The rezoning vote is only one step in a proposal that still leaves key traffic and access questions for later review. San Tan Valley's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended commercial zoning for nearly 28 vacant acres on Hunt Highway, but residents continue to object to noise, lighting and traffic, including the plan for an emergency-only connection near Solera at Johnson Ranch. The Town Council will make the final rezoning decision; the warehouse retailer has not been identified.
Council Decision Still Ahead
The commission recommended the rezoning on a voice vote with no opposition and attached 10 conditions, according to SanTanValley.com. Commissioner Paul R. Bond Jr. was absent from the September 28 meeting. The Town Council has the final say, but has not set a decision date.
The roughly 28-acre site is on Hunt Highway's north edge of Solera at Johnson Ranch, south of the southeast corner of Hunt Highway and Stone Creek Drive. An existing shopping center is immediately west; vacant state land is across Hunt Highway, and Solera homes are to the south. At the hearing, developer Diversified Partners' representative Brennan Ray said he could not identify the proposed warehouse retailer. The Town staff report describes a large retail anchor, wholesale retailer, drive-thru and gas station with multiple pumps as proposed uses.
A Commercial Proposal Replaces the Earlier Housing Plan
The current request is a departure from Pinal County's 2023 zoning decision, which allowed most of the land to be used for a build-to-rent neighborhood and reserved a smaller Hunt Highway lot for commercial use. That residential project did not break ground. A separate 2023 county-reviewed proposal, the 181-unit Sanctuary at Johnson Ranch, would have changed a nearby 16.4-acre parcel from commercial to multifamily zoning for duplexes and garden-style homes, at 11.1 units per acre, according to AZBEX. The new owner has since secured the water rights needed for development. The present application seeks commercial zoning across the entire site rather than housing.
EPCOR will provide water and sewer service to the new center, which the developer estimates will use about 8 acre-feet of water annually — roughly 326,000 gallons per acre-foot. Site layouts call for buildings as tall as 45 feet, and the developer must build an eight-foot decorative masonry wall along the property's rear and side edges, per the same SanTanValley.com report.
Traffic and Access Details Remain Open
Rezoning would not authorize construction by itself. The project must still receive Town site-plan-review approval, where traffic, lighting and landscaping details—including signal timing, turn lanes and driveway locations—will be reviewed. The developer is required to install a traffic signal at the main entrance, about a quarter mile east of Stone Creek Drive, and have it operating before the first building opens. Two other Hunt Highway driveways may be limited to right turns, and the project is to connect with the shopping center to the west.
Widening Hunt Highway will require the developer to hand over a 70-foot strip measured from the road's center, beyond the existing 50-foot right-of-way, with more land available for turn lanes if a future traffic study calls for them. That study, covering the actual store once a tenant is identified, will be completed before final traffic details are locked in.
The proposed connection to Gary Road on the site's southwest side would be gated and reserved for emergency vehicles, not customers or delivery trucks. Solera residents have asked the Town to allow everyday traffic there. Town traffic engineer Chris Wanamaker said a public street through the site would need to be at least 50 feet wide and would likely attract drivers seeking to avoid the Hunt Highway and Gary Road intersection. Gilbert Olgin said the connection was never planned as a public road; the emergency access as designed would be about 28 feet wide.
Residents Question Operations and Notice
At the hearing, resident Karen A. Mooney asked about lighting, late-night deliveries and noise. Ray said those details would be worked out during site-plan review and that he expected the Town to require downward-pointing, shielded lights. Requirements also call for the store and parking to face away from homes, landscaping along the Solera edge, and a sidewalk connecting Tumbleweed Lane to the site, subject to Town approval.
Mooney also questioned the timing of public notice, saying many Solera owners are part-time winter residents and that the mailed notice for the August neighborhood meeting arrived less than two weeks beforehand. She asked the Town to consider longer notice periods for neighborhoods like hers. The developer mailed 138 notices to property owners within 600 feet on July 29. The Town received 15 emails and one formal letter of protest, and 44 residents attended the August 13 meeting at the San Tan Valley library.
Other Projects Reflect Commercial Interest Nearby
Other commercial proposals are also in the works along the Hunt Highway corridor. Skyline Ranch Marketplace was announced for Hunt Highway and Gary Road with plans for retail and dining, according to Pinal Central. Diversified Partners is also advancing a 24-acre mixed-use development at the southeast corner of Ironwood Road and Ranch Road in San Tan Valley, as reported by Connect CRE.
County Growth Provides Context, Not a Forecast
FRED's annual, Census Bureau-sourced series reports Pinal County's resident population at 539.380 thousand in 2025, according to FRED. The countywide figure offers growth context, but does not break out San Tan Valley or establish housing conditions, demand for commercial services, or the outcome of this proposal.
The rezoning case now awaits a Town Council decision, with no hearing date set. If the proposal advances, site-plan review will address details such as lighting, deliveries and traffic.
