Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Heat. Hey, Heat.

And there's another one. Everybody, if you take your seat, we're going to go ahead and get this meeting started. All right, we're going to call this meeting to order. Welcome everybody. This is the City of Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission regular meeting Monday, March or May 18th, sorry, uh 2026. Uh could we do roll call, please? Sure. Commissioner Kennedy present. Commissioner Glascott is absent. Commissioner Helman here. Commissioner Rothrock

here. Vice Chairman Kla is absent. And Chairman Garrison present. And we have a quorum. Great. Thank you very much. Cody, do we all stand and do the pledge, please? Where's our flag? There we go. 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.

All right, we have no minutes to approve tonight and we also have no old business. So, we are going to jump right into new business. Um there's call to the public uh sheets in the back. If you so wish to get up and speak either about the items we'll be uh doing the hearings on or about something else, uh please get a sheet filled out so that when you come up to the podium, you can we know who you are and we'll have the information for the record. Uh tonight we will be doing three different hearings, but we're going to do them all together and then there will be three separate votes. Uh after we get done with all of our discussion and public comment, uh we will be hearing public hearing GP260002, which is a minor general plan amendment. Uh we're going to be doing uh Z260004 which is a zone change and we will be doing uh conditional use permit CUP26002 uh to deal with a conditional use permit hearing as well. So, uh, with that being said, um, oh, so also you're going to have 3 minutes. When you get up, please try not to repeat what somebody else has said. Try and bring something new. Uh, we have a lot of sheets to get through tonight and we would like to get them all done so we can get home in a reasonable hour. So, please be prepared to speak. uh we will be calling the person up to speak and also we'll let you know who's on who's on standby so that uh hopefully you can we can move through the speakers a little bit quicker. So uh we when you come up to

the podium you can address the board or the commission. we can't respond to you. Uh, but we can hear what you say and if there's something that you bring up, we can always go back and talk to staff or the applicant about that matter, but we can't interact with you during during your presentation. So, uh, with that, can we move on to the public hearings? Uh, thank you, Chairman Garrison. Uh, we could definitely do the public hearing ahead of time. Uh, otherwise, I'm prepared to give my presentation first. Yeah, please.

Thank you. I am Thank you, Chairman Garrison Commission. I'm Tina Hayden with Community Development presenting on that general plan amendment, zone change, and conditional use permit applications for the Spring Verie Apartments. Uh for the project details, first I'm going to go and draw your attention to this image we have here. um like to point out that the area in the thin red line um there's two parcels that this project goes over um and it addresses these parcels. Uh and then with the darker line, this is the project area uh where they're requesting the general plan amendment zone change and CUP. U also like to point out that we have State Route 89A here and 12 street here. Uh just to help you orient yourself, this is the Wells Fargo property. This is the Harbor Freight property. Uh and the project is south of those locations. Uh the proposed project site is 8.81 acres. Uh applicants requesting a general plan amendment from highway commercial to residential high density for 5.6 acres. That's this parcel here. The land use designation for this parcel is already HR for highdensity residential. They're also requesting a zone change from C2 and R2 zoning to the R3 zoning district for 8.81 acres collectively here. They're uh lastly, they're requesting a conditional use permit to allow for three-story buildings with heights under 40 feet. The proposal could allow for up to 29 multifamily residential units per acre. They have not submitted a design review application at this time. This project would require design review approval prior to uh moving on to building permits.

Uh I gave you that uh zone change aerial. Now we're looking at a satellite aerial here just to help you get your bearings. Again, uh we've got 12th Street running here, 89A here. Uh the project site is in this general area. Uh to the west, we have uh single family residential units uh roughly one unit to the acre. As we're moving, uh eastward to the south of the property, we have some forplexes, fiveplexes here. So, multifamily residential. Uh moving further east, uh we have some more medium density multifamily residential here. And then we're rotating northward, we have the Food City Shopping Plaza here, that Harbor Freight, Wells Fargo, and then other various commercial um sites offer further to the west. I've got some current site photos for you. I'd like you to note the north arrow I have here to help you get your bearings. Uh these images are from South 12th Street. Uh so here we're looking at the Wells Fargo here looking eastward. You can see um a portion of the project site located here on this bottom image. We're looking uh southwest. This is adjacent uh single family residential and that's the information we gathered from the county uh GIS. kind of moving further south on 12th Street here. Again, please note that north arrow. We're kind of we're looking southish here. Uh you can see the project site here. Some existing curb cuts here. Uh and then on this one, we're looking kind of westward at the single family residential. Again, you can see some of those existing curb cuts

on that side. This is the last view of 12 Street. Uh just further down here, I'd like to point out that we are looking northward on 12th Street. So, we're looking at the property. Um you can see, you know, some of the existing buildings over the shrubbery. And then this bottom one, again, we're looking southward. You can see the Ridgerest town homes over here. Uh some additional curb cuts here for the single family residential. Uh this is an image um from South 15th Street and East Skyline Drive near the Ridgerest Town Homes. Uh this top one here, we're looking north at the project site. So you can see those existing um RV structures there. On this bottom one, we're looking south at the Ridgerest Town Homes. Just want you to note that we've got single family uh singlestory, sorry, singlestory buildings there. And then this is a view from the Wells Fargo parking lot. So again, we're looking southward on both sides. Uh trying to show you how the topography works and that it does drop down a bit from the Wells Fargo property. And then you can also see that rise up here uh on 12th Street. The applicant did pro uh provide sight sections here. U so this is these cut points are where these diagrams are showing. I will point out that they were inverted. So while 12th Street's running here, uh it's actually right here. And I just got a larger image for you to see. Again, we've got 12 street here. Uh on the west side,

applicant is proposing 31 tall buildings to that roof line. Um 31t tall buildings to the roof line with additional 8ft uh towers uh to total about 39 ft there. from 12th Street. You you can see that only about 20 ft rises from that 12th Street grade. I'd like to point out this time that the site plan and renderings that we're seeing, they're all very preliminary. Uh subject staff has recommended additional code review for the applicant, um they're still subject to the provisions of the zoning ordinance and our design standards. So, this is the site plan. Uh 12th Street runs this way. You've got to the north uh Wells Fargo and Harbor Freight. You can see where they're proposing two entries here and here. And then proposing three-story buildings all along this perimeter. Again, still subject to design standards and zoning ordinance privilege provisions. These are preliminary elevations uh to the parapet or to the highest point. I know it's really hard to discern, but that's 39 ft 2 in that they have there. Um the conditional use permit request is uh less than 40 ft to the highest point of architecture that they're requesting for the general plan amendment and the zone changed. applicant was required to have a neighborhood meeting. Uh they held that meeting on April 14th uh more than 30 days prior to this hearing date. Three members of the public were in in attendance. Uh they cited concerns related to traffic, parking, privacy, and design. I'd also like to point out that since then, we've heard from

