Planning and Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Wednesday, June 17th, 2026 meeting of the Lake Havasu City Planning and Zoning Commission. Would you please rise and join me for the pledge? 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, would you please call the roll?

Commissioner Ballard? Present. Commissioner DeZero? Present. Commissioner Laird? Here. Vice Chair Wilson? Here. Commissioner Stevenson? Here. Chair Harris?

Here.

Commissioner Medley? Here. Commissioner Costa? Here. Commissioner Thornton?

Here.

Commissioner Annette?

Okay, correspondence and announcements, Mr. Gilbert.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The general plan was approved by council at their last meeting last week on Tuesday. It was unanimous approval and it's bound over for a vote of the people on November 3rd. And there's kind of a silent period for us to promoting the plan, but Others in the community can continue to do so, and we encourage that. At the same meeting, the council approved the coming together apartments unanimously. And that was the plan development amendment to relocate the buildings a little bit from their approval last year. And then finally, after serving eight years on the Planning and Zoning Commission, this will be Commissioner Ballot's final meeting. We appreciate her sharing her time and expertise with us over the years. Commissioner Ballard was appointed as an alternate member in July of 2018. She served two terms as an alternate member before being appointed as a regular member in January 2022. We wish her all the best in future travels and adventures, and I have a certificate to hand to her.

We very much appreciate your participation. thank you chris and thank you miss ballard we appreciate your service any other announcements chris that would be all the announcements i have for today okay minutes of the last meeting actually we have uh we need a motion to actually um We had the minutes from June 3rd, is that what it is?

Just one for this meeting, the other ones were approved previously. So just one on the agenda this time.

Okay, so the minutes of the last meeting. Do I hear discussion and or a motion for approval of the minutes of the last meeting? Ms. Wilson?

I make a motion to approve the minutes of the June 3rd, 2026 meeting. I second.

Okay, we have a motion by Ms. Wilson, a second by Ms. Ballard to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Any further discussion? Hearing none, let's go ahead and vote on the issue.

The motion to approve the minutes passes seven to zero.

Okay, let me start by stating that this is a public hearing and there is a structured order to this proceeding. The city staff will present each item, ask questions of the staff, and then the applicant will have the opportunity to present their case to the commission. That being done, we will then open the proceedings to the public for their questions and input. I would ask that anyone in the public that wishes to speak. limit their trips to the podium and microphone to one only, keep all comments to less than three minutes, and to stay on point and not discuss subject matter that is not pertinent to the decision being considered here today. After public testimony is taken, I will then close the public hearing and bring the motion back to the table for city staff's exceptions and conditions of approval, discussion amongst the commission, and eventually a motion to approve or disapprove. And thank you in advance for your cooperation. The first and only item on today's agenda is item ID 265252. And this is a request to amend Lake Havasu City Code sections 14.02.041D. Getting a little feedback there. And 14. 0.02, 0.05 G as in Gulf. Mixed use channel river walk district and island body beach district to preserve shoreline public access. Mr. Gilbert, your presentation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the Planning Commission. This particular item is an outgrowth of a number of functions over the past several months, including the waterfront projects approval. on the old golf course on the island, followed by citizen comments received and extreme interest from the general plan steering committee on ensuring future stronger protections for the shoreline. The primary changes to the code sections, and thus this is being forwarded for the text amendments to put in the development code to ensure that those protections are codified now. And that's what this case today is doing. Primary changes to the code sections for the mixed use Channel River walk the island site only and the island body Beach districts a 75 foot shoreline access area measured from the 450 foot elevation shoreline and parallel to it will be dedicated to the city a 25 foot building set back from the edge of the shoreline access area will be required Access routes to the shoreline that are perpendicular to it and inland from nearby right of ways will be required to preserve open views of the lake from inland areas of the island. The shoreline access areas and routes that are to be dedicated to the city will be permitted to count towards open space and landscape requirements pursuant to entering into an agreement with the city. And finally, the city has worked with the Arizona State Land Department that owns most of the remaining undeveloped land impacted by these proposed amendments. Now I have a map up here which shows the relative width in purple along the boundary of that shoreline access area and the perpendicular access routes to the shoreline which are represented in hypothetical locations with a quarter mile roughly between the required by the code So that gives you an idea on what the undeveloped areas, almost all state land, state land department owned would look like upon full development if that ever happens. That Island Body Beach also includes some area on the mainland. And that will be treated in a similar manner with similar protections. We want to focus on the island because that's where the majority of the concern was, even though there are other areas impacted. You have the red lines in your packet as well as clean copies. And the director of the department is also on remotely if you want to hear any additional comments from him. And I believe that with the notification we got from the state of Arizona's Land Department on Monday, that they're not opposed to the text amendments that we're proposing as long as we let them know of any upcoming changes. I think that this is a good way to ensure future protection of the shoreline. Mr. Chairman, that completes my staff report on this. I'll answer any questions you might have.

