By Harold Kitching
Casa Grande Dispatch
The City Council has delayed acting on requests for amendments — by developers and by the city — to Casa Grande’s general plan that was approved by voters in late 2009.
The general plan is a guide to what land uses should be in what parts of the city. It is not zoning.
After holding public hearings on three land use change requests and two for rezoning Monday night, the council tabled all, wanting to study all of them further because of potential impact on the community. Two of the land use requests may be back for a study session during the Dec. 17 council meeting, but the third is being delayed indefinitely, awaiting agreements with a neighboring landowner.
That request is to change from neighborhoods to commerce and business on 80-plus acres north of Jimmie Kerr Boulevard and west of The Outlets at Casa Grande. The property was at one time touted as a residential subdivision, but has lain vacant since the home building crash. It was pointed out that with Interstate 10 to the east, busy Jimmie Kerr Boulevard at the south and the double tracking of the Union Pacific Railroad line, the noise factor now makes it undesirable for residences.
Another request was to change land use from neighborhoods to manufacturing/industry on 80-plus acres at the southwest corner of Peters and Burris roads, along with changing zoning to general industrial. That, too, was part of a projected residential subdivision that has failed to materialize. The area around it is rapidly becoming industrialized.
The third request was from the city to change land use on 34 acres near the northwest corner of Thornton and Kortsen roads from neighborhoods to open space and from manufacturing/ industry to open space on an adjoining 24 acres. The city also has requested a zoning change to urban ranch.
The area will eventually become a wastewater recharge facility for the city, integrating it into a parks and trails system.