approximately 12 other members of the public. Um 11 of those were expressing dissent citing the same concerns. And then we had one member of the pro public who actually was in support of the project saying that this would provide for additional housing that we need that supply. So for the general plan amendment the justification is that the proposed land use designation is supported by the following goals and objectives. So staff does site objective 15 regarding mixed use and that we want to locate multifamily residential uses adjacent to neighborhood commercial designations and multimotal service areas. Goal four also says work towards making housing available and affordable for all who wish to live in Cottonwood and objective 41 regarding housing availability further compounds that we want to improve the economic viability of potential housing developments. uh and keep have that housing supply keep up with demand. I'd also like to point out that this project is uh this is within the general plan regarding infill and growth areas. Uh I want to show that green area. Here is the project site. It's within an infill area with access to sewer and water. Regarding the zone change justification to R3, uh, state law indicates the requirement for a reasonzoning ordinance to conform with the land use element of the general plan. Uh, if the general plan amendment is adopted by council, this project would conform with the land use element. Uh, it also allows for uses consistent with the budding properties namely the ones to the south for the multifamily residential. regarding a stipulation for the zone

change. Uh this is just a timeline due to the fact that the larger property is going to have dual zoning if the zone or zoning ordinance is adopted. Staff has is recommending a 90day uh stipulation on that to give the applicant time to do the appropriate uh lot line adjustment or boundary adjustment. So that after 90 days that property that zone change the R3 property should be one whole parcel and then justification regarding the conditional use permit findings. In order for the commission to approve the conditional use permit they have to make the following findings. Uh one regarding general findings that the characteristics of the use shall not be detrimental. This proposal is still subject to design standards that addressed height differences in the design standards book that was just uh in effect April 17th. Regarding compatibility with surrounding uses, the use shall be compatible with surrounding uses. Abudding properties are either the same or of greater intensity than the proposed use. So to the south we have multif family residential similar intensity. to the north and east. We have that commercial which is a higher intensity. Uh zoning ordinance does address buffering requirements for adjacent use incompatibilities uh namely between residential and non-residential uses. Lastly, regarding traffic and circulation, the use shall have adequate access and provision of on-site circulation. This project is subject to the provisions of the zoning ordinance and design standards. Additionally, the city engineer will require a traffic impact study, traffic impact analysis and also indicates the AOT permit

approval would be required uh and could indicate additional measures to miticate um mitigate traffic impacts. If the commission desires to approve this, staff recommends these three stipulations. Uh just in summary, approval is granted to allow that the restory buildings uh with heights less than 40 ft to the highest point of architecture. Uh uh design review approval is required prior to the issuance of building permits. Uh additionally with conditional use permits, uh there's usually a six-month time period on this. The stipulation three allows for this project to progress through the the design review phase and building permit phase until completion. Uh staff does recommend um that the commission make a recommendation approval to council for the general plan amendment and for the zone change. and staff also recommends uh approval from the planning and zoning commission regarding the conditional use permit for building height. This is these are all public hearing items. Uh I'm prepared to answer any questions for you. I've got the applicant uh present to answer any questions. Uh just let me know when you need us.

Commissioner Helman, do you have anything you'd like to ask staff? Not at this moment. Thank you. Commissioner Kennedy, the Ridgerest units that are just south of there, is that an R2 or an R3? Uh, thank you for that question, Commissioner Kennedy. They are R2 zoning. Okay, thank you. Any other questions for staff? Commissioner Kennedy? No. No. Thank you. Commissioner Rothrock, do you have any questions?

Not at this time. All right. And I have none either. I read through the packet. It was pretty thorough. Uh do does the applicant want to come up and talk about their project? We'd love to hear it. Could you state your name for the record, please? Yes, sir. My name is uh Derek Belergen. I work with CESO uh working with the applicant, Mr. Bill Spring. Um, and we're the civil engineer and also the architect for this project. Um, we just be happy to answer any questions that any of the staff or the commission may have.

How long are the building? We know the height. No, we're not. That's you. He He's not here to answer your questions tonight. Thank you. Um the it looked like this is going to take over the whole area that used to be Lumberman's and has all the RV parking and the canopies and all that all that's coming down. Yes. So all the existing structures in that location will be removed and then does everything basically getting flattened because there's quite a bit of topography on that property still.

No. So the um the area adjacent to 12 street that will remain at the higher elevation coming a certain distance away from that we will be putting in a retaining wall that is going to be a little bit more expensive but it will allow us to push the the buildings along 12th Street further down thus resulting in you know probably half the height that you'll probably see from 12th Avenue and the elevation of of that will generally slope away the project. So you'll have two entrances in off 12 Street that'll be going down to the site itself. So portions of it will remain high, but they won't be developed. They'll be natural grade and landscaped and so forth.

All right. Uh Commissioner Helman, do you have anything you'd like to ask the applicant? Not at this time. Commissioner Kennedy, do you have any questions for the applicant tonight? Yes. Was there an additional access off of 89A? No. The the access off 89A is to Harbor Freight and that that's through commercial. They're going to be two separate owners, two separate parcels. So, it'll be going through a commercial area. So, so the only ingress egress will be on 12th Street. Two two entrances and exits off 12th Street. Okay. There'll be there'll be separate parcels.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Roth, do you have any questions for the applicant tonight? Uh, yes. Is the um Can we skip the towers? It's already tall. Yeah. We can look at that. It's an architectural feature. Sure. Maybe Pat, do you want to speak to that? This is Pat, an architect. You don't want to Yeah. Could you please state your name for the record? Yes. I'm Patrick McNab. I'm with CESO, one of the architects on the project. We're in preliminary design, so the towers can be adjusted in height. Yes, that's good news.

Okay. Yeah. And just to reiterate, this this is not design review tonight. So, all we're doing is we're looking at the use of the property, looking at the use of the the general area around it, and whether it's appropriate or not to to to change the zoning to allow a project of this sort to move forward. not necessarily what is being presented tonight. So, okay, great. Any any questions for the architect? Did that bring up any um Yeah, I'm I'm I'm also let you know just since we'll get to it sooner or later anyway. Um I'm not necessarily a fan either of, you know, the the towers. Um I understand the the want and the need to break it up and and also hide your mechanicals and that kind of stuff. Um, but it it looks right now it's looking more like a hotel than a than an apartment complex. And and uh I think also, you know, the buildings that are there probably 20 22 ft

anyway. So, you know, the 30 foot is really not going to take you much above existing. Um, but that extra nine feet really would be even though it's not a consistent grade, it really would probably affect the the the viewshed a little bit more than maybe would be appreciated by those having to look at it. We've already talked about that in house. Yeah, changing some of that stuff. Great. Thank you very much. Um, any other questions before we move on? Yes, ma'am. Have one more. Um I know in here it said somewhere how many units total it was.

252. And so if you reduce it to twotory, how many units does that reduce it by? Well, a third. Okay. All right. Thank you. One about 160. So all right. We're going to go ahead. Thank you very much. You got somebody. Oh, you got another one. All right, come on up. Please state your name for the record.

