City Council - Regular Meeting

Is there a lot of them? Okay, you guys ready?

Good evening everyone and welcome to the City Council meeting we appreciate you all being here and for those of you that want to there's their seats up front if anyone wants to come in and have a seat please come on in we'll go ahead and start with the invocation and that'll be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance so if you can please stand if you're willing and able and Mr. Gustafson from the LDS Church will be doing the invocation

beloved heavenly father we are grateful this evening to be able to be here at this city council meeting we're grateful for the freedoms that we have to be able to meet and discuss ideas and make decisions about this community we're grateful for the Many freedoms that we enjoy in this country. We ask you to bless our country and our state and this community that we'll be able to be safe and be protected. Also, we'll continue to enjoy the freedoms that we have. Father, we ask you to bless this meeting with thy spirit that decisions that need to be made will be made with the best interests of this community. and the members here, and how they can be helped. We also ask that you bless this community and the members and citizens, that they'll be aware of those that stand in need and are able to offer help and assistance to them in any ways that they can. We're grateful for this, the many wonderful things that thou hast given us, and we pray for these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Mayor Fitzgibbons, if I could add a comment. This past week, we lost a good friend and a longtime police officer, Mark Bonsall. He died at his home about a week ago. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. Please join me for a pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

Thank you, Mr. Gustafson and Mayor Pro Tem and Bob, thank you for that remembrance for Mark Bonzel. Okay, Adriana, if you can please accept for the record that the council is all present. So noted. Thank you. Next on the agenda are the minutes.

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I move to consider the minutes from the June 15th, 2026 Regular Council Meeting, the minutes from the June 15th, 2026 City Council Special Meeting, the June 15th, 2026 City Council Study Session, and except for the minutes, the March 10th Board of Adjustment Meeting, April 14th Police Personnel Retirement Board Meeting, and the May 7th Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting, and also consider the minutes from the June 4th, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting.

Second.

Okay, there's been a motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Next on the agenda are the claims against the city.

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I move that we consider the list of claims for June 10th, 2026 through July 14th, 2026. Second.

Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I'm going to abstain.

Okay, did you get that, Adriana? Okay, any other questions, comments? Okay, motion, if we could get a motion to approve. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries, thank you. Okay, meeting agenda, are there any changes to the meeting agenda?

Madam Mayor, we have no changes, but just a reminder that we do have an executive session scheduled if you'd like to do reports prior.

Okay.

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I move that we move the reports ahead of the executive session. Second.

Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Okay, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye, any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Okay, we have a special presentation, really special today. So it is Parks and Recreation Month, and it looks like we have a bunch of our park staff out there, outside in the lobby, so if we can get everyone to come in, and we're going to read a proclamation. So come on in, everyone.

Here comes a parade.

All right, here they come.

Wow, what a great group. This is awesome. Where's Danny? Are you here, Danny? Is he here too? Thank you, okay, do you want to say a few words first or should I do the proclamation? Perfect Okay Wow it is it's so great having you all here so thank you so much and you know here we are in the peak summer months and this is your busiest time of year and so we just as a city and on behalf of the city council and the rest of the staff thank you for everything that you do providing such a great quality of life for all of our citizens and keeping our parks and our seniors and all the activities you know that that we have through the city so just want to thank you all on this special day which is the designation of July as Parks and Recreation Month so I'm gonna go ahead and read the proclamation and then Aaron's gonna say a few words after okay Okay, designation of July as Parks and Recreation Month, whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the city of Casa Grande, and whereas parks and recreation promotes health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks, and whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being, and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's. And whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. and whereas parks and recreation is a leading provider of healthy meals, nutrition services, and education, whereas parks and recreation programming and education activities such as out-of-school time programming, youth sports, and environmental education are critical to childhood development, and whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism and attraction and retention of businesses and crime reduction. And whereas parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community. And whereas parks and recreation is essential and adaptable infrastructure that makes our communities resilient in the face of natural disasters and climate change. And whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. And whereas the US House of Representatives has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month, and whereas the city of Casa Grande recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. So now therefore, Ilisa Fitzgibbons, the mayor of Casa Grande, proclaimed July is recognized as a parks and recreation month in the city of Casa Grande. So here we go, all that hard work for this right here, this proclamation.

And thank you, Madam Mayor and Council, for the kind words. Without a doubt, my favorite proclamation I've ever heard read at a council meeting. So thank you for that. And as you can see, we have 50 full-time employees, 200 part-time employees that provide exceptional services for residents of the city of Casa Grande. I really appreciate everyone showing up tonight and really kind of showing our numbers of what we do. uh... as you can see probably by my tan june and july are always our business months uh... so it's it's just great work that our staff does uh... no you'll probably better indication about two weeks ago we had a fourth are july fourth signature event uh... and i'm gonna kind of leave leave a little bit of a teaser for later in the council meeting But Councilmember DeBillion will announce our numbers for that. It was our highest number ever attendees at our July 4th event, a 35% increase from last year. So something our department and just the rest of the city departments that all help out with that is something that we're really proud of. So thank you, Mayor. We really appreciate the proclamation and acknowledgement tonight.

Okay.

That was a big group. Thank you so much. We'll wait just a couple minutes here.

I love their videos. Do you guys follow them? It's amazing. They do a great job.

Okay. Okay. Thank you, Chief. Okay, next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. All items listed with an asterisk are considered routine matters and will be enacted by one motion and one roll call of the council. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member or member of the public so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence of the agenda. Is there anything that any of the council members would like to pull from the consent agenda? No, staff or public. Okay, so if we can get a motion, please.

Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second. There's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? If we can get a roll call vote, please, Adriana.

Council Member Rameau? Yes. Council Member Dugan?

Yes.

Council Member Edwards? Yes. Council Member Houston? Yes.

Yes.

Council Member Herman?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempe Dillon? Yes. Mayor Fitzgibbons? Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you. Next on the agenda is the public comments. Public comments. So the cash grant city council values citizen input. So I do have a few speaker cards here. So when I call your name, please state your address, speak clearly into the microphone and limit your comments to three minutes or less. In fairness to all the speakers, please do not exceed your time. In accordance with the law, the City Council cannot respond to or discuss items not listed on the agenda, but may direct them to staff upon conclusion of all the public comments. So I'll go ahead and start with the comment cards that I have, but if there's anyone else that would like to come up and speak, you're definitely more than, you know, you could definitely come up after this. So the first one is Barbara Sundust.

either barbara uh... more comfortable than usual you missed us didn't you? i did my name is barbara sundust and i live at twelve seventy three east cordova avenue in casa grande i'm here and really to plead the case for for the homeless and for again i'm so grateful that that lancola is there with a cooling station that last from six to ten but What happens after 10 o'clock? Where do they go and where if they have no place to sleep and sleep in their car? I was in Wisconsin last week, missed all the rain they had here, but definitely thought about what about people who are sleeping in their cars and trying to survive. So I'm just my plead again. is for some kind of a 24-hour cooling station or a place for people at least to sleep at night. And the other thing, my cause, is to support, I don't know if everybody saw Pat Schreiber's article in the paper, and hers is exactly my plea. She says that her dream and my dream is to have a house or a building donated, emphasize the word, to help those facing homelessness, but not chronically homeless. And I have a friend right now, she and her mother, it's 84, and through no, not their fault, they are now homeless and struggling to find a place to stay. And it costs money going from hotel to hotel, so... Pat talks about the increasing number of people at St. Vincent de Paul and elderly women who just for no fault of their own have lost their home either because rent went up or because their husband passed away or left them and they just have no place to go. And it seems to me like, I mean, in other countries, the elderly people are cared for. We shouldn't be 60 or 70 or 80 and not know where you're gonna sleep at night or not have any comfort in having to make decisions and people to help you. I think sometimes in our country, we're often very sort of selfish and cling to what we have in our possessions. So every person should have a place to live and sleep. Again, if there's a home or a building that could be made into a shelter for women, I support Pat Treiber and her cause and her dream. And just real quick, I was in Wisconsin for my mom's 100th birthday. She lives in a place where everybody, I mean, and I know they probably pay a lot of money for it, but they're all elderly. They're all taken care of. They have celebrations for them. That's how it should be for an elderly person who's worked. Maybe she's worked at Kmart, so she doesn't get a lot of Social Security. But anyway, my plea is just for somebody who can either donate money or a house for these people. Thank you, Barbara.

