The Casa Grande Planning and Zoning Commission on January 8 rejected a conditional use permit for KPPC Advanced Chemicals to build a semiconductor chemical manufacturing plant. The vote was 3-4. Commissioners cited concerns about hazardous material trucks traveling through residential areas, as the city lacks a bypass route to direct them elsewhere.
Semiconductor Supply Chain Impact
KPPC Advanced Chemicals is part of the Kanto Chemical Group, headquartered in Japan, through its Taiwan-based parent Kanto-PPC Inc. The company supplies ultrapure chemicals to chipmakers including TSMC, Intel, and Micron. KPPC plans to build a phased chemical manufacturing campus on approximately 26 acres between Thornton Road and Burris Road, north of Commerce Drive.
Phase one would develop approximately six acres within the 26-acre project site for purifying and blending semiconductor-grade chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and ammonium hydroxide. The required purity levels are several million times lower than standard industrial products. Supporting operations would include warehousing, laboratory analysis, and quality control testing. Phase one would employ 58 workers on a daytime shift, with three overnight staff. An additional 24 acres to the north are not part of this phase or permit and would require separate approvals for future development.
Casa Grande has attracted multiple semiconductor supply chain companies in recent years. Chang Chun Arizona, Solvay, LCY Electronic Materials, and Chlorum Solutions produce chemicals for chipmakers. NRS Logios provides specialized chemical storage and distribution. Air Products and Jing He Science supply industrial gases. These companies serve fabs including TSMC and Intel. KPPC plans to join this cluster in the Sonoran Valley Industrial Park.
Chemical Hazards and Uses
The proposed plant would manufacture chemicals classified as H3 occupancy. Under the International Building Code, H3 spaces contain materials that readily support combustion or pose a physical hazard. This category includes flammable and combustible liquids stored in closed containers or systems pressurized at 15 psi or less. The chemicals are used in photoresist removal, metal and oxide cleaning, and fine slurry preparation.
Traffic and Transportation Concerns
Commissioners focused on how trucks carrying hazardous materials would travel through Casa Grande. Senior Planner Jaclyn Sarnowski said the project would generate 61 trips during morning and evening peak hours. Additionally, 10 to 12 trucks would arrive daily between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The applicant’s proposed truck route would run south on Commerce Drive to Peters Road, then east to Thornton Road. However, commissioners questioned whether trucks would then head south toward Interstate 8 or north toward Pinal Avenue.
Vice Chair Celeste Garza asked if the commission could require trucks to travel south on Thornton to I-8. Staff indicated the city cannot dictate or enforce truck routes.
City Infrastructure Not Ready
Traffic Engineer Clark Clantanoff addressed plans for a future bypass. Public works has begun studies for a Burris Road corridor from I-8 north. The route would wrap around the north side of the airport and connect to Pinal Avenue.
“The notion is that would be a good route for heavy vehicles, trucks, and for workers,” Clantanoff said. The bypass would avoid residential areas along Val Vista. However, the project remains in early planning stages with utility issues to resolve and ongoing railroad coordination.
Commission Divided on Decision
After the vote tied at three votes each way, Chairman Brett Benedict cast the deciding vote against the permit. He cited the number of chemical facilities the commission has already approved under conditional use permits.
Benedict acknowledged the city’s infrastructure shortcomings. “If we were ahead of it with the infrastructure, then this wouldn’t be such an issue for us. We aren’t. And so I vote no.”
Vice Chair Garza voted against the permit. “Until the city can find a way to work with the truck traffic, sending hazardous waste down through 70,000 residents is just not the way for me,” she said.
Commissioner Garrett Aldrete voted in favor. He noted that hazardous materials already travel through communities—gasoline tankers regularly supply gas stations, for example.
“We live our lives and all of these dangerous materials may be around us at some point, but we just don’t know,” Aldrete said.
Aldrete argued the city cannot hold its own infrastructure gaps against the applicant. The city designated this area for industrial use, and KPPC chose to build where the city said such facilities should go.
“It would look very bad on the city to get to this point where they are trying to finally develop and we come in and we say no,” he said. “That’s not the applicant’s fault. That is our fault.”
Project Timeline
KPPC had targeted late 2027 for phase one completion. Future phases would add a sulfuric acid facility within five to seven years, depending on market conditions, and would require additional traffic analysis. KPPC owns an additional 24 acres to the north and aims to attract materials partners to co-locate on a semiconductor materials manufacturing campus.
Site Location and Zoning
The site sits in a General Industrial (I-2) zoning district. All surrounding properties are also zoned I-2 and designated for industrial use. No residential properties are immediately adjacent to the site.
Staff recommended approval, finding the application met all conditional use permit criteria. The planning department received no public comments or inquiries before the hearing. Only one resident, Gloria Johnson-Storie, spoke during the public comment period to ask about truck traffic planning.
