Regular Meeting - 8/26/2025 6:30:00 PM

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[Music]
There's no
Hey everyone, this is
Are you having a lot of fun?
So, what are a couple of
Do you do you want to let them
Yeah.
So,
And then we're going to
Another
great
Are you now speaking?
Which one of you wants to be the one?
Okay. So, I'll give it to you.
Thank you.
Let's go ahead and get started.
Call the regular meeting to order of the
Gilbert Town Council, August 26, 2025.
We'll start with an invocation by Pastor
Mike Henry of Royal View Baptist Church.
Pastor Mike
Father, thank you for
blessed us prayers many times in this
place. Thank you for the peace we have
in this town for blessing this town and
our leadership.
Thank you for the freedom we have. Thank
you for the recognitions here today and
the young people that are before us and
bless them. I pray that you would guide
the council and the mayor as they
consider propositions and uh contracts
and recognitions and acquisitions and um
the calendar and to consider feedback
from the public. And may we be good
stewards of this time and of the massive
blessings you've given us both in our
nation and in this town. and uh decide
and make decisions in fear of you and in
love for others. For it's in the name of
Christ Jesus, my savior I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Thank you.
Our pledge of allegiance this evening
will be uh by Vice Mayor Buckley with
the help of the Girl Scout troop. Was it
88 or 80?
80.
Vice Mayor.
All right. Uh, I'd like to turn this
over to
a
and she is uh in charge of the the group
and the trooping. Trooping. Okay. All
right. and she she's before we do the
pledge, she's going to they're going to
talk just for a moment and so
All right. Thank you. Thank you very
much. Thank you for having us. We are um
Girl Scouts Troop 80. We've been a troop
for I think over 10 years. We have a
multilevel troop from Daisies all the
way to ambassadors and it's been a
turning
point in in my life and in lots of their
lives too.
um they they're working on lots of
projects uh to help the community,
working on their bronze awards, their
silver awards, helping people. So, thank
you for giving us this opportunity. And
that's it. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. All right. And girls,
if you'd like to turn around and face
the flag
and let's start the pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
We'll continue with the roll call.
Mayor Scott Anderson
here.
Vice Mayor Bobby Buckley
here.
Council member Chuck Bonjiovani.
I'm here.
Council member Kenny Buckland
here.
Council member Young Kapowski
here. Council member Monty Lions,
I'm here.
And council member Jim Toruson
here.
Quorum is present.
Thank you. We have several uh
proclamations and presentations tonight.
I'm going to uh change the order a
little bit. I'd like to start with um
number five, a recognition, and I'll ask
if uh Representative Warren Hendris
could join me down by the podium.
Thank you. Uh, for those of you that
don't know this fine young man here next
to me, this is Representative Lauren
Hendricks, who is one of our
representatives to the state legislature
here in Gilbert. He's representing
legislative district 14 for us and doing
a fine job. But more importantly than
that, I spent a couple two or three
years sitting next to this fine man uh
on the council and we had the
opportunity to uh share some wonderful
moments together and I have to thank him
for all the help that he was while he
was on the council and and things he was
able to accomplish. So, thank you very
much, Lauren. But tonight, what we want
to do is recognize uh Representative
Hendris for um doing something very uh
special for the town of Gilbert. Uh we
just had during our study session
discussion about water and about
securing water rights and and being able
to deliver portable water to you as
customers in the town of Gilbert. Uh, as
you may have been reading over over the
last few uh months, water is becoming a
more scarce resource in in Arizona as
the Colorado River is running uh drier
and drier every year. And so, in order
to have a resilient water portfolio
where we can have u sufficient water to
serve our residents, we have to look for
other sources. Representative Hendris,
over time, this this past uh um
legislation legislature um
um process this uh that just ended just
recently in the last few months. He was
successful in securing $5 million for us
here in the town of Gilbert to continue
to u uh find water through wells,
through groundwater so that our
portfolio will remain secure. the uh wa
water security to the town of Gilbert is
extremely important because water
security means
uh more availability for economic
development. And so we want to thank
Representative Hendrickx for what he did
in securing that money so that we could
go out and search for more sources and
uh and bring more water into our
portfolio. And so we wanted to recognize
him with a certificate tonight which
in part says in recognition and sincere
appreciation of your dedication and
efforts in securing a state
appropriation for the town of Gilbert's
well projects.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Politician can't go without speaking.
Never hand a politician a microphone. Uh
in in the last four years, we've
procured more funding for Gilbert than
for any other city in the state of
Arizona. Uh more than Poria, more than
Tempe, more than Phoenix for that
matter. And I I frequently have my
colleagues will ask me, "How'd you pull
this off?" Because the people that
represent Peoria, they'd like to do the
same thing. And I I'll tell you how we
pull it off is
both times I called Mayor Anderson. I
have his cell phone from when I was on
the council. He probably wishes that
wasn't the case, but I call him and I
say, "Hey, I'd like to have a meeting
with you. We got some things coming up
in the budget and I'd like to include
Gilbert." And I I still remember the
last time I called him. He said, "Is uh
tomorrow lunch soon enough?" I mean,
he's immediately available. He's ready
to work. He's ready to do what it takes
to help Gilbert. Uh, as we were going
through the process, there were times I
needed information about the water
requirements. So, I would call Rob Bore,
the liaison, and Rob's like the guy that
keeps the trains running. I if I called
him, he would immediately interface with
whoever we needed to. And one time I get
a call from the town manager, Patrick
Banger. He's in an airport. It might
have been Chicago. I forgot where he
was, but it wasn't Phoenix. And he says,
"Hey, Lauren, I just got a message that
you need some answers to some questions.
Do you need it right now or can I wait
till I get home?" And when I share these
stories, I don't know how many people in
Gilbert realize how fortunate we are to
have Mayor Anderson or town manager
Patrick Banger or Bob Boore. The these
people are on it all the time. Nobody
sees them. Nobody knows, but they're on
it all the time. Mostly you hear the
criticism. We don't hear the work they
do behind the scenes, what makes it
happen, but they're they're doing a
great job. Thank you, Mayor.
photo.
Photo.
Got one more.
Let's see.
[Applause]
Thank you. We'll uh now go to
proclamation declaring September as
ovarian cancer awareness month. And I
believe uh Vice Mayor Buckley is doing
this presentation.
Call up Rachel.
Sure.
Okay. Um, would you like to introduce
yourself?
Sure.
And and talk a little bit.
Sure.
So, I just wanted to thank the city of
Gilbert for granting this proclamation.
Again, this is the third year in a row.
So, really appreciate that. This year, I
came prepared with a few words so I
don't stutter upon them. So, ovarian
cancer is one of the deadliest cancers
impacting women. Yet, it remains one of
the most underfunded and least
understood. Each year in the United
States, nearly 20,000 women are
diagnosed and over 12,700
will lose their lives to this disease, a
staggering 64% mortality rate. Here in
Arizona, hundreds of women face this
devastating diagnosis each year. Sadly,
more than 75% are diagnosed at advanced
stages due to vague symptoms and lack of
a reliable early detection test. The
5-year survival rate remains below 50%
and shockingly that number has not
improved in decades. At age 38, I was
diagnosed with stage 3A lowgrade cerosis
ovarian cancer or LGSOC, a rare form of
ovarian cancer that disproportionately
impacts young premenopausal women. This
insiduous disease has no standard of
care, is chronic, and experiences an 85%
recurrence rate. The impact on my life
and my family as a result has been
profound. Like many women that face
LGSOC, I lost my ability to have
biological children with no time or
guidance to preserve fertility. Cancer
robbed my husband and I of the dreams we
had not yet fulfilled. And these losses
still echo through every year of
survivorship. As a five-year survivor,
it's heart-wrenching to think that I've
beaten the odds. But even worse, there
are the devastating stories of those who
did not. One of them is my dear friend
and first mentee, Jordan, who died last
September during ovarian cancer
awareness month, just one day after her
33rd birthday. Jordan was vibrant,
brilliant, and full of hope. I had the
privilege of running the Disney Princess
10K with her last February, seven short
months prior to her passing. Jordan's
last words to me were, "I'm glad you're
fighting for awareness of this disease.
I just don't have it in me right now.
Thank you, and I love you."
Jordan's death crushed me, but I made
her promise to continue fighting for her
and every woman still waiting for early
detection, better treatment, and a real
chance at survival. Women like Jordan
deserve more. They deserve better. They
deserve a future that begins with
awareness, which leads to earlier
diagnosis, research, resources, and
ultimately survival. And that's why this
September, it's critical to bring
awareness to this devastating disease.
Thank you for standing with survivors,
honoring those we have lost, and helping
to protect women across Gilbert,
Arizona. Together, we can shine a light
on this gravely overlooked disease and
give hope to the women and families in
our community who need it the most.
Hello, my name is Andrea Falsetto and
I'm a resident here of Gilbert and I am
also an ovarian cancer survivor. I've
been living with the disease for 15
years since the birth of my first child.
I alongside Rachel also have an
extremely rare diagnosis that only
affects 0.05% of women that are
diagnosed with it. I've had four
recurrences and six surgeries and last
year I completed 18 rounds of
chemotherapy. I'm extremely fortunate to
be here today and I hope to keep
fighting alongside my friend Rachel for
all the women who will unfortunately
hear the words, "You have ovarian
cancer."
Thank you very much both of you. Um so
I'll I'll read the proclamation now and
this is o ovarian cancer awareness
month. Whereas ovarian cancer is the
fifth leading cause of cancer related
death among women in the United States
and the American Cancer Society
estimates that in 2025 approximately
20,890
women will be diagnosed with ovarian
cancer and 12,730
will die from this disease nationwide,
including an estimated 470 new cases and
330 deaths in Arizona. And whereas a
woman's lifetime risk of being diagnosed
with ovarian cancer is approximately
1 in 91. Wow, that's a
that's a small number. And and her
lifetime risk of dying from the disease
is approximately one in 140 and 143. And
whereas due to vague non-susp
non-specific symptoms and the absence of
a reliable early detection test, the
majority of women are diagnosed at stage
three or later when the cancer has
already spread beyond the ovaries.
Oops. And whereas although the five-year
survival rate for stage 1 ovarian cancer
exceeds 90% only 15% of cases are
diagnosed at this early stage for most
diagnosed
and later stages the 5-year survival
rate drops below 30%. And whereas while
screening tools such as mammograms and
pap tests exists for breast and cervical
cancer, no equivalent screening test
exists for ovarian cancer, making
awareness of symptoms and risk factors
essentially for early intervention. And
whereas increased public education about
ovarian cancer can help save lives by
promoting earlier diagnosis, supporting
access to gyneological oncology care,
and encouraging resid research funding
for better detection and treatment
options. And
thank you where Whoops. Whereas this
month, the town of Gilbert joins all
those affected by ovarian cancer, those
currently battling those who have lost
their lives, their families, and
caregivers,
and and dedicated health care
professionals and and rising awaren
raising awareness, prompting education,
and fostering hope for earlier
diagnosis, improved treatments, and
ultimately a cure. Now therefore, I,
Bobby Buckley, vice mayor of the town of
Gilbert, on behalf of of Scott Anderson,
mayor of the town of Gilbert, Arizona,
do hereby proclaim September 25th as
ovarian cancer awareness month in the
town of Gilbert, Arizona, and encourage
all residents to participate in
awareness activities, wear teal in
color, and engage in conversations that
help save lives and support the
thousands of families affected by just
devastating disease.
Okay. And yeah, and here you go.
