The Town Council meeting begins at 7 pm, and will be held in the Council Chambers at 50 E. Civic Center Drive.
Although several items are up for discussion and vote tonight, the two that have drawn the most attention are:
1) The rezoning of 26.6 acres of real property located at the SE corner of 164th Street and Cloud from a lower to a higher density. This discussion was continued from the 11/18/2010 Council meeting. Now, the applicant who originally requested the rezoning has asked that the case be tabled, in order to work on issues with residents.
Tonight, the Council members have many options before them: 1) Table the issue, in which case no date would be set for future consideration; 2) Continue the issue, in which case a date would be set to hear the case in the future; 3) Approve the rezoning request; 4) Deny rezoning.
There were about 65 people who spoke out on this issue at the 11/18/2010 meeting.
2) The Zinke Land Acquisition. The Town Manager will report on the Administrative Review conducted by the Gilbert Finance Department, as well as on the results of the retro appraisal completed by Dennis L. Lopez & Associates,LLC.
The Council will vote on whether or not to waive the “attorney-client privilege” and release to the public the outside legal counsel’s audit of the Zinke land purchase. The outside legal audit was conducted by Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander, P.A.
This issue has drawn much public attention since Parker Leavitt, The Arizona Republic, first reported on September 9, 2010, that land experts blasted the January 2009 Council for approving a very expensive land purchase at a time when land prices had plummeted, overspending my millions of dollars, and without an appraisal. The most recent articles relate to the appraisal report up for discussion tonight, which confirmed that the Council back in 1/2009 overpaid by $8.6 million.
Gilbert Watch has posted stories as well.
Three of the current Council members from that time voted in favor of the deal, and are up for re-election in the Spring: Linda Abbott, Dave Crozier, and Les Presmyk.