so it's important that she get there get there on time and see her patients and right on time she arrived thanks to broom operator louis marshall what would you do good afternoon welcome to the phoenix city council former meeting formal meeting for the 26th of january we'll call the meeting to order and ask the clerk to call the role councilwoman i'm sorry councilman decision here council member garcia here councilwoman guardado here here councilwoman o'brien councilwoman stark councilman waring here vice mayor pastor here mayor thank you for joining us mario barajas is with us to provide interpretation services mario would you introduce yourself yes mayor thank you my name is mario varajas and i will be serving as today's spanish interpreter and welcome to the city council formal meeting i'll now take a moment to introduce myself to our special spanish-speaking audience [Music] mario barajas yesterday thank you so much mario with the city clerk please read the 24 hour paragraph the titles of the following ordinance and resolution numbers on the agenda were available to the public at least 24 hours prior to this council meeting and therefore may be read by title or agenda item only ordinances number g nine four three through six nine five zero s four eight one one nine and four eight two six one three four eight two nine six and resolution two one nine eight seven thank you i'll turn to our city attorney to explain the role of public comment in phoenix city council meetings thank you mayor members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items to be discussed comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the council general comments that go beyond the scope of the agenda item must be made in the citizen comment section at the end of the agenda the city code requires that speakers must present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner profane language threats and personal attacks on members of the public council members or staff are not allowed a person who violates these rules will lose their opportunity to continue to speak thank you vice mayor do we have a motion on boards and commissions motion to approve mayor and city council boards and commissions nominations i did not hear a second do we have a second second councilwoman yeah thank you wonderful the sound is always not always perfect thank you councilman all those in favor please say aye bye any opposed please say nay passes unanimously vice mayor do we have a motion on liquor licenses motion to approve items two through seven okay emotion in a second any comments all those in favor please say aye motion carries we will next go to the ordinances resolutions new business planning and zoning i do have a note on item 73 which i know there are many individuals who are here for that this item will be remanded back to the planning commission on february 3rd and the city council on february 16th to address a notice error this is because the applicant did not update their sign with the continuance language this motion will allow the issue to be corrected and the neighbors can speak about the merits of the case when it comes back to council on february 16th so for those of you who are here for item 73 it will be back with us on february 16th noting that city clerk are we ready for the ordinances resolutions new business planning and zoning yes mayor vice mayor do we have a motion to approve items 8 through 72 except the following items 15 21 30 33 37 39 noting that item 40 is being withdrawn and noting that item 773 is being remanded back to the planning commission on february 3rd and excluding these items for public comment 41 47 48 49 51 72 and 73 i i will second um but um the item with regards to 73 we won't be hearing correct correct it will be remanded back thank you i second thank you very complicated motion appreciate that vice mayor roll call i'm sorry this is you yes garcia yes o'brien yes stark yes waring yes pastor gallego passes 9-0 we begin with today's payment ordinance items items 15 and 21 diamond nets and art solutions 15 21 the water reuse association our payment ordinance items vice mayor do we have a motion on 15 and 21. i move item 15 and 21. second any questions or comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio no garcia yes o'brien yes stark passes seven 7-2 item 30 is an agreement with vitalist health foundation for arpa phoenix urban agriculture fellowship program i'll turn to councilwoman ansari thank you mayor um i just wanted to highlight this program this is a fantastic and first of its kind program my office loves it so much that we decided to add a little bit more money to the fellowship through our district's 50 000 arpa food budget so we are very excited to fingers cross hopefully let our district 7 nominee know of their selection this friday um i know joe rizzell and roseanne albright have been working extremely hard on the outreach piece for this and to close out the application process we had a lot of applications to review so congratulations to the two of you um thank you so for working so proactively with um with my team and and likely so many other offices um i know you know we need to continue to think about our workforce challenges and while we continuously spend and target industries i think targeting food and agriculture is really really important giving er given arizona's history of farming and also to make sure that we are focusing on careers that young people especially are very interested in so very excited about this and i hope that it will be something that just continues to grow at the city thank you do you have a motion yes of course motion to approve item 30. second we have a motion and a second i joined the councilwoman and being excited about this program we do hear from people in the food production industry that they want to see a more robust pipeline for young people and i think this program will help us accomplish that important goal it's exciting that we can make it a paid fellowship this will help our local farmers markets with nutritious food we are also a great food city and locally grown food is an important part of our great restaurants helpful with sustainable land stewardship and cutting emissions to transport food so thank you again to joe and roseanne and nancy allen thank you for your leadership the entire food systems team and office of environmental programs want to thank vitalist as well they have been a great partner to the city in many areas including helping us have a strong food action plan any additional comments roll call i'm sorry yes to cecile yes garcia yes yes o'brien stark yes wearing yes that store yes woo hoo we're there gallego that says nine 9-0 thank you item 33 is authorization for payment authority for try mark do we have a motion mayor i move item number 33 second motion in a second any comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio no garcia yes o'brien yes stark yes waring we next move to item 70 item 37 retroactive authorization for the school sustainability program grant do we have a motion mayor i move item 37 second a motion from the vice mayor and a second from councilwoman stark i am very excited that our office of sustainability has applied for federal funds for this program it's an opportunity for schools to choose to have sustainability officers as part of their student government it's been very successful in phoenix union and we've had already graduates of the program go on to important careers in the city of phoenix as well as achieve sustainability gains while they were in high school the arizona department of education is very excited about partnering with us on this program and bringing it to other parts of the state and we suspect it has the potential to become a national model i want to thank darice ellis this project is her passion and i'm excited to support its growth i also want to thank mark hartman and to the americorps vistas who have supported the program and next i'll turn to councilwoman stark and then councilman o'brien and then councilwoman and sorry mayor um i would love to say i seconded it but i believe that councilwoman o'brien made the second but i am very excited about this program as well as you know i am a former vista volunteer and so i'm always excited when i see the program involved in important issues like this so with that i'll be happy to support it thank you thank you we will turn to councilman o'brien and we'll ask the city clerk to note that councilman o'brien made the second thank you mayor i'm sure councilwoman stark would have seconded it also um and i'm excited for the city to provide students additional opportunities to learn about sustainability within schools and i'm happy to support this motion this afternoon to retroactively approve the application and then receive the grant dollars from our federal government i would ask that staff when they bring this back for implementation that they make sure to change the language so that the individual school student councils are able to determine who among them will attend the monthly meetings to discuss and learn about the item i have reservations about any programs that would require or mandate school councils to amend their constitution to add a new elected position if the student council chooses to do so i'm sure that we the city can help provide them framework but i do want to make sure that local control of their student council bylaws remain in the hands of those student councils so that they can each decide and create how the sustainability will continue on their campuses so with that i will be voting yes today look forward to how we implement it in the future thank you councilwoman councilwoman ansari thank you mayor i would also like to join you and and colleagues and saying what an amazing program this is um for those watching it's essentially you know at a at your school you can run for to be a sustainability officer just like you can run to be student body president or secretary or any other position i had the opportunity to actually meet with eight of these sustainability officers last month as well as darice ellis and let me tell you she is as the mayor said so passionate about this it's so cool that this program exists and the students who are part of it are genuinely some of the most thoughtful proactive people that i've met they're between the ages of 14 and 18. so much so that the one the student who helps run the program and she interns with the city her name is zoe i offered her a summer internship in our office because she's clearly a go-getter and very hyper invested in climate issues we know that that is actually you know one of one of if not the not the most important issues to young people across the united states so it's really cool that as the city of phoenix um you know works on its climate action plan and it's implementing we're actually helping to develop the next generation of leaders so this is just absolutely amazing thanks thank you any additional comments roll call i'm sorry yes decision yes garcia yes o'brien yes stark yes waring yes pastor oh another one yes gallego passes 9-0 sustainability seeming to be a theme today we go to item 39 which is a tree and plant materials contract requirements contract do we have a motion i move item 39 second thank you we have a motion from councilwoman pastor and this time i'm confident the second from councilwoman's yes this is a building on the work we have been doing related to tree planting it will give us additional contract authority with western tree company which is a local business it's great when we are buying local they specialize in drought tolerant and native trees in the southwest the office of heat response and mitigation office of sustainability are working across the city with other departments including parks and nsd to make sure that we meet our tree canopy goals i want to thank them for their work on this item any additional comments roll call i'm sorry yes to cecil yes garcia yes o'brien yes stark yes wearing yes pesto three in a row yes there you go passes nine