The Town Council had no issues May 21 in unanimously approving the proposed Hemingway assisted living center for Fountain Hills.

Local developer Dan Kauffman is planning the 134-bed campus for a 5.74-acre site at Trevino Drive and Saguaro Boulevard.

The council needed to approve of a rezoning for a Planned Area Development (PAD) over the site as well as terminating and abandoning hillside protection easements on the property.

The plans will include 10 separate buildings approximately 10,000 square feet each. Seven of the buildings will include 16 assisted living suites with two of the buildings having 11 independent living suites.

A separate building will serve as a clubhouse gathering place with a commercial kitchen and offices.

Plans for the individual buildings include offices, laundry, beauty parlor, medicine storage, a living room, library, dining area and patio. There will be a warming kitchen in each of the building.

Proposed amenities on the campus outside the buildings include shade ramadas, outdoor seating areas, a putting green, community garden, water features and a small tot-lot playground for visiting children.

The project will include 90 parking spaces, well above the required 34 spaces.

There will also be a 4,500-square-foot clubhouse building on the property, which will include a gathering space for activities, commercial cooking kitchen.

The PAD includes a special use permit to allow the assisted living in the C-1 zoning district. There is also a fill waiver related to backfill of excavation material.

The Planning and Zoning Commission had included a stipulation in its approval that a requirement to accommodate public art, either by financial donation or display of art, be waived. Staff opposed this stipulation and the council removed it from its approval after Kauffman said he did not object to compliance.

Kauffman expects to begin construction late summer or early fall after building plans are approved.