Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome, everyone. I call this meeting to order. Will you stand and join with me in the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Madam secretary, will you please take roll?

Chair Burton?

Present.

Commissioner Puppy? Commissioner Ragsdale? Here. Commissioner Kupcic? Here. Vice chair DiMaggio? Here. Commissioner Bassler? Here. Commissioner Trupiano?

Alternate Hester? Alternate Manuel.

Here.

We have alternate Manuel seated for District 1.

Thank you. Brings us to number two, election of officers. The current chair and vice chair were elected on 02/11/2025 and the bylaws require the annual appointment of a chair and vice chair during the annual meeting to be held at the first regular meeting of the calendar year or as soon thereafter as possible. The nomination and appointment of a chair will will be first and the nomination and appointment of the vice chair will follow. Commissioner may I have your nominations for the office of chair.

Chair I'd like to nominate Teddy Burton and to continue as the chair.

I'll second that.

May I have a motion on the nomination? You did, we did.

We did and we seconded it.

Thank you. Well, motion passes. I guess I'm No, no, no. Have to vote. Oh, vote.

All in favor.

That scared me.

All in favor.

Thank you. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Maybe. If I can get it right. Alright. May I have the nominations for the office of vice chair?

I nominate Anthony Di Macio as vice chair.

Second. It's

been moved and second. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. We get to ride again. Alright let's go do some good. Minutes the next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from the 12/09/2025 planning and zoning commission regular meeting. May I have a motion to approve the minutes? I'll make a motion to approve minutes from 12/09/2025.

I second it.

It's been moved and second all those in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Number four, continuous agenda item number 4a AT and T cell tower conditional use permit case number PLZUDash25Dash0003Public hearing and request that the Planning and Zoning Commission approve subject to conditions a through g. Presentation by PC Patricia Cooley.

Good evening chair and members of the commission. I am Trish Cooley planner two. And tonight I have before you case PLZUDash25Dash0003, the AT and T cell tower conditional use permit request. Remember this project was continued from 11/25/2025 to allow time to research concerns raised at that meeting. Again, the applicant for this project is Misty Hunter with SmartLink on behalf of AT and T.

The project is located south and west of the Southwest corner of Brooks Road and West M C 85. The applicant is requesting a conditional use permit to allow a new multicarrier telecommunications facility, which does include a 90 foot faux elm tower. So the tower itself is 90 feet. With the stealth applications, it would be 95 feet, and the associated equipment within a 2,500 square foot enclosure with an eight foot two foot screen wall around it. Since the November 25 meeting, the location of the set cell tower has been modified.

Condition d has also been modified to accommodate a seven to one transitional surface slope that is applicable to civil airports. Excuse me. So the subject site indicated by the red rectangle is located south and west of the southwest corner of Brooks Road and D 85. The lease area is proposed to be located towards the north side of that, parcel that is going to be created through a separate subdivision. The current parcel, as it exists today is primarily residential with agricultural uses to the east, the north, and west, and immediately to the east is the future Crimson Canyon development.

Further to the east are existing residential subdivisions of Terra Vista and Encantara Estates. Encantara. Thank you, commissioner Kupseg. And to the South is private airstrip with some additional agricultural uses further to the south. The subject site identified in the right rectangle and surrounding properties are designated as employment in the general plan, highlighted in blue there.

Further to the east are some properties that are designated as as neighborhood activity center. The subject site and areas to the North as well as the South are within a planned community zoning district or PC. It's shown in yellow here. We have some light industrial found to the East, shaded gray, and business park zoning districts found to the West, highlighted in that blue. Cell towers are permitted with a CUP, a conditional use permit, in the planned community zoning district.

So the proposed cell tower lease area is located towards, the middle of the existing parcel. It'll be towards the north side of the new created parcel. Access is proposed off of M C 85 with an all weather aggregate based drive on the west side of that parcel. The private airstrip is located south of the proposed cell tower as shown on the site plan. This is, an updated image from the site plan submittal we recently received, towards the end of last week.

The applicant has provided a determination of no hazard to air navigation from the FAA, and in addition to the determination of no hazard to air navigation, the app the applicant has proposed a location much further to the north. The initial proposed location of the cell tower, it's on the left there, was approximately 550 feet from the private airstrip centerline. AT and T has been in communication with the airfield owner and representation and has subsequently proposed a location over 755 feet to the centerline of the runway. So that does exceed that seven to one, slope standard that's applied to civil airports. The image on the right shows that new proposed location.

The maximum height for cell towers in PC zoning is 50 feet. They're allowed an additional 25 feet for each additional carrier. So the proposed 90 foot cell tower is designed to accommodate two future carriers. So that would allow a height of a 100 feet. That's not including the self stealth applications.

