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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996.0827.TCWSM.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE WORK/STUDY SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL AUGUST 27, 1996 A public meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened and called to order by Mayor Miles at 6:30 P.M., Tuesday, August 27, 1996, in the Fountain Hills Town Hall Council Chambers, located at 16836 E. Palisades Blvd., Building B, Fountain Hills, Arizona. ROLL CALL- Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor Jerry Miles,Vice Mayor Lawrence and Councilmembers Marianne Wiggishoff, Sid Apps,Al Poma, Penfield Mower,and Bill O'Brien. Also present were Town Manager Paul Nordin, Town Attorney Bill Farrell, Town Clerk Cassie Hansen, and Director of Community Development Gary Jeppson. AGENDA ITEM#2-DISCUSSION OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE, AUGUST 9, 1996. Gregg Bielli, MCO Properties, referred to a letter he had sent to the Council which outlined the points of contention regarding Article V.of the revised Subdivision Ordinance. He mentioned the proposed cut and fill waiver standpoint regarding hillside disturbances with the terrain in the areas of proposed roadway construction such as in the Eagles Nest Subdivision, Eagle Ridge North and properties south of Shea in Summit Lakes. He stated MCO and the Town had compromised to allow construction of roadways along the natural terrain as well as addressed the concerns about safety issues and maintenance of those roadways. He requested that roadways be exempted from cut and fill waiver requests. He discussed density transfers from hillside areas to developable areas in the figuring of disturbance calculations. He stated the 10' buffer zone around construction or grading activities, the 20' zone around buildings as well as large disturbed hillside areas would adversely affect the allotment of developable land. He suggested the four times the building footprint option in one-acre zoned parcels was preferred by MCO rather than the lot-by-lot option. He suggested the zoning change request be allowed at the time of the preliminary plat approval. He reviewed additional issues contained in his letter such as buffer zones,jurisdictional restrictions, detention basins, grading for parks and golf courses, scale requirements for hillside disturbance, fencing requirement around subdivision roads, penalty restrictions, photograph requirements, and replacement of desert plants. Jim Flynn, MCO Properties, stated only option for developing property really existed, that being opportunities for density transfers. He said the quality amenities in the development of Summit Lakes was important to the image of Fountain Hills. He pointed out that additional golf courses were the only answer to the continuing problem of the effluent disposal. Ray Baldwin,Sunridge Canyon,said he was concerned about the requirement for revegetation process for protective plants under Article 6-5. He stated the availability of plant materials could be very limited and the survival rate of transplanted vegetation was about two-thirds. He suggested another option for protected plants be presented because alot of the plants were not salvageable. Margaret Gelinas,a member of the P&Z Commission,addressed the disturbance activities provision in Article 504-F. She said she was concerned about the lot disturbance calculations for multi-family condominiums. She suggested another formula be proposed for multi-family zoned districts. Town Engineer Randy Harrel predicted there would be multitudes of cut and fill waiver requests for roadway construction if the current revised ordinance was adopted. He cited the Eagles Nest plat as an example and said he Minutes of the Work/Study Session of the Town Council 8/27/96 Page 1 of 3 found 16 areas where cuts over the 10' limit and another 6 areas where fills in excess of the 10' would be required. Leesa Fraverd said her interpretation of the Subdivision Ordinance differed from Mr. Bielli's interpretation. She stated the preservation of 85% of the hillside on one-acre lots in unplatted "R1-43" zoning were already stipulated as a requirement and included roadways. She said Maricopa County P&Z standards were the same as the revised requirements. She discussed lot-by-lot calculations and disturbance transfers for one acre lots. Director of Community Development Gary Jeppson said the hillside protection option provides the opportunity for developers to take the allowable disturbance and to apply the amount of hillside disturbance to the individual lot. He said it had provided flexibility in the Westridge and Pulte Subdivisions. Councilman O'Brien objected to the verbiage which specified that non-hillside lands were subject to up to 100% disturbance. Mayor Miles stated these items might need staff clarification. Dana Saar, Vice Chairman of the P&Z Commission, said the current standards exempted roads and utilities from hillside disturbance calculations. He said he was concerned with enforcement of penalties to assure that previously undisturbed areas remained undisturbed. He encouraged the Council to grant staff the opportunity to enforce violations of preservation of desert landscape by establishing penalties severe enough to deter blatant destruction of the desert. Loras Rausch stated the "R1-43" zoning did not guarantee one house per acre. She said density transfers related to zoning issues and was not a subdivision issue. She said mitigation matters and cut and fill requirements should be determined prior to the preliminary plat approval. She suggested bridges be used as an alternative to cut and fill waivers for roadways. David Montgomery stated the Council should consider the review of the County's hillside ordinance because there were several differences relating to disturbance calculations. He said he thought the utilities were not included in their methods of determining hillside disturbances. Also, he thought disturbance calculations were determined on a lot-by-lot basis. Councilman O'Brien said he hoped some common ground could be determined in the revision of the Subdivision Ordinance and it was his opinion that the roadways should be included to enable control over the amount of disturbance in hillside areas. He suggested the Council alter the percentage as disturbance calculations as they were based on lot coverage and were too strict. AGENDA ITEM #3 - ADJOURNMENT. Councilwoman Wiggishoff MOVED to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Poma SECONDED the motion which CARRIED unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Minutes of the Work/Study Session of the Town Council 8/27/96 Page 2 of 3 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS L By: �; ,.../z Jetrry Miles,AcIayor A FI EST: C Cl.J 14)4144 4- Cassie B. Hansen, Town Clerk PREPARED BY: Linda D. Lemmen, Administrative Assistant CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Work Study Session Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 27th day of August, 1996. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 5th day of September, 1996. tklibor' CAA-It )•-ILA‘t4A—) Cassie B. Hansen, Town Clerk Minutes of the Work/Study Session of the Town Council 8/27/96 Page 3 of 3