Okay, I think we're ready to get started.

Call I'll call this regular meeting of the Gilbert Town Council, February 3rd, 2026 to order.

Our invocation this evening will be presented by Pastor Michael Haydn of Christ Greenfield Church.

Pastor.

Thank you so much for giving me the honor of being here, and uh on behalf of Christ Greenfield, we are so grateful uh to be a part of this community.

But I invite you to join me in a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we do thank and praise you that this is the day that you have made, and we rejoice and we are glad in it.

Uh thank you uh for Gilbert and all your people who live here.

Thank you for the leaders you raise up here at uh uh council, and I just ask that you watch over, bless and protect them and their families and uh fill them with your spirit, which is one not of timidity and fear, but of power and love and self-control, so that they may have um strength, they may have courage, hold fast to what is good and never return evil for evil but good.

I pray that you strengthen them so that they may help those who are weak, help the faint-hearted to serve with love and joy.

But most of all I pray that they rejoice and delight over you, Jesus, and your great love for them, and it's in your precious and mighty name we pray.

Amen.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Chuck Bongiovan.

Here.

Council Member Bobby Buckley.

Here.

Council Member Kenny Bucklin.

Here.

Council Member Young Kaprowski.

Here, Councilmember Monty Lyons.

Here.

And Councilmember Jim Torqueson.

Here.

A quorum is present.

Thank you.

We'll move on to communications from citizens.

Vice Mayor.

All right.

So we value the particip the participation of our community members and robust exchange of ideas.

However, it's essential that this just that this discourse remains respectful and constructive, reflecting professionalism expected in such forums.

Misinformation and personal attacks undermine our collective efforts and do not contribute to a productive dialogue necessary for our town's progress.

Um sorry.

Uh therefore the town council may only listen to citizens who wish to address them, and at the conclusion of the open call for public response is limited to individual members of the council responding to criticism made by those who have addressed the public body, asking staff to review a matter, or asking that a matter be put on a future agenda.

However, please rest assured that your concerns and input are heard and valued.

And according to the town code, each speaker is limited to three minutes.

Priority will be given to Gilbert residents, business owners, and property owners.

Public comments will be limited to 30 minutes total at the beginning of the meeting.

The town clerk will notify the council once 30-minute limit has been reached.

If additional comments remain, they will be heard after the conclusion of the public hearing items with the same three-minute um limit per speaker.

When you come up, please um come to the podium, turn it on, uh turn on the mic, state your name and your city of residence.

I just have one quick note.

There was a gentleman who filled out a yellow uh form about Harvest Grove.

Um, he would be speaking um at the um uh public hearing items, not on this one here.

All right, so we're gonna start with um Christine Brennan.

Is this working?

Hello.

Good evening.

Um, I'm Christine Brennan.

I am a Gilbert resident and a Gilbert business owner.

I've been in Gilbert for the past 15 years.

Good evening, Mayor and Town Council members.

Thank you for your time tonight.

I'm speaking today because I care deeply about this town and the safety we've worked very hard to build.

Gilbert is already a safe community.

Crime is low, our neighborhoods are stable, and our local service services function well because people trust one another and they trust our institutions.

That trust is now at risk.

Across the country, federal immigration enforcement has created fear and uncertainty for families.

And it's happening here too.

Residents in Gilbert have seen ICE arrest workers, including a lot of our landscape workers, and families have experienced detentions in their own neighborhoods.

These are not distant events.

They're affecting people who live and work alongside us.

When fear takes hold, people become less willing to report crimes or cooperate with authorities.

Victims stay silent, witnesses hesitate, and ultimately our entire community becomes less safe.

A community where some neighbors feel unprotected is a community where trust breaks down for everyone.

We are not facing a crisis that justifies creating a climate of fear.

Gilbert has always stood for the safety and dignity of everyone who calls this place home.

Immigrants are a part of our community, and they deserve to feel safe here.

That's why I'm asking the Gilbert police, our mayor, and the council to clearly affirm that their responsibility is to protect the people of this town, our families, our neighborhoods, our shared safety, and not to participate in federal immigration enforcement.

Let's keep Gilbert safe, welcoming, and strong for everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Christine.

Um, Sharon N.

Welcome, Sharon.

Gotta put the mic on there.

There you go.

And and where you're from.

Greetings.

I am Sharon.

I reside in Gilbert.

I am here this evening to ask that you reconsider the use of the flock cameras in our city.

And let us call it what it is, a massive, intrusive, warrantless surveillance network.

It is an insidious subversive circumvention of the Fourth Amendment of the United States.

It is data mining and brokering by technocrat billionaires under the guise of public safety.

Just recently, AI has caused the arrest of two innocent people.

Let that sink in.

Within the last three weeks, Flock system has been hacked with information being released to the public.

These technologies are rife for abuse and misuse by those with access to it.

Amid a plethora of other privacy concerns, the taxpayers of Gilbert are paying $350,000 to an entity to spy on its 300,000 residents in order to catch 3%, 10% of crime.

The true danger is Flock itself.

It is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The 21st century has introduced technologies that are outpacing laws, oversight, good sense, and the American ideals of freedom.

I asked the council to please join the growing number of cities that are exhibiting prudence in the cancellation of their flock contracts and the removal of all equipment from our public city streets.

Ask yourselves, who is the shepherd?

Thank you.

Thank you, Sharon.

Barbara Colvin.

My name is Barbara, and I reside in Gilbert.

I and a friend of mine, another Gilbert resident, attended your open house yesterday.

My takeaway is you ask me my opinion, my desires for the town.

I and many others provide you with the information, and the result is you do what you wanted to do in the beginning.

You just want to say you gave us the opportunity to give you our input and our feedback.

Prime example is Harvest Grove.

When the residents received word that this project was turned down, the reaction was yes, they are finally listening to us.

Then the left hook comes in and says it's back up for review and possible approval.

The words come out of your mouths, but your actions don't back it up.

So forgive me for not believing any of you.

I've had at least one of you lie to my face, the other is undetermined.

You show us what you want us to see, you tell us what you want us to hear.

Some of it may even be true, but is it the whole truth?

Everything matters, including us, the residents.

We cannot be expected to pay for the town's mismanagement during the past 10 years.

Over the past two years, you have risen rates and the bills were paid.

Then you come in with the big water increase, and it feels like they've been paying so far.

Let's go further.

Other means of collecting funds for new repaired infrastructure, collection trucks, wells, water treatment plants, needs to be strongly reevaluated.

We are in a drought, and that is never going to end.

We are not going to get more water from the Colorado.

Why?

Why, why are more houses and apartments being built when we know there is not enough water?

Next step is you will continue to charge the residents outrageous costs, continue to raise rates, but you will give us an added bonus.

You'll be rationing the water as well.

It is really, really pathetic when my Gilbert utility bill is larger than my SRP electric bill.

You are going to continue raising the rates on something every year until you have forced most homeowners out to make way for more apartments or million-dollar homes, and they don't care how much they pay for water and utilities.

Thank you.

See you next week or in two weeks.

Thank you, Barbara.

Thank you for participating yesterday.

David Ruby.

Mayor, Council members, thank you for taking the time to hear from the citizens.

I appreciated Michael Haydn's prayer on the behalf of the community and on behalf of each of you for courage and strength amongst our representatives.

And I think there is a distinction between leaders and representatives.

Each of you are leaders.

I think the superseding element of the role of a council member is to represent.

And as I've studied issues recently and spent more time and put boots on the ground and gone to places where there's decisions to be made and looked at issues and gone to meetings that you've graciously given your time and talents, which are significant.

I've realized what a wealth we have as our council members up on the dice today.

