e good afternoon thank you for joining us we'll begin with an invocation from fire captain Troy htor father God you are good always and forever and we come before you with Humble Hearts we lift up our two Phoenix police officers who were shot in the line of duty last night may you hold them and keep them watch over them and be with their families we pray healing over that whole situation Lord I Thank you for our First Responders bless them as they go and now for us father God you have searched us and know us where can we go from your spirit Lord or where shall we flee from your presence if we go up to heaven you are there if we go down to the Grave you are there even in darkness we cannot hide from you so search us oh God and know our hearts test us and know our anxious thoughts Lord point out anything in us that offends you and lead us along the path of everlasting life we need you father make your presence Among Us now as We Gather to address today's agenda help us to trust in you as we go it's for your glory and our good and it's in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that I pray this amen thank you please remaining standing for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge flag the United States of America to the stands na indivisible thank you all thank you to Captain holtorf for those important remarks marks including recognizing our two heroic officers who were injured in the line of duty responding to a crime last night another unconscionable Act of gun violence against our officers and a stark reminder that their job comes with immense risk I am so grateful as are my colleagues to the team at Banner University of medical for the excellent care that our officers are receiving and have received one of our officers will have like flung impacts but he has been able to go home today and we have another officer who very much needs your prayers thank you to people all over the country who have reached out to offer this support at such a difficult time we'll Now call the meeting to order will the clerk call the role councilman Galindo councilwoman wado here councilwoman Hajj Washington here councilwoman O'Brien here councilwoman Pastor here councilman Robinson here councilman wearing vice mayor Stark here mayor gigo here LC dwarte and Carmen Kota are with us to provide interpretation Elsie would you introduce your team thank you mayor hello my name is Elsie dwte and together with my colleague Carmen Kota we will be servicing as Spanish interpreters for today's formal meeting I will now take a moment to introduce ourselves to our Spanish speaking audience and review some guidelines for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you mayor thank you so much will the clerk 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 of this council meeting and therefore may be read by title or agenda item only ordinances number G 7254 7270 7292 through 7296 S 51211 through 512 32 and resolutions 22241 through 22244 thank you so much will the City attorney please explain the role of public comment yes thank you mayor members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items 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 session at the end of the agenda the city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters related to pending investigations claims or litigation additionally any member of the public who appears before Council in their capacity as a lobbyist must as required by Phoenix city code disclose this fact before addressing Council the city code requires speakers to present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner profane language threats or personal attacks on members of the public council members or staff are not allowed a person who violates these rules will lose the opportunity to continue to speak thank you so much we will begin with the meeting minutes for formal meetings Council and pestor do you have a motion on items 1 two and five oh I'm glad you bundled it because that's what I was going to do yes I I approve one two and five second all those in favor please say I I any oppos nay passes unanimously councilman wearing do you have a moment a motion on item three any corrections all those in favor please say I I any oppos nay vice mayor do you have a motion on item four yes I do I move to approve the minutes of December 14th 2022 second all all those in favor please say I I any oppose nay passes unanimously councilwoman O'Brien do you have a motion on item six I move to approve the minutes from January 25th 20123 second we have a motion and second any comments all those in favor please say I I any oppos nay passes unanimously we next move to the boards and commissions portion of our agenda vice mayor do we have a motion yes I do I me I move to approve the mayor and city council boards and commission nominations second we have a motion in a second all those in favor please say I I I any oppose nay passes unanimously and I believe we have one member of our community sworn in today please raise your right hand I state your name do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States states and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of State your board according to the best of my ability so help me God congratulations commissioner and if you would please go behind the board the council would like to congratulate congratulations to Ben thank you for serving our boards and commissions provide a vital role at the City of Phoenix we next go to the liquor license portion of our agenda we provide an advisory role to the State of Arizona vice mayor do we have a motion yes I move to approve items 8 through 21 noting that item 21 is as revised second we have a motion and second any comments roll call or no I'm sorry all those in favor please say I I any oppos nay passes unanimously city clerk are we ready for ordinances resolutions new business planning and zoning yes mayor all right vice mayor do we have a motion yes I move to approve items 22 through 61 except the following items 32 33 36 49 56 57 58 59 and 60 noting that item 58 has additional information item 61 is an add-on and can the clerk confirm if there are any other items that should to be excluded for inperson public comments yes mayor vice mayor also excluding item 46 that's item 46 second we have a motion in a second roll call ginda yes wado yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing Stark yes GGO yes passes 90 we next go to to item 32 vice mayor do we have a motion I move to approve item 32 second we have a motion and a second item 32 is Grants from the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community we also approved grants from the Tona Odum Nation during the previous vote we have wonderful Partnerships with our tribal Nations these between these two items they are helping us with a variety of different investments from addressing summer heat impacts to fighting cancer I wanted to to uh particularly celebrate a partnership we have around saki Museum it is currently under renovation and will be reopening on October 17th visitors can get a sneak peek at the new exhibitions including following their Roots a look at indigenous farming techniques across Arizona it will also dis include a very timely discussion of sustainable farming practices and Indigenous food at the reopening the city will announce the adoption of a formal land acknowledgement thanks to Mayor and city council colleagues including councilwoman pestor for uh for their commitment to respecting our indigenous communities the museum was recently accredited by the American Alliance of museums which serves as a mark of Distinction highlighting dedication to meeting Museum Industry standards and professional practices so we'd encourage everyone to put a renewed visit or a first visit to the museum on your calendar for the end of fall it um celebrates our our r as a community and is a real point of Pride for us any additional comments roll call gind yes wad yes hjge washhington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing Stark yes goo yes passes 90 thank you so much Council Wayne O'Brien do you have a motion on 33 in yes mayor I move to approve item 33 second and I'll turn to councilman O'Brien for comments thank you so much mayor I just want to take an opportunity to thank staff for partnering with ASU on applying for these funds these funds will go go towards helping B bolster our new Community Court designed to help homeless individuals who find themselves in legal trouble Community Court has been a great success since it started in January 2024 these funds will be used to help find housing for those participants whose individual Community Court plans requ require housing I am beyond thankful for the staff who continue to make Community Court such a success thank you mayor thank you any additional comments vice mayor thank you I just wanted to commend uh councilwoman O'Brien again for spearheading our community Court it certainly has been a success thank you so much roll call gind yes wado yes HJ Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing Stark yes GGO yes passes 90 item 36 is the issuance of lease revenue bonds with mayo and the Brooks Rehabilitation facility through the Phoenix Ida do we have a motion yes I do I move to approve item 36 second we have a motion and a second this is great news for councilman wearings District too but also our entire city and state it's a great example of what the Phoenix Ida can be doing to advance Economic Development and make sure that we have more health care options in the city of Phoenix Mayo's growth has very much been in partnership with the city with today's action we are a partner at more than $245 million primarily on the financing side but in several different ways our work together can really impact healthare care in our community tomorrow I am excited to join several people here at Mayo for the opening of the integrated Education and Research building including the College of Medicine it signifies we want to be a city with the very best in health care options and we also are committed to advancing more access to doctors we know so many people in our community do not have an easy time finding a doctor we only have about 40% of the primary care physicians we need and we are projected to be short do more than 8,000 doctors by 2030 so the City of Phoenix is is pleased to be a partner in addressing this and also making sure we have great Rehabilitation options including the one we will support today so thank you any additional comments roll call gind Yes W yes hjge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing thank you Stark yes GGO yes passes 9 Z we next go to item 46 which is work with a do do we have a motion I move to approve item 46 second motion on a second Eric neelson uh hi my name is Eric um I'm not 100% sure what the agreement between you guys and the ADOT says and I wasn't really sure where to stick this public comment so I uh I saw something about Transportation so I thought it might be a good place to put it um what I came to speak about is in relation to the uh the $80 million theft it wasn't really a theft really they took away your rights to raise taxes um but you can't look at it like that I feel like that would be a perfect for the call to the public at the end so we're happy to take you first on that one but this is whether you would like to see us uh continue to partner with the Federal Highway Administration oh okay thank you perfect thank you and folks remind me if I do not take him first any additional comments we appreciated the federal investment in the city of Phoenix and have benefited enormously roll call Al yes wado yes hjj Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing Stark yes GGO yes passes 90 we next go to item 46 which is the water services department and Phoenix College pilot degree program I'm sorry 49 thank you I move to approve item 49 Second we have a motion in a second noting that councilwoman pestor will not uh be participating in this item I want to thank the water department for what they're doing to make sure their team has more access to educational options particularly thank you to Tammy and Roberta who have been working long on this we want to be an employer of choice and help people continue to progress in their careers sometimes that requires a