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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023.0606.TCRM.MinutesTOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL June 6, 2023 A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 5:33 p.m. Members Present: Mayor Ginny Dickey: Vice Mayor Peggy McMahon; Councilmember Gerry Friedel; Councilmember Sharron Grzybowski; Councilmember Brenda J. Kalivianakis; Councilmember Hannah Toth; Councilmember Allen Skillicorn Staff Present: Interim Town Manager Rachael Goodwin; Town Attorney Aaron D. Arnson; Town Clerk Linda Mendenhall Audience: Approximately ninety members of the public were present. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 1 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Post -Production File Town of Fountain Hills Town Council Meeting Minutes June 6, 2023 Transcription Provided By: eScribers, LLC Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. Page 1 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 2 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL MAYOR DICKEY: And we'll -- ready to start our regular session. Please stand. And if you'd like, remain standing for the invocation. ALL: 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. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. We have Pastor Clayton Wilfer from Joy Christian Community Church. Hi. WILFER: Hi. Gracious God. merciful God, we thank you for the gift of this day. We thank you for the gift of this town, and we thank you for the gift of this town council. I pray that you would lead this town council in this meeting with your wisdom. Give them insight as they lead this town and meet the needs of all of its residents. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. ALL: Amen. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. One more time. Roll call. please. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Here. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon. MCMAIION: I Iere. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel FRIEDEL: Present. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Present. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Here. MENDENIIALL: Councilmember Toth. TOTI I: I Iere. MENDENIIALL Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Here. Page 2 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 3 of 78 JUNE 6. 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Anyone wishing to address the council regarding items listed on the agenda or under Call to the Public should fill out a request to comment card located in the back of the council chambers and hand it to the town clerk prior to consideration of that agenda item. When your name is called, please approach the podium, speaking into the microphone, and state your name for the public record. Please limit your comments to three minutes. It is the policy of the mayor and the council to not comment on items brought forth under Call to the Public. However, staff can be directed to report back to the council at a future date or to schedule items raised for future council agenda. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Linda, so much. We'll start with our reports. Do you have anything to report, Rachael? GOOD W IN: I do. Mayor, thank you. Quickly, 1 just want to say, we have a great staff here and tonight I really wanted to take a moment to recognize our town clerk, Linda Mendenhall. I.inda was one of 175 clerks that were recognized from 28 different states. She made the 2023 Municipal Clerk's I lonor Roll this year. So were super proud to have her. Just by way of some of her background. She has her master's in municipal clerk -- her master municipal clerk designation, as well as her certified municipal clerk designation. So we're really grateful and really have benefited from Linda's knowledge and her expertise as our town clerk. So congratulations to her. MENDENHALL: Thank you. [APPLAUSE] MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. I'm going to surprise you and go to Councilman Skillicorn first. activities. I keep -- I always go on that side so I -- SKILLICORN: Yeah. Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. I will be very brief. I attended the Falcon Fiesta as a volunteer. And what a good time. 1 actually came home to my wife at 3 o'clock in the morning and just told her how much fun it was. And kind of bragged about all the kids that won all the raffle coupons from me playing roulette. So it was a great time and they won such great prizes and all the kids were so amazing. So it was such a great opportunity, part of -- and to move things along, I will give up my time. Page 3 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page d of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you. Ms. Mayor. Hi everybody. Good evening. Thank you for coming again, a very well -attended council meeting this afternoon -- this evening. 1 appreciate it. Good governance is based on citizen participation. And if that's any case here in Fountain Hills. we have a good government because you guys are very active. Like to also say hello to everyone on Cox Channel I I and livestreaming tonight and especially the people that are in my home delivered meals program. I would ask everybody to please speak up when they're addressing the microphone out there because they can't here you. Okay? 1 was told to say that. We had an open house at the Boys & Girls Club on May 17th. The mayor was there, as well as most of council. It was a very wonderful event. The Boys & Girls Clubs are just tremendous. They provide safe childhoods for our children, providing them safe and fun places for kids to grow and thrive. Life enhancing programs. delivering engaging programs focus on academics, health, and leadership. And they also are mentors -- offered staff training who guide, coach, and motivate kids to be successful. They're a treasure to have here. As life would have it, the next day at our Business Retention and Expansion program, Betsey (ph.) from the Chamber, Amanda (ph.). and myself, went back to the Boys and Girls Club to find out how we could better serve them in our community. That program that Amanda put together. puts together the stakeholders, business owners, a member from the town council, member from the chamber. to help individual business owners with any of their needs. We discover a lot about the businesses. We discover about what they need. And it's a -- it's a great loop to go back and forth. Based on the meeting on the 18th, we had another follow-up meeting with Rachael on the 22nd to address some of the problems that the Boys & Girls Clubs were having. Having not had that meeting, we wouldn't even know. And so I want to thank Rachael for being right on top of that. I think Amanda, it's just a great program. And just a reminder, not only do we have the Boys & Girls Club. we have the Chamber of Commerce, the Reservation. sanitary district, school system, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Rural Metro, so there's a lot of organizations that this council interfaces Page 4 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 5 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES with for the good governance of our town and to make sure that when there's a problem, the police show up. the fire shows up, and the water turns on. And so it's a lot of work. And hopefully. you guys don't even think about it because that's how it should be and it just takes care of itself. I wanted to congratulate the Class of'23. 1 went to some of the graduation parties. It's a wonderful time of the year for our graduates. So congratulations. Also, last Thursday I attended the Lawyers Luncheon. This -- the guest speaker was Tom I lorne, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. Tom is an advocate for the basics, stressing reading, writing. and arithmetic. With the proper education, young people can realize their goals and achieve success. Never forget your dreams because they are who you are. They become your plan. Lastly, tomorrow I'm going to be attending the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, public safety, military affairs. and the courts, for another policy committee meeting. These are really important to set the direction for the 91 municipalities throughout the State of Arizona to get guidance from council and mayors. So that's what I've been up to. Thank you very much for your attention. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Vice Mayor. MCMAHON: Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the council meeting. I'm going to he brief. I attended the Dementia Friendly Committee meeting. We are continually moving along and addressing the initiatives and accomplishing them for the benefit of our community, which is great. 1 also attended the Boys and Girls open house. It was very impressive to see how all of our donations have significantly helped improve the Boys & Girls Club for our local kids. And it was great to see how involved and proud the kids were of their clubhouse, and how much they are thriving. They look you in the eye. They talk to you. They're really polite. They're just amazing young kids. It was great to see. I attended the Valley Metro Board meeting. Once again, we were talking about Proposition 400. how it's moving through the legislation. And hopefully, that will come into action and so that we can have voter approval on it. We, Ginny -- Mayor Dickey and I and Gerry Friedel, we attended the Central Arizona prop -- excuse me. Councilmember Toth attended the Central Arizona Project, Water Page 5 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Page 6 of 78 Resource dinner. It was really. really nice. We learned that major steps have been taken with important government stakeholders to continue our water conversations over the next three years so that Arizona can be the decision maker and how it will use and secure water resources for Arizona versus having that dictated to us. That's a significant achievement. Also, I attended the Acute Care Facility grand opening. It is a facility here that provides acute care for elderly people who need it. And also gives respite for the caretakers. I also had lunch with executives of the United Way to learn more about their significant contribution to addressing temporary and permanent housing for those living without shelter throughout Maricopa County. 1 don't think we all realize how much United Way works very closely with the homeless, providing a lot of facilities for them, resolutions to some issues. They also work very closely with one of our key partners, the Maricopa Association of Governments. They are working closely to address this major homeless issue that. really, ultimately affects Fountain Hills. So while Fountain I fills. thankfully. doesn't have a large unsheltered population, we still do. And it is important for us to continue to work with these stakeholders, to be part of the conversation and the resolution. And today, I attended the MAG Economic Committee. Governor Lewis of the Tribal Nation was there. I le shared a lot of information about the gaming and the funds that are distributed amongst the state and the towns and cities and how they benefit everyone. Also. about their new relationship with the Suns team, their design of the jerseys. They're aqua, and they have a lot of the code designations on them, very small, but it's really -- seems like it's a really great relationship of which they are very proud. So thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. FRIEDEI,: Thank you, Mayor. I did attend the Domestic Violence Regional Council meeting. We are developing a serious of best practices for teen dating violence. So that'll be in the works and we should have that done pretty quickly. So well be able to share that with the town and maybe put that out on our website. I did attend the groundbreaking ceremony at the American Legion Post 58 here in town. In fact, if you went by there today. their temporary shade structure has been taken down Page 6 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 7 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEE7NG MINUTES and they're going for -- forward on a permanent structure with solar panels to totally operate that American Legion Post for free, basically. But anyway, its exciting because we are the benefactors of that temporary shade structure. So that should be coming to us anytime now, right Rachael? GOODWIN: It is. It's already at our refurbishing facility. FRIEDEL: Okay. So it's being refurbished right now as we speak. So Saturday morning I did attend the Farmer's Market. 1 was in line. a long line to get corn. I'm sure there were others in this room that were in that line. And on the way back, 1 stopped by our skate park, which isn't even open yet and there were 15 to 18 people using that state-of- the-art skate park. So we are planning a ceremony on the 24th. 1 believe, of June. So if you haven't seen that facility. I'm telling you, it's really something. And it's not even opened and its being used. So that's how nice it is. I did also attend the Falcon Fiesta and the graduation. The Falcon Fiesta. I was working the bingo table that night. So again, it was a lot of fun. A lot of activity. A lot of our students went there. So congratulations to all the graduates. And as the vice mayor mentioned, 1 did also attend the Central Arizona Project, Water dinner. And she mentioned something that 1 think I will mention it again. CAP gave us a seat at the table for negotiations for water, which is very important to every person in this state. We don't want this administration in Washington dictating what happens to our water in our state. So its very important that they had that seat for us, representing the State of Arizona and all the communities around here. You know. 1 don't know if you knew this but I didn't know they had 350 miles of canals that run all the way to Tucson. So they are a big seat and a big speaker for us on behalf of water in Arizona. So that's important. And I did also attend the Boys & Girls Club open house. That was really exciting to hear some of those students, some of those young people in our town, the way they handle themselves and the way they speak, it was really eye opening. And that facility, I'm telling you, it was very impressive, what they have there. And that's all I have, thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. GRZYBOWSKI: In lieu of talking about meetings that I did this past. what are we at, Page 7 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 8 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES three weeks, I received approval from the mayor to do something that 1 don't generally do, but there are young lives at risk. I'd like to take a moment to recognize Pride Month. Pride is about more than rainbows and parades. It's about boring, everyday things that we cisgender, heterosexual people take for granted. Life is hard enough. but in validating someone based on your opinion of how they live invites misinformation as a means of reason -- excuse me -- as a means of reason justification. It invites bullying. Misinformation and bullying creates a hardship that results in our young people looking for a way out. Too often, that way out is suicide. Using someone's preferred pronoun or name is not that hard. No one questions nicknames that they receive from their friends in high school. No one questioned me, 35 years ago, when I got married and took my husband's last name. You don't need to approve of someone's personal choices. You just need to have enough respect for your fellow human to treat them the way you would like to be treated. Each of the religions teaches that there is only one true judge, and that judge is your God. Thank you. TOTH: Well, I was also at the Boys & Girls Club open house. I had to sneak out a little early, I felt so bad. But it was really lovely in there. And you can tell how much the kids love going. I was also at Falcon Fiesta, which was a blast. Congratulations to the class of 2023. I so enjoyed being the PE teacher for graduation night. And with Alan's help, running the trike races, then the dodgeball games. 1 was at the CAP Water dinner. As you've heard from others, that was a lovely way to get updated on the water situation in Arizona. You can tell, I'm trying to be brief. And I was at the groundbreaking ceremony for the American Legion. I'm so excited for them for that project that's going to really set them above for -- as an example for other Legions around the nation. So we're so excited about that project. And congratulations to the Legion. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Thank you. You'd think it was not getting into summer with all of the activities everybody's been involved with. And we appreciate that. I just wanted to read a little bit about the nomination for Linda that resulted in her being recognized as a clerk. Page 8 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 9 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES "Linda Mendenhall has fully embraced her vital role as clerk with energy and knowledge to the great benefit of townhall and the community. Our rules of procedure needed attention and she professionally suggested changes that improved them, all of the positive and welcoming demeanor. She managed elections in a reassuringly calm way. Staff. Council, and the public respect and like Linda. She's a true asset to our hometown." So something that we said -- and Peggy also put something in there, so 1 guess it worked. So again, congratulations. Yeah. the graduation was awesome, It was the 30th. I think I've been to, probably all of them. I watched my own three sons, nieces and nephews, my future daughter-in-law, who's now the mother of three of my grandchildren. Multiple family members, and even great nephews cross that stage. So I want to congratulate all of the kids and the educators for a great year. As Sharron mentioned, yes. June is Pride Month, recognizing the support of healthy, safe. prosperous communities for all of us. I want to take the opportunity to mention that 2023. this is the 10th anniversary of the One Community's Unity Pledge and support of equality and nondiscrimination. And remind everyone that Fountain I fills had joined more than 3.500 businesses, 500 faith leaders. and 20,000 Arizonans in taking the Unity Pledge in 2022. So it seemed like a good time to bring that up. Again. the CAP dinner was very informative. It's exactly like Gerry said, Arizona, California. and Nevada got together and they'll be conserving historic volumes of Colorado Water and Lake Mead is a, I don't even know how to picture this, but 3 million acre-feet in Lake Mead, over the next three years, which is expected to have an immediate impact on the stability of the Colorado River. I know that you probably heard, too, that City of Phoenix said some stuff about development and groundwater. It kind of got a life of its own. So the Greater Phoenix Economic Counsel and the mayor also, I think, today wanted to kind of hone in on that a little bit. So Greater Phoenix is not halting housing development. It doesn't impact commercial or industrial development. It's not affecting any existing homeowners or businesses. This temporary halt is for newly subdivided developments that are relying on groundwater. So it's quite of a bit different than I think, maybe, it sounded a little more extreme from the way that we heard it. So I just wanted to take the opportunity to Page 9 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 10 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES mention that when we were talking water. So I think that's it for now. Our next item is the -- we don't have any presentations, so we're going straight to Call to the Public, and do we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Yes, Mayor, we do. We're going to do this a little differently. We're going to, just like in baseball, there's a person that, you know. on -- what is it, on bat or -- GOOD W IN: On deck. MENDENHALL: -- on deck. [LAUGHTER] MENDENHALL: All right. So first, we have Crystal Cavanaugh. And then on deck is Matthew Corrigan. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. CAVANAUGH: Good evening. Last week a former councilman, in his letter to the editor, insulted and mocked those who speak up and reference the people. He dismissed those who show up at councils and boards as a small contingent of folks who complain about virtually everything. He classified peaceful protestors defending personal freedoms again COV I D restrictions as a raucous group that managed to recruit a few stragglers to disrupt the meeting with signs and chants from their outdoor location, actually. He was confident that our type dots not actually represent the people in a town of 25.000. Well, former councilman, there are only seven town councilmembers on the dais. Do they represent the people? I certainly hope so. And let's talk more about this small group of vocal residents. You mean those that did extensive 5G research to pause small wireless data towers from popping up all over town and sitting in yards above ground without adequate information about the process or consequences? Or did you mean the small group of vocal residents that spoke up to provide accurate information to town staff, commissions, and town council that outpatient drug treatment was trying to operate in the wrong zoning off of Shae and Saguaro? And you're welcome. Because some of those players pushing their way into Fountain Hills included Angel Heart and Imani Wellness who are currently suspended and under investigation with the FBI and State of Arizona for fraud and worse. If there had been no pushback, Angel heart would have been operating here with a Page 10 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 11 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES business license approved by the town. Or did you mean the involvement of local residents who reached out to state representatives, commissioners, and town councilmembers regarding sober living homes in our residential neighborhoods that housed 10 to 15 clients at a time, sometimes illegally? Vigilant neighbors helped to stop this. Vocal residents pushed the town to craft an ordinance for transitional community residences, limiting occupancy to five clients in any new homes, thus minimizing the proliferation. That former councilmember actually voted against the protective ordinance. Coincidentally, he happened to work for a drug coalition. So who was actually representing the people in this situation? There is indeed a small group who consistently speak up about concerns. But it doesn't mean the larger community is not being represented. Many fear reprisal or backlash if they speak up. So they don't do it publicly. But it doesn't mean they don't contact this visible group of people privately with their support and concerns. More new faces have been seen at town council recently. And hopefully, the small group of frequent flyers has inspired them to do so and speak up. More watch from home. Instead of discouraging community involvement. it seems wiser to encourage it. Thank you. CORRIGAN: Madam Mayor. Councilmembers, Matthew Corrigan, homeowner, Fountain Hills. I would like to first thank Crystal Cavanaugh for her public comments in March. revealing how now disgraced Angel Hearts Services attempt to open a $2.2 million outpatient center, disguised as behavioral health, in a property zoned commercial office. not eligible for behavioral health uses in Fountain Hills. Thanks to prevailing wisdom of Councilmembers Friedel, Kalivianakis, Skillicorn, and Toth. restricting detox away from residential areas and enforcing commercial office zoning ordinances as written, the Angel Heart scam was revealed and rejected, saving Fountain Hills from national embarrassment as the FBI and the State of Arizona investigation uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars in AHCCS fraud and human trafficking. The Fountain Hills Alternative reporter Marshall Tucker offered a very well written local history and summary of the ongoing investigation. I encourage everyone to read it. Also Page 11 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 12 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES FOX 10 News and the left -leaning The Arizona Republic covered the investigation. The purpose of zoning is to divide towns or cities into residential, commercial, or industrial zones. Within those zones are specified further -defining permitted use areas. Our planning and zoning boards are obligated to uphold and enforce those defined zoning ordinances. They must be followed specifically and not loosely to insure the integrity of our town. To do less than this diminishes the quality and nature of Fountain Hills in general and the master planning and general planning. There are two, maybe three items on the agenda just tonight that reflect just that desire to rezone areas of town. The first was label -- was tabled at the — but it -- excuse me. was tabled, but it request a special use permit to convert a hotel into apartments and four short-term rental units. Rezoning? The second. to rezone our I-10 single family to R3 multifamily. Rezone? The third is a special use permit to permit up to ten apartments in three buildings. Rezone? Why the sudden need for special use permits and rezone? I support free enterprise and energetic business growth, but that freedom should not be construed as license. I encourage building and development within appropriately designed zoned areas. Many of us has moved to Fountain Hills to enjoy the master planned, energetic development of correctly applied growth. not the Phoenix plan of urban sprawl and destiny design. From the moment my wife and 1 visited and enjoyed the small town wonder and peaceful and beautiful mountains -- Fountain Hills, to the day we bought and now enjoy our home. we knew that as many of us know now, Fountain Hills is a unique and precious oasis from a noisy concrete jungle of chaos and crime. Many of us moved here to get away from problems related to lacked zoning decisions. Let's plan and be careful. Oppose zoning and rezoning inappropriately. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next we have Terese LoPresti, if 1 said it right. And then on deck we have Wendy Bozzi. LOPRESTI: Hi, it's LoPresti. Again, Terese LoPresti. I'm a resident of Fountain Hills since 1999 and in the Maricopa County area since 1981. I'm here to support 5G. 1 know, going against the grain, but -- and sorry I'm late to the party. I want to encourage the town to move forward and not restrict 5G, in other words. small cell. The 5G data is not Page 12 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 13 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES only for the residents but for those who visit our town and for our major events. And 5G has been geared towards first responders. too. So that's something that needs to be taken into consideration. I'm not up on the law with regard to the moratorium, but if Fountain Hills does not have an ordinance that works within the guidelines of the state and federal laws, then this is the time to figure it out. And the moratorium is probably good so that you can do that. To work on those design standards that -- oops, sorry -- that encompass the state and federal guidelines or statutes. 1 have gone to, or 1 had looked that online. there was a previous meeting and when somebody was concerned about 2,000 applications coming in. That's not going to happen. The carriers are not going to inundate Fountain Hills. You'll be lucky if you get 20 all at one time. So you know, that's a consideration, too. Not allowing 5G or trying to severally restrict it, you're going to put Fountain Hills in the dark ages. You're going to be behind the times. That's going to restrict our population growth. People will not want to come here because there's not going to be that telecommunication infrastructure for the growth of our small businesses. And doing so could also violate current state. federal statutes. Sorry, if we do not get wireless cell communications in place in a timely manner, we could lose major events. We have a lot of events here in Fountain Hills. And so some of these events may go away or get severely curtailed. Again, even a loss of revenue. So you would need that to do that. I mean. we have events at the Avenue of the Fountains. the Community Center, here at the townhall, at the library. We've got the upcoming Dark Sky Observatory. Why would you curtail any of that? And I -- sorry, I'm, like, going out of order on my notes here. Other jurisdictions have worked with the carriers to minimize the impact and still be within the state and federal guidelines. It can be done. You just need to be able to work it out. Health issues. I know that people are concerned about health issues. You can go to studies that take it to this extreme, and then all the way through the other extreme. We just need to have commonsense when doing this. You know. the 5G is a different bandwidth than some of the macro -towers or in the macro -antennas, there are procedures in place by the industry that notify people of those antennas, those public antennas. and Page 13 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 14 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES how to stay, you know. that you're to stay away from them. That you shouldn't be climbing those towers or those structures. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, ma'am, the buzzer just went off, sorry. LOPRESTI: Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. LOPRESTI: All right. BOZZI. Hello. Wendy Bozzi. I have lived here since 1999 and I've worked for our school district for 24 years, which 1 love. 1 went out last Wednesday and hiked around where we had had the homeless person living behind the middle school. And 1 went to see, you know, to check up if things had been cleaned up and cleared out like we were told. And what -- 1 was kind of surprised by what I saw because there is a very nice tent structure in the exact same spot. set up. There's buckets, there's pile of firewood. So there is a person still there. I don't know if it's the same person or a different person, but there's somebody there in that same spot. It's north of the middle school, which is going to be the new McDowell Mountain School. So I was just concerned and would hope there'd be some more follow up on that because we were told that was all going to get cleaned out and cleared out and that's not what I observed. So I made a report to the nonemergency number Friday, a couple days after I had been out there. So this was just this last Wednesday when I went out there and saw that. So just wanted to report about that and would hope there'd be some follow up because that's a concern. GOOD W IN: Wendy, thank you for your comments. Generally we don't speak to public comment but I did want to clarify. A few updates is that that was received. That is it was investigated. The State trust land does issue 14-day camping permits. The person in question does have a valid permit. There are no current burn bans on the State Trust Land, so they are permitted to have camping fires associated with that. So at this time, there doesn't seem to be any violation with this person participating on the State Trust Land. MENDENHALL: Next we have Lori Troller and on deck is April McCormick. TROLLER: Hi. Hi. Mayor, Council, Rachel. Aaron, I'm just going to -- I'm glad I kind of followed up here because I just want to make sure everybody realizes, I'm not trying to Page 14 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 15 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES stop 5G. None of that is going on. We're bringing broadband in. We just want to bring it in the way we can. So everyone here can make a phone call whether, right now. Right here, right now. AT&T, Verizon, Singular. we can all do that. Why is that? Well, this location is covered by 19 antennas. Did a little research. And those 19 antennas are on five towers around town. Why isn't it one antenna? Why is it 19? Well, buildings have to be hit from all sorts of angles. Now, they also have to be, the antennas also have to be operating at a certain signal strength. And that's negative 85 decibels. That's also related, there's a relationship between that and the amount of exposure, emission exposures to that. So as we discussed last meeting, the 85 decibels, that's an FCC standard. But we know that the FCC standards were -- they tested plastic. They're a bunch of engineers. They did what they knew to do, tested the way they knew how to test it on plastic. They're not doctors. That went out to the FDA. The FDA said, we're not FR -- radio frequency specialists, throw it to the National Technology program. They took it. They were given $30 million in 20 years. And in that testing period, there is no doubt these things have all sorts of problems. Again, I don't discuss the health things. Anyway, there's -- I'm just saying let's take that 85 decibels. So who's checking in Fountain Hills that all our antennas are working at 85 decibels? And the reason you want to ask this is because you're being advised to bring more towers in and to bring more radiation in. So what do we have? Turns out 5 of the 19 antennas were sitting in right now, way over emitting. Two of them are emitting at negative 116 decibels. Two are emitting at a negative III. One is emitting at 108 -- negative 108. So before we go and look at bringing antennas in. let's manage, get a hold of what we've got. And there is no -- it's an industry that came in with zero regulation. And we can put that in our ordinance, that we look at that. Okay. So one other thing 1 just want to point out. There are two ordinances. I don't know if you guys realize that. There's the-- there's a telecommunication ordinance and then there's this SWF ordinance. It's separate. The reason it's separate is because everything Aaron is saying, the rules and everything that we have to apply to the towers, Page 15 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 16 of78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES that's the telecommunications' piece. We're talking -- I'm not talking about that. We're talking about the broadband piece. We can bring this in under -- real quick, let me go - if you write an ordinance to put towers in, you're literally writing against our standard of underground. You have to go against our underground standards to bring it in via all the towers. So thank you. Sorry 1 went over. MCCORMICK: Hello, good evening. April McCormick, Fountain Hills resident. Right now everyone in Fountain Hills can get a 5G signal in their home because all of the cell towers in Fountain Hills have been upgraded to have 56 antennas on them. And that's just a fact. So we have 5G and we have very good 5G service. All we've been advocating for is a restrictive ordinance to keep 5G out of our front yard, ten feet from our home and right next to our bedroom window. And that can be done. I've given you ten pages of case law where every district court in the country has upheld a hierarchy of preferred locations. least intrusive means test. and a significant gap in coverage, mat -- proving that they don't have 5G or a single. And they have to put it in your home and they can't find a better location than right next to your home. We've been at this for over a year at this point. And all that's been accomplished by the former council was to stonewall us, is what I'd like to say, frankly. And for Aaron to bring in the telecom law firm to help draft any replacement ordinance is a utter slap in the face. I don't know, he said he vetted him. I'm not sure if you realize that he owns a real estate brokerage company where he's a licensed broker for his own purpose. If you want to sell your property that has an antenna on it, you list it with them. If you want to buy property that has an antenna on it, you list it with him. After you buy or sell, he has a antenna property management company who will manage the parcel that he just sold or helped you buy. that he exclusively has an antenna on it. If there were no antennas, this man would have two of his companies evaporate. There is such a blatant conflict of interest. I'm utterly shocked. His Twitter feed. if anyone care to look at, looks like an antenna porn. I don't know how else to say it. Every single tweet is of an antenna, either next to somebody's home, on a building, on a Page 16 of78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 17 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES billboard. He also does billboard !casings where he puts antenna on both sides of the billboard. I have read his ordinances from other counties and other cities. And they even include OTAR devices, over -the -air reception devices, which enable you to put a 5G transmission on your roof. They're the most permissive, crazy things I've ever seen, I've read, honestly. Over 75 municipal telecommunication ordinance in the last three to four years. We've furnished you a petition of over 158 signers. And what you need to know about that is, it was only one signer per household. If you use Brave browser, you can't sign it at all. It logged your IP address and won't let anyone else from your household sign it. Lori and I fielded so many complaints about how does my husband sign this. So really. that number is double. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Mayor, that's it for public comments. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you, Linda, very much. Our next item our Consent agenda. Do 1 have a motion? MCMAIION: So move to -- I move to approve the Consent Agenda. KALIVIANAKIS: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Did you second it? GRZYBOWSKI: It was seconded at that time. MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, okay. Thank you. Roll call, please. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. Page 17 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 18 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you so much. So as you heard -- so our first item has been tabled and so we will move to 9B, which is the Public Hearing for our budget. So I'll open the public hearing and we will hear from staff, do a presentation. We'll hear from speaker -- if we have any speaker cards, and Council will discuss and well close the hearing. And then we'll vote. MAYOR DICKEY: David? POCK: Got to speak into the mike. so everybody can hear me, right? The thousands of people on YouTube and Channel I I and everybody here. I'm glad to see so much attention for the budget. We do have four other public meetings a year, but we'll get to that -- anyway. All right. So first we like to start with the fiscal year '23, the current year revenue update. We're doing very well. I'm going to make it short and sweet. You can see the first ten months of this year, we've actually had a 19 percent increase over the first ten months of last year, and currently we've reached our total revenue. TPT revenue, that we had budgeted for fiscal year '23. We've achieved that in the first ten months, so we're on a good track there. As far as our state shared revenues, three out of the four are coming in right on track. The HURF fund, or the 11URF revenues are down a little bit from what we were expecting, but that's about tcn percent off, but well make up for it, right? Okay. Any questions as far as this year's revenues go? All right. So on to fiscal year '24 budget. As I mentioned, we've had multiple meetings already this year. Public meetings about the budget started in February with our open house and public outreach, and then we've had our workshops. CIP workshops, budget workshop, and then the tentative budgeted option was last month. And then this is our final budget meeting for fiscal year '24. So as I mentioned, the tentative budget adopted last month set a maximum amount of the $43.1 million. At that adoption, there wasn't any substantial changes Page 18 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 19 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES requested by Council. It did include a $2.5 million General Fund contingency that can only be used with Council approval as needs arise. It also included a $5 million Streets Fund appropriation for pavement maintenance. That is a million dollars more than we've ever had in that line item. This specific line item was added, 1 believe, in 2016. and the most that we've ever spent in one single year was 3.5 million. So we do have more capacity next year and the ability to spend more in that specific line item. As far as the overall General Fund. if you take out the contingency that we had in this year's budget. we've got $20.4 million next year. Without the contingency, it's 23.1. a difference of $2.7 million, and then that's a 13 percent increase. However, that $2.7 million increase this year also includes the 1.9 that we have in Public Safety increases. So if you take that out, it's only a 4 percent increase over this year. Any questions on that? A lot of information, one slide. I've got you guys all practiced up on all the other meetings, so hopefully this goes quick. All right. So we did want to do some comparisons compared to other cities around the Valley. We broke it up by eastside, westside. You can see here which cities and towns have primary property taxes, secondary property taxes, both. There are not a lot that don't have either. So overall, you can see were doing quite well as far as per capita expenditures. So any questions on those? All right. So then we'll take a quick look at the capital projects. This first group are the projects that we believe there was general consensus from the group, from Council, to go ahead and start July I st without any further action required by Council. A lot of these projects are continuing projects from the current year or grant funded projects. The second group of projects are projects that would be coming back to Council at a later date. after your return from your summer break. So those are the total authorized projects so far. at $6.6 million. This next list, we started talking about at the -- I believe it was the budget work session. These are projects that were identified by the Community Services Director and Page 19 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 20 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Public Works Director as projects that didn't need to start right at the beginning of the year. We can take some time. We had to move these out of our suggested CIP, just because of the expenditure limitation that we have. We don't have as many exclusions for next year. I lost my train of thought. I apologize. So these had to be taken out because of the expenditure limitation. We can take a look at revenues, see how they're coming in. This would be a possible use of that $2.5 million in contingency that we have. Some of these projects between now and November or December might be delayed for other reasons. We're just not sure. But they could come back and be approved at a later time. MAYOR DICKEY: Just to -- POCK: Sure. MAYOR DICKEY: -- remind you what Justin had said about some of them, too, which was they were being delayed because there was no way we were -- for one reason or another, that they were going to start before then, anyway. So 1 just wanted to -- it wasn't like a prioritizing kind of a thing. POCK: All right. The last slide here is on our fund transfers. Transfers aren't specifically or officially budgeted; however, we don't count them because we don't want to double count the transfer from one fund to another and then the expenditure. But they are included in the schedules that you received in your packets. I did want to go over these first three because as far as the Environmental Fund and the Facilities Reserve Fund, the General Fund -- transfers from the General Fund are the sole resource or funding source for those two funds. So as long as we can agree that that's the minimum amount that gets transferred in, we can make those transfers at the beginning of the fiscal year and continue that. As far as the 4.2 million, that is the final amount from the ARPA funding that we had previously talked about moving into the Streets Fund, so -- I will say when the audit is complete in October or November, well probably come back. We'II have the excess revenues number at that point and we can make further decisions as far as the transfers. Yes? Page 20 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 21 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES FRIEDEL: David, a quick question. The 2.5 million General Fund contingency. could that at some point, if this Council decided. be moved to Streets? POCK: Absolutely. FRIEDEL: Thank you. POCK: I should've changed slides. Can you ask your question again? Sony. Okay. MAYOR DICKEY: I have a question for Aaron. Is this the special meeting already? Should I have recessed, or do we start that after the Public Comments? ARNSON: No. I think we'll recess into that next, unless Linda disagrees with me and wants to slap my hand to correct me. MENDENHALL: I agree with you. ARNSON: Good. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. MCMAHON: (Indiscernible). MAYOR DICKEY: No, not yet Okay. FRIEDEL: I do have a comment. I think it's really important to recognize David because with the debt ceiling agreement that was recently reached, they're clawing back any unused COVID money. So I think it was a very wise decision on your part to prepay POCK: Public Safety. FRIEDEL: -- Public Safety bills, because had we not done that. we would be giving back -- X amount of millions of dollars going back. So I want to recognize you for that decision. I think it was very, very wise and you just saved us. you know. close to $10 million in road funding, so thank you for that. MAYOR DICKEY: Yeah, that was one of the reasons we had to use it, right? Public Safety? POCK: Right. MAYOR DICKEY: Do we have speaker cards on this item? MENDENHALL: We don't have anyone in person that wanted to speak. We do have in your packet two people who wrote written comments. The first is J.P. Ward, who is for adopting the -- both resolutions for the budget. And then we have Cindy Couture, who is Page 21 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 22 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES in favor of approving the budget for the COLA. And they're in your packet. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. So now, I'm going to recess the meeting. [Recess Regular Meeting] [Open Special Meeting] MAYOR DICKEY: And this is the special meeting. which hopefully the legislature's going to change this this year, so we're not doing this -- ARNSON: Someday. MAYOR DICKEY: -- for any other reason. Do we have any other comments or a question from Council? SKILLICORN: Actually. 1 have a question. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Director Pock, I actually heard last week that Maricopa County, the Board of Supervisors passed a budget where they're below the maximum budget cap. So were right at the budget cap, which is what? The $43,057,708, correct? So if I wanted to say let's do a budget at $43.060.000, that's not legal, right? We're at that actual maximum cap. POCK: Correct. SKILLICORN: Okay. POCK: Based on the exclusions that we're anticipating. SKILLICORN: Okay. And I just want to point out for Council, it seems like Maricopa County found a way to spend less than the cap. and that's again something I urge us to do, is spend less than the cap. POCK: Madam Mayor, Council. 1 will say we have never spent up to the cap. We have budgeted up to the cap, never even come close to reaching it, so -- MCMAHON: I'll make a motion. I move to adopt Resolution 2023-15, approving the Final Budget for the fiscal year 2024; adopt Resolution 23-16, approving the Budget Implementation Policy. organizational charts, pay plans. schedule of authorized positions, updated employee job descriptions, comprehensive fee schedule for the fiscal year 2024, and reconvene into the regular meeting. Page 22 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 13 o/ 78 JUNE 6, 2013 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: That was a mouthful. GRZYBOWSKI: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Are there any other discussion items? All those in favor -- we will do a roll call, please. MCMAHON: Thanks. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? SKILLICORN: No. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. So closing the hearing, closing the special meeting. [Close Special Meeting] MAYOR DICKEY: Starting the regular meeting again. [Reconvene Regular Meeting] MAYOR DICKEY: And well move on. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, David. So our next item is the rezone of the -- from R-3 -- well, we know what this is. So we'll just move on. Thank you. TAVASSOLI: Okay. Thank you and good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the Council and the public. Page 23 or 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 24 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Well, what you have before you is a rezone request for a 6.3-acre subject property rezoning from R I-10 single-family residential to RI-4, and also from an R-3 -- or also from an R-4 single-family residential to an R-3. I'm going to keep my comments, my introduction to this case brief, as the applicant has prepared a presentation as well, but just to clarify for the benefit of the public as well as the councilmembers, the subject property pertains to an independent stand-alone piece that is currently zoned R-4, as well as a portion of a 6.3-acre property on which on the west side there's the -- it's the -- you'll see the Trinity Lutheran Church. The eastern half for about 3.1 acres is vacant. The northern portion is the portion that's zoned R 1-10 and currently the southern portion is zoned R 1-4. And you can see the neighboring zoning in and around the area is also single-family residential with RI-10 to the east -- or I beg your pardon, the west, and R I-8 to the north. And to the south is the Four Peaks residential condominiums. And once again. the applicant is proposing a uniform zoning for the 6.3-acre piece to RI-3. This is really just a summary of the rezone request. As I mentioned, 3.1 acres is proposed for a rezoning from RI-10 to R-3 and 3.2 acres is proposed from RI-4 to R3. The planned use. as you'll see in the following slide. the tentative development plan in the following slide, is a proposal for an 80-unit multifamily development consisting of four buildings. Each building will be three stories with tuck -under garages, including a combination of garage and surface parking and two vehicular access points from Mountainside Drive. The applicant has included a tentative development plan. 1 will let the applicant go to greater detail as to what has been done to minimize some of the visual impacts that has been a lot of concern for the neighboring Lost Hills development to the north, but again, consisting of four buildings, three stories each with tuck -under garages and some landscaped open space. So as for the recommendation, staff and the Commission recommend approval of the rezone with the stipulations. the eight stipulations that you have before you. As listed in the ordinance, 1 do want to make one point of correction. The staff report mentions that the Commission recommended approval by a vote of four to two. That number is actually five to two in favor of. And with that, 1 do want to acknowledge that last week, staff received a petition Page 24 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 25 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES of protest in an effort to require at least a three-quarters supermajority vote from the Town Council in order for this rezone request to pass. There are two methodologies that come into play here, one defined by the state statute about what requires a supermajority vote and also one defined by the town zoning ordinance. If we go by the state statute, it doesn't meet the criteria that would require a supermajority vote. However, if we go by the town as defined in the zoning ordinance, that does trigger the need for a supermajority vote. And we can get into a deeper discussion if we need to later on about which one should trump the other or which one should take precedence. With that, I'll conclude my comments and open it up to questions, if -- MAYOR DICKEY: Do we want to do questions now, or do you want to hear the presentation first? Why don't we have the developers come up and make the presentation. 1 think I'll -- should I open -- I'm going to open the hearing for now and then we'll take public comments after the presentation and then we'll discuss. And we can ask questions, of course. Thank you. MAEROWITZ: Good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor, and councilmembers. For your record. my name is Mike Maerowitz with the law firm of Snell & Wilmer at One East Washington Street in Phoenix. As a zoning attorney, any time I or my firm approaches a rezoning application. we do so with the idea that we are going to improve the status quo, and if were not going to improve the status quo, then we shouldn't file the rezoning application. And in this case, the decision was a very easy one. This is clearly a rezoning application that very much improves the status quo. And as you'll see as I go through my presentation. the developer of this project. my client, Mr. Cutler, already owns the south parcel that makes up half of this property, and that property under its existing zoning is permitted to he developed as a matter of right with 70 units. And that was certainly the plan for Mr. Cutler to develop that property until the north parcel became available. The issue with that development with 70 units on that property, because of its size. is that very much is an urban development project, where you have 70 units that are all studios and one -bedroom units and it is not Page 25 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 26 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES nearly as well of a design project that is sensitive to the surrounding neighbors in terms of protecting their views and it certainly is not consistent with the type of high quality development that you expect to see in Fountain Hills. And so when Mr. Cutler approached us and asked if we could help him with the rezoning application so that he could build a better development project with 80 units spread over both parcels, our answer was yes. That is exactly what rezoning is all about. That is a rezoning application that improves the status quo. The decision before the Council today is a choice between two options. The first option is the option to maintain the status quo, and the second option is the option to approve the rezoning application. And you'll see in my presentation exactly what those two options entail. The first option, to maintain the status quo and leave the existing zoning in place, will result in an urban development with 70 units just on that south parcel. It will be unable to protect the views of the adjacent neighbors on Mountainside Drive because there's not room to move the buildings down the hill, so they'll need to sit up the hill. It will have little open space and it can only have one driveway that will need to be located towards the south end of Mountainside Drive, so all the traffic from the 70 units will come in and out of that single driveway closer to the residences. The alternative, the option two, which would be to approve this rezoning application, results in a suburban development with 80 units over both parcels which are much larger units. Rather than studios and one -bedrooms. they can now be one - bedrooms, two -bedrooms and three -bedrooms, so, of course, is now targeting a different demographic. It will significantly increase the open space. It will be able to preserve the views of the neighboring homes because now we can drop the buildings down the hill and orient them in a way where now the neighbors can see right over the top of the buildings. And we can direct our traffic closer to Palisades and we can close off that southern driveway to emergencies only. and this way we're not having traffic that's going towards the homes. It's going over towards Palisades. There is a notion by some of those in opposition, and you may hear some of that tonight, that somehow if the Town Council were to deny this rezoning application, that my client would go away. And this is not a situation where my client is under contract to Page 26 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 27 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES purchase a property if the rezoning application is approved. He already owns the parcel to the south. And while he prefers to build the development that we view as being much better with 80 units, if the Town Council's decision today is that he should build the 70 units on the south parcel, that is certainly what he will build. So to go through my presentation, you can see -- we all know where the property is. It's located at the southeast corner of Mountainside Drive and Palisades Boulevard, and 1 know you'll know this area well and it, of course, slopes to the east. But it also follows a very common land use and zoning pattem, where at your corner of your major intersections, you have your commercial land uses with commercial zoning. Then as you move up the hill, you have multi -family residences. Directly to our east, we have the Four Peak condominiums, and then as you move past our property to the west. then again up the hill, past Mountainside Drive, you have your single-family homes. And so this property very much is part of that land use transition. where it sits in the pocket where you have multi -family residences that then provides a transition to your single-family homes. Here's a closer -up image of the property, and as Farhad explained, it's just over six acres in size and it's currently split into two parcels. -I here's a parcel to the south which is the R-4 piece and then there's a parcel to the north which is the RI-10 piece. You can't see it too well on this slide, but as I mentioned this property significantly slopes to the east. In fact, there is a 60-foot drop from Mountainside Drive down to the edge of our property to the east. That is a very significant drop. But one of the benefits of approving our rezoning application, again option two, is it allows us to design a development that utilizes that slope so we can move the buildings down that hill, tuck them into the hill, and then preserve the views of the neighboring homes that are on Mountainside Drive there. So again, as I mentioned. property to the south is zoned R-4. This is the piece that my client, Mr. Cutler, already owns. And you can see in that table that's at the top there, under the existing zoning, the Town of Fountain I fills zoning ordinance permits 70 units to be developed there as a matter of right And because it's a matter of right, that could be done without any public input. Without any approval from the Town Council, he could start building it. Page 27 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 28 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES But if he were to build that development, here's what it would look like. As 1 mentioned, it's a very urban project. You can see that the three buildings with the 70 units would all need to be located just on the south parcel. And there's a couple of reasons why this is really not a great development that certainly doesn't fit within the character of the community or the high quality development that you see in Fountain Hills. The first is, again, the size of the units. All these units need to be studios and one - bedrooms. This site plan shows 40 studios and 30 one -bedrooms. There's also minimal open space on this site plan. In terms of protecting the views, because of the site constraints, this property faces the buildings need to be pushed up right along Mountainside Drive and placed parallel to Mountainside Drive, which means that the neighbors that are just across the street on Mountainside Drive are looking right at a 30-foot tall building, which significantly impacts the views. The other thing, as 1 mentioned on the introduction, you can see because we don't have a lot of frontage along Mountainside Drive, we can only have the one entrance and it has to be located towards the south end of Mountainside Drive where you have the homes that are across from it. And so all the traffic from the 70 units now needs to be directed towards these homes, rather than towards Palisades. This site plan that you see in front of you, this represents the status quo. This is the option that if the rezoning application is not approved today, this is what will need to be built here. So instead, the reason why we're here is to propose a much better development. And that's through a rezoning application that would allow us to develop a project that incorporates this property to the north. And by doing this. we've now been able to double the size of the property from just over three acres to just over six acres. and were proposing to develop it with 80 units, so doubling the size of the property for only ten additional units. And if you do that. that allows us to develop this project. And this is a project with four buildings, 80 units spread out over both parcels, and you can see that it is far superior to the development of just developing that parcel to the south for a number of reasons. Page 28 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 29 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES The first is the quality of the units. These are much larger units that are a mix of one -bedrooms, two -bedrooms, and three -bedrooms, so again targets a different demographic than the property -- or the development that would be by right to the south. It also has significantly more open space. You can see at the table there that the open space for this development is 66 percent. That is by far and away the most open space that I have ever been a part of in a rezoning case for any development anywhere. And that says something about this development. The other thing is preserving views. One of the problems with developing just that south parcel. as I mentioned. is that you have the buildings really close to Mountainside Drive. So you have a 30-foot building that is blocking the neighbors' views. Ifere were able to orient and angle the buildings away from Mountainside Drive, move them down the hill so that now the neighbors' views are protected. And then with respect to traffic, you can see that now we're able to provide a second driveway and have it -- that's located further north. right along Palisades. And what we are proposing to do is to close off that southern driveway. so it can only be used now for emergencies and for solid waste collection, and you'll see that in the stipulations that are in your staff report, which I'll cover in a minute here. And this way. our only entrance and exit for the residents will be through that northern driveway. which is now directing all the traffic towards Palisades, away from the homes that are to the south there. To give you a sense of a visual of what this project will look like and how it is a superior development from the status quo and leaving the existing zoning in place, we had these 3D site line renderings prepared. And these 3D site line renderings prepared show, in particular, how it is that we are protecting the neighbors' views. And so this particular rendering that's on the screen here, this was taken with flying a drone over the property and it shows a site line perspective if you're five feet tall, standing right at the property with the home that's located right on Ponderosa and Mountainside Drive. And this image is looking at the south parcel, the one that's currently zoned R-4 today. And you can see on the righthand side of your screen is Building I and then on the lefthand side of your screen is Building 2. And you can see that because of the way that we've been able to orient these buildings. because we can Page 29 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 30 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES now spread it out and drop it down the hill. the neighbors can see right over the top of the buildings, which is significantly protecting their views. compared to having a building that's right up against Mountainside blocking your views. This next one is that same perspective, if you're standing right on that property, but instead now you're turning your head a little bit to the right looking at the Four Peaks condominiums. and that building that you see there is Building number I there. And you can that again, you can see right over the top of the building, but the other thing that you see is that the way that this project is able to design with this rezoning application, is that it is actually shorter in height than some of the Four Peaks condominiums buildings that are located behind us. And so this is a lot of the effort that we've put into it to make sure that were preserving the views and again is one of the benefits of choosing the option to approve the rezoning case. This last 3D site line rendering is looking at the parcel to the north, and this would be if you were standing right in front of the home that is located at Tumbleweed Drive