Robertson: No, the Industrial Triangle won’t process toxic waste

The Industrial Triangle business park will not recycle hazardous waste.

Clean, sorted plastic will be processed for reuse and is not classified by OSHA, NIOSH, RICRA or CERCLA as a hazardous waste. In fact, it’s classified as nonhazardous.

No smokestacks, no threat to air or ground water. Isn’t it environmentally good to reuse and recycle plastics and help keep them out of landfills, waterways and away from wildlife? Other clean industries will also be recruited as the project develops over several years.

Look at the Price Road business corridor in Chandler, where Northrup-Grunman, Wells Fargo, GM Finance, Walgreens Distribution and others have created thousands of good jobs. It’s aesthetically pleasing and there are no major traffic issues on Price, Queen Creek nor Dobson Roads. It has also attracted restaurants and hotels and is surrounded by residential to the south and east.

The Maricopa Industrial Triangle is far removed from residential areas and major traffic pattern areas, has rail service and access to Interstate 10 to the east. The future Sonoran Desert Parkway will also serve this location. None of this will happen overnight, but one industrial tenant is ready to move forward. The entire buildout will likely occur over many years.

Local jobs will lessen rush-hour traffic and entice new retail and restaurants. The land-sale revenue and industrial property taxes will kickstart and support the city’s aggressive infrastructure plan that includes a loop parkway and truck bypass. Even if only half the jobs are occupied by Maricopa residents and the other half are from out of town, the out-of-town employees will drive the opposite direction at rush hours, while the other half of the workforce from Maricopa will stay off State Route 347 at rush hours by working locally.

The potential jobs will range from entry level to six-figure, skilled, technical and executive salaries. The other parcels in the land-sale request are all commercial zoned for potential grocery and other retail, off of SR 347. There is one parcel that includes commercial and multifamily housing zoning. This parcel has always been zoned that way and could be developed with or without approval of Proposition 482.

Many of the negative opinions are pure conjecture from folks who never engaged on the front end during the public meetings and hearings. Drawing conclusions from bad information leads to emotional, uninformed decisions. There is no bait-and-swith secret agenda. There have been public meetings, hearings and transparent presentations that included public comment periods on the front end of this vision.

The Industrial Triangle land is zoned industrial and was done so to assure the vision of creating good local jobs the residents have been asking for. I support this vision and the value of Proposition 482.

Bill Robertson, Province

Maricopa Planning and Zoning Commission

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