CHANDLER, Ariz. – Chandler City Council has approved the formation of a 21-member Resident Advisory Committee to guide the planning and public participation process to update the city’s General Plan. This plan is required by state law to be updated every 10 years.
Updating the General Plan will lay the foundation for Chandler’s land use and development decisions for the next decade. Chandler is 94 percent built out with 832 acres of vacant land remaining. Approximately 70 percent of the land remaining is planned for non-residential uses. As such, opportunities for redevelopment, infill and mixed-use developments are a focal point of the planning process.
The General Plan update will incorporate recommendations from a Comprehensive Housing Plan that is now underway to evaluate current housing stock, affordability and future needs. Since 2016, more than 12,048 single family and multi-family housing units have been built in Chandler.
The integration of planned land use with planned water allocations is another component of the long-range planning process to sustain the city’s future water resources.
The City Council also reviewed progress on the Downtown Region Area Plan as part of its joint work session with the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. This plan, to be completed this summer, will guide future development decisions in downtown and the surrounding area.
The Downtown Region Area Plan provides policy guidance to allow adaptive reuse and expand revitalization efforts across more of the downtown area, while preserving Chandler’s unique historic character. It recommends policies for mixed-use developments with residential and commercial uses at existing industrial sites east of Downtown Chandler to create more housing and commercial uses.
The plan also recommends establishing gateways leading into Downtown Chandler, activating alleyways for pedestrian uses and rerouting commercial truck traffic bound for destinations in the downtown region.