The Town of San Tan Valley Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-0 on Sept. 28 to recommend that the Town Council deny commercial zoning for 3.3 acres at the southwest corner of Gantzel Road and Lone Star Lane, where the owners want to build a small shopping center.

The commission only recommends, and the Town Council makes the final decision. That decision cannot come yet. The land is still in unincorporated Pinal County and is going through annexation, the process of bringing it into the town. It is the town's first annexation case. Town staff expects the annexation to reach the Town Council in October, and the rezoning cannot be heard until the annexation takes effect.

If the land is annexed without the rezoning, it would carry the town's Rural Development zoning, the match for its current county Suburban Ranch zoning. The owners' representative said they will continue with the annexation even if the commercial zoning fails.

How the Vote Went

Commissioner Donna Hallman made the motion to recommend denial and Commissioner Mary Lokka seconded it. According to the Town's video of the meeting, the roll call was unanimous: Chair Karen A. Mooney, Vice Chair Adrien Litton, and Commissioners Kennedy Terrill, Hallman and Lokka all voted for denial. Commissioner Paul R. Bond Jr. was absent.

Town staff made no recommendation either way, because the land is not yet part of the town. Staff's written analysis found the site suitable for commercial zoning.

What Was Proposed

The plan, called the Gantzel Commercial Center, shows two single-story buildings of about 9,500 square feet each, both under 30 feet tall. That is larger than the preliminary plan SanTanValley.com reported on in September, which showed two buildings of about 8,200 square feet. The zoning would allow retail, services, health care, restaurants and offices.

Adam Baugh of the Withey Morris Baugh law firm, speaking for the owners, said likely tenants include a dentist, an orthodontist, a sandwich shop or a shipping store, with no drive-thrus and no gas station. Dr. Paul Kelly, a Gilbert oral surgeon and one of the owners, told the commission he plans to move his practice into one of the buildings.

Cars would reach the site two ways: a right-in, right-out driveway on Gantzel Road about 430 feet south of Lone Star Lane, with its own right-turn lane, and a second entrance off Lone Star Lane. The owners also asked to narrow the landscaped buffer along the west side, next to a home, from the 25 feet the town code requires to 10 feet, in exchange for denser planting and an 8-foot block wall.

Baugh said Gantzel Road carries about 40,000 trips a day, and that the center would add about 2 percent to that.

Why Neighbors Object

Lone Star Lane is a private dead-end lane that serves four homes on large lots, and it is how the families there ride horses down to the wash. Four neighbors spoke against the rezoning. One owner spoke for it.

The neighbors said traffic already backs up on Gantzel Road, that families pulling horse trailers would end up waiting behind shoppers to get out, and that drivers who miss the entrance would turn around in their driveways. They raised lights, deliveries and trash pickup close to their windows. One pointed out that the town's own conditions say the access points shown so far are conceptual and have not received engineering approval. A family whose property shares about 240 feet of the site's southern line said they keep horses there and asked for more protection on that side.

Commissioners pressed on the same points. Hallman, who said she lives in the area, asked how northbound drivers would get in without backing up traffic. Mooney asked whether the center could be designed without using Lone Star Lane as an entrance. Baugh said the owners would maintain the lane to a commercial standard from Gantzel Road to the western edge of their property.

This is the same parcel neighbors pushed back on at the town's first annexation hearing in July, and the commission heard it for information only at its Aug. 24 meeting.

What Happens Next

The Town Council votes on the annexation first. If it passes and takes effect, the council then takes up the rezoning, with the commission's recommendation to deny in front of it. Our Town Council meetings guide explains how to watch meetings and find agendas. Continue following SanTanValley.com as the annexation reaches the council.