Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

And I'm calling the meeting of the Planning Commission to order. Miss Fulbright, will you please call the roll?

Commissioner Rose?

Here.

Commissioner Dickman?

Here.

Commissioner Curtis? Here. Commissioner Brown?

Here.

And Chair Georgios? Here. Thank you, Chair. We have a quorum. I do want to note for the record that Commissioner Covington and Nasekez are absent this evening. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

So I just wanna note for the record that at various points in time during our meeting, we may go into executive session during the meeting as needed to confer with the town attorney for legal advice. Additionally, the meeting is being recorded and is online, so, please speak into your microphones. And our agenda for this evening constitutes the approval or amendment of minutes and discussion on, Phoenix Country Day School Intermediate Special Use Permit amendment. And and those are the main items on our agenda. Unless I hear otherwise, we're just gonna go according to the agenda.

K. Hearing nothing, our first matter is 20 six-forty one approval of the 02/03/2026 planning commission minutes.

So moved.

Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor.

Aye.

All opposed? Hearing no opposition, motion carries by unanimous vote. Our one study session item this evening is item 26 dash zero five nine discussion on Phoenix Country Day School intermediate special use permit amendment. Mister Burton.

Good evening chair and commissioners. So Phoenix Country Day School has submitted an SEP amendment to renovate their existing baseball field, construct a new wellness center building next to the baseball field, and add two digital information signs with, one sign in each of the two parking lots on campus. So agenda for this evening I'm just gonna briefly go over the background, summarize the statement of direction that was issued by council, then go over the scope of the request, and then take any input from commission tonight and discuss next steps. So the vicinity map is on the left side of the slide showing the location of the school at Stanford Drive and 40th Street and the right hand side is aerial photo of the campus. So this is an intermediate amendment process, and counsel did issue a statement of direction which identifies the focus of review for commission.

And because it is an intermediate process, the planning commission is a recommending body. So, during the public hearing, you guys will make a recommendation which will be forwarded on to counsel and then counsel will do the final review and action on the application. So statement direction that council identified the commission shall review the visible audible and operational effects that permits may have on neighboring properties and the commission shall complete that review by April 21. That statement of direction is broken into six sections and it's going to briefly go over good I I operation. Next is that's noise.

The commission shall evaluate the noise impacts of the renovated baseball field, look at the increase in specter seating capacity and look at any mitigating noise factors for the baseball field. Third is setbacks and the commission shall look at the lighting impacts that digital science may have on neighboring properties and how it can be mitigated through the landscaping screening and also the lighting output. Next is landscaping. The commission shall look at creating a landscape buffer along the western property and if additional landscaping should be placed on the west side of the Wellness Center Building. Fifth is evaluate the lighting of the Wellness Center Building and the new digital signage.

And lastly, the signs itself. When the SOD was submitted they didn't have any lighting information that has been provided and included in this packet so it was identified. The applicant had to provide that information and again the Commission shall look at the lighting impacts those signs may have on the neighbors and any mitigating factors. So the first part of the request is renovating the existing baseball field. So basically it's going to stay in the same location and it's pretty much like in kind.

The primary differences between what's there today and what will be done with these improvements are that they're going to add an additional bleacher and canopy over it and also add two new felt pulls on the ends of the baseball diamond. So they're going to replace the turf, replace the existing chain link fencing, replace the backstop, replace the two bleachers that are there with canopies. Those will be 14.5 feet tall. Again, they're going to add a third bleacher and canopy of the same design and height. And the seating capacity will go from 128 spectators to maximum 165.

Our SEP guidelines do not have recommended standards for athletic areas and equipment. So the existing baseball field is non illuminated and they're not proposing to add any illumination. It will only be used by the school and will maintain its typical hours of operation from two to six p. M. And they do have occasional Saturday games which will end by dusk.