Each of you have skills that can help pull Gilbert in a better direction.

As citizens, we're not all pitchfork people.

We're not all keyboard warriors, we're not all people who are here just to rabble rouse.

We want to see this community succeed.

I'm missing my daughter's volleyball game to be here tonight.

Each of you, I'm sure have sacrifices you make.

But this is important to us.

We want to see a community that thrives not just now, but into the future.

The representative representation of our voices matters deeply.

Many of my friends and colleagues who would love to be here have made that choice to be with their families.

And so when there is a vote for 290,000 people made by seven people, your voice matters.

We see the pressure you're under.

We see that you have obligations.

We see campaign promises.

I've studied things that each of you have said, and things that helped me decide who I chose to vote for.

And many of you, that was the case.

As we get into these votes and have to make decisions that are difficult, I know that there's not always easy answers.

What we ask of you is please represent to us.

Don't just be a leader.

Don't just give in to the bullying and the holding of bigger interests.

As an individual citizen, we are no match for a developer.

We are no match for construction companies that have contracts that far supersede any of our ability to probably even comprehend.

What we need with your skill set, with your abilities is representation.

And I ask you tonight as we go through the different votes that we have.

Please represent the fathers, represent the children, represent the hospital workers, the school teachers, the people who have to drive through this community and see that over the past 10 years, we're not quite so confident that it's headed in a direction that we want.

You have the ability to make that change, and we invite you.

We plead with you.

Please represent us.

Thank you, David.

I hope your daughter wins, especially if she's playing the school from Chandler.

Noah is on a okay.

Aloha, my name is Noah James Markham.

Uh aloha mayor and to the rest of the city uh council.

I am from the great city of Tempe.

Um I don't know about Gilbert.

I I love my home.

I I grew up here and I knew there was something weird about Gilbert.

And I know there's something weird about it because the Republicans, they like to harass Democrats.

They don't like us.

And too bad.

I'm trying to tell you guys because I've been harassed a lot with these Republicans here in Gilbert.

And that is not okay.

And also I've told the police about this, and they say, oh, it's the first amendment right.

Um, they're allowed to do what they want to do.

Well, you know what?

It's okay.

The Democrats, we know what we need to do.

Um, and I have another thing that I would like to talk about.

Um we need the speed cameras here to be building.

Then uh they need the flash here in Gilbert.

Also, I see the kids standing up for what's right as being a Democrat in Gilbert.

And we see you all the way from Tempe.

And it's awesome to see kids using the first amendment right.

ICE is never welcomed here in Gilbert.

And Donald Trump can stay away.

Heritage District, build those buildings high, and Mahalo and thank you for listening to me tonight.

Thank you, Noah.

Always a pleasure.

All right, so to begin consent portion of our meeting, I will pass the time over to our town manager, Don Prince, to provide an overview of the items on the consent calendar this evening.

Don't thank you, Vice Mayor.

All right, good evening, Mayor and Council.

Um, I will go ahead and jump into an overview of the uh consent item item consent agenda items that are on for tonight.

Excuse me.

Um just want to start as we typically do with just mentioning these are our three focus areas which we utilize to ensure we are um supporting our community through a strong economy, uh prosperous community, and an exceptional built environment.

So these really drive and support uh all the things we do here in Gilbert.

So I want to mention that first.

Um so I will move on to item number one.

Um, agenda item number one is a cooperative contract with HGAC by.

It is under our exceptional built environment pillar, and it is a motion to improve a cooperative contract with HGAC BY in the amount of $108,704 for pavement condition ratings and inventory of newly built roadways that is essential to maintaining an accurate pavement management system and ensuring the quality of our roadways.

This agreement is a one-year contract with the option of three additional renewals, and this item is funded via HERF revenue from the streets preventative main from the streets preventative maintenance budget.

Item number two is a cooperative contract with ACE Uniforms of Phoenix.

It is under our Prosperous Community Pillar.

And this is a motion to approve a cooperative contract with ACE Uniforms of Phoenix in an amount not to exceed $250,000 annually for the procurement of fire department uniforms.

This agreement replaces a previous cooperative contract held with ACE that has expired.

The funding for this item is for FY20.

The funding for this item 5426 is already included in the fire department budget, and this item is supported from the general fund.

Item number three is a cooperative contract with the hacker equipment company and a contingency authorization.

This is under our exceptional built environment pillar.

It is a motion to approve a cooperative contract with hacker equipment company for the purchase of a diesel TrueVAC HXX 18-inch vacuum hydro excavator in the amount of 600,000 $676,799 for the water distribution department and authorization of $301,799 of contingency funding to support this purchase.

The use of a hydro excavating truck is essential to water distribution, allowing crews to expose buried infrastructure with greater precision and less risk than traditional mechanical digging.

Market-wide increases in truck manufacturing, equipment customization, and freight have resulted in actual costs of the hydro excavator being higher than the originally budgeted amount.

If approved, this item will be funded with $301,799 from the water replacement contingency fund and $375,000 from the rate supported water replacement fund.

Adam number four is a Val Vista Lake CIP project, and this is a contract.

These are some contracts, and these are under our exceptional built environment pillar.

This is a motion to approve phase two and three contracts for the Val Vista Lakes Improvements CIP projects that include AE services for phase three with NAFRA Incorporated in the amount not to exceed $1,695,905, materials testing services for phase two with integer consulting in an amount not to exceed $185,233, PMCM services for phase two with TriStar Engineering in an amount not to exceed $3,631,533.

This project includes payment reconstruction, evaluation of water lines, and replacement as necessary, and ADA upgrades in the Valvista Lakes community.

These items are funded through the 2022 Geo Transportation Bonds and the rate supported water replacement fund.

Item number five is a is contingency funding for ADOT Project for an ADOT project along Muse Road.

This is under our exceptional built environment pillar.

It is a motion to approve CIP contingency from roadway maintenance funds in an amount not to exceed $738,536 to support an ADOT project improving Muse Road from Higgley for half a mile east as part of the MAG congestion mitigation and air quality programs.

The town has an IGA with ADOT for these programs, under which ADOT is responsible for the design and construction and Gilbert contributes to funding for actual project costs exceeding the maximum allowable federal funding amount.

The bids received for this project exceed the allotted federal amount by $738,536.

This item is not included in the FY26 budget and will need a contingency obtained from the 2022 GEO bonds to proceed.

If approved, this item will be funded with CIP contingency utilizing the 2022 geo transportation bonds.

Item number six is the purchase of valve turning truck of a valve turning truck and contingency authorization.

That also falls under under our exceptional built environment pillar.

This is a motion to authorize the purchase of one valve turning truck in an amount not to exceed 244,675 dollars under an existing agreement with Santan Ford with request for contingency approval of $144,675 to supplement existing budget funding to complete this purchase.

The valve turning truck plays a crucial role in allowing crews to locate, operate, and maintain valves across the water distribution network and is used in repairs, emergencies, and upgrades.

The existing valve turning truck is needing replacement.

The original budget for this item was 100,000.

However, market wide increases in truck manufacturing, equipment customization, and freight costs have resulted in cost escalation.

This item will be funded with 144,675 dollars of water replacement fund contingency and a hundred thousand dollars of rate supported water funds.

Item number seven is uh an internet against internet crimes against children, grant application and acceptance authorization.

This one is under our prosperous community pillar, and it is a motion to authorize the application for an acceptance of the 2025 Internet Crimes Against Children grant for $11,051 and authorization for the administrative grant fund contingency in the same amount.

This grant supports an established IGA with the City of Phoenix to participate as part of the ICAC task force in Arizona and is granted via re the reimbursement process.

