A planned 58-acre development in northeast Globe has cleared one hurdle in its race to realization, as the City of Globe Planning & Zoning Commission approved a request to increase building heights allowed on parts of the property.

The applicant, Monte Dei Globe Operations LLC, was requesting a 50-foot increase, from 36 to 86.5 feet from natural grade, for parts of the Marigold Project preliminary site plan located west of the former Apache Drive-In on U.S. Highway 60. Their request also included uninhabitable roof projections up to 115 feet.

This was just the first step in the project’s approval. The next phase will be a review of the Marigold Project site design, which City Zoning Administrator Dana Burkhardt said could come before the Commission for approval in the spring of 2024.

The preliminary site plan includes single-family housing, townhomes, garden and mid-rise apartments (the latter situated above office spaces), a hotel, an event center, a hilltop chapel, recreation facilities and a spot for public safety facilities. The height increase was proposed for the hotel, event center and “midrise mixed-use” buildings that would be located west of the Apache movie screen.

The project proposes 570 apartment units, which according to density calculations would require just over 17 acres, west of McMillen Wash and 129 housing units, requiring 15.5 acres, east of the wash. According to city staff, there are 26 and 22 acres available in those areas.

The property was rezoned to a Planned Area Development (PAD) in June 2015, to allow a mixed-use neighborhood/commercial center, and city staff reported the proposed Marigold Project was consistent with the PAD – which provided the 36-foot maximum height. However, the PAD also specified that the Planning & Zoning Commission could allow greater heights for “buildings abutting open space areas” or “greater than 35 feet from a developed single-family home site.” Burkhardt reported that the proposed 86.5-foot structures met both criteria.

“This project is the first new horizontal mixed-use development in the City’s history and the largest planned development in Globe since the original development of the Globe townsite,” city staff reported, adding that it would bring nearly 700 new housing units and could boost the population by 1,400. “The proposed Marigold project, if developed, would make a significant impact on the current housing shortfall in Globe.”

In 2022 the city adopted the Central Arizona Governments (CAG) “Housing Study and Gap Analysis for the Globe-Miami Area,” which noted that shortfall.

“This is a planned community that we believe incorporates very closely much of what was recommended in the CAG report and that Robert Mawson had mentioned to the council back in February of 2022,” said Tess Young, of Monte Dei Globe. “We wanted a type of development that would not only meet the needs for the city of Globe but look forward as well. In a sense it’s like planting an acorn; I may not be able to enjoy the tree today, but your grandkids will.”

(For more on the CAG report and Robert Mawson, see https://silverbelt.com/article/a-snapshot-in-time-of-local-housing.)

City staff reported that most comments from neighboring residents had been positive, though concerns included whether parts of the development would obscure neighbors’ views of the Pinal Mountains and whether the site would incorporate low income housing. To address the former, city staff noted, Monte Dei Globe had agreed to work with residents to preserve those views; staff also reported that a ridgeline between Holder Drive and the proposed higher buildings would make the latter less visible to neighbors. Brian England, of Monte Dei Globe, also assured residents that all housing in the Marigold Project will be market rate.