Welcome to Town Hall, and thank you for attending a Gilbert Public Meeting.

Here are a few things to know.

The meeting will be held in the council chambers.

Should additional seating be needed, you may watch from our lobby.

If you would like to speak at today's meeting, you'll find both agendas and speaker cards at the front counter in the lobby.

Our staff is here to assist you fill out the cards and find the corresponding agenda items.

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Therefore, disruptive behavior, including, but not limited to cheering, shouting, booing, or the use of profanity is prohibited.

Applause is only permissible during the presentations and proclamations portion of the agenda.

Threats directed toward any individual or group are prohibited.

Speakers may not campaign or advocate for or against candidates for office or ballot issues, or otherwise attempt to influence the outcomes of elections.

During the public hearing portion of the agenda, and during communications from citizens, when your name is called, please come forward to the podium.

Then state your name, your town of residence, and begin speaking.

Citizens who are at the meeting and wish to donate their time to a single speaker must fill out an individual card and then combine their speaker cards.

In such an event, one person from the group shall be designated to present their remarks, which shall be limited to six minutes.

And then we can put that just manage.

Okay, and what are we working on?

And then we're gonna donate donate it to the ambitions.

Okay, and we have another one.

I'm also working on the silver plan for the same other two I guess to see all the other people who do have a whole right event.

Are you now who's gonna be speaking?

Okay, okay.

And I would have to do it.

She's gonna there's something for someone to say what your truth memory maybe a little bit about us.

Um that would be great.

I don't know if which one of you wants to be the one if you just say okay, let's see if I'll get a flight.

Okay, so I'll give it to you and so you'll just say that.

Okay, perfectly.

Yeah, whatever you say.

Oh wow, I'll have to go back to that.

Okay, so it's like something like you might do my audience.

I guess that's okay.

Let's go ahead and get started.

Call the regular meeting to order the Gilbert Town Council, August 26, 2025.

We'll start with an invocation by Pastor Mike Henry of Royal View Baptist Church.

Pastor Mike.

Thank you for the prosperity we have.

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 recognition and acquisitions and um the calendar and to consider feedback from the public.

And may we be good stewards t 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.

Thank you.

Our Pledge of Allegiance this evening will be uh by Vice Mayor Buckley with the help of a Girl Scout troop.

Was it eighty-eight or eighty?

Eighty Vice Mayor.

Okay.

All right.

Uh uh, I'd like to turn this over to Aya, and she is uh in charge of the the group and the trooping trooping.

Okay.

All right.

She she's before we do the pledge, she's gonna they're gonna talk just for a moment.

And so 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 ten years.

We have a multi-level troop from Daisy's all the way to ambassadors, and it's been uh turning uh uh 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.

Under God 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.

Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni.

I'm here.

Councilmember Kenny Bucklin.

Here.

Councilmember Young Kaprowski here.

Councilmember Monty Lyons.

I'm here.

And Councilmember Jim Torgeson.

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 of recognition, and I'll ask if uh representative Lauren Hendricks 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 Hendrix, who is one of our representatives to the state legislature here in Gilbert.

He's representing uh 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 Hendricks for uh um doing something very uh special for the town of Gilbert.

Um we just had during our study session discussion about water and about securing water rights and and being able to deliver potable water to you as customers in the town of Gilbert.

Uh as you may have been reading over uh 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 uh sufficient water to serve our residents, we have to look for other sources.

Representative Hendricks, over time, this is passed uh um legislation legislature um process this uh that just ended just recently in the last few months.

He was successful in securing five million dollars for us here in the town of Gilbert to continue to uh uh find water through wells through groundwater so that our portfolio will remain secure.

The uh what 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 Hendricks 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.

Never hand a politician a microphone.

In the last four years, we've procured more funding for Gilbert than for any other city in the state of Arizona.

More than Peoria, 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'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 Bohr, the liaison, and Rob's like the guy that keeps the trains running.

And 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.

Uh 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 Bohr.

These people are on it all the time.

Nobody sees them, nobody knows, but they're on it all the time.

Um 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.

Thank you.

Let's see that.

