well good evening everybody Welcome to the mace city council meeting January 13 2025 and for our roll call we have all our council members present thank you for being here as we get started we're going to ask Pastor Lisa to say the opening prayer Pastor Amaya you're close by here you go if you'll please stand after which remain standing and we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance good evening everyone let's pray father we thank you for this special day this a new beginning of the new Journey for all the workers all the employees of the city but mainly for the new mayor Mark Freeman and every other the council members father we asking you for the grace to give him the strength in every way and all the challenges and situation they're going to be facing his start in the year but we know that you're going to give him all the time your presence and your grace we ask in you father in the name of Jesus Christ amen amen amen thank you Pastor we'll visit with you right after the Pledge of Allegiance I've asked uh council member Adams to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance okay aliance to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you once again I just want a minute to uh present this to you from our church and you know and giving you this special day something to remember through all the years thank you so much thank you so much I'll come down and get a picture with you that be that' be great really appreciate it thank you all of you and the vice mayor and every one of you thank you read it for you yeah read it please yeah this one uh says congratulations to our new mayor mayor Mark Freeman from Mesa and God will give you the wisdom to accomplish all your duties and plans for our community blessings forever the ch they gracias picture turn get a picture thank you your wife thank you Pastor that was a surprise and I appreciate that with that uh I'm going there's an award and recognition that we're going to do this evening and I'm excited to be here tonight to present a proclamation that highlights something so important to our own personal and Community growth and that's literacy and I know we talked about that in our study session reading is a foundation of life long learning and helps build strong thriving communities like ours I encourage everyone to embrace the joys of reading I'd like it take a moment to thank our Mesa Library staff we're so grateful for your passion and dedication to spreading the love of reading uh Jesse are you here well there you go come on up I'm going to turn it over to you and explain what we're proclamations about all right thank you good evening my name is Jesse Sims and I'm the assistant Library director here tonight for paully who unfortunately unfortunately is under the weather so first of all I want to say thank you to Mayor and Council for all the amazing support that you give to the libraries is very appreciative um as I heard earlier in study session a lot of you were at the Mesa Reeds kickoff this last Saturday and this was really spearheaded by paully so she's very disappointed she can't be here and that's our library director so I want to thank her as well as our staff and really the idea behind this is to build a liter ly community in Mesa and the way we want to do that is by creating strong literacy habits so we settled on a goal of reading 15 minutes a day and we're challenging and encouraging all residents of Mesa to read 15 minutes a day and we do have a Citywide goal to read 1 million minutes so we're very excited to uh shoot for that goal um and we're also going to have author events throughout the year as well as our summer reading and our winter reading program as well um so again I I I understand this is your first Proclamation is that Cor correct somebody be yeah you caught me yeah first one there'll be many more after that so we're very excited we appreciate it and thank you again for the support we encourage you to read 15 minutes a day and build those strong literacy habits so thank you and it doesn't matter how you read right it does not it can be audiobooks count audiobooks count reading to your kids counts your kid reading to you counts anything that's building that literacy habit that's really what we want toage courage for the residents of Mesa I know we have council members very passionate about that so I appreciate you doing that Council let's go down and take a picture with Jesse appreciate it thank you much right Jess tonight we're a little busier in the mayor's seat and Council so we appreciate everybody's participation so we're going to move on to our agenda and it'll be a selection for the vice mayor but before we have a discussion we do have some blue cards to that they wish to speak on on this agenda item so first I'm going to call up uh Mr Carrie Davis cons agenda um let's see here okay let me get here so yeah it's not on here so should do the consent agenda first okay uh hold on just a minute you know this is my first rodal so everybody be patient and I like rodal deals now we're going to move forward with this item Mr Davis go ahead thank you good evening mayor and city council and congratulations mayor Freeman to your for your election and uh councilman Rich Adams I'd like to support Scott Summers Scott Summers serves as the council member for district 6 which is the district that I live in grateful for the vote that he put forward the last meeting to not support the street cars and so with that hopefully he'll continue with his conservative agenda and that's who I'd like to support for vice mayor thank you thank you Mr Davis we next have two Alex's Alex uh v r a n i c i c come on up Alex did you do the two of these the same um they are the same person but two different cards okay so okay you can you can scratch one out okay if that counts yeah thank you mayor thank you Alex thank you council members uh congratulations uh mayor Freeman congratulations councilman Adams uh on behalf of other people that aren't able to attend this evening uh I would like to also uh encourage the council to have council member Scott Summers be the next vice mayor for the city of Mesa seems that he is uh one of the council members that is shown to be the closest to the people for the last several meetings that we've had so we want to throw our support behind him and we encourage you to also support him thank you thank you Alex so I'm going to lead out on this topic and while all the districts are seeing growth and and are important district 6 is seeing substantial growth in investment development so I'd like to start the conversation by making a motion to nominate Scott SM Summers as vice mayor for the next two years I believe his involvement will be crucial to efforts and I'm going to ask for a second