William Spring served the worst for last. I am with my wife Carol am the developers of Spring Very Apartments. We 23-y year residents of Sedona. Uh we're local. Our last project was in Prescat very successful Alta Vista Senior Apartments independent living and assisted living which met a big need over there. Springver Verie is directly in response to a study done by Cottonwood in Verie Valley a few years ago. That study showed a need for around 3,800 units of housing projected out. A lot. our lender and HUD underwriter on their last project who actually came to me to do this project here. They did their own market study and reached the same conclusion. Cottonwood is growing past its available housing. Cottonwood needs the housing to grow effectively. Uh they my lender previously financed your very successful inspiration apartments down the road done by my buddy Bob Porter also from Sedona. the new NAH Northern Arizona Cancer Center of which you're all aware they're all guys are already underway just broke ground and what I'm what I'm reading is 4 to 500 new employees I talked to Rich Gray the head of NH Bertie Valley he absolutely welcomes the project because by the time they're done have the employees they will need the housing on top of the other studies that have been done by Verie Valley and HUD of demand here The site is a walk to work site will be marketed as same as you know it's adjacent to two food anchored shopping centers all kind of retail other stuff the marketing will be done as a walk to

work project uniquely and we can almost walk to the cancer center of highway 89A finally we've designed Spring Birdie to have as minimal visual impact as possible the project some parts of it are 20 ft below 12 Street. That was done to minimally impact the people across the street instead of sticking the 40 ft up in the air. We're down. The whole project is down. And for water gradation, it goes down even further. That excavation added about $3.5 million to the cost of the project. Just doing that to make it aesthetically more acceptable and less visible. Finally, when completed, we'll have the most amenity richch project in the valley. You know, that's my pride. I do nice stuff. My pride is it'll be the nicest. Got my name on it. Mainly because I grew up near Spring Green, Wisconsin. I'm from Wisconsin. And when the gal asked me, "What do you have for name?" I go, "Spring? I don't know what birdie." That's where the name came from. Spring Green, Wisconsin, where a famous architect had his place. that you might know of. We think it'll be the nicest thing in the Verie Valley. Amenity rich and a really nice place to live. That's it. Thank you very much. Any questions?

Do we have any questions for the applicant? Yes, Miss Helen.

Um could you tell me what uh your projected rent uh for each unit uh per one bedroom, two bedroom, threebedroom? uh for a market rent project, they'll run from about $1,100 $1,150 a month up to 17 to $1,800 a month for two-bedroom. These are two-bedroom, two bath, threebedroom, two bath. Fairly goodized units. Uh and the three-bedroom, I think would be around 2,000. We're looking to do about a quarter of it garages like Inspiration did. Everything will be covered. Parking, solar, but we'll put solar in for electric vehicles, but we're looking to have a good portion of it to actually be garages. These are places you live for a long time, not like when I was growing up, it was a transient deal to be in apartment. This is set up indoor outdoor pool, gourmet kitchen, pickle ball courts, all that kind of stuff. So, it's it's a long-term residence. And that rent does not include extra fees for club membership or pool access.

That's all included. That stuff's all included. Utilities they pay, you know, standard paid utilities. Excuse brownis. All the amenities are are included part of the p that's the luxury package. Uh PBL wants to manage it. They manage inspiration. They're one of the best builder managers in the valley. Miss Kennedy, you want to be Do you have any questions for No, I'm good. The owner. Mr. Rothrock, do you have any questions for the owner? Nope. Thank you.

We're good. Thank you very much. Appreciate you coming up. Uh we're going to go ahead and open the floor to call to the public. Once again, uh you will have three minutes. When you come up to the podium, please speak your name. uh so that we get it right for the record. Uh we're going to call a name and we're going to call up who's on base. Uh so be prepared to come up. Uh we cannot interact with you. This is your opportunity to speak to us and tell us your concerns and then we will close the floor of the public and go back to the applicant possibly one more time before we have our own discussion. So Mr. Roth, please.

Uh Karen Mavco, Karen, are you here? Maybe. Mav Zulo. Okay, let's say. And who's who's after that? Followed by David Ayala. Thank you. smart meth.

We'll we'll wait till you get ready to start the time. Sure. Thank you for giving me the time to respond to this and thank you neighbors for coming out regardless of which side you're on. I'm in opposition to this. I live on 12th Street, South 12th Street. I thought the pictures were kind of interesting. It looked like nobody lived anywhere on 12th Street. I'll be as brief as I can. Okay. As far as mitigating traffic, I think that's a load of baloney. Okay. It's not going to mitigate anything. You have one accident. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. We have one accident over by Jack. I can't even get out of my driveway because they defer all the traffic over to South Street. Okay. Uh once South 12 Street was paid, what was it? 8 years. It it it's on once South 12th Street was paved about eight years ago. Can you hear me now? Yes.

Okay. Once it was paved about I don't know what was it eight or nine years ago. Okay. We had more traffic on South 12th Street than anybody could ever even think about. And now you're going to add 252 years uh 252 units with 45 parking stalls. And you think that you're going to mitigate traffic by putting two entry connections? I don't think so. Okay. And what are you going to do about other infrastructure like water? Okay. Okay.

Okay. All right. And so what are you going to do about the water? Do you think that when you put all those units in there that I'm not going to have problems with water trickling out of my faucets? I don't think that's not going to happen. Okay? And I want to know what you're going to do about that when that starts to happen. And don't you people from Sedona and whatever the any other place that you come from are going to tell me that something like that's not going to happen. And as far as turning it into an R3, I don't want that to happen in this community. And I don't know why you picked the area that you picked, but if you want to mitigate things, people can walk from over by Cove Parkway and behind the the Safeway area where there's huge amounts of room where you can build. Okay. And people can walk to work from there as well.

Ma'am, you need to you need to talk to the commission, please, not the applicant. Okay, I'm just doing it because I can't even hear myself in here. At any rate, okay, there are other places that you can build that aren't going to make a huge uh burden on areas that are already well built with lots of uh infrastructure that's going to be uh inhibited and and imposed upon. We don't need that many more people in our area. It's not only going to affect South 12th Street, it will affect North 12 Street. And I'll leave it up to the people who just moved into those really nice places right next to them to speak their piece because I'm sure they're not going to be happy about it either. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful evening.

Thank you.

David Ayala followed by William Drake. Thank you. Hi, my name is David Ayala. In June of 2020, I purchased my property at 654 South 12th Street, directly across the street from the subject property. I am a former professional athlete and a retired law enforcement officer from California. I have lived in three countries and four states. I was looking for property for two years in Prescuit, thinking that was going to be where I was going to spend my retirement years until I found the beautiful little town of Cottonwood. And then I found the perfect property for me on 1.16 acres, exactly what I was looking for in leaving the congestion of Southern California. The past six years have been amazing, and I couldn't ask for better neighbors. with Barbara Walker on the north of me and Will and Becky Drake on the south. I have very proudly renovated the entire house and I'm now working on the exterior of the property with a pool and spa presently being constructed. The eastern view of the Sedona Mountains was a major selling point of the property. And now we are facing the worst possible nightmare in a reasonzoning consideration for highdensity residential property directly across the street from me. In my short six years here, I have made a bit of an impact on the community in that I play in a pretty popular local music group called Soulshine. The high visibility of my property on 12th Street is pretty well known by many business owners and friends of the band who have found out where I live and have complimented the work I have done on my property. The friends that I have spoken to about this present issue are dumbfounded as they utilize 12th Street as everybody else does in town and are aware of the

growing traffic problem that is already increasing without the requested resoning. In closing, it should be seriously obvious to everyone here that I would have never considered buying my house if I knew that the present situation was even a remote possibility. And I am wholeheartedly wishing and hoping that this does not happen to 12th Street. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. William Drake, followed by Becky Rebecca Drake. Good evening. I had a lot just today. Please state your name for the record, please.