zero excellent i'm feeling like the streak may continue because item 41 is super bowl 2023 special promotional event resolution very exciting that we are about a year out from super bowl coming to our region uh the 2015 game brought more than 120 000 people to greater phoenix and an economic impact of 720 million dollars for our region so it'll be exciting to see downtown phoenix and our entire region on the global stage vice mayor do we have a motion i have a motion for item 41 resolution to declare 2023 nfl super bowl activities in downtown phoenix as a special promotional event second we do have two members of the public to speak on this item we'll begin with kyle hedstrom followed by brent kleinman i owe the floor is yours thank you mayor kyle hudson with the arizona super bowl host committee um and wanted to just say thank you all we are incredibly excited to be back um and to have once again a large footprint here in downtown phoenix um the success of super bowl 49 was uh largely due to our really successful and integrated partnership with the city we look forward to that again and to working with the city with the nfl um with our broadcast partners and everyone else to successfully host super bowl 57 so we thank you for this consideration today and look forward to working with you towards 57 thank you thank you brent the floor is yours thank you very much mayor and members of the city council i just wanted to pretty much echo what was just said about how excited i am to see that you guys are taking this step and working proactively and partnering with the super bowl committee to make downtown phoenix a hub for the upcoming super bowl especially with the past few years the way they have been this is i think more exciting and more essential than ever that we take every step we can to make this as open and as active as possible a a place for super bowl activity and i i hope that we fill every inch of that area within the map that is allocated for this this special zoning so thank you very much and i look forward to seeing super bowl front and center in downtown phoenix come january 2023 thank you visit phoenix our economic development department convention center folks are all hard at work on hosting this event and putting phoenix on the global stage council comments councilman i'm sorry thank you um just echoing what everyone else said this is very very exciting um back in 2015 when we had a million people flood our streets downtown it's amazing to see how much downtown phoenix has transformed since then it seems you know every month there are new uh articles about top 14 hottest new restaurants and bars downtown and there's just so much to show off so i know this is going to be a big undertaking but i'm really excited to work with department heads and partners and everyone to host a big welcome to phoenix party in district 7 in the downtown core and looking forward to getting started thanks thank you roll call i'm sorry yes to cco yes garcia yes o'brien stark yes waring yes pastor yes this is exciting yes passes 9-0 next up is item 47 the hornady amex tap ammunition do we have a motion i move item 47 second we have a motion and a second we have two members of the public to address the council we'll begin with amy meglio followed by jessica spencer can you hear me hello can you hear me i can hear you yes okay so firstly i'm with intersect maricopa um and we are a deaf owned company and we're just trying to figure out you know we've been trying to message people as to why there's not an interpreter because there's definitely a lot of people who speak asl only and like they have a right to know what's going on too so that was pretty upsetting to my co-founder um but to get to the matter at hand so like the phoenix police department gets 745 million dollars a year before the money it took out of the coveted budget before all the money that gets snuck away towards them on these little amendments and so what i'm curious to know is as somebody who's at least familiar with numbers and budget if they have if they're getting 52 of the budget and they're not spending it on hiring because they can't fill the spots that they have and they're trying to give away bonus money to get people to fill the spots why can't they find forty five thousand dollars to pay for their bullets why do why do they need to take more of the taxpayers dollars when that money could be going towards social services that money could be going towards outreach that money could be going towards an interpreter for all of the residents of phoenix to be able to know what's going on in their own meetings um so i i'm vehemently opposed thank you thank you next is jessica hello my name is jessica spencer i am a phoenix resident i am in district 7. i oppose this motion for many many reasons one of the major reasons is last year the phoenix police department got over 787 million dollars allocated to their budget so i do not understand why we keep giving them more and more money when i can't go down van buren street and not see within a stone's throw somebody who is houseless and disabled there is a crisis on our streets i literally have people messaging me because i do street outreach because i try to help people asking me if i can help them find housing because the services that we do have central arizona shelter services are not good enough people right now arizona central reported on this yesterday in south phoenix are not able to pay their rent i don't know why we keep throwing money at a police department that continuously shoots people in the back if they're in wheelchairs i just do not understand why this continues to happen we have a literal crisis people are dying on our streets we continue to funnel money to the police department and i do not understand why why why why that's what i want to know because i do not understand how they can get over 787 million dollars that's 666 percent more than our housing i oppose this and i want more resources for the people that suffer from being unsheltered in our phoenix streets there's a crisis and the people of your city are having to deal with it it's unacceptable i can see the rest of my time thank you any council member comments or questions mayor vice mayor um is somebody at the current you gotta ask the city manager um the funds the additional funds are coming from already the police department's budget mayor mayor vice mayor members of the council the item that you're discussing right now these funds are already in the police department budget these are not additional funds over and above their budget and these aren't arpa funds these are not okay and then i guess my next question is it's asking for approval of 445 000 um is could you explain please i i know why but i want to put it on record mayor members of council i've deferred to chief kurtenbach who will walk you through why this request is before you today and what the purpose of the the ask is mayor gallego members of the council councilman pastor specifically this particular type of ammunition is used as indicates in the council report by our special assignments unit and this is ammunition that would be used on a very bad day this is just uh in a situation we would have to deploy our snipers unfortunately i've been out on scenes where we've had to do just this most recently there was a homicide that occurred at a circle k where an individual was just buying items at the circle k was indiscriminately murdered by a suspect who then was holding hostages inside that business the decision was made to try and end that situation when negotiations were unsuccessful and not having the right ammunition would not allow us to do our jobs the reason we're asking for this amount of ammunition is to ensure that we have enough so we can properly train because training will lead to positive results if the incident actually occurs into a deployment thank you councilman o'brien hey mayor jeff could you explain the the process of how our departments must come before the city council to receive approval even if those funds are already in their budget sure mayor members of the council our procurement rules um as stated within city code and policies require that any contract that we enter into with a vendor externally that requires council approval so even though those funds have been appropriated and approved by you in the annual operating budget it does require once we enter into that purchase agreement that we have to have that approved by council secondarily to them having the funds in their budget so these are not additional funds and as vice mayor had already pointed out they're not arpa funds these are funds that were already allocated in the budget previously approved by the council that is correct arpa funds would not be an eligible use in this area thank you so much um jeff and thank you mayor thank you any additional questions roll call i'm sorry yes stark yes waring yes pastor gallego yes passes eight one we next go to item 48 police duty gear requirements contract we have a motion i move item 48 second we have a motion in a second we have two members of the public to speak on this as well we'll go first to amy and then jessica all right everybody can hear me again wonderful um so i'd like to suggest yet again that you take the funding that you're trying to give to night vision and maybe get an asl interpreter uh so that when you're talking about police things and when people are giving 52 percent of their harder tax dollars to the community they can at least hear what the police officer is saying i think that would be much better than buying bullets i also think that it's i want to talk about what are they going to be doing with this night vision gear because i'm here to talk about the encampment sweeps and it's not just about the zone you guys hear about the zone all the time in district 7 but cortez park has been having raids um people are having their birth certificates thrown out they're having their constitutional rights violated uh is the extra 315 000 so that the cops can stake innocent people out at night too um i'm curious as to as to what they're going to be doing with that because i know it's not going to be solving crimes because they have a nationally laughable 11 rape solvency statistic still per the fbi so i want to know what good what good giving i want to know how how do we know this is going to go to good instead of their continued evils and constitutional rights violations you know y'all should be acting like the doj is watching you for how the unshelter are being treated because guess what they are thank you for your time our final comment will be from jessica all right well thank you very much for explaining that the money has been already allocated now that i know that and i did not understand that before and hopefully anybody else watching does what i would like to know is why is this money that is being allocated for more things that i do not think that they deserve that's the police force or need why is it not being allocated to things like training for them because as the sergeant or i'm sorry whatever your rank was mentioned they had to shoot somebody but they didn't have the right ammo i would like that money to instead go to training to de-escalate situations in a much better fashion because you know what you guys shoot you shot somebody in the back you shot a guy in a wheelchair in a back because i don't know he had a knife or something that is unacceptable our police force is dangerous to its own citizens we need better training and i don't even know what we need but we need to change something because people are literally being harassed and assaulted and there's a video last year of the person getting beat up and i'm sure their their cameras didn't work and everything there is no trust between the population and the police that needs to be addressed the money needs to go to that and not an ice cream truck that is not an answer the money needs to be redirected to proper community training and not to more toys for them to murder us that is all council