Staff will use the grant funding to procure training and software utilized in the investigations of internet crimes against children.

Item number eight is a fall is the fall 2626 election designation and responsibility.

This falls under our Prosperous Community Pillar, and it is a motion to adopt a resolution designating the election date, purpose, and deadline for voter registration.

Last date for candidate nomination packet submittals and establishing responsibility for securing polling places for the fall 26 election cycle and authorizes the town clerk to execute the menu of services with Maricopa County elections for a polling place election for the countywide consolidated election.

And with that, we'd be happy to take any questions you may have to do.

Council, are there any questions?

Um Jim, which one did you want to see again?

I want to talk about one and eight for a moment.

Okay.

Do we have staff that would like to give a presentation or explanation on one and eight?

It's probably just quick questions.

Quick question.

Okay, you want Don?

Just as town manager, would it be more prudent for us to hire in-house rather than go with a uh contract regarding someone examining the condition of roads?

And so I will let Jessica come up and kind of talk this through.

This is uh an annual process and she can speak to that more.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council.

Um, Councilmember Torgeson.

It's very specialized equipment and technology that's very expensive, as well as the integration of the uploading of all that data and information into our payment maintenance system.

It requires really specialized um services.

They can do the entire town in a very short period of time versus us doing it in-house.

It is something we evaluate a lot of our lines of service over the years, but this is something that's still more efficient for us to hire out to do.

And then on uh number eight, did we come with a final date for packet submissions?

The actual date yet.

Uh count mayor, council member Torgeson, we have not heard that any legislative action has been uh enacted at this time, so the dates are as they are presented in the resolution.

Current election date is still August 4th, 2026.

Current candidate filing dates are March 7th through April 6th.

Um, however, we are monitoring that bill, and if uh signed by the governor, we will communicate any of those changes.

We did build in that flexibility in the resolution, um, knowing that that bill was being proposed.

So we do have that flexibility.

Thank you.

Councilmember Torres, would you want a separate vote for any of those?

Okay, so if no further questions, I'll move to approve.

We just had a quick question on this bill.

Do we know who submitted that?

Um, I do not, I don't know if Rob Bohr is familiar.

I apologize, I don't know who the date change.

Yeah, I'm not familiar who submitted that bill.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

I can we we can find out for sure.

Okay, thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Okay.

Oh go ahead, John.

Sorry.

I have a question about item five.

I just want to confirm that the project for Muse Road was federally funded, therefore, it went through a low bid process.

Could staff just confirm that uh mayor council, yes, that was that did go through the federally funded project, so it was a low bid process.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Good with that.

Okay.

Okay, we're gonna move number 15 in the consent calendar.

So FYI.

If there's no further questions, I will move.

I need to make a motion on that.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Move to appoint Ricky Bennett, Chris Caselka, and John Torbitt as regular members to the Judicial Selection and Advisory Board with terms beginning February 16th, 2026 and ending February 15, 2029.

Thank you, sir.

Still new with this.

All right.

So if no further questions, I want to move to approve the consent agenda.

Items one through nine, adding item 15.

Um can we thank you?

Uh seconded by council member um Koprowski.

Please vote.

Motion approves 7 to 0.

Mayor.

Thank you.

We'll move on to public hearings.

Um looking down the public hearings, it looks like we could take care of some of those now.

Items 10, 11, 12, 13.

I know 14 has some comments.

Uh I'll open the public hearing on items 10, 11, 12, and 13, and ask if the council has any questions on any of those, if not all entered.

Close the public hearing and entertain a motion.

I move to accept 10, 11, 12, and 14 as remote.

13.

13, rather.

Sorry.

10, 11, 12, and 13 as described in the document.

I'll second that.

It's been moved and seconded.

Please vote.

Motion.

Motion carries 70.

Item 14 is uh there.

I'm actually I'm gonna break this out into two actions that we will have to take tonight.

Uh it's uh item 14A is a reconsideration of the Gilbert Town Council's action at the January 20th, 2026 regular meeting failing to approve item 10b, which was the general plan GP 2503 and zoning Z2503 Harvest Grove.

Um we'd like to have discussion about we have to take action on the reconsideration before we can do anything else on this, but I do have going to ask whether or not the applicant would like to say anything because I do have a number of uh requests to speak cards, and uh we want to give you a chance to say something if you want to before I open it to the cards.

Go ahead.

Uh no worries.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council.

Brendan Ray, 2325 East Camelback here on behalf of Lenar Homes.

Certainly appreciate the opportunity for you to reconsider uh the action that was taken at the last council meeting.

Uh, as we've listened to the feedback from that council meeting, part of the reason that we're asking for your support for this reconsideration is that Lenar has already undertaken substantial changes to the plan that was presented to you at that time.

Um we have taken steps to uh decrease the overall density throughout the entire harvest grove development.

We've taken steps to remove all multifamily zoning uh and development from the Santan character area plan.

Uh we have uh reduced the density uh in the Santan character area plan to 3.5 dwelling units per acre.

Um those are the high level things, and so what we're asking for tonight uh is that you would uh approve this motion to give us another opportunity to continue to work with you all to work with staff to come up with a plan, a design that is appropriate uh for the area, and certainly in keeping with the Santan character area plan.

And so with that, I'm happy to answer any questions going to further detail, but that is the direction that we are going in and would like the opportunity to keep going.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Yes, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just to be clear, because I want to make sure everyone understands this here.

Um you did not remove apartments from the project just from the Santan district, correct?

Uh through the mayor, vice mayor, that is correct.

Um yes, just want to be clear, thank you.

Other questions, comments?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I think I'm gonna go ahead and ask for the residents to speak.

I've got a number of cards here.

We'll start with Carol Cherry.

Carol Cherry, Gilbert resident for 18 years.

Mayor Anderson, Council members.

I'm here tonight to express my gratitude for your no vote last week on the Harvest Grove development proposal.

Past councils have approved a massive number of new apartment buildings, which have changed the fabric of Gilbert.

You said no to Harvest Grove, a plan that included apartments, even on their second try.

Residents have been begging for a halt to construction of large-scale apartments for years, and we appreciate that you heard us.

The developer asked you to double the density zoning in the Santan character area, and you said no.

And we thank you.

After you sent them back to the drawing board last year, Lenar returned last week with a proposal that fell far short of the requirements in Gilbert's general plan.

A plan shaped by residents, notably Mayor Anderson, who asked to preserve the area's agrarian character.

Despite the revised plan not being at all in the ballpark of town requirements, somehow staff recommended council's approval.

Past councils may have acquiesced to unwise staff recommendations.

You did not.

Lenar knew the requirements, yet both times they came to the table, they failed to meet our standards for housing density, traffic, and other quality of life issues.

Giving them a third chance sets a dangerous precedent.

Future developers will think that they don't have to get serious about meeting our requirements the first time or even the second time.

You held the line last week against a developer who clearly expected the council to kowtow to their desires.

You may not have heard it, but there was a collective chair across Gilbert from many of us for your courageous stand to put people over profits.

Saying no again tonight will help ensure that future developers will act in good faith from the outset to meet requirements of a general plan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Richard Young.

Richard Young Gilbert, I'm here to speak against the Garden Grove project.

But first, I would like to thank all of you for undertaking the difficult, unpleasant task of taking care of the sewers and the water system.

I don't think you've been thanked enough for that.

I think in time, though, as people begin to realize what you've done, they'll forgive you for being right.

They will not forgive you if you let this garden grove thing go ahead.

That is something I have never heard any Gilbert resident indoors.

You ask them about uh apartments, they say no, and they become very emotional about it.

They do not want it ever.

Garden Grove, good sales name.