and Mountainside Drive if you're five feet tall. And so you can see to the righthand side of your screen there, that is a portion of Building 2, and then on the lefthand side of your screen is Building number 3. We of course have a Building 4. but you can't see that building because it's pushed so far down the hill that ifs actually hidden by Building 3. As I mentioned, this has a significant slope and this development project is able to use that slope to design a development that now respects the neighboring views and you can see how we've done that here. You can see right over the top of the building. This design and this development that you see in these renderings is only possible if you approve the rezoning application. If you have the status quo, that remains in place and you leave the existing zoning, this development here cannot be done. But a better design and one that you're seeing here is not the only benefit of approving this rezoning application. Approving this rezoning application also includes stipulations that are in a sense concessions in exchange for approving the rezoning application that do a number of things. They first ensure that the development that is being developed is consistent with what we've shown in that site plan and in those renderings, but also they provide solutions to some of the existing safety concerns that we heard in the area and in Page 30 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 31 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES particular, the safety concerns at the intersection of Palisades and Mountainside Drive. And so you saw all these stipulations in your staff report. These would be approved alongside the rezoning application if that was the Town Councils decision, and I'll just go through them very, very briefly. So stipulation number I requires the development to be in general conformance with the site plan that we've included in our application. and you'll see subsets A through E point to specific design features that need to be complied with, such as the orientation of the buildings away from Mountainside Drive and how far they arc from Mountainside Drive. Stipulation number 2 requires the development to be in general conformance with the elevations that we've provided, and then subsections A through C point to specific design features that need to be complied with. including one specific feature that there can't be any mechanical equipment on the rooftop, and that's in order to keep that flat roof You saw on these 3D renderings that there's no mechanical equipment on top of those roofs, and the reason that we've done that is because we want to be respectful of the neighboring property owners' views so they can continue to see over them, and this stipulation requires that. Stipulation 3 requires the development to provide a minimum of 60 percent open space, 4 limits the maximum number of dwelling units on the entire property to 80. and then stipulation number 5, 6, 7, 8 are examples of how this development can be a solution to some of the existing problems. So 5 requires our gated entrance or that southern driveway to be restricted to emergencies only and solid waste collection so we don't have residents that have traffic directed towards the homes that are further down Mountainside. Stipulation 6 addresses parking on Mountainside Drive by requiring the developer to work with the Town Engineer on improvements such as no parking signs or striping to prevent parking on Mountainside. Stipulation 7 requires the developer to enforce no parking restrictions on Mountainside Drive, which would be in the form of the lease with the residents so they wouldn't be permitted to park on Mountainside Drive. And then Stipulation 8 requires the improvements to the intersection at Page 31 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 32 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Mountainside Drive and Palisades. And I want to cover that because one of the things that we heard a lot throughout this process and one of the concerns was that this intersection is currently a dangerous condition, that it can be very dangerous to make that left there and there's traffic on Palisades. And so that stipulation, Stipulation number 8, requires us to install improvements to address that condition, and here is an exhibit that -- our development team and the Town Engineer worked together in order to develop this exhibit. And essentially what it does is from our northern driveway to Palisades, it converts Mountainside Drive into three lanes. So now the easternmost lane will be a dedicated right turn lane, so that if you're looking to go southbound on Palisades you have your own dedicated right turn lane to do that. The middle lane there will be a dedicated left turn lane and so that way if you're looking to make a left, you're not blocking those that are just wanting to make a right. And currently one of the reasons why that intersection can be so dangerous is that you're competing with two ways of traffic. You have to compete with people that are traveling south down on Palisades and also traveling north. Another thing we're doing that you can see is that median there, we will be improving the median and creating a refuge lane. And so that way, you can now only compete with one way of traffic. You can make your lefthand turn, get into the refuge lane, and then make your way over and merging over into Palisades. And then the last one is. of course, the southbound lane. That's that westernmost lane and that's for people from Palisades turning into Mountainside Drive. And the very last feature I want to point out is, you can see that one of the concerns that we heard was if people are turning into our driveway that's nearer towards Palisades. will they be blocking cars that are making that turn into Mountainside Drive? And to address that what we've done is you can see we've created a dedicated left turn lane. so that if you're turning, making a left into the project, you can get into that lane. You're not blocking anyone so they can continue to go by you, and then turn into that project. These traffic improvements and all the other stipulations that I mentioned, all the other seven. they only exist in the option where this rezoning application is approved. If Page 32 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 33 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES the status quo remains and the property is built with the 70 units, which is allowed today, none of these stipulations apply. So these are additional benefits in the form of developer concessions to design a much better development that improves the status quo. One of the things that's important with any rezoning case is neighborhood outreach and there are several reasons why you do this. but first and foremost, it's so that you can hear the comments and concerns and work on designing a development that is ultimately a better fit for the community. And we certainly did that here, and there's been a tremendous amount of outreach on this project and this slide highlights that outreach. You can see on the lefthand chart there that throughout this process the outreach team on this project knocked on over 800 doors and they made contact with just over 400 homeowners. And each time that contact is made, they provide a full presentation and the meeting has lasted on average just over 40 minutes. So when you take 40 minutes and multiply that out over nearly 400 homes, that is a tremendous amount of hours that has been spent on this development project, but we viewed it as a very important piece to make sure that we are improving the status quo and respecting the concerns of all the neighbors in the area. And then the righthand side of screen highlights the results of the outreach from our outreach team. You can see that we received 77 letters of support. Those were residents that met with the outreach team and after hearing the presentation and having their questions answered, signed a letter of support and those were included in the case file. We also had 65 that expressed verbal support, but for one reason or another did not want to include a letter of support that would be made part of the public record. And then we had a very large contingent that was the neutral component. There was 155 that expressed to us they didn't have questions, they didn't have concerns, they were neither supportive or neither opposed, and that made up a very big part of it. But of course, and you can see in the red there, our outreach team certainly ran into opposition. In fact. there were 63 of them that after the presentation was made. they told us that they were opposed to the project. But our outreach team doesn't just hear that someone is opposed and then leave. What they do is they listen to the concerns of all those who are opposed, and we do that because as I mentioned that is what allows us to design a much better development. And Page 33 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 34 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES in fact, that is where all these stipulations came from. They came from hearing the concerns of the neighbors about traffic further down Mountainside Drive, about views, about safety at the intersection. And this is why the stipulations were negotiated with staff and proposed to staff as a way to address those concerns. The outreach wasn't just solely with the neighbors. We also presented this application to the Fountain }fills Chamber of Commerce and you can see that there was a support letter. The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce's Board unanimously voted to support the project and included a support letter that we provided in the case file and this is just a copy of that support letter, in which they indicate that this will be a better designed development as a result of the rezoning change and then also on a broader level will benefit the Town of Fountain Hills. Beyond that, we also have support as I had mentioned from your Planning Department, as well as your Planning Commission, and these are significant. And before I conclude, I really want to emphasize the Planning Commission's recommendation because they spent a lot of time reviewing this application. In fact. we had two public hearings in front of the Planning Commission. Each one lasted over two hours. And I'll be honest, the first time that we presented this case to the Planning Commission. they were not ready to approve it. They had some questions and concerns about the design of the project and asked us to go back and work on ways that we could design the project in a way that they could support. And we certainly did that. We changed the orientation of the buildings. We dropped them down further for the buildings to the north so that we could preserve the views of the home. And ultimately, as Farhad mentioned, the Planning Commission recommended approval by a 5 to 2 vote. And your Planning Department did the exact same thing. Staff has spent a lot of time with us to review this application and they have also recommended approval. So ultimately, as 1 said in the introduction, the decision today before the Council is a choice between the two options. It's a choice to leave the status quo in place, which means a more urban development with 70 units on the south parcel that can be built with studios and one -bedrooms that will block the views of the neighbors because there's no Page 34 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 35 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES way to orient them and move them further down the hill because there's simply not room. It will mean more traffic that's further down Mountainside Drive because we can only have that one driveway to the south there and it's less open space. Whereas as the option, option two that is in front of the Council, the rezoning application as you saw in the presentation addresses those things. It results in preserving the neighbors' views. It's a suburban project now with much larger units. a mix of one - bedroom. two -bedrooms, and three -bedrooms. And on top of that much better design, it also includes improvement to issues today like to that intersection that are legitimate safety concerns. And so that's what's in front of the Town Council today. For us. it was a very easy decision, and 1 hope it is as well for the Town Council. So with that, we respectfully request your approval of this rezoning application, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we want to have questions or do you want to hear from the public first? (Indiscernible) go to speaker cards? Unless you have a specific -- okay, thank you. Let's start with that. MENDENHALL: Okay. Speaker cards -- MAYOR DICKEY: Want to do the on deck again. or -- KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah, the speaker cards. MENDENHALL: Okay. I just noticed someone was coming up to speak. Is he one of the applicants or the owner? MAYOR DICKEY: Are we ready for a public comment? Are you guys ready? Okay. Well, let's do that. MENDENHALL: All right. So we're going to start first with the written comments in your packet 9D. We have one from ['aryl Palles and I'm probably saying it wrong, but she's not here. But she's against it and she wrote a long statement of why she's against it. We have Linda Farra. doesn't wish to speak, but is commenting in writing that she's against it. Renee and Dennis Martyka. Hopefully, I said that right. They're commenting in Page 35 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 36 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES writing that they're against the project. Dusty Harwell is commenting in writing that he's against the project and if passed there will be a referendum, just letting people know. And then we have the people who are here who would like to speak. And we're going to do the same thing as we did before, so first is Gretchen Boyer and then on deck is David Boyer. BOYER: Mayor Dickey, members of the Council. First. 1'd like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to state our case. The attorney for the developer -- MAYOR DICKEY: Speak louder, please. They said they can't hear you. BOYER: Oh. The attorney for the developer does an excellent job at stating his case. But his case is not our case. And I'm going to start with what's most important to me as a fairly new resident of Fountain Hills and were about three -and -a -half years into living here. And when we chose to come here, we chose because of what's important to this community, having our natural resources close at hand. having bobcats visit us and the animals and the natural environment. When we bought our property. and we are the home right across from that south driveway that's going to get all of the about 160 vehicles if there's two, three, four - bedroom apartments there. the lights into our backyard which will basically eliminate our dark city status which we dearly enjoy. We bought the home based on the fact that it was zoned residential. Three and a quarter acres about, average home a third acre, maybe. Three times three. nine homes versus 80 units. A big difference. Would you like to have those units behind you? Or across the street from where you live? And they're rental. They're not even condos. They're rental. That means we're going to have a continuous flow of new people in and out of those apartments. I just find it unacceptable and we made a huge investment. We've made that home to our liking to meet our needs. We plan on living there until the day we die or get moved out to go to a nursing care center. And the developer wants you to change it to develop it. Let's remember, what do developers do? They're a business. They want to make money. you know? They aren't doing this out of any altruistic manner. They want to Page 36 o7 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 37 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES make money. I want to live a healthy lifestyle that all of my neighbors have wanted when they purchased the land. I -- MAYOR DICKEY: (Indiscernible). BOYER: That's it? MAYOR DICKEY: Yes. BOYER: Oh. sorry. Thank you. MENDENHALL: And then next on deck is Liz Gildersleeve. BOYER: (Indiscernible). MENDENHALL: After you. You're up and then Liz, Dave. BOYER: Oh, I'm up now? MENDENHALL: Yes. BOYER: Oh, thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. I've had an opportunity to meet quite a few of you through this process of this zoning issue and my approach today will be a little bit different than maybe some. I did a little research on this company, Senderos. They have another development, by the way, in South Mountain and on Yelp I discovered quite a few reviews of those living conditions in that particular development and they're not very positive. So I do want to share those with you because they could extend into ours here as well. Again, 1 have a couple 1 want to read specifically. One said here, I had so many issues with this place from day one. My AC didn't work on the move -in date. 1 could not even stay there for two days. I didn't get any compensation or updates. I had to keep calling. The front gate was broken. I called the emergency number to try to get some results and nobody answered on Saturday and it continued with the same situation on Monday, no return calls. I had no cold water in the master shower. They came and fixed it, and then I had no hot water. I'm not going to again attest to the quality of the plumbing situation here, but it wasn't resolved. She says here, the dishwasher needs both the hot and cold water. It went on for over seven days. 1 have to constantly reach out for updates on services and air filters. Page 37 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 38 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES 'Ibis place is amazing to move here. And that was, of course, derogatory. Another person, her name is Tracy (ph.), and she responded she works for this company, basically offering an apology but didn't look like too many physical results. One individual said the issues from the neighbors in this complex are negligible at this point. However, they have had my previous extremely detailed review removed by the way from the site. And I'm not going to go into the neighborhood. They had some issues with police. et cetera. which may not be relative to here. But what was disappointing, she had a neighbor throw things such as feces and other types of things on her door. She called maintenance and they came out. On the back side of the apartment there were a hunch of, you know. animal -type of diaper pads and stuff like that and she asked them to clean up and they said there's not an issue. So there was no response to that. So these are just a couple of examples of the management mentality and the process with this corporation. 1 hope we don't see it here. I'd prefer them maybe to develop 40 to 45 units on the top of that hill. Why is it mandated they have to go 70? I know money's involved. I'd love to see them develop probably ten units of residential homes right across the street from us. All that traffic, 160 cars plus guests will come out directly at our bedroom window as they depart towards the intersection. And the last point on the intersection, if they believe some striping is going to solve that problem they're badly mistaken, because when we leave there we follow that pattern anyway. You have no choice. You have a right, you've got a left, and you have an egress right of the lefthand turn coming off of Palisades. We practice this now and it's extremely dangerous. Hopefully, 1 didn't -- 1 did pretty good, didn't I? Anyway. thank you for your time -- MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. BOYER: -- and again, consider the long-term results of this. Thank you. GILDERSLEEVE: Good evening. Liz Gildersleeve, Fountain Ilills resident and Page 38 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 39 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES registered voter. I am here tonight to ask this entire Council to honor the single-family zoning promised to residents on the church parcel at Mountainside and Palisades as it's been for decades. Changing it now in an established neighborhood would really be unconscionable. We've watched for six months as this developer has pulled out all the stops. They've met and lobbied with some of you privately. The developer has also visited all the businesses in our area and other outlying properties, trying to drum up support for their rezone request when they realized they weren't going to get that support from the homeowners in Lost Hills who would be directly impacted by the increased density and traffic, especially on Mountainside where you once lived, Mayor Dickey. History shows that when you were a councilmember years ago and increased traffic would've directly impacted your home, you voted against allowing vehicle access to the Fountain Hills Boulevard condos and apartments that butt up to Mountainside. I Iopefully, you can still emphasize with your former neighborhood tonight. And 1 understand that two of the five businesses who submitted support letters for the rezone have already withdrawn their support, as one of the businesses said that they were misled by this developer. Being the great neighbor they claimed they'd be, this developer has repeatedly threatened the Lost Hills neighborhood, just like they did a few minutes ago, they could still build 70 units on the small parcel they currently own which is adjacent to the church parcel, even though the original MCO listing for the sale of this parcel two years ago and which the developer apparently responded to touted a maximum of 30 units. Given the terrain, the washes, and our own building codes and height restrictions, 70 seems unlikely. And make no mistake, we will be monitoring our Development Services staff very closely on this, should this 70-unit fantasy ever break ground. Bottom line, this developer wouldn't be making such an effort to bamboozle our town if they knew they needed that church parcel to make their project profitable. Put residents first, as most of you campaigned that you would. We expect you to uphold the current single-family zoning promise to residents and vote no tonight on this rezone request. Page 39 078 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 40 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Thank you. [Applause] MAYOR DICKEY: Stop that. please. No applause and I appreciate if you would be civil when you talk. Some people are here, they make a living -- they're here. They are developers and they're presenting their case and now you're presenting yours. and let's be civil about it and not say some people are threatening or doing anything like that. That's not what's happening. It's a request and were hearing it. Who's next, please? MENDENHALL: Next, we have Doreen DeLucia and then on deck is Joe DeLucia. Hopefully, I said your name correctly. DELUCIA: Good evening. As you know, 1 live on the comer of Mountainside and Tumbleweed. We are directly across the street from the church property. This is very -- people say don't let your emotions get in this. But it is emotional. It's emotional because when we purchased our home 24 years ago, we purchased that our neighborhood was going to be what it was sold to us. R-10 is across the street. We've always known that up the hill there was a lot that was for sale. We've always known that it was R-4, but we have always known that it could be built up to 20. 