Public Comments March 7, 2023, Council Meeting
In the latest March 2023 Carefree Connection, the town official highlighted was Stacy Bridge-Denczak, the Planning Director and Zoning Administrator. When asked what was her most memorable or favorite project, she replied that she felt most accomplished with the approval of the rezone at the Northeast Corner of Cave Creek Rd. and Carefree Highway. She further stated that understanding the right type of commercial mix that will fit in the area is important.
She also said that this corner is now an important economic opportunity which will hopefully soon benefit Carefree residents. I agree, 100%.
Since this corner was rezoned, there have been two projects that the Town has worked on with the developers. The first project went to the Planning and Zoning Committee. This project by Empire never completed or obtained approval for the construction drawings to pull permits.
Currently there is a development company, Thompson-Thrift, that’s been working for the last 18 months on a multi-use project for this site. There have been several meetings with nearby residents individually, and town officials during these 18 months. The latest conceptual site plan has high-end duplex rentals in the back of this site, with retail in the front. These residential duplex unit’s back-up to the current HOA’s.
There have been elevation drawings completed by Thompson-Thrift that show these duplexes are below the site plane of the backyards of the homes backing up to this project. There would be minimal impact due to a landscaping buffer, grading differences and lower heights than those approved for commercial. There were drawings showing this that were presented to town officials and Councilpersons.
Thompson-Thrift presented an Economic and Physical Impact Analysis for proposed residential/commercial development both in June of 2022, as well as after the 2022 election with the new mayor, two council people and town officials in September of 2022. This Economic and Physical Impact Analysis report was given to town officials and the council people, including the town administrator at these meetings. It is a complete analysis explaining why this would be the best project for this corner, which includes residential and commercial build out.
An overview of the benefits which can be found in this report are:
- New residents would spend nearly 4.1 million annually on goods and services in local economy. Annual resident spending would support nearly 41 jobs, an estimated $1.9 million in wages, and 500 million in annual economic activity.
- Commercial operations within this community, and the retail, and restaurant space would create a total of 239 jobs throughout the region with a total wages of $9.1 million. Annual commercial operations would generate over $28 million in annual economic activity.
- At build out, the Town of Carefree would collect nearly $1.3 million each year in new revenues from primary and secondary tax revenues generated by residents and commercial operations.
The only question that needs to be answered is: Who is stopping this project and why? Answer: Councilman Geiger, Councilman Johnson and recently Mayor Crane told the land owner Empire that the development has to be commercial. All three live in the HOAs adjacent to the area of land that Thompson-Thrift has a proposed project.
We have a professional company, Thompson-Thrift, that has built a number of these projects all over the United States and that have been very successful. I would love to hear an explanation from these few people that feel that this is not a viable project for the Town of Carefree. Is it a few people holding the rest of the residents in Carefree hostage? This appears to be the case. When are our elected officials and Administration going to step forward and show that they have the interest of ALL Town residents in mind?
John Mattes
Carefree
