Big Multi-Use Project Pitched in Annexation Move

Article originally posted on HERE on June 16, 2023

The Di Bella Family wants to put single-family homes, two apartment complexes totaling 628 units and commercial development on roughly 75 acres at the northwest corner of Power and Williams Field roads.

The land is in Maricopa County’s jurisdiction but the family is now gathering signatures of surrounding property owners on a petition to annex into the Town of Gilbert. Town Council last week held a public hearing for input, kicking off the annexation process for the mixed-use Bella Storia development.

“The Di Bella Family, they’ve owned the property for quite some time,” said senior planner Keith Newman at the June 6 council meeting. “There are some existing buildings out there. There’s an old commercial site and the building on the corner was an old Cosmo’s Restaurant.”

Cosimo and Mary Di Bella, which operated the Italian restaurant for 32 years until it closed in 2002, started buying the land around the eatery in 1966, which eventually resulted in the parcel proposed for annexation.

Newman said the family has also submitted concurrent applications to amend the town’s General Plan and to rezone the site, which is currently zoned county RU-43 for residential use.

The proposed rezone calls for 30.94 acres for multifamily, 24.94 acres for single-family detached housing, 7.25 acres for single-family attached homes and 16.58 acres for general commercial, according to Newman.

According to staff, the proposed project is anticipated to increase the projected water demand on the site by approximately 200.46 acre-feet per year.

“We are in the very beginning stages,” Newman said. “We’ve reviewed the General Plan and rezone two times now.

“I don’t know when they’re going to resubmit and when this is going to come back before you for GP and rezone and for the annexation’s final hearing. But we are progressing with the applicant and the project (and) we’ve been fairly happy with the project so far.”

Newman said the annexation, rezone and General Plan amendment are likely to be on the same agenda in the future.

Although the density for the requested residential zoning would allow for up to 25 dwelling units per acre, Newman said the proposed density would be about 14-15 units per acre.

The Bella Storia project first came before the Planning Commission at a study session last October. The annexation application was in the town’s system for a while for review but not until the last 45 days or so did staff receive the necessary information from the applicant to be able to officially start the process, Newman later said.

Originally the development called for 851 apartment units, 238 duplexes and single-family homes and 104,670 square feet of retail.

At the time the commissioners and staff indicated they did not support the project’s request for over a dozen deviations, including for building height, open space and building separation.

Councilman Jim Torgeson asked if the family could annex the land first without the rezone and General Plan amendment.

“They could annex. Yet it could all be commercial,” he said. “There’s no guarantee of zoning this to anything.”

Newman said technically the family could annex separately but staff would likely not support it.

“Supporting this annexation is that they have these companion applications for General Plan amendment and rezone,” Newman said. “I can’t stand up here and tell you today we support an annexation without seeing the actual land uses that are going to be proposed.

“Technically in theory they could do that but they have chosen not to do that. They are going to move forward with one large project, master planned-type community so we are grateful they are doing that.”