degree also think it's very important we look at where we do require degrees and if you don't need a college degree we want to remove those requirements but we're a real a strong supporter of educational opportunities and this is a great step forward thank you to Troy and team for your leadership any additional comments holl call gind yes wado yes hjge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor oh apologize Robinson yes wearing Stark yes goo yes passes 80 uh now we will turn to the Planning and Zoning portion of our agenda we'll begin with item 56 which is the the southwest corner of Scottdale Road and Sweetwater Avenue I will open the public hearing we have one comment we will turn to Dave rker floor is yours thank you this yeah thank you thank you I am here my name is David Rickert I live at 9219 East Sal Trailside Drive and I'm here representing two small business owners along Scottdale road I'll cut to the chase here the Planning Commission had done everything we needed to do except for two sidewalk um requirements along the frontage of Scottdale Road does the staff have the slides set I'll go through these briefly I also wanted to point out I have a laser print pointer okay and today we will have two minutes on all items except for item 58 each side will have five minutes and item 59 and 60 10 minutes aside while they're trying to get the slides up the Planning Commission debated this issue of sidewalks it was a split vat and at this point the sidewalks that are not shown or are asked to be developed are along a subdivision that was built in 1971 and it was done there are no sidewalks in the immediate area at all City of Phoenix during that 20 years from the time it was pre-developed to now have worked on this street several times the sidewalks were not required not put in because of public safety issues or any other issues in front of this neighborhood these Lots were rezoned for purposes of Ro zoning the developer and Jason Morris who represented them and I know you all know him he had indicated to me yesterday that the cooperation amongst the three fellow Pro right after the zoning in 2009 so by virtue of that nobody's built any sidewalks in front of these properties the decomposed Granite can be walked on it can be bicycled on and it can be uh dealt with in a way for even a carriage or something across there if you know the area at all it's highly maintained and only recently had the um enforcement become a issue with this property so with that in mind we're asking for those two stipulations to be taken off the agenda and the balance of the Planning Commission recommendation approved and we do that under the standpoint of these resources to these small Property Owners is significant it's about $25,000 per lot and there are five Lots as you go up toward Scottdale road that I guess the slides didn't come up but that is the essence of what I had to say today and it just seems to me unfair that the city has not seeing the necessity to put the sidewalks in why do the property owners now that are later than or after the developer was on the property several years ago thank you thank you so much that is our only speaker we close the public hearing and turn to councilman wearing do we miss the speaker on no okay we'll turn to cman war okay thanks mayor I appreciate it uh so real briefly Josh um this went to the Planning Commission and they requested these sidewalks and all these arguments I presumably were made and they said it was necessary mayor councilman wearing that's correct as Mr Ricker mentioned at the beginning of his presentation this request did go before the Planning Commission where Mr Ricker outlined a series of modifications the Planning Commission did agree with a few of those on the deletion of the requirement for the sidewalk they declined Mr Ricker's request and forwarded it to the council with the idea that the the sidewalk would be built and and maintain that stipulation thank you just wanted to make sure I followed along thank you mayor thank you so much we have closed the public hearing uh do we have a motion on item 56 second roll call G yes War yes hjj Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing Stark yes GGO yes pass is 90 thank you item 57 is at the northeast corner of 7th Avenue in Van buan we'll open the public hearing we do not have any members of the public to comment we do have two members all right all right uh then before we go to the public hearing I will turn to councilman glind over from motion thank you mayor U regarding the mym property I move to deny for the Planning Commission recommendation second we have a motion and a second open the public hearing um we do have Craig and Marilyn here to speak hearing that motion do you still need to speak what did you Mo what did you motion for to go against the commission or to to agree with the commission councilman would you repeat your motion oh okay yes mayor my motion was to deny uh per the Planning Commission recommendation okay speak thank you thank you very much you did the right thing thank you thank you so much the speakers do not need to speak we will close the public hearing does anyone wish to comment roll call galinda yes guado yes hudge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor no Robinson yes wearing Stark yes GGO yes passes 81 very difficult site want to thank our staff for working so hard to try to get a win here item 58 is at the southeast corner of 41st Street and base Baseline Road um each side will have five minutes for presentation the applicant and appellant after that anyone registered to speak we'll have two minutes we will open the public hearing we will begin with the applicant Nick Wood on behalf of the applicant is that right yes mayor members of the council Nick Wood Snell and momer one Arizona Center and uh we represent safe store um if we could bring up the application the presentation thank you mayor could we stop the clock while we're trying to bring the presentation up please thank you so the property is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of 44 41st Street and Baseline it's about a 3.8 Acre Site it has never had any development on it we looked at historical photos and uh there's a huge wash that runs right along the east side of it that floods it each and every time it rains heavily with water coming off of South Mountain it's Zone C2 and we're here asking for a special permit a little bit closer shot um one of the things I want to point out is you can see the wash on the east side of the property but 41st Street is really the only way in and out for all of those rooftops that you see that are south of the site and when we first reached out to them one of the biggest issues of course was traffic the main issue of course is that 41st Street is just two lanes in and out if someone is comes to the intersection and wants to turn left they have to wait for cross traffic because it's a full movement uh medium break and if you're behind them and you want to turn right you're going to be sitting there for quite some time especially during peak hours one of the Hallmarks of a very successful zoning case is neighborhood uh involvement um we've done two phases worth of Outreach uh 11 meetings with neighborhood representatives and a developer and then phase two where we've had actually 23 meetings really beginning in June I want to thank councilwoman Hajj Washington um I want to thank Trent um Mar marchuk who is the chair of the South Mountain Village and also Brian Harvey who's here as a neighborhood leader through all of their efforts and all the work you know we're here today with solutions to many of the issues that were presented during this entire process um we also of course knocked on doors uh we knocked on a thousand doors there is uh residential across the street to the north residential all around us we've had 467 connections of that we have 395 letters of support which you have in your packet as well as 33 verbal support 29 neutrals and 10 letters of opposition these are the changes that resulted from the Outreach Building height um although C2 allows for 30 feet we have 24t tall buildings but we even had a step down in the middle of the of the building so that is actually one story so we're two stories at 24t and then one story basically at 17 um we've agreed to widen we're going to make a dedication of a portion of 41st Street to create two lanes that come out onto um uh Baseline so if you turning left you have a dedicated Lane for left turns if you're turning right you have a dedicated Lane for right turns so you don't have backup this is also a very low traffic generator when you have um uh storage it's I think it's probably less traffic than almost a cemetery but all but always traffic is always an issue of course um we've modified the building orientations and the building layout we've redesigned the architecture we've done revisions to the landscape pallet uh we're uh we're extending the multi-use trail we're going to build a multi-use trail along the front but we're also going to actually build a bridge over the wash because wash is significant we've add an additional e entrance and exit right along uh Baseline in front of the building and we're adding retail there's never been an instance in Phoenix where this retail as part of a a self storage facility they actually reached out to Elliot Pollock uh who I think you all know and asked Elliot whether actually retail will work here and he believes that about 2500 squ ft of retail may work we have a two-story level so we may even be able to put another 2500 square fet of retail above that and of course we're even adding an additional basement level which allows us to lower the one the two story to a one story here's a site plan um again you can see on the right side that's how big the wash is you can see the landscape that we've agreed to put in um and uh the retail of course would be on the west side of the building here's the architecture uh we're talking about Core 10 steel and we're actually putting what they call cubes on the top those blue things U members of The Village suggested that we maybe add that because that's actually an element of the South Mountain uh Library uh as you can see we have uh on the right side that's the now the two lanes the one right lane one left lane coming out of 41st Street you can see the landscaping and the incredible architecture really for a self self storage facility um this is looking uh again from the West to the east you can see the double turn lane on the west but you can see the Landscaping even in the back of the building um another shot of the building this is on the Eastern side of the building you can see the wash that's on the left and actually there's a bridge that we're going to build over over the multi-purpose uh Lane um these are all of the letters that you have in your packet um in support neutral Etc um and with that I'll answer any questions you may have thank you so much we have Lori or her design uh you have five minutes as the appellant my name is Lori file I live at 3940 East Beverly Road in Phoenix and I'm one of the neighborhood Representatives who was asked to speak on behalf of the area residents that will be most impacted by this project and I'd like to begin by acknowledging the fact that the applicant did allow the some of the residents a seat at the table during the redesign on this project and our ability to add input on the building design on the retail space and the Landscaping plan has significantly improve the overall Aesthetics of this project with their revised design and upgraded materials we do see one positive and that is it will set the standard for future development in our community however now the residents are feeling pressured to support something that still does not meet the standard of a proper land use for this site so the neighbors firmly believe that the village planning handbook guidelines on points to consider in reviewing resoning requests substantiates the belief that the specific parcel is not suited to such a land use public record validates that point when the village Planning Commission voted it down 10 furthermore it was hardly a strong endorsement by the Planning Commission when it was voted 54 when our councilwoman asked the village to review the new building designs again at the Village there