member questions or comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio yes garcia no guardado o'brien yes stark f waring we next go to item 49 the buses contract award do we have a motion yes i would like to move item 49 second we have a motion and a second we have one member of the public here to address the council joanna strother afternoon mayor and city council members my name is joanna strother and i serve as the senior advocacy director for the american lung association we know that you have an immediate bus replacement needs right now in the city of phoenix and i'm glad to see that there are now restrictions in place to stop the city from continuing to depend on fossil fuels for your bus fleets field clinicians are the largest source of our air pollution burdens the american lung association's 2020 road to clean air report revealed transportation electrification could yield up to 1.5 billion in health care benefits in arizona annually through adopting of electric transportation including buses this is a much stronger proposal and i'm glad to see it being paired with an expanded investments in zero emission transit there has never been a more important time for lung health so thank you for considering cleaner zero mission transit councilwoman i'm sorry thank you mayor um i have some questions for mario and jesus if they are available mayor councilwoman yes i'm here thank you sorry it's hard to see you um very small from here thank you so much um first of all thank you so much for all of the hard work that you have done on this i was hoping that you could maybe explain a little bit for the public's sake what has changed from november to now on this specific item mayor councilwoman i'm sorry for this particular item for item number 49. this is a proposed contract award to gillig manufacturing we put out an rfp last year we got a few bids in and we evaluated them and this is a company that we are familiar with the currently make a portion of our fleet and what we've been doing kind of in the background is is a couple of things and this is related to item 51 um two items away for the green transit rfp so to your question councilwoman i'm sorry we're doing a couple things number one we are expanding the value of the green transit rfp which is item 51. um the council approved that item on november 17th last year and um it's basically the same theory where we're going to go out and procure and test on a long-term basis uh cleaner burning cleaner burning buses including uh uh electric um but we're basically going to put out an rfp to see what do the vehicle manufacturers have available pricing capacity delivery times things like that but most importantly performance so this item ties into that in that we we see it as a two-pronged approach number one we need to keep our fleet up and running and um compressed natural gas which is what we would buy for the first few years off of this contract is a proven technology in our region so we're looking to purchase 40 buses off of this contract to start and then we will engage in subsequent conversations with city council on an annual basis to talk about what do we buy moving forward based on basically proven technology and what the bus manufacturers have available the other thing i would mention is we are looking at the potential to enter into a cooperative contract with the state of washington that has more readily available i'll call it other newer technologies to see in case we do get funding from the bil at the federal level what kind of newer technologies might we want to test out in our region and we would basically use that as a stop gap measure in between putting out the green transit rfp this spring and then getting in proposals and evaluating them and coming back to council for a future award wonderful thank you that was very very um very clear so just um i guess again to re-emphasize i think what i am very happy about um in terms of this specific item is that we are no longer just authorizing five years up to 145 million dollars as a blanket but this item will continue to come back every single year to council to reapprove and my hope would be that by that point like you said the green transit pilot the cooperative contracts there has been success in those areas so maybe we start to diversify our fleet so that next year when we have to replace the buses that need replacement most urgently um it's not entirely cng buses but a mixture so i appreciate that um thank you again for all of the work on this we'll get more into the details of the green transit when that comes i think i definitely don't want my vote to take away from um making sure that our system is reliable but excited that we are going to be making serious strides towards electrifying our fleets and diversifying in the future years so thank you again and i'll be voting yesterday on this item thank you council vice mayor jesus um as you stated this was continued on from november 17th and my understanding is that uh there were several comments on re-looking at this contract and asking for what's what we could do to move to clean energy or electric um after your explanation what i heard was uh there are 40 buses that we'll be purchasing that need uh replacement at this time as this time vice mayor yes that's where what we are looking to order uh for the first year and then from there that's where we're going to start uh looking at different ways of oh gosh i lost the term of our carbon footprint by looking at possible electric hybrid different ways of bringing in new buses that is correct councilwoman we want to look at what's available out there and as you know we had this a little bit of just a similar discussion at last month's tip subcommittee there are several things in play there's the federal funding that we're going to apply for if we're successful there that will give us some options but we also want to talk to different vehicle manufacturers to see what do they have available in terms of technology what we'll perform here in our environment because just because it performs in another city does not necessarily we're going to mean we're going to see the same results here and then the other thing is what's their capacity to [Music] work us into their production schedules and then how long would it take to get some of this technology so vice mayor you're correct we're basically giving ourselves lots of options so that after this first year we can have continued conversations with council on what do we do in subsequent years okay so my understanding is we'll start to phase with the direction of the council as we phase and i would hope we would pilot many different mechanisms only to see what will be what will hold up within our with our weather that is correct vice mayor we want to incorporate proven technology okay thank you thank you roll call i'm sorry yes decisio yes garcia yes yes o'brien stark yes waring next we go to a related item item 51 the green transit technology rfp do we have a motion uh making a motion for item 51 sorry thank you we have a motion and a second we have a large numbers of our residents to speak on this item so we'll begin with public comment we will begin with michael martinez followed by blanca hi can you hear me yes good afternoon city council members i'm calling in support of the initiative to convert city public transit buses to electric it makes sense fiscally considering how much money will be saved by eliminating fuel costs also the recently passed federal infrastructure bill will provide a lot of the funding for this program so should we take full advantage of these benefits what i like most about human innovation and technology is the potential to enhance our personal lives communities and the systems we create use and improve upon this initiative would do just that as the stewards entrusted with the power to chart the future course of this city's development i hope that you see how pivotal today's vote is to catapult us into the future and places on par with other cities who are utilizing this technology as well as enabling us to scale back on toxic gas emissions uh thank you for your time and please vote yes for this proposal thank you blanca is next followed by sasan thank you very much and good afternoon that for everybody that is here present my name is good afternoon my name is blanca and i am the member a member of a group named [Applause] that in one of the areas most contaminated in the city and us living here in the east and in the west part of the city we are the people that are mostly affected by the can contamination and smog here in the city and as a mother of a family it concerns me so much about the quality of life of our children that will be living in the future and i really really like to ask that we can make an effort to improve the environment in which we're living in and mankind is trying to explore other parts of the world or other other worlds and within our communities we just have a great need to have more electric buses and that way we can improve our smog something that's just really incredible [Applause] we need to invest in infrastructure ambient to improve the environment in which we're living in necessity and we need to invest in renewable energy for everybody and i am involved in making aware to everybody in our community that they do what's best for our own kids my daughter has every right to breathe in and i don't want her to get sick like other kids that get sick of asthma [Music] and when she grows i don't want her to be living in the environment that's deteriorated sawsan will be next followed by don hi good afternoon can everyone hear me yes awesome thank you hello my name is sosan abdulrahman i am representing chief arizona today as well as well as myself as a resident of phoenix i want to thank the city council for being intentional about this vote and bringing it back and giving it the time and attention it needs this is the type of leadership we hope to continue seeing from our elected officials mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis must be the top priority for our council to ensure the future livability of our city and safety of our communities phoenix arizona as you all know is now the fastest growing city in the country and the fifth largest city as well as one of the fastest warming cities and among the city with the poorest air quality nationally as we continue to grow and invest in city infrastructure we must design a city that will be resilient to the climate crisis which is not incoming but already here as a city we are on the front lines of this crisis and the communities that chispa arizona seeks to serve are even more so vulnerable we know that issues such as worsening air quality and increased urban heat island effect are caused in part by a lack of investment in green transit initiatives and we also know that transit investments across the valley have been inequitable with extensive investment and highway expansion and modes of transit that favor car owners and that only further perpetuate our environmental problems while public transit users are left with unreliable and unsafe options particularly in our hot summer time so we call on the city council to vote yes in support of this extremely necessary and needed budget expansion and investment in the green transit pilot program we call on our elected officials to represent the needs of their constituency the health of our community and the protection of our lived environment we are the people who elected you to your positions and we will be watching how you continue to lead on this crucial climate work thank you for your time [Music] you don we'll be next followed by tamika good afternoon esteem council can you hear me [Music] yes we can all right um my name is don amidon um i live in uh district three i'm calling to thank city city staff and phoenix city council for considering this bold and forward-thinking pro expansion of funding for green public transit phoenix has some of the worst air quality in the country and can be seen in the smog that hangs over the city