Thank you.

Uh Vice Mayor Buckley is doing this presentation.

Sure.

Okay.

Would you like to introduce yourself?

Sure.

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 five-year survival rate remains below 50%, and shockingly, that number has not improved in decades.

At age 38, I was diagnosed with stage 3A, low grade Cyrus ovarian cancer, or LGSOC, a rare form of ovarian cancer that disproportionately impacts young premenopausal women.

This insidious 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 LG SOC, I lost my ability to have biological children with no time or guidance to preserve fertility.

Cancer Rob, my husband and I have 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 a 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 diagnoses, 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.

So I'll I'll read the proclamation now, and this is 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 her lifetime risk of dying from the disease is approximately one in 140 and 143.

And whereas due to vague non suspicious nonspecific 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.

For those diagnosed in later stages, the five-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 resident research funding for better detection and treatment options.

And thank you.

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 dedicated health care professionals and rising awareness, 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 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 where teal in color and engage in conversations that help save lives and support the thousands of families affected by this 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 a Gilbert Regional Park, November 15th.

Oh, great.

Okay.

Well, so we'll remember that, November 15th.

All right, thank you.

Next is a proclamation celebrating the achievements of the Phoenix Wushu Academy.

Councilmember Koprowski.

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 Wushu 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 Wushu 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 gonna fly all the way to Lil Shan, 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 gonna read this proclamation where today we are celebrating the achievements of the Phoenix Wushu Academy.

Uh the Phoenix Wishu 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 high-level athletes that represent the U.S.

and international competitions all around the world this fall from October 14th to 21st, 2025, these five elite students of the Phoenix Wushu Academy will be traveling to La Shan 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 Wushu 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 Wushu 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 Wu Shu and aspire to become a bridge for American and Chinese culture.

And now I Young Kaprowski, on behalf of Mayor Scott Anderson, mayor of Town of Gilbert, do here recognition do here recognize today on August 26, 2025, the Phoenix Wu-Shoe Academy as ambassadors of Gilbert to Emisson.

I can hold that.

Yeah, that'd be great.

I'm out of our presentation on the Gilbert Sister Cities Youth Ambassadors by Councilmember Kaprowski.

I'd like to invite our 2025 Gilbert Youth Ambassadors up to the stage.

Town of Gilbert is Sister Cities with LaShawn China and Antrim Newton Abbey.

They'll be at the podium here, and they'll give us a presentation of their experience over this past summer.

If you could please each introduce yourself, the high school you represent and the ambassador city that you partnered with.

Hi, my name is Shandine Harrison, and I'm 17 years old.

I go to Mesquite High School, and I'm currently a senior, and I went to LaShawn, China over the summer.

Hi, my name is Emma Anderson.

I am also a senior.

I go to Campo Verde High School and I traveled with Shawn Dean to LaShawn, China this past summer.

Hi, I'm Elise Minor.

I'm also a senior.

I go to Hickley High School.

And this summer I traveled to Antrim Newton Abbey, Northern Ireland.

Today you have a presentation for the audience and for the council and mayor.

So we'll hand it off to you to give your about 10-15 minute presentation.

Thank you.

I guess we'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's Sister Cities is a nonprofit organization that promotes cultural understanding and friendship between LaShawn, China and Antrim Newtown Abbey, Northern Ireland.

And we're missing one ambassador.

Her name is Emma Ferrer, and she went to Northern Ireland.

So our application process took place over seven months.

So it's it's a long process.

Throughout it, we did all sorts of different things.

We did interviews, we did essays, we did clinics, 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 LaShawn, 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.

And we went July 1st.

So we arrived there, and our first day we got to go to Qianwei, 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 4th of July with us, which is 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 hamfu that they wanted to do with us.

So this is me and Iris and a few of our pictures from our adventures.

And that is us with our classmates in school.

On the left is Iris and Tracy, and we're at the Chengdu Panda Park.

And then the pictures below are me and Iris and me and Tracy, and we got to explore the city of LaShawn 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 LaShawn, 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 Han Food that Shandine 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 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 Antrim Newton Abbey, Northern Ireland, and that was the coolest experience.