30 units. Now, he says by right. and by right when you compute a piece of property that's flat, that's 3.2 acres, without so many restrictions they might be able to put 70 units. By right. that lot across the street from our house needs to stay R-I0. By right, that is what the town was promising us and our neighborhood when we bought into this neighborhood. It shouldn't be at the expense of our neighborhood for a developer who purchased a piece of property that he knew what he was up against; the hill, the 60-foot incline. the decline. the drainage. the wash. and all of the requirements that the Town of Fountain Hills has above and beyond Maricopa County. Fountain Hills is a special place and we all bought here as a choice. We all moved here as a choice. We all can choose to live wherever we want. And the Town of Fountain Hills is a different place. If we wanted to have the hustle and bustle and the density and the traffic. we would choose to live somewhere else other than Fountain Hills. We could live in Scottsdale where there's all the hustle and bustle. We have to Page 40 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 41 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES honor what it is that the town was supposed to be. We have to honor the residents that bought in the neighborhood and in this town. We have to keep the zoning what it is. You all bought here. You all moved here for a specific reason and it's to enjoy what Fountain Hills has to offer; a small town, the views, and we just have to remember and respect the residents, the town, and what we're supposed to be. Thank you. DELUCIA: Good evening, Mayor Dickey and Vice Mayor McMahon and Town Council. My name's Joe DeLucia. I agree with everything that my wife just said. as I should. But you know, I moved out here in 1977, okay? So I've been living out here a very long time and I've seen this town grow. And 1 love it, okay? I'm not saying that I'm not pro -growth, okay? We just want the town to keep the promise that you guys made to the people. Okay? Keep the zone the way it is and let these guys figure out what they can do. Do they have engineering on that property yet to know that they can put 70 units? I don't know. Did anyone ask that of the town? I'm not sure. Okay? So I don't know where they're thinking that they can do that. I'm opposed to this and I'm a little nervous right now, so 1 think that's all I'm going to say. MENDENHALL: Next, we have Linda Kavanagh and on deck Gale Evans. KAVANAGH: Good evening. I'm Linda Kavanagh. I've been a resident of Fountain Hills for 30 years. Mayor, Vice Mayor. and Council, you've had a lot of information thrown at you over the last few months. So has the neighbors and so have many of the local stores concerning this development. Sometimes it gets confusing. You've heard the expression, to muddy the waters? That's defined as to confuse or obscure a situation by introducing irrelevant facts or irrelevant information. So for my three minutes, I'd just like to lay out some of the facts, including the irrelevant ones. The developer bought a piece of property that was multi -family, that on a real estate listing it clearly stated that possibly 30 units could be built there. Now, we all know that at times real estate agents have a tendency to exaggerate in Page 41 of 76 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 42 of 78 JUNE 8, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES order to sell a property. How many of us have ever met a real estate agent to under - exaggerate a property? It doesn't happen. So now we have the magic number of 30. The neighborhood wanted to confirm this in some way, so we contacted a former planner, one who planned a great deal of this town in the early days and is very familiar with the zoning regulations and the topography of that multi -family lot. We paid him nothing. He did this as a favor to the neighborhood. After looking at this multi -family lot, his conclusion was if the town abides by all of its own zoning regulations for the multi -family lot, he didn't even think that 30 was possible. Please remember that this developer went into this with his eyes open, knowing when he purchased it that he could possibly put 30 units on that lot. But he wants more. He wants 80. So how is he going to get 80? He knows the church lot is zoned residential and if he can change that to multi- family, then he can have 80. How does he do that? How is he going to convince the neighbors that this is better for them? How is he going to convince you that this zoning change from residential to multi -family is somehow in the best interests of Fountain Ilills? Ilow does he do it? At a private meeting with us and Councilwoman Brenda, the developer said he just wanted to make it nice for the neighbors, that's why he wants this other lot. He can spread it out and have a lot more open space. Otherwise, he said to us, he's going to cram 70 units onto his multi -family lot and it's going to look horrible. By the way, that's muddying the waters. All this has nothing to do with what he claims he can do on his multi -family lot. It has nothing to do with whether he can put 30, 70, or a hundred units crammed on that lot, which is going to be horrible. Because in the end, it's just about the rezone from residential to multi -family in our residential neighborhood. That's why the neighbors and many other people in other parts of town who fear that a rezoning here could mean a rezoning in their neighborhoods are asking you as representatives to support us and just say no. Thank you. EVANS: Hello, councilmembers and the Mayor, my name is Gale Evans. I live on Page 42 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 43 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Palisades, straight across from the development. As I look out the door every day. I see traffic going by. What bothers me more now, even tonight. is the fact that nobody has mentioned the entirety of residents, all single-family, from the corner of Fountain Hills Boulevard to the high school, okay? They're all lined up. We can't even get out of our driveways now. The headlights coming off of Mountainview are directly into my neighbors' and my house, directly into the bedrooms. Okay? That's bad enough, just as it is. But the traffic problem is right there at that corner, and if they are limiting it to one driveway coming out of that new development to Palisades, it's going to be a nightmare. It just is. because I've invited several people to come and sit one hour on the front porch of my lot and watch, and nobody has. Because the developers come in, they develop, they're gone. The builders come in. they get it done. Just like I Iavenly. They did it, they got almost 90 percent occupancy. They turned around and sold the whole thing. So now we've got new owners and we have new rules there. It's bad enough right there by the post office. All right, we're sitting across the street. Nobody has mentioned the people on Palisades. which is still single-family residences. And none of us, none of us, from all the way to the high school is for this. Nothing. That's basically all I have to say, because it really changed my mind from a lot of other things. But the traffic is insane, too, so it's going to be worse. especially with one driveway. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Okay. Next, we have Senator John Kavanagh and on deck, I can't read your last name, but it looks like Rick Sugg. KAVANAGH: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor and Council. And let me preface my remarks by saying like Joe. 1 agree with everything that my wife said, as I should. I am state senator John Kavanagh. My family lived here since 1993 in the Lost Hills neighborhood, about a block and a half from this development, and I also served six years on this Town Council until I was demoted to the legislature where I've been for the last 17 years. Page 43 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 44 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Zoning is a sacred trust. Zoning represents an agreement that defines and maintains the character of a community. Zoning is used by people to make the biggest investment of their life, the purchase of their home. They choose an area because that's what they like. It could be urban. It could be large rural lots. It could be somewhere in between. But you buy your lot because that's the way you want to spend your life. It's a big decision. And because of that. zoning is important because zoning also preserves the character of that community, so that the investment is the way that they made it to begin with. Zoning should only be changed for very important reasons and zoning should only be changed when there is overwhelming support for the change by the community. In this case, there is no overwhelming reason, important reason to change this zoning and this is not overwhelmingly supported by the community. This change is overwhelmingly opposed by the community. 1 have been in the legislature for 17 years. During that time, I have spent a lot of energy to protect zoning. I was one of the few senators to oppose the short-term rental fiasco, which overturns local zoning and allows people to have hotels in residential neighborhoods. Decentralized. spread out hotels. That's a violation of zoning and it had horrible consequences. More recently, for the last two years I've been battling an attempt by one senator to overturn local zoning and allow people to cram many, many more units into a residential zone or build very much taller buildings or apartments. So far, we've been able to fend off that fight. What I'm asking you here today is to join me in the fight to preserve local zoning by voting this down. Thank you. SUGG: Good evening. Madam Mayor, Councilmembers, my name is Rick Sugg and we are at - and 1 have served as a public servant. I did for almost 15 years as a planner and that was in northern Nevada. So I have a little bit of idea of what you're going through right now. Ifs not ever fun, but we are against this also. The Planning Commission asked for a traffic study, or the Planning and Zoning Commission. It was never done. When the developer came back, they brought a traffic Page 44 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 45 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES engineer who just came up and said you know. we drove the road and we looked at it. and walked off. They didn't -- we think this might be what it is, but there was no study. I agree with the senator a hundred percent. General and master plans are very important and I think they're sacred and there has to be an extraordinary event in your master plan in order to change zoning. So if you go back and read that, it will tell you that. Striping. Striping won't work at that intersection. Its going to have to be widened if this goes through and there should be like a right turn only exit out of that property if it does go through. Otherwise, everybody's going to turn left and distribute themselves through the neighborhoods. And if that happens, there needs to be traffic control in the neighborhoods. I know the senator doesn't support that, but I would -- I don't mind a speed bump right in front of my house. It's fine. Let me see. The pie charts were pretty. They brought in nice little maps with all these people that were supposedly in favor of this when they represented to the Planning Commission, or Planning and Zoning Commission. And ours was shown as neutral, and many other people were shown as neutral and in favor. And what we heard from the people those nights was that's not true: we are not in favor. So there has been misrepresentation. The Planning Commission did ask for a vertical curb along Mountainside to try to -- in an attempt to keep people from parking out there. That hasn't been discussed. And the other thing is, I just want to just go right back to how important it is to support the people of the community and the promises made by the master plan and the general plan. Thank you. MENDENHALL: Next, we have Betsy LaVoie and then on deck is April McCormick. LAVOIE: Good evening, Mayor and Council. For the record, Betsy LaVoie, Fountain Hills resident for 45 years and 1 represent the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce as the CEO and President. I represent the Board of Directors tonight. As the zoning attorney mentioned. the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors did offer a letter of support. Because we rarely do so and because it's difficult to obtain. 1 wanted to read it to you. Page 45 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 46 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES To Mayor and Council, the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors recently heard from Snell & Wilmer regarding rezoning application and following a comprehensive and thoughtful presentation, the Board engaged in a lengthy discussion about the project. Ultimately. the Board voted in favor of providing an official letter of support for the rezoning. The original rezoning -- I'm sorry, the original zoning was based on the idea that our town would achieve a population of 77,000. The proposed rezoning aligns with typical like for like rezoning with numerous multi -family complexes in close proximity to the project. The rendering presented to the Board would result in a more visually appealing final product and maintain the neighborhoods views. The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce believes that approving the rezoning application for Senderos at Fountain Hills would provide more housing and increase our community's population, which has remained stagnant for more than two decades. I'll just repeat that. Our population has remained stagnant for more than two decades. Our town's commercial vitality will not experience significant improvement without allowing our population to reach its full potential of 37.000 to 38,000, which is less than half of the population that original zoning was planned for. And I do just want to share -- our scope of work at the Chamber of Commerce is commerce, right? We are only going to offer a letter of support as it pertains to commerce. By advocating for the necessary zoning changes. we hope to contribute to creating an environment that allows our town to expand and thrive. The voice and perspective of our business community is crucial in demonstrating the positive impact that such growth can have on our community. And I just want to thank you for your consideration. Let's continue to foster the growth and development of our community and since your staff, your Planning and Zoning Commission, and your Chamber of Commerce have recommended approval, we hope you do, too. MCCORMICK: Hello, again. So I'm kind of in shock at what I've heard from the developer's lawyer this evening. Page 46 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 47 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES I was on a planning commission for a 500-square-mile county. My husband and 1 have been in commercial and residential construction for 30 years. We've built roads to state standards. (indiscernible) main sewer, graded golf courses, you name it. The way they're coming up with 70 lots is they're simply taking the number of acreage that they currently have. they're multiplying that by 43,560 square feet per acre, and then they're dividing the minimum lot size allowed under their current zoning. and that's how they're coming up with 70 units. 1 would bet a large amount of money they have not taken out the impervious surface spaces in their calculation, which are the parking lot, the roadways. and the sidewalks. Once you take out the square feet for all your impervious surface areas and your sensitive areas. drain buffers, what have you, it's probably what everyone else is saying. under 30 lots. The last gentleman that spoke, he was very on the money. How in the -- how has the traffic study not been required with this number of homes? It is beyond all comprehension. In fact, that traffic study should be done when the snowbirds come back. And that study will tell you exactly how many cars are going up and down Palisades every day, how many are going on Mountainside, and how many are cutting up through Tumbleweed down to Lost Hills and getting out that way, because that first Mountainside and Palisades intersection's horrible. My grandson is in Lost Hills. We moved to Lost Hills to be closer to him. I walk that area every single day with a baby in a stroller. Those intersections of Tumbleweed and Lost Hills -- it is a blind intersection. I'm scared every single day 1 have to turn left there. Mountainside is nothing but a wildlife preserve. I would bet a large amount of money that if they're required, which they should be, to do an environmental assessment, you'll find an endangered species there where they would not be allowed to do what they want to do. I think a traffic study would dictate and I've done traffic studies for an 882-lot subdivision and 27-hole golf course. A competent independent traffic study would dictate stoplights and a turning lane at both Mountainside and Palisades, and Lost Hills and Tumbleweed. period. So you need much more information. And you can demand a traffic study. This needs to be tabled. They need to produce an independent traffic study. Page 47 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 48 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES They need to do a phase one environmental assessment. They need to find out if they have any sensitive endangered species on that property, because I have to stop every day for a quail crossing. I mean, I was protecting a bunch of baby quail from even crossing with the stroller the other day (indiscernible) going to get hit by cars. There's coyotes (indiscernible) there's every wildlife you can imagine in that parcel. Thank you. MENDENHALL: And then next we have Barry Wolborsky and on deck is Crystal Cavanaugh. WOLBORSKY: Good evening, Council, Mayor. I'm Barry Wolborsky, as you all know, and 1 am the Chairman of the Lesser Fountain Hills Committee and as far as I know the only member. And 1 am delighted to hear that the population is not growing. That was the best news I've heard tonight. And Madam Mayor, you said that we shouldn't accuse them of threatening us. but when somebody says if you don't let us rezone were going to build this monstrosity instead, what would you call that? I would call it a threat. And you know, I've only lived in Fountain Hills for four years. but 1 think I've been an Arizona spirit my whole life, because I don't respond well to threats. Threats don't encourage me. They discourage me, and I think they ought to discourage everyone in this town. You know, my wife has a friend that says, if you could live anywhere in the world, anywhere you wanted to, what part of Fountain Hills would you live in? You know? 1 think that's true, you know? I love it here. 1 think this is as close to heaven as God lets us be on earth. And you know what? I don't think -- the one thing that they didn't talk about, the lawyer from Phoenix didn't talk about, was how many square feet on the one lot versus how many square feet on the other lot. I don't know, maybe he just forgot that. The other thing he didn't talk about is. what's the rent roll for 70 one -bedroom units or 70 studio units versus 80 multi -bedroom units? And I think that's probably what's driving this development. Page 48 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 49 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES I don't think that the developer is trying to make Fountain Hills a prettier town. I don't think that's the main goal of this development. nor should it be. The main goal of his development should be to make a profit for himself On the other hand, I don't think there's any reason, any driving reason, that this Council should change the rules that all the people in that neighborhood bought houses to believe in because somebody wants to make money. That's all 1 got. CAVANAUGH: Good evening, again. Most all has been said. I was at both the Planning and Zoning meetings and I was actually at the Town Council meeting where it was originally supposed to be presented and at that time, I made a lot of comments which were similar to tonight's and 1 haven't changed my mind. And it's clear that this rezoning would negatively impact this neighborhood and not just that neighborhood, the surrounding areas. We're not that big. I live in Sunridge Canyon. 