The recent referendum filing concerning Four Peaks Plaza has been declared ineligible by the Fountain Hills Town Clerk due to noncompliance with applicable Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS).
ARS §19-101.01 requires “strict compliance” with the referendum process. ARS §19-121(A)(1)(c) requires all petition sheets “not bearing the correct petition serial number and, if applicable, the paid circulator registration number in the lower right-hand corner of each side”, be removed. During the required review, the Town Clerk found the petition sheets filed for both Referendum 2024-01(Apartments) and Referendum 2024-02 (Monument sign) did not bear the correct petition serial number on the back side of each sheet. Therefore, the petition sheets were removed and any further review of the filing was discontinued.
The petitioner filed the referendum paperwork on Friday, February 16, 2024. The preliminary signature counts filed for Referendum 2024-01 (Apartments) were 1,816 signatures, and Referendum 2024-02 (Monument sign) were 1,357 signatures. Both counts exceeded the required 1,084 signatures. Following this filing, attorneys representing Hunter Retail LLC and Sandor Development Company LLC, developers of the proposed apartment complex near the Target Shopping Center (Four Peaks Plaza) on Shea Blvd., sent a letter to the Town to reject the submittal due to statutory noncompliance.
The Town Clerk had until 3/18/2024 to conduct her statutory review of the petition sheets and signatures before submitting to the Maricopa County Recorder. Petitioners had 30 days from the time Town Council approved the rezone to collect and file with the Town Clerk’s Office.
At the 12/11/2023 meeting of the Fountain Hills Planning and Zoning Commission, a motion to recommend approval for the project was denied on a vote of 4-2.
At the 1/17/2024 meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council, the project was approved on a vote of 4-3.