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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000.1116.TCREM.Minutes TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR AND EXECUTIVE SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL November 16,2000 Mayor Morgan called the regular session of the Town Council to order at 5:34 p.m. Vice Mayor Hutcheson MOVED that the Council convene the executive session and Councilman Wyman SECONDED the motion, which carried unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#1 - PURSUANT TO A.R.S. §38-431-03.A.4 AND A.R.S. 38-431.03.A.1, VOTE TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR DISCUSSION OR CONSULTATION WITH THE ATTORNEYS OF THE PUBLIC BODY IN ORDER TO CONSIDER ITS POSITION AND INSTRUCT ITS ATTORNEYS REGARDING THE PUBLIC BODY'S POSITION IN PENDING OR CONTEMPLATED LITIGATION REGARDING THE TOWN VERSUS THE MCO PROPERTIES AND THE CONTEMPLATED LITIGATION REGARDING ATANASOFF VERSUS THE TOWN; AND FOR DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION OF EMPLOYMENT, ASSIGNMENT, APPOINTMENT, PROMOTION, DEMOTION, DISMISSAL,SALARIES,DISCIPLINING OR RESIGNATION OF A PUBLIC OFFICER,APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE OF ANY PUBLIC BODY, EXCEPT THAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SALARY DISCUSSIONS,AN OFFICER,APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE MAY DEMAND THAT SUCH DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION OCCUR AT A PUBLIC MEETING. THE PUBLIC BODY MUST PROVIDE THE OFFICER, APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE WITH SUCH PERSONAL NOTICE OF THE EXECUTIVE SESSION AS IS APPROPRIATE BUT NOT LESS THAN 24 HOURS FOR THE OFFICER, APPOINTEE OR EMPLOYEE TO DETERMINE WHETHER SUCH DISCUSSION OR CONSIDERATION SHOULD OCCUR AT A PUBLIC MEETING— THE COUNCIL WILL BE DISCUSSING HIRING A CONSULTANT FOR THE LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYSIS. AGENDA ITEM#2- RETURN TO REGULAR SESSION Niaw Mayor Morgan recessed the executive session and convened the regular session of the Town Council at 6:27 p.m. Following the pledge to the flag and a moment of silence the roll call was taken. ROLL CALL -Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor Sharon Morgan, Vice Mayor Sharon Hutcheson and Councilmembers Leesa Fraverd, John Wyman, John McNeill, John Kavanagh, and Susan Ralphe. Also present were Town Manager Paul Nordin,Town Attorney Bill Farrell,Director of Administration/Town Clerk Cassie Hansen, Interim Town Engineer Tom Ward, Director of Public Safety Steve Gendler,and Director of Community Development Jeff Valder. AGENDA ITEM#1 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVING THE MEETING MINUTES OF OCTOBER 30,2000 AND NOVEMBER 2,2000. AGENDA ITEM#2- CONSIDERATION OF THE SPECIAL EVENT REQUEST SUBMITTED BY PEGGY AFFOLTER FOR THE FOUNTAIN HILLS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOR THE ANNUAL STROLL THE AVENUE. THE EVENT, SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2000 FROM 5:30 P.M. TO 7:30 P.M., WILL BE HELD ON THE AVENUE OF THE FOUNTAINS, REQUIRING CLOSURE FROM SAGUARO BOULEVARD TO LA MONTANA DRIVE. AGENDA ITEM#3- CONSIDERATION OF THE RESOLUTION 2000-51 ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE, OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN CERTAIN PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENT LOCATED ALONG THE NORTHERLY PROPERTY LINE OF PLAT 602-D, BLOCK 1, LOT 12, (15346 E. VERBENA DRIVE) AS RECORDED IN BOOK 166 OF MAPS, PAGE 34 RECORDS OF MARICOPA COUNTY,ARIZONA. ( CHUCK LAVOIE) EA00-30 AGENDA ITEM#4- CONSIDERATION OF THE RESOLUTION 2000-52 ABANDONING WHATEVER RIGHT, TITLE, OR INTEREST THE TOWN HAS IN CERTAIN PUBLIC UTILITY AND DRAINAGE EASEMENT LOCATED ALONG THE WESTERLY AND NORTHERLY PROPERTY LINES OF PLAT 505-B, BLOCK 2, LOT 23, (15912 KIM DRIVE) AS RECORDED IN BOOK 158 OF MAPS, PAGE 43 RECORDS OF MARICOPA COUNTY,ARIZONA.( RANAE & ALAIN PIERRE-BEZ) EA00-31 AGENDA ITEM#5- CONSIDERATION OF A PRELIMINARY AND FINAL PLAT FOR THE 2-UNIT THE VISTA CONDOMINIUMS, LOCATED AT 12235 N. DESERT SAGE DRIVE, CASE NUMBER S2000-040. AGENDA ITEM#6- CONSIDERATION OF A PRELIMINARY PLAT FOR THE REPLAT OF THE CROSSROADS CONVENIENCE CENTER TRACT "D", LOCATED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF SHEA BOULEVARD,EAST OF SAGUARO BOULEVARD,CASE NUMBER S2000-039. AGENDA ITEM#7- CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 2000-53 AMENDING RESOLUTIONS 1999- 24 AND 2000-30 BY EXTENDING THE COMPLIANCE DATE FOR AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE CITY OF SCOTTSDALE; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Vice Mayor Hutcheson MOVED to approve the Consent Agenda as read. Councilman McNeill SECONDED the motion. A roll call vote was taken with the following results. Councilman Wyman aye Councilman McNeill - aye Vice Mayor Hutcheson - aye Councilwoman Fraverd- aye Councilman Kavanagh- aye Councilwoman Ralphe— aye Mayor Morgan - aye The motion CARRIED unanimously with a roll call vote. '140 rr AGENDA ITEM#8- PRESENTATION BY DENISE HOLLAND FROM HOFMANN DIETZ ARCHITECTS ON THE FURNITURE, FIXTURE AND EQUIPMENT PACKAGE FOR THE NEW COMMUNITY CENTER AND LIBRARY/MUSEUM PRIOR TO GOING OUT FOR BID. Denise Holland presented a visual "walk through", which depicted the furnishings, colors,finishes,and fixtures that would be used throughout the Community Center and the Library/Museum facilities. She also displayed the pictures of the buildings' exteriors and elevations. Councilman Kavanagh asked if consideration had been given to furniture replacement