1 drive by there every single day, every time. So it impacts more than just Lost Hills, but in particular those neighbors. But what I noticed tonight is that, just like in a courtroom -- and 1 got to tell you, I might get you as an attorney sometime because you are very good. It's not that you're not good. But I did notice from the earlier presentations. if you have a court case but then you have to go back to trial a different time, you learn from all the evidence you've heard. And in the early meetings. a lot of the residents were like. let's take our chances. Don't rezone this and let's just see. If they can't get 70, perhaps he won't build. If he cant get 50, perhaps he won't. I mean -- and he might still build, but they were ready to roll the dice. And I'm thinking the first thing they came out with tonight was, well, no matter what, we're building. And I too perceived it as a little bit of a threat because it was if you don't rezone. were going to give you this ugly. big, urban blight. Well, right away that contradicts all this good neighbor policy that I was hearing earlier. It shows me a little bit about the character. That we can -- can we trust the rest of the things that they said they would do? You know, blocking the pool and putting in this and putting in that. Page 49 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 50 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES So I'm against the rezone also for all the reasons listed. It could happen to any one of us. There's no good reason to rezone this. Thanks. MENDENHALL: That's it for public comment on this item. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you so much. I'm going to close the public hearing and then we can discuss. So any discussion. questions? Yes, Hannah? TOTH: I did -- MAEROWITZ: Mayor. if I may -- MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, I'm sorry. MAEROWITZ: -- could I have a rebuttal to the public comments? MAYOR DICKEY: Let us go first and then -- he can -- MAEROWITZ: We don't get a rebuttal. (Indiscernible). MAYOR DICKEY: Do you want me to recess? Well be here all night. You will have a chance. Let's just see what some of the Council has to say first. MAEROWITZ: Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. GRZYBOWSKI: Well. 1 actually am ready to make a motion. 1 do have some questions. Shall we start with my questions? MAYOR DICKEY: Sure. GRZYBOWSKI: Okay. I had made a note that I was going to start with John, but Farhad, since you're the one that did the presentation I'll start my questions with you. I think my questions are going to cover a lot of the notes that I made about -- as you guys were talking about complaints or confusion. I'm not sure, but I tried to make notes as you guys talked. My first question for you. Farhad, is what -- as the town employee, what can the applicant build on that southern lot that they already own? For example, what are the restrictions, the height restrictions, the number of units. and the setbacks, period? TAVASSOLI: Okay. Madam Mayor. Councilmember Grzybowski. As you mentioned, the property is zoned for multi -family, but single-family Page 50 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 51 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES would be allowed. as well as multi -family. A height limit of30 feet. A setback from Mountainside Drive required to be 30 or the height of the wall plane facing Mountainside, whichever's going to be greater. And I'm not entirely certain, 1 have to refer to the ordinance about the side setbacks, but as for the side facing the street, it's at least a 30-foot setback or the height of the wall plane. GRZYBOWSKI: Has the applicant in question submitted a site plan for the southern property and just the one lot? TAVASSOLI: Yes, they have submitted a tentative development plan should the rezoning not pass. GRZYBOWSKI: And it's probably 70 units? TAVASSOLI: They've shown 70 units and from a zoning standpoint only we did a cursory review and we've determined that it does have the potential for the 70 units that they are proposing should the rezone not pass. GRZYBOWSKI: It makes sense that they're not going to go to the extravagance that they did for this particular presentation for that just yet. TAVASSOLI: Right. GRLYBOWSKI: If the applicant were to go just the one lot, the southern property. is there a requirement for public hearings either through us or through our friends and P&Z? TAVASSOLI: The answer is no. GRZYBOW'SKI: So if the applicant builds their 70-unit, 30-feet tall buildings on Mountainside, is there any way to force them to agree to the stipulations that you guys listed in the staff report for us, like preserving the views and the traffic mitigation? TAVASSOLI: No. GRZYBOWSKI: Just to reiterate, the current property will hold 70 units. We've seen a drawing for it that looks tentatively like it's doable. They are requesting only an increase of ten units by combining the two properties. Technically as it's zoned now. there could be 13 units on the northern property. Granted, it's a steep slope. It would be a pain. It would probably be very expensive, but technically, as I understand it, can it be I3 units? TAVASSOLI: Only if topography was not a factor. But 1 must say. it would be unrealistic to fit 13 units on that. GRZYBOWSKI: I think I've heard five to seven is probably realistic, depending upon Page 51 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 52 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES what were going to sell -- the value of the home and the amount of money they want to put into it. One more question for you, I think. All right. 1 got to read what I wrote because 1 typed this as they were talking. Okay. So part of the traffic mitigation that 1 don't know -- that I thought we were doing that I don't know that I picked up on in the writing, on the corner of Mountainside and Palisades, specifically the southwest corner, I think I remember talking about we're going to work with them to cut back the land a little bit, so it's an easier view if you're on Mountainside to take a left onto Palisades? Or no? TAVASSOLI: I am not aware of that particular discussion about -- GRZYBOWSKI: Okay. I -- TAVASSOLI: —(indiscernible). GRZYBOWSKI: -- maybe that was a conversation that I told them was on my wish list. I'm not sure. Okay. So that's all the questions that I have for you. I'd like to have the developer come up, if 1 may. Am 1 allowed to do that? MAYOR DICKEY: Um -hum. GRZYBOWSKI: Okay. Please introduce yourself, since you haven't had a chance to come up yet. CUTLER: Yeah. Mayor Dickey. Councilmember Grzybowski, councilmembers, my name is Ron Cutler. I represent the development team for the proposed project for the rezoning. Whatever questions you have, were prepared to answer. GRZYBOWSKI: The first thing I want to do is thank you guys for contacting the entire Council and allowing us the opportunity to meet with you after the P&Z meetings, because there was great conversation that I saw on the recordings of the P&Z meetings, but it gave -- it actually led to other questions that were easier to address with you, as we did in our meetings that has been referred to as private council meetings. And 1 just wanted to say to everyone that it was not. 1 received -- we all received the same email from the company through our town email to suggest if you would like to meet with us, Page 52 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 53 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES let us know. And I actually planned this meeting with their assistant through Angela, through our assistant, so she worked on the details for us. So there was nothing private happening. We've already established that you own the southernmost property of the two properties on Mountainside. There are people that 1 have personally spoken with that are ready to call your bluff and yes, I said call your bluff. And that might be one of the reasons why Mike was so insistent when he started out, because I have said a number of times to you guys, call your bluff. I have used that term myself. So there are a number of people that are ready to call your bluff on building on the one piece of property that you own. If we vote no today on rezoning the other property. is your plan to go forward with the one lot? CUTLER: Councilmember, yes, that is definitely -- our plan is to develop -- we bought the property with the intent of developing it. We did our own analysis. We didn't rely on any MLS listings or realtor comments, but we did our own analysis of the lot and are fully prepared to develop the one lot with the 70 units as we proposed and submitted some preliminary plans to the Planning Department. The plan to add the additional land came later, where we approached the church and entered into an agreement with them to enhance our property by adding that additional land for the additional ten lots because it would spread out the proposed development, make the units larger and I think make it a better development for the community. But the answer is yes. GRZYBOWSKI: Okay. CUTLER: We will be moving forward it. GRZYBOWSKI: Okay. Continuing on that thought, let's say you lose today and we're going to work with what you've got. We have a fabulous list of stipulations that you and our Development Services Department have worked together. If we approve the zoning, you will do this list of stuff that we've already seen that we could probably pull back up again if the people wanted to see it. If you build on the one lot, will you do those things for us still? CUTLER: The answer to that, Councilmember, is no. We are limited by what we're able to do on that single lot and we wouldn't be able to abide by those stipulations. Page 53 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 54 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES GRZYBOWSKI: So back to just working with the one lot. the driveway for the one lot. There will be one driveway -- sorry, I must steal this hack from you. There will be one driveway and it looks like it's going to be in pretty much exactly the same spot that the southernmost driveway would be, if you got both lots, correct? CUTLER: Correct. GRZYBOWSKI: So as I understand Mike's presentation, the southern driveway -- if it's two lots, the southernmost driveway is intended to be for emergency use only. So as one lot with the driveway in the same spot, were talking in and out for everybody and the two lots, the in and out would be at the northernmost driveway -- and I point like you guys can see what I'm pointing at -- but the northernmost driveway with reserving the southernmost driveway for the emergency use. CUTLER: Correct. GRZYBOWSKI: How many properties have you personally developed in Fountain Hills? CUTLER: In Fountain Hills. I've been involved with the development of three properties. the largest of which was Thunder Ridge, which is Palisades and Avenue of the Fountains, 81 townhome-style condominiums that were built there between '99 and 2002 -- 2001. GRZYBOW'SKI: One other question before I make some comments. Somebody talked about reviews of another development that you built. So my question as a tenant of another apartment -- whatever you want to call it -- the Havenly -- you as the developer, do you develop and manage? Or is there another management organization? CUTLER: Councilmember, yeah, we do have a professional management company. I also heard the comments with respect to their Yelp reviews. I would point out also that our community. Senderos at South Mountain, has Google reviews as well. A significant number of Google reviews, and it's reviewed at a 4.7 out of 5 under the Google reviews. And I would encourage all the Councilmembers to look at all the reviews. the positive and the negative. 1 mean, every community will have negative reviews. It's actually a lot easier to find a negative review on anything online than it is a positive review, so the fact Page 54 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 55 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES that we have 4.7 on a Google review on average and if you look at the remarks and the comments on those reviews, 1 think it speaks to the efforts that we put forth in, you know, managing a really nice community. a well -managed community. GRZYBOWSKI: Those are all the questions I have of you. Like I say, I have some comments that 1 want to make. You want me to go ahead and do that now. or do you want me to hold off for other questions? MAYOR DICKEY: Does anybody have questions? FRIEDEL: 1 do. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Let's -- GRZYBOWSKI: And then I am ready to make a motion. MAYOR DICKEY: Okay. Hannah had her thing on before. TOTH: Thank you, Mayor. 1 did have -- most of my questions aligned with Sharron's, actually, so I'm kind of -- GRZYBOWSKI: Sorry. TOTH: No, no. that's a good thing. One question I had regarding the traffic mitigation, another concern that I had heard very, very often were the blind hills. And I say that as plural because I was -- full disclosure, 1 did some homework yesterday. After work, 1 went down Mountainside. 1 checked out the area. I went up the hill. 1 kind of like was holding my phone while 1 went up the hill, so 1 could see in video format. But you cannot see a car coming from the other side of the road when you're going up that blind hill, I mean, at all, either of those hills. And yes, there's a stop sign there, but during the half hour or so that 1 was actually outside looking at the road, I saw someone run that stop sign. So 1 know that it happens, because I watched it yesterday. My question is, is there anything with your traffic mitigation -- it looked to me as though it was focused on that Palisades, Mountainside intersection. So is there anything that I missed that deals with that issue? CUTLER: Yeah, I think I'll let Michael talk to that point specifically. He's more in tune with it. But I will say we have done -- there was talk about traffic studies. We actually have done traffic studies and traffic counts on both Mountainside and Palisades, so those were submitted to the town as well, so -- Page 55 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 56 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES I'll stay here. MAEROWITZ: Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember Toth. Thank you for the question and it's a very good one because that was a concern that throughout this process that we heard about the lack of visibility at that intersection, which is why our traffic engineer, who is also here, spent a lot of time working with the Town Engineer on designing what we can do to that intersection to make it better because it's certainly -- it's an existing problem now and it's one that exists now and will certainly be a problem if you have that 70-unit development. But we wanted to see if we could resolve it or be a solution to it with a stipulation. And so what we've done is, you can see that we converted that intersection into three lanes and then we've converted that median that's there. So right now, when you're making that left and you don't -- you have that lack of visibility, you have to look at both ways of traffic and find a way to make that left. What this median does -- and we're actually cutting into the median, it's not just striping, we're creating a lane there -- allow you to have that refuge. But as far as improving the visibility. we've talked about this a lot with Planning staff and we absolutely want to do that. The challenge that we have is that what's blocking the visibility is a retaining wall and most of it is actually located on town -owned property. And so with the permission of the town, we would absolutely be willing to do work to grade it down and make sure we improve that visibility. But we do need the permission of the town to do that. GRZYBOWSKI: Sorry-- TOTH: I - -GRZYBOWSKI: -- to interrupt, but that's actually what I was trying to talk about earlier that I just couldn't get out, so thank you for doing that. TOTH: So 1 apologize that I was the one that wasn't very clear in my question. 1 actually mean when I'm heading northbound on Mountainside, way before I'm at even the zone that we're talking about rezoning. So I even kind of mean the south parcel. When I'm approaching either of those two stop signs on my way to that north parcel, there's two blind hills and, I mean, I don't think I can show you the video on my phone. But on Mountainside as you're heading up north, those two hills, 1 can't see who's on the other side of that hill. Page 56 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 57 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES So that was more what I was referring to. I think you were still talking about the Palisades and Mountainside intersection. MABROWITZ: Mayor, Vice Mayor. Councilmember Toth. Yes, thank you. 1 understand your question now. I was referring to the intersection. That is also a concern that we heard. that as you're kind of towards our southern property, you know, this topography doesn't just slope to the east. It actually kind of has a -- you know, it's -- further down. it goes up and then comes back down again on that roadway. It's one of the reasons that the concern that we heard in particular was we at first had our primary entrance and exit as that southern driveway, and that is where you would face that concern the most because our residents that arc pulling in there, there's not a lot of visibility, particularly for other vehicles that are coming down Mountainside. And so restricting that to emergency only and for solid waste collection means that you won't have that traffic conflict, at least with our residents, because they won't be using that driveway. So I think that helps. As far as improving it, again it is city right of way and I'm not sure there's something we can do to flatten it out. but we have certainly mitigated that problem and made it a non -issue for our development by restricting that driveway. TOTH: Thank you so much and I have one more follow-up to that. So to be clear, that southern driveway would be emergency only, so we would have effectively only one driveway for residents and guests in that apartment building, save for an emergency circumstance? MAEROWITZ: Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember Toth. Yes. So when we initially submitted our application. the intent was to have both driveways. And in fact. at first we viewed that as a benefit, because you can have traffic go in and out of two driveways. But we heard over and over again as (indiscernible) things like what you had mentioned, the lack of visibility here. And we also very much heard residents on Mountainside not wanting vehicles near their home. Because if you use that driveway, because it's on a slope and as a vehicle is moving up that slope, their headlights would be shining into some of the homes there. And so hearing that concern, we thought it would Page 57 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 58 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES be better to limit that to emergency access only and for solid waste collection. And in fact, it's not just our word for it. That is one of the stipulations that is written in the staff report and if you were to approve this rezoning application would be a stipulation that attaches to the rezoning, so we'd be required to do that. Thank you. MAYOR DICKEY: Councilwoman? MCMAHON: Did you want to go first? MAYOR DICKEY: Oh, I'm sorry. FRIEDEL: That's all right. MCMAHON: Go ahead. FRIEDEL: Are you sure? A couple questions for the developer. You mentioned you had developed three other properties in Fountain Hills? CUTLER: Correct. FRIEDEL: Did any of those require a zoning change? CUTLER: Councilmember, the Thunder Ridge project was part of the Town Center, so there -- it wasn't a zoning change. It was a special use permit -- FRIEDEL: Okay. CUTLER: -- to allow the residential within the town's core. FRIEDEL: And the management company that manages your properties? CUTLER: The name of the company is MEB Management. FRIEDEL: Do they report to you, though? CUTLER: They report to me, correct. FRIEDEL: Okay. Thank you. Mayor. I have a statement here that I was asked to read by one of our businesses in town, so I'd like to read that. But I also want to make sure that people know in this room that I've never talked to this gentleman about this project at all. Why he's got my name in here is probably because 1 do frequent his establishment, so he probably knows me from there. So this was by Chris Heath from Sipps Eatery. He said he was approached by Senderos Development at his business establishment and he learned about the project and Page 58 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 59 or 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES what he learned. Subsequent to that, he was misrepresented and he asked me to make sure that I was -- that I would acknowledge his statement publicly and that went to all the Councilmembers, so that's why I'm doing that. So he felt that he was misled in his conversations with you folks. I also have major concerns about the traffic going onto Palisades. No matter what you do to that intersection, you can't improve the sight lines there, period. I know that because 1 go through that intersection probably a hundred times a month. My dad lives on Tumbleweed. I think this is a very simple, simple land use decision. Why do we want to change zoning for all those people that bought their properties there, knowing what that zoning was and being zoned that property all these years? I am not one that would be in favor of this change at this present time. I still believe that the traffic has not been dealt with properly and I don't think you can because coming down Palisades, sometimes it's like a raceway even though it's one of our zones. So again, I'm all for preserving the local zoning as it was mentioned before. And the people that came in here to talk tonight and also that sent emails, it was like 15 to 1 against this, so we have to listen to residents. 