Town Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening. Uh, welcome to your town hall having reached the hour of about 6:10. I'll call the meeting to order. Uh, also like to inform everybody that it's recorded um live tonight and also for playback at a later time um after we uh begin our regular council meeting after the pledge and the invocation. I'll recess the regular meeting so we can move into the Rancho Serita Community Facilities District meeting. That won't take very long and then we'll go back to our our regular meeting. So, at this time, I'll ask Heather Diaz, our public works business manager, uh to give the invitation. And then our pledge leaders didn't show up, so she graciously was volunte, you know, we just all join in. So, thank you, Heather. Please join me for a moment of reflection and play prayer as we begin tonight's meeting. We gather with gratitude for our town of Saurita, for the natural beauty that surrounds us and the vibrant residents who make this community their home. We ask for wisdom for this council as they navigate the complexities of local governance. Grant them the clarity of mind to weigh conflicting interests and the courage to act for the lasting benefit of all citizens. May we listen to one another with open hearts and a spirit of respect, working together towards our shared goals. Let the work done here tonight serve the greater good of every member in our community. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. Okay. 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, Heather. Thank you.

Um, I'll hereby suspend our town council meeting and commence with the Rancho Serita Community Facilities District meeting. And for the audience who hasn't been through these before, the same members of the council serve on the CFD board. Um that's why we just continue from one to another. So I'll call to order the meeting of the Rancho Cerita Community Facility District on board and uh madame clerk roll. Board member Gillespie here. Board member Lisk here. Board member Lidle here. Board member Morales absent. Board member Polo here. Vice Chairperson Edgurt here. Chairperson Murphy here. Quum present.

Thank you. Uh next we move to call to the public. This is called to the public for the CFD. I don't have any cards for call to the public for the CFD. Uh at this time, any member of the public is invited to address the district board on any issue which is on tonight's consent agenda or any issue which the district board can lawfully act upon at a future meeting. Pursuant to Arizona open meeting laws, the district board may not discuss the into items, but individual members of the district board may respond to criticism made by those who've addressed the district board may ask staff to review a matter and may ask the matter to be placed on a future agenda. Uh I don't have any speaker cards for it and we'll close the call to the public and move to item number four, which is the consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion at this time. So moved.

Second. A motion is second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by I. I I I Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And having no more further business, we're adjourned for that meeting. And madame clerk, may I have a roll call for the town council meeting? Council member Gillespie here. Council member Lisk here. Council member Lidle here. Council member Morales absent. Council member Prio here. Vice Mayor Eggbert still here. Mayor Murphy here. Quum present.

Thank you. Um item number five is call to the public. The call of the public is now open. Individual may speak for three minutes. A spokesperson's for 10. The council cannot discuss matters not on the agenda. However, at the end of the call the public, council members may respond to criticism, request staff to review the matter or add the matter to a future agenda. And I think I have three for call to the public and one for an agenda item for the general plan. So, at this time, um, Austin and Kylie, uh, Peterson, and you, I think you've been here before. We have a light system. The light will come on for the 3 minutes. When the yellow comes on, there's one minute left, and the red comes in, and the parachute takes you out of the ceiling. Okay,

perfect. Welcome. Thanks for being here. Uh, my name is Austin Vot. I We're supposed to say our address, right? Is that right? Yeah. Okay. I live at 8:45 South Place Vale, Arizona. I'm not a resident of Serita. My name is Kylie Peterson. I live at 18768 South Avenue to Rio Below. I am a resident of Serita. Thanks. Can you just get a little closer there on the by your on the bottom top right of the There's a little toggle switch right there. Yep. If you push it up, the podium will come up. Oh, perfect. Thanks. Yeah, there you go. Okay. Perfect.

All right. Kylie and I are here tonight to talk about Miles for Freedom, which is a small charity that she, a friend of ours, and I started last year. And so, yeah, if you don't mind looking at your flyers, that'd be awesome. We started this charity as a high school project, as well as because we were passionate about it. This charity was raised to raise awareness and funds for NickMeck, which is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They're an organization that works with law enforcement and federal agencies to stop child trafficking and to help those and put those in protection who have been trafficked before. Last year, we raised $3,780 as a group of three. And that came from donations as well as fees that came from our 5K. And we're doing it again this year. So, we've been planning and working to do it. And we want to raise awareness here and other places as well. And yeah, um, we're planning to do it next March. And I'm going to turn the time over to Kylie now.

Now, you said next March. This says this March. March. Sorry. Okay. Just wanted to be sure, right? We would I would forget by next March. So, it's good that's this March. Go ahead.

So, when we first started this project, uh, we weren't really sure what we were getting into, but once we started doing some research, it became really important to us and it became so much more we understood it so much greater. Um we looked up different statistics for human trafficking in um Arizona along with our country. And if you look at nationwide, there are in 2023 there are well over 32,000 cases of identified trafficking in our country alone, which is an insane amount. In 2023, at least 318 were from Arizona. And to put that into perspective for you guys, that's almost seven school buses full of people who have been human been trafficked. Okay. So, that's somebody's child, that's somebody's sibling, that's somebody's mother, that's the people that we see every day that we might not understand. Um, Phoenix, Arizona has some of the highest rates of child trafficking and human trafficking in our entire country. And I think that's really important to understand because that's less than two hours away from us. That is so close. And that's not an issue for other people. That's an issue for us. That's an issue that we need to understand and that we need to take advantage of because that's not going to change on its own. And those numbers are just going to rise if we don't do anything about it. So, I know that we're a small charity and I mean, we're a bunch of high schoolers. So, it's it's would be really easy not to take us seriously and just to move forward, but it's such a big issue and there's so many people out there who don't have the safety and who don't have the um uh they don't have the resources that we have and I think it's so important for us all to grow and to help them. Um on our flyers, we have a don donate option along with a register option. Um, we would love it if you guys could come and join us. If not, we totally understand that not everyone is up to running a 3K.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here and taking this effort on. Um, Alan Jennings.

Good evening. Good evening. Alan Jennings, Serita resident, regarding police chief Nolan throwing the man down to arrest him. I thought we could find some common ground on it, but after meeting with Councilman List, Councilman Lyle, that they have no interest in good governance, but with them, cruelty was the point. It was clear they had absolutely no justification for the scenario of what caused the threat requiring the use of force. The sole reason they had was what had happened before the arrest. To sum it up, ask him what he did. The guy deserved to be assaulted by the police. It was because of what he did. This is disgusting. Your council members are the same ilk of people that would be blaming women for getting raped based on what they were wearing or where they were. Is ridiculous. No one should be assaulted by the police based on what they've done. Regardless of any crime that they've committed, it doesn't matter. The use of force should be based on keeping our officers safe and our public safe. It's for people who pose a danger. Our justice system, we have police decide and arrest people based on probable cause. The judicial system finds guilt and assigns punishment based on the prepundance of evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt. And that punishment isn't corporal assault. Using our police force to retaliate makes them the judge and the punisher. Use of force for what people have done is not justice. It is retaliation. Your town council members are happy to piss on the constitution

by encouraging retaliation in our government. Serita government besides policing, it's bad enough to have and encourage retaliation and policing, but it's also we need our government for permits and other licenses and other services. That same attitude of people don't deserve our service or they deserve to be punished is disgusting. Once you go down this route, you don't have a police force anymore. You have thugs with a badge. I remit the remainder of my time. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Uh Rick Curado.

Hello, Mayor. Long time no see. Long time.

Mayor Oh, Rick Curado. Uh sorry, Rita. Uh Mayor Murphy. Uh respected town council, respected uh town staff. I moved here four years ago. be and before moving I did extensive research for over two years as to the quality of the schools the police services the 100-year water supply electrical needs air quality environment and growth potential of the town since that time it would seem some of these parameters have come under challenge paying attention to these proceedings is to be informed the council has made it clear that they feel limited in their authority to mitigate or control the potential outcome of copper If so, then the language of the general plan as to any precautions, dissent or disapproval now or in the future needs to be clear and explicit, leaving no room for to be challenged or misinterpreted. In regards to the general plan, any ambiguity will be your worst enemy. It must be crystal clear that the community has every right to dissent or disagree with anything and everything that will affect the quality of life now and in the future. There cannot be nor there should be any question as to the language in the general plan. It is my belief that council town council Mr. Paladini made that expressly clear at the last uh town meeting. It is becoming apparent that the no matter the opposition or reservations that can be proved or demonstrated the copper world project will proceed. How Copper World, how the Copper World Project was allowed to get this far, or how this benefits our community still puzzles me. I can't say I'm surprised or disappointed because I'm both. Remember the old saying, fooled me once, shame on you, fooled me twice, shame on me. How long will we allow the mining industry or any industry for that matter to continue to fool us? Make no mistake, copper world

is coming to town. The mine will pollute the air, ruin our roads, drain our de drain the aquifer and destroy the environment. Our best strategy would be in the language of the general plan. So make the language strong. Keep it clear. Show conviction. Stand behind the principles of what is right. Whether Copper World has been given the so-called legal right or not, it's your right. It's your community. It's time to protect it. And just remember one thing. Just because it's right doesn't mean you just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. It just means you can get away with it. So, um, take a good language at the general plan. Don't pass it simply because you want to pass it on to the public because I think the priority is going to be what you people think we should be voting on. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Uh, Jerry Bamondi.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, uh Jerry Bamante. I'm with Hudbay and the Copper World Project and uh and I noticed that the town manager is going through an evaluation process and just wanted to share some comments with respect to that. Uh the first comment is on early engagement. you know, from the very beginning um of his tenure, you know, Shane made it a priority to engage with us and learn about the copper world project. Um rather than waiting for issues to land on his desk, you know, he took the initiative to understand the complexities of the project and it is a complex project with a lot of moving parts and he did that early on. So that proactive approach is exactly what growing a community like Sawarita needs in leadership. Uh the second point I want to make is is firsthand understanding. Um we appreciate the time that Shane has invested in touring the Copper World site. Personally, you know, it is one thing uh to read about the project uh read briefings. It's another to stand on the ground and see the project firsthand. um his willingness to visit the site um and to see for himself what we are doing demonstrates a commitment to deep understanding and informed decision-making. Finally, fairness and impartiality throughout all of our interactions. Shane has been consistently fair, professional, and impartial. And trust me, he does ask all the tough questions and the necessary questions, but he does so with a spirit of transparency and with a sincere interest to understand. So we feel that uh we have been treated with a level of objectivity that ensures the interest of the town and the project are both being weighed carefully, which we appreciate. So, we value the professionalism um from the town manager and the relationship that we've developed with

him and we look forward to that continued uh collaboration. Uh thank you, Shane. And and while I'm here, by the way, talking about transparency and uh and understanding, you know, I'd also like to take a moment to once again encourage you to reach out to us with any questions, concerns, or interests you may have about our copper world project. You know, for some time now, uh, many comments have been made about us as a company and our project that are highly speculative or simply incorrect, and that is a disservice to all of you and to this community. So, please know that our door is always open to you and the residents to ensure you have factual information. Thank you.

Thanks for being here. Uh, the other three cards I have um are for a particular agenda item. So, I'll close the call to the public, but I know two people were mentioned by name. If you'd like to respond, you certainly don't have to um to this criticism, but it's totally up to you. And John, that's the appropriate time and venue to do that, right? Yes, Mayor. Thank you. I'll not comment. Okay. Thank you, Kim. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh we'll move on to item number six which is a brief summary of council events and current events. Mr. Lidle, anything you want to bring up?

Oh yes. Uh I had the honor of attending a coffee and meet the council council members coffee at Quail Creek. Um, it was quite interesting listening to what everyone had to say and I do appreciate the well, it was a large number there. I do appreciate the number of people who showed up and it did not fall on deaf ears. Thank you.

Thank you, Kim. Um yeah, I just want to with um Council Member Lidle and Council Member Morales, we had a coffee with council at the Madera um coffee um house in um Quell Creek, which is open to the public um so anyone can attend and we did. That was our biggest and the questions were all over the place. And I think I followed up with the majority of the people that had all the concerns and just questions and I know they really did appreciate being able to talk to us and there's no agenda so we don't know ahead of time what we're going to get into. That's what makes it really fun and exciting. So thank you.

Thanks Diane. So I had the pleasure of being invited by Nalo, our uh director of public works and also Dan Logan, assistant director to join them and attending virtually the Sawa uh board of directors meeting and I was very invigorated by it and I appreciated it. Sawa represents I think it's 15 different Nalo's there you are Nalo. He's out there. I think it's 15 different private water companies.