All right, any questions of staff about this application? I'm going to start with one. These access routes to the shoreline, are those just arbitrary, or have they been surveyed or dedicated or anything like that?

No, these are all arbitrary. The code's going to require roughly every quarter mile that there be an access route. It could be a It doesn't have to be a roadway. It could be pedestrian ways. There's all kinds of manner of routes that could be provided to provide access to the shoreline from the interior roadway.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Ms. Wilson.

So I notice on this map here, I'm assuming that this will affect as well the beachcomber and islander, which is also state land, although it's leased. It does impact that as well. And while they do have things along the shoreline there, how does that affect that area as well, that those, the shoreline access is also, goes into effect for those two property, or three properties?

The developed area at the south end of the island, a lot of that's been there a long time, it's under very long-term leases with the state. And with a lot of the, with a lot of the type of development that's in a lot of those areas, We don't see that it's likely anytime soon that the state would remove the leaseholder's ability to manage these areas and demand everything be removed from the property. There is discussion at the north end of the island where the Crazy Horse area is. There is discussion that the state could be taking action to do something about that area potentially. We have not had that confirmed yet. but we've had a number of citizens at our general plan workshops that have brought that issue up, but we're not aware directly of any activities on that.

I know that let's just say an owner of one of those parks were to petition for state land to sell that, right? They want to take a fee ownership at some point just because the recent sale. Would these public access not impact them then?

No, it applies to all island body beach and mixed use channel river walk areas. The only reason it's not shown on the map, is because we don't see it as imminently developable like the rest of the island.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Chairman, if I may add a little bit to that. Go ahead. This is Jeff Tuneman, Development Services Director. Go ahead, Jeff. To further on Chris's comments related to those developed areas, those areas would be considered legal non-conforming. So if they ever did, want to improve those areas, then this code section would apply at that point. But at this point, they would be considered legal nonconforming if this code changed to get approved.

But to answer Ms. Wilson's question, if that ever became fee simple land, private ownership, would that necessitate compliance at that point?

It would be considered legal nonconforming up until a point where they wanted to do any further development in those areas. Okay.

All right. Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you.

Any other questions of staff? Okay, this is a public hearing and I will open it up to the public. Is there anybody in the public that wishes to speak on this item? Anybody at all? Hearing none. Hearing none. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing portion and bring it back to the table for staff's recommendations.

Mr. Chairman, we don't have any conditions for approval on this. This is just a straight up text amendment to the city's own text development code. I do want to state, however, that this effort is also reflected in the general plan that's put forward to the voters in November for a vote. It has a somewhat undefined but visible on the map of the future land use categories buffer around the island area and the intent is for there to be one and and but the general plan cannot impose entitlements like the development code can and that's why we're moving forward now with putting the entitlements in development code to ensure that if the state were to sell any of this land in the near future and none of that's imminent but if it were then these text amendments would apply to any of that new development

Thank you. Any other questions of staff by commissioners? All right, I will now entertain discussion and or a motion. Anybody? Ms. Wilson.

I make a motion to approve the tax amendment. I don't have it in front of me here. Item 265252.

Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second?

I'll second. Second.

Okay, I think Ms. Zero was first, so we have a motion by Ms. Wilson, a second by Ms. Zero to approve ID 26-5252 as written. Any further discussion? Hearing none, let's call for the question.

The motion to recommend approval of the text amendments passes seven to zero.

Okay, the next item on the agenda is public hearing, or excuse me, is call to the public. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to address the commission on any subject whatsoever? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close the call to the public. Future meetings, Mr. Gilbert.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The next regular meeting, the next one's been canceled. Let's see, that is July 1st with the July 4th holiday nearby and vacation, all that. So the next meeting is canceled. The next regular meeting where the commission will actually meet is scheduled for Wednesday, July 15th, 2026. There are two cases on the agenda and annual election of officers by the Planning and Zoning Commission. So some food for thought to the next meeting to think about who you wanna nominate for chairman, vice chairman, okay?

All right, seeing no other business, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody.

Thank you.