Okay, next is Fred Koenig. Hi there, Fred.

Thank you, Mayor Fitzgibbons and the council. My name is Fred Koenig, and I'm here with the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Recovery. I was sent here specifically relating to a disaster on the San Carlos Apache Tribe. It was severe storms and flooding that happened last October 10th through 13th. We're helping people there that have actual physical property damage. But for contiguous counties around the tribe, which includes Pinal, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, Apache, and Navajo, we have economic injury disaster loans for anyone that experienced economic loss during that event. Pretty generous terms for these. You may have heard about them before. Arizona and actually even Pinal County has multiple disaster declarations with open active periods for these economic injury disaster loans going on right now. One related to the event that I just mentioned. We also have a drought declaration, some from other storms that happened last fall. Pretty generous terms. Businesses and ag cooperatives get a 4% rate. Nonprofits get a 3.625% rate. Terms up to 30 years long, no payments the first year, no interest the first year. We go up to $2 million on the loans. They can cover things like payroll, inventory, rent, utilities. So we're just kind of in the area for a limited time. We have staff at San Carlos right now that are helping the people that were directly impacted with physical damage. To contact us I passed around a flyer that all of you should have that has our 800 number Has a website on it as well The easy site to go to is SBA gov backslash Disaster and it's pretty easy to navigate there You just put in your state in your county the date of the disaster and it'll pull up all the different programs to qualify for so Websites good thing to go to and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Sure. Thank you for coming Okay next is Michael Did I say it right, Michael? Okay.

Hello, I'm Michael Henry in 2552 North Millie Place. I'm here talking to you again about Flock and the cameras. the unsafety that they seem to give to us. You know, the thing that you came to us and talked to us, Ms. Fitzgibbons, about how you want to gain our trust in that, and I'm not sure it can happen with the audits, because I thought about it a lot, and the audits themselves are done by the police, and I just kind of like went, thought about it, and most of the abuses that are published are done by the police, the abuses. and they're presented by citizens that have been abused by the police. And I'm not saying that the police shouldn't have this resource, again, I've always said this from every time, but I think to myself in putting it into my world, I work with kids, and I have kids of my own, and often I have them do jobs, do things in the house, like clean up your room, or do certain jobs, then I ask them, or even their homework. Did you do your homework? Yeah, of course. Or did you clean your room? Oh yeah. Did you take your laundry down? Yeah. And that's like the police doing their audits, but then when I go and look, It's not done or not to the level that I would expect it to be done so that I either end up doing it myself or having them come back. And I have this mantra that I tell them that the lazy man does twice the work because they have to do it twice. Anyways, moving on from that, There's a number of things that I can talk about. I could talk to you guys for hours about this. The main backer of Flock, the one that put in a bunch of money to this, this guy, you may have heard of him, Peter Thiel, he's said horrible things about humans as a whole. He says that he doesn't think necessarily that the human race deserves to exist, which is an insane thing to say. You can look it up. Please, I encourage you to do so. I got 30 seconds, so I'm gonna say one thing, and it just came up to me as Barbara was talking. We're spending $10 million on this over the next 10 years. Why not take that money and give it to her, or to programs that can help the homeless? I'd much rather see that than seeing multiple cameras pointing the same direction, which I've seen around the town, than seeing people than doing that. Help Barbara with that money. There's enough cameras around, cut it out.

Thank you, Michael. Okay, Jacob Petroski.

Jacob Petroski, 194 South Amador Trail. Good evening. I hope you guys have been having a great summer. I know I have. I've spent the last several months talking to people all over Casa Grande, and one thing keeps coming up, safety. So today I'm excited to announce a new company called Shepherd Safety. Our mission is simple, keep government officials and their families safe. We're launching satellites to watch over Casa Grande day and night. Our AI will monitor where government officials go, where they stop, who they meet with, and when they return home. We've already started collecting and building profiles on your vehicles, spouses' vehicles, children's vehicles, and other visual characteristics. We'll combine that information with publicly available data Bluetooth signals, advertising IDs, vehicle information, commercial data sources, so our authorized users can replay the movements of every government official and their immediate family. There's no difference than the current flock safety capture systems. Everything will be stored securely and only authorized users will have access. Local businesses will be invited to join our network so government officials can continue being protected while shopping, eating, or traveling throughout the city. Some of you might think this sounds invasive, and you may worry about abuse. You may worry about unauthorized access, tracking innocent people. We understand those concerns. After all, Those are the exact same concerns of all the citizens. What, 864 now, something like that? But we've been told not to worry because if you're doing nothing wrong, you got nothing to hide. It's okay. You have no expectation of privacy in public, so if we track all your movement and put it up online, it's okay. Only authorized users will have access. We made that clear. And we're only going to store the data for 30 days, which is the footage. So it's no different from Flock. It's no problem. Privacy doesn't stop being important because someone says the word safety, okay? We shouldn't accept this level of surveillance, our elected officials and their families, and we shouldn't accept it for ourselves. Now this is satire. I would never do this to you. Could I? Probably, but I wouldn't because it's wrong. Just like what you guys are doing to us is wrong. I'm innocent. I don't do anything wrong. You're tracking and uploading my information, my movements, every day without my permission. And I don't appreciate it. And I'd like you to stop. I'd like you to do something about it. I'd like you to put it behind a warrant, just like my phone records. That's what I'm asking you guys to do. Thanks.

Thank you, Jacob. Okay, Kirk McCarvel. Oh, sorry, I see that, L2. Okay, is there anyone else that would like to speak? Public comments? No? Okay. Okay, no one else? We'll go ahead and close the public comments. And the next item is I1, and I believe, is that you, Rob?

Yes, Mayor, that is.

Perfect.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Over the last few years, the city has received feedback from residents regarding the downtown area, suggesting that there is insufficient lighting levels in some areas to help there be a feeling of public safety in some parts of the downtown. And so staff worked with Wright Engineering back in 2024 to do a lighting study to see what areas could use more lighting in the downtown area to help increase that feeling of safety and also to add to the aesthetic of the area. and from that study there was a plan created to it was originally planned as a three-phase plan in three subsequent fiscal years to help add more light into the downtown and by downtown there was a specific area it designated for the project in the downtown including portions of florence street marshall street maricopa sacaton second third and fourth streets And due to the scale of the project, it was initially planned over three different phases. And the first phase was started off in fiscal year 2026, and then there was additional funding allocated in this current fiscal year, fiscal year 2027. Wright Engineering completed the design for this project, which included ensuring that everywhere in the downtown met the standards of the Illuminating Engineering Society's recommendations for lighting levels, for protection of both pedestrians and also just general safety in the downtown area. and as the design progressed it made sense to combine the construction of year one and year two in that three-phase plan in order to help minimize the disruptions in the downtown help save some costs and also to help it deliver the project more quickly and so before you tonight would be a combination of the construction for phase one and phase two all in the same go this fiscal year and that would bring additional 44 light poles to the downtown area this year And the construction will be done by utility construction company under one GPA cooperative contract. And the total cost for the contract with utility construction company for the construction would be $1,744,624. And in addition to that, staff's also requesting for the remaining difference between that contract amount and the total budgeted amount of $53,837 to hold onto as a contingency just in case something comes up over the construction. And if not, then that money will be rolled for a future project. As far as the project schedule's concerned, as soon as Utility Construction Company gets a notice to proceed, they will begin getting the permits and going through that whole process. public outreach will take place in september and october to make sure every business in the downtown knows when the disruption is going to happen around them so they can be able to make arrangements and plan for that with construction starting in october and the construction will run until june of 2027 and the part of the reason for this long construction timeline is that in order to do the different light poles a construction where a foundation needs to be poured has to set for a certain amount of time before it starts being able to then be built on. And so it's gonna be a phased approach throughout the downtown. In order to incentivize the project to stay on schedule, there will be liquidated damages as part of the contract as well to help ensure that efficiency as well. So staff recommends an approval of this item and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions? Comments?