and then I'll allow for a discussion is there a second second P push your button there Mr ad so I have a second for Mr Adams Council any discussion Miss stuff um before we make a vote here I just want to put all options on the table one of course I acknowledge your nomination of um council member Summers and yes he is you know a great council member however I would like to put on the table considering to do the oneyear automated terms we don't need to change the charter in order to exercise it this um this in fact selecting for the next two years one year each would be a good pilot for a future consideration if we wanted to change the charter um regarding the concern about the May if something happens to the mayor who would be the mayor the vice mayor would serve temporarily until the council held a vote to decide and appoint who is going to be the mayor for the term until the special election so it is could be the vice mayor but it could be another council member as well so we don't have to get nervous about Mark falling off of his horse um yes we are we are of course but I mean there we're in good hands if something would happen and so I would like to put on the table as a consideration before the vote is made to consider doing a automated one year each on a system going forward we could vote two council members now um the tradition the way that Vice Mayors are usually selected are based on seniority so thank you thank you any further discussion Mr Summers I'll just first of all I'm honored thank you very much I appreciate appreciate the uh the support for everybody and your con comments as well uh to to clarify what was stated we had a discussion downstairs uh about moving to a one-year and that might be an option we do need to explore the the reason it's a two-year now uh is that the vice mayor currently replaces the mayor should the mayor become incapacitated or or otherwise leave office for whatever reason so in the first two years which is the current two years the vice mayor would become proem uh the council has 120 days to call an election then there's election for for a new mayor what would happen in the second two years however is that the vice mayor then becomes the mayor for the remainder of that term and the charter the way it's currently set up is that whoever that is becomes the mayor so if we're going to make a change from a 2-year to a oneyear there's other Charter issues we're going to have to clean up for example does the vice mayor automatically become the mayor is it for two years or is it just one do we take a vote on who that's going to be that kind of thing so I think moving toward a one year will probably require a a charter change at some point and we should discuss whether the council wants to move forward or not with that thank you Mr Summers M stuff um Mr Butler or Mr Smith can you clarify the situation my understanding is if something if the mayor becomes incapacitated the vice mayor would temporarily replace the mayor until the council votes for who will be the mayor protm until the special election is not an automatic space between mayor and Council so in and council member Summers actually said it succinctly down in the study session so I'm not going to try to restate it but it it depends on how much is left of the term and so depending on how much left of the term depends on whether or not the council replaces makes a vote or or the person simply fills out that uh fills out the remainder of the term I don't mean to speak for council member Summers but I think the the point is is that if we go to the oneye um it would be cleaner to actually put it in the charter and then look at any potential Ripple effects throughout the charter and whether or not those Ripple effects need to U make other changes within the charter and I think that was sort of the point at least that I just heard is that um that the charter could be cleaned up as far as if we go to one years in other sections to make sure it's just even more abundantly clear that that's what I heard but from your point is can it work right now to do one two oneyear terms the answer is yes okay any other okay Miss billsberry um I as I already mentioned downstairs I like the one year just so that more people have an option but I I just want to say something um we are elected nonpartisan I think people forget that we're in nonpartisan positions it's one thing I love about serving on the city council because I can represent every single person in my district not just the Republicans not just the Democrats not just The Independents that's how this works whether you like it or not that's how this works and as a council we also have to look out for every single person in our city not just for the conservative agenda not just for the liberal agenda but we have to look out for every single person and what's best for our entire city and I think that needs to be a big reminder to people and I I think that we need to make things like this not political but we are making it political and so I guess that's what we're going to do but I I think people need to remember that thank you miss spillsbury any other discussion all right well hearing none there's a motion on the table to uh select Scott Summers as our vice mayor and uh if you will cast your votes thank you okay thank you uh motion proceeds forward Mr Summers congratulation you'll be our new vice mayor we have four yeses and three NOS thank you everyone Mr Christopher if you'll come forward with the consent agenda I appreciate that good evening mayor and council members these are the items on the consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk will be considered as a group by the city council and will be enacted with one motion there will be no separate discussion unless a council member or citizen request in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate item item three approval minutes of previous meetings as written item 4 a act on liquor license application for Taco El Pisa 1259 East Southern Avenue item 4B act on liquor license application for grab and go 9202 East Main Street item 5A approving contract for Pacos and R house new sewer lines pre-construction services and construction manager at risk item 5B approving one-year term contract with four-year renewal options for landscape sprinkler and irrigation supplies for the materials and Supply Warehouse Parks and Recreation Facilities Management trans transportation and Transit departments item 5c approving use of a Cooperative contract for a 4-year initial term with six one-year renewal options for a computer engagement portal solution for the Department of innovation and Technology item 6A approving resolution for the city of Mesa to participate in the bidding process for acquiring