All right. And thank you so much. And uh
you know, our thoughts and prayers are
with all of those.
Can I just make a quick plug? Um we have
the ovarian cancer awareness month is
going to be at Gilbert Regional Park
November 15th.
Oh, great. Okay. Well, so remember that.
November 15th. All right. Thank you.
[Applause]
Next is a proclamation celebrating the
achievements of the Phoenix Woo Academy.
Council member Kapowski.
Please join me.
Could you give a little introduction to
the academy and your um connection with
the town of Gilbert?
Absolutely. Hi everyone. My name is
Jane. I'm a coach at the Phoenix Woo
Academy and this is our team right here.
We are so grateful for the support of
the town of Gilbert for um always
supporting us, always making us feeling
seen and heard and supporting the AAPI
culture. Um our team right here is going
to be representing Team USA to 10th
World Wo Kung Fu Championships in So
it's the largest martial arts
championships in the world. Over 3,000
competitors, over 10,000 people there.
They're going to fly all the way to
Lashan, China to do this tournament. And
they've trained really, really hard. And
we are so grateful that um we have the
support of the town of Gilbert and Mayor
Anderson for issuing this proclamation
to us. We are always grateful. Um we
hope to make team USA proud, make the
town of Gilbert proud, bring glory to
God through this trip and to the United
States. So, thank you so much.
Thank you so much for being here and
thank you for for representing Team USA.
Um, best wishes on your competition. Uh,
I'm going to read this proclamation
where today we are celebrating the
achievements of the Phoenix Woo Academy.
Uh, the Phoenix Woo Academy is a Chinese
martial arts school located in Gilbert
with a mission to promote Chinese and
Asian culture. The academy is known for
training highle athletes that represent
the US and international competitions
all around the world. This fall from
October 14th to 21st, 2025,
these five elite students of the Phoenix
Woo Academy will be traveling um to
Lashan, China to compete in the 10th
World Kung Fu Championships, the largest
Chinese martial arts tournament in the
world held every two years. Um, whereas
the World Kung Fu Championships bring
together thousands of top martial
artists from across the globe in fierce
competition where only the very best
prevail, the Phoenix WOU Academy has a
proud tradition of competing on this
international stage and representing our
community with excellence. And whereas
the academy continues to demonstrate
dedication, discipline, and skill,
fostering cultural exchange, and earning
recognition for both its students and
the community it represents. And whereas
the Phoenix Woo Academy students have
put in countless hours of hard work in
their sport and through their strength,
diligence, and perseverance, they have
brought pride and honor to the great
town of Gilbert with their achievements
throughout the years. And whereas they
hope to inspire the people around them
with the passion and dedication they
have for the sport of WOU and aspire to
become a bridge for American and Chinese
culture. And now I young Kapowski on
behalf of um Mayor Scott Anderson, Mayor
of Town of Gilbert, do here rec do here
recognize today on August 26, 2025, the
Phoenix WOU Academy as ambassadors of
Gilbert to Emulations.
[Applause]
Thank you.
We'll
take a photo.
Yeah.
We'll now have a presentation on the
Gilbert Sister Cities youth ambassadors
by Council Member Kapowski.
I'd like to invite our
2025 Gilbert Youth Ambassadors up to the
stage. Uh, Town of Gilbert is um, sister
cities with Leseon China and Antrum
Newton Abbey. Um, they'll be at the
podium here and they'll give us a
presentation of uh, their experience
over this past summer. if you could
please each introduce yourself, the high
school you represent, and the um
ambassador city that you've partnered
with.
Hi, my name is Sha Dean Harrison and I'm
17 years old. I go to Mosquite High
School and I'm currently a senior and I
went to Leseawn, China over the summer.
Hi, my name is Emma Anderson. I am also
a senior. I go to Campover High School
and I traveled with Sha Dean to Leseawn,
China this past summer.
Hi, I'm Ely Miner. I'm also a senior. I
go to Hickley High School and this
summer I travel to Antrim Newton Abbey,
Northern Ireland
to keep the presentation from here.
Um,
today you have a presentation for the
audience and for the council and mayor.
Um so we'll hand it off to you um to
give your about 10 15 minute
presentation. Thank you.
I guess I'll start.
So this is all of us. We're the 2025
Gilbert Youth Ambassadors.
And where did I point it?
Oh, okay. There we go. So, Gilbert
Sister Cities is a nonprofit
organization that promotes cultural
understanding and friendship between
Leseawn, China, and Antrum, New Town
Abbey, Northern Ireland. And um we're
missing one ambassador, her name is Emma
Ferrer, and she went to Northern
Ireland.
So, our application process took place
over 7 months. So, it's it's a long
process. Um throughout it we did all
sorts of different things. We did
interviews, we did essays, we did
clinics, um we participated in the
Gilbert town parade which was super
cool. And we also did we had an east to
west fest that was celebrating Leseawn
China. And then we also did an Irish
feast.
And it was definitely like a lot of
work, but it was totally worth it for
all the memories.
So me and Emma, we went to Leseawn,
China for 14 days and we went July 1st.
So, we arrived there and our first day
we got to go to Chiian Wei number one
middle school. And these are our friends
that we made there. My host sister, her
name is Iris and Emma's host sister, her
name is Tracy. So, we got to experience
a lot of the different culture there.
And they wanted to celebrate Fourth of
July with us, which was really cool and
really funny that they wanted to do that
with us. And on the left over here, you
can see that we're dressed in the
traditional hampoo that they
wanted to do with us.
So,
so this is me and Iris and a few of our
pictures from our adventures. The on the
top there's me in Baija Valley and that
is us with our classmates in school. On
the left is Iris and Tracy. And we're at
the Changdu Panda Park. And then the
pictures below are me and Iris and me
and Tracy. And we got to explore the
city of Leseawn together. And that was a
really fun and awesome experience and we
really just got to be comfortable. The
families welcomed us so warmly and all
the students as well. They really tried
to speak English with us and tried to
bond with us and that really made us
feel like
comfortable and welcome.
So, here is me and my
fellow ambassador from Lean, Tracy. I
put a bunch of photos in there. We got
to experience culture together. We went
to a few museums and then we tried lots
of local cuisine. And then on the bottom
in the middle that's the hanfu that
Shaine mentioned. Over the whole 14 days
we were really just immersed in the
culture of the Chinese people and we
really got to see the differences
between kind of how we live here in the
town of Gilbert and how they live on the
other side of the world. It was really
an enlightening experience as we, you
know, celebrated customs and did
traditions we were not comfortable with
and not used to, but ended up just
connecting so deeply with our families
over there. We definitely want to visit
again and just become more immersed in
their culture.
So, I went to Ant Newton Abby, Northern
Ireland, and that was the coolest
experience. Like even picking out the
pictures for this, I was just like
wanted to go back and I was paired with
the Mart family and I my other fellow
ambassador was Lewis and we had so much
fun. We had we went to a lot of beaches
there. It was really green which was
like crazy like not not really seen here
but um we went in it was like cold. It
was my first time ever wearing a wet
suit when we went kayaking in caves.
And so that was a super neat experience.
And we also while we were there actually
got to meet the Lord Mayor and walk to
the castle gardens which was a super
cool experience.
So yeah.
And then after that um unfortunately the
Lashawn ambassadors were not able to get
a visa to come here but the Northern
Ireland ambassadors were. So we got to
um share Gilbert with the ambassadors
from Northern Ireland. So we took them a
lot of water activities cuz it's really
hot here. But we got to take them also
to like downtown Gilbert and
Diamondback's game. And another really
cool thing was we actually got to um
meet with Mayor Scott Anderson at the
Gilbert Public Public Training Facility,
which was super cool. And we also got to
show them uh we toured Camp Overde High
School. So we got to show them kind of
what our schools look like versus
theirs. And something that was
interesting to me was just how much we
have in common with each other. Our like
there's definitely different things
about our cultures, but we also have so
much in common.
So why Gilbert Sister Cities matters is
it's an opportunity to create lifelong
friendships. We get to find connections
and similarities like Alisa had
mentioned across cultures realizing just
how similar we are no matter where you
live. It also provides an amazing
opportunity to immerse yourself in a
foreign c culture. And we learned lots
of new life skills through the
application process. I think for most of
us, even getting up here today would
have been kind of insurmountable eight
months ago, but through this process,
we've learned lots of life skills.
Thank you guys. And thank you to Gilbert
Sister Cities for for providing this
trip. And thank you for the town of
Gilbert for being our support.
[Applause]
Thank you ladies for being such amazing
representatives of our community. It's
been amazing to watch your journey over
the past few months. Um, for anyone
interested in uh future application
processes, that's going to open up here
really soon. And there are
actuallyformational nights coming up on
September 9th and September 16th at the
Gilbert Chamber of Commerce in the
Heritage District to find out more
information. And I do believe that um
it's for high school juniors uh for that
program. And I'd like to take a photo
with you all. Thank you.
[Applause]
Thank you. Our last presentation will be
of the Valley Benchmark community's
fiscal year 2023 2024 trend report by
Genesis. Are you coming up to give us
that? Yeah, there you are.
Thank you. Good evening, mayor. Good
evening, council. My name is Janie Hart.
This is going to be the Valley
Benchmarks communities trend report for
fiscal 2324.
And so, just a little uh introductory
information here. For those of you not
aware, the Valley Benchmark communities
is a collective of currently 12 of the
largest cities within the valley. And
the purpose of the community initiative
is that we work together to improve
local government performance by
benchmarking our information and data in
co in collaboration with working with
our partners at ASU and the urban
innovation um center there. And so as we
move through the report, you'll see here
that we do represent some information um
by population. And so for the population
source, we utilize MAG data for that.
And then as we move through the graphs,
you'll see that we'll represent our
maximum in blue. Our minimum will be
yellow. Our median will be represented
in green. And then Gilbert's information
will be the orange.
So starting out, we'll go ahead and look
at our demographics information for
population percentage change. As you can
see here, comparatively, we still remain
very steady with our population growth
just right around 1% year-over-year in
the population growth, which again is
represented in that orange. Kind of hard
to see in the graph.
As we move on to the median household
income, you can see here Gilbert's
information represents a strong increase
year-over-year with regard to our median
household income coming in around
121,351
per household.
And then looking at our fire medical
services, we look at calls per resident.
And so one thing that you cannot see
here is the minimum simply because
Gilbert's data actually is overlapping
that minimum. And so that 0.7 represents
not just the minimum but also Gilbert's
information.
And then as we look at our physical uh
item turnover with regards to the
utilizations of our libraries, you can
see here again Gilbert continues to show
strong increases with regards to our
library use. And so we continue to
actually maintain that maximum as
represented here.
And then moving on to our police
services data, we look at our property
crime rate per 1000 residents. And so
again, we continue to maintain close to
the minimum with regards to our property
crime per 10,00 residents. We did see a
slight increase between the two fiscal
years of fiscal 23 and fiscal 24, but
again still maintaining very low near
the minimum.
As we look at our parks and wreck data,
we look at miles of trail per 10,00
residents. Again, we maintain a
consistency here with regards to our
miles of trails that have been
developed. And so we're right uh above
the minimum the median there shown which
is that 0.18. We come in at 0.24 with
regards to Gilbert's miles of trail per
1000 residents.
And then as we look at our water, sewer
and trash, we look at standardized bills
combined on the lower use side. And so
you do see an increase with regards to
our overall uh total there between the
fiscal years. However, we are still
right around the uh median which is that
80 55. Gilbert's coming in right around
$82.