The development code requires cell towers to be set back a distance equal to the height of this tower from any residential property line. It does meet that. The site plan they recently submitted shows the new property line to allow for a setback of a 100 feet, to the north and a 110 feet to the east. So this does meet that residential, setback and fall distance requirement. An approved subdivision is required to establish these property lines.

As seen on the right, the cell tower is proposed to be camouflaged as a faux elm, and additionally, an eight foot CMU screen wall. And additional landscaping included, including several elm trees on the north side, to provide additional screening and help camouflage the cell tower a little bit. In addition to meeting setback requirements, another requirement is for the applicant to demonstrate a need for a cell tower. The images show the difference in signal strength. Red indicates stronger signal strength, showing that the addition of the proposed cell tower will provide much better signal strength or coverage for the community in that area.

The conditional use permit application was reviewed for consistency governing documents. It was found that this use is in compliance with the general plan, Land use says it would support surrounding uses and contribute to the livability of the community, and that a, telecommunication telecommunication facility is permitted in PC zoning with a CUP. Further, the applicant has demonstrated a need for another cell tower. The associated site plan also shows that the height setbacks and design meet the development code standards and are consistent with the character of the area. The use is not anticipated to disrupt the surrounding area, and there are no outstanding comments from, reviewing departments.

So our recommendation tonight is to, prove subject to conditions a through g. If there are any questions, I am available as well as a representative from the applicant.

Thank you, PC. Commissioners, any questions? Mister Bassler.

Well, I still have a concern with the cell tower that close to an airfield. I have read however the FAA requirements and it looks like those are being met. They override my concerns.

Thank you. Mr. DeBasio? I have no questions. Ms. Kovczak?

No questions at this time.

Gina?

No questions, thank you.

I have no questions. Okay. All right. At this time I will open up the public hearing. Madam Secretary, you've given me one page. And I believe that is Burl Shears. You would come up, step to the mic, give me your name and address, please.

My name is Burrell Shears. I'm president of Western Pilot Service. I live at 9901 South San Marco Circle, Goodyear, Arizona. Mister chairman, members of the commission, thank you very much for the sixty day postponement. AT and T has modified, as you've seen, to meet the letter of the regulation for private airports and the mandate for public airports of that seven to one glide slope off to the side of the runway.

I still believe there are better places to put a cell tower than than beside the airport, but because they have modified it and they do meet the letter of the law, I am withdrawing our objection based on that fact. I can't speak for the owner of the airport, but I am speaking for Western Pilot Service, the 18 airplanes and one helicopter that we have based at Farm Ag. And today alone, we had over 30 operations. We had 32 operations actually, which is one takeoff and one landing operation each as the FAA announces. So it's not like it sits there with nothing going on at this airport.

So thank you again for your consideration. We do appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Shears. If there are no others. Commission may I have a motion? I'm sorry.

Oh, I'm sorry. I gotta close the public clearing. Commissioner, may I have a motion to approve PLZU dash twenty five dash zero zero zero three subject to conditions a through g. I'll make a motion to approve PLZU-twenty five-three subject conditions A through G. Is there a second?

I'll second that.

It's been moved and second. Motion passes. I'm sorry.

God dang it.

Been here in a while. Sorry. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Motion passes. Thank you. Alright.

Gotta have more meetings so he doesn't get so rusty.

Alright, we have a short one tonight. Comments from the public? Anything?

No, Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Galica?

Here. Thank you. We will give you a little bit more practice. We will have, as of now, three items on the February 10 agenda. So we'll have three more chances to not vote on items that evening. Just playing with you. I do want to bring two things to your attention if you were not aware. The twenty twenty six Buckeye Airfare is scheduled for February, obviously, at the airport, the the city airport, not the Airstrip. About the airstrip. Although, I'm sure a plane can land there if if absolutely necessary.

So I encourage you to go out there. It's gonna be a great time. The city keeps getting bigger and better with with that event. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, February. And then just lastly, if you were not aware, our esteemed Planning and Zoning Commission attorney, Tosca Henry, has been promoted to the big dog, the city attorney's position with the whole city. As of now, she's going to continue serving as the commission's attorney. We'll evaluate once we hire somebody to fill her old job. So, yeah. That's all I have, Chair.

Well, thank you. Commission, any last words before we wrap this up? Comments. Mr. Basler? No comments. Mr. No comments. Ms. Ragsdale?

Well I just wanted to say that the Buckeye days was a huge success. They had over a thousand visitors to the library. And I have heard only glowing praise about the whole event. That's all. Congratulations to the city for putting on such a wonderful event.

Mr. Manuel. I have no comments. Thank you. I have a comment. We had an MLK breakfast on last Friday and it was amazing. If you didn't attend this year I would highly suggest you attend next year. We do amazing things at the Citadel of Praise Christian Church. Thank you. And with that said Tasha you know how I feel about you. That's what I said Tasha. You directed me. Let's go home.