natural gas pipeline transmission capacity and any resulting contracts item 6B approving resolution to enter into a ride of-way occupancy license with cable vision light path placement of a fiber optic cable network item 6 C approving resolution to enter into a rway occupancy license for bison Cel for placement of a fiber optic cable network item 6D approving resolution vacating a portion of public rideway located on the east side of the 3,400 block of North Vala drive to combine with the adjacent paral for future development item 6E approving resolution extinguishing a portion of two separate 20ft Public Utilities easements located at 460 East Auto Center Drive to allow for redevelopment of an existing Automotive dealership item 7A introduction of ordinance for zoning case 2445 for property located east of the northeast corner of Higley Road and Main Street major site plan modification and amending conditions of approval for zoning case 8-9 to show to allow for a Skilled Nursing Facility item 7B introduction of ordinance for zoning case 23594 for property located north of posos road on the west side of Meridian Road site plan review and amending conditions of approval for zoning case 2-45 to allow forign Industrial Development item 7 C introduction of ordinance for zoning case 24731 for property located west of the northwest corner of Ellsworth Road in Southern Avenue re Zone with new plant area development overlay and major site plan modification to allow for a single residence development item 7D introduction of ordinance for zoning case 22264 for property located south of the southwest corner of Power Road in williamsfield Road this is for a reone of the new bonus intensity Zone overlay and major site plan modification for multi-tenant commercial building with the drive-through facility item 7e introduction of ordinance for annexation case 24 1085 to Annex approximately 3.8 Acres of County rideway along Elliot Road from sasman road to an area about 2600 ft west of San Road item 7f introduction of ordinance that corrects two minor typographical errors from a prior ordinance related to rates for city-owned natural gas utility services this ordinance makes no changes to the previously adopted rates item 8A introduction of ordinance for annexation case 23690 annexing approximately 64 Acres located in the Southeast corner of Southern Avenue and single be Road item 8 B introduction of ordinance of zoning case 23691 for approximately 61 Acres located at the corner of Southern Avenue and Signal bu rezone plan area development overlay Council use permit and site plan review for multi-use development known as Medina station items 9A and 9B have been removed from the consent agenda item 10A approving ordinance for zoning case 24-15 for property located near the northeast corner of Higley Road in Main Street reone with bonus intensity Zone over land inside plan review to allow for a multiple residence development item 10B approving ordinance for zoning case 23970 for property generally located near the intersection of Mesa Drive and Second Avenue reone and sight plan review to allow for multiple residence development item 10 C approving ordinance for zoning case 24 to 745 for property located near the northwest corner of Southern Avenue and Country Club Drive major site plan modification for development of a limited service restaurant with a drive-through facility item 10d approving ordinance for zoning Cas 24 7-Eleven for property generally located west of reer Road and Thomas Road rezone with plan area development and bonus intensity Zone overlays and site plan review to allow for and Industrial Development item 10e approving ordinance for zoning case 24636 for property generally located east of McDow Road and Higley Road major site plan modification and Council use permit to allow for expansion of an existing mini storage facility item 10f approving ordinance for zoning case 24656 for property located at the northwest corner of pagos Road and South Mountain Road major site plan modification and amending condition of approval number one for zoning case 15-24 to allow for expansion of an existing manufacturing plant item 10g approving ordinance for zoning case 24426 for property located near Superstition Springs Boulevard and Southern Avenue major site plan modification and amending condition of approval number one for zoning case 99- 43 to allow for service station item 11a approving Subdivision plat for southwest corner of Peterson Avenue and elth Road and item 12a approving Bingo application for sunp Community 2600 East all red Avenue mayor and council members these are the items on the consent agenda thank you Mr Christopher do we have a motion in a second thank you Mr R on second Mr Summers would you please cast your vote Mr Adams you might have to push it again there you go 70 thank you everyone all right we're going to go back to uh 9A and 9B if that's okay a 9A and B are introduction to an annexation case in related resoning a property for project known as Carmelo by blanford holes this is just the introduction of these items they are set for hearing and action for the February 3rd council meeting so I do have some blue cards uh for this and if you'll come up as I'll say your name so this is okay James and Sarah Cunningham you do not wish to speak but you're opposed to this uh Lisa kth if you'll come up to speak Lisa are you here and you have three minutes you're opposed to this thank you uh next after Lisa will be Norm sendler hi Lisa welcome thank you for um taking the time to listen to me excuse me um I am opposed to the density of the zoning on this project and um um what I did is I I copied your map from your presentation um that the um I guess the uh Council or someone has given you to vote on it and um I noticed that the area immediately surrounding the piece of property that is to be developed or requesting to be developed where I live I live about 60 65 feet to the West just one Rural Road right across the street my husband and I own two homes there I have lived there since 1978 and then we built the house where my husband and I live um in 2002 we are on 1 and A4 acre lots the density comparison that the Builder has given you in your packet do not include any of us immediate neighbors that butt right up to the property I believe it's because we are in County Island but we were all invited to give our um opinions and to the neighborhood meetings and the Planning and Zoning meeting and so forth so I would think that our opinions and what we have to say would count so um Madrid is directly behind me to the East and it is a minimum of Halfacre Lots Thunder Mountain is directly to the north across mcdal and they are minimum 1 acre lots we are on one and A4 acre lots my neighbors Jim and