Go ahead, Matt. Rob, is this gonna involve street closures, do you think?

So it's anticipated, Councilmember Herman, that there will be, I don't know, about a full street closure, maybe temporarily if there's boring or the like, but at least there will be blockages of some lanes while foundations are being poured and such. So there will be some disruptions that will be communicated in advance and well publicized.

I mean, just along our main, where a lot of our retailers are, I hope during the winters, their busy time in the holiday season especially, they can be sensitive to that. So plan ahead. Of course. To, you know, minimize disruption. I mean, they're going to be happy when it's done. Just like all of our construction, it's a pain while it's going on. But when it's done, it's great. But just hope, yeah, kind of mentioned that too.

Of course.

They can keep that.

Especially on Marshall, it's going to be nice to have that lighting so dark there.

Yes. Long overdue. I'm so glad this is coming because we needed that lighting in downtown for sure.

Any other questions, comments? Okay. If we can get a resolution number, please.

Resolution number 5953, a resolution of the Council of the City of Casa Grande, Arizona, accepting a proposal from Utility Construction Company, Inc. to provide and install additional lighting for downtown Casa Grande, authorizing the expenditure of public funds and authorizing execution of a contract with or purchase order to Utility Construction Company, Inc. Mayor Fitzgibbons, I move approval of resolution number 5953 as presented.

Second.

Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? If we can get a roll call vote, please, Adriana.

Council Member Romo? Yes. Council Member Dugan?

Yes.

Council Member Edwards? Yes. Council Member Huddleston?

Yes.

Council Member Herman?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Bedellin? Yes. Mayor Fitzgibbon? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you.

Item I-2. Thank you, Rob.

Thank you. Staff recommends that the Mayor and City Council award a contract to Horak LLC in an amount not to exceed $222,750. Horak was originally selected through a request for qualifications process in accordance with Arizona Revised Statute Title 34 requirements to provide design services for Thornton Road from Main Street north to Cottonwood Lane. And that design included the widening of the roadway as well as the widening of the railroad crossing. This contract is a new contract with Horrocks Engineering to design the south portion of Thornton Road from Gila Bend north to the tracks. And the reason we're entering into this new contract, it's much cleaner that way, just to do a new contract. The project was originally scoped to build the north half and the railroad crossing. But the grant that we received for $4,054,390 wasn't enough to do that north half, including the railroad crossing. However, when you take the railroad crossing cost out of it, it gives us enough money to finish both the north and the south half. Unfortunately, it's going to leave a pinch point. in the middle of that uh... segment of roadway but uh... staff is aggressively working on trying to find either additional grant funds or other funding sources to come back in the future and fund that portion and finish that construction so this will be just the new contract of the design the south half of that project uh... and then work with the uh... available funds in the the existing grant to build the north and south half without the railroad crossing. I hope that makes sense. It's a little bit complicated. But with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Okay, any questions? No questions? Okay, we can get a resolution number, please.

Resolution number five nine five four a resolution of the Council of the City of Casa Grande, Arizona Accepting the proposal for professional services from Horrocks LLC for the design of Thornton Road between Hilla Bend Highway and Main Avenue Authorizing expenditure of public funds and authorizing the execution of a contract with or purchase order to Horrocks LLC Memphis give us a move that we approve resolution number five nine five four as presented second.

I Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Adriana, if we can get a roll call vote, please.

Council Member Romo? Yes. Council Member Dugan?

Yes.

Council Member Edwards? Yes. Council Member Hiddleston?

Yes.

Council Member Herman? Yes. Mayor Pro Tembe-Dillon? Yes. Mayor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Motion carries.

Okay, great, thank you. Okay, we have a couple appointments to our boards here. So the first one is for Jesus Rodriguez, the Public Safety Advisory Board. I don't think I see Jesus here, but if we can get a motion to approve that appointment.

So moved. Second.

there's been a motion and a second all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed okay thank you and thank you to jesus the next one is david sansik to the transit advisory committee and david is here david if you raise your hand up there's david so um thank you david for applying and for your willingness to participate in this so if we can get a motion to approve so moved second Okay, there's been a motion and a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, thank you again, David. Thanks for coming tonight. The next item is L1, and that's Jacqueline.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. So this first item is a PAD amendment to Mission Valley Unit 1 to allow a wireless telecommunication facility within their PAD zone district. A little background on the Mission Valley Unit 1 PAD. It's primarily a single family neighborhood with a school. It's approximately 241 acres with 291 lots and 27 acres of open space. This request is to allow one 85 foot tall wireless facility site within an 18 acre HOA tract and would be screened with an eight foot CMU wall. This site plan shows the location of the proposed site. It will also consist of 1,600 square feet lease area. And again, it's located approximately 50 feet from Friar Road, and the closest residence is approximately 138 feet. Here's an image of the site that shows the location looking north. And it will be concealed as a faux eucalyptus tree. Here is an elevation of that. And then here is a rendering of what it would look like looking south from Friar Road. Regarding the PED amendment criteria, there's 11 criteria that is covered within the attached staff report. I'll be going into a little detail on the two highlighted items. Regarding relationships to surrounding uses, again, as mentioned earlier, the closest residence is approximately over 130 feet from the proposed site. The wireless site will be concealed as a faux eucalyptus tree. There are other trees in the area, and there will also be an eight-foot CMU fence. Site is also located within a HOA tract that has gravel, so there's no active open space that will be removed. regarding conformance with the city's general plan. This is located within the neighborhood general plan land use category. While neighborhoods is primarily intended for low density residential development, it also supports limited placement of non-residential development that offers neighborhood level amenities and services. Since most of the population resides in the neighborhood areas of the city, reliable cellular service and cellular options is a reasonable service to have within this area. And one of the goals within the neighborhood land use category is to minimize land use conflicts. And that action step is to require physical separation, such as fences, berms, parks, or landscape areas between residential and non-residential developments with this site does do. Regarding notification efforts, the applicant and staff met all the notification efforts per city code, including a prescoping letter that was mailed out prior to their application. I'm at the June PNZ meeting, or prior to the June Planning Commission meeting, there was one email with questions regarding this request. At the June Planning Commission meeting, one resident did attend asking questions regarding will the facility be serving the play area, and as noted, it's located within a gravel area of the open space, and would it be accessible to the children. It is walled within an eight foot high wall, and the equipment is also encased in cabinets. The Planning Commission also had discussion regarding notification efforts Regarding the notification efforts, HOA had a meeting that occurred with a presentation. Again, as noted, applicants sent out notifications prior to their application submittal, and staff sent out notifications of the public hearing prior to the Planning Commission meeting. And I do just want to note that this is a request that would allow for a wireless site within the PAD zoning. If approved, the HOA would still have to execute a lease and a site plan would be reviewed administratively. So at the June 4th Planning Commission meeting, the Planning Commission approved this request for a three to four recommendation to approve the PAD amendment, DSA 2600063. Happy to answer any questions the council may have.