uh public transportation is the biggest contributor to this to this important health issue the federal government has just passed a historic investment in infrastructure including billions of dollars in to public transportation um phoenix has an average of 299 days of sunshine and uh would be the best city to lead the best city to lead and an all-electric uh public transportation system uh this money can also be used uh used to build the in uh the infrastructure to power and maintain uh these vehicles and free the city of its fossil fuel dependence saving untold millions of dollars that can be used for other important uh city programs and infrastructure needs i applaud city staff for proposing this expansion and strongly urge the phoenix city council to support this bold investment in zero emission transit this will repair our city for the future and is a smart and cost effective investment thank you thank you tamika is next followed by catherine hi hi um can everybody hear me yes we can okay hi my name is tamika brown and i'm a resident of district four and i'm calling to ask that the city council vote to fund green public transportation i think we need electric buses because as someone who use public transportation franklin and also suffers from respiratory issues i think we need i think we need cleaner air because i know that i myself would benefit from it i also noticed a lot of small hanging over the city and that is not a good look for the city of phoenix the federal government just passed a historic bipartisan infrastructure bill that offers billions of dollars for flexible transportation phoenix should take full advantage of this exciting time and use the money while we have the opportunity this green transit pilot program is the perfect opportunity to do so i just want to thank the city council for allowing me to speak today and voice my opinion and i really hope we can get this started thank you for your time thank you catherine is next followed by nicholas hello yes can everyone hear me now we can wonderful okay thank you um my name is kat castaneda i live in the melrose area of district four and first off i want to say that i'm calling to thank the phoenix city council for taking the time to consider the expansion of funding to begin a much needed transition to green public transit i have lived in central phoenix for over 30 years and i've seen the continuing decline in our air quality i myself have asthma and there are now days when even with medication i have difficulty breathing i have friends and family who do not visit anymore because they cannot tolerate the poor air quality that is evident in the cloud of smog that often hangs over phoenix the federal government has just passed the historic infrastructure bill and this green transit pilot program would seem to be the perfect opportunity to put some of that funding to use while other cities like tucson and mesa are making the move toward cleaner public transportation phoenix is the largest city in our state and phoenix should be leading these efforts in fact i believe that we have a responsibility to lead on this particular issue and i'm glad to see that our city council takes that responsibility to heart they say all eyes are on arizona so i applaud the city staff for bringing this proposal forward and i earnestly encourage the city council to support the investment in zero emission transit not only for the sake of the air quality in phoenix but as an example to other cities of what smart cost effective investments can mean for the future of all of us and i thank the city council for taking the time to hear me thank you nick is next followed by rhoda uh hello thank you my name is nicholas sicalone i'm a resident of district four and have lived in phoenix my entire life i'm going to thank the council for considering this expansion of funding for green initiatives growing up in phoenix i was always aware of the poor air quality here the brown cloud is something everyone who lives in the phoenix area is familiar with as i get older i begin to notice the effects of dirty air first hand as my respiratory health has been affected by it it is in our best interest as residents of this city to do everything we can to ensure cleaner air for ourselves and future residents of the valley and an electric bus fleet is a big part of doing that i applaud the council for considering this initiative and urged them to support investment in zero emission transit thank you for your time thank you rhoda is next followed by katie good afternoon my name is rhoda gambler and i just moved to district number seven i wanted to first express my gratitude for being included in this exciting historical consideration for more green public transit as an avid hiker air quality is a major concern while i enjoy reading the wit and cleverness of the adopt messages on the freeway signs i always cringe when reading a sign with a message that relates to low air quality i also find myself shuttering when i'm behind the city bus and as it pulls away it spews out a large black cloud i can't help imagining and longing for one day when all buses have gone green as a taxpayer i would much rather invest in electric buses that will be a long-term investment with overall less cost of fuel and maintenance i'm thrilled we have a city staff advocating for a better phoenix and urge this phoenix city council to support this bold investment in zero emission transit making phoenix a city that i'm proud to live in thank you katie is next followed by rsle hello can you hear me fine can you hear me beautifully okay my name is katie lavra and i am currently living in district 4 laura pastore and i'm calling to thank the city staff and the city of phoenix council for considering this bold expansion of funding for green public transit now i is a native arizona have been here all 61 years of my life and i do encourage the city council to focus more on electric buses because the air quality pollution is so bad in phoenix especially during the with the winter months as we all know people with asthma and respiratory conditions have a really hard time breathing and there are more and more people getting sick because of the pollution that is and this is a good way to help prevent and mitigate that also being the fifth largest city in america i know from being a native again of arizona we have fallen behind in comparison to other big cities it is time for us to catch up by becoming greener and setting an example for the other cities this is also a very good way to reach our goals as a city for our greenhouse gases i encourage the city council to vote yes for the electric transit thank you for your time thank you so much araceli is next [Music] a and but i do want to say that i'm very proud to be living here and i do want to motivate the city council to think about this about the electric buses and i'm very happy that phoenix approved a measure for this topic here but we want the plan to continue ahead for our city [Music] foreign and we need to think about our our future having the ambition of having clean air for our kids for our grandkids for everybody living in the future and uh also in uh the communities of color people and we as people living with low income living in south phoenix and west phoenix we're living in these areas where is the most contaminated in the city of phoenix like it was previously mentioned and we also are the people that mostly used public transport and also and i also would like to just uh mention that we should invest in bus said with buses with zero emissions and for the interest of residents [Music] and i also would like to encourage the city council to be in favor on the item on the agenda number 51. i thank you alex is next followed by joanna hi good afternoon city council can you hear me yes we can hi i just first of all my name is alex rosado i live on 4902 east thomas road in district 6 and i just want to thank the city council for taking up this resolution that is very forward-thinking and it's something that i think has been desperately needed in our city i've been aware but other cities neighboring cities like 10 p.m mesa have already started adopting similar policies and this will give you a chance for the city of phoenix to catch only catch up but maybe actually become the leader in the region and also mr arizona to electrify and find renewable resources when it comes to our transportation here in arizona and again i just want to thank the city council for their time for having uh this amazing resolution on their plate right now and thank you for considering it thank you joanna is next and then our final speaker on item 51 will be julian good afternoon again mayor and city council members again my name is joanna strother and i serve as the senior director of advocacy for the american lung association we also wanted to comment on item agenda 51. the american lung association's 2021 state of the air report ranked phoenix as the fifth most polluted city in the country for ozone and as you've heard from so many of the speakers today we all know that phoenix faces some of the worst air quality problems in the country the transportation sector is one of the biggest contributors to this and that can be seen from the smog that often hangs over our city and felt through higher asthma rates copd exacerbations and lung cancer diagnosis with the federal government historic investment in infrastructure including billions of dollars for public transportation phoenix should take full advantage of this and use the money while we have the opportunity the green transit pilot program provides the perfect opportunity to do so investing in clean air means investing in our health and i applaud city staff for proposing the expansion and urge phoenix city council to support this investment in zero emission transit thank you speaker will be julian holland against member of the hello members of the city council my name is julian cepeda and i am a member of chispa arizona the phoenix arizona and i'm also a resident of phoenix arizona i'm part of the latino community and i'd also like to talk about my experience living here in the city of the green transit for las vegas i support the green transit program for the following reasons when the city is breaking records for heat we get to the point where we're at 118 degrees [Music] and during this high heat our metal bus stops are not providing any type of shade or relief at all sombra a and i asked her to advocate for more shade that way it'll be cooler and the climate would be better and it'll be cooler necessary and we need to invest in planting more trees so our city could be cooler um as the city is growing public transport is our transportation is getting even worse and we need it to get better for us the people that are using it and the buses are always late and they're breaking down especially in the summertime and they're breaking down because of the heat and so this puts people from living in the city at risk their lives are at risk of and in all reality this climate is real and so we need to approach it in a very serious manner and so we need to invest in zero emission buses that will improve our health and it'll make our city greener thank you to all who participated in this important agenda item that concludes public comment i will turn back to the council councilwoman i'm sorry thank you mayor i think this concludes a very strong day on sustainability at the city of phoenix one of the residents said that all eyes are on arizona and i think really all eyes are on phoenix and i truly believe that this vote today and this investment will set us on a path to transition to a hundred percent zero emission bus fleet in this decade this investment will not only reduce emissions and improve air quality but it will also create good clean jobs in our community and we know data shows us that electric and hybrid electric buses and transportation will save the city money in the long run in the form of reduced maintenance and fuel costs and it's great that federal help is also on the way