Yes, private water companies in southern Arizona. And the part that I was particularly enlivened about was they had an excellent uh person on staff who was their legislative person, much like Luke Smith is here, and they went over all of the bills that the Arizona legislature is putting forth pertaining to water. As you know, I have an interest in water. I'm hearing the concerns. I'm following through. I'm asking questions. And I really enjoyed the meeting, the dialogue, and the uh dialogue that happened afterwards. And I hope to continue to go and I found it particularly invigorating because it was a perfect dovetail with my new role of legislative ambassador. So, I enjoyed meeting somebody in the community that is keeps their eye on the ball for the legislature, the bills coming out of the legislature that can affect water policy throughout Arizona, but of course, our focus is in southern Arizona. So, thank you, Nalo, and I'll see you again.

Thank you, Dr. Gillespie. Vice Mayor, I had the great pleasure of attending uh Court of Honor for three young men in our community. Mayor was there and and town uh council member uh Gillespie was there too. It was a great opportunity to recognize and honor them. Um they uh did work on the Anza Trail and a trail head with rocks. Another one did a gaga ball pit in our north park and the third one did garden plots at the community food bank. So just wanted to recognize those um three fine young men and that was it. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um yeah, I'll start there since um I was there as well. Um and two of them you may know.

I know them a little bit.

A little bit. Um and also the one that did the garden also did a food drive uh for it. So those were three important projects that benefited the town of Salvorita. So, we really appreciate those fine young men. Um, also a couple of us um attended a celebration, a thank you from the loss prevention team of of Walmart for their Southwest division um in complimenting and thanking our prosecutor's um department uh for taking organized retail theft seriously and putting together good cases. um hopefully showing that this is not a good place to be conducting those illegal type of activities. So I was very proud of our uh prosecutor's office and uh led by Rona. So thank you very much. Um also the uh student teen advisory uh council held a mock town council meeting um the other night uh here. So thanks for a couple of my council members. Uh Shane was there. He argued for one position. and I argued for the other and I won. So there you go. That that that was good. Um but really appreciate uh the youth wanting to get involved. We do a lot of work with our fifth graders and our high school students having them try to understand a little bit better the um the inner workings of our our town of Sorita. So I was very grateful for that and also was able to attend probably the biggest fundraiser of the year for the United Way. It's the women of the United Way uh for early childhood learning and about 750 people were there at the TCC. So um it was a really uh fun event to see what people are investing in. They said 90% of the brains uh not function but um learning capability is developed between birth and 5 years of age. So again the importance of early childhood um education. So, I I learned a lot from

that. And I think that's all I had for that. Just a reminder, our next um council meeting is Monday, March 9th. Oh, I did have one. I usually don't focus on with the the schools and the kids do so many wonderful things. It's almost every meeting. I'd have to have a whole list, but there was a unique one. Our high school wrestling coach at SHS um just won he was state wrestling coach of the ye the year for the whole state. Uh they won their fifth consecutive division 3 wrestling tournament. That's only happened five times in AIA history and Walden took division 4 state titles of both high schools. So it was that it was a little bit more unique than all the other wonderful things like the band going to Philadelphia. I know they're still probably raising money for that. Um but there's all these these wonderful things. But you saw those two youth here today, you know, talking about trafficking and um so I just that I thought that was a unique one that um he really has made a mark within the state on um teaching these kids and educating these kids and it's both girls and and boys that are in wrestling. It's a great program. So thanks for that. Again, March 9th is a reminder. And Madame Clerk, item number seven,

item number seven is the town manager report. Thank you. And usually Mr. Dilly um does it, but uh Beth Abramovitz, our assistant town manager, uh will be conducting it. And maybe if she gives permission, Shane can say a couple words, but maybe not. So Beth, take it away. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, thank you. Um it's my pleasure to highlight the February 2026 town managers report with you tonight. Um and as always, I want to acknowledge the efforts by our leadership team in helping to put this together for the council and communities benefit every month. So for the period of January 15th to February 15th, nothing happened.

Nothing. Well, if we're not hiring, that means everybody's happy and they're here. So we have no openings, right?

So for this period, I I think this is a first that we have had uh no new employees or employees anniversaries. So, the February 2026 report covers a number of department highlights. So, I'm just going to touch on a few of them for you tonight. So, for our police department, we wanted to say congratulations to Sergeant Higgins on receiving his associates degree through Puma Community College. Um, in municipal courts, um, Concord Construction hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the end of January for the expanded parking lot. that that project's expected to be completed by the end of March. In parks and recreation, the Animax maintenance building demolition, just the maintenance building, not the rec center, maintenance building demolition that we're waiting for the utility companies to complete their respective removals. And as soon as that's complete, we'll be commencing the demolition in preparation for the rec center parking expansion. The Art on the Lake was held at the Sarda Lake Park on January 10th in partnership with Saka. And despite challenging weather conditions throughout the day, we still saw a a very decent turnout. And our Santa Cruz Valley Caretss Serita Classic car show took place on January 31st. And this is a townsponsored and partnered event. And this one we were lucky enough to have great weather, strong attendance, and the event was as always wellreceived by the community. So for public works, our no contact list for solid waste is at 323 service addresses. So we keep making really great progress on that and that, you know, shows that we've had those consistent communications and service coordination, you know, throughout this whole process. Um, a recycle audit is scheduled for the last week of March in 2026 at the um, materials recovery facility. So that'll just continue the

town's effort to improve diversion rates and reduce contamination. And in that regard, we had our one-stop recycling drop and that was in early January. And once again, this this event is really wellreceived. It's a huge success. Um, and it demonstrates how well our community partners come together to support responsible waste diversion. I believe we diverted um and disposed of correctly over 125 um gallons of um waste cooking oil. There were a number of uh Christmas trees. Um a full 40 cubic yard dumpster of bulk items as well as two trailers of electronics and other assoc associated items that will now all be recycled or you know upcycled um responsibly and correctly rather than going into our landfills. In community development, the building safety team met with the Santaita fire district for our quarterly all hands meeting in which issues of mutual concern are discussed and training is given for the staff of both organizations. And in economic developments and public affairs, the grow and ser program closed 2025 with strong performance, surpassing its annual client goals by serving 50 new unique business owners and maintaining 10 active clients in the final quarter. Um, and the team delivered 181 year-to- date interactions. So, for our capital improvement projects, some really quick updates for the PD expansion. The 100% construction building plans have been approved, which means construction activities um can now continue to move forward. Uh, recent work included relocating the facilities storage that was previously at the southwest corner of the PD secured lot. Um they did grading and backfilling activity along the wall near Desert Gem and they relocated the security gate off of Desert Gem. So if you drive down that way, things should be looking really

different than they were in the past. And then we did previously touch a little bit on the courts parking lot expansion that they've begun pouring the retaining wall and setting those first layers of block for that project. And that's what we have for the February 2026 town manager report. If anybody has any questions,

thank you. Anybody have any questions? I did forget um and you know when you mentioned it with the Boy Scouts and what they did, I still still think they're participating, but thanks to the public works department for President's Day and the flags, I I never want to get complacent on how much work that is. Um both from um our our own department and our partners um on that. I get so many positive comments about that and I know it's a lot of work so I forgot to mention that so I didn't want to um be remiss in not mentioning that. Anything other questions? Shane, do you have a closing? I I I I actually have a question about my report.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. So, I know that we reported on uh the maintenance yard uh project bidding. Uh do we have an update? I think the council asked for an ad alternate. Is that still part of that process? And what what what infrastructure again was that ad alternate for? The pickle ball court. Pickle ball courts. Yeah, good memory. So that's still on the radar, right? All right. Thanks. I just wanted to make sure that was there. Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up. Um okay, we'll move on to item number eight, Madame Clerk. Item eight is the 2026 legislative session update.

Uh thank you. you and Luke Smith, our management analyst, will present this item and may even have an update on some water issues. Uh maybe I do believe we also have online with us uh our Phoenix champion Karen Cruz uh with us so she can answer some questions. I know. Good evening, Karen. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.

So, thank you. Oh, sorry. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh so the we're you know almost halfway through the 57th Arizona legislative session uh started January 12th uh projected end April 25th but there's debate um uh on that uh total this session 1966 bills were introduced. What we're watching this week is it is crossover week. So that number will be reduced significantly in terms of the bills that survive this week. And we're keeping an eye on striker language or uh to see, you know, what pops up on on the radar. Uh I've organized the bills I'm going to talk about in terms of favorable bills that look like they're moving forward and unfavorable bills that uh also look like they're moving forward. So some favorable bills for the town of Serena is uh HP 2429. While it does prohibit banning of short-term rentals, it also puts in place um or gives the town's uh regulations and authority to sorry make regulations regarding nuisance issues such as parking or noise. HP 27 2716 authorizes municipalities to adopt ordinances for properties that have been vacant for at least 100 at least 150 days. HP 2793 aims to streamline the annexation process for adjacent territories. Luke on that one. Um do you know any of the details on how much easier or what it entails on making it easier or is it about the vote? Is it about contiguousness and how they draw the horizontal and vertical line?

I don't specific on that but I can Okay. I'm just curious on that. Yeah. Since we have some thoughts about that. Um I'd be interested just to learn a little bit more. Absolutely. Thanks. Yeah. Uh HB464 uh modified the petition process to create improvement districts. And I don't know the specifics on the modification there, but I can also get some more details. HP4130 allows me to make a mid-year uh budget adjustments. So if we come into unexpected monies or grants somewhere during the fiscal year, we can make uh adjustments to that budget. SP 1029 establishes procedures for campaign monies uh if a candidate passes away during the campaign. I don't want to know more about that. Yeah.

All right. Unfavorable bill. So our uh well we're not looking forward to unfortunately HP 2290 uh did move forward. Um this bill is the destination versus origin for sales tax. um specifically would affect uh Sria I believe mostly in terms of the retail uh so online retail uh so if a purchase is made here but the warehouse is in Phoenix gets the sales tax not good

not good all right uh HP 2946 limits how town assesses collects and utilizes development fees and puts in a phase in period if I remember correctly the low end of that phase in period was 2 years up to a 4 year phase in for making any kind of um changes uh regarding development of fees. HB299 uh would be state level preeemption of municipal zoning. So if the state deems something is more useful by their definition, right, they will you know uh takes precedence over any feedback from our residents or public hearing or any of those things. Correct. Yes.

Yeah. HP 4030 and HCR 2052 in a conversation with um Miss Cruz earlier uh 4030 probably not going to move forward but the 2022 uh would implement a moratorium on fee tax increases until 2030. Uh and so this would severely hamper our ability to um add new programs. it would hamper our ability to recover reserves if we have to respond to some kind of an emergency. So, as a growing community, uh this would hurt. And on this one, we're developing some talking points and we're going to reach out to c certain council members to reach out to legislators to um kind of get their feedback and let them know how this would affect us. uh HCR 2004 and STR uh 10004 prohibits traffic, cameras, and photo enforcement. And that one is moving forward. SP 1241, a mandates town accepts permit inspections from private third parties for single trade. So this would be somebody who does just solar panels. They could hire their own inspector to get permitting or foundation work or roofing or just as long as they're a single trade entity or or provider. SP 1293 prohibits abatement of I forget exactly what this stands for, but it's a it's a tax that we can use as a as an incentive to attract business. And what this one prevents is being able to um offer that in terms of school district revenue. an abatement on school tax or revenue. Uh SP 1566 establishes penalties for malicious delay of building permits. And the big issue with this one is there's very loose definition of what is

considered malicious. So if somebody would deem say, "Hey, the town took long too long to issue my permit. I think it was something personal." They could bring a lawsuit forward um and call it malicious. We're always fast in the town of Serorita, so that won't apply to us. Yeah, probably our neighbor to the north.

All right. SP 1431 or HP2588 prohibits enforcing certain designs and plan communities. So, this would severely limit our ability to limit, you know, certain building types such as roof pitch or color or other issues. And finally, SP 1787, uh, it states that in order for a town to implement an exaction, we must prove, uh, that is relevant and proportional to the developer. So, this would be a considerable cost in terms of conducting a study. And, you know, and and the language again is very loose on this one. Uh, I'll stop there for a second, see if there's any questions on any of those bills or if Karen has something to add. Yeah, Karen. The Well, the one that I'm obviously most uh concerned about is 2290, the TPT designation versus origin. Anything that you can do, we can do. Um cuz Luke mentioned you might reach out on another one of these issues. But to me, cuz we had our budget retreat not too long ago and AC had let us know that we're continually moving towards the online collection and how strong that is for us. So for every rural community in Arizona, which probably doesn't have a a distribution center, that that would certainly be devastating. Any thoughts on how we can help on that?