I if I were going to name it, I'd probably pick gas, garbage, crime, and traffic.

That's what you're going to get in all likelihood.

I'm kind of going to draw upon my own experience.

I lived in uh Scottsdale a number of decades ago.

It was a nice community in some ways.

Gilbert reminded me of what Scottsdale used to be.

And then these bigfoot developers came in, and it's stomped on the soul of Scottsdale.

It's not what it was.

Palm Springs, I years ago I used to go to Palm Spring.

It was a wonderful small community.

Wealthy, but pleasant and nice.

And the big developers stomped on that.

And the last time I was there, I thought this what is it?

A suburb of Los Angeles.

You ruin the community if you let this thing go.

And they will not forgive you for doing that.

It is unforgivable.

Don't give them a chance again.

You made the right decision, just as you did.

This is a popular decision.

It should offset the unpopular but correct decision with the uh infrastructure.

Be right twice.

This time, be right as champions of the public.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mara Frankel.

Hi, good evening.

I don't know if it's on.

My name is Mara Frankel.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.

I did submit a letter for the record, but I would like to read it.

Um just to the audience.

Um I wasn't aware that Lenar is coming in with a possible new plan.

Um, in my background, it would be prudent um to withdraw that application and resubmit.

This town has spent a lot of money on personnel reviewing and re-reviewing plans.

But I just want to read my uh my notes into the record, please.

Um I live on East Athena Drive, so I'm right next door in the Stratford community, so it does have an big impact to my community on our property values.

Um so I think that the town council did the right thing.

Um, you know, voting in opposition of this, unfortunately, it was four to one members.

Um so I'm confused as to why you would hear this again if it was substantially to complete the same application.

Um I'm hearing tonight it might be a little bit different, but to me the developer crosses the line in requesting so many zone changes to the Santan Valley neighborhood to modify the density, adding commercial and multifamily will severely impact the character of the area and will detrimentally impact property values to the adjacent area, and especially the Stratford that is only several years old and whose developer to my understanding met all the requirements for the planning and zoning of its own.

To me, this is spot zoning at its best.

Um, you know, you may disagree with me, but to take one piece of property, 311 acres, and just assume you could do whatever you want with it, and it doesn't uh you know abide with the plan of development is just beyond my uh understanding.

Um I this this neighborhood's not a blank state slate for one developer's experiment.

Massive zone changes are driven by profit, not planning, and it dismisses the careful balance of this community, has built over decades.

Approving it would send a message to individual corporate that corporate greed and gain outweigh collective stability, and that's simply not appropriate for community stewardship.

With property values already down, this goes against everything a plan of development and zoning regulations and requirement require, and shame on them for their approval of this plan.

Developers simply requesting something so intense and severe, it will affect the traffic pattern to an already congested corridor, change the beauty of the neighborhood and character in an area that I paid a tremendous amount of money to live in.

I chose this area of Gilbert because of its land use and zoning regulation, and I hope the town council keeps this in mind when making their decision.

I have worked in the construction industry for 50 years, wearing many hats, including a general contractor, developer, zoning enforcement officer.

I've been elected to planning and zoning commissions.

I've acted as chairperson, so I have very diverse background in land use.

Um and this application just boggles my mind.

I'm also the president of the adjacent Stratford community, but I'm not here in that capacity.

Um but to let the town council know that I was never notified, nor do I understand anybody in the Stratford community was ever notified.

And my understanding with a public hearing that we should have been notified, but you know, I don't know if there's receipts.

Um to vote in favor um, you know, of this appeal request would be an egregious misuse of your powers as council members who are voted to uphold our town's regulation.

This appeal attempts to prioritize one developer short-term financial gain over the long-term well-being of existing residents.

Sustainable growth requires respect for our zoning plan, traffic capacity, infrastructure limits, and the rights of surrounding homeowners, in addition to the town of Gilbert's rural field.

I'm perplexed as to how this application actually made its way to the town council as it's at blatant disregard of our plan of development and zoning regulations for this neighborhood.

To my understanding, umara, you about finished.

Um I guess I'll wrap up.

Um I urge you to uphold your original decision and hope this time there's unanimous concession that denies this appeal and protects the care of the Santan Valley.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mara.

Noah.

Oh, it's on Aloha Mayor to the rest of the committee.

My name is Noah James Markham.

Um I'm from the great city of Tempe.

Used to live in Gilbert.

And we've come a long way.

Um, so it's really nice to see how you guys have been building here.

It's amazing.

But I am really happy that you are reconsidering this, because actually I was like kinda.

Why did we take this off in the first place?

Um because we do need more housing.

Um, and I know there's gonna be a friar next to it, but it's not on this one.

But um, I I really do think we need more housing out here.

I mean, there is a housing shortage out here in Arizona, so I think this would be great for Gilbert and more people out here would be amazing.

Yes.

So let's reconsider.

Mahlen, thank you.

Thank you.

Mike Larson.

I'm Mike.

I'm uh a Gilbert resident and uh proud Gilbert resident.

And I I want to start by just saying I I appreciate uh you, mayor, and council members.

I um uh I I realize the uh the burden of uh of being a leader and uh of carrying that uh that mantle and so I just want to just say thank you and to be to be honest.

When I heard about the vote, I um I got a little emotional last time.

And my belief in um in the system and and my uh just just being able to be uh my belief in in Gilbert was renewed.

I I never thought that uh us small simple um town town members had a chance against uh a billion dollar project.

I never never thought that that would ever happen.

And so I just wanted to say thank you.

And I I uh I'm a little torn here because I believe in in second chances.

I had some some phenomenal professors and teachers that gave me second chances on test, and that was usually when I failed the test.

Uh you guys, you guys pass the test, and let's not uh let's not screw up a past test.

Thank you.

Thank you, David Rigme.

Mayor, council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I've been here to speak um for the big yellow sign that's out at that beautiful farm field.

First time I saw that sign up, I thought, uh oh, what is going on?

And I came prepared to speak at that meeting.

The motion was continued.

Um speaking to the attorney for the project, I asked him, how did you get this continued without there even being a discussion?

And he said, because I asked them to.

And what felt like an arrogant affront to the citizens of this community.

I came that night to speak, to share a citizen's voice.

This attorney came knowing that he could do whatever he wants, because he's had communications with members of the council behind closed doors.

As members of the community, we don't have that same privilege.

That was moved forward to uh November and spoken on, and then as the vote was coming to a head, and it was clear that there wasn't going to be the votes for this plan that again from the beginning has been disrespectful to the plans and the town of Gilbert.

It didn't meet the metrics, it doesn't meet the zoning plan, the voter approved general plan.

It doesn't meet the additional uh characteristics of the Santan character area.

I I can't even believe we're here again in January, where it was voted down, and the town of Gilbert collectively rejoiced.

This was something that across online forums and in personal conversations, people could not believe that this actually happened, that our council represented the people and listened.

Then February, here we are.

I want to quote a few of our council members and and their statements.

I think they say these things beautifully.

Chuck Bon Giovanni said in his campaign, we need to use the plan not as a guide, but as an instruction book, not bending to large developers' wants and remembering that the plan was written and approved as a plan, not a suggestion.

Asking the question of how this particular change in code or zoning benefits the town and its people.

If it doesn't directly and holistically benefit the town, it shouldn't be considered, no matter how much tax revenue will be raised, or who is in charge of the project.

Bobby Bookley said, too many high density high-rise apartments.

Gilbert has enough now.

Exclamation point.

Let's build smaller homes, smaller lots, and give our residents a first-time home buyers a chance for home ownership.

And that's uh a point that really could be made.

As we're putting people in rental units, their equity doesn't build, their community ownership is slightly different.