finally i really want to thank and give my huge praise to mario paniagua and jesus sapien for working with us extremely closely over the last few months to be able to re-envision what our public transportation can look like and especially the timeline to get us there faster so thank you so much i'm very excited to support this item and thank you to everyone who called in today thank you councilwoman gordado thank you mayor i am very thankful to have the item back in front of the council today as a member of the transportation infrastructure and planning subcommittee my staff and i were concerned when the new citywide bus contract proposed in october did not include any pathway for transition our fleet to electric power buses because the item failed to incorporate our city commitments to sustainability and the spirit of our recently adopted climate action plan i voted against the item since that time my team has worked with councilwoman ansari in her office to ensure that the work she is leading on the city's electric vehicle ad hoc is incorporated today in the green transect technology rfp i want to take a moment to personally thank councilwoman ansari and her staff for all of their hard work on this item and for continuing to champion a more sustainable future for our city i also want to thank vice mayor pastor and council member garcia who i know also have been working really hard with their teams on this issue and also council member di cicio um for his comments in the in the last meeting um in his take and his take on everything as well with the passage of this item we will be committing 150 million over five years to transition from compressed natural gas powered buses to electric buses these buses will be cleaner they will be more efficient and they will incorporate the technology and jobs of the future i have spoken toward to our partners in the labor community and they are committed to ensuring that the electric vehicle future we are investing in today will bring forward good jobs with livable wages strong pensions and affordable health care and we will all work together to ensure that no worker are left behind with job training programs and opportunities for an advancement through apprenticeships finally i would like to thank our public transit director jesus sabian and deputy city manager mario paniagua for their hard work on this item we will not be where we are today without the commitment and leadership on this plan thank you mayor and i'm very proud to be able to support this item today thank you councilwoman roll call i'm sorry yes to cco and mayor just a really quick comment i do want to thank everybody that worked on this this was not easy it was very difficult councilwoman i'm sorry councilwoman boidado i mean they're just amazing to work with and they've done just an incredible job here on the council and uh just proud to be part of this team thank you mayor yes garcia mayor if i could just make a quick comment um just want to thank the chiefs but team and those that called and and who are continuing to do the work um i think you know my colleagues have said a lot of what i was going to say i just want to focus on two things i think we're serious about the climate action plan so it's not just buses i think any other state any other purchases that are coming forward we need departments to be able to look at these green options before they come forward and then uh secondly like everyone has said i'm glad we were able to resolve this talk it through um and excited to have uh green buses coming to phoenix yes yes o'brien stark yes waring yes a store yes um i just wanted to make a comment and saying thank you for all those that were involved and spoke up uh this will be actually my second vote for electric buses uh my original vote was with phoenix union and uh incorporating electric buses into the fleet and now this will be a second with our city buses so appreciate all the work and uh thank everybody that was part of this yes diego yes passes 9-0 we next move to our final agenda items for today reminding everyone item 73 was continued or uh remanded um which is the certificate of appropriateness for 309 west monte vista road in the willow historic district before we hear from our staff report i just wanted to thank michelle dodd that is her last formal meeting with us on the phoenix city council she began with the city as an intern and then councilwoman stark wisely hired her for the position as the city's historic preservation officer it is a very complex and and nuanced position a lot of balancing different interests understanding our history and um she has helped us with so many events that would probably be uh so many areas that were beyond her job description but want to say thank you for your service to the city of phoenix to michelle with that let me talk us through how we will go with agenda item 72 we'll begin with the staff report then i'll open the public hearing we will hear five minute presentations from each side we'll begin with the applicant and then the appellant the applicant has the ability to reserve some of the time at the end to reply if you would like within your five minutes but not required there will also be a significant public testimony i think we have 14 in opposition on that then we will close the public hearing and i will turn to the vice mayor who represents the area for a motion with that i will turn to alan stephenson our planning and development director for a staff report thank you mayor members of council this item is an appeal of a historic preservation commission decision on a certificate of appropriateness for a proposed uh addition to a single-family home within the willow historic district i have with me uh miss michelle dodds as you've noted uh and also mr kevin waite from the sword preservation office ms dodds will go through the presentation and mr waite will help us any questions that the council may have thank you um mayor thank you for the very kind words and marin council um so this case is at 309 west mont vista road it's in the willow historic district you can see in the aerial the house is highlighted the application is to construct a two-story 1152 square foot garage and yoga studio with an elevated walkway to the main house here is the site plan showing the new garage and yoga studio pushed all the way back on the lot and so the you're seeing an elevation there the proposal is 20 foot tall whereas the house is 14 foot tall and here is a rendering of what that edition would look like some additional positions on the rendering and the perspective view here is what you would see from the street at this angle this is a sanborn map from 1949 the subject site is highlighted in purple and you can see the other circled properties in blue all show two story structures they're noted as such on the plan and most of those are accessory buildings the general design guidelines for historic properties talk about within the historic residential areas new construction should be similar in height shape and materials to the structures in the vicinity where changes in size must occur the visual impact of the new construction should be minimized by stepping back the new construction from the historic buildings and so this proposal is again step back all the way back on the lot so the point here being that the new construction is pushed back as far as it can be on the lot and they've actually reduced the ceiling plates and overall height to the lowest possible to allow a two-story structure the hearing officer hearing was held on september 21st of 2021 and they did recommend approval with three stipulations one that the north and south elevations be included in the final submittal along with a prospective view of the house and proposed building from the sidewalk northwest of the property two that the walkway or staircase access is chosen before the submittal and that three all windows egress general building code and zoning issues are all settled before final submittal the hearing officer's decision was appealed by tom dasher of the willow zoning committee at the historic preservation commission meeting there was a split vote the appeal was heard on november 15 of 2021 it was the it was approved by a 5-4 vote with a modification to stipulation 2. and that was that the staircase access be used the second story rather than the elevated walkway to the main house the commission's decision was appealed by tom dasher representing the willow neighborhood association governing board the options before the council today you could uphold the decision of the commission or you could reverse the decision of the commission and deny the project and with that we're happy to answer any questions mayor councilwoman stark i'm sorry michelle what was the vote again at the commission i apologize yes um the vote at the commission was five four five in favor of the project and four opposed to the motion okay thank you thank you thank you mayor thank you any additional questions or comments before we open the public hearing all right and again each side we'll have five minutes we'll begin with bruce mcarthur and then we'll go to bob cannon so bruce the floor is yours thank you are you able to hear me listen we see a slide okay oh good okay well hey there i'm jennifer hunter i'm here as well so we'd like to reserve um a minute at the end my wife jennifer is here too and actually uh we'll we'll just go through this quickly together and this this slide uh at the at the outset here is is simply stating what we think is the case here that the um garage we're calling it a yoga studio slash home office project there will be no um anyway yeah well all what so we have not like a commercial yoga studio or anything like that that was just maybe a bad choice of my personal space we have two kids with um my husband was born and raised in phoenix um our daughters were third generation born at goodsam we've both lived in historic neighborhoods for a long time we've been in our house since 2002. when the pandemic struck we have um you know we our girls were sharing a bedroom and we ended up needing to move them out so that they could have their own space which gave us no um personal space and office space and so we're looking at building a garage we don't have one i have an electric car i need to plug it in down at the lung station and uh and so we'd like to build some extra space on top we called it a yoga studio but it's really some personal space for me um someplace that i can work um and that's what it is we um so we can switch the slide well okay i just want all right and then before we got started on this project we went and talked with all of our neighbors and so um we're able to if we switch the slide to the next slide um these are some letters as well that are some of our neighbors have written on our behalf and then the next slide and the next slide those are also letters and then here you'll see um our neighborhood is is here um over on the right side it's um you can imagine the park here and so the support from our neighbors on the north side of our street goes from fifth avenue all the way over to uh then the third house from uh third avenue is is uh would prefer uh one story brad bauer who's the vice president of the willow also opposes um the and then on the south side of monte vista uh there's there's support at the end our neighbor to the immediate west of us takes no position but does not oppose this project we're not sure of the position of the person who is on our right the two people behind us support our position uh so of course we've talked with all of our neighbors and they're very supportive mo ev in fact everybody um supported it until the um people on the board started going door to door trying to generate um opposition but next slide this is our home east to west next slide this is another rendition and so you know it's a little cartoonish but um but it gives the general idea of how it'll look next slide please i mean you saw these next slide please and this is our the the house right on the next block or