Uh apologize. I'm trying I'm had to drop my son off at the airport to go back to college. Uh but yes, in fact, Luke and I um spoke about this um a little bit. The reality is there's so much opposition to this particular bill in addition to the others that Luke has highlighted that are harmful to cities. Um, other than the HCR, which you may remember, mayor and council, HCRS uh bypass the governor's veto pen and go directly to the voters if it goes through the process uh to do that. if the legisl if leadership decides to put forward to the Secretary of State's office to place it on a ballot. But the other bills that are very troublesome, um the governor in the past has signaled uh if there's a if there's enough opposition to it and she sees the harm, she will likely veto these sorts of measures. But we have to give her some cover to do that. So any communication that we can provide to um to our members in particular, Senator Gowen and Mr. Diaz, Miss Griffin, um that you know explaining how harmful these policies are to us. Uh they represent our interests. Um all of that is very helpful and it gives them pause at least um before hitting that yes vote. But these these sorts of issues the Republicans are banding together on. Um they're veto bait for the governor quite frankly in some respects and then they're also designed to send a message to cities of what their you know what their bend is what they would like to see cities do or how how you know um how

to control their revenue what type of revenue etc. So, as long as we can keep our voices up on these issues, the governor will likely veto them. Okay. Well, thank you. Because I know each of them, the three you mentioned, and I'm doubting, if if memory serves me correctly, I don't think any of their uh communities they live in uh or represent have a distribution center uh fulfillment center in it. So, I can't I guess I would have to reach out to understand why they think that's a positive thing to a Sierra Vista or one of those types communities that doesn't have this. But, um, more to follow, I guess, on that. Mayor.

Yes. Yes. And Luke and I did talk about that. We did talk about that strategy. um you know discussing with you and others what that could look like but I you were breaking up just a little bit there but I think I get the gist of the strategy that's going on and uh Mr. Paladin had a point or a question. So, one of one of the other way one of the talking points is that is that if the destination is out of state, right? Then the state doesn't collect any TPT either, right?

So, it affects across the board. So shipments come, let's say from California or Nevada or wherever, straight into Arizona without touching a distribution point here, right?

The state loses substantial amount of TBT as well. Yeah. The other one that I've heard before is if I'm It's not usually me, it's usually my wife ordering five items tonight, you won't even know necessarily. One might come from one distribution center in one town. And how does the Department of Revenue even track that? It's a bureaucratic nightmare to say the least, but this isn't just a this doesn't just penalize cities and towns. It penalizes counties for any sales tax counties get and it penalizes the state, right? And so you're going to see a substantial amount of loss of state revenue, right? If that gets past the governor. Yep. Appreciate it.

Well, it also heavily affects unincorporated areas. So they would see a tax increase because now they have to pay the taxes that they didn't have to pay for whatever the right distribution center would be. Yep. And collect it. Yeah. Interesting. Um any other questions on any of these others um for Luke or for Karen? Uh thanks. You want to continue?

Yeah. This is my last slide. Is this what? So finally, uh we're just continuing to monitor and track legislation in cooperation with our capital lobbyist, Karen Cruz, uh collaborating with the jurisdictions through the league or directly, uh coordinating advocacy efforts on behalf of the town's interests, um like the the emails and the letters that we've sent so far. Uh engage town legislative ambassador, council member Prio, we got a strategy uh for her and engage council stakeholders when necessary um on these other issues. So, we will be on these, you know, our top three. Uh, we'll be reaching out on those to come up with the strategy and talking points. Great. Thanks.

Any other questions for Luke? Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Karen. Drive safe. Yes. Thank you, mayor and council. Have a good evening. You as well. Uh, item number nine is the consent agenda. I'll entertain a motion at this time. So moved. Second. Uh, any discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh, madame clerk, item number 10A, please. Public hearing and possible action regarding resolution number 2026 0855, adoption of the town of Sadarita general plan.

Uh, thank you. And Orlanthia Henderson will introduce the item and welcome representatives um from Michael Baker International who will present. Um, I'll go to questions from council and then this is a a public hearing and I have three speaker cards. So, we'll go to the presentation questions from the council and then when I open up the public hearing I will call on these three individuals. Uh, good evening.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and f fellow council members. Uh agenda 10 is the Serita general plan. Tonight's presentation on the general plan will be provided by Ma Matt Klyico and Robbie Erin from Micro Michael Baker International. Matt and Robbie have over 32 years of combined experience in planning and have worked on multiple general plan updates with various communities through Arizona. Um, Matt and Robbie will take over now and present the information on the agenda item. Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. It's very nice to be back in front of you to uh discuss this milestone moment in updating the town's general plan. There we go. Um tonight is all about uh a significant milestone moment in this update process. Uh this uh public hearing is a state required step in the process. And so this evening if the council finds it uh agreeable um that a motion could be made to move this to the uh voters for ultimate ratification so of the general plan. So this evening is a great moment in this update process and uh what we have in terms of a presentation is very similar to the presentation that was given to you a few weeks ago in a council work session. So uh the reason for that is this meeting this public hearing is required by statute and therefore um I'm going to go through the same information. and I'll do it in a little bit more uh abbreviated version um and then let dialogue focus us in on areas that we may want to revisit. So you can see on the slide here the areas that we'll touch on and uh we'll just jump into it. Um this slide is one that we've shown many times. It shows the different phases of the project. Um you can see uh some of the key takeaways is that we started this effort back in January of 2024 and here we are uh getting into 2026 um for the ultimate uh approval of the plan which then would allow it to move on to the voters for a ratification. And so that's why you see engagement intertwined of these phases because it's

such a critical component of this update process. Um if we were to move forward on the anticipated time frame, you can see that date there, August of 2026, uh was the um election that this was uh considered to be placed on. Uh that date has been changed by the legislature. it's been pushed up to July. Uh but again, um that was uh really the ultimate um anticipated date for this process. Um and uh one that um this effort was built around. Um what is a general plan? Yes, it is a statemandated document. Every community must have one in the state of Arizona. Um, it is the document that ensures the town uh near-term near-term or short-term decisions are in alignment with your long-term vision. And so this plan uh really solidifies the community's policies from a long range viewpoint so that when you're deliberating on items uh that may impact the town uh in the near term uh we are taking that long view into consideration. Um and ultimately uh statute requires these general plans to be updated every 10 years. And so that is in part why the town is going through this effort because uh we are at that 10-year mark. Uh you can also see on the right hand side of this uh slide for those in the audience um these are the required elements or topics that the general plan must address based off the population of the community. Um and so uh these topical or or elements were um already

in your existing general plan. Um and we went uh as part of this update process and refined any goals and policies that are associated with that. But I will also commend the town um for adding additional or going above and beyond state requirements in terms of adding a few other topical areas that uh the community felt was important. in your last general plan and those were carried forward in in this particular update. So I mentioned outreach as a key and critical component of this process. And these next few slides are just a listing of all the various outreach efforts that uh the project team uh went through to uh try to get the word out to listen and hear from residents um and make sure that uh we're utilizing different methods to get uh to in front of or to be able to hear from residents that may not uh attend a council meeting on a regular basis or have conflicts in the evening that doesn't allow them to maybe attend in-person traditional meetings. So, um to complement a lot of uh the outreach we did, we tried to do it in many different ways. So, this slide shows how we piggybacked some of your great town events. We had traditional in-person meetings, even some here in this room. Uh we had community surveys that were uh both online and uh shared uh on paper for any of our residents who prefer not to uh use a computer. We had all different uh ways that people could um share their input. We also had work sessions with council and commission. We met with your youth uh uh um your teen advisory council. I apologize which was

a wonderful experience and a very engaged and thoughtful group. Um and uh again all of your uh uh popular public events were great opt uh opportunities to piggyback and use those as touch points to inform residents about the process and where they can get more information. And then staff even complemented those by having additional popup uh booths at some of your local parks and um uh weekend events like farmers markets and things like that. So um at at the culmination of this process, we uh had to go through a 60-day review process. And um that process is a two-month period where once you have a draft of the plan, you put it out to the residents for comment. You also share it with other public agencies so they can provide their feedback. And you can see that uh the 60-day review process was from October 1st to November 30th uh of last year. Um, and we garnered 37 responses and I believe eight uh 37 from the public and eight responses from public agencies. So for that 60-day review period um you can see again on the bottom of this slide uh after the two-month uh review, we ended up with uh 37 comments from residents and eight responses. Um the overall themes from those when we uh organized them they really focused on some trends that we had heard throughout the process. Um one was balancing growth and maintaining that small town feel. So based on that feedback, we got into the plan and refined some of the policies

that exist in the document to uh focus more on transitions and scale of development so that um uh when uh growth is occurring that uh the relationships of existing development with that new development is is um has a stronger uh consideration. Um there was also comments uh continuously through the process about improving dining options, local shopping and employment opportunities. So this was a chance that uh you have a great economic development team. they have just gone through updating your economic strategic uh plan and so they worked uh with the team uh quite a bit to really overhaul the um economic development element and align it with their existing documents. So I think um there's some real great synergy between what the town is already doing and what the general plan um uh is uh envisioning for the long-term future. Um, we also heard comments earlier this evening about water and uh we received comments about water and so um while the town is not a water provider um uh we did strongly update the water element section uh we uh reached out to the water utilities got very detailed information from them about what their demand is and their water resources as well as uh their u focus for their long-term uh facilitation of their facilities and the provision of water. So I think what you'll see in this general plan is uh as far as we can kind of take it in the sense of not being a provider. Um but we tried to emphasize that the town can still have a role of a facilitator and

one that can um have a seat at the table and make sure that uh residents needs are being addressed by the utilities that that service uh the residents. Um and then we also had uh the general plan. Uh we also had comments which was encouraging to us about not what was in the general plan but I see what's in the general plan. How are we going to do it? And so they were already jumping ahead in their comments to great, I like the goals and policies. Let's get after it. And uh that that said something to us. And so one of the other things and I'll show it in uh an a future slide is the inclusion of an implementation and action table. That is not required by statute. Statute says you must address these elements, but it does not say you need to identify how you're going to. And so, um, another example, I think, of this plan, trying to go above and beyond, um, and start to identify some specific efforts that the town could take to move the needle in terms of of, uh, realizing some of these goals and, um, upholding the policies that go along with them. So, let's jump into the document itself. Um given that we've now gone over kind of where we've been, how we got here, and the comments that we received, um what the plan really uh spins off from, like a lot of uh business plans that you've maybe prepared in your work efforts, is a vision statement. This vision statement was originally crafted as part of your current general plan. So, we really went in and tried to be surgical about edits to this. We didn't want to throw everything out and start over. Uh it was recognized that the plan was in a good place. It just needed to be updated. And so we refined this through our public

outreach efforts. Um and with that vision statement, we then were able to start thinking about how do we carry this through the general plan. And the current general plan organizes the document through those elements or topics. and those become chapters of the plan, but those are a little uh generic in terms of they apply to every community across the state. Um, and it doesn't necessarily convey what is unique about a particular community. So, in this update, we uh identified three broad themes that we thought better align with what the vision statement was focusing on, and those become the primary chapters of the plan. And then we nested the elements that are most applicable to that theme within those chapters. It's a subtle very subtle adjustment to the the um overall format of the document. But what we're trying to achieve here is to allow someone if they were to pick up this document um and uh ask themselves what is the town all about that they could see how this is organized and and titled and have a general sense of okay what is important to this community and um and then from there start to dive into any topical areas that might be of interest to them. So all of this plays out across the various elements through the application of goals and policies. Um and those are um uh those are reflected on this slide um in terms of the total number that was uh or that exists in this updated general plan. Um and you can see under those numbers what is in your current general plan which was called Aspire 2035.