options since the themes might make it difficult to match in the future. Ms. Holland said that the committee had made the decision to use the same chairs as were used in the banquet room so there were to be 620 chairs available. She pointed out that there would not be extra computer chairs in the Library, but since almost everything had a lifetime or a minimum warranty of 15 years,they felt that the local dealer would take care of it. AGENDA ITEM#9- PRESENTATION BY THE FOUNTAIN HILLS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT ON THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AT FOUR PEAKS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND THE NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL SITE. Dr. Maria Manconi said the school district believed that the development of this project impacted the development of the Town. She noted that the project would impact a significant portion of the Town's future population. She then introduced Assistant Superintendent Mr. Terry Tatterfield. Mr. Tatterfield said the Four Peaks Elementary project was anticipated to begin after Thanksgiving and the Middle School project would begin in the spring. He referred to the handout, which had been given to the Council. He said they would be highlighting some of the key design elements and focusing on some of the common issues, such as traffic management and congestion and those types of issues both during and after construction. He introduced their project manager Ray Delzoto(Pinnacle One) who would give an overview of their master plan process and their architect Doug Theberg, who would cover the construction details. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 2 of 31 Mr. Delzoto reviewed the process used to schedule the District's expenditure of their capital funds for these projects. Mr. Theberg made a PowerPoint presentation. He said that Four Peaks Elementary School would be adding 3rd grade students, so there would be a major 9-classroom addition to the westside of the campus. There would also be remodeling done on the interior of the campus and building to improve circulation. There would be a media center addition to the south. He described the new Middle School and campus, which would be constructed on McDowell Mountain Road. He said this building would house the 6, 7, and 8 grades (between 900 — 1000 students). He pointed out the amenities: soccer-track-football field, baseball and softball diamond, outdoor basketball courts and volleyball sand courts, two separate parking areas and a bus loop. He noted that there had been a major effort to keep the bus traffic, parent traffic, and staff traffic apart from one another. Mr. Theberg discussed traffic concerns and diagrammed the proposed traffic flow on both projects. He noted that pedestrian traffic would also be addressed. Councilman Kavanagh asked if the District's improvements regarding the Four Peaks Elementary site plan provided space for a proposed youth facility operated by the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA. Mr. Theberg said yes. He pointed to the place on the site plan where the footprint had been drawn in. AGENDA ITEM#10- DISCUSSION OF THE FUTURE DISPOSITION/USE OF THE OLD COMMUNITY CENTER FACILITY WITH POSSIBLE DIRECTION TO STAFF. Councilman Wyman briefly reviewed his memo acknowledging some of the facility needs to serve the continuing and growing interests of seniors, youth, and the Fountain Hills Community Theater. He said that the current Senior Services located on Kiwanis Drive served those over the age of 55, approximately 30% of the Town's population. He noted that the number of people served had grown from 533 from March '99 to 1258 in February 2000. He pointed out that senior needs seemed destined to increase considerably because the Town was only at 2/3 of the way to build out and because of the current number of seniors who live in the community. In addition to the facility serving their recreation activities, their limited staff also provided services that had grown from two to twenty-three. He said it served as a humanitarian hub for home delivered meals, transportation for residents with health-related needs, grief counseling to the recently widowed, and provides office and some recreational space for the Boys and r Girls Club. He explained that recently they had started to cut back on some of the services and activities because of space limitations. The present building was too small to serve the growing needs of the Town's senior population, the modest space-assistance provided to the young people, and the range of humanitarian services offered. Councilman Wyman stated that teens needed a space apart from younger children to "hang-out" and call their own. He said nothing of that type exists at this time. He explained that the Fountain Hills branch of the Scottsdale Boys and Girls Club had opened in 1996 in four rooms at Four Peaks Elementary School with an attendance of 23 children but was now serving 546 young people as of September 2000. He said the YMCA program was estimated to also serve a number of young people. Councilman Wyman pointed out that attendance at the productions produced by the Fountain Hills Community Theater had grown. He stated that the Theater's children's workshops had expanded to five days a week, the group staging three performing arts summer camps for kids had increased from eight to eighteen, and the annual main stage productions had grown to eight. Councilman Wyman stated that the Theater could only seat only 100 people. When previously using the McDowell