QC home market thriving / P.13
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Council draws line on multifamily projects BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS ........................10 Gateway Airport expansion gets big boost
Sunday, October 23, 2022
T
he Town Council last week took a deep dive into a lack of multi-family housing options in Queen Creek, acknowledging that it is facing a shortage of housing options while simultaneously working to attract employers whose workers will need affordable places to live. But council members drew a line in the sand for any prospective apartment project
Default threatens BUSINESS ..............18 owners’ hold on Bell Bank Park
developer: They directed town staff to draft a General Plan amendment that would keep apartment projects exclusively in or near commercial or employment areas. Mayor-elect Julia Wheatley said allowing multifamily uses within areas zoned Neighborhood would depart from the town founders’ vision for Queen Creek. “While our General Plan was well-intended,” Wheatley said, “it really did not envision a trend where in one fiscal year, a third of all of our housing permits were multifamily.”
“I believe that’s a departure from our General Plan,” Wheatley said. “And from the original founders’ vision for the community.” All of this puts Queen Creek in a pinch. The town will have created jobs, but thanks to economic conditions and superheated single-family and rental markets, the town will offer housing that only high-earners can afford. “When you’ve got median home prices of a single-family home in your community of
Looking for help
see APARTMENTS page 11
QC man goes from paramedic to home restorer.
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
SPORTS ................... 23 New coach powers Casteel girls volleyball.
COMMUNITY.........................15 BUSINESS...............................18 OPINION..................................20 SPORTS....................................23 GET OUT..................................24 CLASSIFIEDS.........................25
T
he organization that built the $280 million, 320-acre youth and amateur sports complex known as Bell Bank Park in southeast Mesa is in default of its loan that covered the project. A formal notice issued Oct. 18 by bond trustee OMB Bank to investors states that Legacy has missed monthly payments on interest and principal, failed to submit audits and financial statements, and has unpaid construction company liens on the property. Over the summer, at least 10 subcontrac-
see BELL page 5
To see this group of bus drivers, mechanics and transportation services workers for Queen Creek Unified School District, you’d think the district is flush with people to man its fleet. You’d be wrong. Like many districts through the Valley, Queen Creek Unified, it’s begging for workers. So, it is resorting to novel techniques to try and fill those spots behind the wheel. See page 3 for the story. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Central Arizona College www.centralaz.edu
Paths to Great Careers