So you can see we uh went from 57 goals down to 45 and from 208 policies down to 196. So not a huge shift but again just some recalibration to go in there's some uh policies or goals that were either achieved or had close alignment with a goal in another chapter. We tried to make this more uh succinct and show the interconnected aspects of the different elements. Um, and that's where we were able to be a little bit more uh focused and and uh get the goals to be succinct down to 45 and again uh refine the policy slightly from that. You can see some of the areas based off public input that uh were of importance. Um those arc back to I think some of the comments that I mentioned about uh the 60-day review uh um feedback. And so uh I won't read these uh individually, but hopefully they are familiar in terms of things that either council or those in the public uh feel or have heard um because we uh work to incorporate aspects of all of these into this update. So with uh a little understanding about the goals and policies and the process, the general plan also utilizes a series of maps to convey information and certainly the most uh prevalent one is the land use plan. um this land use plan. Uh you could see some bullet points about what was addressed for this update effort. And the takeaway is there were no uh comprehensive changes to the land use categories or their descriptions. Um so you're not going to see a drastic change to this land use plan. Uh the only things that were revised were subtle refinements to

either reflect a minor amendment that had been previously approved um or some um corrections of specific boundaries of areas relative to parcel lines and things like that. So um so the takeaway on this land use plan uh that I would want to emphasize is that again there wasn't a heavy um change to what was previously or is in your existing general plan. It was again to make sure that what is in there uh can move continue to move forward um in the the way that it has been. um but making sure that this land use plan is as upto-date or consistent with any prior actions um that uh has occurred uh up to this point. We also have a requirement to talk about growth areas in the general plan. This isn't necessarily uh to convey where the town is expecting or encouraging I should say growth. It's more about recognizing what areas also are receiving growth pressure and um and so updating this growth map was really focused on uh identifying areas that still have uh development um ability within the municipal limits of the town. So uh one thing I I neglected to mention on the prior slide is this map. Uh you can see that the uh dashed line with kind of the yellow hatching inside of it. Those are the municipal limits of the town. The the larger area off to the east is the planning area of the town or what the town can possibly grow to if it were to annex this land from the county. Um and that area is commonly referred to

as the ccap area. And so the takeaway on this is to show that uh over the next 10 years there is still a considerable amount of land within the municipal limits of the town that we would anticipate growth to occur in before any uh additional annexation of the planning area were to commence. That doesn't mean that it it can't uh or it won't. But in terms of looking at growth projections and the availability of land within the municipal limits, the town does have capacity to capture that growth within its current boundaries. So this graphic is the transportation plan. Um this is one of the graphics that uh probably had more attention in our conversation during our work session, which was great. Uh it was the type of conversation we wanted to have. So, I'll get into a little bit more detail about the edits that were addressed in um in relation to this plan, but this is the updated plan that we'll be dis discussing this evening. Um, and the takeaway for those in the audience that may not have joined us for the last work session where we had some of this dialogue, it really uh centered around the references to the Sonorin corridor, which is a uh alignment that uh uh jets off of the I19 corridor um and is a a kind of a hatched area that goes from uh the I19 corridor off to the east and then uh directly north through the CCAP planning area. Um and so a little discussion, we had a little discussion on how that was being reflected on this plan as well as the I11 corridor which branches off from I19 to the west at the

kind of same um inner uh interconnection point. And so the the primary takeaway here um is that we updated the reference the the the legend on this particular exhibit to convey that um while these are the preferred alignments um their preferred alignments in terms of the terminology of AOT and the Federal Highway Association in terms of um uh their process. they're the lead agencies that are are de um performing this effort and their terminology is not necessarily uh consistent with the terminology of the town and therefore we wanted to revise that legend to more accur accurately reflect that that is just the sonor corridor which is an AOT or FHWA project or the I11 corridor which is an AOT FHWA project. Um and then we'll talk about the footnote in a a few slides here. Uh moving on with the same kind of uh cadence, we have our parks, recreation, and open space map. Um the town uh which is again kudos to the town for continuously updating all of your um regulating documents because all in addition to updating your your economic strategic plan, you also recently updated your parks and recreation master plan. So um in updating the general plan, this gave us an opportunity to make sure those documents are in alignment as well. And so this map reflects um the information that was solidified in that update. So last here is a capture of that implementation or action table. Again, as I mentioned, um during the 60-day review, the public discussed, hey, we're uh following what the goals and policies of the plan are outlining, but we want to start seeing what are some efforts

that the town's going to take to actually achieve this. And so, this table starts to show based by chapter. or the color coding on the left column shows that within each of those chapters, these are various uh efforts that the town can either take forward or be part of. Whether that be a you know um champion of specific focus uh at the regional level or a specific department within the town uh taking the charge to accomplish some of these. And then the the columns on the right show the various time frames that those efforts might be under um taken. So uh some of them are near-term uh 0 to 5 uh midterm 5 to 10 or a long-term effort which is 10 or 20 years you know out beyond the the planning horizon of this particular document. So with that, that gets us all caught up on the plan. And this now these next few slides, I want to walk us through the feedback that we received both through the planning commission that provided a recommendation to council and then uh the discussion that council shared um in our work session earlier this month. Um and so we'll take these down in the various kind of broad topical areas. Um so the first comment um was one that we also heard from earlier this this evening is how are we addressing water resources and the environmental impacts of the copper world project in the plan. This was brought up at the planning and zoning commission hearings. Um at that time the project team responded um to the um question and um noted that this particular project is not within the

municipal limits or the planning boundary of the town. And um while uh that is significant in that uh the town is mindful of these projects um does keep uh them in the conversation in terms of making sure that the town is aware of what's being proposed but does have some limited ability to uh control the ultimate decisions associated with that um particular particular project. And so through that conversation, we then had our work session with council. And during that work session, it was discussed that um it would be preferred to add some language into the plan to kind of uh reflect this condition. And so what you see on the slide here is some of that uh redlinined uh addition to focus on mining. And uh if if I can mayor I'll read it for the benefit of everybody that um it states multiple mining operations exist adjacent to the town of Salita and additional mines have been proposed in the surrounding area. While the town does not have jurisdiction or permitting authority over these facilities, it remains actively engaged in monitoring their status and coordinating with relevant agencies to ensure that any potential negative impacts are identified early. And and so this is uh language that is being proposed this evening to again um align with the feedback that commission um uh uh in alignment with the question that was brought up with commission but the dialogue that was further had with council during our work session. We also had feedback um comment related

to the development of the sonor and corridor and its impacts on the town. Um and again at this comment was brought up at the planning and zoning commission hearing. Um staff responded to that uh those conversations at both their first and second public hearing. Um uh but again this project was or is being championed by uh AOT and FHWA. So, uh, the town, um, was taking a advisory viewpoint or, uh, position on this. Um, and, uh, at our last work session, it was conveyed to us that in addition to the Sonorin corridor, um, uh, there was a desire from the council to enhance the language uh, in the general plan that addresses both the Sonoron corridor as well as the I11 corridor. And so this section was the section that had the most um uh edits, I'll say, to be in alignment or to capture the preferences of the council as it reflects these facilities. And so I'll read some of the uh changes um to uh to confirm that the language is uh in keeping with uh council's direction. So, in relation to the I11 corridor, additional text was added that while the town recognizes the potential benefits of the I11 project, it also has concerns regarding the westward alternative alignment illustrated in figure 23, which is the transportation plan. This alignment could introduce challenges related to land use compatibility, environmental impacts and development uh and developmental constraints in the areas that areas the town has identified for future planning efforts. The

potential for fragmentation of existing or planned communities, impacts on natural and cultural resources, and the need for costly infrastructure adjustments are among the issues that require careful evaluation as the planning process proceeds. Um and so then the the existing uh paragraph uh that remains is as this project advances into tier 2 studies which will determine the specific alignment in design will have important opportunities to shape how the corridor integrates with integrates with its land use plans and development goals positioning the town the community I should say to the benefit from enhanced connectivity economic diversification and regional growth under the Sonorin corridor. We clarify that the transportation planning project is being led by AOT and uh in partnership with FHWA but then we also uh struck language and refined it to better I think capture the desired position of the town u which is for Situs the Sonoran corridor represents a long-term infrastructure improvement that will eventually be needed to support regional mobility and offers the potential to make the town even more attract attractive for business and industrial development by enhancing access to I 10 and the broader interstate network. However, the town does not support the current preferred route, which has been revised multiple times over the last decade because it directly conflicts with recent residential development located within the proposed corridor and would negatively impact future planned land uses. As planning for this corridor continues, the town encourages ADOT FHWA to identify a more viable alignment so that long-term plans can be established with certainty and any necessary land can be appropriate appropriately preserved. And so addition to that, we

updated the transportation plan. It's it's kind of layered underneath this text, but you can see uh we talked about the legend changing. Um, but we also uh added a footnote on this map that uh college my eyesight's not getting any better these days, but um it says the uh the proposed facility is not a townled project. It is shown only to reflect a FHWA preferred alignments uh so as to inform ongoing planning discussions regarding the ultimate uh location uh of the corridor. The uh hatch represents a 2,000 ft uh planning corridor within which the ultimate 400 ft facility would be located. So again, um those edits were uh discussed at the work session and so we're presenting those to you council this evening in uh confirmation that those align with your uh requests. Um a couple other uh refinements that were actually carried forward to uh the council via the planning and zoning commission's recommendation. So these were also additions to the plan um that we reviewed in the work session. Um, and there were no specific edits to these, but uh, to summarize them, um, there was a discussion or a request um, that the, um, Puma County Conservation Land System map and associated guidelines uh, be um, uh, applied to future annexations uh, within the town. Um, however, there's challenges with just

taking that uh conservation land system uh process uh holistically uh to uh into the town's existing codes and regulations because terminology and specific tools are not all of the same um compared to what the county has. So there would be a lot of um broken kind of links within that particular effort um and there wouldn't be all of the same tools that that uh land system uh references that the town may not have in place. So the discussion was to refine that language to recognize the value of it but to acknowledge that in post annexation entitlement reviews consider Puma County conservation lands that should be with an S system map and guidelines to balance new development within natural resource protection. The other comment that was brought forward by the planning and zoning commission was a request to provide stronger policy that recognizes the need for economic growth but balances out um that uh that not at the expense of water conservation andor air quality. So it was essentially the discussion that uh some policies within the general plan um uh because they're in kind of separate chapters um and focusing on different areas may not necessarily be complimentary of each other and that's um understood. But this particular policy um is desired to emphasize that um while development is promoted that respects our local water resources and air quality by encouraging growth that is balanced with our resource conservation and air quality management. So, um just making an emphasis that

we're not going to um uh champion development um in the face of um uh promoting water resources and air quality. With that, Mayor, I'll turn it back over to you uh before we jump into the final adoption process procedures.

Yeah. No, thank you. Um I appreciate some of the changes um and the one you just had. Obviously, I'm more I'm very sensitive to things like apply, which doesn't allow flexibility. So, consider um is, you know, is a much more agreeable word in, you know, in my estimation. Um as well as the identification on what we control and what we don't control, especially as opposed um considers the I1 and the Sonoron corridor. Um I like the stronger statement that is not our preferred alignment. It is somebody else's preferred alignment. uh but we're not in control of it. So, you know, it's always the interesting balance, but um you know, we have to have which I think you've done a good job um having that flexibility um as each project comes in to have that balance but also have that flexibility uh because um as I say, you know, we're we're open for business and um annexation is very important to us and to have as much flexibility as we're considering those things that's that's fine. That's great. Um, but we also have to have the ability as things change. It's a 10-year plan. Uh, we're running out of housing stock, you know, in southern Arizona. State land has to come on to the roles. So, um, taking all this in balance, I think, is, you know, important to me and having that flexibility built in. So, I think you've done a good job listening to us and hearing and reacting to it. Um, any other Um, well, Shane, do you want to say something first before Diane or No, no. Um, council member Polo.

Okay. So, I'm wrestling with some of the language. So, pertaining to the water. Um, so no, no, go back to the slide that was up. Okay. Public hearing draft policy encouraging growth that is balanced with resource conservation. And then above the commission talked about water conservation. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, and perhaps I'm reacting inappropriately, but to me, conservation means things like toilet bowls that uh conserve water and showerheads and that kind of thing. When I think of uh uh the concerns that the constituents are expressing, it has to do with the aquaor and the preservation of the uh sanctity and the intactness of the aquaor for the health of the community. So I'm wondering I'm just wrestling with the term conservation. Am I wrong in that?

Well, I mean I think well maybe you can answer as well but um I I think you know part of it it's all encompassing. right? You know, yes, I think how you preserve the aquaer may have considerations on lowflow toilets and those kinds of things, but probably on a smaller scale, but also um you know, again, if a master plan community comes in, you have to have a 100red-year sure water supply, right? You know, so you're really reemphasizing that. So, I think it's probably conservation. I don't know if it's proper term would be big C or little C, but it may be both. Um, you know, on there. Um, am I wrong based on

I I I would agree with you, mayor, but I respect the nuance of I completely also agree that those are two different uh considerations of conservation and and resources, if you will, of where you get the water and then what you do with it. Um, so we were trying to be succinct in blending those that uh the the community uh or at least the commission I think uh was trying to emphasize maybe your point that we want to be sensitive to that um and not at the face of economic development. Um and so that's where we came with that balanced with resource conservation kind of blending them. But uh I recognize the the feedback. But um in terms of trying to just create a succinct policy statement, uh th that was the the language we landed on. Uh as we were crafting this on the fly in the the meeting itself. And

remember this is a um maybe Shane can address it a high level 100,000 kind of foot level. And then as each of these developments come in or annexation, you know, this is sort of an overall guiding philosophy, but when it gets into the details depends on what it is, where it goes. Um Shane, do you want to add any context to that?

Yeah. Um well, just that that's I mean that's exactly what uh you know the general plan is. It's a it's a docu guiding document to um you know to to guide our thinking and our and our thoughts as as we implement uh new policies and procedures as developers come in. Um and and so that would that would translate down into where the where the tire meets the road, right? Uh kind of policy. How was how is this development, you know, meeting up to the standard set forth by our by our general plan, right? And and then then we get we could get into the the weed, so to speak on it. Yeah. Yeah.