Any questions? Comments?

No.

Is there anyone here? I know it's a public hearing. OK. Well, maybe I'll wait for the public hearing. If there's no questions here, we'll go ahead and open up the public hearing. So if there is anyone that would like to get up and speak on this, feel free to come up. And if you can give your name and address. I believe the applicant is here, too, as well. Pardon me? Sure, go ahead.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council Members. My name is Mike McLaughlin. I'm with the Western Fire Chiefs Association. We work in partnership with Public Safety Tower Company, who would be the builder and operator of this facility, with our effort to be not only making sure there's wireless coverage for public safety purposes, but also making sure that our first responders have access to FirstNet, which is a national public safety broadband network network. which is dedicated spectrum so that our first responders have preemptive access and are not competing over commercial available airwaves. In this particular project, this site was selected as this is an area that's desperately underserved in terms of wireless coverage. Even the one resident from the HOA who was at the planning commission meeting presented the fact that she has AT&T and has coverage issues. And so there was no disputing the need for coverage in this particular area. I know it was noted that we'd had meetings with the HOA. There was actually two meetings where we presented in public meetings about this project, and I believe there was either two or three additional meetings where the HOA board actually discussed this project. In terms of the need for this, I mentioned about the coverage piece, but it's also important to recognize that 80% of all 911 calls come from wireless devices, and that's as of 2024. The data is being updated now, and we're gonna expect it to be much closer to 90% of all 911 calls. And 79.7% of homes in the United States are wireless only, which means they rely 100% on wireless phones and no longer have wired landlines. so wireless coverage is a public safety emergency, whether it's for our first responders being able to communicate and receive pre-arrival instructions. When I started my career, and I know with Chief Keen as well, that we relied solely on two-way radios, which means one person can talk at a time. where now we rely on smartphones, tablets, mobile data computers, 12 lead EKG electrocardiograph machines have the ability to communicate to the hospitals, just to name a few. As residents from fall protection to a wider range of wearables such as smartwatches and different things that help the main to keep the community safe require wireless connectivity in order to operate. And even, you know, in looking, as I picked up a copy of the agenda when I came in this evening and seeing the Safe City Initiative and the C-Click Fix programs that the city of Casa Grande is embracing require people to either receive the notifications or to be able to reach back to the city through those programs, based on the 80% statistic of wireless only requires wireless coverage. And so with that, I have with us Linda Grice, who's named as the applicant, and we also have the president of the HOA here today for any questions you may have. Thank you.

Perfect, thank you. I have nothing to add, and we'll just stand for questions, and the HOA is here also if you've got questions for them. Okay.

Hello, my name is Brett Howard, 1857 East Pelgrim Street, Casa Grande. I am the president of HOA for Mission Valley. And so I know one of the questions that came up was the amount of notification that was given to the community. This first appeared on our agenda back in July of 2025. And from there to today has appeared on seven agendas for HOA meetings. with one meeting in October, basically being totally dedicated from the presentation of the companies involved, the first responders, and a wireless engineer that answered all the questions the community had. And throughout those meetings, We had less than a dozen people with concerns or opposition, and most of those were minor, and of the couple that were concerned, more concerned. It was more about the wireless exposure. which I think the wireless engineer seemed to relieve a lot of that stress. There's probably still a couple that have concerns about the exposure aspects of it, but I think there's enough reports and studies out there to show that that's not really a concern. Did you have any questions for the HOA board?

No, I appreciate the clarification, because I remember reading through the planning and zoning notes, and it seems as though there were some concerns with our commission members that there weren't enough people that were notified or aware. So that's good to know that you had that many meetings, or it was on the agenda for that many meetings.

Absolutely.

Yeah, so no, thanks for the clarification. I think for me, the only thing is, when you go to that slide with the actual tower, have you... committed to this whole eucalyptus tree. I feel it looks so awkward. I mean, have you ever seen an 85 foot eucalyptus tree? I got one in my yard, actually. In your yard? I know it's 85 feet. I didn't measure it, but it's pretty close. They grow, but I think when I saw this is where I was like, wow, that is just like, just looks like it doesn't belong. So I was just curious, you know, why that was chosen. And I was curious if people in your neighborhood, I mean, this is their neighborhood, you know, did they see this and are they okay with it? The renderings were presented.

And as far as what you see as camouflaging with cell phone towers, there's basically pine trees, eucalyptus, and palm trees. This was just basically what was kind of decided on as the best option of the three. It gave the most concealment. Palm trees are kind of, you know, not real good at concealing. They kind of cover up. And if you add additional antennas down the road, it won't fully conceal it and look natural. Right, right. It was the lesser of the three options, you know, as far as appearances versus a naked tower. Right, right.

I don't know. I think a naked power might look better.

Well, that was going to be my question. No one questioned the aesthetics of the way that the eucalyptus tree looked at any of the HOA meetings or anything like that. They're all kind of like, yeah, that's good.

It was one of those things, like I said, it was the lesser. The lesser, okay. I mean, and nobody raised the question, what if we just go naked with it? That wasn't something that was brought up, you know, just go with a tower that looks like a tower.

Right.

I just question if it's actually going to look like what is presented in the picture, because, I mean, it doesn't look bad there, but I've never seen one actually in person, a eucalyptus tree.

Yes, they did provide some pictures of actual towers, not just a rendering, but at other sites that had the same design. So I have seen it. I don't know if we have a copy present of that.

As long as the residents didn't voice a concern.

Yeah, that's the way I'm looking at it.

Is it typical to build in a neighborhood like this? Is it typical where you would find something? And why this location in particular?

So this location in particular, because there are no cell phone towers in this area, so nobody's got coverage here, T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T. We looked in an area that's about a mile around this. We talked to the city to try to do something over at Parks and Rec Building. We weren't able to do that because of a deed restriction. So the locations that were available were in subdivisions. The vacant areas are under control of a large developer in the area. They tried to work with us, but because of their plans, it put the tower out to the east so far that it didn't help on the coverage. The tower is tall because it has an angle on the antennas. So the taller it is, the more coverage you get. So as you get a shorter tower, the coverage area shrinks. So it's either a tall tower or four small towers. kind of a trade-off there. And the eucalyptus, I believe, is kind of directed through the city code to be concealed in residential areas. So it was a concealed tower, is why we didn't, I mean, I don't think the code allows for a naked tower. Okay.

I just feel like it's so close to that park. Right.

As far as another community that has a tower, there is up off of Val Vista a community that has one that sits closer to Holmes. I don't know how tall it is, but it's a palm tree tower that sits up there. It's right at the corner of the community. Of course, it's not right next to the park, but it sits right on top of Holmes on either side. They're closer than the 130 feet that we're giving it here. It's not unheard of.

I mean, it's very typical to have towers of 75, 85 foot height in like Tucson, Phoenix, this metro area. And once you get up, like up on the rim, you've got 100 foot towers. They tend to be pine trees. Yeah.

What is, I mean, this looks on the rendition here, it looks like it's got a lot of leaves and stuff like that. We have the monsoons and everything blowing through here. What's the maintenance on the aesthetics of it so everything doesn't blow off?

Right, so those, the company that makes it is in Tucson. So the leaves are kind of like a fabric composite and they stay on. I mean, at times you'll, they, break down over many years from sun. And so they have to be replaced like every 12, 15 years, the leaves. But they do pretty good.

They do pretty good. But they'll maintain them or are they just going to come in every 12 years and redo it? Or is it going to be a constant maintenance type deal?

No, it's a constant maintenance. So like let's say somebody's working on it and they break off a limb, it gets repaired and goes back on.

Okay.

