CITY COUNCIL MEETING TRANSCRIPT

January 11, 2007
source = http://www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=748




(1:49:25 to 1:50:33)

Mike:
If the neighbors and the citizens of Chandler didn’t want this land - this agricultural land - zoned for Covance, then they should then been given the chance to vote and they were not. And that’s why I’m here tonight - I would just like to respectfully ask each and every council member that when you voted yes to approve this rezoning of the land, did you know at the time that Covance was going to purchase it or Covance was interested in it? Councilmember Donovan, can I ask you that question - when you voted yes on that decision did you know that Covance was going to purchase this land?

Mayor Dunn:
Michael, you can ask your question – we’ll deal with those answers at the end of all the comments; unless you wish to respond now we’ll just deal with it then. Any other comments, sir?

Mike:
No, I’d just like to ask, just go down the line and each, if I might, ask each individual Councilmember…

Dunn:
We’ll answer your questions at the end of the comments. Okay, thank you sir.

Mike:
Thank you.

Councilmember Orlando:
I’ll answer mayor now.

Dunn:
Okay.

Orlando:
The night of the rezoning, I did not know that that land I was zoning was going to be purchased by Covance.

Mike:
Thank you, sir.

 

(1:57:25 to 2:09:23)

Dunn:
I’ll answer one of the questions I did hear in terms of the site that was being rezoned by this council, and what I personally knew or did not know at the time. Let me just say with regard to Covance: Covance was brought originally to this Valley by what is known as the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. They were brought to this region to locate because they want to have a facility here, and leaders in the bio-medical field desperately wanted them to be here also, in terms of what’s happening in this Valley in that area.

I think the last count is that they were looking for sites for maybe a year or even two, and sites that last tally I received was from some 30 different sites (City Manager, is that correct?) throughout the valley, a lot of those in the city of Chandler. Obviously they had purchased land on the Price Corridor, and as indicated that was their choice for a period of time.

When a rezoning occurred on this particular site on the airport area, and we’ve had a number of developments coming through rezoning for approval around the airport, I had then been informed by the City Manager that they had discussions with that landowner. But nothing more than discussions; no decision had been made; nothing further than just discussions. And so you know, obviously from my viewpoint discussions that any person may have as a tenant may have with a potential developer, would be very difficult for me not to proceed to prove that that site meets the requirements of the land use and things of that sort.

I think I indicated that I was surprised that ultimately when Covance decided to build on that site, because my feelings were that there were other sites that would be even more attractive to them. One the City of Gilbert that I was aware of and other sites, so obviously they made a business decision on their own in that regard as you all know. Any further comments?

Councilmember Weninger:
Mayor?

Dunn:
Yes, Councilmember Weninger.

Weninger:
I was given the same information. I was told basically that there had been a meeting between the developer and Covance, and we went forward from there. I was told also there was 30 sites around the Valley they were looking at, as well as a lot in Chandler and we moved on from that point. And as far as I know, pretty much every Councilmember was given the same information.

City Manager Pentz:
Members of the council, we knew a year ago that Covance was looking at local sites in the Valley, as well as various sites in Chandler, and I believe it was at the end of May when an inquiry was made by First Industrial, wanting to know how they could make contact with Covance. We did not know that there was any business relationship pending with, uh between First Industrial and Covance; and certainly as Councilmember Orlando said, that at the time that rezoning occurred, Council did not know, staff did not know that Covance would purchase the land. So that is the extent and as I said, at the end of May, an inquiry was made by First Industrial as to how to contact Covance.

Dunn:
Councilmember Sepulveda?

Councilmember Sepulveda:
Thank you. Doug or somebody, can you kind of give an overview of how zoning happens when we have, in this case, the airport area master plan, it may be AG, why is it still AG when you have industrial uses next to it? If you could just give a brief one-on-one course on that, because I think there is some confusion: how can it be AG, how can you go to Industrial, how can you not know who the user is; it’s the typical scenario how that takes place.

Planning & Zoning Director Ballard:
Sure. Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Sepulveda: basically as Councilmember Sepulveda mentioned we have what’s called the Airpark Area Plan, that’s really an extension of our General Plan. The General Plan we have, as all communities have, is a general guide as to how property should be developed. In this case at the Airpark, the Airpark area plan specified the property and basically, this has long been the case for us even before this area plan was in effect, the area plan before that, but we really wanted to see the Airpark area develop as a strong industrial business park area. And when a rezoning comes along, any property owner - in this case it was First Industrial - First Industrial happened to also own the property to the north of this, and have already processed a rezoning, and as a matter of fact the building was built. And so as any property owner has the right to request a rezoning, that’s what happened in this case. The AG stands for agricultural zoning, is really a holding pattern. Much of the city was zoned AG at one point in time, but our general plan will designate things for residential or retail, shopping or industrial, and in this case through the Airpark area plan was designated for industrial employment. So when the property owner came forward to seek - or when any property owner comes forward to seek a rezoning, we look at what our plans are, and how we think that property should be utilized and we look at categories of uses. In this case, employment is a category, or industrial is a category of use. That is in fact what the applicant asked for, and that in fact was in compliance with the plans that the city is long adopted.

Sepulveda:
So Doug, having said all that, is it typical that a landowner, when they come forward and ask, or put an application in to rezone, that they tell you what their ultimate user - who that person is?

