Concerned Citizens of Peoria, AZ

03/20/2026

ZONING CHANGES Happening in the Peoria Innovation Core -
This coming Tuesday, the city council will vote on allowing Amkor to build its industrial factory up to a height of 135 feet (over 13-stories). Public comment during the last Planning and Zoning meeting described the history of zoning in that area and how, for decades, it was capped at 60 feet.

The video starts at the public comments, which are only six minutes. The full presentation on the PIC, which does not provide a history of the zoning, can be found before the public comments.

If you have concerns over a 13-story industrial factory in North Peoria, be sure to share them during the council meeting on Tuesday, March 24th at 6 pm.

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02/27/2026

How are our aquifers holding up with the high level of development and the semiconductor industry being brought into the NW Valley?

Phoenix pumps groundwater 16 times faster than it recharges—draining fossil water deposited 10,000 years ago during the last ice age in just 60 years. The aq...

02/11/2026

Will the city oust this 77-year-old man from his home? He has been advocating for himself for a year and a half. The city is buying land in downtown Peoria that leaves him without a home. What are they doing to help displaced residents?

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01/29/2026

Taxpayers are spending OVER HALF a MILLION dollars for the CITY MANAGER POSITION.

The new city manager will receive a salary of $325,000, and a golden parachute to protect him, which guarantees he will receive $975,000 in total compensation. Additional benefits include a $600/mo car allowance, $812,500 life insurance policy, a government pension, and six weeks paid vacation, among other benefits.

But taxpayers get to spend more on this position because the former city manager gets a guaranteed one-year "consulting" contract for $255,000 plus $50,000.

Both agreements can be found on the City Council Agenda for 1/27/26.

A reception for the 2026 Peoria Young Artists will be held beginning at 5:30 PM in the Pine Room of City Hall. The Peoria City Council will be in attendance at the reception; no City business will be conducted.

01/28/2025

Can we expect this when Amkor builds its factory with the forever chemical PFAS?

"Neighborhoods in the U.S. that are exposed to drinking water contaminated with chemicals known as PFAS will experience up to a 33 percent higher risk of certain cancers."

"Scientists have discovered a connection between ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water and the incidence of certain rare cancers...digestive, endocrine, respiratory and mouth and throat cancers."

PFAS from drinking water may contribute to between 4,000 and 7,000 new cases of cancer every year, according to research from the University of Southern California. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

01/28/2025

City Council Meeting tomorrow, 1/28/25, at 6pm. Come share with the City your concerns regarding Amkor! The City is also seeking additional taxpayer funds for Amkor in addition to the many concessions given to them.

Executive Session:
The city council is holding an executive session to discuss legal issues related to Amkor.

Consent Agenda:
They have also included in their consent agenda a request for $468,590 for the road to Amkor:
The section of Westward Skies Drive from Vistancia Boulevard to the northeast approximately 1650 linear feet is classified as a collector street according to the City of Peoria Street Classification Map and the General Plan. As part of the North Peoria Gateway Planned Community Development (NPG), this segment of Westward Skies Drive will be constructed and will match and connect to the segment of Westward Skies Drive being constructed as part of the Vistancia Commercial Core, Five North roadway improvements.
In order to coordinate the project improvements with Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) as part of the development of NPG, the design phase of Westward Skies Drive from Vistancia Boulevard to the northeast will need to commence this fiscal year. Project improvements will include construction of two-lanes in each direction, a two-way left turn lane, bike lanes, drainage improvements, intersection improvements and a traffic signal at Vistancia Boulevard.

01/25/2025

Remember this explosion at TSMC last May? Firefighters from Phoenix, Daisy Mountain, and Glendale were dispatched after a report of a hazardous material call and explosion that resulted in the death of a waste truck driver. Residents of Vistancia in North Peoria are expressing concerns about the safety risks of having Amkor, another semi-conductor factory, within the boundaries of their master-planned community and adjacent to a school. They have repeatedly asked for a disclosure of what chemicals will be used in this manufacturing plant, but have so far been denied.

Fire units originally responded to a hazardous materials call at the TSMC construction site in north Phoenix.