And I understand the need. I forget your name. I'm so sorry with the fire.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, I appreciate you telling us the need. And I have heard that this area does struggle with cell service. And so obviously you guys are with the HOA. So that's something that is needed out there. You know, you're right. It's just the location. And it's just, to me, that looks so awkward, but if it's, it's something, you know, the best of, you know, of all the choices, I guess, you know, and that's what.

And if I may, just on location, right? A lot of the work that we do are infill sites, right? Meaning communities built out and I need to provide coverage. You know, the unfortunate in the greater scheme of things is that wireless communication is not considered a public utility like electrical, right? And so we find ourselves after the fact needing to come back and build. And infill projects are extremely, extremely difficult because the communities are built out. You know, it's being set back from home, set back from different things. You know, a lot of the projects we build are in parks because they're open areas in a way. You know, obviously, you know, in an ideal world, it would be... away from that, but you can't be too far away from that, otherwise you don't achieve your coverage objective. So it's a constant challenge, really. As I've said many times in presentations on these types of projects, it's threading a needle. We need to get the coverage but there's only this little tiny opportunity and there's only one little tiny spot to where we can be far enough from houses, far enough from the street, be able to provide the coverage and all of those things can come together. And ultimately this, it's not changing open space, it's not undisturbed land, it's not taking out any grass, it's not taking out any infrastructure. It's, as was made in staff's presentation, it's taking 1600 feet of what's currently gravel area.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions, comments, Matt?

We got one. Brett, I'm going to put you on. I got a couple emails from citizens about this, and I appreciate the fact about the, I didn't think about the public safety angle either. That's important. But I got some stuff about the, what do you call it, the waves going out, but we can't rule on that, right, as law?

That's right.

I just want to be clear because people ask me about that, and I know there's a federal law that we can't consider that in these type of hearings?

That's correct. As long as they are, and they always have to do that, but they have to meet the federal requirements, but if they do, We don't have the ability to deny it for that reason. This is a rezoning, but it certainly, so if you don't feel that it is an appropriate use in that area, that's always a choice, but the RF should not be portion of your decision tonight.

Thanks. Yeah, just so those people that emailed us know something that we think about, but I think with the HOA here and stuff, it seems that you guys didn't have too much opposition out of the 291 homes, and also the notice part was the thing, like the mayor said, and you guys had seven meetings, so.

And actually, we have 940 homes total in the Mission Valley HOA. Okay. So there's, I mean, quite a bit, and out of, like I said, it was less than a dozen people out of 940 homes that voice concerns. Okay.

Okay.

Ron is another board member with the community.

If you can give us your name, please. How y'all doing today? I appreciate everything you do. I really do. I know what it's like to try and assist a community when everybody's fussing at you. And it's the same thing as being on an HOA. I'm on the HOA because I don't like them, and I felt the need to get it under control. Also got on the board running on a common sense platform. And so where I live is in the walkway that you guys maintain and control. So everybody comes by me, and they can't help but stop and fuss, cuss, and discuss. And, of course, you're always going to have a few who are of the TikTok science community, and they're worried about throwing elephant tusks out of their belly button if we're too close to this tower. But I'm telling you, people just constantly are berating me. Why are they digging up all this Metronet nonsense when we can have Internet? I mean, not internet, but we could have wireless service. Wireless service works good if we just had a tower. And we tell them we're working on it. So the only thing I could say to you is I hope you'll work on it with us, too.

Thank you. Okay, anyone else? We'll go ahead and close the public hearing then.

I don't know if anyone else wanted to speak. That was all the applicant.

Oh, that was all the applicant. Oh, okay. Thank you for the applicant. Okay, so public hearing. We'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone else that would like, or anyone that would like to discuss, talk to the council on this matter? Okay, we'll close the public hearing. And anything else with the council? Questions, comments? Okay, so if we can go ahead and get an ordinance number, please, Adriana.

Ordinance number 1178.137.1, an ordinance of the Council of the City of Casa Grande, Arizona, approving a major amendment to the Mission Valley Unit 1 PAD for property generally located along the west side of Friar Road, south of Angelica Street, Casa Grande, Arizona, to allow one wireless telecommunication facility.

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I would move for approval of ordinance number 1178.137.1 as submitted.

Second.

It has been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? If we can get a roll call, though, please.

Council Member Rameau? Yes. Council Member Dugan?

Yes.

Council Member Edwards? Yes. Council Member Huddleston?

Yes.

Council Member Herman? Yes. Mayor Persimby-Dillon? Yes. Mayor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. OK. We're going to come and see it when it's done so we can get a picture by it. Thank you. Thank you for coming, too, all of you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. OK. Item L2.

This has two requests for Bluestem. It's a minor general plan amendment and a zone change request. The site is generally located at the northwest corner of Florence Street and Peters Road. The first request is a minor general plan amendment to amend approximately 25 acres from downtown to manufacturing and industry. And this is the minor general plan amendment is a little bit of a cleanup that was done because the parcels actually split between two land use categories. And to proceed with the zone change request from the I1 light industrial to I2 general industrial. It required all of the parcel to be within the correct land use category. So the zone change is on approximately 49 acres. I did also want to note that this is a minor general plan amendment because it's under 50 acres. Typically This was changed in our general plan in 2022. So anything over 50 acres requires a major general plan amendment. Here's our general plan review criteria. All criteria has been evaluated and covered within staff report and staff defines this request meets the general plan review criteria. I'll be going over the first item in a little more detail. The first one is actually broken out into about 11 other questions, but I'll be covering how community growth should be driven by industrial corporate office, professional services, financial services, research and development, and other similar developments which offer the opportunity for high-paying, quality jobs. The proposed industrial development is consistent with the city's goal of attracting employment opportunities the project enhances cast grants ability to attract and retain employers in the industrial sector and Is supporting economic stability with workforce development? Regarding the zone change here's the review criteria covered in detail in the staff report I'll be going over the two highlighted items regarding the first one, that the action is consistent with the city's general plan, including the goals, policies, and other applicable elements. Cascarans, here is some of the goals and actions that support this request. Cascarans general plan specifically identifies industrial and employment-generating uses as a key driver of community growth. This request increases a city's inventory of shovel-ready industrial land and supports job creation employer attraction and long-term economic stability industrial Land is increasing competitive regionally and larger larger users need flexible zoning larger sites and operational compatibility and Regarding that the pros zone change is necessary and proper at this time to meet the land use needs of the city The city is currently experiencing demand for industrial Land particularly for uses requiring larger sites and greater operational flexibility however staff notes that it is currently surrounded by i1 and and that it is adjacent to our downtown land use category. We did recently rezone from I-1 to I-2 just west of this, as you can see on the map. That was done last year. While this request aligns the site with the surrounding industrial corridor while supporting CAST Grant's economic development goals, staff does recognize that the site's proximity to the downtown land use category introduces additional compatibility considerations. So we have added conditions of record associated with this request. That includes that no conditional use permits for uses involving the storage utilization or manufacturing of volatile or explosive materials or products should be allowed. No outdoor storage of explosive or volatile material that would pose a potential public safety hazard as determined by fire and or the building code. And all outdoor storage shall be screened by decorative masonry block wall, matching or complementing the principal articulation architecture of the site along Peters Road. Regarding stakeholder engagement efforts, staff and advocate met all the requirements, including the pre-scoping letter that was mailed out in February. Notices were mailed out within 1,000 feet of the site, and I did not receive any inquiries or comments to date. uh... at that may seven fine commission meeting uh... playing commission made a motion to forward to city council recommendation to approve minor general plan amendment uh... to change the land use from downtown you met to manufacturing however on a three four vote motion was denied the same meeting the planning and zoning commission made a motion to forward to the council recommendation to approve the zone change from i want i too however on a three four motion this was also denied So in accordance with RSV code 1768-500, a rezoning which has been recommended by now by the commission shall not be reviewed by council except upon written request by the applicant. The applicant has provided that written request. So tonight council may, after accepting comments, either approve the zone change request, deny the zone change request, and minor general plan amendment, or it can be tabled. However, per our code, it cannot be tabled more than 75 days. So with staff's recommendation to Planning Commission, should Council consider approving the zone change request, staff is recommending that the conditions of record be provided as noted earlier. So happy to answer any questions Council may have. Thank you, Jacqueline.