Sarah Cunningham are on 2 and 1 half acre lots and um the majority of the Lots along Culver which is the other boundary of this property are 1 acre lots and then to the West there's a mix of half acre to one and a half acre there's a couple even 2 acre lots so you get an idea of what we are sitting on and the parcel that the Builder wants to develop in their package they have um requested a pad which is going to take the lot size minimum from 15,000 in the zoning down to 10,400 so that's a big difference and 49 of those homes will be 10,400 square foot Lots so by voting yes you're actually voting for 10,000 squ foot Lots which are surrounded by larger half acre and one acre just like your time's up but if you want to no summarize um I just wanted you to take this in consideration and and do some research on it thank you Lisa Norm after Norm uh Vincent Kelly is up on Deck thank you good evening mayor commissioner Commissioners um I was actually here in December 9th and uh mayor made the comment about uh the best option for this property is for it to be annexed by the city of Mesa it will be the best options for the Neighbors you probably don't remember saying that um so I wasn't the mayor I wasn't the mayor in December but I just said I just thought I'd bring it up you can probably go back and look so to Lisa's point and if you go and look at all of the uh uh pictures I even sent an email out so I don't know if you got copies of it but you can see what the density of the houses are around uh that particular piece of property um one of the things that the city of Mesa has done and this is why I do think that it is probably in the best interest to have that uh property annexed by the city of Mesa is that they have a high desert guideline they've had it for years I think it came out in 2002 the minimum the the the way they're set up is that it's rs35 lot size right not this RS 25 lot size that's uh that's being proposed and that again goes back to the whole density of what those houses are I mean there's 56 houses originally was proposed at 81 houses all right so now they've dropped it by 30% to8 you know to to 56 houses yay but that's still going to be two 300 cars the amount of noise the amount of light per pollution the road kill is going to go up there's already traffic there's not a stop sign at H and and McDow there's going to be a red light that's going to have to go up there so you know here I am this is kind of one of those things like the guy having to fight City Hall and and yet what I'm really doing is I am presenting to the city of Mesa to ask the city to defending the the city of mesa's own building guidelines on what to do for high desert so I I I don't understand why I'm here trying to make this sort of pitch to the commission really it should be you know uh barer Lake and and Blandford saying Hey listen we know that the zoning is set it at rs35 and we'd like to have a few more extra homes in that so if in fact we're going to have this High Desert and it's it it's well described and well defined then then let's do that so I I think the annexation is fine but the only caveat would be is that all of that property needs to be considered as high desert and and zoned with an rs35 pad and I think that would make everybody in the neighborhood feel a heck of a lot uh better so any questions all right you're welcome thanks thank you for letting me speak again I was here last uh meeting and uh I would like to talk about I live in Thunder Mountain States um right across the street from the development that they want to build and the problem we have is that if they put the entrance and the exit in front of ours we're going to have a hard time getting out of our community community community because we only have one entrance in and one exit out so the problem we have is that we have a little dip in the road and there's a lot of foliage that's on mcdal road if we come out and we have to look for the traffic coming ahead of us to the left of us which should be on the East and these guys come down with trucks trailers boats you name it motorcycles you have school buses you have bikes and a bike lane so that that's all considered that that if they're going to put the entrance and exit somewhere they should put it on Waterberry Street there is a uh city of Mesa has their own water system with a generator and that would probably be you know efficient to put it there instead of putting it across ours uh you know I I don't really uh uh say that uh they shouldn't do the development they can do it but the problem is is that that um the other one that I have here is that uh if they put that exit an entrance across the street from us we're just going to have a bunch of accidents because of the way the traffic is coming from east to west from mcdal and they come from Ellsworth and all the all the other places the other thing what I just want to touch on is that the by building 2 and 1/2 houses on a half acre would not fit hit the neighborhood when this happens it involves more traffic noise and the Skylight I built my whole house on a 78 uh acre lot to conform with County regulations and if they put one house on one half acre there on that Community across the street for bus that would be efficient enough for taking care of the noise the traffic you know the lighting and we don't know yet like the other gentleman just said that we don't know if we're going to have a traffic light there there is this four-way stop signed right now on ha and mcdal Road and if they stop they don't know which way to go and then we have traffic coming out of the community and they're trying to go left they're trying to go right we're trying to make left go right it's just going to be one big nightmare so uh just that's all I have to say thanks a lot thank you Vincent appreciate that uh Linda finlin is next followed by Paul Kennedy hi Linda welcome good evening uh Happy New Year I hope this is a good year for the council um I've lived in Mesa since 1984 I was in Dobson Ranch in '95 I came to Thunder Mountain what a change in Mesa since I became a resident and I think about this particular area and I think it's one of the most special parts of Maricopa uh County and I'm hoping that the beauty is not ignored by developers and uh I'm I'm asking uh to pay attention to the density as other people have asked and I'm concerned about twostory homes which it is it's kind of hard when it's 100% on the bottom and 100% on top there goes your beautiful mountain views there goes the view of the sky um it makes a big difference I know I have a neighbor that did something rather amazing to his property and it's amazing the the difference um it can make so the real concern I have other than what other people have said it's the safety of us getting