Mountain school facility they accommodated as many as 250 per performance. He explained that the theater had to leave those facilities because the school required that the sets be broken down every Sunday evening in order for the school to function again Monday morning. He stated that the school had presented other obstacles because of the absence of wings for the stage and folding chairs were used. He pointed out that because of the public's interest there was a need to accommodate the Theater. Councilman Wyman made the observation that this was a very successful Theater. The Theater had just received the Zoni Award, which was Arizona's equivalent to the Oscar Award. He expressed concern, when considering all of the community needs, that the Council should think about the disposition of the current community center located on Saguaro after moving into the new community center. 'err Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 3 of 31 He acknowledged a local church had expressed interest in purchasing the current community center facility from the Town. In his opinion that due to the need for the facilities in this Town and the growing needs of the individual institutions and organizations, he did not think the Council should consider selling the building. He proposed that slow the Town retain the present Saguaro facility and direct Town staff to consider and recommend uses of that building to meet the facility needs of the Fountain Hills Community Theater, youth, and senior programs. He said the Council could not resolve who went where tonight, but could at least make the judgment that the Town retain the facility. Mr. Nordin concurred with Councilman Wyman's statement that it would be unwise for the Council to consider selling the current community center. He said staff believed that the demands were as Councilman Wyman had outlined. He noted that the building could be put to good use and staff would like the opportunity to look at that issue before the building was disposed of. Mr. Nordin felt it would be precipitous of the Council to direct staff to dispose of the building. He reviewed that a letter had been distributed to the Council from the local Episcopalian Church congregation proposing to purchase the building. Mr. Nordin reiterated that it would not be wise for the Council to consider the sale. He said he had made a follow up call to the church and they said they would consider a long-term lease. Mr. Nordin said that if the Council directed staff to not dispose of the community center building, he did not want the Council concerned that the church would not be considered. That would not be the case as they would be interested in some type of lease arrangement. Councilman Kavanagh concurred with Councilman Wyman and staff that there were a number of potential users that could put this facility to good use. He felt it would be a good idea for staff to contact these organizations to request their plans for facility usage so that the Council could then consider how best to utilize the building. Mayor Morgan said that the building should remain "status quo" until after the move into the new Community Center and the Council knew where everything was going to be. She did not want to make any changes at this time. Vice Mayor Hutcheson agreed with Mayor Morgan that it was too soon to know what would be the best use of the facility. She recognized that there were number of potential users for this building and the Council would sort through this problem. The Town needed to retain this property,as it would probably be needed. Councilman Wyman MOVED that the Town Council agree to retain the present Saguaro facility and direct staff to consider and recommend uses of that building in meeting the community facility needs and Councilman Kavanagh SECONDED the motion. Councilman Kavanagh asked for the completion date of the new Community Center. Director Hansen responded it would be at the end of March 2001. Councilman Kavanagh said that in five months the current Community Center would empty and space would be wasted if the Council had not examined possible uses. He pointed out it would be a good idea to start now to gather the information so that it was not idle after it was closed. Mayor Morgan agreed that the Town needed to begin collecting the data because the day that the new Community Center was completed did not mean that the Town would be ready to move in. She reiterated that the Town had some time before a decision on usage of the existing Community Center would be needed. Councilman Kavanagh pointed out that was what the motion called for. Councilwoman Fraverd said a letter had been received looking into the possibility of using some of the Town buildings. She asked if a study had already been done for future uses of Town buildings. Director Hansen replied that a committee had been formed and appointed by the Council back in February of 1998. She explained that the committee had consisted of all past Councilmembers. She said they met four different times. This committee also advertised for any groups that had an interest in using the building, but there were many other things going on at that time, including the change in the Kiwanis Building to accommodate the seniors, the retreat (at which time the Library/Museum came into play). So it was in the fall of 1998 that the committee decided it was premature because of all of the other things that were coming into play. The committee had not made a recommendation. Roy Porterfield,Alamosa Drive He said he was a member of the new Episcopal Church. He said