1 heard that mentioned here before tonight as well. So again -- so 1 have major concerns about sight lines on Palisades and again. this is a simple land use decision for me and I'm not in favor of it. Thank you. MCMAHON: Good evening, and thank you very much for your thorough presentation. 1 appreciate it. Another thing. too, is like Sharron mentioned. We've had a lot of developers come in and request various things before Planning and Zoning and also the Council. And I have to be honest with you. 1 have yet to have been invited to sit down and have a talk with the developer and his team prior to presenting before Council. And I must say that 1 really appreciate that because it provided a lot more information and education for me, in order to consider the rezoning request. So 1 appreciate that. And basically the same things that you expressed to me and to other councilmembers are what you're presenting tonight. Page 59 of78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 60 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES As for rezoning, this is what the Council does. We review and consider requests for rezoning different parcels of property in town. It is not unusual. In fact, it is the norm. We have also considered other rezoning requests from multi to single, from commercial to combination, et cetera. and we have granted most of those requests. 1 had the opportunity also and was invited along with Mayor Dickey to the neighbors' homes and listened to their considerations and I don't take them lightly. I haven't taken any of this lightly. However, I've also listened to the developer. The developer owns one of the lots and just like any of us who own a lot, if we want to build a home on it or whatever, we can do that by right. He can build by right. He's never changed and said that he wasn't going to build 70 units, regardless of what a realtor s piece of paper said. Based on other rezoning requests and development requests we've heard, I appreciate the significant changes that you made out of consideration for what you have heard from our community and the councilmembers. I really do. The very fact that you have spent the time and money having your buildings rezoned -- I mean, refigured if the Council approves the rezoning, I think was amazing. It's like night and day. I mean, you take from building a three or four-story building or two on a smaller lot that's going to block views and not be as aesthetically pleasing in the neighborhood as the proposal that you're putting forth. 1 mean. you have lowered the buildings. You've spread them out. You've mitigated the -- you put step by step lowering it, which I thought was amazing. I was really surprised you could do that. actually, but I'm not a developer. And in preserving the views. And even, you know, right there, there's Four Peaks condominiums. To me. they didn't take that into consideration for the neighborhood there. You've also added a pool. family amenities. You're treating it more as a family neighborhood unit versus plugging 70 units on one of your lots. No offense, 1 don't mean that negatively. I also appreciate the traffic mitigation that you have considered and are willing to do, because we have approved other condominiums and townhouses that have refused to do any type of traffic mitigation. For example. there is -- and this is no offense to the developer if he's in the audience. There's a townhouse being developed over across from Page 60 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 61 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES the Fountain Hills Hospital and McDonald's. That is a crazy busy intersection and making a lefthand turn -- and right there at the comer where he wants to build. making a lefthand turn is going to he almost impossible. There is no traffic mitigation consideration going into that. So I appreciate your significant changes. I also appreciate the fact that you've taken into consideration the topography and the natural habitat of the church lot and that you have designed the buildings to accommodate and recognize that and have less of an impact on that than might be otherwise by another developer. You know. Fountain Hills is growing. Like Betsy said from the Chamber. our population has stayed constant. There's a big housing demand and we need that. I also -- one of the things I thought about in considering the rezoning is the fact that if it's not granted -- if you think about this. that lot is zoned for single-family. But say that the 70 units are put on one lot and later on, the church sells that lot. There's no guarantee that that person who purchases that lot isn't going to be right here just like you, asking for a zoning change. Because they'll look at the neighborhood and they'll see there's 70 units right here. There's Four Peaks units. So why do I have to -- why should I stay and build single-family units when 1 can build an apartment building and make more money, et cetera? So my concern is looking forward to that, is that that is a concern of mine that it would make the neighborhood more choppy and more of a development of apartment units. multi -family, that would not fit into the neighborhood. So for all those reasons. I -- and per all the questions that Sharron asked and Councilmember Toth did. I'm for this zoning change. 1 don't think it's an unusual request and I think that given what I've seen from your prospective building that it does fit within the neighborhood and that it would -- and 1 do think that the traffic will be mitigated the best that it possibly can be because that street is that street. So thank you very much. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Councilman? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would actually, if it's allowed, I have a question for staff? Yeah. Page 61 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 62 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Now. this development, the plans here. are they going to be codified into the zoning if this is approved? So really the question is, are they limited to 80 if this zoning change is approved today? Or is it 140 units? TAVASSOLI: Madam Mayor, Councilmember Skillicorn. Yes, the stipulation includes a maximum number of 80 units, as well as a number of other stipulations, so -- SKILLICORN: Okay. And then I'm kind of curious — TAVASSOLI: -- (indiscernible) codified in the ordinance, should it be approved. SKILLICORN: Thank you. TAVASSOLI: Yeah. SKILLICORN: And Madam Mayor. and actually maybe the developer, what is the square footage? I see one -bedroom, two -bedroom, and three -bedroom. What is the square footage on those three models? MAEROWITZ: Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember Skillicorn. So in the development that's being proposed, if the rezoning application were approved, it's a mix between one -bedrooms, two -bedrooms, and three -bedrooms and the square footage of those units. and I'm actually going -- so 1 get it correct. I'm going to turn to my sheet -- is for the one -bedrooms it's between 700 and 800 square feet, and then for the two -bedrooms 930 to 1250 square feet, and then the three -bedrooms 1300 to 1400 square feet. Whereas in the studios and one -bedrooms in the other site plan that we had submitted for just the south parcel, those are 500 and 600 square feet. SKILLICORN: Thank you. And just. you know, my comments on this, I've walked up and down the street. 1 have walked the property. Back in the spring when we had some rain, 1 was trying to monitor how much runoff water was in the wash there. Actually, I know that the Town Planner and I've talked a little bit about the -- you know, if there was a tension there and how the -- you know, actually where the water went. I have some concerns because of the geography of those two lots. It's very steep. You know, you can't even really walk down to the bottom of the wash. It's very hard to develop. I think it would be very challenging if the one lot, the southern lot that's zoned high density to be developed to the degree that this proposal is. I just think it would be Page 62 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 63 or 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES very difficult to do that and still comply to code. You know, we still have rules on retaining walls. We still have rules on, you know, how much -- you know, dirt you can move. I just don't see that working. So I'm very concerned about that. Even when I see the two together, there's a lot of rooftops. There's a lot of sidewalks. There's a lot of road there. That is all, you know, water runoff that, you know. we have to deal with and I just see that being an issue and I just see that that's not going to work so well. So I have very much concerns. And then we get into the actual structural issues of zoning. I do look at zoning as a promise. I don't like to willy-nilly change zoning rules. I have a very specific test that I would ask to change zoning rules and this doesn't meet it. And frankly, if 1 was going to change zoning rules, I would rather have the high density lot, a single-family lot. And if I made a motion now to do that and it was approved, I'm sure that the owners of that lot would sue us because that's not something that's the way you work. So why would I willy-nilly change the single-family lot to high density? I can't do that. So I'm going to -- I'm curious what the motion's going to be. But I'm not going to support changing zoning on this because zoning's a promise. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, Ms. Mayor. I think we earned our monthly pay tonight because this is a really tough one. This has been the most difficult decision I've made since being seated on Council. It was suggested earlier by state senator that we don't change zoning laws unless a compelling reason. I think that's sound. I'm not sure the developers address it from that angle, about a compelling reasons. I think the person that made the best case for that was Betsy LaVoie from the Chamber. When you say that this town hasn't grown for 20 years -- you know, Lou Holtz said if you ain't growing, you're dying. That bothers me. Sony, Barry. We've got to grow. We've got to get up to that population density level where we can sustain businesses, and projects like this, 1 think, have a lot of merit. I like their sight lines. And the one thing 1'd like to say, too. is that 1 went to the neighborhood residents and 1 went to their home and we discussed this with them, and then I did discuss this with the developers, too. And any of this -- notions about people aren't acting in good faith and people are trying to do something untoward really bothers Page 63 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 64 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES me. They're trying to put a really good development here. They've taken an extraordinary amount of time to try to get everything right. And, of course. the people that live in the neighborhood. You know, I get it. They've been there a long time and they said we didn't envision multi -family housing being built next to our home. And so there's no way that we're all going to go away happy and content tonight. But we have to apply logic and we have to apply reason to come up with a good decision so we can at least walk away saying a good decision was made tonight. Again, you look at the sight lines. I like the parking, the street access with the merge lanes. I think that's a wonderful idea. I think the aesthetics of this project are so much better than just developing the R-4. The neighborhood integrity is good. The church congregants have literally asked us. please sell the property because we could use the money for our outreach and our church. And so that's there. On the other hand, the developer, you do have a remedy, okay? And that's you sold this to our town as well, we can do 70 plus maybe six or seven, but were very concerned to make this a better project for Fountain Hills. And is the developer the one that should be making that decision? Or should the residents be making that decision? What they want there? When I ran for office, there's two forms of governance, the trustee form and the delegation form. The trustee where you vote for me and I'm going to do what's best for you. The delegation is you vote for me and I'm going to be your mouthpiece. I've always subscribed to that and 1 will subscribe to that tonight, too. But with this fair warning, okay, that -- be careful what you wish for. Because if we let them develop the six acres, it's going to be a pretty nice project. 1 think. You said you didn't want it. I'm willing to go there with you. But in the future years. when they do develop it. a bunch of studios and ones -- we've talked about putting our own Fountain Hills Police Department together. Well, five years from now they could be spending all their overtime hours over there, because of problems with the urban style development that we've just approved tonight by not approving the suburban project. Page 64 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 65 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES So 1 don't think a compelling case has been made why this has to be done and all the people -- I know you've done a great outreach -- and all the people I've personally talked to they've been against it, pretty categorically. And 1 just can't ignore that fact. So unfortunately, I'm going to vote against a good project and I'm going to be a no on this. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Anybody else before I speak? SKILLICORN: Madam Mayor? MAYOR DICKEY: Yes. sir? SKILLICORN: I just have a question for our attorney. Is this a simple majority or is this a super majority? ARNSON: In response to your question. of course if the matter fails, then it's a moot issue. If the matter passes, then the surrounding property owners have submitted a petition that meets the requirements under town code, which would require a super majority. My understanding is that it does not meet requirements under state statute. So which one of those controls is a different discussion for a different day. Rut regardless. yes, if it passes, we'll need to determine which one is in control and we should figure out if we have the votes in the affirmative. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. 1 agree with both sides of everything that everybody has been saying. It really makes a lot of sense. I definitely don't like the idea that there's suspicion or casting dispersions on the fact that we actually met and wanted to hear about this project. or questioning the motivation of people who, yeah, that's their living. It doesn't mean that what they're trying to do has a negative motivation to it. However, as you've witnessed in the past here, 1 am an advocate for residents that live in the area. And has been mentioned. most of the people that live in the area are opposed. I understand the, you know, some of the businesses and I get that. But 1 also, you know, voted no on Daybreak and some of the people here against this voted and wanted and supported Daybreak, so across the board saying you don't like zoning changes doesn't really resonate with me very well. But 1 do understand taking some of these projects one at a time. But again, I do default to the people, what they thought when they bought their Page 65 of 76 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 66 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES homes. when they invested in their homes. And I guess I appreciate being reminded that I lived there for 13 years. And 1 got to tell you that if I lived there now. I would've been asking my neighbors to be supportive of this project because living closer to the El Lago side. 1 would've much thought that this was a better project. But again, I default to the neighbors. I was hoping that they would change their minds before we got to this point, but rezoning is something I have been very hesitant to do and 1 guess I'm not going to be able to do it tonight, either. Are there any other questions or comments? GRZYBOWSKI: Yes, ma'am. MAYOR DICKEY: Anybody want to make a motion? GRZYBOWSKI: Before 1 make the motion, I would like to remind -- while Betsy stood up as a single person, she didn't represent one voice. She represented the entire Chamber and they've got a slew of people on the Chamber Board. It's like 17 or 19 or something like that. I'm not exactly sure of the number. So she didn't speak just for her. She spoke for the entire Chamber Board and they were unanimous. That being said. one of the things that didn't come up today that has come up to me a number of times is yes, traffic. but the number of people coming and going at the same time. So 1 live in a 95-unit rental place. 1 warned the admin staff that I was parking myself in the middle of the parking lot. I had my little umbrella and a chair and a cooler and I sat there for a couple of evenings and a couple mornings, during what we would consider rush hour. And during the evening hours -- so oh. I should tell you, 1 have 95 units and there's 168 total parking spaces. That being said, during the evening hours, we averaged -- so 4:45-ish to 5:45-ish, we averaged three people walking and 23 people driving. During the morning rush hour. between 7:45 and 8:45, we averaged three people walking and 31 people driving. One of the other things I wanted to be sure and talk about is our average apartment occupancy in town is officially 90.3, but that was based off a (indiscernible) 93 percent occupancy and they are now at over 97 percent. So it's actually higher than that. It's unrealistic to hope that nothing gets built on these lots and I've had a number Page 66 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 67 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES of conversations with people that are like, we just don't want anything there. !lope is not a strategy. Something eventually will go there. These are somebody's assets, so to be hopeful that we're not going to put something there is not realistic. No matter what goes in on these two lots, we are going to have the same exact traffic concerns that you have today. The plan for the 80 units on two lots is more in line with the look and feel of Fountain Hills. There's no doubt in my mind. It's an attractive building with room for landscaping and maintains views. With this 80-unit development, we will get traffic flow on the corner -- traffic mitigation on the corner of Mountainside and Palisades. If it goes in as a 70-unit, we're only going to get one driveway out. They're not going to spend the money on the corner to help with traffic mitigations. While a 70-unit complex on the one lot would he studios and single-family homes. honestly, it would be nice to have. It would be workforce housing for us. Your retail workers, your waitstaff, your firefighters will have a place to live because they will be able to better afford studios and one -bedroom homes. But I think from what I hear talking to y'all. you would rather have the larger. further down, not blocking views. it's more aesthetically pleasing, there's more landscape -- so I'm a yes on this. And I am ready to make a motion. As written, move to approve ordinance 23-03 with the stipulations listed in the staff recommendation. MAYOR DICKEY: Is there a second? MCMAHON: I'll second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. If there's no further discussion, could we have a roll call, please? MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski? GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel? FRIEDEL: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis? KALIVIANAKIS: Nay. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn? Page 67 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 68 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES SKILLICORN: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth? TOTH: No. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon? MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey? MAYOR DICKEY: No. MENDENHALL: The measure fails. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much. 1 appreciate it very much. It was very difficult, the whole thing, and we appreciate your professionalism. SKILLICORN: Madam Mayor, might I suggest a four -and -a -half -minute recess? MAYOR DICKEY: Well take five. Clerk's Note: The Council recessed at 8:19 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 8:31 p.m. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. We're back and our next item is another public hearing. We'II hear from John and then I'll open the public hearing. Thank you. WESLEY: Mayor, Council, I just want -- this one should go a little faster than the last one, I hope. So we are looking at a request for a special use permit at the southeast corner of Glenbrook and Fountain Hills Boulevard. This property is currently zoned C- C, which is a common commercial zoning. It's a lower end retail commercial that allows for common parking lots and 100 percent lot coverage in this district. It's been platted since 1973. There's been really no new construction in this area since about 2004. So this area is set vacant, looking for some development for quite a while. The lot in question, here at the corner, highlighted in the blue, was used as a playground for a number of years for adjacent school that's since been closed. So it's currently not being used. 