in and out of our neighborhoods it's very diff difficult to have somebody injured in a car accident somebody to lose their ability to walk don't ask me how I know this but I know this and it's it's going to happen unless somebody's willing to take the authority to say you're responsible for Traffic Safety you want a development we're going to need to have some kind of traffic signal somewhere this area has changed dramatically since 199 95 it's no longer a two-lane dirt road there there are no more properties for sale I mean we're all in Phil and people are rushing to the freeway you know to go north or south or coming down McDow and um I I don't have a problem with additional housing but I don't think I want anybody to have a finger poked in an eye and when you think about the thought of 80 houses or 60 houses or two-story houses in an area that was set up so differently you know other City councils made a decision long ago how about respecting those traditions and try to keep it more like that and I I am grateful that blanford has built beautiful communities and has added to our tax base and I can see where I'd want to do a favor to them but please not at the expense of the people who've lived there for decades it's really a finger in the eye and it's not the index finger so that's all I have to say and I thank you for your attention thank you thank you Linda appreciate that Paul and after Paul we have uh Maggie kibit thank you Paul welcome thank you thank you for letting me speak uh my name is Paul Kennedy and I've been in Thunder Mountain for 27 years I live in lot 40 7 which is just across the street from where the I'm right on mcdal and just south of me is where the new development is going to go in and I just got to say that we have the most spectacular view that you know and we've been there for 27 years we have the the sunsets we have the the in the daytime we see the the dust storms rolling in the monsoons everything it's just absolutely beautiful so we don't want to lose that okay uh we know that development is in inevitable it's going to happen uh but we would from my perspective and I think other people in Thunder Mountain we would like to have the density reduced uh we I I would like to see uh not more than two houses per acre just like Madrid to the east we're like uh one house per acre in Thunder Mountain we have 135 acre lots and uh we're one one house per acre um also if you could limit the the houses along long McDow uh to one story houses and not two story houses that would help us with our view and uh not look so clogged with all these houses rising up in front of our view and the third thing I know is probably going to happen which I'm sorry to see is there going to be street lights along MD and that's going to kill our dark sky Thunder Mountain is all dark sky there's no street lights um we would like to see that continue if at all possible and then the final thing is what other people have talked about also is uh the exit from Thunder Mountain is going to be directly across the street from uh the new development and already there is depends on the time of day and whether summer and a lot of boats going up the lake and stuff uh there can be a lot of traffic on that road and right now we there's no stop lights or stop signs or anything we just go out you know when we go out but if there's going to be another uh uh exit right directly across the street from us could cause a lot of congestion and problems so anyway that's all I have to say and thank you thank you Paul appreciate that Maggie welcome Maggie Council you have three minutes okay um so I live at 8540 East mcdal in Mesa and um the last meeting we had with blenford um and the Planning Development was November 13th and blenford representative brought up lendis uh Mountain Boulder Mountain and montal Luna and you know he said they were nice communities I I agree with that they're nice communities I have family and friends that live there um and but when they bought into those developments they knew what they were getting they knew that they would have small lots and the the amenities the clubhouses Etc when I moved to County Island I expected to to live in the R35 with the um acreage and the larger Lots that's what I expected and now blanford wants to plop down this community in the middle of established neighborhoods um on every side as they've already told you they you know R35 Madrid is um you know they have annexed with the city and they're a little bit smaller but still it's still consistent with the area um the um there's another Builder building in there on the mountain in Thunder Mountain and the a street below that I believe it's 88th and their minimum is an acre or more which is consistent again with the the properties that are there so what my um what I'm looking for is that blanford just reduce the density and the [Music] um the um twostory homes again the traffic with the the um their exit and ENT entrance is across the street from um Thunder Mountains as well and there is a a bus stop that's right outside of our of Thunder Mountain the kids are out there in the dark it's dark at 7:00 right now if you go to the east in in front of Madrid there's another bus stop right there if you go to the south on Haw they're on there's lots of bus stops and they're on unpaved shoulders and again if you go down mcdal to the West it's unpaved and during rush hour traffic you're going to have a lot of people I mean they drive crazy already for a rush hour these kids are standing out there in the dark and I know that that's a a a you know a big concern the other thing is um if um for instance like from McDow from hos to MCD um Thunder Mountains opening on mcdal the the widths of our lots are 15 ft the widths of the blanford is proposing is 80 feet so that's nearly half of what's right across the street Maggie would you summarize please okay I would like I'm I me I don't mind them building there I would just like the density um reduced as well as the um um two storage homes and then something to to for the traffic issue good thank you lot of good comments and I appreciate before I go to council discussion on this I'm going to ask uh if our planning department can weigh in on this Miss Brown is that yourself or Evan because I have I I'm sure all of us made notes um first of all we're not doing a developer any favors I want you to know that they have to jump through a lot of Hoops even to get this far and I only applicant is here but we can talk about stop signs on ha and mcdal the desert Uplands guidelines uh lighting for the area what that requires uh the traffic entrance and then blanford's homes I know Miss go forth has been very cogniz cognizant of everything so we'll go with the planning department first and then