was not a requested vote however the public record from that meeting indicates that of the 12 committee members that did discuss this project seven out of 12 clearly stated that even though the process had improved the resulting land use was still improper for this site just a few of those quotes from the committee members include it doesn't provide enough space for the community and doesn't fulfill the mission of the plan there's a broader Community impacted the retail space isn't going to attract a quality retailer because it's too small we The Village planning committee said we don't want it why are you even here we did our job in the beginning and turned it down because the community was against it there was other land zoned for it in the community it should have knocked out the developer in closing being the eternal optimist that I am I was hoping that some of you would reach out to me to discuss this further and better understand the needs of the residents and what we were promised I am happy that uh Kesha W Hodge Washington did reach out to me and we had a nice discussion about that but I'm hoping that the rest of the council will understand that there are still some great concerns we have been promised retail for quite some time and 2500 to 5,000 square fet is a very minimal amount of retail and this is the largest site in the area so at the end of the day when you vote on this special permit you will be voting on a public record that failed 10 Z at the Village passed 54 at Planning Commission and again failed at the Village informational session just this last August with a 74 vote all the residents ask is for your careful consideration in this matter your vote won't just affect a large out ofate developer it's going to affect the very lives of hundreds of res residents that live in this area for decades to come thank you very much thank you we have next iners Brian Harvey followed by Greg benell virtual hi my name is Brian Harvey I live at 7642 South 401 Place Phoenix Arizona 85042 um I'm the author of the latest design of the project so uh Nick happened to mention my name so I just wanted to put a face with the name um I didn't plan on speaking today so I'll be very very very short um I did have a a gentleman's agreement with Joe uh VOR who's a representative of the of the applicant that we would not bring up the letters of opposition and support because for every letter that they have we knocked them out with a letter in opposition and that's in public record so I'm not upset I'm merely wanting to make sure that the record is set and is straight that we did have hundreds of letters in opposition to this project thank you thank you Greg online and then in person Scarlet hello hello we can hear you can you hear okay I wanted to make it clear that the um that in the very first vote the neighborhood did show up and they were unanimous and we voted and I they had good arguments and we voted uh unanimously against the project but that the neighborhood at least people in the neighborhood kept negotiating with the developer which always surprises me when they do that and now we have a different building and so uh I have changed my sentiment towards this because of the building before I was Voting with the neighborhood not to have it but now that they've gone through all the work and all the negot of coming up with a rather amazingly goodlooking building that's going to be in the right place I now support having the building built uh I wish it was someplace where there actually was uh a better zoning but I think that all that negotiation and all that work and the result is something that we can all be proud of in the village and we can be proud of as part of the Baseline Corridor master plan I just want just want to be clear that okay thank you Council ptor Council o'ri Greg are you still there I'm still here are you a member of The Village planning committee am am I a member yes okay thank you I just want to clarify thank you so much thank you Greg for your testimony we will now go to inperson Scarlet followed by Trent virtual okay uh we just received an update Scarlet is not going to speak Trent is next and then Katherine hello uh this is Trent maruk address 3731 East an Avenue Phoenix I'm also the chair of the South Village planning committee been involved in the project since about November December of last year um and uh actually encouraged the neighbors to negotiate with the developer and they did uh early in the year um negotiate with the developer and when it came to the village for infa only session um we realized that uh the neighborhood was very much against it they showed up in force and um asked the developer to really uh look at those points of consider eration resoning in the village handbook in March when the developer came back um even with the uh proposed revisions we saw that it wouldn't satisfy those um consider points of considerations for rezoning and we as a village uh denied at 10 Z I went to Planning Commission I actually went to Planning Commission spoke on record uh against this uh the project um however after Planning Commission things changed considerably uh around June time period um a new representative was brought in uh on behalf of the developer um and it was in response to the neighbors requesting for additional um discussions and negotiations on on on the site and on the building and so I've been involved uh pretty heavily since June and I've seen a lot of movement uh on both sides from the neighbors and the applicant um and what we have before it say something vastly different um than what we saw uh in Planning Commission and at the Village um now we see because of uh the design is now compatible with the area uh neighborhood and the village the elevations the building materials Landscaping hard hardscaping the inclusion of retail the multi-use trail bridge extending over the wash the traffic mitigation all this um really comes together and when um Brian uh the neighborhood representative um the applicant and I sat down and we re looked at the points to consider in resoning from the village handbook we all agreed that actually this this now satisfied um the the land use requirements and so um we uh I appreciate your testimony Catherine is next and then we'll go to Darlene who's registered to speak necessary and see if she needs to speak good afternoon mayor council my name is Katherine naoli I reside at 3928 East Beverly Road Phoenix Arizona 85042 I've lived there since 1997 and that property is never flooded you've heard it over and over you've read it in the hundreds of letters this is an inappropriate land use and you know it this property is z C2 and should not get a C3 use through special permit but I don't want to repeat what you've heard I want to tell you about the way the residents and the community Representatives the residents who volunteered their time were treated through this whole process bait and switch at Village planning we were asked what do you the residents want instead we were asked when we asked for neighborhood retail that was promised to us for decades we were told that we were baiting and switching our position canvasing after promising not to an agreement between the developer residents requested by our city representative was not to canvas with the new designs not other canvasing just canvasing with the new designs the developer ignored this and canvased and as Brian said we had over 300 letters of opposition that we weren't going to talk about but now we have to being chastised for meeting with the development department to see if we could get the retail that has been promised to us the residents for decades really really the residents are doing the work the city promised bringing in retail or trying to and we got scolded so became painfully clear in this process because we know the vote is already cast it became painfully clear that the residents mean nothing thank [Music] you Darlene is registered to speak if necessary Darlene did you have anything to add I do um darling Jackson 4307 East alter Vista Phoenix Arizona 85042 I am a member of the South Mountain Village planning committee and I commend the neighborhood for coming together and the support that they showed for one another and how they presented at the first meeting um I am in favor of the development and this is why when the community came in initially they were in agreement that they would go along with the development if the developer was able to lower the building do other Aesthetics to the building um traffic medic ation when the developer initially presented they were out of order and the village planning committee supported the community and let the developer know they were out of order we see that in um how we voted however when we came back and the developer switched out some people and brought a better design brought a betterment to the entire area I have a problem with now the community deciding we don't want you at all when initially they said they would work with the developer it puts the um Committee in an awkward position and it as as if we're playing favoritism so because I think what is fair is that the community and the developer work together that's what we started with and I think that's what we should end with the developer has brought in an even better product took care of every issue that the community brought up I think it's only fair to the developer while respecting the community that this be approved thank you I believe that concludes public testimony on this item I will close the public hearing this item in is District 8 I will turn to councilwoman hod Washington thank you mayor I do have a few questions that we want to get on record before we close um I will have a question for the applicant if you may one of the major concerns raised by the neighborhood was the desire for retail can you walk us through a little bit more of what that process included in determining the retail that is set forth in this design sure um mayor um councilman mahaj Washington because this thing had been vacant for so long even though it's been C2 which allows for 365 different uses we turn to Elliot poock um my client obviously is is in the the storage business but when it comes to retail we turn to somebody who we trust and gave us good advice and this is not a great retail site uh for a whole host of reasons but we thought what if we did a hybrid again as a negotiation we'll bring something that they asked for obviously not everything they asked for but something that they did so um Mr poock suggests that about 2500 fet of retail may work there um if it does we may have an opportunity to add another 2 200 ft on the second floor um but we're willing to spend the money to create the retail component um and go and Market it and and try and make it work and I know there were some concern um in identifying the square footage amount of the retail but what I'm hearing based on what you were telling me is there was an actual study performed to determine what would be a reasonable amount of retail that could work on that space yeah mayor council woman H Washington yes we actually had a full report that was uh completed by um Mr Po and that information I presume was shared with the neighborhood representative that had been a part of this conversation yes okay the other question I wanted to ask you was um with respect to the traffic concerns that we heard earlier do you believe that all of those have been alleviated with the left turn and the right turn lane mayor councilwoman Haj Washington we believe so again Self Storage doesn't generate much traffic at all yet the biggest thing we heard over and over and over again was we really don't want any traffic generation on 41st Street because of the issue it's just a small Road it has two lanes Baseline gets very busy during peak hours if you're trying to make a left turn there it's going to take some time if you've got people behind you that want to turn right there's nowhere us to go because this is the only way in and out of that neighborhood so by us agreeing to make the the dedication of an additional right of way so we can now create two dedicated Lanes one dedicated left turn lane and then one dedicated right so if someone's turning right they don't have to wait they can actually pull up to the corner and make their right turn movement