TOWN OF GILBERT

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the hearing is closed, there will be no further public comment unless requested by a member of the
commission.
UP13-17 -GREAT HEARTS ACADEMY: REQUEST TO APPROVE A CONDITIONAL USE
PERMIT FOR APPROXIMATELY 8.9 ACRES OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE
SOUTHWEST CORNER OF QUINN AVENUE AND BASELINE ROAD TO ALLOW A SCHOOL,
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, LARGE SCALE IN THE GENERAL COMMERCIAL (GC) ZONING
DISTRICT, SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS OF SITE PLAN, CIRCULATION, AND
COMPATIBILITY WITH ADJOINING USES.
Commissioner Sippel excused himself from the discussion due to a conflict.
Planner Nathan Williams stated that Great Arts Academy was a K – 12 charter school located at the
Southwest corner of Quinn and Baseline Roads. Mr. Williams noted that the site was zoned general
commercial (GC) and in that zoning district a large scale charter school or public/private school requires a
Use Permit for approval. The site is for buildings and is approximately 73,000 ft.² with 45 classrooms, 33
which will be K – 8 and 12 which will be through 12 th grade. Since it’s a public school it does not have to
go through Design Review. The circulation has not changed much since it was seen at study session and the
applicant has submitted a traffic impact analysis and circulation plan which was reviewed by the Town
Engineer who was present. It has been updated since the study session. The applicant provided more detail
on the circulation maps which they did not have previously. There is one for the archway which is K – 5
where the drop off is started at 7:30 AM and they come through the site from the West, circle around the
open space retention area which is also a ball field, circulate through and then drop off on the northwestern
portion of the site. The preparatory is 6 – 12 and they start at 8 AM so there is a half hour stagger. They
enter the same way with double stacking and drop off on the North Eastern side. Planner Williams
displayed an aerial map and commented that staff had some concerns. There are two access points to the
site and the one at the northwestern portion is full motion and currently a shared between the remainder of
the center. He also indicated a right in right out. The Conditional Use Permit requires 4 findings of fact to
be approved. The major points are going to be traffic, access, circulation etc. One of staff’s concerns is the
main access point from the Northwest is the only place that a left turn can occur. The Towns biggest
concern is that the outbound left turn movement is essentially going to create an unacceptable level of
service for exiting the site at peak hours of the day. The applicant has submitted a revised traffic impact
analysis which the Town Traffic Engineer has looked at. The site design has not really changed but they are
now proposing to utilize a cross access agreement with the remainder of the center to exit vehicles out onto
Greenfield. That still does not meet with approval of the Town Traffic Engineer. Planner Williams said that
when you force people to turn right out of the site that will create issues on other sites as well as u- turn
movement and vehicles coming in through residential neighborhoods as well as the adjacent commercial
and industrial. Staff is concerned about the impact that it will create for surrounding properties. One of the
four findings of fact is that they not negatively impact the surrounding property and it is a major concern
for the Town is that the traffic generated from that number of students will create negative impact on the
surrounding properties. Staff is also somewhat concerned with the parking. Planner Williams indicated on
the site map where the parking will be for the high school students and noted that the applicant says that it
is a privilege type of situation and only 32 students are able to park on-site determined by grade level as
well as first-come first-served basis. Parking requirements for high schools are 7 spaces per classroom
which is 84 parking spaces for this particular site and although they may not be utilizing 84 in the way they
are calculating, staff is concerned with students parking on neighboring properties. Staff is recommending
approval with an approved traffic impact analysis, however, that was under the assumption that through the
course of time they would have something that the Town Traffic Engineer could look upon favorably but at
this time the Traffic Engineer is not able to support the project.
Planning Commission
Regular Meeting 10-2-13
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