There's a more transient nature for that.

I have friends in apartments.

I'm not against apartments, I'm against more apartments in Gilbert.

I'm against apartments in a corridor that I commute every day.

I'm against high density apartments across the street from my child's high school, which already has the Gilmore project that has 300 high density apartments going in right across the street.

The Gilmore project in uh what is almost unheard of spoke out and sent a letter to the town saying they don't even support this project.

When have we seen another developer say that this project is so bad that we don't support it?

In final my final statement is this project doesn't fit.

They're gonna say that they changed the Santan character area while leaving in massive high density on the fronting roads that will affect the high school and the commutes of the already busy Valvista corridor.

If they want to come to a plan with Gilbert, come to a plan that's an A, not a D or an F.

Thank you, Andrew Mergerson.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members.

I'm Andrew Burgesson.

I'm a Gilbert resident for the last 10 years, father of five.

And in fact, like Dave, I came early, left a soccer practice where I'm a coach at G UISA and the fields adjacent to where this plan are to come here because it matters that much to me.

Earlier in upholding the beliefs and the system that's set forward that has made Gilbert the best place in the United States to raise a family.

During the last meeting, the city planner Keith was asked a question.

And I can remember distinctly, Keith paused and he sighed and he said, Well, this is a use for this area.

Because he knows in his heart of heart, this is not what Gilbert is.

And I think you all know the same, and that's why you voted it down.

We don't want seven times the amount of traffic.

I don't want that where my kids ride their bikes to piano lessons, where they walk to their friends' houses.

So I'm here tonight again, taking time away from my family, much like yourselves, to support you in voting this down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Elliot Mason.

Uh thank you for hearing me.

I usually don't come to council meetings, never been to one in Gilbert.

I'm a two-year resident of Gilbert from Los Angeles, and I've dealt with city government, so I understand how it works.

It's very interesting to me how you guys voted no, and the very next morning in the paper it says there's a change of heart.

You want to revisit it.

It's really disheartening to people when you buy into a neighborhood that stated there's gonna be a lot of areas with big lots, and there's areas with developments, there's plenty of them, and as stated before, there's plenty of new apartments going up.

So I have a lot of observations.

Number one, when the Lenar representative came up here, he never once mentioned the residents.

He only said he's here to work with the council.

That's terrible.

He's not interested in hearing any of the residents' opinion.

Number one.

Number two, you guys have a bunch of new apartments going up.

They're out from near the mall and they're across the street, Kitty Corner.

What's the vacancy rate?

Why do we need more?

We need big lots.

If you look around the city of Gilbert, big lot properties are in demand.

You can't even find them.

There's no one-acre lots to be bought hardly.

And existing homes, the values are not increasing.

There's plenty of housing available.

So if you guys are going to build this, I am not for it.

Many people speaking here tonight are not for it.

And as it's said before, are you a leader or a representative?

They want you to be a leader who can be influenced by them and their funds.

But for us, it's what we want the character to be.

That's what we bought into, and that's what we expect the representation of.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Barbara Siegel.

Good evening, uh Mayor and Town Council members.

Um, Barbara Siego, I'm gonna Gilbert resident for over 20 years.

And the reason why I moved here, um, me and my husband, when we came here looking for a house, um, we came to Gilbert and it reminded us of home.

I'm from Missouri, and it was uh, you know, it was a more of a rural area, but it was, you know, it was growing, it was um getting bigger, but there weren't a lot of apartment buildings and and stuff like that.

So we really liked the feel.

So to see too much apartments, it starts to seem like uh a totally different town.

So um I'm also uh I'm concerned about, you know, we have water problems, you know, we have the Colorado River water is gonna be less this year so far because I can see that I've been told it's not looking very good so far in Colorado with the snow.

So um I have concerns about you know, the more people you have, the more showers you take, and the more water is being used by all these apartments.

So I think we need to we need to evaluate that as well.

I mean, we I know we have a plan, um and but we're kind of like veering off that plan.

Um but we're kind of like veering off that plan.

Why have a plan if you're gonna kind of just do whatever you want later anyway?

I mean, the plan is there for a reason to keep Gilbert the way it is, the character the way it is.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

And finally, Tanner Pomeroy.

Mayor, Council members, my name is Tanner, and I'm here with my wife.

Um, and we're both residents of Gilbert.

Um, and I'm in I'm here in support of the Harvest Grove Project.

Um, I would like to share a perspective that unfortunately is not represented in many town council meetings.

Young couples who have grown up in Gilbert but are unable to stay in Gilbert and raise their families here.

My wife and I, we were both raised in Gilbert.

We both went to Highland High School.

Um, our parents live here.

My parents live in Morrison Ranch, my sister lives um nearby, and my other sister does as well.

Um we went to college, my wife and I both went up to college up in Utah, and then came straight back home to Gilbert.

This community has always been home to our family, and we want to start and raise our own family here as well.

Like many young couples, right after we got married, my wife and I lived in an apartment for a year.

Since then, we've been living in my in-law's basement in Gilbert, so that we could save enough to buy our first home in Gilbert.

We've been patient because staying here in our hometown is very important to us.

We live at my in-laws and my two older sisters, like I said, live in Gilbert.

My younger sister and her husband recently purchased a home in Santan Valley after having their daughter.

Many of our friends already have been forced to move further away, not because they want to leave, but because they simply can't afford to stay.

My wife and I do not have any friends from Highland High School that have bought a home in Gilbert.

I'm a graduate student at ASU, and my wife's an accountant.

We want to have a family, but first we want to buy a home.

Every weekend we toured motto homes across the East Valley.

We've looked everywhere, including Queen Creek, Apache Junction.

Um, but we've been unable to find a path to home ownership in Gilbert.

Just this past weekend we went out to Queen Creek to visit friends.

Gilbert has always been a place where generations of families grow together.

Unfortunately, Gilbert does not currently offer enough opportunities for young couples like my wife and I to come home and raise our families here.

If we want to preserve that character and need housing options, we need housing options to allow young families, especially those raised here to stay.

That's why Harvest Grove Project is important.

This project has many for sale options that are yellow that allow young families and newly married couples to stay in the town they grew up in.

This project's location near the 202 gives my wife and me an opportunity to remain in Gilbert as we enter the next stage of our life.

We both commute to Phoenix and Tempe, and frankly, we cannot follow our friends to Santan Valley or the edges of Queen Creek.

What makes Gilbert so special is the family values that the town promotes.

What makes Gilbert pleasant and nice is all the families that contribute to the community.

Young families belong in Gilbert and they fit in Gilbert.

I respectfully ask ask you to approve Harvest Grove Project and help families like mine build our future in Gilbert.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tanner.

Thank you all for your input.

I'll uh close the public hearing and bring it back to the council for discussion andor action.

And I'm gonna start with Councilmember Torgeson to all of you out there, to my colleagues here.

I want to be very clear about what this vote is and what it is not.

It is not a vote to approve harvest groves.

This is not a reversal of concerns about density, traffic, or character.

This is a vote about whether this council is willing to keep a needle threaded rather than snap the needle and to snap the thread entirely.

Our rules of procedure explicitly allow a member who voted with the prevailing side to request consideration.

So that is clear.

I voted no.

But I am the person that brought this forward for reconsideration.

That rule exists for moments exactly like this.

Moments where the implications of a denial go beyond a single site plan and into a precedent, state law and long-term consequences for this town.

Last month, this council voted four to three to deny the rezoning request for harvest groves.

The concerns raised were real.

Density in the Santan character area, traffic impacts, and whether the project aligned with the rural and agriculture intent the residents have.

I share many of those concerns.