while the folks are are trying to turn left can wait for their opportunity to make their movement thank you just one more question for you um There Was You indicated as part of this process there were quite a significant number of residents that were contacted most were in opposition and I heard response from the neighborhood indicating that there was an agreement that there was not going to be canvas in during a certain time can you tell me um can you clarify that for me yeah uh mayor councilman Haj Washington over the past several months we have been working with them closely and you saw the results of those efforts we've not gone out canvasing again knocking on doors um basically we trust uh the work that we've done with uh uh the repes reprentative group that we've worked with okay so you don't believe that there was I guess let me not put words into your mouth the concern I I want to make sure I understand is whether or not there was any kind of Outreach being done that was not agreed upon with the community um mayor councilwoman hjge Washington I'm not aware of any okay all right thank you thank you so much for that together um I'm ready ma okay uh I want to preface this by saying one of the things I most appreciate about our city process is that Phoenix has a very open and transparent process through the Planning and Zoning development to determine appropriate land use the process encourages public comment and participation at every level it gives residents who have limited plan and experience the opportunity to voice their concerns as relates to the merits of the case and the expect sorry the application of city codes and ordinance um I wholeheartedly Embrace that because I believe in bringing people together to resolve T tough issues this is a tough issue but I don't believe that any voting body should have the power to make decisions without listening to the people who are impacted when this case went through the village planning committee a compromise was so far away as you heard there was no there was no willingness to sit down and discuss this the the applicants requested a continuent to try to bridge that Gap and the request was not approved by the village planning committee the applicant went to the Planning Commission where it was approved at that point I had before me a disapproval from one voting body and approval from another separately I went to each side and asked that they would be willing to continue to work on this I asked that they were willing to see if we can find a compromise despite their disapproval each side had their own opinions on what should happen next they both were willing to sit down and roll up the Le to see if there could be a resolution I personally had seven meetings where residents and a representative from the a resident and the applicant were at the table and I also know there were many more meetings without me I believe that this would be the only safe store to incorporate retail largely because of the input that we received from the community the stipulations include 2500 square feet of retail and Resident I'm sorry retail and restaurant space on the ground floor again because that was requested by the community it also provides for the addition of a mezzanine but no self- storage could be used in that space the community was very adamant that they wanted to ensure that this would be the retail that they had hoped for it also includes a pedestrian bridge to span the width of the drainage channel to provide continuous uninterrupted uninterrupted multi-use Trail usage again these are all requested by the community and agreed to by the applicant instead of instead of decomposed Granite the ground plan landscape is very insenstive and includes RI wrap of different size to add to the character of the size it includes the multi-rail multi-use trail easement these are the types of discussion that Foster compromise by its very definition a compromise is a way of reach an agreement in which persons or groups give up something that is wanted in order to reach a resolution I recognize there are still decisions to be made but I think that the residence hammered out with the developer is something that that will benefit all sides when this initially was coming to council um back in in earlier this year I had overwhelming opposition against it I have seen as a result of the work that has been done the opposition minimized I'm not Dem minimizing the opposition that Still Remains but the opposition is not as huge for the current process I would like to thank the residents particularly Brian Harvey he worked very diligently he lend his talents to his neighborhood and to our Community to ensure that we could find something that works it is no doubt that he loves his community he respects his neighbors and I think he did an outstanding job voicing their concerns I just wanted to publicly state that to him I also wanted to acknowledge the applicant for sitting down with the community and doing something outside of the box so mayor with that i' would like to make a motion to approve for the September 4th 2024 Memo from the planning and development director and adop the related ordinance I second we have a in a second councilwoman pestor yes uh Josh I have some questions um when this is approved or if it's approved uh does the applicant have the ability to come back and change anything on uh the property or what would the process be if we vote today that it would be uh a mixed juuse or uh uh retail and other items would they have the ability to come back and say we cannot make retail happen mayor councilwoman Pastor there are several stipulations on the property that are very specific about what can occur if any deviations from those stipulations as outlined in the memo are sought by the applicant they would need to file a request to the planning hearing officer and proceed through the public hearing process which could go to the Village Planning Commission and Council if they if they'd like to make any changes to the stipulations so it would go back to the public process that is correct okay that's what I wanted to know thank you thank you roll call G yes wado yes H Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes Robinson yes wearing yes Stark yes beo yes passes 90 thank you we will next go to item 59 and 60 which are related cases at the southwest corner of 36th Avenue in Pinnacle Peak Road we will have one public hearing and two motions the applicant and the appellant will each have 10 minutes the applicant can reserve two minutes for rebuttal we have multiple members of the public in opposition so they may use their two minutes for rebutting the rebuttal uh we will begin with Mr Anderson for the applicant who will have a up to 10 minutes and again May Reserve to good afternoon mayor members of council uh I also have a power of points we can get that called up please that looks correct great thank you mayor M when you are mayor members of we are ready thank you mayor members of council uh Steven Anderson gam and Burnham 40 North Central 20th floor in Phoenix um here the day on behalf of the applicant lenar holes uh or lenar uh and with me today from lenar is Vicki Morris who is the project manager in addition to Vicki our Consulting team is all here as well uh in the event that the council has specific questions for any of the uh Myriad uh experts who helped us out on this project we come before you today with recommendations for approval from your professional planning staff from the Deer Valley Village planning committee from the Phoenix Planning Commission uh the village vote was 8 to1 on both of the cases that are before you today the commission recommendations are unanimous in addition the Deer Valley uh Unified School District board voted to support this uh proposal at their public meeting on July 8th in addition the friends of Deer Valley have also considered this case publicly and have voted to support it most of the local business owners who have voiced a view are supportive of the project as well and there have even been some neighbor neighb who have been willing to appear publicly Express their support for the project either by writing or by appearing at public hearings uh that have previously been held on the case we would ask you to accept all of the recommendations for approval and to approve this case yourselves uh subject to the 40 stipulations that were ultimately recommended by the Planning Commission and I would note that the commission stipulations are uh different than the ones that were originally recommended to you this project involves a vacant 80 Acre infill Site that is on the south side of Pinnacle Peak Road next to the Hurricane Harbor water park this land has been owned for many many years by the Arizona state land department for the past 5 years uh the site has been vacant it's been the site of an abandoned and bankrupt golf school in January of this year the Arizona state land Department auctioned the land off primarily for residential development with a small commercial portion lenar was the successful bidder at that sale uh we were out we outbid three other compe home builders in that auction the state educational trust fund as you all know is the beneficiary of the proceeds of that auction lenar now seeks to develop a 75 acre residential community of 294 homes that we call poo Heights lenar has filed two applications to advance the development of this property a general plan Amendment and a rezoning application this site like many infill properties around the city is in the middle of an area that has a mix of land uses zoning categories to the north and to the Northwest across Pinnacle Peak Road are single family homes that are zoned R16 and R2 lenar is proposing R16 Homes at a lot size similar to the existing residences in the R16 Community to our North the density is 5.8 dwelling units per acre and in the R2 neighborhood to our North the density is 5.1 dwelling units breaker lar is proposing 3.9 dwelling units breaker so our density is significantly lower than the existing neighborhoods across the street lenar believes that because our zoning is the same as the homes across the street and our density is lower poo Heights will be a reasonable addition to the existing Community to our South and our West is the Maricopa County Adobe Dam Regional Park the park sits on the flood plane on the north side of the Adobe Dam it should be noted that the subject property that's before you today the lar site is not in that flood plane nor is it part of the county park park it has never in fact been a part of the county park there is uh I'm sorry excuse me uh in any event the flood plane is owned by the county flood control district and the park is managed by the county parks par District the park currently covers about 1,460 Acres shown on the graphic that's on the screen at the moment uh much of the park remains vacant today our little infill site is about 80 acres thus the park is 18 times the size of our site there is in fact no need or evidence to suggest that the park needs to expand its acreage outside of the existing flood plane I would also note that the park is zoned ra 43 publicly owned parks are allowed by right in that zoning District the park is currently drawing over 400,000 visitors a year the individual operators in the park like Hurricane Harbor uh operate under master use agreements in which they pay a portion of their revenues to the county parks department under this Arrangement the county took in more than aill million dollar last year from the various tenants in the park while we do come before you today with ample support including the recommendations and endorsements that I have already mentioned there are many residents in the broader Community who do not want more homes in their area that brings us to the City of Phoenix housing plan in 2020 the council adopted the Phoenix housing plan doing so out of concern for a Citywide housing crisis the plan is an effort to secure tens of thousands of new infill homes here in Phoenix across the entire iry of the city and across all price ranges in order to drive up Supply across the board the policy is expressly intended to provide alternatives for many new families coming to our city not just those who are buying their first home but those who are looking to move up so that such families