The Old Lazy R&G Ranch Has Been Zoned for Shops Since 2011. Arcadian Square Would Change That.

The southwest corner of 48th Street and Indian School Road holds about 12.62 acres, and for most of its history it had nothing to do with real estate. For decades the property was the Lazy R&G Ranch, a retreat campus for employees of The Arizona Republic and the now-defunct Phoenix Gazette. Gannett sold the land in 2005. Eight acres of that sale went to Arcadia High School, and the rest is the parcel that now sits at the center of a rezoning case.

That parcel is now the subject of a request from Cullum Homes, the Scottsdale-based custom builder. It wants to build Arcadian Square, a gated community of 60 detached homes. To most people who pass the corner, the idea reads as homes going onto open land. The city's own paperwork describes the site differently, and that gap is the most useful thing to understand before the first public hearing on Tuesday, October 6.

Two city documents, two different answers

Phoenix keeps two kinds of land-use records for every parcel. The zoning map sets what can be built today. The General Plan land use map records the city's long-range intent. At 48th and Indian School, the two don't agree.

The zoning column explains why the corner has never been a sure thing. The property was rezoned in 2011 from R1-10, a single-family residential district, to C-1 for a mixed-use office and commercial project under case Z-11-11-06. That entitlement is still in place. Arcadian Square would take the land off a commercial track and put it on a residential one. It would not take land that is protected as open space and put it up for development.

The General Plan column is why the case comes with a companion amendment. The map change would move about 12.64 acres off the Parks/Open Space designation and into a residential category that tops out at five homes per acre. The city's agenda uses 12.64 acres. Cullum's narrative and its zoning attorney use 12.62.

Fifteen years of commercial rights, and nothing built

The 2011 rezoning was requested by Arcadia Development LLC. In a Withey Morris Baugh article, Benjamin Tate, partner at Withey Morris Baugh PLC and zoning attorney for Cullum Homes, said the office and commercial project "never gained traction." Cullum's application puts that down to shifts in the brick-and-mortar retail and office markets, and says the property "continued to sit relatively unused in its current state."

That history shapes the applicant's main argument. Cullum's case rests partly on comparing its plan with what the C-1 zoning already allows. Its team says Arcadian Square would generate less traffic than the existing commercial entitlement permits. Whether a resident finds that persuasive depends on what they treat as the baseline. On paper, the baseline is an office and retail project. In daily life, it has been an empty lot for fifteen years.

What Cullum has drawn

The draft narrative, stamped June 18, 2026, describes homes "inspired by the timeless charm of London row homes," arranged in pairs. The layout is unusual for Arcadia. Front doors, porches and main living spaces face shared greenbelts and paseos. Garages open onto private drives behind the homes, so the walkways are lined with architecture and landscaping instead of driveways.

The homes themselves, as drafted:

• Two or three stories, at about 3,500 square feet of living space each
• A third level with conditioned space and an outdoor living area
• An optional basement level
• A small elevator in every home as standard
• An option for a buyer to combine two lots into one residence

The overall density is 4.75 homes per gross acre. The draft PUD sets a maximum of six per acre and no minimum lot width. The application calls the site "the crossroads of the two busiest bike and pedestrian thoroughfares" in the community. Landscaping along the Crosscut Canal edge would need SRP approval so it doesn't conflict with existing irrigation infrastructure.

The materials reviewed so far list no prices, no individual lot sizes and no construction or sales schedule. Cullum has recently built other gated communities nearby. Arizona Foothills Magazine reported in June 2025 that its 40-home Village at Mountain Shadows and 46-home Paradise Reserve had both sold out.

The questions already on the record

The neighborhood conversation began before the city scheduled anything. The Arcadia Osborn Neighborhood Association held a community meeting at Arcadia High School on July 21 to discuss the proposal.

Traffic has been the most widely reported concern. The Phoenix Business Journal reported in August that nearby residents worry the project would add to congestion at the intersection. The applicant's team responded with pedestrian-safety measures on 48th Street, an extension of shared-use paths along Indian School Road, and a sidewalk set back to leave an 18-foot area between the community wall and the curb.

Michael Del Prete, a candidate for the District 6 City Council seat, has published a critique of the application. It raises several points:

1. The draft narrative says canal-crossing safety features "may" be included, which in his reading does not commit the applicant to building them.
2. A traffic study whose conclusions were presented at a neighborhood meeting had not been made public about a month later.
3. The PUD's six-unit-per-acre maximum could allow about 75 homes, and one site-plan sheet uses the word "semi-attached."
4. An AONA member survey drew 185 responses, and most respondents had not taken a public position.

These are one candidate's readings of the documents, not findings by the city. The 75-home figure is his math on the PUD cap. Cullum's application describes 60 detached homes. The research for this post found no public statement from the sitting District 6 councilmember and no formal position letter from the neighborhood association.

Tuesday is a first look, not a vote

The Camelback East Village Planning Committee meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, in the auditorium at Devonshire Community Center, 2802 East Devonshire Avenue. The General Plan amendment and the rezoning are agenda items four and five, and both are labeled "INFORMATION ONLY." Each will be heard in the same order:

1. Presentation by Benjamin Tate of Withey Morris Baugh
2. Questions from the committee
3. Public comment
4. Applicant response
5. Committee discussion, with no motion or vote

Anyone who wants to speak fills out a speaker card and hands it to the chair. Under state law, anyone who testifies or submits written comments must say whether they have been paid in any form to do so. If many comments are expected, the notice encourages speakers to group their comments by topic and have a few representatives present them.

The city's PUD case register lists Arcadian Square as a first submittal with active status. No Planning Commission or City Council hearing had been posted as of October 4. The draft narrative and future revisions are published on that same register, so it is where to compare the June 18 draft with whatever version comes back after Tuesday's comments. The open questions go to the committee, then to the Planning Commission, then to the Council. Those questions are whether the "may" becomes a "will," whether the density cap moves closer to 4.75, and whether the traffic study is released.

If you live near 48th Street and Indian School and want to talk through how a rezoning like Arcadian Square could affect your street, Sue Shapiro has followed Arcadia's land-use changes for decades and is glad to go through the case documents with you. Let's Connect.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.