Planning and Zoning Commission

Lake Havasu City Lake Havasu City Police Facility 2360 McCulloch Blvd North Regular Meeting Minutes - Final Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86403 www.lhcaz.gov Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday, June 18, 2014 9:00 AM Regular Meeting 1. CALL TO ORDER The June 18, 2014, regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order by Chairman Liesen at 9:00 a.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. ROLL CALL Mr. Liesen noted that Mr. Harris has been excused and asked Ms. Cunningham and Mr. Kendig to take the vacant seats. Present: 7- Donald Bergen, Jim Liesen, Lucas Still, Mychal Gorden, Dan McGowan, John Kendig and Christy Cunningham Absent: 2- Jim Harris and Chad Nelson 4. MINUTES A motion was made by Mr. Still to approve the minutes of the June 4, 2014, meeting as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gorden. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7 - Bergen, Liesen, Still, Gorden, McGowan, Kendig and Cunningham Absent: 3 - Ott, Harris and Nelson 5. CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Mr. Schmeling said he has none; however, he was going to remind the commissioners that the Lake Havasu City Page 1 Printed on 8/7/2014 Planning and Zoning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes - June 18, 2014 Final recording secretary is here by herself today, so please be systematic and patient with the voting. Mr. Bergen said he would like to take this opportunity to make a comment. I do better at writing than speaking, so I am going to read a prepared statement. Why has the Planning and Zoning Commission not been a vital part of revising the Development Code and the General Plan prior to hiring an outside agency for over $200,000. Some of our meetings during that time were canceled because we had nothing to discuss. The Lake Havasu City General Plan, and this is a direct quote: "Is to be updated at least every ten years according to Arizona Statutes." It was last updated in 2002, 12 years ago, after two years of work, and that one replaced the 1994 General Plan with very extensive changes. As P&Z chairman at that time, I was very involved in developing the General Plan. As then, we should now have a General Plan Advisory Committee with full and decisive public input. We did that for the 2002 Plan with representatives from all segments of our citizenry. There were 18 members; I was a member of that committee. There were 15 meetings over 13 months with technical assistance, not just conducted by an outside agency. On March 18, 2000, a full-day meeting of 85 local citizens was held at the London Bridge Resort conference center. All of the issues were discussed, vision statements developed, future land plans designed and potential policies identified. It was an all-day meeting where we rotated between groups. As the plan was evolving, three presentations were made with P&Z and the City Council. I attended the recent April 1 evening meeting here with the outside agency. They had met with groups that day: The Chamber of Commerce, CVB Board of Directors, Main Street Association, and so forth. That means all the special interest groups. That may be 25 percent of our population. The General Plan Advisory Committee was mentioned once, briefly. I tried to get more specifics about it at that meeting, to no avail. We should have the Lake Havasu citizens providing the oversight and the guidance in the Plan's development, not just having an occasional meeting where the outside agency tells us what they are doing. Thank you. Mr. Liesen said I think that is a well-noted commentary. Be advised, too, that myself and Mr. Gorden and several other people were involved. Mrs. Garry said I am going to suggest that if you want to discuss that, it is a good topic, but you need to ask for it to be a presentation so that it can be put on the next agenda and have a full discussion. I am sure that Mr. Schmeling would be happy to come back to you and outline everything that is going to be planned. I can tell you that it is going to be an extensive public process. You are going to be involved, probably more than you will care to as we go through it. It is going to be a huge embarkment on many levels so please do not be afraid just because you haven't seen it yet. It is coming. We are just in the baby steps of getting started and it will be a huge, huge, public process that is required by the statutes and we are going even beyond what we are required to do, from what I know. Just for the record, as far as the General Plan, because of the Growing Smarter Legislation, the date has been extended to July of 2015 to update the General Plan. We are not in any type of violation as far as updating the General Plan. If you want to discuss Lake Havasu City Page 2 Printed on 8/7/2014 Planning and Zoning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes - June 18, 2014 Final this more or if you want something from Mr. Schmeling, you can ask staff and staff will be happy to do that for you. Mr. Kendig said when this new round that she is talking about, I was on one of the committees that discussed the future. I was very interested in it and it went very well in that first meeting, but needless to say, I have not heard a word about it since. If anything, I would like to have Mr. Schmeling keep us updated as to what is happening. I don't really care if we discuss it here, but I would at least like an