have an option inside the City of Phoenix as opposed to having to consider moving out to places like Buckeye or Queen Creek lar is asking to develop a residential infill project with the same zoning and lower density as the home homes that are directly across the street we have tried to answer every question that has been posed to us we've provided the facts and studies on every point that has been raised all of our Consultants are here today as I mentioned earlier and are available for any specific questions the council might have regarding their work we have secured the approval of the staff The Village planning committee the Planning Commission and the school district we ask you to approve this project subject to the 40 stipulations as recommended by the Planning Commission thank you thank you and that was Mr Steven Anderson and now we will call Mr Scott Anderson for the opposition and if we could have the slides for uh that were sent in okay my name is Scott Anderson and I live in Little Deer Valley um my address is 5029 West Whispering Wind Drive in Glendale and I represent 500 or I'm sorry I represent 970 homeowners who live in the Little Deer Valley area and who are opposed to this project um Mr Anderson was kind enough to go ahead and plot out and map where the homeowners are uh from the uh list of homeowners that were contained in your attachment F on this uh on this zoning request uh and he felt it significant to show that out of a quarter mile around there were only two homes uh if you look at how he drew his Circle half of it's in the Adobe Recreation Area the other half is on the U uh commercial property and uh so yeah in that quarter mile but you can see that the uh the homeowners that I represent do live in almost exclusively in the Little Deer Valley area and uh are opposed to this here is Little Deer Valley uh you can see that the area is has a unique topography where it's blocked off by mountains the dam and the uh landfill on the on the Eastern side uh this area 40 years ago was mostly desert and when I move there the 100 or so other homes we got very involved as the planning and developing of this community started and we were involved in the master plan of this area uh you can see the results of that here where the low housing is in the center and it increases density as it goes to the side at that time when the developers came in they wanted to put in commercial on every corner every major uh intersection Corner they wanted to put a block of commercial uh our area area doesn't have the normal traffic flow as you can see uh in this 8 square miles there would normally be eight or 10 major through roads to carry through traffic in our neighborhood there is only Happy Valley is the only road that goes through that really carries through traffic all of the roads are just destination traffic coming in and out of the area so at that time they wanted to put commercial on every corner and we said we don't want commercial on every corner in our neighborhood um so we worked with the city planning department and he said and we said well what else can we do we want to put it all in one place then uh so a plan was developed where you'll note that all of the commercial is located east of 39th Avenue um where there's 12 acres right on another 27 acres are to the north of it on Happy Valley Road and all of Nora the several hundred acres of commercial is located just a mile to the east uh this commercial provides all the commercial that our area needs when it's fully built out and all of that commercial is located east of 39th Avenue and that was our master plan for this area we worked with the city and came to the zoning hearings the developer was not initially supportive of our idea to locate all the commercial there and do this transitional zoning in the area so they opposed it uh and it was only through the city council that they were told to go back work with the developers come up with a compromise that's reasonable and and and uh fitting and uh and then come back with something we have put out twice uh compromise possibil offers to the uh to the applicant and uh both times they did not engage with us as far as uh offering any counter offers or any options or Alternatives uh they basically just said no thank you and uh walked away the developer back then didn't want to work with us either and again it was only through the city council saying no you have to go back and work with the neighborhood and come up with the better compromise because our our views are reasonable uh we've worked to master plan this whole area I sat on the village planning committee and voted for the zoning that you you see before you right on on on this map uh so we've done the right things and uh if you look at at uh Mr Anderson's map um making that point it he he's trying to say that it really only matters if you live right behind the project if you're within a quarter mile or within a half a mile we are not a neighborhood of nimes who only worry about what's right behind us we've master plan the whole area here for over four decades and and uh we're well well invested in the area here's the general plan map and you can see the Adobe Recreation Area uh down at the bottom here in the multiple shades of green again Mr Anderson is is quick to point out though well this was never part of the Adobe Adobe park and yes the the dark green area is Adobe park that's owned by uh the county and that part is is separate when we set down to plan this out we met with the county Phoenix Glendale state land trust and the flood control district we all sat at a table to decide what to do with this area glendell said okay we'll take the part on the on the west end and we'll put in uh a parking lot and hiking trails for that'll tie into Thunderbird Park the county said okay we'll take the majority of it and the state trust land they kept the actual corner there and have done recreational activities on those over the years the entire area is Adobe Recreation Area and their property is definitely in Adobe Recreation Area it's not part of the county park but Mr Anderson is playing a game of semantics to say that it's not part of the park it is part of the Adobe recreation area which is all of these areas by Glendale by the state and by the county when we plann this out that was the uh goal to to create a uh a a reg recreational area that would serve the Greater Community this is how it was ultimately built out with go-kart tracks golf courses railroad stations ultralight airports radio controlled airports water park a gymnastics stadium and now immediately south of the property that they're proposing is uh being looked at by a Consortium to develop even more activity and it will be immediate adjacent to it it will be right South with no buffering no separation which is what we worked for this whole neighborhood was to have proper buffering and proper separation from uh homes versus intense uses uh there's no buffering here the people that move into this will have right over their Back Fence will be perhaps go-kart tracks perhap BMX bike races uh we don't know but but there's no buffering they' provided none for it um and again Mr Anderson was Keen to point out the distances that uh their their property will be from the existing go-kart tracks uh but he failed to mention that the property immediately South which is going to be developed uh is is no buffer no distance it's right behind them so those people will have some very nuisance activity that will be behind them and ultimately they will start filing complaints complaining to the city complaining to the county and the activity in the park will be undermined and Cur bed to to meet the complaints that are inevitable because this just doesn't match any good planning or any good zoning book that you could read that says you don't put home single family homes immediately adjacent to intense uses like go-kart tracks and BMX bike raises it's just bad a bad idea and the commercial portion of their property is also misplaced we already have an existing commercial right across the street only a quarter mile from them and it is currently 25% vacant we had two different grocery stores tried to make a go over here and both of them failed ultimately it was bought out by Goodwill and now there's 26 Suites of commercial and a quarter of them are empty and not being used or some of them are being used Mr Anderson will point out but they're actually being used for storage uh they couldn't rent them out for uh retail purposes because Pinnacle Peak doesn't get enough traffic to support them so they're actually doing storage on there and every day neighbors who drive past here see the parking lot to the west of Goodwill sit empty with hundreds of parking spaces that are no longer needed only 20 the first 20 spaces is all good whe uses commercial is already being uh underutilized and already is is being uh H having the blight of vacancies all through it and they want to add another uh five acres just a quarter mile away from it it just doesn't make sense and again it isn't just good planning and also it goes against the entire uh philosophy that we had when we planned out this area the neighborhood the city everyone uh it doesn't match so at this point I'm asking you to do to do what previous councils did and tell the appc to go back work with the neighborhood come to some compromises and don't disregard the four years of planning that was done by meropa County Glendale Phoenix and the Arizona trust land all to create this community the way it is today thank you if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer thank you thanks for your hard work on that presentation we will next go to and on the case generally we'll next go to Phil followed by Tom my name is uh Phil Moss I live at uh 5321 West Misty willan Glendale Arizona 85310 and I'm one of the over as Scott said over 900 homeowners in the area that's against this resoning uh I just like to address uh one issue the noise issue uh the go-kart and dirt bike tracks that exist there now the businesses uh I live about 2 and a half miles away from from that uh and uh basically when they're going and it's Fridays and weekends uh it's like a buzs saw going for hours and I'm two and a half miles away um the new homes apparently will be right next to this uh I know what it's like to live in a very high noise area I grew up in New York across the bay from John F Kennedy International Airport under one of the Landing flight patterns so I know what it's like as a child living in a high noise area and uh my question is will the decibel level be unhealthy uh I know that Lenard Holmes commissioned and sponsored a study which said everything's fine and uh my question to you is uh could a motion uh to Grant a delay for an independent acoustic study be done to determine whether the Des Bell level for new homeowners who will be right next to this whether or not it's unhealthy thank you thank you Tom is next followed by Joanne is me Tom or somebody else hey good to see you it's you that's a tough last name I understand good afternoon Madam mayor and members of city council I'm here today to represent the friends of Deer Valley um we are writing this letter in support of the lar at P Heights uh project the friends of Deer Valley is a nonprofit organization we were formed in 2022 with the goal of giving residents a voice in The Deer Valley region in support of economic development through collaboration and community outreach the lenar at C Heights project is an extremely well-planned project which will be welcomed which will be in a welcomed addition to the Deer Valley region we are happy to have been included as part of the ongoing community outreach by lenar regarding the entitlement of this project and we're pleased to offer our full support and endorsement for the development for their development plan we hope that the village planning committee the Planning Commission and the pH Phoenix City Council will support this project as well this development will be a positive step in addressing affordable housing in the area and access thank you mayor thank you Joanne is next did we I'm sorry we don't have Joanne all right and then Mr Anderson did you reserve two minutes do you need to um um Mr Stephen Anderson sorry that was forward choice and if maybe you could speak to noise and noise