same street it had an original two-story garage this is um the rendition that was in i think the newspaper and that's a picture of the house currently next slide please um right two doors down there was another original two-story garage um and this is a picture of what it looks like so ours is going to look very similar to these original ones that are right here on our block in our street next slide please um this is an original um two-story garage on cyprus 314 and 320 next slide please and this one is 317 cypress this is an original two-story garage as well next slide please um this again is an original two-story garage on cypress it's the one on the right and you can see on the left um here's another original two story you can see on the left a two-story um structure that was added on there are a lot of two-story structures in the neighborhood next slide please um these are original two-story garages 514 and 521 holly i could just say here about the one on the right that it's similar in many respects to ours although there's a lot more of the garage that is showing here since ours won't show that much uh directly from the street but that's a similar kind of house and and uh plan for the two-story that we have right there although ours in your final minute just so you know thank you next next slide please wow yeah and so um there are a number the the powerpoint goes through a number of them and then we have a lot of other um pictures of there's an um that if you can back up one um oops there we go this one was built in the last 15 years ours is not going to be that visible and the next one please and the next slide this was built a two-story garage filled five years ago without any opposition and then the next slide please um this is a recent story that was built on cyprus my understanding is that also 117 palm there's a two-story that's going up with the support of the board um and so we feel like what we're trying to do is consistent with the neighborhood we've taken great pains in restoring our house to what it originally was we've really tried to maintain that historic integrity and we've been here since 2002 we'd like to stay we're long-time phoenix residents we think it's important to live in the city we want our children to live here and grow up here and we just simply need a place to park and a little bob cannon will present next good afternoon this is bob cannon dr robert cannon president of the willow neighborhood association can i have my slides on please thank you so much i appreciate it once again my name is bob cannon president of the willow neighbor association thank you for hearing our presentation today for the next slide please the next slide please i'd like to begin by defining the willow neighborhood associations of phoenix largest phoenix historic district uh historic association we stretch from mcdowell to thomas rhodes 1st to 7th avenues willow encompasses nearly 1 000 historic homes in the heart of phoenix next slide please this is some visuals from our recent holiday in the park we have the bullet neighborhood logo willow kids club our annual willow home store street and fair is upcoming next slide please the history of the pride and commitment of our neighborhood willow's homes were mostly built between 1910 and 1950. very important point the boiler conservation plan was adopted by the city of phoenix in 1986 the willow district was the national register of historic places in his historic district in 1991. the willow neighbor associate has been registered with the city of phoenix for more than 30 years we are man mandated by the willow conservation plan to work with all residents of willow and the city of phoenix which is exactly what i'm doing today importantly the willow governing board consists of four officers nine at large members and we are all elected officials within our community we have our communication willa website and our inside willow magazine next please now that i've given you a little foundation of the neighborhood here's why we're here today the appeal of one one hbca2100117 on october fourteenth at our open meeting we voted unanimously to support appealing the historic preservation officer's decision to approve this two-story garage slash yoga studio at 309 west monte vista we heard the issue again in the open public meeting on november 11th and as well as december 9th in oakland forum next issue please next slide please these are the summaries of issues on appeal the hearing office rule is based on the incomplete following information number one the staff report ignored phoenix historic preservation guidelines which require secondary buildings be subordinate to the historic main building and the new garage should maintain the original relationship to the house you saw the pictures the staff report ignored the city of phoenix zoning ordinance 8112d which requires the elements of massing at scale must be completed with their certificate appropriateness massing was never addressed by the decision makers number three next slide please historic preservation staff invented a special entitlement for the broadmoor subdivision to have two store garages i have lived in willow 24 years i have been on the board of president 14 of those and my career is the president of willow for eight years almost 10 years i would say i have never ever heard a case used for justification for their broadmoor zoning in fact i had to look up the bullet conservation plan and the word broadmoor is never even in it willa became historic district in 1991 applications for new two-story buildings at a taller store maine have routinely been denied by the historic preservation office 133 west palm 13 west wilshire just happened within the last year both of those were modified and built accordingly bullet point number three i was shocked to hear this statement by his store preservation commission said her basis for dying the appeal was there are two-story carriage houses in roosevelt we are not in roosevelt roosevelt does not about will a conservation plan we are have to abide by the willow conservation plan which your predecessors and former colleagues voted on next slide please here is a map of the broadmoor within the willow district this is this is a total map of the complete willa district next slide is the blue section which you will see is the broadmoor section according to the city of phoenix within the willow district and again i will remind you the broadmoor section is not listed in the willow conservation plan next you saw the um this the home pictures here just to remind the secondary new structures such as garages and buildings should be subordinate and in size the next picture you can see the pink shaded block in the back is certainly not subordinate and in size with the scope of the front of the house next picture this is a very important point the application did not provide north elevation depicting both existing building and proposed new construction so provide public access to the vital material information that is required to a fair hearing as you can see in the next chart next slide this is the own cities document with the yellow apartments next time is this a one minute or a five minute you're actually over five minutes oh all right let me get to the conclusion the very last slide please i didn't hear my one-minute warning um conclusion um we obviously are against the three uh story uh west monte vista the doorbell nemour constructions of homes and and final conclusion i just want to say that bruce and jennifer i've known their kids i've watched them grow up the city should have prevented this step one and and i'm really sorry we're here today this has caused some some strife in our neighborhood and the this issue is is a serious issue for the not only the not only for willow but other neighborhoods are watching and uh so i appreciate your time and uh thank you for your attention and we will look forward to seeing everybody at annual home for on february 20th thank you thank you we will now go to public comment this will be two minutes for everyone there will be no powerpoint slides during this portion and uh no warnings we'll begin with bob herman who will be followed by ann hi i'm bob herman i live at 502 west monte vista road a little more than a little less than a block from the 309 project and i will be able to see that project from my kitchen window and from from my front yard i'll be able to see the 24 by 24 by 20 structure bob's presentation detailed the errors that were made in the uh original decision to be made the historic preservation commission the meeting one of the commissioners which voted against moving the project forward what good are guidelines if they aren't followed so clearly the guidelines were not followed and why are we hearing this one other commissioner says why are we hearing this it shouldn't have gotten to us so all of us are wasting our time talking about this because it should have been stopped at the original hearing the homeowner was shortchanged the homeowner was not shortchanged they were not educated they were not assisted by the hp staff person so what i'm asking is the council to decide with willow's appeal and and give the the applicant the ability to go back to the historic preservation commission get a new staff person which will work with them assist them to get in us accept acceptable project and have their project go before a new different hearing officer thank you thank you and we'll be next followed by brad hello uh is that ann bummersma oh yes i'm sorry there's only one anne okay that's me then um thank you uh my name is anne bummersbah um i'm here to speak in opposition to the cfa granted to the property at 309 west monte vista i'm a member of the willow neighborhood association and serve on the zoning committee i'm also a treasurer of the phoenix neighborhood coalition uh i'm treasurer of that uh the president is gigi george uh and you should have a letter in your packet from her also opposing the project my main objection to this is that allowing this will set a precedent for other two-story structures that are clearly not subordinate to the primary home um historic preservation guidelines dictate uh that the structure secondary structure should be subordinate this one will be nearly 50 percent higher um and by any definition of that word subordinate i don't think it could be defined that way uh it's clearly not subordinate uh so i i believe it will may set a present precedent for new construction now you've seen um people you've heard people refer to other uh structures that were not subordinate those were generally done before willow became historic if this one is approved now that will mean that going forward new construction will be able to point to this and say well that one was 50 higher it was approved after willow became a historic district so it will set a president precedent for many more of these i believe uh especially giving the given the house housing shortage we have uh these days and people's efforts to take care of that issue i can see more of these uh being built maybe for that but in any case um i i think that this should not be approved because uh because of the precedent so i ask you [Music] thank you brad is next followed by tom hello this is brad brower i'm a neighbor to this property i live across the street at 302 west monte vista i've been here for almost 18 years and all that time i've been calling the applicants bruce and jen not applicants so i'm kind of feel a little bit cold by that word so um we are neighbors um been here as bob said watching both their their daughters grow up um and then this this situation's a bit unfortunate and as uh bob herman stated hp shows thought nip this in the bud stop this following their own guidelines and the commission as well the one voting voting commissioner said this will be stopped by zoning so why why should we bother with it here um but as a neighbor vice president will neighborhood association former president block watch and many other committees uh committee chairs and a realtor who sells a