01/24/2025

Earlier this month at Intel in Chandler, firefighters responded to a chemical spill resulting in one person being transported to the hospital. A growing number of Peoria residents are expressing concern over Amkor building its factory in the master-planned community of Vistancia and adjacent to a new charter school. Residents have repeatedly requested information from Amkor and the City of Peoria about what chemicals will be used in their manufacturing process, but have been told either, "we don't know" or "it's proprietary information."

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/chandler-firefighters-respond-reports-chemical-spill-intel-plant/75-cc2e2815-c774-4ada-b358-5537f345fa1f?fbclid=IwY2xjawH8_HNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZV75dN4QO6vcH627uv1LZWb3QqH3q7TYoPEvrzuo3T041l_dK_KzdZJ_w_aem_RDfHe08PCjVxDTU8UJWR6Q

One patient was taken to the hospital for minor injuries, according to the Chandler Fire Department.

01/23/2025

An open letter regarding Amkor to the Department of Water Resources and Department of Environmental Quality:

Please help!
As a resident in the Vistancia area of Peoria, AZ, I have grave concerns over the safety of the proposed Amkor location. We need your help to ensure our safety.
Will you please:
1) Require the public disclosure of hazardous chemicals that are permitted to be transported to and stored at the Amkor site?

2) Require an Environmental Impact Report that includes plume modeling of air-borne or water-borne releases of those chemicals with related toxicity and morbidity bands?

3) Consider restricting the transportation and storage of hazardous chemicals to locations sufficiently distant from the new school and existing neighborhoods so as to limit lifetime exposure risk below 1x10^7?

Here is the basis of my concern:
A) After repeated requests, Amkor and the City of Peoria have not disclosed which hazardous chemicals will be transported to and stored next to the school and the Vistancia neighborhoods
Without actual disclosure, we can only assume that some or all of the hazardous chemicals used at similar facilities will be used. Possibly including the following:
--Phenol (is a corrosive poison fatal somewhere around 250 parts per million…in the air, worse if ingested)
--Sodium Hydroxide (can cause lung damage and skin contact issues at 10 ppm)
--Sulfuric acid (a group 1 carcinogen, fatal somewhere around 1000 ppm)
--Benzene (also a group 1 carcinogen, fatal at 10,000 ppm for 5-10 minutes)
--Formaldehyde (another group 1 carcinogen, fatal somewhere around 100 ppm)
--Ammonium (fatal at about 4000 ppm for 30 minutes, quicker above 5000 ppm)
Of course, other substances are only dangerous if mishandled:
--Silicon dioxide (I think it is only an issue if fine ground dust is released in the air…which causes silicosis, bronchitis, and lung cancer)
--Silicon carbide and silicon nitride (nose and eye irritant)
--Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

B) Chip manufacturing and packaging companies have a terrible history of polluting the local environment.
I don't mean to imply that Amkor has a track record of polluting. However, accidents happen:
--https://www.12news.com/.../75-cc2e2815-c774-4ada-b358...
--https://www.cnn.com/.../arizona-intel-chemical.../index.html
--https://fluoridealert.org/.../intel-chemical-leak.../
--https://www.informationweek.com/.../intel-factory...
--https://www.osha.gov/.../establishment.inspection_detail...
--https://www.azdps.gov/news/ims/92
--https://www.remediation-technology.com/.../160-hazardous...
Not to mention that gross negligence has led to numerous releases elsewhere. Just look at the concentration of Superfund sites in Santa Clara County (the worst county in the entire United States) that resulted from the chip industry: https://qz.com/.../silicon-valley-pollution-there-are...
Amkor themselves discuss the risk in their 10-K filing. “The semiconductor packaging process uses chemicals, materials and gases and generates byproducts that are subject to extensive governmental regulations...Our operations are subject to numerous laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment, disposal of waste, discharges into water, emissions into the atmosphere and the protection of employee health and safety.”
Government regulations help drive safety measures…but those measures are in place because of real risk. We need you, our official government entity, to report and control those risks.

C) Amkor and the City of Peoria have disclosed a plan to cycle water, potentially contaminated with PFAS, through public water treatment facilities.

This is a hot topic as the industry continues to struggle to control and replace PFAS: https://www.techinsights.com/.../pfas-semiconductor...
I hope you agree that the significant risk posed and the potential liability warrants your attention

D. Chris Berriman, Peoria resident