disclosure mayor members of the council let's get that okay um mayor I'm happy to address the noise issue and I think that's the perfect place to uh Focus my remarks um although I do have a brief comment about the general plan as well with regard to the noise issues uh there was talk about the existing racetracks that are uh in the park today uh you have a letter on file from those RAC tracks indicating that they do not object to this proposal we earned that letter of non objection from those RAC tracks by doing a noise study that indicated that the noise uh is not going to be a threat to the homes you heard that mentioned by one of the opposition speakers we also earned it by crafting a carefully negotiated Disclosure document uh that went through several iterations after several meetings with the business owners in the area and we also earned it because as you heard from or saw from the graphic that Scott Anderson showed you which is a graphic that we created the existing homes are actually closer um to the tracks uh than our homes will be and in fact the city's Noise Records uh indicate that over the past decade there have been a grand total of five noise complaints generated by the park today by homes that are closer to those racetracks than our homes will be uh and so that's why I think it is the case today that the only business owners who have indicated or taken a position on this case are the commercial businesses across the street on Pinnacle Peak Road who have indicated their support for this project um there are none of the business operators who are here today such as H and harbor uh to tell you that they are concerned about this project and they haven't been at these any of these hearings the reason is because we've been working with them very closely throughout this process to let them know exactly what we um are up to uh and that's uh what happens when you have a good regular open line of communication with your immediate neighbors as opposed to Scott Anderson very nice guy who lives a mile and a quarter away from the site on a 1acre lot in a neighborhood that is made up of 1acre homes with regard to the general plan mayor just nope I'm out of time sorry I'd be happy to answer any questions thank you thank you Council um should I leave the hearing open great I have questions um so Mr Stephen Anderson the talk about the general plan Amendment please mayor uh council member O'Brien um I'm happy to do that thank you uh the issue about the general plan is of course that the general plan that Mr Scott Anderson references that he worked on uh is 40 years old um and so for 40 years the county and the city and Community have had an opportunity to do something about the state land parcel and have chosen not to I would submit to you that the reason for that is that the county has plenty of acreage in the park today all of which can be used for example this potential new user that Scott Anderson mentioned for free there is no reason to go out and buy state land Department to expand a, 1400 acre park by 80 acres what should be happening to the general plan is that it should be evolving which is what has happened on the north side of Pinnacle beak Road immediately opposite us the general plan has complain has changed completely since 1985 on the north side of Pinnacle Peak Road and you all can imagine the reasons why what didn't exist in 1985 the loop 101 which gave rise to USAA which we thought was great and awesome at the time it happened then comes to Loop 303 followed by tsmc things evolve and change in this rapidly growing city and I would submit to you that a general plan amendment to recognize those changes is perfectly appropriate in this case could you tell me a little bit about the plans for the commercial land um portion of the Acres uh mayor GGO council member O'Brien I'm happy to do that um it's important to note that the commercial portion of the site is separated from the residential portion of the site by a wash um and that wash makes it impractical to link the 75 acres and the 5 Acres so the 5 Acres physically stands alone at the time we submitted the application lenar of course is your applicant uh so lenar residential Builder had a fully blown plan for the 75 Acres the five acres of commercial are subject to a pH requirement councilman pastor already visited visited that on the prior case you know what has to happen it has to come back through the full public hearing process including the village planning committee the Planning Commission and the council when they are ready for a site plan on that site what I can tell you however is that when lenar began to Market this property they immediately got interest from commercial developers who uh essentially engaged in a mini auction with lar and we selected Diversified uh Partners to be our commercial developer partner Mr Scott hiny has been at all of our public meetings to address commercial development of the site his company is willing to invest in the site and I think that is the most telling thing most of our Consultants who are here today are getting paid to be here believeing me uh but Mr hiny doesn't get paid he wants to invest in this community because his company which is a reputable company in our community believes in the commercial possibilities for this site thank you Mr Anderson mayor could I please have that consultant come up yes council member did you want Mr Hy I would please got around that way they will stop you if you come that out the way and as a reminder name address hello Scott hensy 18002 North 53rd Place Scottsville Arizona 85254 I work with uh Diversified Partners commercial real estate thank you for joining us today could you please tell me a little bit about what you guys Envision um for that commercial land or do you intend to work with the community to see what kind of things they want or have you already Yes um yes on both questions so uh one of the things that is slightly confusing when Mr Scott Anderson shows that Center that just across the street there's only one vacancy in that Center and it's about 2400 Square ft um all the rest of it is occupied by both visually driving through it and online on listing services there's only one space there um new development in Phoenix new commercial development is so hard to make work right now and we have to be very picky about where we go where we think we have lots of uh users that would want to be here um in both the neighborhood meeting which uh Mr Steven Anderson put on I had several folks from the community asking can I do a nail salon can I do this and I said absolutely you know would we'd love to have you um and the The Neighbors in this particular Community are very passionate um I've got to see a lot of opposition to the whole project and um the neighbors seem great you know it's the kind of customers that I want for our Center so we'll have to go through the whole process again a public process meeting with neighbors meeting with hearing officers getting things approved so we're looking forward to doing that um and being a good part of this community thank you so much sir I don't have any more questions mayor uh thank you so much close the public hearing we will have two separate votes we'll first begin with item I'm sorry I should have said I don't have any more questions for them I do have questions for Josh should that have been part of the public hearing nope I think that can we can close the public hearing and thank you Josh will you you please explain to me the purpose of the general plan mayor councilwoman O'Brien the general plan is the voter approved policy document that provides a vision for the growth Redevelopment and preservation of the city one of the prominent uh components of it is a land use guide that's realized in the land use map so in in parts of district one um they are zoned commercial or industrial and we now have housing going into those areas um how is that allowed mayor councilwoman O'Brien while the general plan provides the policy guidance for what the community envisions to happen on a sites ultimately what can occur on the site is dictated by what's the the property is zoned so you'll have several instances where a property is zoned X but the general plan says y uh what where those come together is in a resoning case so if someone's asking to rezone and they're asking for something that isn't consistent with the general plan then in cases where the properties of a certain acreage General plan Amendment would be required to align the zoning and the general plan land use map thank you how often do the general plan amendments happen and for what typical uses are they done mayor council woman O'Brien we average around 15 to 20 a year and they're primarily for updates to the land use map and how often do you said how often do we do a general plan amend or general plan how often do we approve that as a city mayor councilman O'Brien we're required by state law to up update that every 10 years okay um so so if the general plan calls for a particular area to be commercial or industrial it doesn't lock the land into only being used as commercial or industrial mayor councilwoman O'Brien that that's correct and that would be done via a general plan Amendment mayor councilwoman Brian that is correct okay this land I understand is designated by the formal General plan as recreational um can you tell me the zoning of standard recreational land like the Apache Trail Head system for example mayor councilwoman O'Brien uh public Recreation land doesn't have a specific zoning use as an example most of our city parks have some type of single family zoning on it private Recreation land would require a special permit like say a golf course but all all most public parks are are Zone some type of Rec uh single family zoning what is the current Zoning for this section of land mayor council M O'Brien it is r43 one of our residenti Cal districts and r43 special permit and under the current zoning of this land would homes be allowed to be built by right mayor council O'Brien yes okay thank you so much Josh I'm ready to make a motion actually I'd have some comments first um as mentioned in the presentation by the applicant this land was initially Arizona State trust land state land has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the land is sold for the highest possible value to benefit F the trustees and there are many beneficiaries from from State universities to the Department of Corrections to the public district schools and as a former Deer Valley School Board member I'm thankful to the state land department for their oversight of the trust and the responsibility they bear for ensuring the land in their purview sells for the highest possible value in this particular case lenar purchased the land at two times the appraised value as we heard from planning director earlier this land is currently zoned for housing today it is not zoned for recreational land although the general plan from 2015 May designate this area as a recreational use it is not required or stuck in being used as recreational land that is the purpose of the general plan Amendment sometimes the needs of the city change over time and in this case the city was not in such a dire housing crisis um over nine years ago as we are now today nine years ago we were not the fastest growing County in the country for three years in a row we need this housing and knowing that we're not taking away existing recreational land means the community isn't losing anything but instead gaining new neighbors and new businesses and one of the requirements that I insisted upon is the disclosure statement that the um New homeowners will be required to sign so that it is not just a a cursory hey by the way um they will have to sign and acknowledge that they are moving into uh or next to a recreational area so with that I make the motion to approve per the plan per the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the related resolution second comments roll call gind Yes W yes Hodge Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes yes wearing yes Stark yes GGO yes passes 80 item 60 I move to approve for the Planning Commission recommendation and adopt the related ordinances second comments roll call Galindo yes wado yes hjj Washington yes O'Brien yes Pastor yes wearing yes Stark yes goo yes passes 