OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Queen Creek Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting - November 12, 2025

Town Council & Commissions — Wednesday, November 12, 2025
BodyQueen Creek, Arizona
SessionTown Council & Commissions
DateWednesday, November 12, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:10:20

Transcript — Verbatim
2:44

Chair Gillette?

2:45

Here.

2:46

Vice Chair Ballard.

2:47

Here.

2:48

Commissioner Baldwin.

2:49

Here.

2:50

Commissioner Bordes.

2:51

Here.

2:51

Commissioner Hale.

2:53

Here.

2:53

Commissioner Matheson.

2:54

Here.

2:55

Commissioner Young.

2:56

Here.

2:56

We have a quorum.

2:58

Thank you so much.

2:59

Uh will everyone please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

3:23

Members of the public may address the planning commission on items not printed on the agenda.

3:29

Members of the commission may not discuss, consider, or act on any matter raised during public comment.

3:34

Request to speak must be submitted through the clerk.

3:37

Please observe the time limit of three minutes.

3:40

Are there any members of the public that wish to speak on matters not printed on the agenda?

3:48

All right, hearing that there are none, we will move to the consent agenda.

3:51

Matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion and one vote.

4:33

So thank you, Commissioners.

4:34

That takes us to the public hearing portion of the agenda.

4:43

Thank you, sir.

5:06

So this subject property is located at the southwest corner of Santan Boulevard and Ellsworth Road and constitutes approximately 4.2 acres of vacant property located in a Maricopa County Island, and it is currently zoned RU 43.

5:22

Now there's a concurrent request alongside this rezone and site plan application to annex the subject property into the town, and that annexation request will be heard alongside this rezone and site plan request at council's November 19th meeting next week.

5:39

But the request before you this evening is a request by the applicant to rezone the subject site following successful annexation into the town from R143 to C1 PAD with the PA C1 PAD as well as a request for site plan approval for a new medical slash general office development amounting to about 30,000 square feet in total.

6:02

Here you'll see the aerial of the subject site.

6:06

Just to provide some additional context into the area.

6:10

There we go.

6:11

Immediately west is a private roadway.

6:15

It's 207th place that loops around the subject site going south.

6:20

And then it moves to Waterford Drive, which is another private roadway that provides access onto the Ellsworth Road, and it provides access to these seven residential lots here.

6:31

So the lots immediately to the west and east, excuse me, the west and south are also located in Maricopa County and are generally an acre plus in size.

6:41

Looking north, that is also a Maricopa County Island, acre plus properties.

6:46

Looking westward, you've got Ellsworth Road, orchard ranchettes to the northeast, vacant R143 property owned by a religious institution to the east, and then some additional vacant commercial here.

6:59

And then just a little bit to the south is the Carter Development Project with this, which this commission heard earlier this year.

7:08

The general plan land use designated for this property is rural.

7:13

And that rural land use category generally is focused on large lot residential use, but it also allows for neighborhood style commercial development with a few criteria.

7:24

And what that criteria is is generally commercial should provide compatible transitions between the property and to the adjacent residential rural land uses.

7:35

The property has to be less than 10 acres in size.

7:38

The commercial property has to be located in a few areas of town specifically, one of those areas being this stretch along Ellsworth Road, which is proper which this property is located.

7:49

The allowed commercial uses on this property and zoning district is C1, and within the rural general plan land use category for commercial uses.

7:59

There's no 24-hour businesses allowed or uses that require conditional use permits like fuel stations or car washes and no drive-throughs.

8:07

I'll go into a little analysis of this criteria in the next few slides.

8:13

So here on this screen, you'll see the two zoning exhibits for the subject property.

8:18

Currently, as I mentioned previously, it is currently zoned RU43 within Maricopa County.

8:24

And once a property is successfully annexed into the town, they're given given an equivalent zoning district, which for the town would be R143, and the applicant is requesting to uh rezone the subject site to C1 with a PAD overlay.

8:42

On this screen, you'll see the site layout and landscape plan for the proposed site with north being up.

8:51

The applicant is proposing four single-story buildings amounting to 30,644 square feet of general office and medical office use.

9:02

They're exceeding their parking requirements, providing 141 parking stalls where 127 are required, and they're also exceeding their landscaping requirements, providing 32% of the site for landscaping where 15% is required.

9:17

I want to sort of touch on a few elements that the that the site plan and the applicant provide that are geared towards providing that required transition and buffer between commercial development in the rural district and the adjacent residential uses.

9:34

So looking on this west side of the subject site, they've got a 30-foot landscape buffer and a 40-foot landscape buffer along the southern boundary, and they provide a double row of trees of Malga and Chitalpa, so that'll provide a really dense visual evergreen screen buffering the commercial development to those homes.