lot in this community i think this will do once again setting a precedent precedent that should not be we should not have to deal with here in the neighborhood um i think a smaller scale size of this that i won't be able to see from my front yard my front window and from walton park which is the heart of this neighborhood would be a better choice um and unfortunately i kind of feel like hp has left us as an advocate and protector of historic preservation historic neighborhoods and historic homes and once again we should not be here thank you for your time tom is next followed by erica hi my name's tom dodger i'm the chair of the will of zoning committee i really wish i wasn't here speaking on this today i don't think we should be and i think previous speakers have pointed that out and bob cannon also did but as you know willa was formed in 1986 as a special conservation district and then became a historic district in 1991. i've been on the zoning board since 2006. i do not recall any other two-story structures being built in someone's backyard when willow was formed our mission was to continue to be a snapshot of the architectural history of phoenix and we still are and we want that to continue we understand change occurs in the city and that that changes the landscape of the city however willow wants to uphold our obligation to be a steward of our historic district so that this living museum lasts for all to enjoy i ask that you help preserve willow by voting to uphold our appeal to overturn the hp hearing officer's ill-advised decision to grant a certificate of appropriateness to construct a two-story accessory building in our neighborhood thank you erica is next followed by alba thank you mayor vice mayor and members of the city council my name is erica gagnon and i'm a willow resident and board member i'm calling in to oppose the construction of the two-story garage at 309 west monte vista the structure is completely out of compliance with our historic preservation guidelines and the argument that other two-story structures exist in the neighborhood should have no bearing on the consideration of this structure since those were grandfathered in prior to willow becoming a historic district in 1991 the city of phoenix guidelines for historic properties as stated previously as secondary new structures such as garages and outbuildings should be subordinate to the size and appearance of the primary historic building also per the guidelines the historic building should be a key element of the overall site plan and incorporated in a manner that maintains its visual prominence this structure is not appropriate and does not fit the criteria due to its designed height its encroachment on the next door neighbors which are all one story structures and the uh the view from walton park won't be ideal because that's where the community holds most of its social gatherings i want to encourage you to deny this request the integrity and preservation of our historic neighborhood is dependent on all residents and all city officials following the historic guidelines put into place by the city of phoenix thank you for your time thank you alba is next followed by brent i am unable to hear all but can others may or she is on but we do not have audio for her all right we'll go to brent and then sandra and we can try alba one more time later hello hello we can hear you oh fantastic well thank you very much for um taking my my thoughts my um input on this and i i do want to ask you as a city council to oppose this um motion for this garage i i live in district four i live in encanto palm croft i've been a member of the encanto palm crop and president for nearly eight years as well and we've worked with willow with fq story with roosevelt in many instances in many cases trying to preserve the characteristics of these historic neighborhoods and trying to follow the plans and the guidelines that historic preservation office has set out and we have worked diligently to create and promote within our neighborhoods and i feel that there were just so many mistakes made at the very beginning of this from the improper application without the visual drawing to see this two-story building from the street view i feel that was an intentional omission by the applicant and i'm very disappointed that the historic preservation office approved it moving forward without that once it was pointed out i am concerned at the subsequent meetings the manner in which strange word comparisons had been made to say this can fit this may fit um if you just simply look at the drawings that have been submitted at this last minute with this pink garage looming over the house it's very clear this goes against every cruel regulation ideal that we've fought to ensure with historic preservation for the years and decades we've done this and so i please ask you to oppose this thank you sandra's next followed by opal is sandra left hello yes my name is sandra lefkovic i am a member of the board i live at 506 west coronado road i'm also the editor of inside willow magazine my what i would like to stress is that the conservation plan which was adopted by the phoenix city council in 1986 was not taken into account whatsoever in this decision-making and we believe that this is a problem and it's very detrimental to the willow historic thank you thank you opal is next followed by and it sounds like i should use last names opal wagner followed by john morris okay there's only one opal mayor so that's fine um thank you uh mayor gallego and council and i'm i'm also serve on the willow board and i and also have served on the zoning committee for nearly eight years now i think so i have been to a lot of these hearings and you can gather our neighbors neighborhoods leadership is really in shock over this decision and the reason why every time since 1991 that someone's asked for a two-story addition or a two-story garage it's been denied and and normally it's done out of pocket the the planners will tell the person this this is against the historic preservation guidelines you cannot have a two-story but here's what you can do and they're great as far as consulting with people and we've supported many many many projects in willow where people want to extend expand their living space and we would do the same for bruce and jennifer if if it was within the guidelines i wanted to read and i i don't want to get too much in the weeds here but we went back we did a bunch of public records requests and i i found a two-story garage application from not too long ago it's in it's in a neighboring historic district but it but i picked it up because jody's the planner the same planner and it was the same hearing officer margie and here here's what happened there and and this is directly from the report the garage is proposed to nearly a foot taller than the rigid main ridge of the house and one and a half feet taller than the highest parapet of the historic house thus diminishing dominating the lot it's one one and a half feet higher than the house dominates the lot and diminishing the historic house even though it was placed as far back on the property line as possible like this one and um the recommendation was there was one stipulation they said yes they can have their garage but the overall height must be reduced to 13 feet or lower to match the tallest parapet of the historic house now that's within the historic guidelines but so the the reason like i said that we're all so in shock over this is everyone in our neighborhood has been denied except a couple that were grandfathered [Music] so we'll go to john morris and then we'll try alba one more time hello can you hear me yes uh good afternoon and thanks for hearing me um i got involved in this whole mess when because i have a application for a certificate of appropriateness that i filed a couple of weeks after bruce and jennifer's application i had no idea that they were even remodeling and during that process i was informed by city staff at historic preservation that the willow neighborhood association was on the war path of two-story construction which is obvious now that they are my architect and i met a lot with the historic preservation group they're they're a fine group they're professionals they're architects they're city planners they understand zoning ordinance they understand building codes they understand history they are professional people the original hearing officer margie parasila is a professional architect she's licensed by the state of arizona to be an architect for 40 years she knows what she's doing the original appeal written by tom dorscher called her she in a very very disrespectful almost misogynistic way it's rude it's offensive there is a ton of my architect and i did a lot of research the research that we did matches exactly with the research that jody and historic preservation did it's great research we also found four or five other two-story structures massive two-story structures that have been built after the 1986 conservation plan 301 west vernon google it look at the street view that's a massive it tripled the square footage of that 900 square foot bungalow the willow group never spoke out in opposition to it they they dislike it so much that it's going to be on the home for this year all right we are gonna try alba one more time and then go to jennifer hunter so alba we did not our staff did not have audio from you before but if you could try again mayor it appears we still do not have audio wonderful then we will go to jennifer hunter and i believe that is all of our speakers jennifer the floor is yours mayor uh jennifer does not have audio connected as well okay oh can you hear now yes we can okay sorry about that this is jennifer um they they have been hitting the fact that the conservation plan says it needs to be subordinate to there's no nothing says shorter than um shorter than is one consideration but it's not it and if the experts when this conservation plan was drafted would have been shorter than they would have said that so this the height is one consideration it is not the only consideration there have been despite what um the board members have said there have been a number of properties built the one on vernon there's um 549 west granada that was the second story built five years ago 68 west cyprus within the last 15 years 117 palm is in the process it's about to be built and there was no opposition to that and so they're simply wrong um you notice that the entire board is here it seems overwhelming like there's overwhelming opposition but the reality is is that they're all board and committee members um and they are united in their opposition to us but that's not the the build up in the makeup of the neighborhood the board members were criticizing the city experts for not guiding us appropriately not one time did anybody on the board come and talk with us before they showed up and they accused us of misconduct i'll just add one point as well and that is that nobody who just spoke with the exception of john morris or norris uh expressed any expertise none of them are city planners none of them are architects they may be well intentioned but they are not experts and the people who are experts and who reviewed this [Music] thank you we will close the public hearing i'll turn to the vice mayor thank you mayor um i have spent uh a lot of time or enough time with staff uh discussing this case and i will be adding a stipulation to the motion the motion is to uphold the hp commission certificate of appropriateness decision to approve the project but this is the stipulation the height of the garage and yoga studio not exceed one story 14 feet in height that's my motion thank you we have a motion do we have a second i was second we have a motion and a second any council comments roll call i'm sorry yes decisio garcia [Music] i apologize garcia very sorry garcia can you hear me yes i can hear you now yeah yes thank you yes o'brien yes stark yes 8-0 that concludes today's agendas meeting we will next go to the final section of our meeting