Like even picking out the pictures for this, I would just like wanted to go back.

And I was paired with the McCotter 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 really seen here.

And so that was a super neat experience.

And we also, while we were there, actually got to meet the Lord Mayor and walk tour 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 because it's really hot here, but we got to take them also to like downtown Gilbert and Diamondbacks game.

And another really cool thing was we actually got to um meet with Mayor Scott Anderson at the Gilbert Public Training Facility, which was super cool.

And we also got to show them uh we toured Campo Verde 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 Elise 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 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.

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 gonna open up here really soon, and there are actually informational 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.

Thank you.

Our last presentation will be of the Valley Benchmark Communities Fiscal Year 2023-2024 trend report.

Genesis, are you coming up to give us that?

Yeah, there you are.

Thank you, good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Janice 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 and co in collaboration with working with our partners at ASU and the Urban Innovation Center there.

And so as we move through the report, you'll see here that we do represent some information 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 one percent 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 regards 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.

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 1,000 residents, and so again, we continue to maintain close to the minimum with regards to our property crime per 1,000 residents.

We did see a slight increase between the two fiscal years, the fiscal 23 and fiscal 24, but again, still maintaining very low near the minimum.

As we look at our parks and rec data, we look at miles of trail per 1,000 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're coming at 0.24 with regards to Gilbert's miles of trail per 1,000 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 dollars.

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 percent with regards to our recycling efforts.

So again, showing consistency.

One thing we have noticed is the VBC is now we have uh shown increases in our minimum 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 uh 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.

So move by council member Torgeson, seconded by Councilmember Mongiovanny, please vote.

Motion carries unanimously.

We'll go back to item six.

General plan GP 2501, zoning Z 2502, Willowbrook.

Um ask for a staff presentation to be good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh Kristen Devine, senior planner with the town.

Uh the project I have for you tonight is going to be for a general plan amendment and a rezoning for a potential community called Willowbrook.

The site is located on Riggs Road and 156th Street.

This is just east of Valvista.

And the request before you tonight is a minor general plan amendment from zero to one dwelling units per acre to two to three point five dwelling units per acre, a rezoning of from single family 43 to single family six with a request for planned area development, including setback and lot coverage deviation requests.

The project site is outlined in red here with the requested zoning of SF6.

You can see that there are surrounding zonings of SF 43, which is going to be retained by RWCD, and then SF 10 to the south for the Marathon Ranch community.

You have SF35 across Driggs 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.

The minimum lot size for these lots will be 6,600 square feet.

The community is proposing about 18% of open space for a density of 3.45 dwelling units per acre.

It would also like to highlight that the lots you see with the red dots on the bottom, they are restricted to single story only development.

They range in size from 6,720 square feet to 7,575 square feet.

All right, and this slide is going to touch on the deviation requests that they're proposing.

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.

The minimum lot depth going from 100 feet to 120 feet, and the initiation of the single story 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 for side setbacks instead of five feet and ten feet, they're requesting five feet on both sides.

And for lot coverage, they are requesting an increase of five percent for both one story and single story, going from 45 to 50 percent 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 our tirials, 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 single story 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, 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, uh lot coverage deviation, front and 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 lock coverage deviation was reduced to only 5%, where it was 10 to 15 percent.

Uh the front setback deviation was no longer being requested except for the staggering elimination, and they did place single story 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.

Uh, 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 six to zero.

All right, and with the the increased request for the traffic signal, uh, we did want to touch on 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 Z 2502, but I am available for any questions that you have.

Thank you.

Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um 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 volunteerness, shall we say?

The developer emotional traffic signal there.

So council member Bongiovanni, I'm going to let Aaron answer that question for us.

Okay.

Mayor, Barry Instant, Council Member Badjuamani.

Excuse me.

Um, it does.

To install a signal, safety is our number one concern.

And to install 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 has been proven in federal guidelines that it 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 this case, we actually did the highway um see the high.

Actually, I'll pull my notes of what manual it is.

We did the calc, we went ahead and did the calculations for this one specifically.