But this would spark that kind of conversation and make sure that it's on the forefront of our of our process, right? Does that give you more comfort? So conservation that use is not in a narrow sense. It's in the broad sense where I think it's reservation.

Yeah, I think it would be in the broad sense, but each I think each project um has c you know different requirements whether it's residential or industrial or whatever it might be. Um not knowing what will come over the next 10 years into some of these areas because a lot of our land already that's developable is under development agreements and specific plans. So they that has the override overarching you know guidance of it. This is really probably more so for even including Sarita Farms already has a development agreement specific plan. So really this is for new new areas um for the most part uh moving forward. Correct.

I Yes. I would also add that um you know we have a water resources uh chapter in the plan as well that has many policies that are very dedicated to water water conservation u and so um this is not the only place that water is con uh considered in the plan. It's just trying to link up um and make sure that uh it's clearly stated um where the town's position is in terms of uh the kind of marriage of those two, economic development and our our resources.

Right. And that would be my concern if you go too far the other way. The one way to s um save water is you shut down everything which is not probably in our economic development um interest but you want to do it in a um a guided way right as again overarching these are really more overarching themes as opposed to individual project submissions.

Correct. Yes. there the uh the general plan as by title, right, is general and a policy document where uh like uh the town manager and uh mayor your comments uh you have other uh regulatory documents and uh more detailed documents to then get into the weeds about how that can be accomplished. Right.

Mayor, I had a comment. Um so as this is a as this is a you know has a shelf life of 10 years uh on it. um that map where it was the transportation map. Um, is it is it noted is there a footnote on that map like as of this date, you know, this because in the future if if that if that corridor is to change, in other words, if that left that west or that eastbound leg

changes, um, you know, can we come in and we can update this map to reflect what it it it changes to if that happens to occur in in year seven or year five or

Oh, absolutely. I mean, so, so is this map is this, is there like a date, a timestamp on this map so that when people are reading it, I noticed your footnote, you know, this is the corridor as depicted by AOT and and the Federal Highways Association. um as of this date or or something that would kind of kind of memorialize it as as a certain date and time and not perpetual because then you know if it changes in the future we have to come in and do an amendment to that to that map. I'll piggyback off that shame because when they come back into the spring and there was some conversation, they might go forward with the EIS to on the first leg and the second leg but pause the third leg which sort of in some ways I guess erases it to your point uh for for the time being. Can we go back then and insert another map as these things get updated or new new information comes to us? So typically we would see the if uh this were to move forward the ratification date would be kind of the memorial memorialized the kind of adoption if you will of the the plan. Um but we can absolutely in the source information on this map put a date there if we wanted to put you know be more specific. But to then answer the second part absolutely we would encourage actually communities. it it just gets hard with all the other things you're doing that um over the next 10 years you can um uh update this plan as projects are approved and um not necessarily wait till 10 years to reflect that. So, we would encourage that if an alignment changes, you could you could go through an amendment process to uh show that change, but uh unless the town attorney uh uh corrects me, but I don't think you

could just replace the map. You would need to go through a formal process to uh make it a a kind of a public effort in terms of swapping those out, right? Would that be a um just a public hearing and the seven of of us get to insert it or does it have to go back to the voters as the general plan originally?

It would not go back to the voters. I would have to double check our amendment language to determine if that would be viewed as a major amendment or a minor amendment. Okay. A major amendment follows um a similar process for this update in terms of it has a 60-day review period. It needs a super majority approval of the council, but it does not go to the voters. A minor amendment. Uh you don't have the 60-day review and you just need a simple majority. Okay. Did you have anything to add to that, John, or No, I was just nodding my head.

Okay, good. We like nodding our heads. Um we like alignment. Yeah, especially for votes and things. Um any other questions from the council? You've done a lot of work obviously. I mean, it's hard to believe it's been 2 years since July 4th of 24.

It is uh surprising. It actually has gone kind of fast, but we've really enjoyed it and um we appreciate the guidance that council took at your last work session to get a little bit more definitive. We think it made it a better plan, right? And that's really what the goal is. Well, and I think the overarching thing was we wanted to be clear on what what decisions we can weigh in on and not and you know there's other agencies, there's things happening outside of the town and just wanted to be as clear as possible. You know, that's the that's the facts. Mayor,

yes. as as you know I I think this this particular page uh the transportation map has come a long way to reflect you know the the the comments from the council meeting prior the public hearing meeting prior by the council I I think I I think it would still be a good idea to date stamp you know time stamp that that map in the footnotes as a source time um that'll just help the readers a lot of people just go to the image they go to the map they look at it as oosed to the text and the background. So, anything else we can do to that to say, okay, this is specific to this time. Yep. Yeah, that'd be great.

Yep. Everybody okay with that? Yeah, I think more clarity obviously is better um from that. Um before I open the public hearing, any more comments or questions for staff or or consultant? Okay. If not, thank you. Um I will declare the public hearing open and I have four cards. Mel Cellway presentation. Thanks, Mayor Council, all other town employees. Thanks for your time. Uh, this actually applies to two of the elements that Matt just mentioned. Uh, one was, uh, environmental planning and the other is water resources.

Louder, please. How about this? Yep. Okay. Yep. Just getting close.

Thank you. Morreny, Arizona is the location of the largest copper production mine in North America. As of 2023, the population of Morreny was 1,514 people. Almost all are employees of the mining company or their families because the company owns the town. So, they can do anything they want with the town. As of 2026, the population of Suarita is 38,994 in privatelyowned or rental units. So, we own the property. Okay. I've traveled through Morreny many times since 1995 and I'm amazed that anyone can live there because dust covers everything. The proposed mines the copper world would plan for the Santaita mountains which sort of are reflected in your poster up there um will could be in equivalent size to the mine at Morreny largest in North America. Jan and my wife and I recently traveled through Morreny her for the first time. She said she'll never go back. And I can give you pictures if you want. Many of our residents have elected to call Serita home because of the weather, the quality of our community services, and the views of the surrounding mountains as depicted in the mural of which the Santa Rudas are one range. Many activities are outdoors, so this air quality is very important. Our community is expanding, so water quality and quantity are very important. Do we want our families to breathe air that is laced with toxic particles? My hope is that the general plan that is accepted by the town council considers the negative impact that the proposed copper world project could have on the quality of our lives. And I realize based on

Matt's presentation that we don't necessarily have control over it, but we should have input on it because I don't want to drink junk. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Uh Jan Mlen. Thank you. Um my name is Jan Mlullen. My husband and I have been Serita residents for 24 years. Love it here. I'm came to speak about the um language for I1 that's in in there. Um, reading through it, we really believe that there need to be some revisions to the wording that's there in order to accurately reflect the sentiments of the residents of Serita. Excuse me. In August of 2021, after hearing from Serena residents, the town council voted unanimously to oppose the West alternative and sent a letter to ADOT dated August 13th, 2021 expressing that the town council is strongly opposed to the proposed west alternative. Therefore, the wording in the general plan needs to reflect this. Just as you have clearly stated that the town does not support the current preferred road for the Sonora corridor. Um I pointed off and this really goes to that page that that they showed um with the with the language.

Yep.

And I make copies for you. I don't have anything to put on the board for anybody, but um after looking through it and considering the town's position before and the position of street of residence in regards to I1, our recommendations, and I gave you copies, would be to totally take out that first paragraph at the top because that talks about positives of the west route and it's not positive for Serita. And then on the second paragraph, just a few changes crossed out no change. So I'll read what it would sound like with the changes we're proposing on that. While the town recognizes the potential benefits of the I11 project, it is opposed to the westward alternative alignment illustrated in figure 23. This alignment would have negative environmental impacts and developmental constraints in areas the town has identified for future planning efforts. It will cause fragmentation of existing urban communities, impacts on natural and cultural resources and the need for costly infrastructure adjustments and then leave off the rest. In the next paragraph, just a few there's take out some changes. So it would read, excuse me, as the I1 project advances into tier 2 studies, the town encourages ADOT um and FW F anyway federal highways to focus on a route that more clearly closely aligns with existing transportation corridors. Um and I did give you some references for why the town voted that way in 2021. Um, in terms of the mining, I see my time's almost up. I think there needs to be additional wording that just monitoring isn't enough and that I agree with the other people that there should be some proactiveness.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Um, next is Kate Hutton.

Good evening. My name is Kate Hutton. I'm the co-executive director for the Coalition for Sonor and Desert Protection. It's very nice to be in front of you this evening. Mayor Murphy, not in the RTA board for a change. Vote yes on RTA next. Thank goodness.

Yes. Uh so the Coalition for Snow and Desert Protection supports the red line changes that were in front of you this evening and that have been discussed in detail and we appreciate that discussion tonight. Mostly I just want to extend a very brief but big thank you to the staff, the consultants, the planning and zoning commission and this town council for considering our recommendation and working new conservation language into this plan especially for the future Sorita East. We see a lot of value in that and that's specifically in that policy env. We very much appreciate the flexible approach. We would never have made this recommendation without it being flexible. We know this is flexible policy guidance coming from the county. We know that this is a general plan which is itself flexible policy guidance and we're very uh pleased to see the flexible approach you took and look forward to working alongside you as you uh find opportunities to implement that again flex flexibly. So all to say we also appreciate your recognition of the challenges posed by the Interstate 11's west option especially we would second the comments we just heard that that could be strengthened I think to better reflect the town's position which was quite clear and I imagine still is. So that's it from us tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for being here. Uh David Galooi.

Good evening. Welcome. Good evening, uh, honorable mayor, members of the council. David Gleski, Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak, uh, to you this evening. And, uh, I want to say, uh, thank you for your your service, uh, to the to the town. Um, I know that sometimes it can be a little, uh, uncomfortable or unpleasant, but I think that the council and the staff do a great job of uh, embodying that mission statement that's on the wall behind you. So, uh, thank you again for your service. Um um I like what uh Kate had to say. I I would agree that the importance of these types of long range plans is flexibility. Uh when I was first starting out in government affairs, one of the things that I was taught was when you're looking at these kind of planning in in policy documents, the language is really important. And when you see things like must or shall, uh that's where you're kind of the the alarms go up. uh but when you see language like consider and encourage that helps make sure that we're uh balancing uh various needs. So we do think that that it's a well well uh planned document uh and we we look at it through that land use lens. And so while there there are those uh policies that start with encourage or consider, we ask that as you're working uh to evaluate specific reasonings or specific projects to just make sure you consider uh the cost of of what you're recommending in terms of housing in the ability to bring new uh homes to market. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, I always say 100% of zero is still zero. So which isn't a good thing. um um on there. That's all the speaker cards I had um from either staff or our consultants. I the main one I heard that really isn't control within our jurisdiction and reflected on previous um decisions of the council was the I1. Um, do you see where you could maybe take what we did with the Sonoran corridor and kind of mirror that um in the I1 um because next is going to the calling for the election, right? So, help me with either John or Shane or you on what what if we change something, what how fast on the fly can we do it um or we're not we're going to run out of time to actually get onto the ballot. Correct. We would uh generally if we wanted to move forward with a um motion this evening, we would want that language to be specific uh in order for us to put the plan that was approved by council to the public. So there's no debate that we just made up words. So, um I'm certainly open to any other suggestions. I think talking with staff um we appreciate the language that was shared. We were just uh reviewing it as it was being discussed. If that language was workable for council then we could use that as the model language. Uh if there was specific words that uh any council wanted to adjust with that you know we could use that as a starting point. But yes, um unfortunately in terms of the overall timeline, we are a little oppressed in terms of making that July uh ballot and uh state legislature

has specific number of days that we must have this approved prior to that date. Right. So I would look for any guidance from my fellow council members on some Dr. Gillespie. Mr. Mayor, I have something to say. Okay. Um, this uh I appreciate Miss McClullen's comments. Um, I actually was at that meeting back in when was that 2021. That was before I was on the council, but I was as a concerned citizen. Citizen. Yeah. Um, and I remember the it it was a good meeting and I remember some of the things that was actually Gil Lusk brought forth at that time

saying we got I19 and we can kind of further expand that and maybe if I1 goes off after you we won't lose that potential revenue coming through the town, we can use the resources we have. So, I like this kind of the second part that she says um with the town encourages AOT I can't say F FHWA to focus on a route that more closely aligns with existing transportation quarters. I I really like that language and that phrasing there because I think that's what what would be good for the town. Um and I think it would still give us some flexibility in the future too,

right? Yeah. Thank you for that. I know um certainly because it starts there but I know a valley you know the continuation of that particular corridor has had um a ton of push back on it. Um so aligning with what already exists probably does align with what the some in the region are already working on. Um so even if we said no we love it you know let's go that way well it potentially would be a dead end like literally uh because of the uh the amount of resistance um kind of on the continuation of the of the corridor up through Aver Valley where the other one was I19 expansion maybe double decking through Tucson or something or another uh another alignment. So I understand obviously the point. Um vice mayor

do you have a copy of this? Uh we just received one. Yes. the same. You had it. Am I on? Um, so I'm looking at the first paragraph and I I don't know if we should take all of that out. I'm okay with changing this westward alignment. Um, but I still think that um an I like this I1 would be especially in significant for Sarita. So, I'm not sure if I'd be I'm okay with taking out the Westward alignment, but I wouldn't necessarily want to take out all of that paragraph. Right. So, um that's our ability to take out all of I1 um is probably moot.