update from time to time. 6. PUBLIC HEARING ID 14-0311 A request for a zone change from A-1, Limited Agricultural to M-2, Heavy Manufacturing, for the 9.49 acre property located at 2000 Victoria Farms Road. Mr. Schmeling stated that this is a very simple rezoning of a 9.94-acre parcel at 2000 Victoria Farms Road. The property is located at the north end of town near the Havasu RV Park and in the vicinity of Lowe's, the industrial park and the airport. Most of the properties in the surrounding area are zoned either light industrial/PD or M-2 which is the heavy industrial. All of the policies within the General Plan suggest that we need a certain number of acres to be developed industrially. This area is all slated for industrial development in the future so it meets all the criteria necessary for a rezone. Mr. Mike Dagon said he has been a resident of Lake Havasu for 38 beautiful years. I really think this is a straight-forward request, so unless there are questions, I don't have anything else to add. Mr. Liesen opened the meeting to the public. No one spoke. Mr. Schmeling stated that staff finds that the proposed rezoning meets all of the requirements set forth in Section 14.56.080(B). Based on those findings as detailed in the staff report, the Development Review Committee recommends that 14-00200002 (ID 14-0311) be forwarded to the City Council with a recommendation of approval, rezoning the property from A-1 to M-2. Mr. Bergen made a motion to approve 14-00200002 (ID 14-0311) per staff's recommendation. Mr. Gorden seconded the motion. Mr. Kendig said my concern about changing from A-1 to M-2 is that it is a pretty drastic change. I don't quite know the reasoning for it; I haven't heard that. But the close proximity of that property to the trailer park which is a real upscale place, as far am I'm concerned, it seems like we keep encroaching on that area and I know it is surrounded by light industrial. Just for my satisfaction, would staff tell me what kinds of things could be located on that property? Lake Havasu City Page 3 Printed on 8/7/2014 Planning and Zoning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes - June 18, 2014 Final Mr. Schmeling said M-2 property can have pretty much any industrial use that you can think of. Recycling, automobile recycling, any type of welding, any use that you would see in an industrial park such as manufacturing, bottling, everything on that level could be allowed on that 9.49 acres. Mr. Liesen said you could also include an RV park. Mr. Schmeling agreed; however, an RV park like the one already there requires a conditional use permit. It is allowed in the light industrial area and there could be a potential for conflicting uses on adjacent sites and that is why they require a conditional use permit. Mr. Liesen asked if this property had been rezoned before? Mr. Schmeling responded that the property is zoned A-1 which is an agricultural zoning district and traditionally, in Lake Havasu, throughout our years of development, the A-1 is basically a holding zoning district that really doesn't allow you to do anything except farm the land and build one house. Obviously, in this particular case, you go back to the General Plan to look at what the future should be for these types of properties and in this case it indicates industrial. This whole area, eventually, is assumed to be consumed by industrial uses. It falls within the plan for the future land use and it falls within all the policies of the General Plan and it is anticipated, quite frankly, that all of this land will eventually be zoned either M-1P or M-2. Mr. Still said, just to follow up on what Mr. Schmeling has said, I worked on some parcels that are just north of that where they were trying to get a conditional use permit for the expansion of something similar to what is there now in the RV park. They are going in fully knowing that they are next to an airport and knowing that the master plan calls for core employment there which is going to be industrial. So I don't have a lot of sympathy if something goes in that disturbs that because it is something that requires a conditional use permit, almost signing off that they know. I just wanted to point that out. I understand where you are coming from, but they knew what they were getting into as well. The motion carried on a vote of 6 to 1 with Mr. Kendig voting no. A motion was made by Bergen, seconded by Gorden, that this be approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6 - Bergen, Liesen, Still, Gorden, McGowan and Cunningham Nay: 1 - Kendig Absent: 3 - Ott, Harris and Nelson 7. CALL TO PUBLIC None. 8. FUTURE MEETING Lake Havasu City Page 4 Printed on 8/7/2014 Planning and Zoning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes - June 18, 2014 Final Mr. Liesen said the next meeting on July 2, 2014, has been canceled; is that correct? Mr. Schmeling said that is correct. We have no agenda items for that meeting and quite often in the past we have contemplated canceling that meeting anyway, due to the holiday. In the event that we have a meeting on July 16, I will make sure that the next agenda has an agendized item for the update of the General Plan and Development Code. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:19 a.m. __________________________________________________ Jim Liesen, Chairman __________________________________________________ Jean Vinson, Recording Secretary Lake Havasu City Page 5 Printed on 8/7/2014