Pinal County's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 9-0 on Sept. 17 to recommend a Terrible's gas station, a car wash and an office building for the northwest corner of Schnepf Road and Ocotillo Road, in the unincorporated San Tan Valley area.

The commission only recommends. The Pinal County Board of Supervisors makes the final decision, and that hearing had not been scheduled as of Sept. 25.

The property is about 6.93 acres, across the intersection from the Castlegate neighborhood. Two changes are needed to build there. The first moves the land from Rural Living to Community Center in the San Tan Special Area Plan, the county's long-range map for this part of the area. The second rezones it from Suburban Ranch to Community Commercial. The commission recommended the plan change with no conditions and the rezone with 17 conditions that will apply if the board approves it.

What Is Proposed

The corner lot would hold the gas station and convenience store, the car wash and electric vehicle charging spaces. The lot next to it, to the west, would hold an office building. Sean Lake of Pew and Lake, speaking for Terrible's, told the commission the office space is being planned as medical office so it has enough parking for any type of tenant, and that there is little office space in this part of the area. The station would carry the Chevron brand, and the buildings are designed to look like a country store to fit the rural land to the north.

County staff said two letters opposing the project were received before the hearing. One resident who lives north of the site spoke at the meeting and asked that the station be built so trucks with trailers and RVs can get in and out. A commissioner agreed, pointing to the horse properties to the north.

Commissioners also raised how drivers would turn in and out of the site on two busy roads, the lighting on the side that faces homes, and the noise a car wash tunnel would send toward the house to the north. Lake said those details are handled when the county reviews the site plan, the next step after a rezone, and that traffic engineers would decide which driveways get full access.

The site would be the fourth Terrible's in the San Tan Valley area. Three others are already listed on the What's Building page, at Ocotillo and Kenworthy, Gary Road and Skyline Drive, and Bella Vista and Gantzel.

Three Other Area Cases Return Oct. 1

The commission put off three other San Tan Valley area cases to its next meeting and left the public hearing open on each, so residents who did not speak on Sept. 17 can still do so.

• An 85-foot cell tower built to look like a pine tree, on Mountain View Church land on West Hunt Highway, about a quarter mile west of North Thompson Road.
• A 74-foot cell tower built to look like an elm tree, on about 2.5 acres along North Ironwood Drive, about two tenths of a mile from Ranch Road.
• A winery on about 3.3 acres along North Murphy Avenue, north of East Pima Road, north of the Town of San Tan Valley.

All three are special use permits, which is the county's permission for a use the zoning does not allow on its own. Each one also goes to the Board of Supervisors for a final decision after the commission makes its recommendation.

The commission hears them again Thursday, Oct. 1, at 9 a.m.

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The county lists each case and its notice on its Notice of Hearings page. Cases can be continued or withdrawn up to the day of the hearing, and the county's planning office confirms the schedule the day before at 520-866-6442. The SanTanValley.com interactive map shows whether an address is inside the Town of San Tan Valley or in the unincorporated area the county governs.