My name is William Drake. Thank you. I live in Cottonwood on 12th Street. I keep hearing two driveways. One of them happens to be right in front of my house. And I know about traffic on Cottonwood, whether it's morning, noon, or night. When they did the 12th Street project, one of the things that was discussed that 12th Street was going to turn into a drag strip. Drag strip is an understatement. It is the least patrolled area of Cottonwood I've ever seen. We got people going 50, 60, 70 miles an hour down that road. Adding 252 units to it is a joke. It's offensive. I lose my views, my sunsets, my moonrises, uh, Red Rock, Verie, the desert views, it's going to be gone. We spent good money buying that land, building that property, and, uh, maintaining it. And because some developer decides he's going to throw up 252 units on a property that one of the portions, if it were not reszoned, would only bear 27 units. And the other portion of that property that would be approved by the resoning isn't supposed to bear zero units. The gentleman that purchased this property bought the property knowing fully well that what he wanted to erect wouldn't happen. He didn't have the zoning for it. And so the fact that you guys are going to change the zoning so this guy can build this behemoth in front of our homes and our property. Uh

to me I'm I'm disgusted by it. I'm not the only person impacted. The traffic on 12th Street is outrageous and I don't know how you're going to fix that. I'm done. Thanks. Thanks, sir. Uh, Rebecca Drake, followed by Mary Shaquinn.

Good evening. Could you please My name is Rebecca Drake. I live at 678 South 12th Street. Thank you.

I've lived at the 12th Street House for 18 years and we moved to Cottonwood 30 years ago. Uh and as my husband just mentioned about the zoning, uh we knew what the zoning was and the zoning uh we abide by the zoning and uh people might say through the years, oh yeah, you know, we don't know what's going to go on over there across the street, but you should pay attention to the zoning. It's like, okay, well, we're happy with it. Like my husband said, the R2, the maximum 11 units per acre, they could have 27 units there. Okay. The zoning, the C2, zero houses, zero. And so you want to change from 27 and allow even consider 252 units that are not even currently allowed by the current zoning. I don't know. Anyway, so let me get back to my work, my pages. Um, this project is too dense. It's and it diminishes our small town rural atmosphere and it's not consistent with the city and all of you guys so diligently promote for our cherished tourism. You know, it's small town, rural, not not this dense thing with So, the buildings are two 40 ft high and uh I I can't tell how long they are on the uh details I have. They look like they could be 300 feet long. I don't know. That was a question to the developer. They're 200 feet, 300 feet. And if you notice, they're all positioned at the perimeter of the parcels boundary lines. So, they're taking up the biggest uh amount of space possible to block everybody and then putting the parking in the middle. Um, but I don't want any of them there. It doesn't matter where they'd be positioned on the lot. Um why have zoning laws if they're so easily changed? You know, and if you're willing to change these zonings so extreme because we're are we're an acre. We're

supposed to be we're very low density and yet you're putting high density right across the street. That's not consistent with things I read on the website and how things should be. Sure, we have we have our very low density agricultural the agricultural residential zoning. you should make a transition and we're all perfectly fine and the other houses across the street have been there in Crest View that that's fine. They're not, you know, but 500 to 600 people living in that area all trying to exit onto 12th Street uh back and forth when it's already that's where it gets kind of backed up the most. One of the places where it can be backed up and yet you're going to dump all that right in that center. I'm sorry. I don't want this project to happen and I Don't I and and that's what I'm seeing in my head. It's not going to happen. So, and ju and let's see what else I got here. Just the fact that we have to watch out and defend our property and our property values and try the oh gosh and why should one person get a benefit to make money while all of us are going to lose value in our homes? Cuz when they come and appraise your house, they tell you, "Oh, you're on a busy street." Or, "Oh, you know, I see those uh buildings over there now. Uh, mega a mega mega apartment complex. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Mary Shaquinn, followed by Heather White. Mary Shaquinn. I'm the executive director of the Verdie Valley Community Development Organization. And actually, I'm speaking in favor of the project. I'm speaking in favor of the need for housing not only in Cottonwood but in the Verdie Valley. The studies have identified that we need multifamily housing. We need to to house the people who live here. The experience is nobody's ever happy when there's more affordable housing put in place. The community has approved a general plan that allows for infill on properties exactly like that. We have a cancer center that we're very excited about building. We need a place to house the employees or there won't be a cancer center. I think the other thing to keep in mind is that when a lot of the housing studies were done, we looked at multifamily and single family and things like that. The statistics and dynamics have changed. People can't afford a single family house until they're 40 or 50 in many cases today, which has changed the very dynamic of needing um multifamily units. Um, I'd like to point out to the commission at the last project I was presenting at the commission talked about not putting housing on top of a hill and that was the Wescott property. This developer has actually made the effort to go 20 ft below the um the street level which I think speaks to, you know, looking at some of that high density and not going to the threetory level. Um, we just need an increased quantity of housing and like I said, everybody's always against having it near their house, but we have property rights and people need to be able to build on some of the property and we can't always govern what other people own. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Uh, the next speaker, please,

Heather White, followed by Brenda Aldrid. Good evening. My name is Heather White and as many of you know, I grew up here. I've seen the decisions that have made have been made throughout the years, good and bad. And I've seen the lack of vision that both the um both the city has had as well as planning and zoning. And so I just want to make sure that every detail is thoughtfully considered when you guys go to make a decision. So last time I spoke I spoke about NACOG and I understand that there the developer said that he is or I'm sorry there um the lady that spoke before the developer said that they were going to go and look through um go to AOT and present everything and make sure all the boxes are checked. But I do want to remind everybody there's still those 6,000 cars that are going down 12th Street on a daily basis. And that's according to NOCOG. And with the 252 units, that puts an undue burden on the people that already live in that area as far as traffic and accidents. The second point that I'd like to make is I heard two conflicting words being used tonight, affordable and luxury. So my question is which one is it? Because the definition of affordable is reasonably pri pric priced or inexpensive enough for a person or household to comfortably purchase or maintain without causing financial hardship. In addition, we um we are in a free market. So, the developer is not contractually obligated to ensure that that the price that he spoke of tonight maintains. He's not contractually obligated to only charge

people $1,200 a month. Take a look at inspiration. They promised everybody it was going to be affordable housing. The cheapest apartments in there are around $1,700 a month. That's before all the fees. That's before they charge you the water fee or the utility fee and the trash fee and the application fee. And don't worry, there's a key fee and the list goes on and on. Um, as far as luxury goes, if we're looking for or if it's the luxury is really what I'm sorry, if luxury apartments is really what the developer is going towards, that poses another issue because currently we are bringing in the majority of people that move here are 62 years old. And so if they're saying, well, it's walkable to work. will tell me what safe or I'm sorry, what fries employee, what Harbor Freight employee can tr can afford to live in a luxury apartment about I bet you the list is very very short. So again, I think we're putting the cart before the horse here. We're trying to build and we're not thinking ahead. And so I just want everybody to really take into consideration the details. Thank you.