Um the highway safety manual, um, the predictive analysis showed that we see about twice as many crashes.

We signalize this specific intersection when we did the analysis as the two-way stop condition and as a signalized intersection.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Torgerson.

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, Councilmember Torgeson.

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 a.m.

to eight p 8 a.m.

and also from I believe 4 p.m.

to 5 p.m.

Uh we found that it was on average 45 seconds delay to make that left turn in the AM in 19 seconds in the P in the PM.

And most of that we saw from two to three minutes in the 7 to 705.

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 we know how many vehicles are traffic traveling along rigs.

Um I have that do not have it right in front of me.

I can get that for you member Bon Giovanni.

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.

The last time I went was Sunday at 11 a.m.

I figured everyone would be in church.

It should be fine, should be good.

Um I consider myself um an aggressive d 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 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.

Councilmember Lyons.

Um were the studies done?

How old are they?

Member Torgeson and Lyons.

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 the in the peak hours each direction.

Um council member Lyons.

The study was done off the traffic volumes, uh civtec 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 Bongiovan'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 give 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 thank you.

Councilmember Torgerson.

So you're seeing about three thousand square three thousand cars per hour in a peak hour?

Correct.

So that would work out to fifty cars uh was it 50 cars a minute?

Correct.

Oh, yeah.

Is that number three thousand divided by sixty is fifty?

Right?

So fifty a minute correct in both directions.

Fifty a minute they're trying to make they're trying to make a left-hand hurter 50 cars a minute.

I I'm my math must be off.

Yeah, we have to.

There's 3600 seconds in an hour.

I think that's a total volume of the intersection, not make not making them necessarily the turns.

Yeah.

A little more than that.

I since you have 3,000 vehicles crossing that.

But what you observed was 45 seconds to be able to do that.

Yeah.

Mayor since council member Torgeson.

That is correct, but what we observed in watching it was the delay was what we observed.

And it matched the modeling that CIP tech.

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 gonna be glutz of cars and occasionally we get no cars.

I get it.

Over to P that doesn't seem 50 cars a minute.

I don't understand how somebody's gonna 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 it we're not even taking into account how fast they're driving.

Mayor Anderson, Townsend Marine, Councilmember.

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 volumes on the side street are such that does not trigger any of the warrants.

Um we have several other intersections that are like this throughout throughout the town.

But let's say at Allen and ACOS.

What's the what's the traffic there?

No.

We'd have to get counts 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 uh doesn't seem all that busy in the morning, but it has a light at Allen and Pacos.

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, whatever.

The safety is the the discussion here.

It it just doesn't seem to add up to me.

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 Torgison, 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 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 uh 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 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 SDFs 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 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 town and 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 Higley Road or 45.

Do we know the speed?

What was the question?

Do we know the speed limit on Biggs Road?

It is for it's posted 45 miles per hour.

What are people actually driving?

Got a recent data report.

I'd have to look at that up.

Is it safe to say that they're exceeding that safe to say that we could do better on trying to control that?

Um 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 in this area they were 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 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 traffic there, and I can probably answer council member Torgeson'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.

I was trying 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 gonna 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 I have some other questions that I do want to ask.

Um your write up on staff's um remarks to us, there um is a section in there that really bothers me 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 I my personal opinion is that all of 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 gonna be.

Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Buckley.

Um, so uh the process is that a rezoning comes through, and then afterwards comes through.

Uh during the rezoning, they're kind of still working on the final configurations of all of those lots, which is where the word target comes in.

Uh 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 in commission for hearing if this rezoning does get approved.

Um and the the density is 3.45.

Okay.

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 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 the Mayor Anderson Council member.

It's not completely settled.

No, that 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 that 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 point four five.

Well, 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 it 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 than one more than one.

Ingress, egress, and that you can get in and out of that.

Yeah, so Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Buckley, that data, um, Aaron, 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's 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 which ingress egress do you think is gonna 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 gonna need to go, they're gonna turn left, probably go down Valvista to the 60, or if they get to the 10, they're gonna go that direction as well.

That's just my thoughts.

But yeah, the there's there's an exit offer 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's just my thought.