And then next we look at our trash
diversion. So we're looking at our
recycling services with regards to that
diversion. And so we maintain around 17%
with regards to our recycling efforts.
So again, showing consistency. One thing
we have noticed as a VBC is now we have
uh shown increases in our minimums
simply because other cities are working
to increase their overall recycling
efforts.
And then the last thing that we measure
here is with regards to the uh
development services metric. And so
we're looking at the average turnaround
time for single family permits and
business days. And so again, Gilbert is
below the median of that eight there.
And you can see we come in right around
about three business days for those
permit turnaround times.
And then a copy of this report is
available on the Town of Gilbert website
under the management and budget section
under benchmarks. if you're looking for
that. Any questions?
Any questions from anyone? No. Thank you
for the presentation.
Thank you.
We'll move to public hearings and we've
got uh three items in the public
hearings. I know that item six is one to
be heard separately, but I'll entertain
a motion. If no one has any objections
to items seven and eight, I'll open the
public hearing on those two and close
the public hearing. Entertain a motion.
I move to accept items seven and eight
as written.
I'll second that.
It's been moved by council member Torus,
seconded by council member Bonioani.
Please vote.
Motion carries unanimously.
We'll go back to item six,
general plan GP2501,
zoning Z2502, Willowbrook. Um,
we'll ask for a staff presentation to be
All
right. Good evening, mayor and council.
Kristen Divine, senior planner with the
town. Uh, the project I have for you
tonight is going to be for a general
plan amendment and a resoning for a
potential community called Willowbrook.
The site is located on Rigs Road and
156th Street. This is just east of Val
Vista.
And the request before you tonight is a
minor general plan amendment from 0 to
one dwelling units per acre to 2 to 3.5
dwelling units per acre. a resoning of
from single family 43 to single family 6
with a request for a planned area
development including setback and lot
coverage deviation requests.
Right. And seen here is an exhibit
highlighting the different zoning within
the area. Uh the project site is
outlined in red here with the requested
zoning of SF6. Uh you can see that there
are surrounding zonings of SF43 which is
going to be retained by RWCD
um and then SF10 to the south for the
Marathon Ranch community. You have SF35
across Briggs Road which is vacant land
as well. And then you have Adora Trails
to the east on the other side of the
canal which is kind of a hodgepodge of
different zoning districts. SF6, SF7,
SF8, a bit of a mix of everything.
Right. And seen here is the development
plan for the community. It consists of
91 lots on approximately 26.4 acres. Uh
the minimum lot size for these lots will
be 6,600 square ft. The community is
proposing about 18% of open space for a
density of 3.45 dwelling units per acre.
I would also like to highlight that the
lots you see with the red dots on the
bottom um they are restricted to
singlestory only development.
Right? And this is just a closer
snapshot of what those proposed lot
sizes are. They range in size from 6720
ft to 7,575
ft. Uh 53 of the proposed 91 lots do
exceed 7,000 square ft.
All right. And this slide is going to
touch on the deviation requests that
they're proposing. Uh outlined in green
are items that they are currently
exceeding requirements in including the
lot area going from 6,000 square feet to
6,600 square feet. Uh the minimum lot
depth going from 100 ft to 120 ft. Um
and the initiation of the singlestory
restriction on lot 76 to 91. They are
also proposing 18% of open space where
10% is required in a normal SF6 zoning
district.
In addition to that, they are requesting
some reductions in some of their
requirements that a traditional SF6
zoning district would see. So, they are
requesting um for side setbacks, instead
of 5T and 10 feet, they're requesting 5T
on both sides.
And for lot coverage, they are
requesting an increase of 5% for both
onetory and single story going from 45
to 50% and 40 to 45%. And they are
requesting uh the elimination of the
staggering requirement for front
setbacks. We typically require a
three-foot stagger for for developments
for homes side by side and they're just
requesting the elimination of that as
well as the elimination of an additional
rear setback for side and rear setback
requirements when those properties are
adjacent to arterials collectors and um
other zoning districts.
So then just to highlight on that last
one um they will still meet their
required rear setback. It's just not
going to be in excess when adjacent to
those properties.
Okay, so this property um I'm sorry,
this project did have two neighborhood
meetings. The first held on September
17th, 2024. I apologize for the typo
there. Approximately 62 attendees were
there. Uh concerns voiced at the time
included traffic density, um landscaping
at the southern boundary adjacent to the
existing Marathon Ranch community,
the desire for singlestory only homes.
Uh the second neighborhood meeting was
held in March where approximately 49
attendees were there. Uh concerns at
that time still consisted of traffic uh
specifically the request for a signal at
156th Street uh density still and the
request for single story at a minimum on
the southern boundary.
When we took this to study session with
planning commission in April, feedback
that we received from them included
concern with the number of deviations, a
lot coverage deviation, front end side
setback deviation, and density. Some
changes that were made to the project
due to those concerns from the
neighborhood meetings and the planning
commission study session included a
reduced number of deviations. Uh the lot
coverage deviation was reduced to only
5% where it was 10 to 15%.
Uh the front sect deviation was no
longer being requested except for the
staggering elimination and they did
place singlestory restriction on those
southern lots as well as a handful um
along 156th Street as well on the
southwestern corner.
So this did go to planning commission
for public hearing on August 6th. At
that time 16 comment cards were received
and there were speakers. I believe nine
members, nine of those 16 members did
speak. Um, all 16 were in opposition to
the project. Their concerns again
included traffic, especially accessing
Riggs Road from 156th Street, uh, the
desire for a traffic signal at that
location, density, and the deviation
requests. Uh, planning commission did
recommend approval of the project 6 to
zero.
All right. And with the the increased
request for the traffic signal, uh we
did want to touch on the the the traffic
signal warrants. Uh so to establish a
traffic signal, the town is required to
follow federal and state requirements to
construct one. Um
to be eligible, you must meet at least
one of the nine signal warrants. That
includes traffic volume, pedestrian
school crossings,
traffic signal systems, crash history,
and railroad crossings.
And just to summarize, with the existing
condition without this proposed project,
those warrants are not met. Taking into
consideration the proposed development,
those warrants are still not met, which
is why we are not moving to install the
traffic signal.
And with that, we do recommend approval
of uh GP2501 and Z2502.
But I am available for any questions
that you have.
Thank you. Questions? Council member
Bonjivani.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, so you go back two
slides to the warrants.
One more. Sorry.
Okay. So, this is basically saying that
the town is not required to put a signal
there. Does that take away the ability
or the volunteeress, shall we say, of
the developer clean traffic signal
there? So, Council Member Bonjiovani,
I'm going to let Aaron answer that
question for us.
Okay.
Mayor Anderson, Mayor Anderson. Council
member Bonjiovani, excuse me. Um, it
does. To install a signal, safety is our
number one concern. And to install a
signal where it's not warranted actually
increases the safety, it decreases
safety, increases the opportunity for
crashes and severity of crashes.
Okay, one more time.
Sorry.
um to install a signal where it is not
warranted.
Um it has been proven in federal
guidelines that actually increases the
likelihood of crashes if you install a
signal where it's not warranted.
But they're they're smart people. Can't
we figure out the math?
Yeah. In in this case, we actually did
the highway. Um see the
actually I'll pull my notes of what what
manual it is.
So we did the we went ahead and did the
calculation for this one specifically.
Um
yes, the highway safety manual um the
predictive analysis showed that we be
see about twice as many crashes. We
signalized this specific intersection
when we did the analysis as the two-way
stop condition and as a signalized
intersection.
Okay. Thank you.
Member Torus.
Since people are having difficulty
making a left from 156 to Rigs, is this
more of a speed issue than a congestion
issue? And how many vehicles are
traveling along rigs during peak hours?
Mayor Anderson, Council Member Toruson,
um we went ahead and actually observed
the time delay time to make those left
turns during the peak hours. Um, we
observed from 7:00 a.m. to 8 p 8 8:00 am
and also from I believe 400 pm to 5:00
p.m. Um, we found that it was on average
45 seconds delay to make that left turn
in the AM and 19 seconds in the P in the
PM. And most of that we saw from 2 to 3
minutes in the 7 to 7:05.
If you exclude that those two three
minutes for the three vehicles there on
average it was 21 seconds of delay in
the AM peak to make that left turn
movement.
Do
we know how many vehicles are traffic
travel traveling along rigs?
Um I have that do not have it right in
front of me. I can get that for you.
That's a member Bonjivani.
Thank you mayor. Um, I don't have a
degree in traffic studies, but I went
there three times last week at different
times myself.
[Applause]
The last time I went was Sunday at 11:00
a.m. I figured everyone would be in
church. It should be fine. Should be
good. Um, I consider myself um an
aggressive driver in recovery.
And I'm telling you, making a left-hand
turn on that street was taking my life
in my hands all three times. And I can't
imagine how a line of people, even two
or three cars, trying to make a left on
that, the second car, the third car,
would be very human behavior, be
impatient, and make the, you know,
attempt to make the turn when it's when
it's unsafe. Um, again, I don't hold a
traffic degree. I just hold a degree in
common sense.
Council member Lions.
Um, one of the questions I have was when
were the studies done? How old are they?
Mayor, council member Toruson um and
Lions to answer a previous question um I
don't have the total volumes but the
peak hour volumes are about in the 2200
vehicles in one direction. So a total of
um because you do have more vehicles
going one direction versus the other. a
total of about 30
about 3,000 vehicles in in a in the peak
hours each direction. Um, council member
Lions the study was done off the traffic
volumes as civ did their volumes in
January and then we conducted our own
independent we got counts on August 14th
and conducted this past week. We did our
own independent signal warrant analysis
to echo uh Councilman Pon Giovani's um
statement. I went down there three
different times, three different times a
day. Morning, midday, evening.
Only time I could make a decent left
turn out of there was midday. Both in
the morning and in the evening, I gave
up and just went right. So I
you uh could you do me a favor and
please refrain from the clapping? Thank
you.
The other thing that I noted was that
the
um timing between the signals did not
allow for a turn. There was not a good
gap in traffic. That's what was
facilitating the problem. So I'm I'm
just struggling with the the warrant
analysis. Um, I know I did see the crash
history that wasn't anything
significant, but the volume of traffic
on the road and the lack of adequate
spacing to make a left turn out of there
was a concern. So, um, thank you,
Council Member Torus.
So, you're seeing about 3,000 square
3,000 cars per hour in a peak hour,
correct? So that would work out to 50
cars a uh was it 50 cars a minute?
Correct.
Is that No,
3,000 divided by 60 is 50,
right?
So 50 a minute.
Correct. In both directions.
50 a minute. They're trying to make
They're trying to make a left-hand turn
at 50 cars a minute.
Just
I I'm My math must be off.
Yeah,
there's 3600 seconds
in an hour.
I think that's the total volume of the
intersection. Not make not making
necessarily the turns.
Yeah.
A little more than that.
Yeah. She has
3,000 vehicles crossing that
hour.
But what you observed was 45 seconds to
be able
Yeah.
Mayor Anderson, Council Member Torus,
that is correct. But what we observed in
watching it was the delay was is what we
observed and it matched the modeling
that Civ,
you know,
that somehow seems it's
that doesn't sound safe,
does it? I mean, every that fast and
you're trying to get out, there's going
to be gluts of cars and occasionally we
get no cars. I get it over the P of that
doesn't seem 50 cars a minute.
It It doesn't I don't understand how
somebody's going to make a safe left or
even right turn with that much traffic.