Any questions or comments?

Okay, we'll go ahead and go with the applicant now. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. My name is Julie Vermillion with the applicant CVL Consultants located at 4550 North 12th Street in Phoenix. I do have a presentation here. Looks like they're pulling it up. Alright, let's see. Oh, okay, thank you. So as you can see, the site is approximately 50 acres. As Jacqueline said, it's located at the northwest corner of Peters and Florence. If you wouldn't mind going to the next one, please. So this existing general plan designation, as Jacqueline mentioned, it's a split designation right now. So we have a patchwork of half manufacturing industry and half downtown. So our request is to make sure that this is a consistent overall land use. I would like to mention at Planning and Zoning Commission, there was a commissioner who was concerned about maintaining the downtown portion of the land use as it is and potentially expanding your downtown development onto our property. There was a mention of potentially the city buying this land and turning it into maybe a convention center or some sort of public use that would contribute to the downtown area. But as you can see on the map, it might be hard to see, but there is already industrial zoned parcels and industrial development in this downtown land use already. So the map is a bit deceiving. And we do believe that as We're 700 feet away from Florence Street and fronting Peters to the south. We're completely oriented away from the downtown area, so we don't believe that that would be the best use of this property. Could you please go to the next slide? So that just shows that overall manufacturing industry that we're proposing. And here's that existing zoning map. You can see it's I-2. We're surrounded by primarily I-2 zoning and there's a good portion of I-2 zone land to the west of our site along that Thornton Road corridor and west of there. You can see that we have those three parcels as a buffer, that 700-foot buffer from Florence Street and the downtown area that's existing as B2, R2, and I1. And here's that proposed I-2 use. You can see it's just slightly cut off from that I-2 portion that Jacqueline pointed out that was recently rezoned to the west. And it's pretty close. It's separated only from the Thornton Road Industrial Corridor by a distribution center. So we're primarily surrounded by I-2 similar type of industrial uses. And here's some logos for those companies. And so you can see just how much industrial development and how much interest in industrial growth is out there right now. You can see we're right in the middle of the action. And here's a closer look at that. So I've pointed out some of those uses. There's Daisy manufacturing, there's nearby I2 zoning. The parcel between our site and that distribution center for Walmart is planned to go for industrial outdoor storage. You know, we're just to the northeast of the Lucid manufacturing. We're directly south of a metal manufacturing operation currently in use. So we feel like this site is pretty much right in the middle of industrial development. And on this slide, I would like to note that the TSMC, they have about 10 suppliers in the Casa Grande area, and they are expanding. They're doing a $100 billion expansion, and all of those suppliers are currently on I2 zoned land. So we're going to need some more I-2 zone land in this area to make it attractive to those type of users, and this site would be in a great location so close to that Thorn Road corridor. Okay, I'm on to the next one. There we go. So this is just a concept sketch so you can see how the site would be laid out. We would plan to have two points of access south off of Peters Road. You can see that Southwark metal manufacturing use that's directly to the north of us, and then a portion of that buffer we would have from Florence Road on the east. So I'd just like to cover a few benefits of this proposal. Advanced industrial users for I2 uses, they typically generate less traffic than the more local I1 users. It's compatible with the surrounding typical I users that I mentioned. like the Daisy Product Manufacturing, Southwark, Lucid, all of these users that are currently involved in the area. As I mentioned, the frontage will be on Peters Road entirely, so it won't have any kind of direct connectivity to the downtown area. Access is directed away from the downtown in those uses. And we have that 700 foot buffer from the development to the east and the nearest residents. As Jacqueline mentioned, the property owner agreed to exclude volatile and noxious uses as part of the stipulations. I'd also like to mention that the existing I-1 zoning limits the site. It limits the development opportunities that we could have on the site to non-basic employment, which doesn't typically qualify for a payroll multiplier. It's typically those local-oriented, lighter industrial uses. And I too would permit a more advanced industrial uses, more export oriented uses that would support higher wage jobs and a broader range of economic opportunities and opportunities for economic growth in Casa Grande. They would typically increase tax revenue and they're classified as basic employment with a payroll multiplier, which I'll go into on the next slide. So this is a quick summary. I won't read all of it, but as I noted that I too would typically qualify for basic employment, which is more export oriented. It's going to be those uses that generally support the economic growth of the city and yield that basic employment outcome. Whereas the I-1 is more local oriented, so less export and more local goods and services. That would be the non-basic employment. And there's a graph showing the difference on the next slide. So here's that multiplier effect of the payroll that I mentioned. You can see the difference between basic employment and non-basic. And on the next slide, you can see the estimate in difference in wages there. You can see that the basic I-2 zoning would support something like semiconductor supply and manufacturing with the higher wages, whereas non-basic, those more local services typically have lower wages associated with them. So by supporting the rezoning to I-2 on this site, we would be promoting that economic growth and those opportunities for more advanced industrial higher wage uses. And I'm available if you have any questions.

Okay, thank you. Any questions?

Um, so on this, this little part that juts out. To the north to ash Avenue there. Okay, so you said all the access is going to be off Peters. So that's just going to be a. Non usable part or.

You know, I believe that's a leftover from the prior parcel configuration. I know that this was parceled out a little while ago, so I'm not exactly sure what the intent is, but it's not currently intended to be an access.

Okay. And then this is I2 that you're requesting, and as you know, we just had this lengthy discussion about I2. With data centers, would that be a proposed use for this, or would you be willing to... maybe not do that there?

So this site at only 50 acres, it's pretty small for a data center type user. We haven't been engaged with any data center users and are not interested in developing data center use on this site. It's simply too small.

How big is that one that's going in next to the Bankland ballpark, Matt?

Yeah, it's on a pretty small part. Yeah, they are getting smaller.

Yeah, they are getting smaller. So it is a possibility. And I'll just go ahead and say it right now. I'm not in favor of moving anything to I-2 right now in general. But the other thing I'm not... I understand there's I-2 to the west, but we keep moving I-2 to the east, and then the next argument in two or three years is going to be, well, this other piece that's I-1 right now right next to downtown, well, there's I-2 right to the west, so why can't we just move it? And I just see I-2 to the further and further east. I'll just say it. I'm not a fan of it.

I'm with you on some of that grant. We have a good buffer that was 700 feet And for another year or two, but this is for me this would be it but would you be wanting to put a stipulation about data centers on this?

OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS WILLING TO DO THAT, YES.

OKAY. SO NO DATA CENTER USES.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO NOTE THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY SURROUNDED BY INDUSTRIAL ZONING AND ZONED INDUSTRIAL AS IT IS. SO THIS WOULD SIMPLY BE JUST ALLOWING A FEW MORE USES ON THE SITE AND SLIGHTLY MORE INTENSE ADVANCED USERS.

Under that scenario, if it was moved to I-2, wouldn't we now be covered by our change to require conditional use of permit?

It would be, but I would just like more of a... The insurance?

We won't have to go through that process. If I could, I just want to remind the Mayor and Council, because we talk about the conditional use for data centers in I-2, but it is also a conditional use in I-1 today. So if you do not rezone it, they can do data centers as a conditional use.

Yeah. And I won. And I won. And I won also.