Thank you very much,

Brenda Aldred. followed by Chris Archer. I'm Brenda Eldrid and I live on 12 Street. Been there almost 35 years. I've seen a lot of changes, a lot of new neighbors with homes and stuff. I I'm going to bring this up here to show you. I see a guy like him in my trees in the evenings and I knew when I moved there and it was Babbbit's lumber before it was lumbermens. It um there were mating owls in that the rafters of the lumberyard and then in those trees. So be mindful about the requirements when they do any construction that they're not having their babies when that happens. Um, another thing that I just wanted to bring up is that I uh walked my neighborhood talking to my neighbors and um a lot of them didn't want to come. Uh kind of this consensus I was getting is that this process is very intimidating and honestly you guys wield a lot of power to impact our lives and we have been dealing with so much traffic. Uh we we've got Camino Rel. It's an old historic highway 279 and they close that off to lefthand turns. So we've got people coming from unit 6 and 7 diverted onto our street. We also get people using it off of 260 and Main Street as a bypass. So that's where we're getting a lot of traffic. And to add more, it's just incredible. I know I heard the word compatible. Well, compatible would be a

single level or maybe a two-level. Um, and a lot the people that are uh are are in favor of this, I don't think I don't know, but I don't think they live on our street and I don't know that they use it. They may live in our neighborhood, but on the east side of Verie Palisades. Um, additionally, you know, a lot of people have dogs and with 400, I don't know, 250 units, I'm sure it's going to be more than one person per unit. We already have, we don't have that many neighbors right now, but we're cleaning up a lot of dog crap on our street because they're walking them and pooping them and they don't pick up after it. So, you're going to add more people. I know there's going to be more dogs with it. And I just this isn't fair to us. It really isn't. and I'm just pleading with you to not make this change. So, I'm going to yield. Thank you.

Appreciate you listening to me. Chris Archer, followed by Vicky Church.

Hi, my name is Chris Archer. I'm an 8-year Cottonwood resident. Uh I'm going to give a couple of opinions to start off, but the majority of my presentation will be stats. I hope you'll get all the stats in the minutes because they're all publicly available stats. Uh I support the comments about traffic concerns completely. Uh we see how the traffic backs up from Maine all the way past 12th Street in the mornings. And I also support the comments about being a walkable uh present, a walkable place to live. Uh if you know anything about Cottonwood, Cottonwood residents don't walk anywhere unless you live and work in Oldtown. So that's the last of my comments. The rest rest this this is a bunch of stats that that are basically available anywhere you you care to search. So the city housing stock currently is between 7200 and 7,300. Now that's split between owner occupied and renter occupied. Currently owner occupied is 53.6% renter occupied 46.4%. Vacant units right now 8.9%. Uh that's between 640 and 650 units of that total currently vacant. Population growth 21 to 26 is approximately.9%. Going back as far as 2010, that's 16 years. The population in Cottonwood's grown by 80 households. That's approximately split between owner occupied and renter occupied.

Currently, there's 77 rental properties available. Five available at Inspiration. And I looked at inspiration because it seems like it's a similar luxury type property. The city is in desperate need of affordable accommodation. this applicant doesn't fit that bill or even close. As was stated, uh, at Inspiration, uh, they start from around $1,700, uh, a month plus extras. So, you're looking at somewhere around $2,000. Uh, and it looks like I'm running out of time. Based on the lowest available rent at at inspiration 1,700 bucks, you'd need to earn 64,400 as a household to qualify. Cottonwood median household income right now is 48,000. So, not many people would be able to afford that. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, sir. church. All right.

Hello, my name is Vicky Church. I just learned about this about 2 hours ago, so I'm not very prepared. Um, but I wanted to try to add a little bit of comments. I think that the high density is too much for that area. Um, I think 12th Street is not equipped to handle that much more traffic in my opinion. Um, I don't use it all of the time, but even when you pull out as I would to turn left to go towards AutoZone, the the traffic coming that direction is heavy. And you know, you have to wait to get out. And I'm not even there during the heaviest times that it probably gets used. And then to imagine all of that traffic has to flow out onto that road is a lot. Um the uh the development that's just up the road from the this proposed development I think is great. It looks very nice. It's very lowkey well done. Something like that would be beautiful there. And I feel like they could still get quite a bit of space in there. But as far as um the luxury aspect of it, I mean I it's great to have all those amenities and so forth, but I will say that um we own a business and I feel that we pay our employees well. We have um a lot of younger employees that did live in this area, but many of them have had to move because they can't afford the rent. They can't afford inspiration. you know, if they have two kids and have a three-bedroom apartment, it's not affordable. I mean, it was very exciting when they first said, "Oh, they're going to build that." Well, the our guys are having to move down to the Anthem area to work, which isn't great. Or not to work, but to live, and that's problematic. Um, and you don't want to lose uh viable employees. And luckily, we're able to keep them employed um even

though they're having to live that far away. But that's a valid concern. Um, so if they are to build something, I feel like keeping it the most affordable as possible is essential if we really want to provide affordable housing. Um, and I I I think there are concerns about also sewer. I know our sewer systems already strained. Water would be a concern, but I think mostly it's just the density. The density is definitely I think problematic and cost. So maybe not quite so luxury, not so many more affordable. Maybe that would work.

Thank you very much. Are there any other people who would like to speak? If not, we're going to go ahead and close the floor to the public. All right, we're closing the floor to the public. Thank you. Uh, commissioners, you heard the comments. Do Commissioner Helman, do you have any questions for staff or the applicant?

Commissioner Kennedy, do you have any further questions for either the applicant or staff? I do not. Commissioner Rothrock, do you have any questions? You always do. Yeah. Uh I'm curious uh about the viability of R2 rather than R3. Would that um would how would that affect the you you want to talk to the applicant or you want to talk to staff? Both. Well, we can only have one up the mic at a time. Who would you like to talk to? Tina, could you please? Yeah.

Thank you. Let's have Tina start. Thank you for that question, Commissioner Rothrock. Uh, regarding the R2 zoning district, that typically allows anywhere from 6 to 11 units to the acre, whereas the R3 zoning district is going to allow anywhere from 12 up to 29 units to the acre. Okay.

So, I'm more concerned with 12 to 29 units per acre with the R are what? R3. Three. R3. Correct. Uh-huh. And R2 is uh as I said, 6 to 11 units to the acre. Okay. And the math I did that it would change it from 252 to 188 units. Is that would would that be correct? Um I'd have to run the numbers to confirm that. Uh we can definitely get that information later. Okay.

No, you'd be around 80 in the 90ish area if you were to get 11 per acre on 8 acres. less than 100. Mhm. All righty. Thank you. I'm I'm good. Okay. Thank you. I do have a question for staff.

Um I noticed in the packet that um at one of the neighborhood meetings the question of uh of basically the same thing we've heard tonight. Uh some of those questions were were raised and the um applicant or the presenter said something about um uh other an other uh organization could come in and use this property and create more traffic than the units that they want to build in that place. Has the city um seen any interest in this property from anyone else? I mean in the last 3 or four years do you know Tina?

Thank you for that question Commissioner Helman. Uh within the last three or four years uh I have not seen any proposal for that site. Uh I did attend the neighborhood meeting uh and I believe he was indicating that as it's zone C2, a big box commercial store could go in uh operating, you know, between you know a.m. 10:00 a.m. to PM 1000 p.m. Uh and I'd leave um leave it to the applicant to compound on that. Oh, I have another question.

You are you are are are you good? Great. Thank you. Yes, sir. Um, does the city routinely con uh talk to AOT when something like this is going to occur where an intersection is going to receive um a bucket full of traffic and um what AOT might um be able to do about it.

Uh thank you for that question, Commissioner Rothrock. Um the at the code review meeting the city engineers comments do indicate uh that this project will require AOT approval for both entrances due to the proximity of the signal at 12th Street and SR89A. Uh typically when AOT approval is required, staff at the design review level, staff will stipulate that um AOT permit approval is required prior to the issuance of building permits to confirm if there's any changes to the site plan and also to confirm what that level of off-site improvement is.

I see that. Yeah. Well, that's a bit reassuring. Any other questions? Not right now. Do we have any other questions? I have some questions.