So, the warrant for it is should we be
re-examining what the standard is or
trying to reinterpret this somehow
because it does seem
and we're not even taking in account how
fast they're driving.
Mayor Anderson, Council, Council Member
Gorgerson,
um if we chose to put a signal in here,
it would cause undue precedence, safety
concerns. This intersection is very
similar to many intersections we have
throughout the town that have similar
volumes on the major arterial and
unfortunately there's just not the the
volumes on this side street are such
that
does not trigger any of the warrants. Um
we have several other intersections that
like this throughout throughout the
town.
But let's say at Allen and POS, what's
the what's the traffic there? You know,
Mayor Anderson, Council Torson, I would
have to
we'd have to get council on that one.
I'm not sure off the top of my head
what, but we could get that information
if you'd like.
It just POS just doesn't seem all that
busy in the morning, but it has a light
at Allen and Bos. That's why I'm asking.
I'm
I'm just trying to imagine 50 cars a
minute
and trying to rationalize. We have
people here saying they don't feel safe
leaving.
I I don't want to hear arguments over
the size of the house. What the safety
is the the the discussion here. It just
doesn't seem to add up to me.
And I I don't care who pays for it. I'm
not saying that. How is how does this
not make the warrant necessary? I don't
understand.
Mayor and Councilman to Torus. Um again,
safety is a major concern for us. I
think there's a balance and and traffic
is very complex and every situation is
different as we move through that. um in
the reviews that we do to basically war
or to um state whether a signal is
necessary or not, we utilize the
warrants that are required through
through the the standards of operations.
Um one thing that I will state is it may
seem a little bit counterintuitive, but
that is also showing by adding a traffic
signal, we may increase the number of
crashes in that intersection or in that
location by double from what it is right
now. So that is also a piece of the
puzzle that does occur when a a signal
is placed in the wrong place. It is very
difficult to necessarily 100% predict
where we're at and what will happen with
that, but based off of the modeling, the
modeling is showing at this point in
time that there is no warrant. Now, we
certainly can um look at um the the
signal timing because if there is a
bigger gap or an ability for that left
turn to basically have a gap in that
traffic, we can continue to look at that
from that location as well. So, those
are things that we we do have an
opportunity to do, but as it states
right now, based off of the standards
that we use throughout the community,
this intersection is not needing a
warrant today. It does not meet the
warrants for that signal today, nor with
this this new development. Again, we
continue to monitor that on a regular
basis. As traffic increases and as
conditions change, we look at it and we
go through that from this perspective.
One item that we do have is that we do
have the STFs that do pay for our
signals that work on a major arterial
versus a collector roadway. So, those
are some opportunities that we do have
for funding in the future. When and if
any of those warrants do show um that
they're necessary as new developments
happen in the area as well, we look at
it again and again and again. And so,
this isn't a one-time shot for us to
look at this. This is a continual look
at it. And based off of what we're
seeing right now, this intersection is
not much different than other
intersections in town. In fact, the 21
seconds that is taking to take that left
hand turn in those peak hours is really
kind of minimal compared to some other
locations that we have. So, we are
addressing them as they come through.
And in this case, we don't have a
justification based off of warrants to
basically put a signal in at this
location.
Do we know the speed
of rigs?
65 like Higgley Road or 45?
Do we know the speed?
Hop on.
What was the question?
Do we know the speed limit on h on rigs
road?
Mayor understand council member to it is
it's posted 45 miles per hour.
What are people actually driving?
Have to look at that. Got a recent data
report. I'd have to look at that up.
Is it safe to say that they're exceeding
that?
Yes. Is it safe to say that we could do
better on trying to pull that?
Um, Mayor Anderson, Council Member
Torus, I didn't meet with our PD. It is
area that they they do work kind of
thing. It is it's a known issue. It's
area they actively work.
Okay. I'd like to continue discussion
about the rest of the item and not focus
on just this traffic issue right now.
Um, Vice Mayor Buckley, do you have
something?
I I do. Um,
I and and this will be quick because I
haven't had a chance to talk yet. Uh,
but I I did want to bring up that I uh
I'm a real estate broker. I I had a home
listed in Marathon Ranch and um I was in
and out of 156th Street and Rigs
numerous times a week for probably six
months and I almost got in an accident
myself and this is I'm speaking being
there and not just maybe it might
happen, maybe it might not happen. But
it the the traffic there and I can
probably answer council member Toruson's
question a little bit. I mean that's
just my opinion. Uh the but the traffic
there is probably easily travel 60 miles
an hour in a 45 zone and uh and that was
my issue. So, I was trying to to get out
of the subdivision and, you know, I
looked one way and I looked the other
way, but a car was speeding so fast that
when I started to pull out, you know, he
was way down the street when I saw him.
And so, that's all I'm going to say
about that. But I just want you to know
that from my own experience of being in
and out of there numerous times a week
for probably five months. And it I don't
know the I have some other questions
that I do want to ask. Um the on your on
your write up on staff's um remarks to
us there um is a section in there that
really bothers me the the wording and
it's it's in and I I wrote the page down
but now I don't see what page that is.
you'll you'll probably recognize that,
but um it states, you know, that there's
single family
um six, I believe. And then
it says, but but you have a and this is
the word that bothers me, a target
density of 3.45 dwelling units per acre.
What exactly? I don't like that word
target. Does that mean you might your
target might change? Will that target
maybe be more than that or less or
I think my my personal opinion is well
just my opinion is I think the word
target density need that word target
needs to be either changed or removed
because the density is going to be what
it's going to be.
Mayor Anderson, Council Member Buckley.
Um, so the the process is that a
resoning comes through and then
afterwards a plat comes through. Uh,
during the reasonzoning, they're kind of
still working on the final
configurations of all of those lots,
which is where the word target comes in
within the Santan character area. You
cannot extend 3.5 dwelling units per
acre, which is stipulated in their
zoning ordinance that's being considered
this evening. Uh their pre-plat is also
under review and scheduled to go towards
um getting commission for hearing if
resoning does get approved. Um and the
the density is 3.45.
The word target was it's just in the
staff report. It's not part of the
zoning ordinance requirements. It was
probably a forward choice on my part.
Okay. Well, um, yeah, because that that
bothers me and it bothers me a little
bit what you just said as well because
it sounds like they aren't positive what
that density is going to be and that's a
problem because if you're putting this
up here, you know, to us to vote on.
Yeah, Mayor Anderson,
it's not it's not completely settled.
No, they are. It's it's 3.5. It's 91
lots over 26.38 acres and it is 3.5
dwelling units per acre. That is is the
density being proposed.
Okay. But yet it still says target
density. Can you remove that word? Can
that word
from the staff report? No. I
unfortunately I can't because it's it's
been published and it's it's just the
staff report. It's not the zoning
ordinance. Within the zoning ordinance
it's 045.
Well, to to me, and I'm just saying this
is this is just to me that leaves that
kind of open and and I don't like things
that are left open that based on that
word something could come back. But
that's just me. So, the other the other
thing I have is uh ingress egress.
And if you you've got 91 new homes and
probably 200
I would say not a complete 200, but if
you take two cars, two vehicles
per home, that's just under 200 vehicles
that are going to be traveling in and
out of 156th Street. in addition to all
of the homes that are in Marathon Ranch.
So, has anyone looked at that? Have they
have they done obviously you've done
traffic
um studies, but has anyone studied that
probably 200 additional vehicles will be
traveling up and down 156th Street? And
I believe and I see Brennan sitting
there um that maybe there is more more
than one
more than one
ingress egress and that you can get in
and out of that.
Yeah. So Mayor Anderson, Council Member
Buckley, that data um Erin, please
correct me if I'm wrong, is included in
the traffic study that was reviewed as
part of the project and the signal
warrant analysis. Um, so we do take into
consideration these 91 new lots, how
many cars are associated with them, and
whether that applies towards going back
to the signal warrant conversation. Um,
so that that is taken into consideration
during this review. Um, as you can see
on the development plan on the screen
here, there is one ingress egress on
156th Street. Um, that's where you turn
right and you head up to Riggs Road.
There is also a secondary access point
which is their primary access point from
Riggs Road. Um, it is a right in, right
out only. Uh but there is two points of
access.
Okay. Yeah, I I recalled I recalled that
most most people
where which which ingress egress do you
think is going to be used the most?
Depends on which direction you're
headed.
Well, well, no, but if you look if you
look at it this way, you know, the
freeways are all left. Most people are
going to need to go they're going to
turn left probably go down Val Vista to
the 60 or if they get to the 10 they're
going to go that direction as well.
That's just my thoughts. But yet the
there's there's an an exit off on rigs
and they can only go right.
So they can I mean if they're going to
Queen Creek or Santan Valley or
somewhere that's that's great, but it's
another almost a mile down to the next
turn where they can turn left to go to
some of the other freeways. That just my
thought. I'm just asking questions. So,
um, um,
the other let's see.
Okay, I I think that's that's about it
for me, but I I have a big problem with
the word target density. It's just very
it's kind of leading.
The requested density is 3.45.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Are we ready to
have the applicant come up
everybody? Okay.
Have the applicant present.
Uh good evening, mayor, members of the
council. Brennan Ray, 2325 East Cal Back
Road here on behalf of LAR Homes. Um
we're certainly excited to be here
tonight to talk about a single family
subdivision. Uh those are something that
um the opportunities for single family
homes uh continues to dwindle as the
town approaches buildout and LAR went
out and actively sought uh an
opportunity with RWCD.
Uh and we're excited to be able to talk
about things tonight. We are grateful
for the work that we've put with tra
with staff, not only planning staff, but
traffic staff as well. And we're
grateful for um the staff's
recommendation for approval. We're
grateful for the planning commission's
unanimous recommendation for approval.
We had a lengthy discussion similar to
the lines of which we're likely going to
have tonight. And so I will be very
brief because I anticipate that there
are a number of residents and we're
going to spend a little bit more time
talking about traffic would be my my
guess. Obviously the site you're very
familiar with, but what I want to talk
about is how we got here. How we got
here to this development plan that's
before you. and and um Kristen had this
in her slide in terms of neighborhood
meetings, but what I want to do is dive
a little bit deeper in that if you look
back in September of 24, the
neighborhood meeting that we had, which
was prior to filing an application, we
had a different plan. At that time, we
were proposing 116 lots. Uh the minimum
lot size was 45 ft wide. And you can see
on this development plan, we did not
have access on to rigs uh except for
156th Street as staff indicated and as I
had on the slide before, a lot of
discussions on density, a lot of
discussions on traffic on 156th uh and a
number of things. So that was in 24.
And then in March of this year, we went
and had another neighborhood meeting and
made a number of changes. And this is
effectively the plan that's before you
today. And you can see relative to our
access point where we moved it on 156
because there was a concern from the
neighbors that we were going to have
traffic stacking up on 156 that would
then come into our community. And so we
moved that a little further south. We
added the additional right in right out
onto Riggs Road. and importantly um
increase the lots uh to what is before
you today in terms of the 91 lots and
this is the development plan that's
before you today um again I can go into
more detail if you want about it but
we've got the one-story restrictions uh
we're doing a lot of good things on it
as I look and think of of the Gilbert's
you know organizational culture and you
talk about the four key things the
mission vision and values of driven kind
bold and humble We think we can uh and
if I need to go in more detail, I think
we're addressing that certainly as you
look at the difference between one plan
um back in 24 to the plan that we've got
today. And I can go into more detail on
how we think we're meeting the mission,
vision, and values of of the town. I
know housing products not before you,
but I think it's important to understand
the quality of this community. Lenar is
a very proud uh national home builder
that have done a number of great
communities within the town of Gilbert
and throughout the uh southeast and and
throughout the state as well. We do plan
to offer one-story plans. There's going
to be three one-story plans and then
there's going to be two twostory plans.