go to the council member may can you can there it is thank you mayor Freeman um so there you mentioned a lot of items and so Evan is going to talk a little bit about our dark sky ordinance our desert Uplands and the density in this project the heights of the pro of the um the homes that are being proposed and then we've got Eric here from our transportation team who'll be able to speak to some of the track traic and some of the street lights um and the potential stoplight in this area so we we could start with Evan if that's okay mayor Freeman it is Evan thank you Mr Balmer thank you mayor uh council members so to answer your question specifically um desert Uplands is a unique part of town obviously it's in the Northeast uh portion there the general plan kind of lays out two ways to meet the desert Upland standards and the idea is to preserve natural open space as much as possible um option one is large lot development so that's uh 35,000 ft it's an acre and it's up from there and they have disturbance envelopes on each lot so on each lot we're preserving that natural open space the second option is uh a slightly more dense zoning District like rs15 where you're preserving um common open space and I would note that rs15 a smaller lot is is possible because as part of development a developer needs to put in all the City Utilities necessary to make that work so water and sewer and and sometimes when you're um in county and you have a large lot part of that is is due to septic so there are two ways to meet the desert Upland standards um and in this scenario the applicant is under that rs15 density they're providing uh just over 20% of the site as open space and it's arranged so that a lot of the open SPAC is on Haw to kind of mitigate that from the from the Neighbors in the area as well as throughout the site so that the Lots don't back onto each other I had another question about the dark sky ordinance um there are requirements for light shielding and and things like that if there are to be lights because in this area again it's it's a natural desert environment we want to mitigate lighting as much as possible so there are uh requirements for lighting specifically can you exp can you talk about the lighting uh specifically along McDow is that lighting shielded is it led is it I see Eric I'll pass that one off to to Eric but also I think talking about one and two story oh homes around the outside of the annexation yes thank you mayor um as part of when this went to the Planning and Zoning Board in in November they added a condition of approval to limit development of those lots to single stories on both Waterberry and Culver again as a way to kind of to mitigate the the two-story height the perimeter of the development would be limited to one story on on Culver and Waterberry okay also want to ask a question on the natural space for wildlife is that part of the the guidelines for the uh desert Upland guidelines about Wildlife coming through the properties correct so the open space is arranged in a way to allow those corridors in between Lots so at at no point in the subdivision are two lots sharing a rear common wall which um in addition for natural desert um you know flora and fauna it allows the the animals to pass through okay thank you thank you Eric you want to come in weigh in on street lights and then I heard the HW and mcdell intersection I know it's a four-way stop I go out there quite often is there any future to put in a signalized system there is it all County Mesa you know sure good evening mayor council members Eric Garian I'm the assistant Transportation director uh first of all yes MCD and hos are actually under County jurisdiction so Maricopa County uh Department of Transportation uh owns and maintains the those roadways um we as a city have an agreement with them on on County Roads as we get development in that if street lights are are to put in be put in that that the the city will install those and that we will maintain them uh because the the county has a standard that they they don't maintain street lights um so as part of that we uh about five years ago finished up a a city-wide street light master plan in in the desert Uplands is is a special area um we we recognize that and so a lot of thought has been put in we do uh recommends to put and to put uh street lights in on arterial roadways um a lot for for the reasons uh it's there they are higher speed streets uh we want we want better visibility uh but we've also we recognize that the desert Uplands is different um we've piloted uh we piloted a project up there at at um melops and Ellsworth and uh we actually can dim the lights uh we we dim them in the overnight hours so that they're not at their the the full brightness so that that regarding street lights and Street ownership um I also believe there's a lot of discussion about driveway alignment um so we as as a profession as a city we want the driveways to be aligned um across from one another uh there's better visibility that way if they're offset um you actually have a harder time seeing the vehicles across the road and the Turning paths can actually interfere with one another as you're making left turns so um we we always push and and in our comments we'll always uh state to to align driveways what about the traffic increase there was a question about traffic sure um so the the latest counts that that we could find from the county on on mcdal road 4,000 Vehicles a day um that was from 2019 um for for a roadway like that that's that's not a lot of traffic uh understanding that there are busy times um that but um you know adding this development there is not going to significantly add add to to the traffic that that's on mcdal or or or delays okay thank you all right I think that addresses that Council Miss go for you want to weigh in sure sure um as uh mayor Freeman stated this is in my district I'm very familiar with this area I live in the desert Uplands I understand um um the beauty of it the preservation of it um I went to both uh the community meetings I listened uh I want you to know I did listen to the your comments I understand um I think the issue sometimes is that you know your interests as residents of of the county are opposed to the interest sometimes of the city certainly the governing documents are different sometimes the vision and the goal of the area are different and they um as in this particular instance they come up against each other sometimes um but what I looked at is the governing documents of the city of Mesa and that's the general plan um and as you as we've stated it's in the desert Uplands and it does require low density single family um but as was mentioned by Evan that is done in one of two ways you can either have larger lots and do