Compared to the roar of their gas-guzzling predecessors, electric vehicles pass by with a whispery hum.
So perhaps it was fitting that Scottsdale leaders passed an EV maker’s request without a murmur of protest.
As part of the July 1 “consent agenda,” Scottsdale City Council quietly approved a plan for hot electric vehicle-maker Rivian to join the Mack Innovation Park lineup with a “service and delivery facility.”
Councilwoman Jan Dubauskas recused herself from the vote “out of an abundance of caution”; the other six council members unanimously approved the rezoning request.
There was no discussion, though the agenda report lists significant transportation impacts:
“The proposed rezoning associated with the Rivian development is anticipated to generate an additional 1,714 daily trips, 99 morning peak hour trips and 116 afternoon peak hour trips compared to previous land use assumptions.”
While the name may not ring a bell, those who drive the Loop 101 witness the booming growth of the Mack Innovation Park.
Four years ago, the Mack Real Estate Group paid $125 million for 124 acres of state land in North Scottsdale.
In 2024, the developer revealed plans for the Mack Innovation Park: 11 buildings combining for 1.2 million square feet of industrial space.
Online and in meetings, many DC Ranch neighbors complained one of Scottsdale’s biggest commercial developments would throw hundreds of big trucks into an already dicey freeway interchange.
But commissions and City Council approved Mack’s plan. Construction started last year on the east side of the Loop 101 between Bell and Pima roads.
At the July 1 meeting, there was no public push-back to the request “to amend the previously approved development plan … to allow for different land uses, including a new tenant user to utilize an existing building for a new vehicle service and delivery facility.”
City staff summarized the plan as “Rivian Rezone.”
Rivian was cleared to set up shop at one of the two buildings that have been erected.
The Mack Real Estate Group has six months to build a sewer line from Pima Road to the Rivian site.
Mack also “shall provide all water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, including any new service lines, connection, fire-hydrants and man-holes, necessary to serve the development.”
Water?
According to the approved application, water usage “shall not exceed an average daily demand of 198 gallons per minute” – about a quarter-million gallons per day.
Traffic?
“A primary concern is traffic,” Chris Irish, director of Public Affairs for DC Ranch, confirmed before a fall of 2023 Mack meeting.
She noted Mack’s traffic study projects “more than 350 semi-truck trips per day. The north 101 access road onto Pima already has a dangerous cross-merge situation that will get much worse with this project.”
The massive project’s western and northern boundaries are the zig-zagging Pima Road, which runs parallel to the Loop 101 before veering northeast.
In the fall of 2023, Mack representatives said traffic concerns would be soothed by adding another lane to Pima Road as it veers right into DC Ranch.
Nearly three years later, a Kimley Horn traffic report was presented to City Council.
“The trip generation of the currently proposed Rivian site was compared to that of the previously proposed warehousing land use,” it states.
The “1,714 additional daily trips … exceed the threshold of 100 peak hour trips that would generally require additional traffic analysis.”
As such, “additional analysis was performed to determine if the previous turn lane storage length recommendations would accommodate the additional traffic.”
Results of the extra analysis, according to the report: “left-turn queue lengths are generally expected to remain similar to previous projections with the revised site land use.”
According to the traffic analysis, “Based on a review of roadway classifications and the 2028 total traffic volumes, a right-turn lane is recommended at the southbound approach to the intersection of 91st Street and Bell Road.”
“… free-flow right-turn lanes are anticipated to be installed on the northbound approach to the intersection of the SR 101 northbound Frontage Road and Pima Road/Princess Drive … to improve traffic operations …”
Rivian Automotive, Inc., is an American electric vehicle manufacturer and automotive technology company founded in 2009.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Rivian delivered 12194 electric vehicles in the second quarter, besting its guidance in what’s been a bruising year for EVs in the U.S”
Mack Real Estate Group attached a “citizen involvement report” to its application.
“This site has long record of outreach dating back to the Development Review applications that were submitted in 2022 and eventually approved in 2024,” it notes.
“Numerous open house meetings, small group meetings
and notifications occurred during that process and the overall goal of the park was discussed and conveyed in those meetings. That goal – to create something different from traditional industrial parks and to avoid an abundance of intense industrial operations and semi-truck traffic – is furthered by this application.”
Nearby property owners were informed of the plan to bring Rivian onboard last fall, followed by an open house.
Response was “extremely positive,” according to Mack. “Attendees at the open house were happy to see a higher-end user and a less industrial type of use.
“The fact that the building was already constructed and a known entity also provided relief to some attendees.”
The outreach report noted most of Rivian’s sales are done online, with the Scottsdale site mainly for pick up of purchased EV’s.
“Rivian’s facilities are clean, technologically advanced, and aligned with Scottsdale’s focus on innovation and economic growth,” the outreach summary stresses.
Even so, the report acknowledges neighbors continue to sing a Greek chorus of concerns:
“The majority of questions dealt with what else may or may not be planned on the remainder of the Park. Residents are concerned about traffic and in particular the existing conditions along the Loop 1Ol ingress and egress roadways.”
Mack said it responded by noting it “had worked extensively with ADOT and the city to try and make a better condition,” primarily via additional road lanes near the industrial park.
The agenda packet included a Feb. 17 email from DC Ranch resident Bobbi Hopkins: “Over the course of the last 2 years we’ve seen significant rise in neighborhood traffic, noise at all hours (due to improper original noise study not accounting for homes), and air pollution.”