James “Bucky” Wolford plans to resubmit his request for rezoning in order to move forward with plans for a new mall in light of a protest filed before Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Landowner Gerald Johnson of Gilbert filed a protest which was found to be legitimate by the city, Planning and Housing Director Matt Flynn said. Flynn said Johnson owns 20.8 percent of the land within 200 feet of the exterior boundary of the north site, which is more than the required 20 percent needed to file a protest.

The vote now requires a super majority, or five out of the six votes, to approve the rezoning request for the mall.

In the past, four members of the council have been in support of the mall with two against it. If Wolford did put the current rezoning request to vote and it failed, he would not be able to resubmit it for one year, Flynn said.

Wolford said it is unlikely he would walk away from the project, although it remains a possibility when he submits his master plan and site plan for approval by the council at the December 2006 deadline.

“It’s definitely crossed my mind,” he said. “If I got into this other approval process, and they were giving me a difficult time, I don’t know how it would work.”

City Manager Steve Schainker said the process of approving the master plan and site plan could result in the council halting the project, but the procedure is really meant to make sure Wolford’s plan matches the requirements made of him by the city.

“You’re really trying to compare the plan and the master plan,” Schainker said. “I’m assuming that if he met the requirements, the council would approve it, but that’s not to say they would have to.”

Two voting council positions are up for election in November, which could shift the council toward being opposed to the mall by the time the master plan would need to be approved. Councilwoman Sharon Wirth has been opposed to the mall, but is not seeking re-election in November. Councilman Daryle Vegge has been in support of the mall and is seeking re-election.

Resubmitting the rezoning request would involve combining the project that is broken into two parts, the north side and the south side of 13th Street, into one plan. If this is done, Johnson would no longer have a legitimate protest because of the larger size of the land.

Wolford said it was a mistake the two parts were divided in the first place, but it happened because of different design specifications outlined for each side by the city. He said putting them into one package will require him to do more work by the allotted deadline, so he plans to request more time.

Flynn said resubmitting Wolford’s request would push back a vote by the council until November, because the plan would have to go through the Planning and Zoning Commission again, which does not meet until Oct. 19.

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