the preservation of the na natural landscape within those lots or you can have smaller lots and you increase the open space and as he mentioned this the open space and this and the applicant has chosen to go with smaller lots and about 24% open space now then I looked at the zoning district and um you're right there's there's RS 43 is allowed RS3 35 but rs15 is allowed and I was frankly I was surprised as well that it that it is allowed but it is because of the the alternative ways to get to that preservation of the natural landscape so that you can have those smaller lots and you can increase the open space um and then what I did is I looked around at the surrounding communities of the city of Mesa what have we done in the past what makes sense what's consistent and there's anywhere from8 dwelling units per acre up to two this one is 2.2 um the the applicant went from 81 homes per acre down to 65 and closer to that two uh dwelling units per acre overall if you look at it it's about 1.5 dwelling units an acre in the city of Mesa um surrounding communities of this area and this is a relatively small parcel it's 29 acres and it doesn't move the needle every Community endures change no Community should endure radical change is what I believe and this moves the needle from about 1.58 to 1.57 this isn't radical change I know it feels like it to those who are sitting on an acre lot but this is consistent with the plan and the zoning district and and it's consistent with what we've done um and what we've allowed in the city of Mesa in the past um I know that um the traffic Eric mentioned the roadway you know about 4,100 um cars that trips a day currently I don't think you mentioned and correct me if I'm wrong Eric the the road holds the capacity is about 12,000 so you know 65 five homes you're right it's going to it's going to increase the traffic but that roadway um has well enough capacity for the few hundred cars that this might this might bring um um let's see I you know I I I hear you I understand it's frustrating I understand it's a beautiful area the reason you moved to the county is in opposition to what the allowed um Planning and Zoning the requirements allow and I know that's frustrating um but when I when I look at this I have I have to be governed by the city of Mesa documents and the City of Mesa surrounding communities so for those reasons um and and I I appreciate that the applicant went from 81 to 65 um I think that you can call that uh a reasonable change and and um a generous reduction so I I will be supporting the the this community thank you Miss go for any other Council discussion Mr Summers just a fast question is the dark sky part of the stipulation on this or a development agreement adherence to dark sky I think it's part of the sub area plan isn't it would it be and I'm getting a I'm getting indication from the attorney that dark sky is part of this where's the attorney at there is no development agreement though council member Summers but it's within the agreement yeah no da but it's stipulated all right hearing no other further discussion I just want to point out that when we Annex uh properties into the city of Mesa we we value and leverage our infrastructure our infrastructure is far beyond other East Valley cities along with our Public Safety response I know there's a fire station at 80 Street in mcdal because I work there for a number of years and I know that we can respond uh very timely to any type event so I think those in the East Valley need to understand that Public Safety response whether it's fire or police is very Paramount and that's one of the things that some of the guidelines that I feel is extremely important for those who uh end up purchasing their homes with that um any other discussion Mr Adams just a quick question um for the planning director I think um were there any significant changes concerning this parcel between the 2040 and 2050 General plans uh thank you uh council member Adams um it essentially maintained the same type of uses that we had anticipated in the 20 240 plan to the 2050 plan in part because it is in the desert Uplands area so we know that this is an area where we wouldn't want to see a significant amount of change so it would be a sustain in terms of the uh the growth strategy and uh mayor Miss Brown um there were um the appropriate number of community meetings held in that area with respect to the 2050 plan so mayor uh council member Adams we did a a lot of Outreach all throughout the city for the 50 plan including in the the D5 The District 5 area um as well as the applicant did Outreach for this specific project so they have they did their citizen participation plan and that is summarized so they did they did try to hear and take into consideration what the surrounding Community was saying about this project and thank you do you do you know specifically where any of these objections were hearing tonight voiced at any of the 2050 General plan public meetings so mayor council member Adams we wouldn't get into that level of detail for a specific project during the 2050 um open houses and and public meetings so there I don't think we heard anything specific about this project specifically um I don't recall there being specific comments about the the desert Uplands and protection of that because that is just a policy in the city that we continue to move forward thank you and mayor would you allow me one more question absolutely Ely uh of the uh Transportation U Department representative I'm curious um if we look at McDow let's say from the 202 all the way out to U Ellsworth what is the current configuration of street lights where do they start where do they end I've I've driven that road a 100 times but never at night uh mayor council member Adams that's a great question um I can't tell you exactly where every single uh street light is um but the sections the the the city of Mesa owns and operates so essentially from 202 um to just east of the essentially lendis um neighborhood entrance that has street lights on it it's a four-lane roadway up until that point we have development on both sides and then as you get further east uh it's uh there there some parts are in the county and some parts as you get closer to Ellsworth the city maintains and owns a section of roadway out there that section will have street lights but um and then in the county there's some street lights but but not everywhere okay one last question if I may um you mentioned that in your profession you prefer to have driveways opposing across from each other as opposed to staggered that doesn't make sense to me as a Layman and I just wonder is that is that just the way Mesa likes to do it or is that just the way Transportation folks in general like to do that that's