Nothing about a reconsideration erases them.

But here's the part that matters.

Denial is final, reconsideration is not.

If we deny reconsideration tonight, the January 20th decision stands.

There's no opportunity for modification, no chance to reduce density further, no chance to improve buffering, circulation, or land use balance, the door closes.

There may be a resubmittal, there may not.

If we approve reconsideration, the council retains control.

We can approve, approve with conditions, deny again, or continue the public hearing.

In other words, we keep the steering wheel in our hands.

And that matters especially now.

And this part is important.

Over the past several years, the state legislature has steadily been stripping away the zoning authority that municipalities have.

We have seen it with accessory dwelling units with density allowances, with by right development standards that remove public hearings entirely.

Blanket refusal of multifamily housing, regardless of context, is exactly the kind of posture that risks waking the bear at the Capitol.

That same bear that has damaged our town budget by eliminating rental taxes without considering the impact to you, the longtime resident who pays the difference, by the way, that same bear is pushing multifamily and density and affordable housing.

Under current state law, including recent ADU changes, land that is zoned at one unit per acre can effectively yield up to four units per acre by right without council approval, without a public process.

In fact, you can build within five feet of your property line.

On the site, that means roughly 968 units with no commercial, no negotiated infrastructure improvements over and above the minimum, and no leverage from the town.

By comparison, the rough offer results in fewer total units, includes 40 acres of commercial, 26 acres of multifamilies so far out of 331, and that's far below the 10 percent on 20 plus acres that some lawmakers are proposing to put in place by next year.

Along with traffic mitigation and nearly 65 million in impact and system development fees.

Off-site improvements and pumping stations for the existing residents would be here also funded funded in a town that is by our own admission financially constrained.

Again, that does not mean the plan is acceptable.

It does not mean that what was spoken by only word is in fact what would be submitted or what would be approved.

It means that engagement gives us leverage.

Outright rejection may eventually eliminate that leverage.

We have been threading an eel this entire time, balancing community character, fiscal responsibility, state pressure, and the realities of growth in a metropolitan region.

That is not easy work.

It is careful work, and it requires us to sometimes say let's keep talking, even when the answer may still end up being no.

I also want to address something directly.

Voting to reconsider does not obligate any council member to ultimately support a revised plan.

I have been explicit that approval is not guaranteed.

Reconsider consideration is simply an opportunity for a new option, not a promise of yes.

Finally, I want residents to hear this clearly.

Protecting Gilbert's character requires us to not freeze time.

It requires us to shape outcomes, not abandon the field.

If we disengage entirely, the decisions will be made for us by statute, by default, or by courts, and they will not reflect the values of this community.

Ton's vote is about process leverage and foresight.

It is about whether we close the door permanently or keep it open just long enough to see if a better solution can be reached.

And if not, to deny it again with clarity and finality.

For those reasons, I am supporting a reconsideration, not as an endorsement of the product of the project, but as an affirmation of responsible governance.

Thank you.

Councilmember Buckley.

Are you prepared to answer some questions for me?

And for the residents that are here.

So actually, what I what I would like to ask you is as far as the multifamily, how many units.

I know you had have reduced that substantially.

Well, I don't know about substantially, but I'd like to know, and I'd like for the residents to know the number of units.

And then I'd like also for them to know, because it seems to me the focus, a lot of this focus is on the multifamily, and everybody knows how I feel about that.

Although you have to look at an overall picture.

There are some town homes.

And there are, I believe there's seven different price ranges of all of the residential homes.

And there are I've talked to so many residents that like this project.

They want this project because they they live close to the school, and it makes it very convenient for their kids to, you know, if they live there to get to high school or to some of the other schools.

But I think what kind of has been missing is the major impact of single family homes that it's adding, and it's not adding as many vehicles and uh cars, trucks, whatever traffic as it would if it were all.

Councilmember Buckley.

Yes.

Can we kind of focus on the reconsideration versus negotiating on the plan itself?

Oh okay.

Well, we we can he at least answer that so that they understand why.

It's probably not something we want to do in this particular part of this, and we're we're only talking about reconsideration right now.

Okay, okay.

Well, that hopefully they heard enough.

All right, Brendan, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, can yeah, I'll just finish.

For all the things that I said, those are the reasons that that I supported this project, and I will support it again.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I always write three words when I come up here to start the meetings.

It's always or but, which means it's never a decision of this or that.

There's always an and in there somewhere.

And I always want to remind that.

I use that in business quite a bit.

And it also reminds me that two things can be true at the same time.

There can be long-term consequences for two things, whether we vote yes or whether we vote no.

Um I just I honestly I want to applaud um Councilmember Torgeson for having the guts to talk to the developer and believe in his heart that this is the best thing for Gilbert.

He took a lot of flack online, um, and I a lot of flack that he probably shouldn't have gotten, but he still took the flak looking out for the citizens of Gilbert, especially for the you know, the system development fees and the ongoing tax revenue here.

However, I got some problems.

One is presidents.

I don't want to send a message to any developer in this city that they can come to us, shoot for the moon, lose their case, and then come back to what they probably would have done anyhow.

That's not fair to the residents, it's not fair to us.

It's it's emotional enough up here to make decisions to have to reconsider something.

Um should have gotten it right the first time, should have read the room the first time.

My other problem with this is integrity.

Our uh our yes votes are yes, and our no's are no.

And when you change, even if it's for the betterment of the town, and I truly believe that financially this is better for the town, but even if it's for better for the town, public trust can get eroded in the long-term consequence.

All we have up here is our reputation, and you know, we're we will defend that, you know.

Um and one of the things I saw on social media, and I don't, you know, I just see this in Gilbert, I don't see this in Chandler.

I mean, let me give you an example.

I I watched the City of Chandler's council meeting when the when the when the uh public defeated the um data center with the council.

Forty people came up and talked, and no one said that they were corrupt, no one said they were taking money or taking bribes, but all over social media the next day it's Torgson's taking money.

Torres is taking bribes, he's having secret meetings.

Nothing about his meeting was secret.

I know Jim, I know every council member up here.

No one has enough money to bribe us for a vote.

That's straight out true.

So, you know, when I see the social media pundits out there spreading internet lies, that's their problem.

That's who they are as people, and that's who they are as their character.

I just don't appreciate the appearance that the those people put in this situation, put us in this situation.

We have an opportunity here to maybe reconsider this to make the revenue that we need for the city.

And the appearance of of coming back, even though we have the right to come back, I just don't like the appearance, and I'm gonna vote with integrity.

Councilmember Kaprowski.

Mayor, I have a few questions for public works and the planning.

That um I want to understand how this decision will bring potentially forth future items uh for discussion and decisions.

Okay, so that does bear on the uh reconsideration for you.

Fine.

And someone from CIP or public works as well, please.

Uh Mayor Council, good evening.

Um this the reconsideration will allow the applicant then to um submit new plans to the town of Gilbert.

Um we've had a lot of conversations in the past with you about traffic studies and designs of intersections and streets and uh signals and infrastructure, Coronado, things of that nature.

Um those are still things that we'll be looking forward to.

We'll be still analyzing as we go forward.

Um we haven't really seen a new plan yet.

We understand kind of where it's going, but all of that stuff will be um a new review now going forward, whether it's sure the infrastructure, all of those other things.

I think my questions relate to if Harvest Grove or any development on this property, if it doesn't move forward, I want to understand.

Is Coronado Road in our capital improvement program?

Um that is a great question, and I don't know that off the top of my head.

Ryan may be able to help me.

Uh I do know that it's in our transportation master plan and in our general plan.

Okay.

Um for you, Kyle, I wanted to understand if at the system development fees if they're calculated per acre.

