Southgate Mall wants to build new restaurant at site

Owner asking City Council for change to development agreement

Southgate Mall has not seen new development in a few years, but the property owner now wants to bring in a new drive-thru restaurant to the commercial center. The proposed “fast casual” restaurant is Chipotle Mexican Grill, a chain specializing in tacos and burritos.

A resolution on Wednesday will ask the Yuma City Council to authorize City Administrator Greg Wilkinson to execute an addendum to the current development agreement with Southgate Mall LLC.

Southgate owner Kornwasser Shopping Center Properties wants to change the agreement so it will allow the drive-thru restaurant to be built with retail space without having to submit a full subdivision plat as required in the 2013 agreement.

During the Tuesday work session, City Attorney Richard Files clarified that this refers to a commercial subdivision, not a residential subdivision. He explained: “One of the requirements under the development agreement this item would amend is that if at anytime they start to build on a separate lot, they had to do a complete subdivision of the entire property.”

Instead of submitting a full subdivision plat, the developer wants to do a lottie/lot-split for a portion of its property acquired from the city as part of the exchange. The city exchanged property at the corner of Catalina Drive and 4th Avenue, in front of the old Paul Bensel Jewelers location, in 2015. Wilkinson said that as part of the exchange the developer agreed to redo part of the entry, which had been considered dangerous.

The proposed addendum would allow an administrative lot-tie/lot-split for the restaurant and retail space instead of a subdivision plat. It would also approve a drive-thru without requiring an administrative conditional use permit along with appropriate screening of automobile headlights from traffic, sufficient stacking of cars in the drive-thru, and screened trash enclosure.

It allows a small variance from the 15-foot setback requirement which became necessary after telephone

lines were discovered to be running through a part of the previously proposed building exterior.

The addendum requires Southgate to dedicate telephone easements for the telephone conduit bank, a fire line, and necessary water and sewer easements and allow the relocation of one of the monument signs.

It changes the aesthetic requirement to “a unifying architectural theme, color and materials approved by the Design and Historic Review Committee” and extends the agreement to a maximum of 10 years.

Chuck Finnila, president of the Yuma Territorial Live Steamers, an 1/8 scale railroad club, and John Schwartz, vice president, presented the council with an update on the current and future activities of the club. The group also invited the council members to a ribbon-cutting ceremony of its latest additions to the track at Riverside Park at 2 p.m. Saturday. The park is located at Prison Hill Road and Giss Parkway, close to the Colorado River.

In other discussion, Deputy Mayor Gary Knight questioned whether the job order contracts on the consent agenda were only for Capital Improvement Program projects. However, before discussion, Nicholls and Miller declared conflicts of interest and left the chambers.

City Engineer Jeff Kramer said the job order contracts are primarily related to the CIP but not exclusively. The contracts would cover any constructionrelated work. For example, he added, If the parking lot of a facility needs to be refinished and the money is in the budget, the city could still do it.

The agenda item calls for awarding the contracts for transportation facilities, pathways and pavement to several contractors, including

Cactus Asphalt of Tolleson; Cemex Materials South of Yuma; DPE Construction of Yuma; Sunland Asphalt of Phoenix; and SWP Contracting and Paving of Yuma.

The council will hold the regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. To view the whole agenda and staff reports, go to www.yumaaz. gov.