Yes, ma'am. I don't see any retention areas for drainage. Uh, I know that this parcel sits um directly west of the drainage that runs down towards or behind Safeway. How is that being addressed? Um, there was recently an article in the Verie Independent about the sewer treatment plant being out of date. I'm wondering how this is going to affect the sewer treatment plant, how you're addressing any of those issues. I mean, these people have a lot of concerns about those issues as well as I do. I've been here for 40 years myself. So,

thank you for that, Commissioner Kennedy. Um, regarding additional comments from the city engineer, uh, he says that this project will require a drainage study. with that study. Um that's where he'll be able to indicate in the civil and grading permits, you know, what's necessary to accommodate or mitigate that drainage. So there will be additional eyes on this uh regarding the capacity for utilities. Uh bear with me while I refer to the utility department's comments from the code review meeting. Um he typically just says where the water and sewer lines are. Uh doesn't allude to anything regarding the capacity. So that's something I can look further into with utilities and get more information as far as capacity allowances. Okay. Previously, I have asked for um storm drain diagrams, like if there's underground storm drains. I I realize there's a storm drain system on Mingus that runs down to the retention pond at the bridge. Are there currently any underground storm drains in this area? things that were installed when the 12th Street project was done. Is there anything like that?

Thank you for that question, Commissioner Kennedy. That would be a question suitable for our city engineer. Unfortunately, he's not here at this meeting. I can look to get some more information regarding that as well.

Any other questions? No, I'm done.

Great. Thank you. and I have none. Thank you very much. All right. Uh this is our chance to round out your thoughts and uh let the applicant know how you feel and staff know. Keep in mind that we are not approving a design. We're not approving a layout. We have a rough draft of an idea of a concept that may be pursued by the applicant. Uh but whatever uh comes from these hearings will put the developer on the path to creating a design that will at that point come back to us for those types of considerations of storm drains and and drainage and retention and uh building design and parapits and that type of stuff. Today, what we're really discussing is taking two mismatched parcels and creating R3 out of them, which would give the applicant or the owner of the property the ability to pursue up to 29 units per acre should he decide to do that. It doesn't mean he will. It just opens the door for that possibility. So, uh, remember that's where we're at. We're not approving this. We're approving the concept of this, but things can change between these hearings and when that comes back for design approval. So, if you've got questions or concerns for either the applicant or staff, this would be your chance to make those clear.

I have a question for the applicant, please. Um, somebody, one of you, I don't remember which one, stated that um, when you uh, grade the property that the the units along 12th Street would be lower and not much higher than the buildings that are currently there. Am I understanding that right?

Yeah. The the the height of the buildings we were talked about are going to be no more than 40 ft. And from 12th Street down to the finished floor elevation is around 20 ft further down. The existing buildings that are there I think were mentioned to be to the to the apex of the building itself quite tall could could be up to 20 ft itself. So the the the current I would say sheds that are there are quite tall

and and then um as you move uh toward the east on the property um the buildings would be taller. I mean so it it goes up like that. Is that how it

the the the site itself generally flows from the west to the east? So going across the the the highest point will be from the west against 12th street but once again they'll be the finished floor will be lower than 12th street you know somewhere around 20 ft and the the the height of the buildings heading further east will be lower than that cuz the whole site slopes that way and that's where all the storm water is going to drain to in that direction. Okay. So the the the uh units along the east of the property will not be higher. If you're if you're looking at it from 12 street, you won't see steps going up. You'll see it.

No, ma'am. It it'll go down. Okay. It'll be there'll be a lower elevation. So the finish for uh for for a number if it say it's 100 against 12 street further down it'll be 90 95 or something. So it'll be further down.

Okay. Thank you. Tina, can you pull that that elevation up real quick? I think it might make it a little clearer. There we go. Does that make sense? Do you see what what he's talking about now? Yeah.

Um I don't know. I mean I don't know if this is a question you can even answer, but have you is there another location you would consider for this project? I mean, oh, that's a definitely a question for the applicant. I mean, Bill, you if you're gonna talk, you need to talk from up here. Sorry, we have to record it. Thank you. Could you state your name one more time? William Spring.

Thank you. Uh this is a result of about a year and a half search um to find a site of any size that wouldn't be you know five unit 10 unit and so on that also would be financable by HUD which is the primary lender for these kinds of projects very difficult there some of them are extremely difficult sites that would have huge amount of infill and balancing problems and so on when you look at as as a civil engineer. It also is a site that if you look at it is kind of ground central between Home Depot, Walmart going out one way, Northern Arizona Health the other direction and Old Cottonwood. So, it's kind of equidistant from all those things, which is really from my perspective a really good thing instead of out someplace on the edge of town. But and we realize, you know, I understand I had a house built across the street from me in Sedona. Uh it's a pain.

It is a flatout pain in the butt, but it is something responsive to housing needs here in this town for this town to grow. I mean, has been conveyed to me by other planners and so on and so forth. So, and we have two different demand studies confirming it. Yours as well as HUDs. It's very difficult. You do you do this. Uh our broker was Miss Esther Talbot who's been here for forever. Esther probably one of the best land persons I know uh to find it after a year and a half looking. Also, as a formerly fully licensed broker in this state, actually in terms of property values, it was mentioned, actually having industrial park and old metal buildings across from your home is perceived from most appraisers as a negative compared to other residential. That would be a step up in terms of abuing property values from you from what you currently have. Okay. Many appraisers would agree with that. That's it. Did I answer your question?

Yes. Thank you. They should put it in the So, do you have any closing thoughts or comments? Are you done?

Well, my I guess my closing thoughts are it seems like the biggest concern is the density. Um, it seems like to me the the look of the property is it's not going to affect the neighbors as much as it seems like it would because of the the gradation of the property. So, it's the density and the traffic. The density affects the traffic. So, I think that's where the the biggest concerns are. No, no, we're not doing that. Thank you. Commissioner Kennedy, do you have any closing thoughts? I do.

I'm probably not going to score a lot of points here, but here goes. I am new to this game. I know there's a lot of really smart people that did all these housing studies and think that we have a housing crisis in Cottonwood. Um, I think there must have been a memo that went out promoting high-rise apartment complexes in town. I feel like the zoning change is putting the cart before the horse. Um, I believe this is a complete disregard as some of the previous projects we've looked at for the integrity of these longestablished neighborhoods and the existing property owners and taxpayers. We have issues such as sewer treatment, water, streets, drainage, traffic. All of these are wrapped up into this one project, unfortunately. And all of which I feel need to be addressed um before we consider more units. I mean, there's a lot of building permits that have been approved and a lot of units that are still unbuilt. Um, there's areas in town where the sewer smell is so bad you can't even sit outside in your yard in the evening. And this is right in town. All of these are serious concerns. And although I'm not anti-growth, I believe there's a time to catch up. Like maybe we should take a reprieve. I know we're not going to have a building moratorum, but

there you have it. I'm done. All right, Commissioner Rothrock, your concerns and comments, please.

Well, my concerns are traffic. Um, I I think uh we need to get some really good uh people from our town and from ADOT to uh figure out what's going to be happening there at U 12th Street and 89A. However, I think this is a good project. I like that the lo uh the way that it's down in that low depression there. If you're going to have uh buildings that are tall, it's nice to put them down low and as so as not to create an eyesore. Um, and I also like a lot that there's the opportunity for people to live there who live there to be able to walk to places. Um, you don't see too many people walking in Cottonwood and maybe it's uh has to do with the way the city has evolved over time and this in a location like this. People can leave their homes, go shopping, go to the park, and do a lot of things. I think there's a that's a that's a good quality of life issue. Thank you.