They're calculated on a per unit basis.

So it's it's usually dwelling units, is how they're uh or square footage in the commercial um areas.

Okay, and what do system development fees pay for?

Oh, they pay for transportation, water, sewer, public safety, parks and recreation.

There's a slew of different items that the system development's pay, excuse me, that the system development fees pay for.

Okay, I I think my my other questions um are for CIP or engineering.

Okay, thank you.

Stop one more thing.

That is currently not in as a CIP project, but we are currently looking at looking into that.

And so in the future, um, if if nothing came to the site, we we may still pursue building Coronado Road, but it's not currently funded.

Is that right?

That is correct.

There is a well site that was shown on previous iterations of this development.

I wanted to understand if that well site is still needed to serve the existing residents and businesses of this area without the proposed project.

Um sorry, I just got a message.

Um so currently, I guess uh uh Coronado.

I'm sorry.

I got a friend really close.

Phone a friend.

Uh mayor members of council.

Um the location of the well site there is not needed to serve the existing residents, it's to be reserved for future redrilling of a well that's already in that area when it would need to be replaced in the future just because of the location in this particular development, it would be an ideal place for us to be able to redrill a well um due to the other infrastructure in that space.

Thank you.

That's good information to know.

Those were my questions.

Vice Mayor, you have to maybe I just forgot one thing.

Um Mr.

Ray doesn't do this, he's one of the rare developers that doesn't come up to us and threaten us saying that you know if you don't do this project, you're never gonna fill this this property.

And I I just don't I want to make sure we don't have group think about we're missing out on something huge here.

Now we are financially for this project, but that doesn't mean something else may not come along.

Someone may come along and want to buy a fourth of the acreage and do the same thing commercialized.

Now, if the landowner wants to sell it and divide it, that's up to him.

That's not on us.

If he wants to do an all all all sale for the whole thing, that's on him.

You know, I mean, I'm gonna be totally out there for a second.

But you know, Disneyland could call us tomorrow and say they want to build a new Disneyland Gilbert, who knows?

There's there's opportunities that could come to us in the future where we don't have to settle sometimes, and I think we've heard residents enough to know that I think they think we need to uh to they they're speaking there, we need to slow down a little bit.

So I'd rather see the right the right project here, and if if Lenard wants to change it, have them come through the process again.

I know I personally will welcome that.

Councilmember Bucklin.

Thank you, Mayor.

So I I wanted to um get on record because I I really appreciate the residents speaking, having the courage to come here.

Um exercise your right to speak and and because you're right, we we represent you.

Um we heard many speak against it tonight.

Uh uh appreciate your courage.

You were the only one standing there uh for it.

Um and I want to put on record uh we received we were in other meetings, so I don't think this council has seen it yet, but we did receive actually uh 13 emails on this uh that need to be on record, and uh three of those were opposed and ten of those were in support of this.

Um I've read every one of those emails because whether you speak here, I hear you, or you write to us, I hear you, I read it.

Um almost all of the ones in support um were consistent in um affordable housing for our young people to not flee.

And we represent all of this community, all of them.

So I think that um I was one of the people that voted for it.

Um I think uh it's important that we at least reconsider it.

I I heard what you said, Vice Mayor, but to start the whole thing over is an even larger expense on our staff to go through that.

They've already spent a tremendous amount of time to get to where we're at.

So I would I would recommend we think big picture, and at least allow it to get to the table to see if it can be modified even better for a better fit and not lose.

I watched us, you know, we keep talking about we're at that, we're finally at that critical crossroads.

We don't want apartments, okay?

We don't want density, we don't want taxes, we don't want to cut any services service levels, or um you know, we don't want to cut any of the quality of life standards, and we finally hit that threshold where we can't have all three of those.

We're we're we're acting like one plus one equals five, and it doesn't.

The math does not add up.

You either have to increase density if you want to keep lower taxes, or we're gonna have to pull those tax lovers.

Um, and we chose to do nothing once again.

And all we're doing is creating the shortest staffed municipality in all of Maricopa County to go into next fiscal year in worse shape and put all of our citizens at risk of not having the funds to to deliver anything beyond what we're currently doing now.

So I I I I heard what you all said.

I respect you dearly and appreciate all of your comments.

Um I also admire your courage for coming back and doing this and for reminding us that we're in this financial situation because those at the state level have and the federal level have pulled, made decisions, pulled levers that now equate to about a 20 million dollar shortfall in our ability to deliver people and operations to these to the service levels that you guys deserve.

So let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Um I'm highly recommending that we at least consider it.

Let's see if it can get better.

We can find some middle ground where we can actually get a win for this town.

Thank you.

I did fail you.

Thank you for bringing that up about online comments.

I did fail to read uh three.

One was Yasmin Baba, who is opposed, Mike Pelton who's opposed, and Todd O'Lear, who was in support of the project.

I'll be very brief.

Um I'm probably the hardest sell up here, and I think you all know that because I was involved in that plan, the Santan character area 26 years ago and developing that plan.

And we've watched it develop over the last 26 years, and I my vote at the last council meeting was to preserve the integrity of that plan.

And I think that a good message was sent that in order to do that, this plan needed to change substantially.

And I I have to say it has changed substantially up to this point, but I'm not totally there yet.

But I do can do believe that it can that it deserves a consideration for the progress is being made to meet the intent and character of the Santan plan.

And so I would uh support at least a reconsideration so that we have the opportunity to move the plan towards that character which I will stand firmly on, and uh we'll have time to do that.

Council member.

Just I probably already know the answer, and I want to ask this of Chris, because I am the the fool that put myself up for the bullets today and last week.

Is there because of the amount of vitriol and this the just impument of my character?

Am I in a position where I am allowed because of perceived bias to not vote on this Mayor Anderson, Councilmember Torgeson, the answer to that is no.

Our code of conduct, the code of conduct that the council adopted a number of years ago has a section that addresses abstention of votes, whether it's by council members or any member of a board commissioner committee, and the policy says or the standard is that council members are required to recuse themselves or abstain from a vote when there's an actual conflict of interest, uh, as defined by the law, or where there's a personal interest such that it could impugn, right?

The ability or or to make a uh impartial vote.

A scenario of that would be if there's a maybe a contract coming before the town where your neighbor is uh an owner of that company, it's not a family relationship, so it's not barred by law.

However, if it's a neighbor that you know really well, maybe you you socialize with, you may feel like, hey, I I I need to stay impartial, I'm gonna abstain from voting because I want to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Okay, fair enough.

The um you know, because every time once in a while you stick your foot in your mouth and you try and take a chance to have a discussion to open something up that possibly the people of this town would want.

I'm not saying that I am gonna vote for apartments, I'm saying I'm willing to talk to this person further to see if we can get something that makes sense for everyone, not to run roughshod over you, but the first things out of these gentlemen's mouths was that they were willing to uh immediately comply with everything in the Santan character area.

The area we're talking about now that has some has multifamily on it is seven percent of the the overall project, I think.

Uh and that's still up for discussion.

And my vote is far from guaranteed, far from guaranteed.

But I would not be representing any of you in this room right if I looked at this with them coming this far forward and saying, guys, maybe we can continue this conversation, maybe we can get somewhere.

I am not gonna sit there and say that I I'm so sure of myself that when somebody's willing to come forward and offer that much in their first volley that I won't listen to them one more time.

My vote's not guaranteed on this.

In fact, I told them my vote's far from guaranteed, and I'm gonna be the hardest sell.

I'm gonna make Mr.

Anderson, Mayor Anderson, look like a Boy Scout.