There is a four foot wide SRP easement and also a 20 foot wide fire lane that's on the western side of the baseball diamond between the western properties and the baseball field. The SEP guidelines recommend a 40 foot landscape buffer. I don't know if there's going to be much opportunity to add any additional landscaping along that west side, but that is one of the items council asked commission to look at. So on the left hand side is the aerial photo of the baseball diamond and on the right hand side is proposed plan. As you can see it's pretty much like in kind in terms of redeveloping that field.

One of the other primary differences, this existing fire lane right now is dirt and they're going to put an asphalt topping on it for the fire department. And this is an elevation that was included in your packet showing what the renovations are going to look like. And these are just some elevations and a rendering of what bleachers and canopy will look like. And this is probably the most telling on the bottom three photos are photographs of the existing baseball field and on top are the photo sims showing what it's going look like and you can see that new building in the distance. And then this is just showing those location, those two fall ball poles.

They're 20 feet tall and they are collapsible so they can put them back down after a game is over. Next is the Wellness Center building. And this is compliant with all our SCP guideline recommendations. It's set back three forty four feet from the nearest property line. It's 22 feet tall. It will not penetrate the open space criteria, which is that imaginary 10 that's placed over the property. It's about 7,800 square feet in size. And the improvements will increase the lot coverage by 1% from 17.4 to 18.4%, which is below the recommended maximum of 25%. And the architecture matches that. It's on campus.

This wellness center building will be used as a workout facility for faculty and students, also serve as a multi purpose room for dance classes and other physical education programs. There is a concession stand associated with it for the athletic events, and it'll have two locker rooms for both the home visiting team. And again on the left hand side is aerial photo. The red outline shows the approximate location in a wellness building and the right hand side are a copy of the site plan that was included in the packet. And this is a copy of the exterior building elevations and the renderings showing what the finished product will look like.

They did provide their lighting information. Basically two different wall fixtures and then some recessed lighting. It does have very low output. When you get about 20 to 30 feet away from the building, the output is 0.1 foot candles so it'll be zero at the property line. Our code recommends a maximum 0.75 foot candles at the property line for any new lighting.

And then this is the landscape plan for the wellness center. When they went through SOD they just had landscaping along the north end and south and they added that additional on the west side. And then the next is the digital signage. So these are basically large screen TVs that are going to be mounted on walls. They're 12 foot tall walls by 11 foot wide.

Again, our guidelines don't have any recommendations for these type of signs. Our guidelines recommend for monument signs and directional signs once you get inside the campus. So again, it's going to be on a decorative wall that's 12 feet tall by 11 feet wide, and the screen will be mounted at a height of 10 foot two inches tall. And it's to provide parents with school information at drop off and pickup. That will be illuminated Monday through Friday, 7AM to 7PM.

And it will operate during evening events, but will be turned off by 10PM. And the same will apply during any weekend events. And on the left hand side is the aerial photo just showing the proposed locations with the right circles. And then on the right hand side is the proposed site plan showing those two locations, one within each parking lot. And these are the elevations included in the packet along with the photosynth showing what the final product will look like.

And this is the photometric provided by the applicant. They will have an output of 0.03 foot candles at the property line. Again, our code recommends a maximum of 0.75 foot candles at the property line. So it's well below that threshold. And again, the goal of this work study session is to receive any input from the commission. This will come back for a public hearing on April 7. And if needed, commission can hold another meeting on the twenty first and again since it is an intermediate amendment commission is a recommending body and will forward that recommendation on the council for review and action. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Burton. Does anyone have any questions, comments?

Mr. Rose, is the baseball field moving at all or is it in the same spot? Location. I couldn't tell by the proposed and the

Yeah. It's a setback 28 feet from the west populan. I'll go back to that aerial photo. So from West populan to fence is 28 feet.

There's no danger of balls flying into traffic or anything?

No. No. Traffic. Maybe if it's a good hitter, they may get into the neighbor's backyard. Yeah. Thank you.

This is Commissioner Dickman. Is there a why petitioner wants to have electronic signs? I mean, what kind of messaging are they going to be projecting? I guess the question I would have is, know, what's an alternative to not having those signs and what's the downside of that?