That's right. So I just want to make sure that that's clear because while we're focused earlier tonight about particular I-2 zone property, our zoning code allows data centers as a conditionally permitted use in I-2, I-1, and B-4. And so while I certainly understand the desire to kind of take a look at it, my recommendation is you put in a conditional use permit process. And if it's not the right place for that, hopefully the Planning and Zoning Commission, and if it comes to council, you can make those determinations at this time. Obviously, it's a legislative decision for you to move forward. But I do want to remind the mayor and council that Even under I-1, they could do a data center today with a conditional use permit.

Mm-hmm.

Were you done, Bob? Yes. Okay.

Sean? I like the idea that I-2 brings better, higher-paying jobs to our city, and I don't feel it's too close to downtown. I think it's in the right area. My thought.

Mm-hmm.

Well, let's see, it is a, um, well, this isn't a public hearing, is it? But we do have a public hearing. Oh, yeah, that's right. Public hearing. Um, well, we'll go ahead and, um, open it up for the public. If you will get with you, if we have any questions, we'll go ahead and open up the public hearing. So, if there's anyone that would like to speak on this issue, I know I do have a speaker card. Um, or Carville, if you want to go ahead and come up, give us your address.

Kirk McCarvel, 9405 Northwest Salem, Palo Verde, Casa Grande, Arizona. I actually am here on representative of the landlord, Mr. Emerson, who's sitting here. I've worked with him for many years. He's a good developer. We... We have 25 advanced manufacturers in the supply chain for the computer chip industry in Arizona. We have 10 of them in Castagrande. That's because of the hard work of our team, Mayor, Council, Larry, Richard, GPEC, which I see you guys rejoined today, which is a really good idea, Commerce. We have in advanced manufacturing Changchun, NRS, LCY, Canto Air Products. All of those companies, none of those are in I-1. Those are all advanced manufacturing with basic employment. And the word basic employment is somewhat of an oxymoron. It sounds like entry level. Basic employment is quite the opposite of that. It's the highest level of employment that you can take. Basic employment is at that level where You go home, you pay for your gas, your groceries, your car payment, your mortgage. You've got money left over to spend in other businesses in town. And so that money, they call it a multiplier. It tends to rotate within the community three to five times. That only happens in I-2. In I-1, you have retail, entry level. Nothing wrong with those jobs. Most jobs are non-basic. That's where, you know, you and your husband have a job and somebody's going to school or entry level or part-time. We need both, but only benefits, mass benefits to you and me in I-2. We need more I-2. We've worked our way through with these locates. We've worked our way through 1,500 acres of I-2. That's a lot. That's our inventory. We were just at SelectUSA in DC in December, me and my team at our own expense. And because we were there, we just got invited to Taiwan the first week of August for the second phase of that conference work. Anybody who wants to build a factory in America is going to be there, and we're going to be there. We need more I-2. I-1 is okay, but I-2 is what Richard looks for every day. It's what we look for every day. It's what you want. It's where you get your property taxes and payroll taxes and community involvement companies that will come in and pay for sports programs and pay for sponsorships. That doesn't happen in I-1. I too is what we're constantly pursuing, and we need more of it. And I would urge you, we have plenty of buffer, even with I-2. We have a huge buffer to Florence Street. If we come back and ask for I-2 on that, say no, and I know Mr. Emerson will stipulate to no data center on this property. You can add that to the conditions.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? This is a public hearing. Okay, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and, um, discuss see if there's any further discussion. And, you know, when I, I was really torn, you know, on this, because, of course, when you look at the graph and you see the I1 that surrounds this property, um. You know, it's concerning and I get it. I understand that we need, you know, I too, but it. You know, like, kind of your point, are we going to keep moving closer and closer to homes and. You know, there was a lot of land out here, but obviously that it just depends on the property owner. What makes me feel comfortable. Or makes me feel a little better are the conditions and if you are willing to say no data centers I know it doesn't matter because it it you know, it'll come back as a conditional use you're you're not Brett's kind of you don't think that matters really by someone putting that May remember the council mayor I think if you want to stipulate to that, you know, you can I generally don't recommend simply because We're starting to

make decisions on this I-2 is conditionally used. This I-2, you can't do it at all. This I-1 is conditionally used. This I-1, you're not going to be able to do it all. And so generally my thought process, it won't impact that here because if they were to do a data center, you know, is that I don't like those conditions. But having said that, you know, We also don't like putting conditions on when the owners are not willing to stipulate to that in light of the fact that the owner is willing to stipulate to that if it is the will of the council. We will add a condition number five to say that no data center may be constructed or used on the property.

All right.

Yeah. I know. You know, again, I understand, you know, I'm just struggling with just keep, you know, the location, you know, by being surrounded by I-1, but... Yeah, I'm not quite sure. Any other comments from them?

What's the biggest difference between I-1 and I-2 that it would have to be, that they would want to make this change, I guess, would be my question. The type of manufacturing, right? Mm-hmm.

I-1 doesn't allow for manufacturing. I-1 is distribution only. You can't take a raw product and turn it into anything. You can take parts and put them together, but that's not manufacturing, and that's not basic employment, and that's not what we want. It's not what you want. If you allow me to say that, that's not what cities try to do with their economic development programs. They're in pursuit of basic employment. That's the holy grail, and that only happens in I-2. Even the non-computer chip manufacturers like Kohler, Green Bay, Lucid Motors, it's all I-2. That's the holy grail.

And if I can just add, I-1 is assembly, so you can take materials together for assembly, but you can't do, like Kirk said, the raw parts manufacturing.

Just those higher paying jobs. Pardon me? Just those higher paying jobs is the way I get it. I mean, that's just.

And you don't have an end user at this point, right? You don't have someone that's. Right, okay. Okay. Any other questions, comments? Do we want to get an ordinance number or what is it? What are we doing here? Resolution number. Oh, I thought I closed the public hearing.

I'm not certain, but if so, we can close it. But yes, in this case, this is a resolution first. Right. Because... In order to zone it to I-2, the resolution would have to pass. So if mayor and council do not pass the minor general plan amendment, then we will not be able to vote on the zoning.

Okay. Okay. Thanks, Brett.

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I move approval of resolution number 5273.

We need to get a resolution number first.

We will let you do it, though.

Okay, resolution number 5273.45, a resolution of the Council of the City of Castle Grand, Arizona, adopting a minor amendment to the City of Casa Grande General Plan 2030 as adopted by Resolution Number 5273 and as previously amended by changing the land use designation from downtown to manufacturing and industry for approximately 25.4 acres of property generally located near the northwest corner of Florence Street and Peters Road, Casa Grande, Arizona.

I move approval of resolution 5273.45 as presented. Second.

Okay, there's been a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Okay, Adriana, if we can get a roll call vote.

Council Member Romo? Yes. Council Member Dugan?

Yes.

Council Member Edwards? Yes. Council Member Huddleston? Yes. Council Member Herman?

Yes.

Mayor President B. Dillon?

No.

Mayor Fitzgibbons?

I'm going to vote yes, but I did want to make a comment also on the Planning and Zoning Commission. I, you know, obviously read through their notes and some of the questions, and I definitely understand the concerns, but again, I, you know, kind of going back and forth with this, but I'm going to go ahead and say yes.

Motion carries.

Okay now the ordinance.

Ordinance number 1178.477, an ordinance of the Council of the City of Casa Grande, Arizona amending zoning ordinance number 1178 and its subsequent amendments by changing the zoning from garden and light industrial I-1 to general industrial I-2 on property generally located near the northwest corner of Florence Street and Peters Road, Casa Grande, Arizona.

Mayor Fitzgibbons, I would move for approval of ordinance number 1178.477 as presented. Second.

So does this include the conditions then? Do we need to make a, like what the recommended?