8 Z that concludes the agendized portion of our meeting we will now go to the final portion which is citizen public comment I'll turn to our City attorney to introduce that portion 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 citizen comment session is limited to 30 minutes 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'll begin with Eric neelen followed by Terrence uh hello my name is Eric um one thing I I noticed about the City of Phoenix is uh everyone's complaint about the City of Phoenix is that they're being bullied by the City of Phoenix the City of Phoenix is doing this it's doing that it's not fair they're stepping on my toes yada yada yada I think it's interesting that the City of Phoenix is currently being bullied by both the state and the federal government uh the state financially speaking in the federal government Through The Eyes of a bogus descent decree um I I'll take them in order the first one being The Descent I call it a descent decree because that's what's going to happen to our communities and our Prime rates if we uh we just go along with it but um you know I can't help but think uh that um I I I've met a lot of of C of Phoenix police officers particularly because I had a bad experience with the LAPD um so when I got back to where I'm from I wanted to know is it is it that way everywhere is our our Police Department similar to lepd um the answer is they're not they're not at all uh they don't act with impunity they aren't they don't feel like they're backed up by a conglomerate of semi shadoow call them celebrities call them whatever you want but uh they don't they don't think that they can just do whatever they want uh and when you think of the I want the public when they think of the City of Phoenix Police Department you got to remember just like every big building is a person a police department department is a group of people and I think what gets lost a lot of the times is the total number of Phoenix Police Department I think last time I read it was like 6,000 something people okay there's 2 million people in the city of Phoenix so by that measure I'd say they do a good job um and yeah sure there might be one or two bad apples but I mean that's we're talking the size of a division one high school so tell tell me anybody in here who went to public high school that there wasn't a bad apple or two around it's going to happen statistically it's going to happen but um back to what I was saying though the majority of the Phoenix police officers that I've met are uh somewhat middle-aged their husbands their fathers and more importantly that they live in the city of Phoenix they have um they they have a they have an interest in seeing that the city is a beautiful safe place to live uh so I'm running out of time here so let me get to the point and I'll I'll go to the other part later on a different day but I think that the Phoenix Police Department should uh open an investigative thing in their Internal Affairs section to investigate wrongdoings by federal law enforcement agencies in the city of Phoenix um if you think that married men are out there making mistakes when they know they have the body camera on you'd be shocked what mostly young white Caucasian federal agents are willing to do so just food for thought thank you Terrence is next followed by John so I'm here to speak on the side of a South Mountain Raceway I have two kids that race at that track and a year ago was taken from us um I'd like to point at that time we asked them we asked the parks if they planned on getting rid of the track they told us not to worry no problem we're just going to we got to make some revisions to it a year after that we then found out they decid to demolish the track so having that said I'd like to know is there anything the city can do to help us keep our kids either on that track or is there another place that we can bring them that is it thank you and as our City attorney mentioned this this because it was not agenda is not a a back and forth dialogue but maybe we can see if there's an opportunity to follow up uh John is next followed by Tony hi everyone my name is John Courtney I'd like to speak on behalf of the police department and for the homeless give you a little insight what it's like to live on the streets of this city for 5 years and survive I've had two pit bulls attacked me one of them was sicked on me while I was homeless I've had my tent taken probably eight times in the last five years but that isn't really the point I've seen a lot of injustices done but I've received extreme lenience from the police department and from the DA's office and I'm very thankful the police department should be praised for their dedication um when I was here in 2003 I got robbed at gunpoint decided I was getting out of this city next morning I went to the freeway and put my thumb in the air and in five minutes had a ride all the way to Flagstop I was out of here but I heard on the news that morning that two law enforcement officers were shot and killed in an incident that happened a block away from us that we pretty much witnessed and another one that morning and I shed tears for our long forcement I admire him very much um other than that I plead for lenience from the police on behalf of the homeless the police have the toughest job in this city the most danger without question but the homeless have it even rougher just staying alive and uh I thank you for the opportunity to speak God bless thank you John Tony is next followed by sunny uh thank you mayor um with regard to the DJ report um do you think you could put the microphone a little bit closer we can hear you but it would rather more clearly hear you here now yeah yeah regard to the doj report um uh I've seen some stuff happened in the zone like a few years ago I I've seen um like on on YouTube I saw a former uh cop Brian krisman and a female cop um plant uh cocaine on a lady the lady it was an African-American lady and they targeted her and um thank God that the security detail at the U Forensic Science Center reported what they saw that they were very concerned about it and um she was able to get her charges dropped and um the the on the caption it said that the reason why when they asked him why he did it he said he was playing a joke on her and planting drugs on someone is not a joke so um and and he should have been fired but instead when he he stays on and then a few years later um he shoots and kills a guy named Danny Rodriguez in South Phoenix and he was just out of control and um and all he got was seven years in prison and also in that same area in the zone I've seen um a couple of cops never saw before they were they were pulling up on people like two Hispanic guys and they um they used that some uh madeup excuse that they smelled marijuana and they searched them without their consent they got mad because they didn't find nothing and less than a minute later they zoomed past me almost hit me and um it was two African-American guys they jumped out the car on them and did the same thing and searched them and didn't find anything so they got mad and and just pulled off so it was like strange encounters and um so I I don't see why it shouldn't be any oversight because that would deter uh cops from doing stuff like this you know the uh innocent poor people so uh thanks a lot thank you Sunny is next followed by AJ hello I'm Sunny this is my son Damen we're here to speak on uh the South Mountain Speedway um this is the only sport that my son knows this sport means so much to these kids this track means so much to these kids and then it's not only the kids that race out there all the time but it's the events that we put on to allow other kids that don't play other sports that wouldn't have the opportunity to do racing to come out and climb into our kids' cars and get on the track so do you want to say something Bubba so uh the person that shut down the home track uh I'm really mad at because I love that that track the South the South Mountain track the South Mountain track is like the first track I ever r based on that's all so we're just we're asking for help from the city of Phoenix whether we can get our track back at South Mountain or get plac somewhere else these kids have nowhere to go thank you thank you AJ is next followed by faith hello AJ Imperial um I am the President of the valley of sun quarter M Association which you're hearing past um our past members here talking about the South Mountain Speedway um first off thank you mayor and council members for allowing me to speak today um it's just some to get to know what's going on if you haven't heard or seen it in the news it's out there it will be out there for the next couple weeks and months to come um what we're asking today is that uh we were recently um kind of the little bit background of the speedway so 1949 um it's been around um and so it's a RAC trck for kids it's not adults let's make that clear it's for kids kids racing um and it's been around since 74 we've been in a lease agreement on paper uh with the city uh since 1974 until last November of 2023 in which the city parks and Rex Department advised us that lease would not be renewed until a third party inspection um that was hired by the city Fus could be done uh this was usually done on an annual basis uh we provide that to the city and we have um had any issu since then uh up until recently um we were told that because there's repairs that need to be done um that we didn't have the resources uh to complete the repairs so we're told to cease and assist use of the facility that's basically taking away the kids racing with no Alternatives um and so what I what I'm asking is that we've tried to work with the deputy director of Natural Resources um and asked for help what can we do can you give us a seat at the table let come to an agreement we acknowledge that the repairs need to be done but in the August meeting that we went to they said it was a million dollars that was estimated I could build a house for a million dollars I could build a racetrack for $50,000 that's a a ridiculous amount so now it's no longer it's the repairs that's the issue we were told in the council meeting that uh times have changed a racetrack doesn't belong within the sou Mountain park preserve my my response to that is that um the racetrack was there before it was a preserve it's always been there we've never had any problems we have lots of Community Support businesses around South Phoenix even throughout the country that are willing to help us um but like I said we were told it was going to be demolished there hasn't been no Alternatives provided to us other than you can't use it no more give us another facility let us sit down at the table and let's talk about it because we know if it gets demolished and turned back to its natural resources it's going to cost the city probably a million dollars which we know the city doesn't have and you're going to tell me that you're going to use that money and not fix the local city parks that really need the attention rather than us so all we're asking um mayor is that um in your bio you talk about um that you here to help the community and do every day to make things right to get results and do that so we're asking um all the council members to come together the governor the mayor and say let's sit down at the table and let's work it out that's all we're asking thank you very much thank you you faith is next followed by Christie faith is ill okay wishing Faith a speedy recovery christe is next followed by Christopher good afternoon Madame mayor and council members my name is christe margaria I'm speaking on behalf of a group of concerned Phoenix citizens that have been working to improve animal welfare in our city although last year this Council approved updates to the existing Animal Welfare ordinances the boots on the ground and rescue have not have seen no improvement in animal suffering in our city we can't even be certain these updated laws are being enforced from our perspective over the last year no enforcement is occurring dogs are still dying on chains in addition the homeless pet population is growing exponentially our County shelter which the city has a contract with has been over capacity for months and is turning citizens away due to limited intake availability in fact the current