Right now they're using little A frame signs to display information. So this way they can update information more quickly, the upcoming events and the information for the parents. The applicant is here as well. They can probably speak to that better than I can.

Like what kind of messaging would be projected and how is that changing? Is there an alternative where we wouldn't have to have electronic signs?

Again, the alternative would be, I think, currently what they're doing or having something similar to what some of the church signs have where they have the removable letters. They'd have

to Well,

I guess a corollary question would the signs be changing or is it there's an event and you're posting a sign up or are you flashing different messages or what what does that look like?

I don't know what it looks like. I'd have to ask them to provide us with a copy. Do we answer now? Yep. Okay.

Hello. Thank you, members of the commission. Madam chair. I'm Tom Galvin with Rose Law Group on behalf of the applicant. So these signs will be static signs. So let's say, for example, there is a baseball game. This sign will indicate where the baseball game is located. If there's a play, if there's a concert, as you know, there's different parts of the campus. So it's

not flashing up different There's

no flashing, and I have notes here. So we're not gonna sell ad space. The messages will be static. No flashing lights, no videos, no moving pictures. And one of the slides that staff provided, they're pretty much inside the campus. They were marked by two different circles. And you can see there. So you have to be within the campus to see where the signs are located. They will be affixed to buildings. The issue that we have now is that you asked why the switch? It's because we have all these different sandwich boards and you just kind of have to lay them out. And frankly, when it gets windy, they start blowing or unfortunately someone knocks into them. So they're just providing directions for that event and also for notifications of a school holiday.

You. You.

Sounds like it's new technology to kind of replace the old reader board that most high schools have had.

That's right.

I have a couple of follow-up

questions. So

there's not going be anything scrolling. By static, it's just going to be static.

Static means that word will appear, baseball game at that location, concert at that location, no scrolling, no movement, definitely no distraction to anyone driving on the street because of its location and because it's a static message.

Like a marquee. Sort of like a marquee sign. Yep.

So 10 feet tall is a reason behind these being at a 10 foot height?

I know, madam chair, when there's a sign, it's easy for me to visualize looking up as opposed to looking down in a way, and, they're not gonna be obtrusive. They're gonna be on the corner of those two buildings within the campus. A good deal. I don't know how many feet we indicated away from. They're 200 feet. About 200 feet each from the street.

Yeah. I mean, I drove around there last night and everything is lit up now. All of the signage is lit up on the on the walls. I mean, I I understand this, but it's still a neighborhood. I would like to keep the height of those, you know, a little bit further down because, I mean, they will light up the area.

Robert, this is Commissioner Rose. There is precedence in the town. Cherokee School has a flashing sign that's right on the road and I've often wondered as I ride by is there a code in the town for such signage?

So there's no code for, again, even for these. We don't have SCP guidelines for these type of signs. But with Cherokee and Keyville, they each have a sign at the right at the property line. Right. These are public schools, and municipalities cannot regulate them.

And, madam chair, if I may, commissioner Rose, also, these signs will only be utilized at drop off and pickup only, so only certain parts of the day. And, yes, you brought up some issues regarding lighting, but the issue we have here is regarding these two signs. We're trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, but at the same time providing information to people coming onto campus, whether it's parents, grandparents, visitors. And as I said earlier, they're about 200 feet from the street, so they're not gonna be the flashing lighting up at whatever issues you might have elsewhere on campus. But in terms of this proposal and this request, they will not be a distraction at all whatsoever.

Yeah. I'd rather see them a little bit lower if that's something

see them if they're lower is is the problem. They're trying to help the flow of traffic as soon as people get on campus. And 200 feet away, all you need is a vehicle or an SUV in the way and nobody's going to be able And to see And 10 feet attached to a building makes perfect sense.