But I want people to be heard, and I want this opportunity to possibly do something to contribute funds to our water and sewer system and our roads, because it is a large development.

It's not that somebody bought anyone.

I am absolutely appalled that somebody would say that.

Because this is about trying to listen to all of your problems and put them all together and not cherry pick, oh, I have a problem with apartments.

I have a problem with sewer, I have a problem with water, I have a problem with taxes, I have a problem with parks.

Everybody's got their thing.

Everybody's got their one item.

But I want to listen to this and see if it can help solve some problems.

And if it doesn't substantially solve some of these issues, I'll vote no again.

I wish he had asked for a continuance instead of being here.

I truly ask, I truly wish they had asked for a continuance because they didn't see the room.

They didn't see what Monty said.

They didn't hear what Scott said.

These people will be heard up here.

You will be heard.

But I want the opportunity to come back to you with something that may be acceptable to you.

May not.

We may be proud of it.

We may not want to do it.

But I want that one opportunity to listen one more time.

Thank you.

Council, is there a motion?

Mayor, I would move on public hearing item 14 for the reconsideration of uh Gilbert Town Council action at the January 2026 meeting.

Uh as written.

Mayor Anderson, um, Councilmember Buckman, could you just confirm it's 14A that you're making the motion on which is the reconsideration?

14.

Move by Councilmember Buckland, seconded by Councilmember Buckley.

Please vote.

Motion carries 5 2.

With that, we uh item 14B.

We need a motion in the reconsideration that we may make one of the following motions.

Either approve the general plan as it as it's been presented, approve the modifications, deny the general plan, or for continue the general plan.

And I think uh the applicant has a request on this.

Brennan, did you want to talk on this?

Yes.

Can I ask a question while I'm doing that?

Sorry.

We've had the public hearing and it's been closed.

When you do this reconsideration of him coming in a third time, are you going to re give the residents the information that you gather during that before you make a final public information?

You'll have that opportunity.

Okay.

Uh mayor, members of council, we respectfully request a continuance to the April 7th uh council hearing.

I believe uh that's one of the the two dates in April, if I remember correctly.

Um thank you.

Thank you.

Council.

I'd like to move to continue this to the April 6th date.

April 7th.

April 7th date, sorry.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

We continue this to the April 7th regular council meeting.

Please vote.

Motion carries 5-2.

Thank you, everyone.

Move on to uh administrative items.

We've already covered item 15.

Future meetings.

The council uh we see what's on for future meetings.

Any communications report from the town manager?

I have no reports this evening.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

From the mayor, I have uh three items that I'm aware of.

I have a slide, three slides.

Is that correct?

First is uh softball night.

Uh February 17, 6 to 8, cactus yards.

Uh veterans, family, and friends, 18 and over invited to that.

Mayor Anderson, I believe these are council member lion slides.

I apologize.

Uh, I don't remember having anybody say anything to me about softball night.

Go ahead.

Yes.

All right.

Um, go back one slide.

Technical difficulties here.

There you go.

All right, here we go.

On February the 17th from 6 to 8 p.m.

over at Cactus Charge, we're gonna have a softball night uh with veterans, families, and friends, 18 and plus.

I would encourage you guys to come and participate.

Be an opportunity to share some time with the veterans of this community and have some good family fun and experience the uh uh some of those uh uh great amenities that the town at Gilbert has for parks and recreation.

Uh but please RSVP for this by February 14th, um, so we have an idea of what we are going to expect.

So encourage you to do that.

Uh next slide.

All right, we have a Gilbert Banners uh program that's up.

Um it's a perfect way to honor somebody uh in the uh military here in commun in the community.

This is honoring local veterans and active duty service members.

Uh these banners are very beautiful, they're displayed in the heritage district uh several times a year, uh Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day.

Um I would encourage you to do that.

Uh so uh please take a look at that program and then slide three.

Uh we have our fundraiser um um shirts here for uh State 48 Proud Veteran and Veteran Support Shirts.

Uh you can get these, uh it's a way for us to uh raise money to uh you know help support the veterans in the community.

Uh the QR code there you can order.

So encourage you guys to do it.

They're good looking shirts.

Uh we get a lot of good comments about them.

And uh with that, I'll turn it over to you guys and appreciate the support of the community for our veterans.

Thank you, Councilmember Buckley.

Thank you.

All right, so I have some information from the Office of Economic Development and the Tourism Division.

So Discover Gilbert launches the new riparian reserve experiences.

The Gilbert Office of Economic Development in partnership with Gilbert Parks and Recreation and the Desert River Audrum, Autobahn.

I'm sorry.

I think that's right.

What is that?

I'm not sure.

Autoba correct Audubon, yes.

Okay.

Um says curated tour tours for visitors and residents at Gilbert's Riparian preserve at Water Ranch.

These on demand tours include an in-depth walk and the natural naturalist uh and a specialized birding tour designed to provide immersive ways for visitors to explore Gilbert's unique ecosystem while supporting local partnerships and and our nonprofit community.

The tours will be promoted through Discovery Gilbert and the Desert River Autobahn Society, and will be featured in an upcoming Gilbert Outdoors campaign scheduled to launch during the Gilbert Outdoor Expo on February 21st.

So keep an eye out and go enjoy.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kaprowski.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to invite the community to the next Gilbert Symphony Orchestra concert, which will be held Thursday, February 12th at 7 p.m.

at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts.

This concert is free and made possible by community sponsors and the Gilbert Parks and Wreck Foundation.

This concert theme is February, where the program will celebrate days that we celebrate in February, such as Arizona Statehood Day, African American History Month, Valentine's Day, Boy Scouts of America Anniversary, Tell a Fairy Tale Day, and President's Day.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Councilmember Lyons always forces me to do better.

So I need to not only convert Chuck Math to Monty Math.

Now I got to come up with presentations.

Thanks, Monty.

I appreciate it.

That was staff's doing.

That wasn't me.

So now I gotta do my to do the radio voice and presentation.

So here we go.

Galantine's Day Bingo.

Join us at Galantine's Day Bingo, filled with sweet treats, fun prizes, great company, and plenty of laughs.

BYOB.

And I read that right.

Beer in line only.

Grab your best gal pals and leave the boys behind.

This night is for girls only.

February 6th, 2026 at McQueen Park Activity Center between 6:30 and 8 30.

And while the girls are doing their things, we have a father-daughter dances.

Get ready for a magical evening.

Dance the night away with your favorite tunes.

Enjoy delicious dinner with drinks and create fun crafts together.

The father or daughter dance is open to young ladies.

Two to eighteen, accompanied by their dad, grandpa, favorite uncle, uh, or special male family friend.

This year we're excited to partner with a professional photographer who will provide instant digital photo downloads.

Is there's still time to nominate a volunteer who's a leading example of Gilbert's values-driven kind, bold and humble?

And we're also accepting nominations for youth volunteer of the year and the Gilbert Kindness Group Award.

Well, which one are we going to do?

Gilbert High School students, you're invited to apply for student government day.

In the event is Tuesday, March 31st.

This is your opportunity to get involved and learn more about your local government and how you can be involved.

And lastly, is the community connect expo, which is being sponsored by the chambers involved in this, but it's being held at HD South, Gilbert Home of the Gilbert Horror Historical Museum.

It's on Saturday, February 7th, 9 to 12.

And this is an opportunity where you can meet many people involved in many different things in the community, including uh uh listening session with the mayor.

I'll be there uh for that also, and there are many other organizations in the community represented at that event.

Thank you.

No other communications.

Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

Motion by Councilman Torreson, we are adjourned.

And if anybody out there wants to talk to me for a second, I would really appreciate it.

I'll meet you out in the lobby at the moment.