I'm just asking questions.

So I'm um the other let's see.

Okay.

I I think that's that's about it for me, but I've I have a big problem with the word target density.

It's just very kind of leading.

So the requested density is 3.45.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Are we ready to have the applicant come up?

Everybody okay.

Have the applicant present.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council, Brennan Ray, 23, 25 East Calma Back Road here on behalf of Lenar Homes.

We're certainly excited to be here tonight to talk about a single family subdivision.

Those are something that the opportunities for single family homes continues to dwindle as the town approaches build out.

And Lenar went out and actively sought an opportunity with RWCD.

And we're excited to be able to talk about things tonight.

We are grateful for the work that we've put with trap with staff, not only planning staff, but traffic staff as well.

And we're grateful for 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 gonna spend a little bit more time talking about traffic, would be 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 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 feet 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 gonna have traffic stacking up on 156 that would then come into our community, and so we move 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 Gilberts, 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 if I need to go in more detail, I think we're addressing that.

Certainly, as you look in the difference between one plan 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 two-story plans.

And one of the reasons that we're requesting 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 here's where we are.

Just to give you an idea.

We've got some 60 wides and some 55 foot wides to give us an average square footage of about 7100 square feet, far exceeding the minimum SF6 requirement.

So I rushed through that really quickly 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 engine here here too, Don Cartier with CivTech.

Questions for the applicant?

Thank you, Mayor.

Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

Thank you, Mayor.

Brendan, um, what's the product gonna 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 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 uh these uh are probably gonna average um probably around six, seven, eight hundred, depending on you know options and stuff like that.

Okay.

And would um your client pay for a uh street size, I mean a signal light there.

Uh through the mayor, council member bon Giovanni, 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 can answer this.

Umranted mean if it's warranted we pay for it.

Is it a pay problem here?

Mayor, councilmember Giovanni, no.

Uh warranty is just a is it.

Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Pongiovanni, 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.

Okay.

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, uh councilmember Bon Giovanni, 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.

Well, he's confirmed.

May I ask Suzanne a question?

Sure.

The term warranty.

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 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 also a consideration, as I'm understanding that the homes that we have are struggling at this point in time.

Um, but there's also that traveling public that's on Riggs 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 play right now.

Go ahead, Britain.

Through the mayor, council member Bon Giovanni.

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.

This is we have one for each of you.

I'll start with you then.

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?

Councilmember Lyons, your question is if if the warrant's not there and we install the signal?

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, but there's potential there.

And Susanna, you said that's a federal guideline, right?

I'm sorry, federal guideline, right?

That is federal guideline.

Okay.

And and we 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 question, uh, two questions for you.

Um 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?

Uh through the mayor, uh, council member Lyons, 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, a little different than the traffic signal discussion, us providing additional right of 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 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 uh D cell 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 to be able to turn into our site.

With respect to your second question, if a signal is warranted, would we be willing 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 to for clarity, because I you showed the different designs.

That's going if you 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 degrees, 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.

Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um, so then if it isn't warranted, that's what if scenario.

If it isn't warranted, no 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 Bon Giovanni and Mayor, this is uh 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 uh 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 in regards to talking about options for how maybe this traffic 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 it real life?

It's not a 21-second gap.

It the play to the people turning left is only 21 seconds.

So they're only sitting at that ex 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?

It was real life.

We basically did the counts and and sat out there and and and confirmed that the counts were happening that way.

Okay.

So safety-wise, how many cars can get through in that like 21 seconds when the first car goes through?

We're talking one car.

So uh I'm uh Councilman Bon Giovanni.

I'm gonna have to bring up Aaron 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, Councilman, Councilmember Bon Giovanni.

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 705 window.

We saw two vehicles.

The first vehicle stopped and was there for about 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 four 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.

Some were 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 a m hour peak hour of where header volume of rigs, and also your PM volume and 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.

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.

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 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 Raj Bala Makar, Cheryl Paulett is opposed.

Heidi Kim opposed.

Tammy Revere.

Opposed.

Beatrice Buther opposed.

Joseph Buther opposed.

Stefano Lombardo.