Madam Chair, Commissioner Curtis, yes, thank you. This is going to be when cars are coming into the campus and basically turning. And I know I have a child at a school right down the road in Phoenix and I'm looking at my car. I think that 10 foot level is where the experts think it should be and where they think it will just be optimal. But I think in terms of the actual lighting and the actual messages from the boards that I think would be of most concern for this body, the fact that they're static, the fact that they're not gonna be flashing, and the fact that they're far removed from the street, I think are three aspects that you would be comfortable with.

I still would like to see them lower. 10 feet is is pretty high up, and and it does have more of an opportunity for lighting up the area. And if our idea in town is really to have more of a dark skies kind of situation, you know, and I understand the the the technology, but, you know, people are not gonna be looking up there as they're driving or walking. I mean, this is 10 feet up. We're not talking about, you know, six or seven feet or what have you.

And, madam, I also add that they're not going to be large signs or it'll be about four feet wide. So they're just for the purpose of people coming in and leaving the campus just to provide that extra information and directing people where to go for that event.

And this is a question in row. Isn't this just during the day?

7AM is fine.

I understood that it was until dusk or so it's not a it's not a nighttime issue in terms of lighting the sky.

Yeah. Are they gonna get turned off at dusk?

Yes. They have to be.

Yeah. That's that's what

it PM unless they have a night event, then they'll turn off by ten.

So every time there is an event at the theater or every time there is an event at the baseball game at the baseball stadium or every time there's something going on at the aquatic center. So, I mean, there's stuff going on there constantly. So, I I mean, this these lights will be on realistically speaking through, like, 10PM.

Well, madam chair, once again, these are gonna be only two signs, not that large, affixed to a building about 200 feet away from the street and static.

I understand. I understand. Okay.

May I ask a question, Mr. Burton, about the construction? Where is the construction setup going to take place? We always get questions after things get started about construction traffic and noise and dust pollution and those kinds of things. It looks like they're starting to use a lot of their areas, but isn't there a place where they have to sort of set up their spot for bringing in construction related materials and so forth?

Yeah, it would. It's typically done with the building permit. So I don't know what they're proposing on hand if they didn't have that planned out at this point. It would have to be contained on campus. Like when they did their performance art building and they roped off part of the parking lot to accommodate the construction. I'm assuming they'll probably do the same thing as well. But again, I don't know for the entitlement section what that's going to be.

Given the number of queries that we get on that, I'd be interested to know a little bit more information about that. Is the construction traffic going to park on the street or are they going to park on campus, especially when everything is trying to get done at the same time?

They won't able to park on the street. They will have to park on campus, but I'll ask them to see if they can provide a preliminary I know

what they're not supposed to do.

Yeah. Thanks. This is Commissioner Dichmann. Was there any concern for the neighbors around increasing the number of seats in the basketball. I don't know what the impact on noise will be like. I'm trying to get my head wrapped around. I think it was 120 something to 180.

128 to 165 capacity. Know talking to the applicant, they said they typically have around a 100 on average in attendance. When they had their citizen review, one of the neighbors did come out, and she actually contacted me. She was more concerned about the the color of the music building that's being built. She preferred a darker color instead of a light beige.

I don't

know what the impact on the I'm just thinking the neighborhood impact if you're increasing the size of the bleachers or seats. In the arena?

Madam Chair, if I may. So the expected attendance is not gonna change. It's just that in certain occasions when there's a big game, they literally run out of seats and people have to bring folding chairs and kinda spread out around. They typically don't even have 100 people come to a game. So they're just going to provide more formal seating for people to come just to be comfortable on the rare occasions that they're going to get basically a larger crowd.

Let's say if there's a playoff game or there's a weekend where people want to come out because the weather is nice, but they don't anticipate any change in the volume of attendance. Attendance is expected to remain the same. And even though the capacity will be about 125, 160, they generally get less than 100 people per game. But this is on the instance that more turn out as opposed to people just proliferating down the foul lines, they'll be able to sit and have

And more that's comfortable my second question, which is what's the traffic impact and if the volume is gonna be the same.