Yes. Because I mean it would do these things even if they just add to the infrastructure we already have. Um it would do these things. And so that's what I would be um hesitant to take that paragraph out. That's my first start. Anybody else want to jump in? That's my first

right. And I and also we've heard over I've heard over the years the more likelihood that over time as the it gets busier I19 is going to forget what I1 does I19 is going to expand way before anything else just because of the cost of construction but putting it in there to your point you know kind of that in that general way. Um any other comments? So, how would you see it reading right now um to helping our consultants? Uh so, I'm trying to um get through it. I think you could keep most of that there as long as you take out the westward alignment. Okay.

I mean, I can't because it's redlined. You did a great job. Um I don't I think that Do you see that? um consultants like being able to just write that without the saying westward alignment but just I it's kind of like when we did the snor corridor where Shane you mentioned we're like we're not against it we're just against where it is. Yeah. So I I would use the word current western westward alignment instead of just any westward alignment because

you know all we're all we're saying is where it's sitting right now it's it's not giving us the warm fuzzies, right? We're not we're not jing with where where it's sitting right now for a a litany of reasons. And so we're not opposed to a western alignment somewhere in in our area because we don't want to be a not in our backyard kind of kind of partner on this. We recognize the benefit of circulation regional and otherwise international. We're on the border, you know what I mean? So it makes sense. We just we just want it to work for our community, right? And so where it's sitting right now doesn't work. I think I wasn't here in 2021 when when that when that statement was put out, but it seems like we've communicated we had concerns with that current alignment. Um, we want to through our general plan re-emphasize that we've got concerns with that current alignment, but are at the table to be partners with FHWA and the state on working something out for a a westward alignment. Right? There's the current alignment doesn't work

right. I mean, and we've had discussions, you know, on the Sonoron corridor. I'm just making it up, but let's say it's just south of Papago, right? Well, that also could be west of Papago, you know, going um to Shane's point, you know, to a westward corridor, just not more in open territory un undisturbed as opposed to through homes and those types of things. So, I think, you know, Shane's suggestion is good because it's not that we're opposed to anything any types of improvements. Just like the sonoran corridor, there might be a better place. Um cuz we're not, you know, it's I don't think we're all agreement that every westward corridor is bad. Um it's just and again, especially if the Sonoran corridor moves up, it probably makes sense that the western if that if they do that leg of I1, it would be commensurate where Sonoran corridor would be going east because it'd be one interchange to do it left and right.

Well, industry follows those corridors, right? Right. So job creation, additional housing, additional economic activity, it just it just follows those those alignments. So if we were if we were a community of anti-growth, um then that would be one message. But I I've never gotten the sense from this council that we're anti-growth. We want responsible growth. Good growth.

And you know, good responsible growth. And I think that can be that can also be part of our messaging back um through the general plan amendments that you guys are talking about. Again, we're we're not a community that's saying not here. We're a community that's saying we recognize the value of having these types of transportation options both regionally and internationally. It's just that the current alignment poses significant problems for us. We want we want that alignment to be revisited with us at the table to help come up with some solution because we want this to happen. We just know it's a problem here, right? I hope I hope I said that. Okay.

You did. You did. Did you capture that? Yes. I uh I'm I'm hearing kind of uh a consensus, but again, I don't want to put words in council's mouth. Well, usually, um, I commit to an 8:00 break. Um, and it's like 2 minutes of. So, you think it's a bad idea if we take 5 10 minutes, you kind of work together and craft something and then come back after the break and give us a suggestion based on everything that you heard. No pressure. It's only been two years. I mean, two years and 10 minutes, right? Is No, I think that's very reasonable. And I I'd like to think we can uh pull something together for consideration. Okay.

If not, can't we recess it and bring it back? Well, there's later in the meeting. Oh. Oh. Oh. Is that We can recess an item and bring it back. We could table it, right? Come later in the meeting. Well, I opened up a public hearing though. That's Monday. Well, if you if you wanted to defer this item to later in the meeting, take on the other items, go back at the end, you're fine because you've already done the public hearing, right? But we can't go to the next item on the agenda. We have to go Well, the next one is the call for the resolution. Okay.

So, you're saying I was correct. I mean, well, you know, you could actually do the call for the election because that's not going to change. This the changes to this document aren't going to change the call for the election, right? Other than if we what if we didn't agree on what we'd have an election against, we can get this done in five or 10 minutes. See, that's all I want. There you go. There you go. Just for the record.

Thank you. Okay, we'll take a 10-minute recess bathroom. Get up, stretch your legs, let them go to work, and do what Anna said. They want to go. Attorney. Michael. I'm not sure.

I don't think

She can send me a text. Well, welcome back. I hear we have a victory in our grasp potentially. Um, so reconvene the meeting, open the public hearing again. And Anna, did you want to or you can come up together? Thank you, Mayor Murphy, members of the council. So, we've done our best to gather what we thought we heard consensus on, which was, and this is all page 55. So in the first paragraph, we heard consensus on keeping it as is with the exception of the first few words. So we changed this westward alignment to simply I1. So the first paragraph reads, I11 is especially significant for Sawita as it positions the town at a critical crossroads of a future interstate connection. Its proximity to the corridor could improve access to national and international trade routes, particularly through the Ngalas port of entry and attract logistics, industrial and commercial development to the region. The new route is also expected to ease congestion on I19 and local roads, improving long-term mobility for both residents and freight. Did we correctly address the consensus there? Okay. And then moving on to the next paragraph, you see some colors. So what I've done is the black are words that both the public speaker and the original document agreed upon. The red is text that is in the staff document that you were provided and the purple is an area where the public speaker requested a change. So in this paragraph, we didn't necessarily pick up on a consensus among the council. I think there was a lot of conversation and a lot of thinking about it. So, in this paragraph, we'll be looking for you to let us know if you like the red or the purple or something else.

Clarify, we did accept. Oh, and to clarify in that first sentence, we I think we are all in agreement to include the words is opposed to. So, where you see is opposed to, it used to say, all right, let me grab this one. So the original language in the first sentence was while the town recognizes the potential benefits of the I11 project, it also has concerns regarding the westward alternative alignment so on and so forth. And that we heard consensus to change to while the town recognizes the potential benefits of the I1 project, it is opposed to the current westward alternative alignment. Yep.

We heard consensus there. So it's it's already in black. I think we all agree. So then moving on to the second sentence, we need to hear from the council if you prefer the original language which was this alignment could introduce challenges related to land use compatibility, environmental impacts and developmental constraints in the areas the town has identified for future planning efforts. or if you prefer the more um certain language, this alignment would have negative environmental impacts and developmental constraints in the areas the town has identified for future planning efforts.

Yeah, I mean you could do that or the alignment would introduce as opposed to could because I think it's pretty clear it would certainly introduce um challenges. So, and as you're ahead, sorry about that. I Oh, I see the wood was in there, but I was go starting on the beginning of the second session. Climate would introduce negative related to land use um compatibility. Um yeah, because it seems to in the red. Yeah.

So then we can delete the purple from that portion of the sentence. the better grammatical changes will. Oh, okay. Thank you, lawyer. Thank you. Glad all that I'm glad all that education didn't go to waste. The English is good for the council. I don't know if you need to check with them. What's that? Do you need to check with the council? Oh. Um, everybody okay so far? Yep. You're good? Yeah.

All right. We've got consensus on sentence two. Then moving on to sentence three, the uh beginning part of the sentence, the original language was the potential for fragmentation and the request was to change that to it would cause fragmentation. Yeah. Well, there's no doubt it would cause fragmentation. So, I'm comfortable with that. Consensus on the purple in that one. Purple. Good. Good. Good. Same grammatical change, though. Obviously, we didn't pay attention to the first one. Oh, yeah. It will cause Okay. So, the beginning part of that sentence is it will cause fragmentation. So, you can delete the the potential for that one.

All right. So, we've got it will cause fragmentation of existing or planned communities, impacts on natural and cultural resources, and the need for costly infrastructure adjustments. The public speaker would like to end the sentence right there. So, I've got some language in parentheses in red. That is language from the original draft. Um, like I said, the request is to simply delete the red language in parenthesis. I mean, I I think it strengthens it personally, but um this way. You prefer the red or the purple? The red. you consensus on the red.

I think so. Yeah. And again, I think it it should be a period after the word adjustments and then it should say something like um this these these issues require Yeah. careful evaluation as the planning process proceeds. Yeah, I like that. Keep going. Just keep deleting. Yep. Delete up through. Uh, careful. I just realized it's over there. It's doing all the work. I thought it was you, Anna. There you go. Yep. Okay. And then we can delete the purple language that says strike the red. Yep.

Okay. And then in the third paragraph, we heard consensus on the proposed language from the public speaker. So it reads, "As the I1 project advances into tier 2 studies, the town encourages AOT FHWA to focus on a route that more closely aligns with existing transportation corridors." Yep. That was from Dr. Gillespie. You like that? Yes. Okay. So, we've got it. Okay. Everybody good? Good job. Yep. Hear consensus. Okay. Thank you for doing that. So that was all the speaker heards. I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion at this time.

I move to adopt resolution number um 2026 0855. I second. We have a motion and multiple seconds. Uh any more discussion? Just to be clear, just to be clear, it's with the changes as discussed. Okay. By the council and agreed to or discussed by the council. Do you mean recite the state of them? You don't need to do I don't think we need to do specifics, I think. Okay. But just for the record as reflected as reflected in the discussion, the discussion and then changes. Do we also need to include the footnote with the date stamp on the transportation map? I think it's all changes. Yeah. Yes. as we're good. We're good.

I I think I think the motion if it includes the discussion on the changes. Yeah, it's just helpful as we're going to edit the document to have all of that in one spot so we don't have to listen to the entire meeting for all of the discussion to find the changes. Yeah, let's put that in. Yep. Including the date stamp on the Good to know. Thanks, Anna, for giving us that feedback. Uh all those in favor signify by I. I I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much. All concerned. Uh madame clerk, item number 10B, resolution number 2026 0856, call for election for the ratification of the town of Solderita to general plan.

Uh Orlando Henderson will introduce the item and we're going to go through it maybe a little faster. Mr. Mayor, this is going to be my item if you don't mind. What's that? Oh, your item. Okay. I was just following your instruction. So what the resolution does is it calls the election and it formally puts the question for ratification of the general plan on the primary ballot. It also states the ballot language that will be presented to voters as well as it sets the deadline for the ballot arguments that will be included in the voter information pamphlet. If you have any additional questions, I'm happy to answer those.

Anybody have any additional questions? Seeing none, I'll open the public hearing. I don't have any speaker cards for putting it on the election. Anybody like to address the council on this particular item? Seeing no movement, I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion at this time. I move to adopt resolution number 2026 0856. I second. You have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Uh, madame clerk item. Is there a clicker? Uh, Lebanon, I'm sorry, mayor. Yes. I I just wanted to I just wanted to give some major kudos.

Absolutely. Anna, her team, our consultants. I mean, this is a this is a heavy lift. Heavy heavy lift. I agree. Thank you. Um, and I know you probably have long drives, so you don't need to stay. Anna has to stay, but everybody else, they can go uh if you'd like. Can I also just say I'd like to thank Jan and her husband for the edits before she leaves. That was it was a good starting point for us. Absolutely. Well, we're one community that worked together. Um Madame Clerk 118.

Discussion and possible action regarding ordinance number 2026 194 amending the sad town code title 8 by amending chapter 8.50 50 urban camping to private camping without a permit in parks, streets, and other public places, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances, providing for severability, and declaring an emergency. Thank you. I don't think I've ever said this before, Mr. Paladini.