Pamela LaCourt.

Pasqual court.

Bradley Donner?

Is that Ponder Donner?

Also opposed.

Karen Wickens, opposed.

Stephen Marvin, opposed.

Carlos Stone, opposed.

Kayleen Marvin, opposed.

I have one request to speak.

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 Riggs is really different than a lot of thoroughfares that we have, such as Pecos and Williamsfield and Ray and everything else, in that it is the southernmost boundary of the valley in in Gilbert.

And if you look at Riggs Road, we may as well change the name to Riggs Highway, because there is very, very few businesses along Riggs 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 uh 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 rigs to I-10, all the way through channel or down there.

So Riggs through Gilbert is really a thoroughfare.

It's not really 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 uh 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 growth factor of two and a half percent per year when they were looking, I guess, at what they call the warrants.

And I would challenge that two and a half percent.

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 riggs southbound during during rush hour, almost everybody, southbound rigs, turns east, excuse me, turns east, turns left, east onto Riggs Road.

So when they tie 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 on to 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 uh 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.

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 Council um no, I I don't have anything to add.

I do want to uh respond to a comment that was earlier uh that was made uh relative to the volume of traffic that this development is putting on 156, especially in the AMP and peak, because I think that you know, I I think the comment was hey, we're putting a lot of vehicles, and as we've discussed AMP and peak, when you look at it, I think we're putting I'll have Don Cartier with CivTech just just tell you these numbers really quick because I I think it's important to understand.

I think Councilmember Kaprowski 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 Cartier with CIP Tech 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 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 and/or a motion.

Councilmember Buckler.

Thank you, Mayor.

So I very much agree with uh Councilmember Kaprowski's assessment and and uh option.

What data's telling us and how it feels.

And how it feels is real to um everybody has to drive it every day.

I go through that at Morrison Ranch at times.

Back up to Santa Ann 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 you turn legally there and I make a left, and sometimes I gotta 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.

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 Riggs Road because they flew down there.

But I'd like to know what what are the average speeds, right?

What are 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?

Councilmember Manjivani.

Yeah, I also want to thank Gilbert's finest uh as I mentioned in the last meeting.

I do about 75 miles a week on my bike, and I see um I see Gilbert uh police on Riggs 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 dollar 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 and marathon ranch there in order to get someone to purchase their home when they're comparing against six to eight hundred thousand dollar 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 and 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 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 gonna 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 Torgerson.

Uh I'm gonna concur on the property value issue.

I uh was the H way president for Gilbert Commons, Allen Ranch, Gilbert Commons.

There's everything between Williamsfield and Pecos, just east of uh Gilbert.

And there was a small, I forget how many acres, and they built the enclave at Gilbert Hunt Commons, which was uh a couple hundred thousand dollars less than our homes, and our homes actually went up, they didn't go down.

Um that's not a fear 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 Councilmember Kaprowski 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's 3.5, it's a 3.45, 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 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.

If it if council member Bon Giovanni and Council Alliance 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 gonna 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.

Councilmember Bucklin, would you like to make a try at 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, Councilmember 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.

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.

And as we look at the things of tools in the tool kit, I think Councilmember Kaprowski hit on something that maybe might warrant a short pause for us to look, and that deals with the signalization timing 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 to create gaps between the signals down at Adora Trails and the signal at Val Vista to create some additional lanes, if you will, to be able to exit the development.

But if there's something else that we haven't thought of that Don at CivTech hasn't thought of, or that Susanna and her team haven't thought of, we're more than happy to chase it down.

I'm just not sure what else there is.

Yeah, thank you.

I think if 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 slow down, you know, big flashing slow down.

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 might be due if the data says we have a real problem down there.

So just whatever town uh staff might advise on other softening measures, uh along with what you just spoke about uh Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Bucklin.

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 have these further discussions.

We will continue to work with the applicant.

We've heard we've heard the discussions of council, we know the the direction that that we've heard that we hear the 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 gonna 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 for the rezoning.

The rezoning 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 is a little more difficult when it comes to the entitlements and doing the zoning ordinances, so it would be better to have those things in the in the ordinance for the long term of the uh of the project.