Is no traffic impact in anything proposed here. Thank you.

Okay. So I have a few follow-up questions on that. So what is the height on on the stadium seating then? And if

and are the fourteen foot six.

And where and what is the height now?

I believe it's the same, but I'll defer to Tom if it's different. There's just gonna

be more seats manager, there's gonna be more seats coming out, but the canopy will be the same height.

They're not changing the

height. Okay.

So they're not going up. They're just kinda going out.

Okay. So it's wrapping a little bit is what you're saying as opposed to going vertical. And so what is the rationale with so many more seats if, in fact, you know, the the attendance is not going up?

Madam chair, the average attendance is less than a 100, but there's been some occasions where they need to fill as many seats as what is anticipated. That's only in the rare occasion. It's kind of like I think about APS where they have a lot of electricity to meet certain demand on a hot day in July but they don't need to meet that demand on a daily basis, especially in a day like today. But it's just to meet that demand. Frankly, if there's a game, let's say they're in the championship game and a lot of family and cousins and grandparents want to come, you know, they're frankly, you know, feel bad that they don't have enough seating for these folks. And you know how it is at a high school game. People want to have kind of space in between and room. And so what they have seen is that people just bring folding chairs and they just want to minimize that. It doesn't mean that they're trying to attract more people. It's not like people are paying to see high school baseball.

This isn't Chase Field. So they're just providing more seats on the in the event that they need it Yeah. For those folks.

Okay. Mister Burton, can you show me where those vertical poles are and what is the purpose of those, the 20 foot poles?

I hear the two ball balls. Again, not very familiar with baseball, but it's the designated

for netting or for

No. It's ball. It's just a ball ball.

So I think we want to set regulation polls to me. Right.

Okay. Yeah. No. No. I didn't know what the polls were. I didn't get that as part of the presentation, so I appreciate that.

This is Commissioner Rhodes. The only comment that I would make in support of Commissioner Brown is the staging of the construction. If one were to drive around the town of Paradise Valley during the day, the with the amount of construction going on, streets are really, really crowded. I I mean, I could name you eight or nine streets where there's just so much construction traffic and so I'd want to be mindful of the residents here that they wouldn't be you know, imputed on all this construction

I agree. Staging. I agree in in in connection with the construction in the area. There had been, know, quite a bit of cars stacking around as well so I mean we should be mindful of allowing people to get through. I know that you know cars do stack in that area and people cannot get through.

The traffic patterns are horrible during drop off and pickup times and you've got people out the entry points and there's it doesn't really facilitate people getting in and out easily. The the other issue is I I believe you're gonna be using the same PA system that you're using in your aquatic center. That PA system is tremendously loud. I mean, it echoes through the neighborhood. So, you know, so I I would just say be mindful of how loud they ratchet that up during games and during aquatic events.

And Madam Chair may address that. We're actually not using the same PA system as what's in the aquatic center, but we are proposing to use the same PA system that we have right now at the baseball field. And we're still going to be mindful of noise. We have measurables for that and we're going to make sure that there's no reason that we should be louder than we should be. But the PA system is going to remain exactly as is now in the baseball field.

Thank Commissioner Dickman, what we've done in some of the hotels where noise has been a concern outside is to increase the number of speakers and then lower the volume down. So we don't have like a big thing blasting. I know Andaz did that where they were building more casinos and they increased just a lot more speakers, which seems maybe counterintuitive, but it does seem

to So keep the noise

that might it doesn't work. So that might be something just to consider.

We would consider it, but our plan is just to keep it right where it is right now behind the backstop. And frankly, it's just to introduce whatever player or is in the lineup and it's just for the benefit of the people sitting right by first base and third base. And once again, we don't expect to get thousands to come to one of these games. So there's no reason to even make the PA system even louder.