Mr. Mayor, council, I'm going to I'm going to start this off kind of give you an overview of the the proposed ordinance and then I think Chief or somebody will address you in terms of sort of what the thoughts are implementation. So, just by way of background, this really is a cleanup item or a housekeeping item because the town already has an urban camping ordinance. But, um, in 2024, there was the United States Supreme Court case, Grants Pass versus Johnson, where the Supreme Court basically threw out or overturned a Ninth Circuit case that found that Grant's passes Grants Grant Grants passes um, Urban McCabe ordinance was unconstitutional under the eth amendment. The Supreme Court said no. That towns and cities have um an interest in in regulating unhoused or homeless people um from certain public places. Um and and that there was no requirement that it in order to move someone from a public place who's camping um that there did not need to be um sort of no room at a shelter. So even if there was no room at the shelter or you know that they could still be moved along. So that decision kind of put back into place we all kind of think common sense application when it comes to regulating urban camping on public places. So what this ordinance does is it is it takes the current city or current town ordinance um and and sort of mirrors the grants pass ordinance. So we are comfortable that it is now constitutional right um and enforceable. So it starts off with definitions. I I don't need to re read these to you, but it defines camp or camping. Um, and it it allows it's sort of a a totality of circumstances, which our police officers

and police department is familiar with that terminology. But essentially if you're you know if you if if a police officer sees somebody who looking at the situation it appears to the to the police officer that that the person is camping on public property uh or a public place that that person may be you know may be asked to leave. Um so it applies to public parks, other public places um for instance you know town hall property and public streets and sidewalks and those kinds of things. So, right now we're kind of focused on and it also does apply to public lands in in the washes and things like that if they're if they're publicly owned. Doesn't have to be town owned. It could be, but you know, county flood control district um or even even along the state highways. Um so, what it does is it makes it unlawful for a person to basically use any public place to to camp um for an extended period of time. Again, it it it's a totality of circumstances. So, someone who's just sort of sitting down, resting, um taking a nap in the park is is not going to be determined necessarily to be camping. Is there the the officers and when they enforce this are going to look at totality of circumstances. Um it also prevents um uh people from camping in or sleeping in their cars. Um and again, totality of circumstances. So, if someone wants to pull over to the side of the road uh and because they're too tired to drive, it doesn't affect that person. It's going to look more like, you know, is the person living on public property in a car essentially, you know, car camping, right? Uh and so, and then again, there are exceptions in this thing and and um I'm happy to address specifics, but I know it's getting late. I don't want to belabor it, but it it is a very common sense, you know, ordinance um from a again a practical application

standpoint. Um it it prevents camping in the public parks um or any city street. Um now it does allow for the town or the parks recreation department if the boy scouts for instance wanted to do a camp out or something at one of the parks to allow for that. So by permit um it you know the town could issue camping permits. Um and that's more of a special event type special event kind of thing, right? Yeah. not for individuals or, you know, sort of onesie twoosies that want to sleep camp in the park, but if there were sort of an overnight event, uh, dark skies event or, like I said, a boy scout or scouting event, you know, then the town could could, uh, issue permits for that kind of thing. Usually, like I Yeah. an organized special event.

Yep. Um it it it allows for enforcement where if the person um and this this is this kind of mirrors our current park code that if a person violates this code they can be trespassed or barred from uh a park for of 30 days uh in a one-year period. Um if within a if within a one-year period they're issued two or more citations. So we can sort of trespass them from the parks for up to 30 days at a time. Uh so that that's a sort of a different enforcement tool if you will. Um the the penalties u and this was a this was discussed um with the chief and and with this town prosecutor. most or many many communities that are adopting this adopted as a class one misdemeanor. Um, which means that's a $2,500 fine or up up to $2,500 fine or up to six months in jail. We decided we decided that that for um the initial offense uh that that would be charged as a class three misdemeanor, which is up to a $500 fines or a imprisonment or jail time not to exceed 30 days. However, um this also gives the ability of the of the person to be relocated to a a a shelter or other other social service facility with the aid of the police officer. And I'll and again the chief will address that in terms of time um of taking someone to Puma County Jail versus taking them to a shelter. you know, it's probably one and the same, if not less time, the officer is actually doing that. So, but it also um

allows for if there if there are subsequent um violations, it the in other words, it starts off as a class 3 misdemeanor. If the person is cited with a classroom misdemeanor and then within a certain time period after that they're cited again, we could step up the charge to a class two and a class one, which is a person who's not really complying with the overall spirit of the law. Um, but at the same time, it also tells the court that the court needs to consider mitigating factors uh when they're looking at a person. You know, have they did they respond? Did they immediately remove their their personal property and litter? um you know did they or were they cooperative in other words so the court can consider that when it comes to sentencing finding or or jail time. Um and then also just as a matter of administrative policy, um we've provided the chief with a um uh it's a it's a not abandoned property, but there's a there's also a policy that's required so that the person's property must be retained if they are relocated to a facility or taken to jail. that we have to hold on to their property uh for a certain time period and let them come back and get it. We can't just throw in a dumpster because again that would that would have some constitutional issues. So that's a separate policy that that's going to go handinhand with with this. Um so this is actually this is the the chief's the chief here.

Yep. Oh, there he is. I'm gonna turn it over to him. But that's the again it's not a it's not a a new ordinance. It's not a or a new part of the code. It just cleans up what we currently have to make it more enforcable from a constitutional standpoint. Yep.

Mayor, vice mayor, council members, thank you for giving us a few uh minutes uh to talk about this. I'm going to actually have I think everybody knows Lieutenant Falz over here behind me. Uh but I'm going to have Lieutenant Falz present tonight. Uh, mayor, I know you and five of my staff are going to be going over to the Gospel Rescue Mission that we met with earlier a few weeks back associated with being a possible resource for those people that are homeless or or transients, etc.

Um, so um I will emphasize here as as your chief that our goal is not enforcement, it's in education and then compliance. We would rather provide and uh John Paladini mentioned this. We would rather provide resources for folks, right, and get compliance where they actually have help as opposed to in a perfect world 20 minutes to the jail,

the booking process. If we got out of there in 20 minutes, I'd be amazed. Realistically, an hour, right? and then 20 minutes back and then the writing of a report and then the records department dealing with something a supervisor approving it it there's no money gained in this

doesn't break the cycle potentially either right um on that that's why when I saw the class one I mean if they're homeless you're if you're going after them for $2500 as opposed to you know 500 you're much less likely to get 2500 so I like the obviously the philosophy that if we can break that cycle with a with help that's that's that's an ultimate outcome positive outcome. So, um, while we will not be a taxi service, u, that's not what we're meant for. Um, if there is an option and capacity for us to provide transportation to a resource, which is realistically, it's not always, but realistically, uh, in Tucson, our county seat, where the vast majority of our tax money goes, right?

Because that's where these resources are at, all that is logical for you folks that have been in this line of work for a while. But that's less expensive for us to do as well. And it's the more reasonable approach for those people that are going to try to comply with this. So with that, I'll go ahead and let Lieutenant Falz here uh present how we believe we will work this new ordinance if it's passed and go from there. Thanks. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor C. Good evening. So Chief Covered a bunch of stuff that I was going to cover as well. Um, but with any new law that you know comes down, whether it's a change in law or new, uh, we always a mop. What's that? What is a mop?

A mop. Mission oriented policing. Oh, okay. Thank you. So, um, I knew that, but I thought I'd ask. But what we do is we train our our staff on that. So, uh, we're going to be working with the SPD training bureau to ensure that, uh, the changes in the law are, uh, you know, covered along with the spirit and the intent. Um, and making sure that our officers are focused more on education. Like the chief said, we're not going to go out and immediately start arresting everybody. And Mr. Paladin previously mentioned that we already have a camping ordinance. This is just kind of cleaning it up. Um, and we do a pretty good job of doing a lot of education. But unfortunately, there are those individuals where, right,

we have to uh take enforcement action, but again, it's going to be education and, you know, explaining the new ordinance to individuals as we come in contact with them and providing them resources. And, you know, just like you're going to the the meeting along with the chief, um, a lot of command staff is also going to that meeting as well and going to find out more resources that we can provide. uh people that that need them, right? And then enforcing the ordinance absolutely when we have to. I mean, there's always going to be a time where Yeah. people just don't want to comply. Correct. Or want help. Correct. So, those super. That's pretty much it.

Yep. Uh any questions for uh Shane. Um I I actually Council Member Morales is is listening in on the meeting. Oh. she can't join us via teams for whatever reason. But she did ask um she asked me to ask this question. What about RVs or people who have RVs and they have company temporarily staying with them in the RV on the street overnight kind of thing? What how does this impact that? Can somebody address that please? Well, I I can and and you know, it it would be it would be prohibited

for someone to, you know, camp on the street technically. Um, and just to be clear, this doesn't regulate private property,

right? So, if someone wants to allow an RV to park in his or her driveway or in the backyard or if they have an RV gate or somebody to camp at a tent in the, you know, or wherever, Walmart parking lots, for instance, are kind of infamous for RV parking in some places. This doesn't regulate that at all. This is strictly a public property issue. So technically um we we would not allow that to a person to camp in a vehicle on the street. Um and I think that it kind of goes back to education resources and enforcement. You know, if it's a one-off night, nobody's the wiser,

right? And they're not making noise. That could turn into a week, two weeks. And so there is a potential that someone would be violating the law if they were, you know, right? Because, and I don't want to get overly authoritarian, but it's not your street to allow someone to park on, right? If you live on the street, it's a public street. It's a public street, right? So So that would be a violation technically. If if public parking is is allowed on that on that street, does that make a difference as opposed to not allowing public parking? Well, isn't it there's one thing if you're parking there? There's one thing secondly if you're living there.

Yeah. Yeah. There's nothing that prohibits unless it's a unless it creates a a hazard of some sort of parking an RV on the street presuming that the public parking is allowed. But what it doesn't allow for is someone to use that vehicle to to live in on the public street.

The only difference between that and a car, which you covered, is the size of it, right? And the ability to maybe live in it a little bit better, but um it seemed like it would be one and the same. My my guess is that that's that that's probably a a frequently occurring incident where people have their RVs out on the on the road and then they have uh you know their their in-laws come and and stay there over a weekend or over Christmas. Um probably happens quite a bit. So I guess the question that Council Member Morales is asking is

how are we going to address that? Are we are we going to start informing and educating and that they can't do that anymore? I mean, is that is that the reality of how this gets applied to the day-to-day? Yeah, just like every other law that we we do apply like speeding, we don't give everybody a speeding ticket every time we pull them over. Thank you. You know, it's education um and getting compliance. That's what we're looking for. So, if you know, someone's staying the night over the weekend, you know, goes to spirit of the law. Just want compliance, but we're not going to be out there arresting everybody.

Thank you. Um any questions comfort everybody? Okay. Well, we're going to soon find out. Um I'll entertain a motion at this time. I will u move to adopt ordinance number 2026-194. Second. We have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Oh, do I have discussion? Oh, okay. Uh signify by I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Dr. Gllesby was tricking me. I saw him reach for his microphone. Trying to be attentive. Uh, Madame Clerk, um, item 12A.

Next, we have study sessions, the presentation and discussion regarding public playground policy and the 2024 IBC interpretation. Thank you. Thank you for hanging around, Mr. Puit. um on the study session regarding the proposed public playground policy. Uh Dylan of course is our park and wreck facilities manager and will present this discussion item.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, pleasure to be here this evening. So, a little bit of background. Um, parks and recreation has exto has historically experienced some difficulty with the timely delay of the currently required engineered plans for public playgrounds. You guys may be aware of this. I think we've discussed it a couple of times. Um, so a little bit more. So playground companies don't typically engineer playgrounds as a whole unit, right? They engineer each specific component and then those units are combined together. um requesting um engineer plans by an Arizona licensed registar uh engineer has caused extreme time delays in the past as well as some budgetary impacts to some of our programs. Um playgrounds also historically have very limited oversight provided by the IBC um and have their own set of um or own sets of standards. the uh American Society for Testing and Materials, Consumer Product Safety Commission, the International Playground Equipment Manufacturers Association, etc., etc.

And those are the ones that actually work with those types of day in and day out all the time. I was surprised to hear it fell under the International Building Code. Yes. For a playground, for sure. And to be fair, and I have members of the community development team behind me, a lot of the IBC references actually reference those standards specifically, which makes sense.

Mhm. Um, so I had attached the public playground policy for your review. Hopefully, you had time to check it out. If not, I understand you're busy as well. Um, it was developed in conjunction with input from community development team. Um, started with Bill Lair before his retirement and continued on with Andrew. um and obviously Anna um and has been reviewed by the policy committee, courtesy review by the policy committee members um which I believe included legal risk town clerk and others on that um committee. Um it provides clear guidance on how public playgrounds u shall be handled moving forward with the town. Um kind of broadly covers some purchasing manufacturing requirements as well as installation guidelines and then our own standard operating procedures for inspections and maintenance and document retention, stuff like that. um also includes supplementary materials such as a sample uh inspection frequency form, a sample routine playground inspection form, and a playground's compliance infection form, which is the one that's done at the time of installation. The main purpose of this document is to demonstrate that P playgrounds are really governed by an entirely different set of standards than IC as well as give staff clear direction on how to handle this moving forward. um including even items not listed here is like requiring that we have a certified playground safety inspector on staff at all times.