All right. Um my comments uh don't know quite where to start. Um one of the if you remember right you know these things come full circle. The this isn't um a project that just popped out of thin air that wasn't um forecast to us as we spent over a year going through the general plan update. You'll remember that uh housing and infill were two of the primary concerns of that general plan update and how we were going to continue to evolve as a town and take care of not only the residents of today but the residents of tomorrow and do it in a uh a meaningful manner, a polite manner. they uh try to fit in as best can be fit in. And so uh you know, some of the comments that came up tonight were talking about how can you allow this to happen? How can you change zoning? That's what zoning is. That's why we're having public hearings. Uh zoning works that way. you don't know back when these plots were uh first laid out what the zoning was going to be in that area. Uh the houses across the street or in AR43, that's a subdivision that was set up specifically uh for that. Uh but now that uh the legislature has taken on Airbnb as well as uh ADUs, accessory or auxiliary dwelling units. uh you can now put three houses on each of those lots where you currently have one. So you may have three neighbors next to you pretty soon and there's absolutely nothing that you're going to be able to do about the

town can do about it because it is allowed by law now. So things change. Uh everything changes. Uh I hear concerns about traffic. Uh, I remember when I lived in the only house that was on 12th Street. Everybody that's moved into that area made my life worse by adding traffic to that street. So, you know, traffic is what it is. The the worst thing we have going for us is that Verie Village units 6 7 feed into Troll Street, unfortunately, because it's the easiest way to get out of the Verie Villages and on to 89A, depending on which way you want to go, either left or right when you hit uh the light at 12 Street. Uh we're going to have a grocery or not a grocery store, we're going to have a gas station on the other corner here pretty soon. So, uh, ADA is going to have to come around and figure out how we're going to fix that intersection because it already doesn't work and the, uh, the existing uses that are being added to it are also going to it a little more. Uh, it's not really our place to decide if there's water, if there's sewer. Uh, the drainage, that is up to staff. Staff had their meetings on this property. they gave their comments. If they had concerns about the sewer plant being able to handle this project, they would have said so. Uh same thing with the water company and same thing with uh the drainage and this will also go to county. Uh it'll have to be part of the flood plan. So they will also have a word when we get back to the point of actually doing a design. But today, all we're truly doing is looking at taking a piece of industrial use property as well as a piece of R2 property and combining those into what can be R3 so that the developer can go in and do an infill

project in a piece of property that has been uh in my my eyes, it's been a blight for uh decades now. It's it's never been good. And if you think uh 250 uh apartments across the street from you is a hazard or is a is going to be a noise problem, you weren't here when Lumberman's was there because I can tell you what it sounded like having trucks and saws going from 6:00 in the morning till 600 7:00 at night. And I could hear it at my house and I'm blocks from here. So uh things change. Uh we want to make them change appropriately. uh mindfully and you know is is 29 units an acre too much? Could be. Uh but I can tell you 11 units per acre in that area is probably not appropriate at this time. Uh so I think we have to uh move forward and give the applicant the opportunity to come back with something that is appropriate not only for them but for the community and hopefully it will be done with the comments that have come from this commission as well as the comments that came from the public. So with that uh I have nothing else to say. Does anybody else have one last shot? If not, we'll move on with a motion.

I'd like to say something. You said to anybody. We can't. No, sir. You've had your chance to You already had your chance to speak. Uh, go ahead, Commissioner Roth. I move to recommend approval to council for Z26004 for a zone change for a portion of the subject parcels to the R3 multiple family residential zoning district with the stipulation indicated in the staff report. Do I have a second?

I second. We have a motion by Supervisor Rothra or Commissioner Rothroa. We have a second by Commissioner Helman. Uh all in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Opposed. We have a 3 to1 vote. That passes. Thank you very much. Uh item number two, sir. I move to approve CUP-26-2 to allow the proposed multiple family residential development to exceed the allowed building height based on the findings and subject to the stipulations indicated in the staff report.

Do we have a second? I'll second. All in favor? I I I opposed. opposed. We have a three to one. Thank you. Last item, sir. I move to recommend approval to council for GP-26-2 for a minor general plan amendment to the HR, residential high density for the portion of the subject parcel that is currently designated HC, highway commercial. Do I have a second? I second. All in favor say I. I

I opposed. Opposed. We have 3 to one. Once again, keep in mind that these are only recommendations that will move forward from planning and zoning commission to the council. The council will be hearing all this one more time and at that point they will either give their approval or their disscent. So this is just moving it down the process and gives it the council the opportunity to speak on it. So please stay stay tuned, pay attention. It will be on a future council meeting agenda. Thank you very much. Thank you.

The next item we have on our agenda, although we're going to wait a second, let everybody leave. Good luck. Yeah. Thank you very much for being here, gentlemen.

You didn't write all that down that you spoke to, huh? Hm. You didn't have to write all that down that you what you spoke to. No. And I've just got so many things in my head. It's just hard to get it all out, you know? Yeah. I forget things. So, yeah, that's I'd had to have all that written. Thank you for being here.

All right, we will have uhformational items from staff. Uh if there are any people that would like to speak at call to the public, please have your form filled out before the staff gets done making their report. Uh thank you very much. Good evening, commissioners. Uh Sammy Rial, director of the community development department. I have just a couple of items to update you on. Uh first, on tomorrow's city council agenda, the city council will be discussing a handbook for the boards and commissions. Uh so when if and when that is approved, there'll be additional training and and that those handbooks will be made available to you as well. Um so look for more information on that. I also wanted to remind you, you should have uh received uh notice that we're having a joint meeting with the city council, the historic preservation commission, and the planning and zoning commission on the Oldtown master plan. And that meeting is scheduled for July 14th. And then last but not least, uh we are in need of a member for our board of adjustments. We had three members. We had one person resign. So we currently do not have a quorum for our board of adjustments. and we have an application that needs to go before the board of adjustments. So, if any of you are willing to volunteer for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit on the board of adjustments, please let us know.

Did Lindsay I believe uh Chairman Masten was going to apply for that? Do you know if she is Oh, I I don't know. Don't know yet. Okay. Thank you. I received the applications and I haven't received yet, but I could reach out to her and see if she I think that would be great. I think she had an interest in that and I think that'd be appropriate for her. I think she'd like it. All right. Thank you. Uh question. Could you repeat again what's on the agenda for July 14th?

So July 14th will be the combined uh meeting that we're going to have with the consultants that were hired to do the Oldtown master plan. So that joint meeting is going to be with um all of the city council uh members, the historic preservation commission, and also planning and zoning. We're trying to accomplish it all at once to be one efficient and then two to allow everybody to have a conversation uh together. Thank you,

chair and commission. Uh the fund police is here. Um I just want to remind everyone that theformational reports and updates isn't a time for back and forth discussion. Of course, you can ask her to clarify. If you would like to discuss these sorts of things in the future, all we need to do is specifically agendaize them.

Great. Thank you. All right, I guess that closes ourformational reports and updates. Uh, it doesn't look like we have any members of the public who wish to speak to us that haven't already left. So, I think we're good there. So, we'll go ahead and close the floor to the public. Uh, and then, uh, topics for future meetings. Did any of the commissioners have any items that they would like to talk about in the future? Miss Helman.