wait time to get an intake appointment is three weeks this means more unhoused desperate animals on the streets in our communities this is a dangerous Community issue for humans and their pets living in these impacted neighborhoods this growing problem is controllable we need to do better we need intentional enforcement of existing laws we need to close loopholes in the existing laws did you know in our city it is legal to keep a dog in a box for its entire life our law defines adequate shelter and it defines restraint but it does not even contemplate Humane confinement we have been in touch with the Phoenix Police property crimes Bureau regarding a particular property with dogs living in boxes and had been advised this setup was legal the dog had enough room to stand up lay down turn around and it had to eat in the same spot it had to relieve itself the Box allowed for some cross ventilation barely under the current law this dog can spend its entire life in this box and it's legal we are researching animal Weare laws and municipalities across the country to identify best practices and we are using this data to make suggested revisions to our current Sydney ordinances we will be reaching out to each of your offices in the upcoming 12 months with our recommendations and we hope you will consider working with us to get our Animal Welfare laws updated to close loopholes and Revis language to make existing laws more enforced by adding measurable standards we look forward to working with you thank you for your time thank you for that update Christopher is next followed by Deborah hello city council and mayor my name is Christopher I just wanted to let you know I arrived here in Phoenix in November of 22 2022 that is after short stay at Central Arizona shelter Services I became a client to one of the local shelters um while there I continued my sobriety of8 years um I also obtain employment um after being there for several months I actually uh obtained a promotion and decided it was time to move on um after moving into my apartment which is uh basically at 4 Street in Thomas um after uh moving in I contracted various infections um I even found out a month after moving in that I had rats really bad um I had no Advocate to speak on my behalf to deal with the uh permit complex um and due to my mental illness I wasn't able to do it myself so evident I mean eventually I just moved out um and uh went on my Merry way um so what I'm proposing is U to have an advocacy program to where when people do get out of uh the shelter that they have somebody to speak on their behalf and to stick up for them because it's not enough to just do it yourself not in this day thank you thank you thank you for the suggestion uh Deborah is next followed by Kate notes thank you for your time today um my name is Deborah and I'm here to talk about a deeply important issue uh how we care for those experiencing homelessness in our city shelters the truth is our shelters are struggling due to a lack of accountability and proper training among the staff this isn't just a minor issue it's one that affects the safety dignity and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in our community in my time navigating these Services I've seen the consequences of this firsthand I've watched as favoritism and inconsistent rule enforcement create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust people are being kicked out for minor infractions While others who may have been more Pro problematic are allowed to stay uh for for more serious you know infraction this kind of environment isn't just unfair it's harmful um but there is more I've personally encountered a staff member who without any medical background or knowledge of my history uh without even any knowledge of what medications I had uh advised me that um I should stop taking my medication except for my inhaler because I needed that to breathe um this is dangerous it's not just misguided it is dangerous what if she had said this to someone with a serious mental illness someone who perhaps you know did what she said it could end up being potentially life just huge to to the people around them um is this is just one example among many I could tell you stories that would probably shock most of you but I know um many people other many other people excuse me have their own experiences too these stories all point to the same problem our shelter staff need more training especially in dealing with people who have EXP experien trauma we have elderly individuals veterans and people who have been through severe abuse these are human beings with unique histories weaknesses and strengths and they deserve to be treated with understanding and respect I urge you to take immediate action um first every person entering a shelter I would like to see receive a handbook that clearly outlines the rules policies and crucially how to contact an independent third party for grievances or serious concerns this would ensure that complaints are taken seriously and handled fairly not brushed aside by the very staff who might be involved in the situation it's very important to have this as transparency is a good thing and staff would know that they need to be held accountable for their actions additionally I strong strongly urge you to consider implementing a thirdparty care team to assess new intakes some individuals are in shelters now um need more than just a roof over their head and the basic um services that they receive they need Specialized Care that goes far beyond what the current staff can provide to them um right here in Phoenix oh my time is running out I would just like to say that we would like to have more ad more advocacy because um there's just there's just not enough and there's too much fear among the homeless people that they could lose their housing um if they open their mouth about certain things that they're experiencing by the treatment of of the staff thank you for your time thank you for your testimony Kate is next followed by Frank good afternoon Madame mayor and council members my name is Kate cival and I'm the founder of poverty pets a grassroot organization established in 2006 focused on providing spay neuter services in our underserved communities for the past 18 years poverty pets has consistently hosted monthly spay neuter clinics poverty pets is Boo Bo on the ground before each Clinic we go door to-door Distributing Flyers promoting our free spay and neuter clinic we operate on the front lines bearing witness to the root causes of Phoenix pet over population epidemic we also encounter significant levels of animal cruelty in our underserved Community free roaming dogs and cats are a CommunityWide issue fueled by the lack of owner accountability and insufficient law enforcement the City of Phoenix third party contract was with the Arizona Humane Society further complicates this issue for years neglect and cruelty occurring in our underserved communities have been ignored in June 28 23 I was present in this chamber when the Phoenix City Council passed ordinance g71 31 amending the city code related to animal cruelty this ordinance was intended to eliminate subjectivity and strengthen the requirements for adequate shelter including Provisions for protection from extreme weather proper ventilation and drainage despite the passage of the ordinance when we reported inhumane conditions of dogs confined 247 in makeshift boxes Arizon Humane deemed these conditions legal in July of 2023 poverty prets reached out to each council member and the mayor with pictures of these deplorable conditions we were stumped by Arizona Humane Society's conclusions that the dogs being kept in such cruel confinement with was deemed legal even though they were forced to live in their own waste confined in boxes where temperatures exceeded 100° Arizona Humane Society Justified their stance by stating that the temperature inside the boxes was 15 degrees lower than the ambient T temperature and that as long as the animals did not show signs of urine scold or have feces attached in which they could not defecate on their own this was deemed legal regrettably we received only three responses from our emails one council member dismissed the issue as as it being outside their District while the other two punted the matter back to Arizona Humane we also reached out to the Phoenix crime Bureau with whom we had previously met they they two punted back to the Arizona Humane in closing this is just one of the many situations that highlights our urgent need for stronger enforcement of Animal Welfare leagues and greater accountabilities from all parties involved we must do better better for our citizens in underserved communities and the animals thank you thank you Frank is next followed by Elizabeth hello city council um my name is Frank Urban I'm at 209 West Jackson not too far from here uh I would like to speak on the consent decree if I can um in my opinion we need this because the police definitely need oversight especially where the homeless is concerned because of various civil rights violations that they have committed um I myself was homeless for four years up in Sunny Slope well this was a while ago but I was homeless four years up there before that um and I have seen I personally have been cited just for standing on the sidewalk not doing anything not doing any drugs no drugs on me no alcohol on on me or near me but I was still cited um and On a related note I had just just read a few days ago that we're putting up another 80 Mill million doll high-rise hotel we do not need that money to go to something like that we need it for an affordable housing thank you thank you Elizabeth is next hello Elizabeth venal back again it's a new season anyways I wanted to share with you guys something that I learned about myself basically over summer break so I'm going to call it what I did over my summer break and that was I figured I had stones in my face and they're calcium stones and um this led me to a lot of reading a lot of reading and you can probably imagine when I read on something I read a lot of it and I found out that there was only one cause of these kind of stones and it was called hyperthyroidism and it's a disorder of the parathyroid gland and actually either you're born with it or it's a Cancer and I still to figure out you know is it from birth or is it a cancer they haven't done the Imaging yet right but it was such a relief in some ways to find this out because my entire life I have lived with this phenomenon it has made me with okay I take I take a lot of responsibility for my mental health I think more than what people would expect and um it enables Me by being compliant things like that to be pretty functional in society where if I wasn't on the medication I'd be wanting to kill myself every single day like literally it's not a joke and um you know in some ways it really angers me because you know I I always get the gold star from the behavioral health people oh you're so self-aware and you do so good and you're reaching out to Services you take your pills all this time no one has cared to find out what is the medical reason behind my serious disorder literally I had to figure figure this out by myself then upon finding it out I've had so many Gatekeepers and some of them are incompetent you know they're like a resident from a really poor school you know um that I'm not going to mention um you know that literally treated me as though I was a hypochondriac and they listed me as a schizophrenic no a schizo effective female Elizabeth venal you know it's like being called you know any sort of random title as your only identity to this person and I just wanted to share with you maybe some of the people that we want to judge you know maybe they're just cancer patients and if they can have if I can have these problems and have them not being diagnosed they can as well so I I just want to share because I thought it was important that you guys think about these are medical issues not all moral thank you for that testimony we have completed everyone who registered before the meeting began in person we do have uh some individuals who are registered both virtual and who came during public comment who we have not gotten to we will have them go first at the next meeting we are adjourned [Music] a [Music] down oh [Music] a [Music]