Ballard:
Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Sepulveda: sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, often times they don’t, and there’s no legal requirement that they do that. There’s no obligation - we’re really looking at it in terms of the types of use. The types of use, in this case industrial - do they conform with what our vision is for this portion of the city?

Sepulveda:
The fact that there’s no requirement, legal requirement that’s not just Chandler?

Ballard:
That’s correct.

Sepulveda:
That’s city and that’s probably any state?

Ballard:
That’s correct.

Sepulveda:
Within the state of Arizona?

Ballard:
I think it’s generally true in the United States, and kind of as a very tangential point, we’ve had issues with other like big box retail users or whatever. And one example I’ve used in the past is if the zoning allows for retail, we can’t say to you “you can have a Baskin & Robbins ice cream store but you can’t have a Dairy Queen”. If it is an allowable use in the use category, that’s something that would be allowable. So we don’t get - we’re not in the business of choosing specific users, and whether specific users can go there or not; we’re in the business of choosing categories of use, if that helps.

Sepulveda:
Going full circle, specifically pertaining to this zoning application, the owner came forward - First Industrial - and asked for the land to be rezoned…

Ballard:
Correct.

Sepulveda:
…and gave you no indication who his end user was?

Ballard:
That’s correct. Our contact at staff level in Planning and Development was with First Industrial. As the City Manager had mentioned we knew that - or had understood or heard I guess - that Covance was looking at many different sites, but it wasn’t until, I think, after the zoning went into affect and was approved. At some point after that I don’t even recall when that was, that it became known that the user perhaps would be Covance.

Sepulveda:
And there’s nothing unusual with respect to what typically happens - and Covance is highly charged - but Covance aside, that isn’t atypical. Is that correct?

Ballard:
That, I would, yes, I would say that’s correct.

Sepulveda:
Okay, I probably should have prepped you with this question - I didn’t prep you with any questions - but between the time that Covance had issues in the Price Road Corridor until May, I guess when they got the zoning approved First Industrial, how many different zoning cases would you guess that you dealt with?

Ballard:
Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Sepulveda: many, I couldn’t tell you specifically…

Sepulveda:
Could you say close to a hundred?

Ballard:
I’m sorry could you restate the timeline maybe?

Sepulveda:
From the time that we first heard there were problems with the community and Covance and the Price Road Corridor site to the time this zoning or rezoning took place on behalf of First Industrial and Covance, how many zoning cases - or actually how many owners came forward with a change or designate whether it’s AG or anything, come forward to you for a different land use?

Ballard:
You know Mr. Mayor Councilmember Sepulveda: I don’t - it’s certainly a very good question. I don’t have the exact number but I would tell you that at any given point in time when you take a snapshot of the City Council agenda, it’s usual that a significant majority or a significant amount of that agenda is dedicated to rezoning, so I would say it’s quite a few.

Sepulveda:
Give me a number Doug.

Ballard:
Five a meeting I’d…

Sepulveda:
Time frame is how long…ten months, a year?

Ballard:
If it’s that long, I’d, gosh…

Dunn:
You can get back to us if you want.

Ballard:
Let me do that. I just don’t want to say something that’s wrong so let me get that to you.

Dunn:
That’s fine Doug.

Ballard:
It’s a great question, I just don’t have a handle on it.

Sepulveda:
I should have prepped you on that, sorry Doug.

Doug Ballard:
No, no worries.

Dunn:
Yes, Vice Mayor.

Vice-Mayor Huggins:
Thank you Mayor, I just wanted to answer the gentleman’s question. When we zoned that I had never heard anything about Covance myself gonna go in there, and to my knowledge to this point, this council has never voted on anything for Covance. I’ve been reading that in the paper a lot, we voted on this and we voted on that and I’m wondering - I can’t remember any of these things! I went as far as to ask staff have we ever voted on Covance for anything, and the answer is absolutely no.

Dunn:
Okay, I’m gonna go back to the action agenda. We have two public hearings, and a lot of citizens…

Orlando:
Mayor, one quick question.

Dunn:
Yes, Councilmember Orlando.

Orlando:
Doug, just so, for the record here, this particular piece of property that Covance had zoned later on, which of course we all indicated that we knew later, was this treated any differently? Was this - any stipulation put on put on this property differently than you normally would in that area or any other area?

Ballard:
Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Orlando, I would - for an industrial piece of property I would I say it was pretty normal.

Orlando:
Okay. And normally…

Ballard:
We treat residential property a little differently, retail for employment, I would say it’s fairly typical.

Orlando:
And the PDP overlay on this was administrative - that’s pretty normal, too?

Ballard:
Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Orlando: there’s a PDP, and for the benefit of the audience, PDP stands for Preliminary Development Plan, which is basically a type of detailed site plan, guidelines that the development generally, the physical development guidelines that go with the property. There’s a PDP for this site which sets forward the certain architectural standards they’re going to have to meet, and for industrial projects, other industrial projects we’ve done, these more conceptual PDP’s, and then the applicant would have to come in and meet. And you’re right, staff would do those approvals. And we’ve done that any number of other times.

Orlando:
So nothing out of the normal.

Ballard:
No.

Orlando:
Ok, thank you.