9:56

Additionally, there's a six-foot tall wall along this western boundary that wraps along the southern boundary as well.

10:03

One item that I want to touch on is landscape lighting, or excuse me, parking lot lighting.

10:07

So they are providing parking lot lighting throughout the site at 15 feet in height, but the color of the light is sort of more yellow and more warm.

10:16

Where if you go to a commercial development, typically you'll see that bright white LED.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning███████████████████████████████████35%
Code Enforcement████████████████████20%
Downtown Development████████████████16%
Procedural██████████████14%
Animal Welfare█████5%
Technology and Innovation████4%
Arts And Culture███3%
Disability Rights██2%
Affordable Housing█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Queen Creek Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting - November 12, 2025

The Queen Creek Planning & Zoning Commission held a regular meeting on November 12, 2025, at 6:00 PM local time (13:00 UTC) at Community Chambers. The meeting included two public hearings for development proposals, an administrative update, and a work study session discussing several zoning text amendments. No minutes were provided for this meeting.

Consent Calendar

  • The consent agenda listed approval of the October 22, 2025, meeting minutes. However, the transcript indicates that the consent agenda was not discussed or voted upon; the chair moved directly to the public hearing portion after public comment. This discrepancy is noted.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public spoke during the public comment period for items not on the agenda.
  • For the first public hearing (San Tan Blvd & Ellsworth), one resident attended the neighborhood meeting (March 24, 2025) and raised no concerns, only general inquiries about access and screening.
  • For the second public hearing (Ocotillo & Hawes), six residents attended the neighborhood meeting (June 23, 2025); the main question was about cremation, and the applicant confirmed no crematory on site. One written comment in opposition was received from a non-adjacent property owner, citing incompatibility with residential uses and increased traffic.

Discussion Items

Public Hearing A: San Tan Blvd & Ellsworth Rezone (P24-0101) and Site Plan (P24-0103)

  • Staff presented a request to rezone a 4.2-acre vacant site (southwest corner of San Tan Blvd and Ellsworth Rd) from R1-43 to C-1 with a PAD overlay and approve a site plan for a 30,644-square-foot medical/office development with four single-story buildings. The site is a Maricopa County island; annexation will be heard by council on November 19, 2025.
  • The project exceeds parking requirements (141 stalls vs. 127 required) and landscaping requirements (32% vs. 15%). A 30-foot landscape buffer, 40-foot southern buffer, double row of trees, six-foot wall, and warm-colored lighting dimmed 50% after 10 p.m. are proposed to transition to adjacent residential uses. Building elevations feature agrarian design (brick, standing seam metal, gable roofs, wood brackets).
  • Staff recommended approval with a revised condition (#4) clarifying water line placement. Applicant Sean Lake spoke in support, emphasizing the need for medical office space.
  • Commissioners expressed support; no public speaker cards were submitted.

Public Hearing B: Ocotillo & Hawes Rezone, Site Plan, and Conditional Use Permit (P23-0173, P24-0071, P25-0088)

  • Staff presented a request to rezone 2.72 acres (northwest corner of Ocotillo and Hawes) from R1-43 to C-2, and approve a site plan and conditional use permit for a 7,630-square-foot funeral home with 66 parking spaces (exceeding requirements). The property includes a 0.15-acre unincorporated island to be annexed concurrently.
  • The site currently has two rental units and outbuildings; the funeral home will have two gathering spaces, a catering area, and no crematory. Access includes full access on Ocotillo and right-in/right-out on Hawes. A six-foot perimeter wall and landscaping buffer are proposed along the west side adjacent to three residential homes. A stormwater drainage channel runs along the west property line.
  • Applicant Sean Lake (representing owner and SCI, the largest funeral home operator in North America) spoke in support, noting the low-intensity, low-traffic nature of the use and compatibility with the mixed-use area. Commissioners commented that the use is a good fit for the corner and a needed community service.
  • No public speaker cards were submitted.

Administrative Items: Planning Recent Activity Update

  • Planning Manager Erik Swanson reported that 105 permits were issued in the previous month, up from the prior month. Summarized annexations (including the two projects on the agenda), approval of the middle housing tax amendment, and staff-level approvals: Empire Granger (church on Riggs and Signal Butte), Caldwell County signage, and a parking lot expansion at Song of Life United Methodist Church.