The ordinance as presented includes conditions one through four in the staff presentation.

Okay, okay. So you guys are good with that? One through four, okay. Motion and a second, is there any further discussion? Okay, if we can get a roll call vote.

Council Member Romo? Yes. Council Member Dugan?

Yes.

Council Member Edwards? Yes. Council Member Huddleston?

Yes.

Council Member Herman?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempa-Dillon?

No.

Mayor Fitzgibbons? Yes. Motion carries.

Okay. Thank you. Okay, so we are going to be going to executive session. We'll go ahead and start with any reports first. So is there, how about Becca, we'll start with you.

Certified staff started today at the elementary school district, and so it's really close to school starting. School starts on July 27th, next Monday. So it's an exciting time of year for us at the school district. And then I just want to say that Cactus turns 25 years old this year.

It smokes. Wow. It's hard to breathe.

I felt really old. I felt really old today. But it's exciting for teachers and for students. And so just be aware, school starts on the 27th.

Thank you.

All three of my children went there. No reports. I flew in here from Spokane, Washington. I'm at the International Conference of Police Chaplains, and I flew in just for the meeting today. So I want to let everyone know. And flying out early morning to get back to the meeting that's going to go around. Remain of the week, I don't return back until Monday. So it's been a long week.

Well, thanks for coming. It's only Monday.

And I knew my friend was back. I sat in the seat of the last council meeting, and I moved my name over here. We forgot to move it back. So this is Anthony, and I'm back.

Thanks. I just wanted to say thanks to staff for doing a lot of hard work this last month for the study session and everything, all of these guys and everyone. and gals that are not sitting up here. But everybody, thank you very much for that. It's not unnoticed. The Youth Commission is getting ready to kick off their year. We are having the annual retreat August 1st at the Rec Center. I was rolling my eyes because I was making sure that was the right date it is. And I wanted to say thanks, we had the community services up here tonight and Adenary from community services has really stepped up this year and is getting all that going for us. So we're doing a really good job along with Holly and Sarah who are other volunteer coordinators. and the pio department had great videos for construct the construction one i really liked it was awesome um and i again back to people helping me with the youth commission is i had knee surgery a couple weeks ago so i'm on crutches still but i want to say i went to banner casa grand and everything was fantastic in and out and everybody was great and nice and One of my nurses, I was like, hey, you bought the trip at the Rotary Auction. She's like, yeah, I did. So good small town atmosphere there. And I saw that if you need a dog or a cat, they are $25 adoption specials until the end of the month at the city. So don't tell my wife, but anyone else can do that because we are full. No more dogs or cats.

Thank you, ma'am. Brent?

Yeah, so I got to go to the July 4th celebration here, the 250th anniversary. It was a great time. I will do a special thanks to Red Bull Roofing, who is the sponsor out there handing out water. I needed a couple bottles. They were right there, nice cold water. MC Jake Mealy did a great job. Danny, his, Aaron, the whole team out there was just exceptional. I mean, it was a great event. The volunteers. I actually got to see brush truck 503 go into action. A couple little brush fires that the fireworks had set off. You got to watch them go out in the desert and put a couple fires out. Pretty good. And as Aaron alluded to earlier, he actually gave me the attendance number, 8,100 people. So it was great turnout. And I may have told Danny that we're going to look up into his budget for next year. We need a couple upgrades over there. But, no, it was a great event. Danny's going to get some more budget because it was just so good. What's that?

Flyover.

Oh, yeah, Luke Air Force did a flyover.

That was pretty neat, except they were kind of a little bit higher than I would have wanted. They needed, kind of like they had in Miami Beach a couple weeks ago. They weren't quite that low, so it was kind of disappointing. But no, Luke Air Force Base doing the flyover, and then as soon as the F-35s went over, then we had a couple of our local planes go up, and they were doing flyovers as well. That was just a great time. Lots of people... Great patriotism out there, so that was great to see. And then last week, I got to go over to the mural dedication for HOHP. Ken Vandenberg is doing a great job over there. That mural is absolutely beautiful. I'm not going to try and say his last name. Jermaine was the artist over there. It's his hobby. And it's amazing how well he's done. I know it's not 100% complete. There's one little piece that's still waiting to be painted. I've seen the photo of what he's going to do there, and it's just, it's awesome. It's just beautiful. If you haven't got a chance to go by and see that mural, I don't know how you can miss it if you're driving down Florence. But take a minute. The crowd actually was such a big crowd there. We spilled into the street. The parking was a mess. We probably should have told the police so they could actually help a little bit with some traffic control. But no, it was great. It's a beautiful mural. And just a thanks to Kim and her team for supporting our vets. And a special thanks to all of our vets and military families for their service. That was great.

Thank you. Thank you for going. Oh, it's good time. Good Bob.

Don't report there.

Okay. No reports. Okay. No, thank you. Brett Brent's been able to help out on a couple of things that I haven't been able to go to. So I really, really appreciate you going to that. And no, I've heard great great things about the 4th of July celebration. Everyone said it's just really the best 1. so. Thank you, Aaron, to your team and all the, everyone, all the city staff that participated in that. But it really has been a busy few weeks. You know, several grand openings. We had the re-grand opening for the Walmart. So if you guys haven't been to Walmart lately, Please go in. They remodeled the inside. They have new fixtures. They have new displays. They painted. This is a 200 square foot store, and they're expanding for their online ordering an additional 10,000 square feet. So they have a whole new section with coolers and everything for all the online orders. I don't do that. I physically go in and do it. You know, they have over 400 employees. And, you know, I just really appreciate their commitment to cash grant and everything that they do. For those of you that don't know, this particular Walmart is number six in the country when it comes to sales. So, you know, they're huge. And so... you know of course it's definitely something needed to have a second walmart and they're super super excited to um expand you know um and open another store here in the near future um we also attended several of us were at the marriott grand opening beautiful beautiful hotel i hope you guys are able to get out there and take a look at it they have a nice um ballroom meeting room area and um You know, the, the rooms, they have the sweet side and that the regular hotel side. So that was great. Some life open their medical new medical building again, beautiful 4 story building. You know, the windows are just full length, you know, windows, you know, top notch, you know, technology when it comes to. you know, all of their, you know, everything that they do, you know, in the building. So it was beautiful, beautiful building there. You know, we continue to, Richard and I continue to meet with businesses. We met with Hexel and Cardinal Glass, just kind of making sure we're keeping, you know, just in touch with our local businesses, talking about traffic, talking about childcare, talking about expansions, just making sure. So we're trying to do this every month, a couple businesses every month. So Richard, thank you for continuing to coordinate those and keeping those connections with our local businesses. We also are keeping the communication with our state senators. Larry and I just both met with Senator Gallego and Senator Kelly's teams. just kind of keeping them in the loop on things that are going on in the community, some of the needs that we need, so they're on top of what's going on here. So we met with them last week. Back to school, I know I'm going to the back to school event this week with all the teachers. That's always a great time going there. So best of luck to all the schools that are starting up. The 911 day of service is coming up on September 26th. So just want to give everyone a heads up. Steven Weaver, thank you for coordinating all of that with the volunteers, Scott McEwen and his team. It's going to be at Pier Park at 7.30 a.m. on September 26th. And the city website is going to have a volunteer page. So once that gets up and going, if anyone you know the youth you know church groups volunteer organizations they want to get everyone involved in the this event the 9 11 day of service that service that continues to grow every year um please remember tomorrow is election day so um for those of you that haven't voted by mail and um if you need to find your polling location you can go to pinell votes and find out your polling location and you can drop off your ballot at any of those locations so just remember tomorrow is election day and that is it for me so if we can go ahead and get a motion to go into executive session okay all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed okay motion carries thank you thank you everyone for coming