a good question uh no that that's uh that's industry standard uh across the the nation and I I I think really it comes down to um a couple reasons and I touched on them I I can go into more detail if we need to but first um if you have staggered driveways um there when you could start to have left turning movements either left turning Vehicles out or left turning vehicles in have to occupy the same space and none of us want that that those are conflict points that that we want to avoid because um left turning traffic and you know pulling out onto a street or or getting off of it is typically some of the more dangerous movements that you make in in a in a vehicle um the other reason we we want them um aligned is you can see straight across you see that vehicle if it's offset by 50 ft 100 ft um sometimes you're you're not looking in that location and you don't see that other vehicle pulling out uh but typically when you're you're straight across from one another you can see that okay understood thank you no further questions thank you thank you Eric yes Miss spillsbury I'll just make a couple of comments um not that anything I'm going to say is going to make anyone feel any better but um I I do just want to acknowledge that it's these are these are the hard decisions we have to make we have to balance out our housing crisis um with no one wanting any housing going in by their neighborhoods um I I've been bombarded with multif family housing in my district so I am excited that this is single family it looks beautiful there's um a ton of different elevations they it almost has a custom home fill um to it we I think most of us have spent time um studying this looking through it meeting with the zoning attorney to find out um more details and so that we can feel comfortable with our vote but um there's things being done at a national level at a state level county level I mean we're all trying to figure out what we can do for this housing crisis and when these developments come up we're having to weigh out all of that and it's really really challenging and um I wanted to U thank council member go forth for all the work she's put in on this I know when it's your District you get a lot of the pressure and um so thank you for all the work you put into this as well thank you Miss billberry Miss Duff yes did we address her there is single story housing along Culver and um Waterbury okay okay so this the twostory will be in the center of the development the furthest point from the surrounding properties could I believe there's some d mcdell there it could it could possibly be on mcdal as well but in the center of the yeah but mcdal is a major thorough so it is quite wide okay thank you any further questions if not I'll entertain a motion to put 9A and D 9B together thank you Miss billsberry there second thank you Mr Summers please vote and and mayor and councel just be clear this is you're voting on both for introduction right okay let me read the rest of it if there's no objection we'll make one motion for the introduction of items 9A and 9B thank you sir please vote yeah motion passes thank you [Applause] everybody okay we're going to move over to items uh 13A and B to conduct a public hearing to take action on a minor General plan Amendment a zoning case relating to the proposed development known as Banner Gateway residences I declare the public hearing open Miss Mosley do you have any requests to speak on these public items I have received no requests for this item mayor thank you Miss Mosley do any council members wish to speak okay hearing none I declare the public hearing closed if there's no objection from Council we will take one motion to approve items 13 A and B relating to the minor General plan Amendment and Zoning case for Banner Gateway residence do we have a motion thank you Miss spillsbury second by Mr Summers please vote all right thank you everybody that motion passes okay next part is from citizens present and we have uh three speakers and we have actually we have one card and I thank you Alex for uh pronunciation of your last name there I think that's what you were doing before right Alex come forward you have 3 minutes thank you your name and uh address Alex ronic uh East Valley Los anges District 5 um the topic of uh what's tragically been going on in California uh uh sadly brings this topic uh to the Forefront um and it's not just California it's also in Richmond Virginia so the fires in California the lack of water in Richmond Virginia and it was an interesting phrase that I heard not too long ago that goes something like ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims and here I'm here to address the city's Dei policy or as some referred to it as the D policy um for those of us that live here in Mesa we don't want any tragic event to bring something to the Forefront that might be avoidable ahead of time and um not sure if you're following the trends the trend last four years was to jump on this top down push this di policy not just within municipality ities but also corporations businesses uh the trend seems to be now reversing corporations like McDonalds uh meta or Facebook they're abandoning these policies uh interestingly enough uh it could be because it Paints the people that they've hired with all sorts of memes and jokes in the background I think if you have a policy like this and you hire people for the city people start to question why did this person get hired is this person hired on on Merit or is it are they hired on some other algorithm that somebody's calculating in the background to make to even out the playing field the playing field should be for the person that is the best for the job I don't care who comes to save me in my house if I'm caught in the fire they're there to save me I'm not calculating what they look like where they're from what they believe or don't believe and so I'm here to ask that the city the city council reviews the the diversity equity and inclusion policy so that it doesn't put any of the people working the staff or whoever works for the city in a position where they can be looked at because I'll tell you what you do it everybody else out here does it in the back of their minds in the back of our minds we're thinking it just because you don't say it out loud doesn't mean you're not thinking it and people make memes people make jokes and all that does is undermines the city and everybody that works in the city especially when it gets to the fire and when it gets to the police so I ask that you would review the policy and make it Merit based thank you thank you Alex with that I'll I see nothing else on the agenda so I'll entertain a motion to adjourn thank you Mr summer second Miss go fourth thank you we're adjourn [Music] [Music]