Work Study Session: Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment Updates

  • Principal Planner Les Johnson presented several proposed text amendments (no action taken):
    • Outdoor Storage: Prohibit non-standard storage (e.g., shipping containers, inoperable vehicles, buses) and limit visible storage in front and side yards. Enforcement is complaint-driven; short-term storage (e.g., construction trailers) is not targeted. Commissioners discussed definition of inoperable vehicles and education outreach.
    • Animal Regulations: Introduce minimum open space size for livestock pens, clarify educational use provisions (including swine), and increase animal units per acre on lots over one acre (citing the DD Mini Farms project).
    • Wireless Communication Facilities: Streamline review by making the commission the final decision body for conditional use permits (instead of council) and allow administrative approval for stealth antennas (integrated into buildings) and small cell antennas on private property. Commissioners discussed examples like the Ellsworth Loop near Olive Garden.
    • Downtown Core Parking: Propose eliminating minimum parking requirements for properties under 5,000 square feet on the east side of Ellsworth (from Ellsworth Brewing Company to Aldecoa) to preserve character and enable reuse of small lots. Commissioner Hale expressed concern about ADA compliance and potential parking congestion, suggesting at least one space be required. Staff noted parking studies are ongoing with consultants.
    • Murals: Define “mural” in the code to distinguish from signage and avoid conflict with sign regulations.

Key Outcomes

  • Public Hearing A: Motion to approve P24-0101 and P24-0103 with the revised condition #4 was made, seconded, and carried unanimously. The recommendation will go to Town Council for final action on November 19, 2025, along with the annexation.
  • Public Hearing B: Motion to approve P23-0173, P24-0071, and P25-0088 was made, seconded, and carried unanimously. The recommendation will go to Town Council for final action.
  • Work Study Session: No formal action taken; staff will incorporate commissioner feedback (e.g., parking minimum concerns) and return with refined text amendments at a future meeting.

Note: The consent agenda item (minutes approval) was not addressed in the transcript; a discrepancy exists between the agenda and the meeting record.

Meeting Transcript

Chair Gillette? Here. Vice Chair Ballard. Here. Commissioner Baldwin. Here. Commissioner Bordes. Here. Commissioner Hale. Here. Commissioner Matheson. Here. Commissioner Young. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you so much. Uh will everyone please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Members of the public may address the planning commission on items not printed on the agenda. Members of the commission may not discuss, consider, or act on any matter raised during public comment. Request to speak must be submitted through the clerk. Please observe the time limit of three minutes. Are there any members of the public that wish to speak on matters not printed on the agenda? All right, hearing that there are none, we will move to the consent agenda. Matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion and one vote. So thank you, Commissioners. That takes us to the public hearing portion of the agenda. Thank you, sir. So this subject property is located at the southwest corner of Santan Boulevard and Ellsworth Road and constitutes approximately 4.2 acres of vacant property located in a Maricopa County Island, and it is currently zoned RU 43. Now there's a concurrent request alongside this rezone and site plan application to annex the subject property into the town, and that annexation request will be heard alongside this rezone and site plan request at council's November 19th meeting next week. But the request before you this evening is a request by the applicant to rezone the subject site following successful annexation into the town from R143 to C1 PAD with the PA C1 PAD as well as a request for site plan approval for a new medical slash general office development amounting to about 30,000 square feet in total. Here you'll see the aerial of the subject site. Just to provide some additional context into the area. There we go. Immediately west is a private roadway. It's 207th place that loops around the subject site going south. And then it moves to Waterford Drive, which is another private roadway that provides access onto the Ellsworth Road, and it provides access to these seven residential lots here. So the lots immediately to the west and east, excuse me, the west and south are also located in Maricopa County and are generally an acre plus in size. Looking north, that is also a Maricopa County Island, acre plus properties. Looking westward, you've got Ellsworth Road, orchard ranchettes to the northeast, vacant R143 property owned by a religious institution to the east, and then some additional vacant commercial here. And then just a little bit to the south is the Carter Development Project with this, which this commission heard earlier this year. The general plan land use designated for this property is rural. And that rural land use category generally is focused on large lot residential use, but it also allows for neighborhood style commercial development with a few criteria. And what that criteria is is generally commercial should provide compatible transitions between the property and to the adjacent residential rural land uses. The property has to be less than 10 acres in size. The commercial property has to be located in a few areas of town specifically, one of those areas being this stretch along Ellsworth Road, which is proper which this property is located. The allowed commercial uses on this property and zoning district is C1, and within the rural general plan land use category for commercial uses. There's no 24-hour businesses allowed or uses that require conditional use permits like fuel stations or car washes and no drive-throughs. I'll go into a little analysis of this criteria in the next few slides. So here on this screen, you'll see the two zoning exhibits for the subject property. Currently, as I mentioned previously, it is currently zoned RU43 within Maricopa County.

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