Narrative

Annexation 
Project Narrative 
For 
 
  Crow 303 AZ PAD 
 
    Proposed Industrial Project 
   SEC Glendale & Alsup Avenues 
Glendale, Arizona 
 
 
 
 
PREPARED FOR: 
Crow Holdings Industrial 
 
 
PREPARED BY 
 
 
HUNTER ENGINEERING, INC. 
10450 N. 74th STREET, SUITE 200 
SCOTTSDALE, AZ  85258 
(480) 991-3985 
 
 
July 21st, 2021 
                 Revised: September 14, 2021 
 
 
 
H.E. PROJECT NO. CROW001 
SR#21-0079

September 30th, 2021 
 
 
Cody White, Planner  
City of Glendale, Development Services Division 
5850 West Glendale Avenue, Suite 212 
Glendale, Arizona 85301 
 
 
Re: Project Narrative for Crow 303 AZ, located on the SEC of Glendale and 
Alsup Avenues 
 
Introduction  
The development team representing Crow Holdings Industrial will initially include 
Hunter Engineering, Butler Design Group and Southwest Traffic. The proposed 
project will consist of developing approximately 146 acres with multiple buildings 
that combined would equal approximately 1.9 million square feet. The buildings 
would be planned for commercial, retail, industrial distribution uses and e-
commerce. These uses would include associated truck parking, auto parking 
and other on-site and off-site infrastructure improvements. Please see the draft 
conceptual site plan attached to this application. 
 
Requested Changes 
The site is located within Maricopa County and will seek to be annexed into the 
City of Glendale. The annexation is proposed to include the net area of the site 
without some of the right of ways that will remain in the County. The existing 
Maricopa County zoning designation is RU-43 and will be proposed to be 
transferred to align with the closest similar zoning designation in the City of 
Glendale during the annexation, which is RR-45. The City of Glendale land use 
designation for the property is Luke Compatible Land Use, which allows for the 
use of employment based commercial developments as a part of the overall 
mix of uses appropriate for the region and the City. The PAD will seek to rezone 
the property to a M-1 Light Industrial PAD to bring the newly annexed property 
into conformance with the planned land use of Luke Compatible Land Use, 
which allows for M-1 Light Industrial. 
 
The developer will seek to rezone the property with a PAD Overlay that will 
provide the unique development characteristics needed to meet the current 
demand for industrial warehouse and manufacturing space and supporting 
retail and commercial in the area, most specifically taller building heights to 
allow for state-of-the-art warehouse and manufacturing equipment.

Site Location & Characteristics 
The Site is currently open farm land with active crop cultivation. Portions of the 
site will develop in several phases. During the first phase of development, 
portions of the site will remain in agricultural use. The site is bounded by Alsup 
Avenue to the east, Glendale Avenue to the north, Reems Road to the west, 
Luke Air Force Base to the southeast and a small portion of Claremont Street to 
the south. Many of the properties in the vicinity have recently been annexed into 
Glendale and rezoned to a Light Industrial (M-1) PAD Overlay and have projects 
in various stages of development, including the site directly to the west of Alsup 
Avenue. A small cluster of unincorporated residential, acre plus, lots are directly 
to the west and are adjacent to the project on three sides. The total area of 
these lots is 38 acres, compared to the 146 acres that will comprise the project, 
this represents roughly 20 percent of the area, of which the majority is currently 
open farmland. 
 
Annexation Benefits  
Annexation provides many benefits including economic ones. Here are the 
seven goals to be met as per the 2019 City of Glendale Annexation Policy  
 
a) The financial analysis impact to Glendale, including one-time and 
reoccurring revenues and expenses is based on other similar projects in the 
Loop 303 Corridor, the annexation area could generate a positive net fiscal 
impact to the City by 2025-2026 with revenues exceeding expenditures 
quickly with current market conditions. Based on other similar projects in the 
Loop 303 Corridor, the annexation area could generate a positive net fiscal 
impact to the City of about $130,000 per year by 2025 with revenues 
exceeding expenditures by about 40%.) Source:  Bethany 303 annexation. 
 
b) Potential for desired growth, job creation and other opportunities will likely be 
realized on this site.  Over the long term, Crow 303 is projected to generate a 
positive net fiscal impact to the City of Glendale given the expected 
characteristics of this development. This site is important from an economic 
development perspective and will increase the inventory of leasable 
industrial spaces that the City has to offer and will add new jobs to the area. 
In terms of fiscal results, the ultimate impacts will depend on whether the 
space is leased, or owner occupied and the density of employment, 
however revenues significantly exceed expenditures based on assumptions 
of previous analysis in the corridor.

c) The site will further the growth of the City and as a result build civic pride and 
sense of community through the opportunities brought by new industrial and 
commercial development. Since this annexation is consistent with the 2019 
City of Glendale Annexation Policy it will provide long term benefits that the 
City want to have in Glendale. This allows the City to effectively manage 
urban development, allow for the efficient planning and provision of services, 
create a stronger community, and ensure high quality developments in 
accordance with City standards.  
  
d) There are no impacts to existing parks, trails and open spaces programs. The 
area being annexed is mostly vacant farmland that is no longer in 
production.  Narrow paved and some dirt roads are being improved to widen 
streets and road and have been adding sidewalks and landscaped 
frontages in the area since development began in the Loop 303 Corridor. 
 
e) Public services will be expected for fire and police as a primary benefit of 
being annexed into the City of Glendale. As the City annexes new property 
into the City limits it is also obtaining a new revenue stream to further build 
and develop local public safety resources. The demand for services will 
typically be less compared to other types of land uses such as retail and 
residential uses. 
 
f) This proposal supports the mission of Luke Air Force Base in a unique and 
important way. By developing warehouse and other light industrial uses 
adjacent and around Luke Air Force Base, undesirable land uses for flight 
operations are being removed from development consideration and in turns 
helps keep the base in operation and support the mission of the base to 
continue to function as a critical service to the region, state, and country. 
 
g) The City’s natural heritage, natural environments, and historic resources will 
be minimally impact if at all since this is mostly vacant farmland. As 
mentioned above, the area is mostly vacant farmland with no significant 
natural features such as mountains, rivers or native desert open space. The 
only significant historic resource that is nearby, Luke Air Force Base is helped 
by this type of light industrial development since it protects the base from 
development such as residential that is contrary to flight operations at and 
around the base.

Thank you for your comments and valued input to our project. Our team 
appreciates your time during the past month working on project research and 
determining the infrastructure requirements for the site. We are excited about this 
property and look forward to continuing to work with City staff for the duration of 
the project.  
 
Thank you,  
Michael S Buschbacher  
Michael S. Buschbacher II, AICP 
Principal Planner