And one of the reasons that we're
requesting a a deviation from the
staggering requirement is because that
natural stagger is going to occur
through our architecture. You can see
here we've got side entry garages that
are going to push forward. there will be
the natural push and pull that you would
expect on the street scene through that
in terms of housing product.
Um, so here's where we are. Just to give
you an idea, I know staff put up kind of
our table from the pre-plat in terms of
lot sizes, but you can see in there we
do have a range um of 55s uh with 130
deeper lots on the south. We've got some
60 wides and some 55 foot wides to give
us an average square footage of about
7100 square ft. far exceeding the
minimum SF6 requirement. So, I rushed
through that really quickly um so that
we could talk about uh so you could
understand how it is that we're
presenting this plan before you. Um
we're again grateful for staff's
recommendation and the planning
commission's recommendation. Um
town staff has their traffic engineer. I
have my traffic engineer here too, Don
Cardier with Civ. We need more people to
talk about that, but I am happy to go
into as much detail as you would like,
but we would request your approval
tonight of both the general plan and the
reasonzoning.
Questions for the applicant?
Thank you, Mayor.
Member Bonjani.
Thank you, Mayor Brandon. Um, what's the
product going to cost? What's your
range?
Uh, that's a great question. Um, if I
was to give every legal disclaimer known
to man about what it would be, um, that
this does not constitute an offer to
sale or stuff like that, I'm sure the
attorneys in the room will appreciate
that. Um, we believe that, um, these are
probably going to average, um, probably
around 6, 7, 800 depending on, you know,
options and stuff like that.
Okay. And would um your client
pay for a a street sign I mean a signal
light there
uh through the mayor council member
Bonjiovani. That's that's a great
question. Um as we visited with staff
and had additional discussions um we
certainly came to the same conclusion
that they did relative to a traffic
signal. uh and um and having additional
discussions with staff um while we're
happy to keep working with them, it
could be that once warrants and all the
fun technical stuff that you guys were
talking about when staff was up here get
satisfied that 156 might not be the
correct location for a signal, even if
an additional one is warranted along
here. That said, we're happy to keep
working with staff to understand that if
in some point in the future it might be
here. Um, happy to to work and and
consider it. I just don't know again and
I'll defer to staff and probably my
traffic engineer that if one is
warranted that this spot is the correct
location for it.
Okay. Is warranted, this might be for
staff or maybe you could answer this.
Um, does warranted mean if it's
warranted we pay for it?
Is it a pay problem here?
No warranty is just
Thank you, Mayor Anderson. Council
member Ponioani warranted it just means
that from a federal guidelines,
it can be considered to put a signal
here. Even if a location is warranted
for a signal, does not mean that it
should always receive a signal. There's
other factors. Take price and who pays
for it is not part of the equation for
determining whether the signal should go
here or not.
Let me ask my question again.
I'll ask it differently this time. If we
amend a motion to say that we would only
approve this if a light was there, would
you guys pay for it?
uh through the mayor, council member
Bonjiovania, if you'll permit me one
minute to have a discussion with my
client.
We've got to be careful with this
because we're setting precedent that I
do not want to see set in the rest of
the town if we do something like what
you're thinking of.
While he's conferring, may I ask Suzanne
a question?
Sure.
The term warranting,
what my understanding from earlier in
the conversation is that we can't put
one in unless it meets one of the nine
criteria. Is that correct?
That is the recommendation. and and if
we choose to put one in without those
warrants in place, you have the
potential of increasing
um crash accidents and decreasing the
safety of the overall corridor. So that
that's an also a consideration is I'm
understanding that the homes that we
have are struggling at this point in
time. Um but there there is also that
traveling public that's on Rigs Road too
that could be affected with that. So
right now we have a very minimal amount
of that. We do not show in any of the
analysis that we're doing that is
showing it's a warrant right now for us
to place that in in in play right now.
Go ahead.
Through the mayor council member
Bonioani as is typical with a lot of
developments whenever a signal is
warranted um a lot of times we are
required to pay our proportionate share
of that. That is typical of all
developments when signals are warranted
and that criteria has been satisfied. So
if if if there's a way in which warrants
are satisfied, we will pay our
proportionate share um
for in connection with this development.
Member Lions.
Um this is got one for each of you. I'll
start with you S. Um, if it is not
warranted for a signal and we put one in
and this may come to you, Chris and
something does happen and we have an
accident there, does that open us up for
liability?
If it wasn't warranted to be there, you
said one of the things it could do is
increase crashes,
somebody has a crash there, could they
come after us legally?
Council member Lines, your question is
if if the warrant's not there and we
install the signal.
Mhm.
Yes. I mean, there's potential
liability. You think of the plaintiff's
attorneys and if if the data shows that
a traffic signal is not warranted and
one gets installed, there's potential
there that it would increase liability.
It's not certain. Um, but there's
potential there.
And Susanna, you said that's a federal
guideline, right?
I'm sorry.
That's a federal guideline, right?
That is federal guideline.
Okay.
And and we've followed that federal
guideline for every signal in town and
most agencies do.
All right. So that is a risk to us if we
Okay. Um Mr. Ray questions for you. Um
one, you guys are putting in in your
proposal a dedicated right turn lane in
correct and at the edge of the
development um where 156 is. Are you
guys going to put any infrastructure in
there in case in the future a light is
warranted so that we don't have to
rework that whole area
through the mayor? Council member Lions.
Thank you. Uh in terms of the
intersection improvements, we are
providing a right turn lane. That is not
something that was required of us. It's
a little different than the traffic
signal discussion. Us providing
additional way for someone to make a
right turn lane. um that allows people
to be able to do that without stuck
being stuck in one lane today. Um and
one of the things if I if I may for a
moment, one of the challenges associated
with 156 deals that half of the road is
within the town of Gilbert. The other
half the east western half lies within
Maricopa County. And so that's that's
another thing that as we look at it in
development, only half the roads in
Gilbert. And so we we do face some
physical constraints with what the town
can do relative to the county parcels
next to us. It's because of that
limitation that we have chosen to put
right turn lane in exiting out for
people to be able to make the right turn
lane. Additionally, I you didn't ask
this, but I'll answer it. We did put a
right turn del lane into our entrance
off of Riggs Road. Um, so that will
allow people to get off of Riggs Road
without slowing down the flow of that
traffic um to be able to turn into our
site. With respect to your second
question, if a signal is warranted,
would we be willing um to put the
underground what I call guts of a
signal? Yes, that is something that we
would be willing to do. Again, I'm not
certain as we've discussed things that
this might be the correct location. That
is something that we will continue to
work with staff on. Okay. And and the
final thing just for clarity because I
you showed the different designs that's
going if you're requesting a deviation
as far as the uh staggering those
designs of the houses and the way
they're placed especially with the
garages that are at 90° will create that
break down through there that will have
a nice aesthetic so it doesn't look like
a just a section of row houses. Correct.
Yeah. Through the mayor council member
lines that is correct.
All right. Thank you.
One more question.
One more. Council member Bonjim.
Thanks, Mayor. Um, Suzanne, if it isn't
warranted,
what if scenario? If it isn't warranted,
the light was put there.
Certainly, you guys can figure out the
math to make it safe. Or is it just
completely unsafe? And math can't help
us at all here.
Um, council member Boniovani um and
mayor, this is a very difficult thing to
do from the from up here at this moment
to look at it. So, um, so what I will
tell you is that
where that signal gets placed in the
proper place, it will make it safer. at
this point in time because the warrants
aren't met. It's hard to determine
what's the right thing to do or the
wrong thing to do at this point in time.
So, I do know is that it doesn't warrant
it and our standards and the way that we
have administered our traffic within the
organ within the town has been to say we
need to get those warrants met in order
to put those signal signals in. And so,
that's the direction that we continue to
head. Now, we are open to continue to
work with the developer um in regards to
talking about options for how maybe this
traffic um situation can be maybe, you
know, changed to a certain degree and
looking through those options. But I
don't believe at this point in time
there's anything we can do to guarantee
a signal will be located right there at
156th Street.
And that 21 second gap, is that
mathematical? Is that real life? It's
not a 21 second gap. It the delay to the
people turning left is only 21 seconds.
So they're only sitting at that
intersection at 21 seconds to go through
the gap to make make that left turn.
Okay. Again, is that math or is that
real life?
Was real life. We basically did the
counts and and sat out there and and and
and confirmed that the counts were
happening that way.
Okay. So safetywise,
how many cars can get through
in that like 21 seconds when the first
car goes through? We talking one car.
So I'm uh Councilman Boniovani, I'm
going to have to bring up Erin here for
a little bit of help on that. I
apologize. It's not a 21 second gap.
It's the fact that they're sitting there
in a delayed time frame at that
intersection for 21 seconds before they
make the turn. And how much time is
turned, shall we say, before I'm just
trying to figure out how many cars can
we get through there? Because, you know,
when I did it, it was one.
So, Mayor Anderson, council man, council
member Bonjiovani. So, what we did on
August 14th, we got 24-hour counts and
we required the video footage. And so I
had a member of my office sit down and
watch the video footage from about 6:30
till 8 and record. Okay, stopwatch. As
soon as a car approached at the
intersection and stopped, the timer
stopped started on that person and
counted. And on average, we saw in that
7 to 7:05 window, we saw two vehicles.
The first vehicle stopped um and was
there for about two two minutes and 15
seconds. The second vehicle went with
that person and a third vehicle was
already in that queue and so they were
up to about a little over three minutes.
Um other vehicles we saw we saw as low
as 4 seconds but on average it was about
21 45 seconds if you include those first
three vehicles. Otherwise it was on
average of 21 seconds. somewhere up at
we saw numbers of 45 seconds, 33
seconds, we have it all in a spreadsheet
for those peak hour volumes because we
assume instead of having them spend all
day watching the camera footage, we
assumed that AM hour, peak hour of where
your heavier volume of rigs and also
your PM volume, the heaviest volume of
rigs would kind of give us a
of actual volumes of what we're seeing
of the situation.
Okay, thank you.
Do we have any non-traffic non-s signal
questions?
Mayor, I have a suggestion to maybe
button up the traffic discussion. It
seems like um this project has uncovered
an existing condition that will be
exacerbated by the addition of this
project. But to move forward with the
information that was provided, I would
suggest that we direct staff separate
from our vote tonight um to continue to
look at this uh situation and come back
with alternative options since a signal
is not warranted. Other alternative
options like an indirect left turn or
alternative access points and what the
challenges there may be. um in addition
to any signal timing progression um
changes that can be made. That's my
suggestion for that particular topic and
then I don't have any other questions
regarding the development piece. Thank
you.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
I like that idea.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We do have a number of cards. I only
have one that's requested to speak. I'll
read those for the record that do not
wish to speak but are opposed to the
project.
Um Rajbala Mar
Cheryl Polllet
is opposed.
Heidi Kim opposed.
Tammy
River
opposed. Beatrice Buther opposed.
Joseph Buther opposed.
Stefano Lombardo.
Pamela Leort.
Pascal Laquort.
Bradley Donner. Is it Poner? Donner.
also
opposed. Karen Wickens opposed.