which is open public comment and i will turn to our city attorney to introduce this section thank you mayor during citizen comment members of the public may address the city council for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them the arizona open meeting law permits the city council to listen to the comments but prohibits council members from discussing or acting on the matters presented thank you we will begin with bruce shea followed by jessica spencer good afternoon everyone um can you hear me okay we can all right great my name's bruce shea and i'm a constituent living in district 2. i'm also a member of the phoenix branch of the women's international league for peace and freedom as well as their national disarmament and wars committee i'm here today because i want to make the city council aware of the entry into force of the united nations treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons that occurred on january 22nd of 2021 we just recently celebrated its one year anniversary this treaty makes the possession manufacture sale and use of these weapons illegal and calls for nation states possessing these weapons to dismantle them the u.s has not ratified this treaty however it is important for cities and towns in the united states to demonstrate their support as a matter of fact over 70 local governments in the us have done just that it's important because it is the leadership of u.s cities who have to deal directly with the overwhelming impact on its citizens and the infrastructure that they rely on even if a small number of these nuclear weapons are launched somewhere in the world the city of phoenix can demonstrate their support by adopting a resolution to this effect and last night i sent an email to the mayor and each of the council members that defines what a resolution to support this important treaty can look like my ask of the city council is to allocate resources to evaluate the drafting of a resolution in support of the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons my affiliation with the women's international league for peace and freedom allows me to tap into expert testimony that can help the city council on any questions they may have about this important issue i look forward uh thank you for your consideration i look forward to hearing from the council and how we might be able to work together on a path forward thanks thank you jessica is next followed by donald carner thank you good afternoon my name is jessica spencer i am a navy veteran i am currently using my gi bill to pursue a degree in social work i don't know if the council members remember me from last year when i was with other organizations and also calling in at that time when i lived in glendale i mentioned that because i literally moved from glendale to phoenix to address the issues that i see here more directly with our houseless community there is a dire dire need in our streets and all i see is the city council and the police force not allocating funds like they need to to actually help people and i have seen this for over a year now and that's just because i recently started paying attention more people people who have taught me and people who know more than me have been telling you guys for years and i you you don't care you really don't care and it's very obvious to see that that's why we keep giving money to the do when the doj is investigating our police force you put up chains and pulls instead you use the cares act funding to put up chains and polls instead of actually using it to help people the sweeps have been an ongoing issue and they've only recently stopped making people's tents move because of the investigation because of public pressure i recently discovered that the closest park to the zone university park is the only park because i went to them i physically went to these other parks the only park that opens up at 10 30 a.m i was told by park staff that it's because you guys can't the park staff can't get there on time that's obviously not true the city has it out for our houseless community and more and more people are becoming houseless every day with the outrageous rents and in that subcommittee meeting just last week or so ago that i went back and i looked at we're just throwing more money to i don't know this 27th avenue corridor literally the officer said that we are displacing crime in a balloon-like manner and now we want more money so we can chase the crime around so instead of displacing the crime in a balloon manner which is what he said you guys want to play whack-a-mole this is unacceptable what are we doing here people are literally dying continuously and the city from what i see doesn't care we recently got two bathrooms for over 500 people that are left out in the street outside of the encampment areas this is unacceptable what are we doing somebody recently died in front of andre house where the low barrier shelter was denied last year people are dying unacceptable i moved for this that is all donald is next followed by amy maglio premier council thank you for this opportunity to address you today my name is don carner i'm a phoenix citizen and a business owner and i'd like to make you aware of a past issue that reflects on the way the city interfaces with light rail construction going forward i own the property at 1337 east washington street this property was developed in its current configuration in the early 1970s it served various purposes through the end of the 1990s after which it sat vacant until 2013 when i purchased it since that time the property suffered from an inoperable sewer numerous attempts were made to cure this problem until it was determined that the blockage existed under the business access lane on the south side of washington street the cost of this repair made it impossible for us to accomplish until just recently this past year we were able to raise the sixty thousand dollars required to repair the sewer line under washington street when the line was excavated we found that during construction of the light rail system the water mains serving the properties on the south side of washington street was moved during this water line relocation my sewer line was severed and the water line placed so that it cut directly through it my sewer line was then capped with a concrete plug rather than being repaired now it's unfortunate that this happened but i recognize there are always bumps in the road of progress however what's happened since should be of concern i believe to the council and it's certainly a concern to businesses along the current light rail construction route once i completed the repair to my sewer i put together the receipts for the costs and presented them to paula rack a claims adjuster in the city of phoenix risk management department this occurred on may 6th of last year she maintained the city had no part in the construction of its own water line and referred me to ashley groth in risk management at valley metro rail i provided ms groth with the documentation of damages to my property however valley metro then referred me to archer western their contractor for the work on the relevant section of the light rail construction michael kelly a lawyer representing archer western was contacted and after multiple prompts responded with a letter denying the claim as exceeding the statute of limitations as a result of archer western taking a legal approach and their denial i was forced to engage legal counsel with snell and wilmer snellen wilmer promptly corrected the legal opinion of archer western resulting in their assigning my claim to their insurer finally on november 29th seven months after the initial filing i received a settlement offer from their adjuster american computer estimating while we're considering the offer correspondence was received from gallagher bassett a second risk management consultant hired by archer western denying liability for blocking my sewer and offering a 50 reduction in the cost of repairs as their gesture gesture to avoid a lawsuit i hope you find it as shameful as i do that a city of phoenix citizen and business owner clearly damaged by the light rail construction must endure this type of uh construction passed the past the buck and attempts by intimidation of the claims adjuster to force amy is next followed by our final speaker jeremy thacker mayor amy is not on the line jeremy is next hi can you hear me okay yes we can great i am today petitioning the city council um according to chapter 4 section 22 of the city charter to shut down operations of the city-owned municipal golf courses and to reallocate the land uh for either selling or use in another way that's more equitable to all members of the city so and i'd like to start by saying i am not opposed to ball golf i am opposed to city-owned ball golf courses the reason for that is that it's a gross misappropriation of the city's resources and parks resources first of all it's disproportionate percentage of land the number of citizens participating we've got what roughly one percent of the population using exclusively twenty percent of developed parts landscape think about that one percent of our population is getting twenty percent exclusive use of park sites additionally that same one percent of people is getting 33 percent of parks water usage over 1 billion gallons of water are used on the city-owned golf courses annually and they pay less than 70 thousand dollars for also uh the city owning golf courses would be like vegas owning casinos there's a plethora of businesses already in this business there's no reits for the city uh to be competing with tax paying businesses uh there's over 200 golf courses in town so we are now approaching the 10-year anniversary of when the city decided to uh take the golf out of the enterprise fund and the 17 million debt get pushed into uh and paid by the parks reserves initiative which was kudos to council member waring for being the one who did not vote to approve that but all the decision made by the city council at that time was based on uh some misinformation given to it by city staff which is that golf course is very popular that they cost less to operate neither of those uh is true uh it has been pushed to city council on numerous occasions as documented in my petition that i submitted uh yesterday that uh 300 000 participants use the golf courses every year just not true um i give all the math to show that less than one percent of the population probably closer to 30 000 people are using the golf courses and that the uh it's never talked about when they look at the cost of golf and they do the comparables they didn't do comparables it's apples to oranges so i'm asking the details thank you that is our final public comment for today's meeting we are adjourned only reason phoenix is attracting so much talent our quality of life is like no other did you know phoenix is home to three of the five largest city parks in the country south mountain preserve the second largest city park in the u.s offers more than 16 000 acres for hiking biking and horseback riding within our city limits there are more than 250 miles of trails we also have nearly 1 000 miles of bike paths and bike lanes worried about traffic don't be 90 of those living in phoenix have less than a 30-minute commute shortest of any of the top 15 cities in the nation and phoenix sky harbor one of the nation's busiest and friendliest airports is also one of the most convenient only a 10-minute drive from the pvc there are so many ways to escape the award-winning dining our coffee shops and breweries our music and festival scene including first fridays the largest monthly art festival in the country like sports there's plenty to root for new arrivals also like our low pressure attitude and how easy it is to fit in we like to say no one's a stranger here and new explorers are always welcome there's something happening in phoenix it's driving life-changing discoveries industry-shaping innovations and with so much room to grow limitless opportunities the future is phoenix bioscience join