Well, I know um last time I'm pretty sure we asked for maybe some guidelines from staff on the uh the new design. Is that am I remembering right? You're stating it right. We asked for maybe some training or Yeah, I think we asked if we could figure out how to put together some type of a shortformational uh presentation just give us a clue of what we're

talking about when we talk about the design standards and now that they've changed, right? Um, it was mentioned once again tonight about the design of the buildings and I think we're all kind of just trying to figure out what does and doesn't fit. And I know that tonight we weren't discussing design, we were discussing zoning, but uh, at it will come back to us at some point. It would be nice to be a little more prepared than we currently feel. And and I I'm glad I'm not the only one. So, thank you. Mr. Kennedy, you have any items you'd like to put on the agenda? I can't think of any second. Um, uh, Commissioner Roth, go ahead.

I think of them after the meeting. Yeah, I know. That's driving home.

Well, I'd like to I'd like to see us have sit down and talk about some of the issues that Commissioner Kennedy was was alluding to that we have a lot of balls in the air right now. I personally um feel that slow growth is a lot safer than fast growth and I'm I feel that Cottonwood is growing very quickly and I don't think that leads to a good end or maybe the kind of town that we want to live in. Um so I'd like to knock some ideas around on that vein. Yeah, I'm not I'm not sure is there I know our joint meeting with the council is designed to prepare for the Oldtown study, but

I think at some point it would be nice to have a meeting with the council to kind of figure out those questions that that seem to fall on our laps and and it it isn't our place to be worried about those things so much. Um it is definitely the council's problem. Uh we do get a fairly thorough report on the uh oh what do you call that group? Your your pre-planning group uh Tina what's code review

code review. So, code review does go through this pretty fine. They have very thorough in some cases comments on what is and is is not allowed, but I think uh and I read them all the time because they they tend to have some nuggets in them uh that I may have missed otherwise. So, it helps me think through kind of the issues you were talking about, but um at the end of the day, we don't really get to talk about sewer or water or any of those issues. That really falls on the council. So, um it would be nice to maybe maybe have a little more comfort uh when those items get presented to us and we see projects like this because I think uh what uh Commissioner Kennedy and Commissioner Rothrock said were valid. I think it it it makes it a little more muddled for us to make a decision when we have those thoughts that that that we may be putting the horse in front of the or the cart in front of the horse. Uh and over overextending an opportunity instead of maybe pulling it back and asking for better thinking. But as I said to the public tonight and and I tried to remind the commissioners, we were not discussing a design tonight. Uh that will come back. We just opened the door for a higher density than what was currently proposed for that property or currently allowed, but not necessarily higher density than what is in the consistent or the concur the the properties that are abudding this as well. So, uh, if you looked at that one map that Tina had, it was very clear, uh, what's in the area and it is high density. So, uh, it's not going to make everybody happy. Reszoning never does make everybody happy, but, uh, it does fit the mission of what the general plan

and the council has asked us to do. So, I think we did the right job tonight. Uh, any other things that we want to talk about at future meetings? I just want to say that because I am new to this sort of process that the whole reason I got involved was because there was an issue in my neighborhood, we'll say. And I think that it's unfortunate, but maybe at this level, you lose sight that the people that were in the audience tonight don't necessarily understand how the process always works. And I think that they feel like their voices are not heard because you have all these really smart people making general plans and infill areas and all of these things that they might not even know what the general plan is. Um, I suppose it's complacency complacency on in some ways, but I think that you have to hear their frustrations as well. And I don't think that a lot of these projects that have come come up are in keeping with this community, the size of the community, the direction that I'd like to see the community go. And I'm not alone in that frustration, you know. I mean, I hear it from everyone. And I don't it it's not an anti-growth idea. It's just that sometimes maybe there's other ways. There was a if there was another place for that development like she was

saying. I feel like it would be a quality development and something, but I just I don't think that that specific area and yes, zoning changes happen, but we just allowed that zoning change to happen. Chair uh chair and commissioner Kennedy, just keeping on topic for future meetings, you would like future agenda items to address informing the public of some of those issues. I don't know how you do address

I think what she's talking about is you know we we spent a lot of time doing the general plan and the reason we had so many hearings and presentations in this body as well as the council had was really trying to get the public informed and uh participating in how that general plan comes to be. Unfortunately, as you see tonight, and as you saw when we discussed the Wescott property, when you have a zone change that goes from a low or a medium density to a much higher density, you know, it brings out the neighbors and people then all of a sudden decide that it's time to get involved because it affects their viewshed or affects the property across the street from instead of the people that have come from time to time and sit in this in this audience. audience and watch these meetings so that they're better informed about everything that we're doing. And so I think the frustration with us is is how do we how do we help the council? How do we help staff be make more informed citizens so that when these things come before the community, they're maybe a little better prepared to speak to those changes and and help us make those decisions because I I think she's she's right as I think people in the audience sat there and said we're going to make a decision that wasn't in favor of them one way or the together and that they weren't heard. They definitely are heard, but that wasn't that wasn't part of their concerns weren't necessarily part of our discussion or part of our decision. Uh our decision was truly about taking two misaligned parcels, creating one single parcel and putting an R3 designation on it, which opened the door for higher

density. That's all we were really doing tonight. So yeah, but we in our packets we got pictures of these buildings that were going to be put up on those properties possibly. Right. Possibly. But so anyway, I think that's the I think that's the frustration is how do we how do we maybe make these meetings more informational for the public so that they can participate more fully. I think that gives us a lot for uh future agenda topics and that informs it gives us a lot of room to work for those those goals. Great. Thank you.

Any other items that you would like to talk about in the future? I know one is I and I know everybody's busy. Um I'm not trying to lay more work on you, but I really would love to get that list of projects that have been approved and where they stand. Um, I recently saw a project get a for sale sign placed on it and I'm not quite sure if it's been withdrawn completely and now the property's up for sale or if they're trying to sell it with the with the process that we did and that was the uh bungalows on Maine. Um, so anyway, it'd be nice if we could get a get that list updated and back into the packet in some point. Uh, so we kind of have a better idea of when these projects come up just what we're looking at that is or is not moving forward. That's all I have. Isn't there a spot? I thought I had found it after last month's meeting that had all the open building permits and the stages.

It's It's an item that they No, it was on the website somewhere. I had found it. I don't know if it was actually on the city website or on the planning and zoning website. It had all the units that the number of units per development that had been approved and the open building permits etc. I haven't found that. So do you know where that is Tina?

So I can I can look into that. Um I know that we have some outdated reports on our on our website. We're currently in the process of moving to or actually we already just moved to a new permitting system. So our reporting capabilities out of the old system and the new system. So we're getting our reporting uh back up using the new system. Um and it is information that's useful to other departments and divisions. So we're just looking for best how to get that done. There's also uh part of the commitment that we did for the design review was to put up any approvals that we had approved administratively on our website. We haven't had any yet since the ordinance has been uh approved that fall under the the new code. Uh so when th when those are approved, we'll be adding those to our website.

All right. So, uh, just to to wrap up the future topics component of this, it sounds like we could bring back future topics that inform both the commission and the public on different procedures that are involved in the planning and zoning commission process or the planning process, excuse me. Perfect. Thank you. Um, if there's no other items for future meetings, I will make a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? I. I. We got a unanimous that time. Thank you very much. I think you were here when that was passed out.