So that's that's why we would suggest uh 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.

Councilmember Buckland, just a point of clarification the meetings October 14th.

Then I amend my own uh 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 uh traffic.

But what what I'm looking for are there if the data tells us that we have a speeding problem, and I'm gonna 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 uh those on that road where they're trying to pull out or 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 bucklin and a second by council member Bongiovany to postpone till October 14th, and during that time look at these traffic issues.

Uh we might be able to take some further action on please vote.

Up above.

There you go.

Motion carries unanimously 70.

Thank you.

No money will be.

We'll go now to our consent calendar, Vice Mayor.

Okay.

Uh to begin the consent calendar, Councilmember Torgeson is pulling off numbers 10.

Hold on the microphone.

Oops.

Okay.

So to begin the consent calendar, Councilmember Torgeson is pulling off items number 10, 11, 16, and 17.

And are you prepared to discuss those?

Mayor, Vice Mayor Buckley.

So you still want me to go through the presentation, but then be prepared to pull those items off.

I uh I got the impression from Councilmember Torgeson he wanted to do that to have you discuss those, or do you want what do you want, Councilmember Torreson?

I bet 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 makes sense.

Well sorry, Vice Mayor, please.

Yeah, wouldn't we?

I think we want to do the four first.

That's what we're doing.

And then we can vote on those if we need to, or vote on everything.

Uh Mayor, Vice Mayor Buckley.

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.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Starting with item number nine, an annexation on Greenfield between Queen Creek and Ocateo.

It's five acres of proper property located west of Greenfield, halfway in between Green Queen Creek and Ocateal, which will incorporate an existing church and allow for future expansion on its site.

There's no budgetary impact to this 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 five years with JTB supply company for the purchase of traffic signal related materials and equipment.

It's supported via our HERF 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 stormwater 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 AZ Inc.

in an amount not to exceed 219,000 annually over a period of five years for the purchase of hydrofluorocyls, and I'm gonna murder this hydrofluoracylic 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 and 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 GMP two with Archer Western construction in an amount not to exceed 4,922,553 dollars, and a contract contract with Burchison Nipple for PMCM services for phase two project management and an amount not to exceed 164,000 dollars for CIP project WW 1248 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 to ask order number 40 with CS construction in an amount not to exceed 2 million 33,000 dollars for the design and construction of intersection improvements at Higley 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 nine, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, oh I'm sorry, fifteen, eighteen, and nineteen.

Do I have a second?

Vice Mayor, and and twenty 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 less vote.

Okay, so 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 to answer any questions that are made.

So item 10 and 11, uh, mayor, uh Vice Mayor Buckley and uh councilmember Torgeson.

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 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 what 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 dollar facility, and we received 20,540 of revenue of rental revenue for classes and events for both police and fire in 24.

And in kind value was 40,760.

Now I realize that the state will pay a certain amount for students to complete 50 percent 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.

Here, excuse me, mayor and council member Torgeson, I understand your concerns.

However, in these circumstances, um, that the figures you just quoted is a portion of what we have taken in.

If you include the academy, um, if I remember correctly, you're reading off the one call and there's another column, which I think we're roughly around 250,000 dollars that we've taken in.

That's from the state and from our we do a 2500 per head per recruit for each of our academies, 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 oftentimes 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 the 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 have do you have any questions?

Thanks, Mike Spayer.

Uh Michael, 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 an MOU, which is for the duration of that class, and it's a the you're giving me the authoration to enter into an MOU, and that's where the fee structure is uh dated within that MOU, it's class by class.

So for every class, I sign an MOU for the city of Buckeye to have them in our class is at 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.

That answer the question.

We have worked with Buckeye before in the and this college before, correct?

Sorry, one of the questions.

We have worked with Buckeye before in Arizona, uh 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.

We did.

And so we're correcting that.

Um and then Central Persona Committee 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 IGA before we'll allow them on our facility.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Bongiovan, if I could add, this is the same form that other agencies that Chief Solberg 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 they're 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.

All right.

With that, I'll make a motion to approve items 11, 10, 11, 16, and 17.

