end of the night to just
making sure that we get there safely and
I very much appreciate you to all the
rest of the staff thank you for all that
you do in this amazing Community every
single day we see the alkalides that
come in for this town and although we
Face some challenges we know that you
are all here working hard every every
single day thank you very happy holidays
to all of you and we will see you in
January meeting
adjourned