proposal for new apartment complex in fountain Hills, arizona may be decided by voters

A plan to build up to four hundred new apartments in the town of Fountain Hills, Arizona may be determined by the results of a referendum election in late May.

The complex would be built on roughly 60 acres of hillside near the intersection of E. Shea Boulevard and N. Palisades Boulevard in a largely undeveloped section of the town and is being called Daybreak.

As proposed by two developers, the project would include a dozen individual apartment buildings with garages, a swimming pool, and a clubhouse.

Although the Fountain Hills Town Council earlier approved a rezoning application for the project, opponents gathered enough signatures to put on the ballot two questions, one of which would simply affirm or reject the decision of the council.

Previous to the council vote, the Planning and Zoning Commission of Fountain Hills declared itself in opposition to the project.

The other ballot question would, if passed, alter the site’s current zoning designation from lodging to multi-family/medium.

Opponents have expressed concern that, once built, the complex will obstruct views of the nearby McDowell Mountains, while also increasing traffic in the area.

The project is partly in response to the need for more housing in a southwest town that has been listed in recent years by the Census Bureau as one of the fastest-growing localities in Arizona.
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Fountain Hill’s current 25,000 population is more than twice what it was in the 1990s.

​By Garry Boulard

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