Emotions ran high last Monday after the Chandler City Council halted a development plan near the Chandler Airpark. The plan was opposed by citizens who say the development would provide a decrease in property value as well as add heavy truck congestion on McQueen road.
The council voted 5-2 to defeat the development plan. Vice Mayor Rene Lopez and Councilman Jeremy McClymonds voted for the project.
Once the vote was announced the audience erupted in applause. Many residents from the surrounding area such as Lantana Ranch and Twin Acres attended the meeting. In a standing-room-only council room, citizens arrived wearing stickers donning the words “listen to your voters.”
“Voting no would let us know [councilmen] care about our neighborhoods,” said Claudia Blaze, a surrounding area resident who was dressed in white to protest the development.
Residents who were strongly opposed to the development claim it would clog the roads with distribution trucks making the roads unsafe for children, bike lanes and also contribute to a decrease in property value for the surrounding communities.
The development plan voted against was proposed by Ryan Companies. The plan would add industrial and warehouse buildings to the distribution center adjacent to the Chandler Airpark located on the southeast corner of McQueen and Queen Creek roads.
According to Ryan Companies attorney Garry Hays, the project would have provided Chandler “up to 1,800 jobs.”
The city originally zoned the land back in 2007 in which the council placed a limit on the number of lots able to be built by McQueen road. The reason behind the council appearance being that Ryan Companies sought to develop that land next to McQueen road.
Hays said the proposed plan is still beneath the limits of what zoning laws allow for; however, the company scaled back the size of the development after hearing of resident’s numerous complaints, one of which being heavy truck traffic.
The plan required the development to consist of two entrance points for trucks one located on McQueen road and the other on Queen Creek road. Many citizens argued the multiple entry points would only encourage more traffic and congestion.
“If there is an accident on McQueen road we want to make sure people can get in and out,” said City Planner Erik Swanson before the council.
This addition of multiple entrances to the proposed plan was unsettling for citizens. Upon hearing Swanson speak of the loading docks being added to the development plan, residents of the surrounding areas in the crowd began voicing their frustration yelling “liar” as the traffic issues were being confronted.
The property was converted from agricultural to industrial back in 2007. The original 2007 development plan had been proposed to citizens as land for office space. Currently, the newly proposed development encompasses about 300 loading docks and building heights between 38 to 40 feet.
According to Hays, Ryan Companies also proposed the addition of larger landscape buffers and “no entry” signs to be posted at one of the entrances to the business park in an attempt to address residents’ concerns.
Nonetheless, Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny noted that upon deciding on the new development plan that his office received nearly 200 emails in opposition to the project and only one in support.
For Tibshraeny, the overwhelming opposition presented by citizens was enough to convince him to vote no on the development plan.
“You neighbors are my constituents and I’ve built my career on supporting my constituents, so I intend to vote that way,” Tibshraeny said.
Although the vote was made to halt the development plan, it does not prevent Ryan Companies or other companies from proposing new developments on the property in the future.