Mhm.

Um the IBC itself um again references and and relies on ASM standards as a primary guideline for playgrounds already and the the policy was initially developed with the intent of bringing before you um a building code amendment that would exempt playgrounds swings and equipment from our locally adopted building codes i.e. to remove it to work from work requiring a permit. But recently um through the genius of of Andrew um I think we might move forward in a different direction pending um direction from council um under the authority granted by IBC section 104.1 the building official is authorized to render interpretations of the building code. Um, and so there was a couple of reservations that came about during our discussion of the total exemption. Um, a lot of which revolved around items such as ADA accessible routes, um, other site amenities such as um, shade units, um, stuff that would still need to be inspected um, for safety reasons. Um, and as well as making sure that any new full playground installations still go through that zoning review. Um, and so if the pending uh local interpretation is adopted, those items would still require proper proper permitting and review from our community development team. Here's the official interpretation because it's not official until you guys say so and there's no action tonight. Um, but in an effort to streamline development process while maintaining the highest standards of public safety, the building department is officially classifying prefabricated commercial-grade playground equipment as personal property/ specialty equipment rather than a structure. This classification applies to all municipal, commercial, and HOA properties.

So, if adopted, and again, this won't be until you get the entire IBC when Anna's team is is prepared to present that to you, which I believe is in the not too distant future. If adopted, um, playgrounds and swings would still technically be exempt from requiring a building permit provided that the following criteria are met. So standard compliance, so everything still has to be manufactured to those ASM standards. Um uniform application, so this would apply to other entities such as daycarees, HOAs, and schools because it's a broad application and it would still be um require a third party safety audit. So in lie of a town building inspection, the owner operator must obtain a post insulation safety audit. So that compliance audit from a certified playground safety inspector and then for private entities a digital copy must be filed with the building team or a physical copy must be kept on site. So that's all I have for you tonight. I just am looking for your level of comfort with us moving in this direction. Questions, comments, concerns for both us or any of the members of the building team present if I can't answer.

Right. No, thank you. I mean to me it makes a lot of sense. only government can come up with the fact that we're going to put a playground under the international building code. Um as opposed to, you know, a process that with a safety inspector, you know, that deals in this with certified equipment already, right, by these agencies, they do it. We already heard IBC already puns to those people anyways, right? Absolutely. So, um, I have comfort. Uh, comfort questions. Uh, comfort. Yes, I have a question. Yes. So, any playground that goes in will still have to be fully inspected, right? All the equipment.

So, not the playground equipment itself, but any other site amenities that would go in would still have to be inspected. Currently, the way that even current inspections work with playgrounds is they're largely just looking at footings, but most of those footings are already governed by the overall shape of the structure. And most of them don't have any like rebar retention materials in them because the poles of the playground structure occupy so much of the hole that it's very difficult to put reinforcing materials inside of there. So, for example, the last time Andrew came out to inspect one of my footers at the Animax playground, he showed up and was like, "Well, I I'm just here to look at where the footers are." And like other than taking measurements of of where those footers land, which are again covered by the shape of the structure, there's really not a lot for him to do currently. And to follow up on his question, like when an HO so HOA puts it in uh for it, then it lands on the either the school or the HOA, right? to make sure route tightening bolts and those kinds of things. Correct. This is the installation of it initially.

Correct. Correct. So all the if your question was if they're going to continue to be inspected on a regular frequency. Yes. Absolutely. Okay. Yes. Absolutely. That's that's included in the policy. Is that the kitties getting hurt? No, for sure. As far as the inspection frequency, like so based on use and amount of use and and location, etc. There's a bunch of site factors that go into how frequently you inspect. But yes, absolutely. That's a requirement. All right. Thank you. Yep. Mayor, question. Mayor, just a quick question. Oh, I'm sorry. So, uh, Dylan, can you go back two slides right there? So, municipal, commercial, and HOA properties. Uh, what about school?

Oh, I thought I read that. No. What about school? School, I believe, is covered further, but I was looking back to Andrew. I'm guessing that the intention is for it to include school properties as well. Is that correct, Andrew? And because the state mandates inspections on school properties, so maybe like a dayare.

Mhm. Well, the the reason why I ask is because I I know that there are some aspects like the daycare where it might be a little fuzzy. Uh, and also given the nature of our relationship with the school district and that they have your staff going out and and inspecting these playgrounds, I'm just curious as to whether or not we ought to also apply, you know, where appropriate uh school playgrounds as well, where applicable school playgrounds, some some kind of language like that. So it it it wraps that in in the event that you're in a situation where you're you're being asked to inspect uh the installation of a playground facility for the school because I know we have that kind of relationship.

Yeah, I think it would u depend on the type of school um cuz some schools are mandated um inspections by the state rather than the municipality. But if it was um one of the smaller schools that we have um like the church schools etc. If someone if they were going to have um some playground equipment then we would probably fall under this. Yes. Whenever I hear the word depends it means that it could and so if it could then maybe the language needs to reflect that it could include schools as applicable or as appropriate kind of thing. Good change that. Yeah. Yeah. Because we have also joint

uh efforts right that we're sharing the facilities. So even though it's a school it's a school during the day but it's a town park at night. Um, so back to Shane's point, you know, could it would be uh situational, right? Yeah. From that perspective, we can we can amend the language. Okay. Yeah. Good catch. Good catch. Yeah. Thank you. Any other thoughts? No. Cool. I think we're good. All right. Sounds good. We'll make that change and then uh look for it to come back before you for adoption in the future. Thank you. Thank you.

Um Madame Clerk, item 12B. This is a study session regarding local building amendment to support middle housing development. And Ann is making a return visit as we're circling the airport getting ready to land. Uh go ahead. Thank you, Mayor Murphy, members of the council. We have had our thinking caps on here staff.

So to introduce this item, I'll give you a little bit of background. Back in 2024, the state of Arizona signed HB2721 into law, which was effective January 1 of this year, and it applied to cities with a population of 75,000 and up. So, as you are aware, we are below that threshold. The bill didn't apply to us. Um, what it did do was it lowered regulatory barriers for middle housing. And I'll I'll talk a little bit about what middle housing is in just a minute. And it did that in two ways. First of all, for zoning codes, it required these municipalities of 75,000 population and up to allow up to a forplex anywhere that they allowed single family residential within a mile of the downtown. And it gave those cities the ability to define what they considered their central business district. Uh I do not recommend this for Saworita. It would be optional for us and it's not something that I would recommend pursuing at this time. But the other portion of that bill had to do with building codes. And that bill required these larger cities to allow up to a forplex to come in under the IRC versus the IBC. So that's the residential code versus the commercial code. And that is something that I think is in line with our priorities here in Sawita. So what is middle housing? It's basically everything in between a detached single family home and a mid-rise apartment complex. So that includes your duplexes, forplexes, um town homes, stacked triplexes, just all those different kinds of housing that we're really not seeing a lot of being constructed.

So what is the problem? Currently 3 plus units equal commercial, and that's in the definitions found in the IRC and the IBC. So the result is that triplexes and forplexes are treated the same as a large apartment building. there's a cost cliff. Once you get past that second unit, you trigger a whole bunch of extra requirements such as commercial fire lines, commercial backflow preventers. Um, the IRC is a prescriptive code, meaning that if you just follow the instructions, it's like a recipe. If you follow those instructions, your permit gets approved. You're good to go. Under the IBC, you have to have engineering. So you have to have a design professional come in, design the unit, stamp off on it, and then you also trigger some rigid ADA clearances. So when you're trying to build these smaller units, you've got a small floor plan and the the IBC requires large turning radi within the unit. So you give up a lot of valuable floor space. So the proposed change would be to classify triplexes and forplexes under the IRC. The benefits being that these units would have where fire sprinklers are required, it would be the residential variety which are less costly. It allows the IRC prescriptive design. That's the recipe book that I told you about. It's a little easier to um design those units and you get a more efficient use of a small building footprint. This tends to reduce construction costs by over 20%. It's hard to come up with an exact number because so much just falls under the it depends, right? So hard to come up with a real number there for you, but over 20%. And it also supports a general plan policy that we have that asks us to consider the future stock of affordable housing. As far as quality and safety, the IRC does govern town homes. So there's already precedent in the IRC for shared walls. We are recommending to

maintain a 1-hour fire separation between units for safety. And just as an aside, we did coordinate with Sanorita Fire on this and they're supporting this amendment. And I've got some italics here. And that's because in the two weeks since I put this packet together, we've made a few changes. So anywhere you see italics, it's a change from your packet. So originally your packet said that we were recommending STC50 rating. That's a sound rating. It's a commercial rating that applies to apartment complexes. And since then, we have decided that we'd be better off adopting the IRC sound transmission appendix. It's a little bit more flexible, but still provides some quality of life so that you don't hear your neighbors regular conversations. If they're shouting and arguing, you you're going to hear that, but just a normal conversation, you shouldn't be able to hear with that sound transmission appendix adopted. So the diagrams you see it's one method of meeting that sound transmission requirement and that's staggering the studs. So you see the red arrow it it symbolizes the sound waves and where the studs are staggered it gets stopped by the insulation where when you have the studs back to back it goes right through. So that's just one example of a relatively inexpensive construction technique where if you just pay a little more attention, you can really reduce that sound transmission.

Never would have thought that just that little change would give a little extra installation,

right? And then things like the the outlets, you don't want backtoback outlets. You want to stagger the outlets as well so that you don't have the openings right in front of one another. So, our recommendation would be to include the middle housing amendment in the spring 2026 building code adoption package. For that, the next steps would be to finalize the language for the local amendment, which we've already done. And then we've got the building code package study session scheduled for March 9th. That's a change from your packet. Because of some changes in the council meeting calendar, we've adjusted these dates. So, we'll be back again in two weeks with that for you. and then formal adoption on April 6th. And also, I'm happy to report in italics, we've received a letter of support from Saba.

I was going to ask Dave if he wanted to speak again since he hung out with us. So, he's he's good, I guess. And with that, we are seek seeking council direction to move forward and I'll entertain any questions. No, great presentation as always. Sounds like um a good middle road, no pun intended, for middle housing. Um but no, um you know, obviously 20% cheaper. Um we're looking for this type of housing, but you can't if it doesn't pencil, we're never going to have it, right? So I think making some of these modifications makes a lot of sense, but that's just me. Um anything to my right? Yes. Yes.

For this rental housing, how soon would you be looking at it beginning to start? I understand you said something about a population of 70,000. We're not near that. So, is that when we would start looking at the middle housing? No. Mayor Murphy, members of the council, we would propose adopting this with our 2026 amendment package in in a month. So, I think what happened was this was something originally presented for communities that are 75,000 and above, but we're bringing this in before we get there to help increase the chance of actually getting the middle housing here sooner.

That's correct. It was mandatory for the larger cities to have adopted these amendments prior to January 1st. So, for us, we can do it or not do it, and I felt like it was a good move. So, we're proposing to go ahead and adopt that. Good to my left. Other questions? And mayor, ju just to be clear, want to reemphasize that the primary focus of that bill was to mandate up to fourplexes in single family zoning. Zoning, right?

So, we heard earlier about the state's going to preempt our zoning. Guess what? They already have in a lot of ways, right? you know, for for urban core areas. Uh, and now there's a bill out there that's going to exempt historic areas. You know, I think that's being pushed by Phoenix maybe and but this what Anna is talking about is strictly the building code change, not the zoning change.

So, we're we're not she's not suggesting that that we we allow mandate or allow for forplexes single. I think what we've been and I've been proud of with with your work and others that when the legislature does try to force these things, we get to come in and say, "Hey, we're forward thinking ADUs or whatever it may be, you don't need to impose this on us because we're ahead of you." Am I correct? Yes. Okay. So, being proactive. So, there'll be no changes in the uh building zones right now.

It wouldn't not in the zoning. It would change the building codes to make it more likely hopefully that we'd get some of this middle housing. It just to be clear, it would allow for um where duplexes, triplexes, and forplexes are allowed by zoning, right? It it simplifies the building code. Is that a way to do is that the right word? No, it it lowers the threshold of entry into being able to build those. It it doesn't it's it's you're not going to see a change from single family residential to multi or to forplexes with this change. It's strictly where it's already allowed by zoning.

Correct. But making it potentially more affordable to build and bring in. Yes. Everybody good? Everybody good? Okay. March forward. Right. Thank you. Uh having no more further business, we're adjourned. But um we had recessed our executive session, so we have to go back upstairs for hopefully just a little while. 15 minutes.

No, no, no. That was that was your directive. Yes.