Stephen Marvin opposed.
Carla Stone opposed.
Kaen Marvin opposed. I have one
request to speak.
Uh Rod Van Bieber,
you come forward. You have three
minutes.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you. Thank you, mayor, and town
member uh town council members. I want
to start by saying thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for coming out and actually
physically visiting our situation out on
Riggs Road. Um, I don't want to beat a
dead horse, but I want to point out that
Rigs is really different than a lot of
thoroughfares that we have such as POS
and Williamsfield and Ray and everything
else. And that it is the southernmost
boundary of the valley in in Gilbert.
And if you look at Rigs Road, we may as
well change the name to Rigs Highway
because there is very very few
businesses along Rigs in Gilbert. You
have a couple schools, couple gas
stations, you know, fire department and
things like that. But people use rigs as
a thoroughfare to get to Chandler,
namely uh the intel facility that's
being built and rapidly expanding. And
if you get on the uh the navigation map,
it'll tell you if you try to want to go
to Sky Harbor, for example. One of the
ways it'll tell you is to go down Riggs
to I 10 all the way through channel or
down there. So Rigs through Gilbert is
really a thoroughfare. It's not really a
a regular road. It's three lanes wide on
each side and there is a ton of traffic
and the people fly. I liked the uh
request that I heard earlier about the
Gilbert Police Department. We see the
their motor officers out on the corner
of 156 quite often and they stay busy
and so we do appreciate them doing that.
But uh I do want to take one uh make one
more comment and that is the traffic
study that was done. If I recall right,
they they did a traffic study and then
they used a a growth factor of two and a
half percent per year uh when they were
looking I guess what they call the
warrants. And I would challenge that two
and a half%. That might be the right
number for the nation. It might be the
right number for Arizona, for Gilbert in
general, but for us it's not the right
number. Not when you think about the
explosive growth in Queen Creek and in
Santan Valley because those are the
people that are buying homes out there
that are driving down rigs. And as far
as timing the signals, if you go down
rigs southbound during during rush hour,
almost everybody southbound rigs turns
e, excuse me, turns east, turns left
east onto rigs road. So when they ti try
to time the signals,
you get the main rigs traffic stopped at
Val Vista, but then you get all the
left-hand turn from Val Vista coming
onto the road. And then as far as timing
the signal up at Adora Trails, Adora
Trails now is so large that when you
stop the traffic coming from Santan and
Queen Creek, it's taken up, that gap is
taken up by all the people turning left
out of Adora Trails. So Riggs Highway
really is a very, very, very busy road.
And I know you've seen a lot of
statistics tonight. I just find it hard
to believe it doesn't warrant uh a
signal. I just I'm a transportation
executive by career and uh I just uh I
just don't believe that it doesn't and I
can't believe that a signal would ever
put traffic in more at a greater risk of
danger. I don't see it there. You know,
it just doesn't make any sense to me.
So, thank you. Thank you for allowing us
to comment.
Thank you.
Brennan, did you have anything you
wanted to add?
Uh, mayor, um, council. Um, no, I I
don't have anything to add. I do want to
respond to a comment that was earlier uh
that was made uh relative to the the
volume of traffic that this development
is putting on 156 especially in the amm
peak because I think that um you know I
I think the comment was hey we're
putting a lot of vehicles and as we've
discussed amm peak when you look at it I
think we're putting I'll have Don
Cardier with Civ just just tell you
these numbers really quick because I I
think it's important to understand I
think council member Kapowski said it
best. There's a problem there that's
we've uncovered. I don't know that I can
say we're exacerbating it so much as I
think we're providing light to it.
Mayor and council members, Don Cardier
with Cipe, 10605 North Hayden Road. So,
our total numbers, I should actually say
our peak hour numbers because I think
that's what everyone's focused on in
relation to how it feels when you're
experiencing that driving situation. Uh
we're adding in the morning what people
will feel like congestion which is that
leaving movement about 40 vehicles 30
turning to the left and 10 turning to
the right. Uh so less than one a minute.
Uh in the PM peak hour that same out
movement is reduced to 27 20 to the left
and seven to the right. And I think
Brennan did say that well it's an
existing condition that's been
uncovered. there are some options that
could be available to make that better
until some time where warrants might be
met if this is the right location. So, I
think that's a a great path forward.
With that, mayor, council members, I
have nothing more to add unless you have
questions of me and we would request
your approval.
Thank you.
I'll close the public hearing and bring
it back to the council for discussion
andor a motion.
Council member Buckland.
Thank you, Mayor. So,
I very much agree with Council Member
Kapowski's assessment and and option.
We're at a crossroads of what data is
telling us and how it feels. And how it
feels is real to to um everybody has to
drive that every day. I go through that
at Morrison Ranch at times. Back up to
Santan Charter School. There's one way I
can make a left closest to my house and
there's a way I can only make a right.
My wife chooses to make a right and
U-turn legally there and I make a left
and sometimes I got to wait. It sucks.
What I'm not interested in doing is
making critical decisions on how things
feel. Uh although I think there's a lot
that we can do to get um data to get
better understanding of the situation as
it is because there's a lot of people
saying a lot of right things here and I
I don't feel like we're ready to even
make a motion. And I feel like uh this
probably needs to be tabled so that
because we have a lot of residents here
who are very invested into their
community and the quality of life and
their safety and that's important.
What I don't want to do is force a light
and create liability so that all of a
sudden we have an increase in accidents
and now we have lawsuits because we
didn't follow federal guidelines because
it felt like a light would make it
safer. So I do think my recommendation
is that we table this to a later date to
where our staff, the developer, uh their
staff, our residents who are very very
vested in the into their safety and and
the quality of life can work through
some of those things that we talked
about. What are there other traffic
things we can do? I love hearing that
our police department's down there. I'm
a for former motor. I also used to work
Rigs Road because they flew down there.
But I'd like to know what what are the
average speeds, right? What do the
speeds look like? So that beyond a motor
officer, are there other uh speed
softening measures that we can take
through engineering design things like
that? Um that's what I recommend. That's
where I think we should probably head.
Just one person.
Other comments? Council member Mivani.
Yep. I also want to thank Gilbert's
finest. As I mentioned in the last
meeting, I do about 75 miles a week on
my bike and I see um I see Gilbert
police on Rigs Road all the time and
feel much safer, but uh cars are still
speeding past us. Um I I want to address
something that hasn't been spoken about
yet, just because I want to I want to
just put it on the record here. Um first
of all, I'd love to see 91 more families
move into Gilbert. There's nothing
nothing I'd rather see more than that.
But I want to talk about um property
value. We got a lot of emails about
potential property value going down. And
I dug into this pretty deep about um you
know, if we're talking Marathon there
has 1.1 to 1.5 million homes. Um this
project is 600 to 800,000.
There are they they are two separate
buyers. So, as far as market competition
goes, it wouldn't happen because you
have two separate buyers. There wouldn't
be a reason for the home value, the
homeowner to reduce their price in
Marathon in Marathon Ranch there in
order to get someone to purchase their
home when they're comparing against $600
to $800,000
uh people looking for those kind of
homes. I I even looked in the studies.
There was no study that showed a decline
in property values by having a
neighborhood in front of you with lesser
home values if and only if there was um
uh more open area open space. And in
this project there is more open space
than we're asking and if it has the same
kind of uh character. So, I just wanted
to point that out that I I'm that as far
as as property value goes, I fully
believe if the project moves forward
that I don't believe at all that the
property values would would go down,
they'd probably stabilize. If not go up,
we're in Gilbert. Um, but I also would
like to see uh and if we had to if we
had to vote on this today right now, um
I couldn't go to sleep tonight knowing
that there's going to be more accidents
there. And even though data doesn't show
it, data doesn't show someone going
through the windshield either. I I I did
it. I did it a number of times. Um, in
order to get a yes vote for me,
something has to happen to uh create
that left turn uh safer.
Council member Torres,
uh, I'm going to concur on the property
value issue. I was the HOA president for
Gilbert Commons, Allen Ranch, Gilbert
Commons. There's everything between
Williamsfield and POS just east of uh,
Gilbert. And there was a small I forget
how many acres and they built the
enclave at Gilbert Commons which was a
couple hundred,000 less than our homes.
And our homes actually went up. They
didn't go down. Uh
so I to
that's not a fair that shouldn't be a
fair point. It doesn't play itself out
as far as your property value. Uh what
I'm looking at though is 40 cars at a
peak hour when there's 3,000
cars during that peak hour.
That's that's not but a one 1.33%
increase uh in an hour. I don't think
that I don't think the issue is the 40
cars. I think the issue is pre-existing.
I think the issue at that point, uh, as
council member Kapowski said, is
something that has to be examined. If
it's not meeting a warrant, we put a
signal in and it goes everything goes
south, we have problems. Uh, we turn
around and we deny somebody something
that fits the character of the district
that we've that's in the general plan
that was designed specifically and it is
below that number, that 3.5, it's a
3.45, four, five, and we deny somebody
that, we're creating another set of
problems. I think what we have to take
on is whether or not this is approved or
not, we have to take on the issue of the
traffic as it affects the residents down
there, no matter what, whether we vote
for it or not. And voting no on it
denies somebody uh
the opportunity to develop their land.
Voting no on it denies 91 people having
a nice home in Gilbert. Uh what won't be
a a problem for people is if we address
the problem and the problem is how it
feels. The problem is how it plays out.
And regardless of whether you vote yes
or no, we have to do something to
examine this problem. it if council
member Bon Giovani and council Lions
can't get out of there in a reasonable
period of time when they're talking
about it. Maybe legally it doesn't meet
certain warrants, but it's certainly
something has to happen. Whether you
line up 10 guys on motorcycles every day
to harvest a million dollars a day in
fines, whatever you got to do, you're
going to have to control traffic. So, I
think we have to look at it as two
separate issues. And I think the traffic
issue has to be dealt with regardless of
whether you vote to to approve this
project or not.
Council member Bucklin, would you like
to make a try a motion?
Well, I would move that we continue this
to a later date where we can get answers
to those questions that that this
community deserves. What I don't know
is, and I think it requires uh Brennan
and our staff to determine
what time frame do you need so you can
work with the residents so we can you
can study this better, get better data
um so that we can try to find that right
resolution and I don't know what that
timeline is. So I'm I'm asking for your
opinions on that.
Then I'd be happy to make a motion.
Mr. Ray,
uh, Mayor, Council Member Buckland, um,
that's a great question. Um, we've
looked at this thing six ways from
Sunday, and if the council's prerogative
is that we look at it, see if we can't
find a seventh way to try to make this
work. Um, you know, um, we will
certainly defer to the the council. I
think as we look at it, obviously, we
prepared our own report. Staff reviewed
their report, they went out and
conducted their own independent study.
Um, and as we look at the things of
tools in the toolkit, I think council
member Kapowski hit on something that
um, maybe might warrant a short pause
for us to look and that's deals with the
signalization timing um, to create those
gaps to do it. I know that when we
looked at it independently, we felt that
there were some improvements that could
be made there um to create gaps between
the signals down at Adora Trails and the
signal at Val Vista to create some
additional um lanes, if you will, to be
able to exit the development. Uh and so
I would think if if if we're looking at
specifically that sort of thing to get
back to the council, I would think two
weeks would be more than sufficient for
us to do it. I I think the data has been
there. I think it's been gathered. Um,
but if there's something else that we
haven't thought of, that Don at Civte
hasn't thought of or that Susanna and
and her team haven't thought of, we're
more than happy to to chase it down. I'm
just not sure what else there is.
