Young athletes welcome tourneys
Duttons power senior expo
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS............................... 6 Gilbert neighborhood slams Town’s sewer plan.
COMMUNITY..........15 Gilbert teen is a prolific inventor.
BUSINESS................20 Gilbert bots bring back handwritten notes.
COMMUNITY........................................15
BUSINESS.............................................20 SPORTS..................................................24
GETOUT.................................................26
CLASSIFIEDS...................................... 30
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, January 9, 2022
354 new apartment units could come to Gilbert BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
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wo gated multifamily infill projects totaling 354 units may be headed to Gilbert. The Planning Commission last Wednesday discussed the proposed 93-unit Fred’s Place during study session and voted unanimously in the regular meeting to recommend Council approval of the 261-unit Higley Apartments. “We’re seeing a lot of multifamily coming into town,” Commissioner David Blaser said. “I’m just curious if staff has any input, recommendation as it relates to how much land in Gilbert is dedicated to multifamily
and how much more can it bear?” He asked what was the ideal percentage and how Gilbert compared with neighboring Valley municipalities. Planning Manager Eva Cutro said 3% of Gilbert’s total land use was zoned multifamily. Cutro said that of all types of residential development in Gilbert, 11% is multifamily. That compares favorably with Mesa and Scottsdale, where apartments comprised 48% of all residential dwellings; Chandler, where multifamily represents 30% of all housing units and Phoenix, with 40%. Fred’s Place The applicant for Fred’s Place is requesting a minor general plan amendment and re-
zone on 14.47 acres at the northeast corner of Recker and Williams Field roads in the Cooley Station master-planned community. Currently the land is zoned for Village Center but under the proposal, 4.95 acres would be used for a shopping center and 9.52 acres for multifamily. The site is surrounded by commercial and residential developments. “The property consists of farmland that also contains various metal sheds and farm equipment storage that will be removed upon development of the property,” Senior Planner Keith Newman said. The land is the last remaining acreage of
see APARTMENTS page 10
Catalytic converter thefts COVID check-up rise sharply in Gilbert GSN NEWS STAFF
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ore Gilbert motor vehicle owners are feeling the sting from one of the nation’s most rapidly increasing property crimes. Catalytic converter thefts soared last year in Gilbert from a mere dozen in 2020 to 141 last year. Of that total last year, 101 occurred in parking lots – sometimes in broad daylight – while 18 occurred in residential driveways, 10 in locked commercial yards and the remainder on streets, alleyways and even an auto parts yard, according to Gilbert Police. “The statistics are comparable to the upward trend in catalytic converter thefts across the nation,” said Gilbert Police spokesman Paul Alaniz. State and national statistics bear that out. According to an analysis by the public data website BeenVer-
see CATALYTIC page 4
Trevor Watters administered a COVID-19 test last Monday to American Leadership Academy sixth grader Kate Hamilton at a drive-thru clinic in the parking lot next to Gilbert Public Schools’ Global Academy. It is one strategy GPS is using to fight the coronavirus. Details: page 3. (David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)
