Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 28, 2007 05:10 PM
The most controversial project in all of Desert Ridge has been placed on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Desert View Village Planning Committee. Attorney Michael Curley, who handled zoning for the case, asked to speak to the committee about the Gray Development Co. property at Tatum Boulevard and Deer Valley Drive.
Gray bought the 41-acre parcel for $32 million in 2004. It currently is allowed to build 882 multifamily units on the property, west of the entrance to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort. The developer alarmed residents by seeking exceptions to the zoning restrictions for a variety of adjustments to the zoning, from smaller parking spaces to reduced interior landscaping.Two variances in particular were challenged in court: the addition of a mezzanine on the fourth story of the buildings and reduced setbacks from nearby streets.
The case has not been resolved yet, although Gray has prevailed so far.
Curley said the public has “tremendous misconceptions” about the zoning variances.
“I want to explain what they were,” he said. “Some are very technical.”
Much of the dispute over the land, however, has focused on Gray’s argument that it has the right to claim unused units from other Desert Ridge parcels to add to its project. The Desert Ridge parties have opposed that idea from the beginning.
Curley, whose practice focuses on zoning cases, is not Gray’s attorney for the variance dispute. The committee at this time has no further decisions to make regarding the project.
In other matters on the agenda, the committee will:
• Consider a zoning request to put in a storage facility in which individual units will be sold to owners. Planner Jacob Zonn, who assists the committee, said the “condo warehouse” project will cover 7.8 acres at the corner of Cave Creek and Peak View Roads.
• Hear a presentation on green building from Brooke Bogart of the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Desert View Village Planning Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Paradise Valley Community Center, 17402 N. 40th Street, in Paradise Valley Park. Meetings are open to the public.