Yeah. Thank you. And I think what I'm
asking is yes on that uh in terms of the
timing, but also are there other
softening measures? Are there, you know,
you go through some cities and you're
seeing slowdown, you know, big flashing
slowdown. Does that get people's
attention? Does it work? I don't know
what the data shows on that. Right. You
you I've never wanted um photo
enforcement in my life, but I can tell
you um might might be due if the data
says we have a real problem down there.
So just whatever town uh staff might
advise on other sovereigning measures
along with what you just spoke about.
Uh Mayor Anderson, Council Member
Buckland, um I we would suggest actually
a little bit longer of a time frame in
order to push this out. Uh I would
suggest somewhere toward the middle of
October. I think there's an October 17th
date. And I say that because staff
reports for the council meeting in two
weeks are due this week. and we haven't
even begun to to have these further
discussions. We will continue to work
with the applicant. We've we've heard
the discussions of council. We know the
the direction that that we've heard we
hear the um um concerns of the the
citizens as well. Um so I think there's
some things that we can put into place
or things that we can work on, but it's
just going to take us a little bit of
time to walk walk through that process
in order to figure out what those
stipulations would look like to come
back um for the resoning. The reasoning
is obviously the best time to do this,
too, because it is the entitlement of
the property. um trying to push it down
the road into a preliminary plat or some
of those things um is a little more
difficult when it comes to the
entitlements and and doing the zoning
ordinances. So, it would be better to
have those things in the in the
ordinance for the long term um of the uh
of the project. So, that's that's why we
would suggest more of an October
probably 17th date. Perfect. Sounds like
a win-win or at least potential there.
Mayor, I would uh move that we table
this uh and revisit it on October 17th
at that council meeting.
Council member Buckland, just a point of
clarification, the meeting's October
14th.
Then I amend my own motion to October
14th.
I'll second that.
Do you have any other direction you'd
like to give for that?
Just uh please. What what I'm concerned
with is that we're we're talking about
background traffic that we can't do a
whole lot about, but we'll see what we
can do, I guess, over time.
Yes. I think I think I hope what I was
seeking out of this was clear in terms
of definitely the timing that may solve
the problem. Um I'm not looking for
every once in a while it's going to
stink in every neighborhood when you
have abundance of tra. What what I'm
looking for are there if the data tells
us that we have a speeding problem and
I'm going to guess it does or the motors
wouldn't be down there. Um what does
that look like and what other things can
we do to soften that to create one a
slowdown so you don't have someone
pulling out thinking someone expecting
that they should be going 45 miles an
hour but they're doing 70. You can't we
talked about this in the study session
earlier about the bicycles, the electric
bikes. the residents have a a um a right
to expect that those on that road where
they're trying to pull out are doing the
speed limit and we have an obligation to
make sure that they do. So, what other
softening mechanisms do we have to help
with that? And I'm putting it on you
guys to figure that out. I'm not an
engineer.
I have a motion by council member
Buckland and a second by council member
Bonjiovani to postpone till October 14th
and during that time look at these
traffic issues that we might be able to
take some further action on. Please
vote.
up above. There you go. Motion carries
unanimously. 70. Thank you.
Council, I'm sorry. Council member Lions
voted no.
Six to one.
We'll go now to our consent calendar.
Vice Mayor.
Okay. Uh to begin the consent calendar,
council member Torusan is pulling off
numbers 10.
Hold on the microphone.
Oops.
Okay. So to begin the consent calendar,
council member Toruson is pulling off
items number 10, 11, 16, and 17.
And are you prepared
to discuss those? Uh, Mayor, Vice Mayor
Buckley. So, you still want me to go
through the presentation, but then be
prepared to pull those items off?
I I got the impression from Council
Member Toruson he wanted to to do that
to have you
discuss those or do you want What do you
want, Council Member Toreson?
How about you go through the things that
I haven't pulled off so we can accept
those at one time and then we go to the
rest? That make sense? Um,
well,
sorry, Vice Mayor, please.
Yeah. Wouldn't we I think we want to do
the four first.
That's what I
and then we can vote on those if we need
to or vote on everything.
Mayor, Vice Mayor Buckley. So, um, so
I'm clear, that's numbers 10, 11, 16,
and 17 that we want to discuss further.
So just skip those in the slides and run
through the rest.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
Okay. Thank you. Starting with item
number nine, an annexation on Greenfield
between Queen Creek and Okato. It's 5
acres of proper property located west
Greenfield halfway in between Green
Queen Creek and Oatil which will
incorporate an existing church and allow
for future expansion on its site.
There's no budgetary impact to this uh
item.
Skipping items 10 and 11, moving on to
agenda item 12. It's cooperative
purchasing contract in the amount of
$60,000 annually for the term of 5 years
with JTB Supply Company for the purchase
of traffic signal related materials and
equipment. It's supported via our her
fund from the traffic signal maintenance
budget.
Agenda item number 13 is a motion to
approve a contract with Sunrise in the
amount of $160,000 annually for the term
of five years to support wash and storm
channel maintenance and vegetarian
removal ensuring that the critical
waterways function properly as part of
our storm water management system. And
this is rate supported out of the
environmental compliance fund. Item
number 14 is a motion to approve a
contract with thatcher company of a Inc.
in an amount not to exceed 219,000
annually over a period of 5 years for
the purchase of hydrofluorosil
and I'm going to murder this
hydrofllorocylic acid in to be used in
Gilbert's two water treatment facilities
and this item is rate supported from the
water fund. Agenda item number 15 is a
motion to approve a cooperative
purchasing contract with WIST business
supplies and equipment for the purchase
of office furniture and workstation
equipment an amount not to exceed
$500,000 over the next two years. This
item is supported through impacted
budget uh departments approved operating
budgets. Skipping items number 16 and 17
and moving on to 18. It's a motion to
approve GMP2 with Archer Western
Construction in an amount not to exceed
$4,922,553
and a contra contract with purchase and
nipple for PMCM services for phase 2
project management in an amount not to
exceed $164,000 for CIP project WW1248
manhole rehabilitation a project that
addresses degrading manholes and gravity
sewer lines throughout the town's
wastewater system infrastructure. And
this item is rate supported through the
wastewater replacement fund. Agenda item
number 19 is task order number 40 with
CS construction in an amount not to
exceed $2,33,000
for the design and construction of
intersection improvements at Higgley and
Queen Creek to address congestion and
safety concerns. It's items funded with
the 2022 general obligation bonds. And
that is all the items on the consent
agenda today.
All right. Uh, do you want to
I'd like to make a motion to accept
those items as presented.
Okay. Well, are there any are there any
questions from anyone?
Anyone make questions? And I I actually
make the motion, I believe.
So if there's no questions then I move
to approve
items number
9 12 13 14
15 16 Oops I'm sorry 15 18 and 19.
Do I have a second?
Second vice mayor and and 20 is also if
you want to do that. That was the
meeting minutes.
Thank you. Yes. And number 20. You
second that.
Okay. So, I have uh
a motion and a second and let's vote.
Okay. The vote is 70
and we'll move on then to the
presentations on items number 10, 11,
16, and 17.
Chief, are you ready?
I don't know if you want to bring the
presentation.
Mayor, Vice Mayor Buckley, we do not
have presentations prepared on these,
but Chief and other staff members will
be happy answer any questions that may.
So, item 10 and 11, Mayor, Vice Mayor
Buckley, and Council Member Toruson. Um,
items 10 and 11 are IGAS with Central
Arizona Community College and Buckeye,
uh, the city of Buckeye. These IGAs are
simply agreements uh training agreements
allowing them to participate in training
at our public safety training facility.
There's no um classes or fees or
anything that's specifically mentioned
in these IGAs. It just gives us the
gives us the opportunity for future
classes whether it be an academy as a
recruit in the academy. In those cases,
we do collect money uh for those
recruits in the academy, but that's not
limited just to the academy. there could
be potentially future classes that we
would offer um at our facility that they
would participate in. And so this covers
us for an intergovernmental agreement
between our city and theirs. Any
questions?
Yes.
When we have an IG, there's no dollar
figure attached to it to be determined
later is said is said in the documents.
I have a concern because I feel that we
give so much out. We have what an $83
million facility
and we received $20,540
of revenue of rental revenue for classes
and events for both police and fire and
24 and inind value was $4,760.
Now I realize that the state will pay a
certain amount for students to complete
50% of the uh the academy or better. But
when we're doing this, are we continuing
a path of giving Gilbert away? I I'm I
want to become defensive of the value
and of the money that has been put into
this facility and not have it be used
almost as a favor.
Excuse me, mayor and council member
Toruson, I understand your concerns.
However, in in these circumstances, um
that the figures you just quoted as a
portion of what we have taken in if you
include the academy um if I remember
correctly, you're reading off the one
column. There's another column which I
think we're roughly around $250,000 that
we've taken in state from the state and
from our we do a 2500 per head per
recruit um for each of ouries whether
they make it one day or 22 weeks. So
that is not included in that 20,000 that
you mentioned. That's a separate column.
So there is additional revenue uh
whether it's PD or fire regardless of
whether uh when we decide to host a
class there's an interest in our
departments whether it be PD or fire in
hosting that so it does benefit our
departments it does benefit our town um
oftent times those classes can be large
and so we have seats available besides
what we can offer for both PD and fire
uh for specific classes so we do offer
seats to other uh departments throughout
Valley throughout the state, sometimes
through outside of the state. Um, so it
depends on the training, whether it be
PD or fire, the duration of it. Um, so I
would say we're not giving anything
away. Everything we do is to the
advantage of our police department and
fire department. And in doing so, we
often provide advantages to other
departments just as we have done for
years before we had our facility.
Thank you.
Did that cover all of those?
Okay. Um, do you do you have any
questions?
Thanks, Vice Mayor. Uh, Mike, are these
are these like new contracts or
renewals? Are these two new
organizations working with us or are
these are they renewals?
So, they're just the IGAs. So, if we do
an academy, we then do anou, which is
for the duration of that class. and it's
a a they you're giving me the
authoration to enter into anou and
that's where the fee structure is uh
dated within thatou it's class by class.
So for every class I sign anou for the
city of Buckeye to have them in our
class is that class we evaluate our
needs class by class. So I'm not giving
away seats for the next year or two
years making sure we're taking care of
our needs first. Okay. Does that answer
the question?
We have worked with Buckeye before in
and this college before. Correct.
Sorry. One more time. have worked with
Buckeye before in Arizona, central
Arizona.
Yeah. And actually, this Buckeye one was
one that was brought to us, I believe, a
year and a half ago, but we never signed
it. They did. And so, we're correcting
that. Um, and then Senator Committee,
we're looking for the opportunity to
come if that's possible. So, it's more
preventative. So, if we have the
opportunity that we have to have this
before we'll allow them to facility.
Okay. Thank you. And Council Member
Bonjivani, if I could add, this is the
same form that other agencies that Chief
Soulberg said that it's the town's form.
We require them to sign before they're
allowed to come onto our property. And
and the the key to this is we we have
defense and indemnification
provisions. So if their recruits injured
and brings a claim against the town or
the public safety training facility,
we've got contractual obligations where
Central Arizona College or Buckeye,
whatever agency it is, they have to step
in and defend us.
Okay, there any more questions?
Anyone? All right. With that, I'll make
a motion to approve items 11 10 11 16
and 17.
What?
101.
Oh. Oh, I I thought I thought we covered
that. That's why I just asked that.
