The Queen Creek Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-1 Wednesday night to recommend a rezoning that would allow up to 250 apartments at the Union at Ellsworth, the mixed-use project planned for the southwest corner of Ellsworth and Queen Creek roads.
Commissioner Richard Blasier, who recently joined the commission, cast the lone vote against the recommendation, the Queen Creek Independent reported. Commissioners Ashley Baldwin and Spencer Hale were absent. The request now goes to the Town Council, which makes the final decision.
The developer, Creation Equity LLC, is also building The Switchyard downtown. It wants five apartment buildings, up to five stories, on about 6.5 acres along the south edge of the 25-acre site.
That puts the housing next to the existing Acero Queen Creek apartments, and a condition attached to the rezoning would bar apartments on the project's northwest corner, where an earlier version had placed them.
What was said
Erik Swanson, the town's planning administrator, told commissioners the existing mixed-use zoning permits buildings as tall as 90 feet, though that height would require a review. He said the developers had offered to stay at 70 feet and five stories.
Brennan Ray of the Ray Law Firm, representing Creation Equity, said the team had heard concerns about putting apartments on the northwest corner. He argued the southern parcel suits housing because of its constraints, including the Union Pacific railroad on that edge and the grade of Ellsworth Road, and said there is demand for that type of housing.
He also told the commission the company has neither a site plan for the apartments nor an apartment developer ready to build.