Okay. Well, make it make it quieter because it is quite loud. I mean, I guess what I would say is I love that there is a Phoenix country day in in the neighborhood. I will say that in the last fifteen years, this parcel of land is getting denser and denser and denser. And, you know, I have concerns about that and how it sort of overruns into that area of the neighborhood. So

And, madam chair, you make a great point. We've been very mindful of the neighbors throughout this entire process. We've been soliciting feedback from them. And as what you see here in the submittal is directly as a result of the feedback, including that the original proposal was to switch locations of the soccer field and the baseball field. But after listening to the neighbors, we are going to keep them in the same exact spot, talking to them about the PA system, talking to them about the other things. So all of these things have been after deliberation and careful consideration of what the neighbors provided.

I appreciate that. But I'm in that area a lot. I know what of what I speak. This is firsthand experience.

I get it. Thank you.

This is Commissioner Dickman again. Another question around, is there any impact on water retention or anything around this construction? And I know the campus is sort of self contained, but outside of there as we've had monsoons, this area over there is flooded quite a bit. Not I'm not talking about on the campus But some of the roads over there, I have friends of ours that live over there. And there have been a lot of issues with water during heavy rains. I don't know the details of the ins and outs of that, but it's been a problematic area. Like I'm thinking the roadway is around the campus and stuff. I just is there any impact from this?

Not on the not outside of the property. They provided a preliminary drainage report and grading drainage plan. Since they're not adding a whole lot of impervious surface, they're going be able to retain that first flush.

Right. Because the impervious surfaces are the same, right? It sounds like

Other than the wellness center building and the hardscape around it, but what's nominal for the size of the lot? Yeah.

We grow that grass. Exactly.

Plus the wellness center doesn't appear to be close to any streets.

It's only 7,000 feet.

No, that should That's be

a problematic area. Ask the question.

Yeah. No. It is. There's a lot of flooding that happens up 40 Street. Yeah. Just North of Stamford, that could be a wash, runs right near the school. I don't know what happens on that street that is west of the school or if that floods out or not. But it is an area where water flows are critical. I think you're absolutely right on that.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

So we get some follow-up on the construction.

Yes. I'm going to ask the applicant to clear preliminary construction staging plan for April 7 meeting.

Okay. And I didn't mention it, but it would also be interesting to know how it relates to the traffic with the parents. I know at Cherokee and at Kiva when you see the kids darting in and out and then you add an element of construction traffic. I just would be interested in that.

Out when the hours of

they're going flow.

And the wellness center is not going to contribute any additional traffic.

No because again it's just for existing students and faculty members. So we act for public hearing on the seventh. I did have the draft ordinance in there as well. So once they get that updated construction plan, I will include that as a stipulation as well into the ordinance.

Thank you, Mr. Burton.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

We have no public hearings this evening. We have no action items. Staff reports.

No staff reports chair.

Thank you. Any public body reports? No public body reports. Future agenda items.

Yes. Thank you. Chair, yes. Your next meeting as, mister Burton mentioned is April 7. So you'll have the hearing that's scheduled for the Phoenix Country Day School. You also have a second item. It's really staff driven. It should be pretty minor. You had approved a lot split back in 2024, with the stipulation regarding adding a fire hydrant. Unbeknownst to us, there were some changes in the fire code which happened when you before you had even approved this. That changed our distance requirement which was 400 feet for many years to 600 feet and this fire hydrant or the slots only within four twenty feet so the applicant doesn't want to do the fire hydrant but in order since it's a stipulation we want to bring it back to the commission to properly amend that stipulation.

So it went from 400 to 600? Correct. Why didn't we do that when I put

$35,000 into a fire

hydrant? Yeah.

So that's the nature of it. You'll get work session and discussion on that same night on that. So there's two items for your

next meeting.

Thank you for your contribution.

Do you have anything else to add? No? Nope. Okay, great. Thank you, mister Michaud. Adjournment is the next thing on the agenda. Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Thank you, mister mister Curtis. Second. Thank you. Mister Brown? All in favor? Aye. Hearing none opposed? Mittings adjourned.