The Florence Town Council unanimously approved the preliminary plat for the Monarch development at their March 4, 2025 meeting, paving the way for a 2,050-home planned unit development (PUD) southeast of the intersection of Felix Road and Arizona Farms Road
A Project Decades in the Making
The 513-acre property has a complex history dating back to 1998, when it was originally part of the 2,542-acre Arizona Farms PUD.
In 2005, the property became part of the Aspen Farms PUD through annexation into the Town of Florence.
Subsequent modifications in 2020 resulted in the creation of the 714-acre Monarch PUD, of which this preliminary plat focuses on 513 acres.
A Growing Area
The Monarch development joins several other major housing projects in the area. The nearby Mesquite Trails development, located at the southeast corner of Felix and Heritage Road, was recently approved for Phase II, adding 599 homes to what will eventually be a 2,552-home community. Construction activity has already begun on Phase I of Mesquite Trails.
Meanwhile, the Planning and Zoning Commission recently put the Anthem at Merrill Ranch development east of Felix Road on hold. This project, which would add over 3,100 homes, was tabled until March 20th to give developers time to address numerous concerns raised during the public hearing, including questions about housing types, amenities, and infrastructure timing.
Development Details
The Monarch development will feature 2,050 single-family lots on approximately 513 acres, maintaining a density below four units per acre as required by the PUD and development agreement. The community will include a variety of lot sizes, ranging from 40 feet to 60 feet wide.
“Our smallest lot sizes are about 40 ft wide, they do range up to 60 ft wide on the larger end. That’s a pretty good mix here, and what it does is it allows for some more affordable homes, get the first-time home buyers and the new families capability to start building equity and setting down roots in the community, but also provide some of the larger lots within the same community so they have move-up options over time,” Yancey explained during the presentation.
The development will be completed in six phases, with construction progressing from west to east due to existing utilities in Felix Road.
Amenities and Open Space
Monarch will dedicate 124.68 acres (24.31% of the net acreage) to open space, exceeding the town’s requirements. Amenities will include a pool, playgrounds, and pickleball courts connected by a looped collector road with sidewalks and bike lanes.
The development features a 6-acre central park and amenity area that will be built in the first phase. This central amenity includes a community pool, pickleball courts, shaded play structure, turf area, and parking. Smaller neighborhood parks will also be provided throughout the community.
“Community Southwest really has a lot of experience building and managing these types of large community amenities,” said Yancey, who shared photos of a recently completed similar amenity from their Madera project in Queen Creek.
[Source: Community Southwest].
Community Services
The Monarch master plan includes sites for several public services. The development reserves a 6-acre fire station site to be dedicated to the Town of Florence, a 15-acre school site reserved for the Florence Unified School District, and a 3-acre property dedicated to EPCOR for a water campus to serve the property and surrounding area.
The development also includes a 6-acre church site. “If you look on the western part under that Central Park, there’s a 6-acre site reserved for church use. It’s right there when you enter the community. Hopefully that becomes sort of a centerpiece of the community,” Yancey noted.
Transportation Planning
The developers are reserving approximately 400 feet of space for the potential future North-South Corridor freeway alignment. This reservation is intended to align with similar allocations on neighboring properties, though ADOT is still conducting studies to determine the final alignment.
“Last but not least… we are reserving about a 400 ft wide easement for the future freeway alignment for the North-South freeway. That easement location aligns with the reservations on other properties around us so there’s a continuous 400-foot spot for that freeway to go in the future,” explained Yancey.
The North-South Corridor is a planned 55-mile transportation route that would connect US 60 in Apache Junction to Interstate 10 in Eloy. However, the project remains unfunded and unlikely to be completed within the lifetime of the Monarch development.
Traffic was a significant topic of discussion during both the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting and the Town Council meeting. The Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) projects that the development will generate approximately 21,205 weekday trips when completed.
The developers will be building half-street improvements along their frontage on Felix Road and Arizona Farms Road, with one lane in each direction and an interim two-way left-turn lane. Dedicated bike lanes and detached sidewalks with landscape buffers are also planned. Currently, both Felix Road and Arizona Farms Road have posted speed limits of 50 mph.
Councilmember Tony Bencina raised concerns about traffic and road development, asking, “What is Felix Road going to look like from Hunt Highway to Arizona Farms? We have multiple subdivisions going in, we have pieces of land there’s not going to be anything so we need to work with all the developers on Felix and come up with a design about what Felix will look like from one end to the other.”
Town Manager Bruce Walls assured the council that staff would work with developers to ensure Felix Road would be “commensurate with the population and the residents that we have up north.”
According to the traffic analysis, traffic signals will be needed at the development’s main entrances and at the intersection of Felix Road and Arizona Farms Road by 2030 as the development progresses.
“We want to make sure the traffic signals go in when they’re warranted but not before because you don’t want someone sitting in a red light with no cross traffic and wondering why there’s there’s a light there,” Yancey explained.
Councilmember Bencina also inquired about noise mitigation for homes near the North-South Corridor. Yancey explained that as an ADOT facility, the freeway would have certain sound mitigation requirements, particularly if existing residences or residentially zoned property are present when the freeway is constructed.
Looking Ahead
With the preliminary plat now approved, Communities Southwest can move forward with the final plat process. The development will be constructed in phases over the coming years, with infrastructure and amenities being built alongside residential areas.
As this and other developments progress in Florence’s northern area, town officials emphasized the importance of coordinated planning for roads and infrastructure to accommodate the growing population. Florence is grappling with plans for potentially 94,000 new homes across various developments in the coming years.
