Controversial Lumberyard apartments get go-ahead

May 13—A proposal to put 282 apartment units on 9.85 acres on Neely Street near the Heritage District got the green light from Gilbert Town Council last week despite neighborhood opposition.

Council voted 5-2 to approve developer Keeley Properties' requests for a minor General Plan amendment and for a rezone to residential from industrial for the property located between Cullumber Avenue and the railroad tracks. The Lumberyard project comprises three buildings, one three stories high and two at four stories.

Councilwoman Bobbi Buchli said the area is already congested and that the project would hurt nearby homes' property values. She and Councilman Jim Torgeson voted against it.

"We chose that neighborhood for the tree-lined streets for the quiet, for the Gilbert friendly atmosphere — which is quickly disappearing," 17-year Neely Ranch resident Salley Breyer said. "I do not see anything good about the apartments except for maybe the money that's going to be made by the developer and maybe the revenues that are coming into the city.

"But it's not helping our community at all. It's not keeping our quality of life, the way it's been. It's only going to reduce it, only going to add more noise, going to add more traffic and going to add more crime. The more people you have, the more trouble you have with crime."

Keith Crandall, who owns an industrial lot at Neely and Cullumber, called the multifamily project a "really, really bad idea."

He said that he gets calls all the time from people wanting to buy his industrial lot and that the last thing the town needs is another apartment complex.

"People in Gilbert need places to work," Crandall said.

An earlier project proposal called for 668 apartment units and single-family homes on 27 acres. But the town purchased 18 acres of the site last year from the developer for a retention basin to capture storm-water runoff for the downtown.

The project meets the town requirement for 441 parking spaces with 71 garages, 214 covered parking and 159 uncovered parking spots.

For the Neely Ranch residents who spoke at the May 7 meeting, the main concern was with the apartment's tenants potentially driving down Aviary Way as a shortcut to get to Cooper Road.

In numerous meetings between town staff, the Neely HOA and the developer the discussion centered on potentially closing Aviary Way, according to senior planner Kristen Devine.

Town staff considered proposals — such as a cul-de-sac at the eastern end of the roadway, a pork chop or island and a right-out only option — but they were not feasible, Devine said.

"All three options would change traffic circulation in the area and significantly impact emergency-response times, which is a concern for the Town," Devine said in her staff report.

She added that slowing mechanisms such as additional speed humps or chicanes on Aviary also would negatively affect emergency-response times and staff was not generally supportive of them because of that.

Land-use attorney Adam Baugh said that the proposed use complements the Heritage District. He also warned that under its current zoning, there is no restriction on building height and that the permitted uses included industrial hemp, a parking structure, animal shelter and heavy manufacturing, which are more intense uses.

He added that the developer in accommodating the community's concerns scaled down its units and the building height on Neely. He said that 64% of the units will be studios and one bedroom and that there will be no three-bedroom units.

He also noted that the request for a reduction in open space to 35% from 40% makes sense as the town's retention area next to the development will provide future park space. And because there was a Planned Area Development overlay, Baugh said the project was locked into the number of units and can't go higher later as one resident feared it would.

Baugh said he could not deliver on the residents' request to cut off Aviary Way.

"One reason why we couldn't do that is because we had to make sure we understood what is the volume of traffic," he said. "Neely Street is a collector street. It's designed to carry 8,400 trips. Aviary Way is a local residential street. It's designed to carry a different number of trips."

He said that a 24-hour traffic count picked up 240 trips on Aviary, which is less than 10% of the volume that the road is designed for.

"And so when we started to explore what is the real impact happening on Aviary Way versus the perception, we wanted to make sure we could provide some solutions," Baugh continued. "So we proposed things like speed humps, pork chops, limiting access, one-way only.

"But I think at the end of the day, it was hard for the town's Transportation Department to justify making changes to a roadway when it had less than 10% of the volume it was designed for."

He said the traffic count for Neely also was significantly less than what it was designed for and that it was built big with an eye on the road connecting either by going either over or under the railroad tracks.

"Neely has enough capacity to serve our project," Baugh said.

He also pointed to a stipulation that would go a long way in addressing the residents' concerns.

The added condition states that one year after the final certificate of occupancy is issued, the developer will conduct a traffic count along Aviary Way for three consecutive business days while school is in session.

If the average daily trips for the three-day period exceed 540, the developer will work with the town to identify and implement traffic-calming measures or other staff-approved mitigations and pay up to $50,000 toward that effort.

Baugh said that the time period of a year will ensure the multi-family units are fully leased and 540 car trips represented a 20% capacity of the roadway.

He stressed that the developer is not ignoring residents' concerns with traffic and that it will be addressed when it needs to be.

As for the residents' comment that apartment tenants would come into their neighborhood and use their park, Baugh said the development will have two park areas, including a dog park.

Councilman Chuck Bongiovanni said if a developer were to build under the current zoning, the council couldn't stop it.

He pointed to Bergies Coffee Shop, which closed after the property was sold to a developer who is putting a Bottled Blonde establishment on site.

"Five thousand signed a petition and asked us to stop it," Bongiovanni said. "It was two times the amount of people that signed a petition for us to stop teenage brass knuckles.

"We can't stop it because they are staying within code and there's no reason for them to come to council. My concern is that that could happen again and it could happen in that property itself. Someone could come in and want to build industrial, a huge building, a tall building, which could bring problems on their own and I would hate to see us in a situation like that."

He added that the developer will look at the traffic and "if there're problems, we are going to have to just fix it."

Vice Mayor Scott Anderson said he sympathized with the residents' concerns with the apartments and traffic, a common complaint as the town continues to grow.

"There was a comment made tonight that people need a place to work," Anderson said; "that is why we should keep it industrial.

"Well people who are working in the industrial need a place to live. The average person moving to Gilbert now is looking at a median home value $500,000. That's a bit difficult to swallow for somebody just wanting to get started here in Gilbert."

That said, Anderson added that the town was still primarily a single-family residential community.

"Only about 12% of our housing stock in Gilbert is actually in multifamily," he said. "Our adjoining communities, Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix are probably about 40%, maybe 50% multifamily."

He said that the stipulation will go a long way in solve the traffic concerns and that it was highly unusual for such an amendment.