Okay. I will amend my motion and um I
make a motion to approve items 10 and
11. Do I have a second?
Second.
Okay. Seconded by council member
Kopowski and please vote.
Motion carries 70.
And so moving on to item number 16 and
17.
And are we having a presentation on
those or
u mayor, vice mayor? No. Uh, but we can
have the appropriate staff come up and
respond to any questions uh that may be
asked.
Okay. So, do who has questions? Uh,
Council Member Toreson, do you have
questions?
I do. Hello, Jim.
Good evening. Jennifer Graves and the
deputy director for economic
development.
Hi. Can you give us just a little
history on what we've been doing uh with
GPE over the last five or 10 years, how
it's benefited the town and what it's
cost the town?
Yeah, I sure can. I'm actually do have a
presentation um if ready just a couple
of slides or can
speak to it as well.
U mayor
whatever you'd prefer
just just in the summary.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right. So, um, the Greater Phoenix
Economic Council, um, over, um, the last
five years, specifically in Gilbert, um,
we have seen, um, for our investment,
there's been a return on that investment
of $37 of direct revenue for every
dollar invested in GPE. Um, the Greater
Phoenix Economic Council is our regional
economic development partner. um work
together with them on several
initiatives um throughout the valley um
primarily focused on um job creation and
um support of the region overall. And um
in the last 5 years, we've partnered
with GPEC on five specific locates to
our community. Um while GPAC has
assisted over 240 locates regionwide um
over that same five-year period um for
Gilbert specifically it's resulted um in
those five
locates looking at um 391 announced jobs
um 156 million in announced capital
investment and over um nearly 400,000
square ft of new or improved um
commercial industrial or office space
for the community.
Um the projects from GPEX 5-year trend
also have resulted in nearly 4,000 new
jobs in the region that Gilbert
residents um have an opportunity to uh
find employment at in addition to the
projects that are in our community.
You have any other information you'd
like me to add? Well, I'm just I'm
looking at it. It seems that with such a
limited amount of let's say light
industrial and some commercial areas and
and uh such a high occupation rate, such
a low vacancy rate with things that are
coming on in the next year or two, let's
say like
uh the ranch, an immense amount of of
light industrial there, do you feel that
this will continue to pay back to us at
that level or higher? Mayor Anderson,
Council Member Torus. Um, yes, I do. One
of the key things right now is, um,
within Gilbert, as you mentioned, we
are, uh, really low in terms of our
industrial vacancy rate. And since the
pandemic, um, really in 21, 22, 23 and
beyond. Um, we've seen a, a significant
uptick in the number of industrial
projects coming to the valley. um and
projects like the ranch will really help
um our community compete for those
projects and the relationship with GPE
and our partnership with them in terms
of their ability to um be that source of
um lead generation for the entire
region. So when you think of the
national site selectors and the groups
that are looking nationally, they really
go to the state and the region first.
And so our partnership with them is
critical to allow us to get Gilbert as a
community in front of those groups who
are making these location decisions. And
as we bring projects like the ranch and
others online in our community, um that
partnership and the continued
partnership, we've been a member um of
GPE since 1991. They were founded in
1989. Um that relationship will be
critical as we move into that next phase
um life cycle for our community.
So, I'm I'm assuming your department,
economic development, is very supportive
of continuing forward.
Mayor Anderson, Council Member Torres,
yes, we are.
Thank you.
Anyone else have any questions?
Okay, with that, I'll make a motion to
approve items number 16 and 17. Do you
have a second?
sec
16.
Sorry.
Oh. Oh, we just did 16. Okay. Next time,
let's specify the item we're talking on.
Um, okay. Then I make a motion for item
16
to uh approve that. And I believe
Council Member Coprowski seconded. Did
you second that? The other one.
Oh my gosh. Okay. Uh, all right. Let's
vote.
Motion carried 70.
All right. So, we have number 17 still
to discuss.
Good evening, mayor, members of council.
Rebecca Hamill, water manager. I'd be
happy to answer any questions you have
on item 17. Actually,
the the the real question for me is
we've had so many things down in this
area with uh acidity and things breaking
down, degrading.
Is sodium hypocchlorite part of that
problem we're having down there?
So, sodium hypocchlorite is colloquially
referred to as bleach. So, uh it we
generate it on site at the Sant Vista
water treatment plant to use as a
disinfectant in the water.
Fantastic. I really was just looking at
that as is this part of our problem
because we've done so many additives and
I appreciate you just breaking it down
to bleach. I am humbled. I am humbled.
Thank you.
Not not a problem. That one's a little
bit easier than the uh previous
pronunciation on the agenda. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone have questions on that
one?
No questions. All right. All right. I
make a motion to approve item number 17.
Do I have a second?
Second.
Council member Corprowski seconded the
motion. Let's vote.
Motion carries 70.
So with that, I am going to give it back
to Mayor Anderson for administrative
items.
Thank you, Vice Mayor. Item 21 is
consider acceptance of the budget report
and contingency report for the fourth
quarter of fiscal year 2025.
Do I have a motion to accept?
I move to accept.
I second.
Moved by council member Torres, seconded
by Vice Mayor Buckley to approve item
21. Please vote.
The motion carries 70. Communications
from citizens. Vice Mayor.
All right. Thank you, Mayor.
Okay.
So, I have one we have one speaker, but
first I'll read the rules of decorum
real quickly. And uh so we we value the
participation of our community members
and robust exchange of ideas. However,
it's essential that this discourse
remain respectful and constructive,
reflecting the professionalism expected
in such forums. Misinformation and
personal attacks undermine our
collective efforts and do not uh 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
issuing uh about issues impacting the
town. Accordingly, the town council will
not allow for moments of silence or the
playing of music or other recorded
material which could distract from
meeting decorum or violate copyrights.
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 remember to state
your name and your city of residence,
and you will have three minutes to
discuss to directly address the town
council unless otherwise indicated.
Um, I don't think we have anyone else
speaking, but if the current speaker
will be using three minutes of another
person's time, that person shall state
their name, the city they reside in, and
acknowledge that they are donating their
three minutes to the current speaker. In
accordance with state law, we are unable
to provide responses to public comments
during this meeting. Please be assured
that your comments and your concerns and
inputs are heard and valued.
And with that we have speaker Cameron
Larson.
Thank you for the time to speak. My name
is Cameron Larson. I'm from Gilbert,
Arizona.
Um, I'm the founder of Fluorescent Life
Technologies, a water quality detection
focused startup in Gilbert, Arizona. We
are currently developing a pilot project
that explores evaporatively cooled
homes. These are structures designed
with high paracity concrete walls that
passively reduce indoor temperatures.
This strategy of targeted water use has
the potential to save water through
reduced energy demand.
My question, has the city of Gilbert
previously partnered with earlystage
companies on experimental infrastructure
projects through the Arizona Water
Conservation Grant Fund C7? Has Gilbert
ever applied to the Water Conservation
Grant Fund C7? Any insight, suggestions,
or referrals to staff related to the
topic of grant-driven projects would be
appreciated. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. We're not We're not
allowed to speak.
Thank you.
Speak back. Sorry. Thank you.
We can Can we connect him with staff?
Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah.
Okay. With that, that ends
communications from citizens and I will
turn this back over to Mayor Anderson
for future meetings.
Thank you. We have a couple of um
proposed future meetings. One to talk
about electric vehicles that may be
purchased by the town in the future and
in a study session to talk about clay
pipe, ductile iron pipes, and the
current pipe system.
I prefer ductile iron in a fight.
Communications report from the town
manager.
Thank you, mayor, members of the
council. Tonight
we'll start with department and division
highlights. It is still national
finances awareness day on August 14th.
So we're going to highlight the
management and budget office. You see
Kelly pictured there with her team. They
do a great job for us. to run through
kind of high level the primary uh areas
of responsibilities and dut duties of
the office is the fiscal year budget
development the planning forecasting
compliance and long-term financial
strategy and I think as all of you are
aware that is a year-long process in
Gilbert Arizona with the size and
complexity of our budget the amount of
planning and studies that are part of
that it is a very long uh and in-depth
process and calendar team as well as the
entire executive team and organization
do a great job with it they support
departments townwide. They support the
council through financial planning,
capital funding, uh, and various
participations on boards. And they also
do a lot of reporting and data analytics
and performance tracking and and p
pension and fee transparency. And some
of the reports you'll see from them are
the annual budget, capital improvement
plan, the development agreement
database. They are a big part of our
quarterly managers report, the valley
benchmark communities trend report that
was presented to you tonight. and then
savings from refinancing to lower
interest rates.
Fiscal year 2025 highlights, uh, we
received the distinguished budget
presentation award. Again, I can't not
recall off the top of my head how many
years a row this is.
How many years was that, Kelly? 26. Is
it on there and I didn't look it help if
I'd read the slides. Thank you. It's our
26th consecutive year and we're very
proud of them receiving that award. uh
and they've received voter approval of
two adjustments to the state imposed
expenditure limit. We adopted new sales
tax use and bed tax rates as of January
21st or January 1st of this year. New
utility rates for WA wastewater with new
rates uh taking effect in April 1st. And
we paid off the university building debt
20 years early, saving the taxpayers
over $15.4 million in interest. Upcoming
retirements recognitions and awards. We
want to congratulate the park and
recreation team. They received two
awards from the Arizona Parks and
Recreation Association. One for
outstanding cultural programs, the
Gilbert Global Village Festival, and
another one for outstanding adaptive
programs. These awards recognize the
organizations, institutions or agencies
for development, implementation or
coordination of the most outstanding
programs. Very proud of the parks and
recreation team. With all I have for you
this evening, thank you.
Thank you. reports from the council.
Council member Boniovani.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, mark
your calendars and polish those smiles
because Gilbert has two celebrations
that will make your heart swell and your
feet tap. First up, grandparents day on
September Saturday, September 6th from
10:00 a.m. to noon at the Gilbert
Community Center. We're rolling out the
red carpet for the wisest, kindest, and
most lovable people in in our lives, our
grandparents. Think of this as a morning
of hugs, history, and a dash of glitter.
Families can snap a picture perfect
memory, decorate a frame, and to
treasure forever, and even fill out a
life story questionnaire because every
good story deserves to be told. And no
one tells them better than grandma and
grandpa. And then get ready to shout
shout out with me, Viva. On Friday,
September 26th, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
at the Water Tower Plaza, Gilbert comes
alive with the sights, sounds, and
flavors of Hispanic heritage. Picture
this. The aroma of authentic Latin
American cuisine floating through the
air. Music and dancing that will make it
impossible to sit still. Activities for
kids and adults alike. Add add local
vendors bringing color and cultural
culture to the heart of the town. It's a
fiesta you do not want to miss. Because
when we say Viva, we mean celebrate life
together Gilbert style. So whether
you're coming out for the stories of
yesterday or the rhythms of today,
September is bringing us moments to
connect, remember, and rejoice as a
community.
Would you remember to send that notice
to my grandkids?
Sure.
Okay. Thank you.
Any other reports?
Report from the mayor. I think I have
one slide up there. talk about
celebrating
911.
Remember with us on September 11th at
6:30 here at the Civic Center. Um we'll
rise together and take back the day on
911. Find ways to lift and serve. Um we
do this annually and I encourage you to
attend. It's a very moving service. So
on 911 at 6:30. Thank you.
Anything else? If not, I'll entertain a
motion to adjurnn.
I make a motion to adjourn.
Been move to adjourn. We are adjourned.