What?

Oh, oh, I I thought I thought we covered 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 Koprowski.

Um, please vote.

Motion carries 70.

And so moving on to item number 16 and 17.

And are we having a presentation on those or uh 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 Councilmember Torgeson, do you have questions?

I do.

Hello, Jen.

Good evening, Jennifer Graves and the deputy director for economic development.

Hi, can you give us just a little history on uh what we've been doing uh with GPEC over the last five or ten years?

How it's benefited the town and what it's cost the town.

Yeah, I sure can.

Um, actually, I do have a presentation.

Um if buddy, just a couple of slides, or can speak to it as well.

Uh Mayor.

Whatever you'd prefer.

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 GPEC.

Um, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council is our regional economic development partner.

Um work together with them on several initiatives throughout the valley, um, primarily focused on um job creation and um support of the region overall.

And um in the last five years, we've partnered with GPEC on five specific locates to our community.

Um while GPAC has assisted over 240 locates region wide um over that same five-year period um for Gilbert specifically, it's resulted um in those five uh locates looking at um 391 announced jobs, um 156 million dollars in announced capital investment, and over um nearly 400,000 square feet of new or improved um commercial industrial or office space for the community.

Um the projects from GPEC's five-year trend also have resulted in nearly thousand 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.

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 then uh such a high uh 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, it's 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, Councilmember Torgeson.

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 uh 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 GPEC 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, we 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 GPEC 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.

Uh Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Torgerson, yes, we are.

Thank you.

Anyone else have any questions?

Okay, with that, I'll make a motion to approve items numbers 16 and 17.

Do you have a second?

Second.

16.

Not 16.

Sorry.

Oh, we just did 16.

Okay.

Next time, let's specify the item we're talking on.

Um, okay, then I'll make a motion for item 16 to uh approve that and I believe council member Koprowski seconded.

Did you second that the other one?

Oh my gosh, okay.

Uh all right, let's vote.

Motion carried seven zero.

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 to grading.

Is sodium hypochlorite part of that problem we're having down there?

So sodium hypochlorite is uh colloquially referred to as bleach.

So uh it we generated on site at the Santa 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, I make a motion to approve item number 17.

Draw the second.

Second.

Councilmember Korkowski seconded the motion.

Let's vote.

Motion carries seven zero.

So with that, I am going to give it back to Mayor Anderson for administrative items.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Item 21 is considered acceptance of the budget report and contingency report for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025.

I second.

Second and by Vice Mayor Buckley to approve item 21.

Please vote.

Motion carries 70.

Communications from citizens.

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 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 forms.

Misinformation and personal attacks undermined our collective efforts and do not continu 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 and 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.

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 now 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 porosity, 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 early stage companies on experimental infrastructure projects through the Arizona Water Conservation Grant Fund C 7.

Has Gilbert ever applied to the Water Conservation Grant Fund C 7?

Any insights, 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 speak back.

Sorry, thank you.

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 our 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 in 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 Fixture 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 do 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 and the amount of planning and studies that are part of that.

It is a very long uh and in-depth process, and Callinar team as well as the entire uh executive team and organization do a great job with it.

They support departments town wide, 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 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 manager's 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 recall off the top of my head how many years ago in a row this is.

How many was that, Kelly?

26.

Is it on there?

And I didn't look it'd help if I'd read the slides, thank you.

So 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 and 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 what 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 dollars 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 that's all that's all I have for you this evening.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Reports from the council.

Councilmember Bonziovanny.

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, uh Saturday, September 6th from 10 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 the in our lives, our grandparents.

Think of this as a morning of hugs, history, and a dash of glitter.

Families can snap a picture of perfect memory, decorate a frame and tr to treasure forever, uh, 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 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, and add local vendors, bringing coloring 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 from 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 to talk about celebrating 9-11.

Remember with us on September 11th at 6 30 here at uh the Civic Center.

Um rise together and take back the day on 9-11.

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 9-11 at 6 30.

Thank you.

Anything else?

If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I make a motion to adjourn.

And uh move to adjourn.

We are adjourned.