'the new owner is suggesting, would like to build apartments on this property. The C-C zoning does not allow for residential use by' right. So they're options include either to rezone, and there's three options listed there that could be chosen. Or to get the special use permit in the C-C. They have chosen to maintain the consistent zoning pattern in the area and request a special use permit for the residential use. Page 68 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 69 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES So looking al it a little bit further out. you can see again the corner property highlighted in blue. The C-C zoning on this tract. And so the tract here. just to remind the council, about a year ago, maybe ifs been now, approved a special use permit for residential mixed use building at the southeast corner of this total block down here at Ivory and El Pueblo. Also, previously a special use permit was approved for residential second floor use of that building located here. You can see the surrounding zoning of mix, single family and commercial zoning districts in the area. The general plan encourages a range of housing types and densities in the community. It also encourages we protect and maintain existing neighborhood character and support mix of residential employments and commercial uses. In this particular area designated a plan is a mixed use neighborhood. So it does allow for a little bit higher density residential as well as a combination of residential and commercial uses. When you look in the zoning ordinance, in Section 2.02 F I d, it provides the criteria for the Planning and Zoning Commission to use as they review special use permit requests in their making a recommendation to council. So we're looking at its impact on the adjacent neighborhood and the community. Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed this al their meeting last month. As they looked at it, they determined that the request did meet the criteria in the general plan and in the zoning ordinance. And so they have recommended approval, as well as staff. With that, I'll see if you have any questions. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Not for this item, Mayor. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Any comments or questions from the council? No? Somebody want to make a motion? GRZYBOWSKI: Move to recommend approval of case number SUP23 -- like. six O's and then a I. TOTH: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call. please. MENDENHALL: Councilmemher Friedel. FRIEDEL: Aye. Page 69 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 70 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: No. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Ayc. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Ayc. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon. MCMAHON: No. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Closing two public hearings at the same time. Our next items is about our trails. Who's that, Rachael? GOODWIN: Yep. I see a number of our McDowell Mountain Preservation folks back there. It looks like our chairman. Scott Grzybowski as well as Bill, Bill Craig is going to be joining us as well. SCOTT GRZYBOWSKI: Good evening. Mayor. Vice Mayor. Councilmembers and distinguished, award -winning staff -- [LAUGHTER] SCOTT GRZYBOWSKI: -- so we are here tonight -- see a presentation, let me get into presentation mode. There we go. So good evening. So I'm Scott Grzybowski. Grizz Grzybowski, long last name. I'm the chairman of our McDowell Mountain Preservation Commission. And with me is Bill Craig. He is the, one, he's the Commissioner on the MMPC. He's also a board member of the Sonoran Conservancy of Fountain Hills. And he is our illustrious trail blazer leader. So what are we here for today? Well, were here to talk about trails. So this is a beautiful, panoramic view we took from one of the potential new trail advantage points. And Bill's going to talk us through what those trails will look like. But I figured it'd be very nice to have some nice pictures. We all like pictures. Worth a thousand words. 1 also will point out that in your packets on page 408, you will have, you do have a bunch of frequently asked questions. We already tried to be proactive and answer questions that Page 70 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 71 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES we think well have at the town council level. And again, that's on page 408 in your agenda packet. So again, we'll do this quickly. So in the presentation we have a lot of supporting information that I hope we don't have to get to this evening. But why were here. One, the first agenda item is to ask for some new trails. And the second agenda item, once we get through the first one. would be to ask for some trail renaming request. Again, more pictures. So this one is pretty cool. 1 call this one Saguaro Valley. This is, again on our Sonoran Trail. Just a beautiful vantage point. 1 love it. It's' just really cool. I had to take a picture of it. So this is the Cliffs Notes version, why arc we hear? First were here to request three new trails in the coming years in the McDowell Mountain Preservation or the Preserve. So with that, we vetted numerous options with many hours or working groups and discussion to present you with our final recommendation. Number one, 1 think we'll all like this. is zero cost to the town, zero, seriously. And with that we actually have a savings in one of the supporting slides. about $73,000 a year we save the town with all of us volunteers. And again, both trails that we're going to see above the Sonoran have zero impact on homeowners. They're very high on the Preserve and the land we already own. And just like that picture shows, we have breathtaking views. And then the second item would be here to ask for some renaming of three existing trails. So some of you've seen these slides before. But number one. how do we build trails? It's all done by hand. So everything is done with hand tools. I have to point out, this picture, because this is very cool, so Bill, being our illustrious leader. whenever we see a big rock, right here, it's probably going to need to get moved because that's what Bill does. So as you us here, we are doing this all by hand. This is the before, this is the after. They like having me around because I'm the rock mover, right? 1 do a lot of rock moving. It is nice to be somewhat of the younger of the crew, which is awesome. But I do a lot of rock moving. Again, so this is another beautiful before picture. At some times it's very hard to visualize what a trail is going to look like until it's actually done. And then this is the after picture. Which to me, these are just amazing. So this was actually, you know, what Page 71 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 72 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES we did on part of the North Leg Trail just this past year. So again, how do we build trails? Very much all manual. So in this case, the rock actually won. You can see that the pick axe is pent. So it only one temporarily, we came back with a bigger pick axe and we won. We got that rock. And here's our lovely trail blazer crew here. very happy to open the north kg of the trail, which is another, about .8 of a mile on that trail. So with that. I'm going to pass this over to Bill. I'm going to be his backup with the pointer. CRAIG: Good evening. As Scott mentioned, we are asking for three new trails. In this picture here, just to orient you as to where we are relative to the Preserve, some of you have been there. Some of you have just been to the [railhead. The parking lot that you see listed here is the [railhead. If you come up Adero Canyon, past Adero Resort, that's where you get to the [railhead. And orientation -wise, this is the North Leg Trail that we completed this last season. •Phis is the Prominade Trail. This is a cheap road that, just interestingly. was originally built by a former owner of the land who wanted to build a house at the end of that. But his wife had a different idea and it never got built. Back to the trails, this is Shadow Canyon. And 1 have tried to use this to give you an idea of how close or how far away the actual trail will be. The line that you see here is an approximation of where the boundary is between Shadow Canyon Homeowner's Association and our Preserve. From the parking lot. there is the Overlook Trail, which I am representing now, which comes up to a peak right at this point. This is a trail which was there originally. And if I can get back here, this was a trail which was there originally, one of the first trails. It's about a half -mile long. This is the trail which is most often suggested by our [railhead hosts for people that come up that are not familiar with our preserve or are new hikers. Coming off of this, right in this area is another trail called the Easy Access Trail. It was originally built as a trail which was the easiest trail there is here. And we often, back in the early days, took people with wheelchairs up on this trial. Now, the Overlook extension is what we are proposing here. This goes in the white here from the peak of the Overlook Trail, down to the end of the Easy Access Trail. This shows it in a little more detail. This being the peak of the Overlook Trail. This being the Page 72 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 73 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES end of the Easy Access Trail. The design here is meant to go through a lot of the rock structures, make it an interesting looking trail. It will be developed to the extent of the same ability, the same degree of difficulty or lack of difficulty as the Overlook Trail itself. Why I didn't think of that beforehand, I don't know. This was mean[, or this was suggested by a hiker. And we started looking at this and to us. it made a lot of sense. A loop trail is the most often sought-after type of trail throughout the states. This will make a loop out of the Overlook Trail. So instead of just up and back, up and back, it will give some variety and being another nice terrain. Going ahead to the next two trails, once again you see the [railhead over here, the parking lot. And this is the Prominade Trail, coming along here, passing the North Leg Trail once again, going to the end of the Prominade Trail. I have shown the Eagle's Nest development here to give you the relationship of that So this is Eagle's Nest. Over in here is Shadow Canyon. This is the Sonoran Trail that you see me trying to take the path of here. At the end of the Prominade is where the first new trail, or the second one relative to all three, of these two trails, the red and the lime green here, this is a trail which I think will be an extremely nice. enjoyable addition to the fine trails that we do have. There's two elements of this which are outstanding to me. Right around in this area I purposely took the trail through here because of a saguaro field that is in there. Many enjoyable, nice. young saguaro, but also a number of 100. 150 year old saguaros that I have taken it by in designing this trial to make it interesting. Also, over in this area there is a little, quiet, peaceful area. grassy area, level, back in that doesn't have views of the town but is bordered on one end by this old Mesquite tree, which you don't often see out in the Preserve or other areas. And on the other end of this. about 20 yards away, is a 12-foot rock wall with rocks down at the bottom that are flat that you can sit and rest on next to the wall itself. The other trail is also unique in a different way. This trail, once again, came from a number of hikers. a number of my trail blazers. They wanted something which was a little more difficult. Something that was a challenge. So this was designed a lot by some of the trail blazers themselves. It starts up the Western Loop Trail. Right up in here, at Page 73 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 74 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES an elevation about 350 feet higher than the end of the Prominade Trail. It goes in and out some of the arroyos at a much steeper angle to make it much more of a challenge. The white here is the border with Scottsdale. So it goes up quite high, this will be up around the 4,000-foot elevation. Both of these trails come down and end on the Sonoran Trail, about a half a mile before the place where the Sonoran Trail meets McDowell Mountain Park. And with that, as Scott mentioned. we tried to anticipate some of the questions you might ask and have put out a sheet to you. And I'm going to turn it back over to Scott and we can both answer questions that you might have relative to these three trails. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Do we have any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Yes, we do. So what I'm going to do is have the person who is here in person to speak, come up first. And that would be John Thompson. And then rest will be written. THOMPSON: (Indiscernible). MENDENHALL: Okay. All right. He's for it. And so -- MAYOR DICKEY: The shirt gave you away. [LAUGHTER] MENDENHALL: He's against it -- no, I'm (indiscernible). And so we have quite a few, and it's in your packet under 9F. And you'll read all their comments as well. But I'm just going to go through and say if they're for or against it. Clifford King is for it. Kyle Bardet is for it. Pam Bardet is for it. Mary McDonald is for it. Rebecca Collman is for it 'red Blank is for it. Carmen Thompson is for it. Barbara Weist is for it. Dennis Weist is for it. DJ Willard is for it. Janice Tim (ph.) -- can't say that right. So she's for it. Stan Johnson is for it. Denice -- Denise Clark is for it. Peter Herstein is for it. Karri Michell is for it. David Bell is for it. Fred James is for it. Derrick Brewster is for it. Jeff Esposito is for it. Nathan Sorenson is for it. Gary R. Goodell is for it. Nancy Marie Whitton is for it. Janice Holden is for it. Laryn Arvidson is for it. James Kanya is for it. Sharon Kanya is for it. And John McCurdy is for it. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you very much, appreciate it. Any comments or questions? Yes. Hannah. Page 74 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 75 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES TOTH: 1 just want to say thank you so much for your time and for everything you guys do. I am so excited to see the new trails, hopefully. And just thank you for coming to share with us today. You guys do great work. So with that, I move to approve the new trails. KALIVIANAKIS: Second. MENDENHALL: Okay. So we have Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicom. SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENI IALL: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzybowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel. FRIEDEL: Without question. And thank you. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thanks a lot. You're up next, aren't you? GRZYBOWSKI: Right, we are. So I have to point out this slide. this is really cool. This is a quad of trail cactuses. So four cactuses growing together. Just very rare in the wild, to see so many growing together because they're fighting for resources. So to see four together, I just thought it was cool, so I put that in there. We have -- oh, went through questions, right. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Cool is the world. CRAIG: It is, it is. 1 don't know if it's the cool word or the word of the day, right? But I'll use that. And the next item on the agenda is the trail naming -- renaming request. So again, we discussed this and we think these three name changes make a lot of sense. So as Bill said, one of the trails is called the Western Loop, and that's where one of the new trails is going to start from. We would like to rename that to the Western Trail. It's really not a loop. So we want to just be consistent and name it Western Trail. Page 75 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 76 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES The second one is, we have this trail coming off the Prominade called the Alternate Bike Path. And it really connects to the Andrews -Kinsey Trail. So we would like to just name that part of the trial, all of it to be Andrews -Kinsey Trail. And then the other one is the Easy Access to the Overlook. Especially with the new extension, it just makes sense then, instead of having this Fasy Access separate trail name, we just call it the Overlook. So any questions on that? MAYOR DICKEY: Any questions? Any speaker cards? MENDENHALL: Yes. We have two, just written, John Thompson's here and -- and he's for it. And then we have DJ Willard, he's for it. And that was in your packet. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. MENDENHALL: And that is it. FRIEDEL: You want me to make a motion? Move to adopt resolution 2023-25 approving the renaming of the trails as proposed. KALIVIANAKIS: Second. MAYOR DICKEY: Thank you. Roll call. please. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Toth. TOTH: Yes. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Grzyhowski. GRZYBOWSKI: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Friedel. FRIEDEL: Aye. MENDENHALL: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. Thanks, guys. MENDENHALL: Vice Mayor McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. MENDENHALL: Mayor Dickey. MAYOR DICKEY: Aye. Thank you. Thanks a lot. GRZYBOWSKI: Thank you. Page 76 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 77 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MAYOR DICKEY: Our last regular agenda item is about the Legislative Bulletins. Anybody have anything? You know, they've been off So they've been off since -- and they're coming back on the 12th. There's increased urgency for the passage of the Bill that allows Maricopa County to ask its voters if they would like to continue funding transportation in what has been described as he fastest growing area in the country. So Prop 400 (e), efforts to continue. and I have recently picked up a lot of assistance from organizations. business, cities, the county, big article in The Arizona Republic. And we're trying to mitigate the economic damage of the halted RFPs, all of the projects that aren't moving forward and the hesitation of some of the businesses that were planning to come to the Valley. Fountain Hills has been at the table to create it. And benefitting from funding programs through decades of county transportation sales tax. The other two items that are still important that are still out there is the rental tax. That's still on the table. You know, that's an over $560,000 or so hit on us if that goes through. But there are some compromises for that. And last, they are close to an agreement on the housing zoning Bill which was brought up earlier. And as I've said before many times, if this passes, almost everything we did tonight was moot for the future. So let's just hope that we keep our zoning and our local decision making in place. And I don't, you now, I don't know what else could happen. When they come back. some people are saying they'll immediately quit. And others are saying they're going to October. So I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. Do we have anything from the council discussion? Anything from the Call to the Public that we have to follow up on or anything? 1 don't think there was. 1 think everyone are, you know. it's all the SG and that kind of thing. Future agenda items, anybody? SKILLICORN: Madam Mayor, I'd like to actually make a quick motion. Because inflation is so high and summertime sales tax pretty low, I would love to suspend the grocery tax for the month of July, which is traditionally the lowest of the year. Last year, it was about $130,000. I think this would be a worthy break for our residents. MAYOR DICKEY: Well, you know. we can't make a motion now or talk about this. So Page 77 of 78 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS Page 78 of 78 JUNE 6, 2023 TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES did you have any future agenda items? SKILLICORN: Well, I'd like to add that (indiscernible). MAYOR DICKEY: You'd like to add suspending our food tax for a month to our next agenda. Does he have any support to do that? TOTH: I'll give him a second if I can get the numbers on how much we typically get from the food tax in the month of July. MAYOR DICKEY: 1 guess for the whole year, it's over a million. so anything? MCMAHON: That's our revenue. MAYOR DICKEY: Any -- because when they were talking about eliminating it, it was a chunk of change. FRIEDEL: (Indiscernible). MAYOR DICKEY: Pardon me? FRIEDEL: (Indiscernible). SKILLICORN: Well. out of fear. it'd be out of order to discuss, but I mean, I do have the number. But I think it is out of order to discuss it. This is just a motion for the next meeting. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). MAYOR DICKEY: Well, she already seconded it. So I think it's something that we can definitely discuss. Thank you. Anything else? All right. We're adjourned. [MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:58 P.M.] Page 78 of 78 Having no further business, Mayor Ginny Dickey adjourned the Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on June 6, 2023, at 8:58 p.m. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS n frAteNJ 1 CitliK Gi ny Dicaey, Mayor ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: inda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 6' day of June 2023. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 22nd Day of August 2023. inda G. Mendenhall, Town Clerk