they had just found out about the possibility of purchasing or a long-term lease for his church. He stated that last year they had twenty-one families and had grown Nimr to over 60 families and they were looking for permanent home. He wanted the church to be considered for use of Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 4 of 31 the facility. He understood Councilman Wyman would probably abstain from voting because his wife was a member of the committee, which was looking for the Theater group to occupy that building. He said there wasn't any reason that some of the space in the new Community Center couldn't be used for the Theater group. John O'Flynn, 16580 E. Sullivan Dr. He stated he was President of the Senior Services of Fountain Hills,Inc. He was supportive of the motion to reserve the facility and not sell it until the community understands what the long terms needs would be for the facilities. George Post, 17041 Rand Dr. He asked that the Council not to sell the property but get the best use of the property for the most money. If used for other than Community facilities, he did not want to see it cost the seniors more because of the move to a larger facility. Val Stasik, 11015 Inca Ave. She was supportive of the motion and thanked the Council for their past support of the Community Theater. Councilman Wyman responded to Roy Porterfield's comment. He said his motion reflected that the Council not sell the building and to direct staff to consider what the uses of it might be. He said that unless the Town Attorney advised otherwise, he would vote on that motion. He acknowledged Mr. Porterfield's concern regarding a conflict of interest if it were before the Council to utilize the facilities solely for the Theater. Councilman Wyman stated his wife was a member of the governing board for that group. Mr. Farrell responded that unless there was a proprietary interest then Councilman Wyman would not have a conflict. The motion CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#11 - STATUS UPDATE ON THE STUDY TO DETERMINE THE FORM/TYPE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICE PROVIDED BY THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS FOR ITS RESIDENTS. Mr. Nordin said that eight weeks ago he, the Mayor, and Mr. Farrell had been directed to determine and look at what type of law enforcement service was to be provided by the Town organization to the community. He said that he and Mr. Farrell had identified a consultant that they believed would be able to conduct a thorough study and help with the deliberations. Mr. Nordin said that the consultant would bring an associate in with him. Mr. Nordin said he intended for these two men to come to Fountain Hills so that the process to flush out an appropriate scope of work could begin and have them make an appearance in front of the Council. He anticipated that the consultants could make the trip sometime after the first of January. He said he would be talking with them soon to determine what their travel schedule could be. Mayor Morgan thanked Mr. Nordin for his update. AGENDA ITEM#12- CONSIDERATION OF RENEWING THE ANNUAL CONTRACT FOR WASH CLEAN UP. Mr. Ward reviewed his memo to the Council recommending renewal of the contract with Five Star Landscaping. He stated that staff had talked with other contractors and obtained their landscaping pricing. During that time period,Five Star Landscaping provided a letter to the Town agreeing to a 2% decrease in his price. Mr.Ward noted that was the first decrease in an annual that he was aware of and he was happy this was happening. He discussed an attached map showing an area that would be cut (Legend Wash). He explained that the original bid package had been priced on a unit basis. For a ten-person crew and equipment the budgeted amount for this fiscal year was $150,000. He explained that of that $150.000, $20,000 would go for clean up of the dam as required by ADWR. He noted that inspections had been completed with ADWR. Councilwoman Ralphe MOVED to approve the annual contract with the inclusion of Addendum No. 1. and Councilwoman Fraverd SECONDED the motion. Mayor Morgan asked Mr. Ward if this was the project with which students in the past had assisted and thereby been Slip, given credit for their community service through the school. If so, would they still be allowed to help do the work? Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 5 of 31 She pointed out that the students had asked if there wasn't some way that they could assist in this wash cleaning. She did not want to discourage the students, as their assistance should be looked at as a benefit that they want to help and get involved. Mr. Ward acknowledged that this was the same project and he said staff intended to have all rites. of the students involved in this project as well. He explained that normally the Town came in and did the cutting along with the Fire Department and then they would involve the students in the cleanup. He said it had been successful in the past and everyone had come away from it with good feelings. Councilman Wyman inquired as to why the Wash Cleanup map listed an optional area. Mr. Ward said that with the budgeted dollar amounts available, Legend Wash could be completed. He said he had added Oxford Wash for reference as to where they would go next. He 'said the Fire Department had indicated that both washes needed to be cleaned up and trimmed to lessen the fire hazards for the houses in those areas. Councilman Wyman asked if there was a two to four year cycle that needed to be followed for cleanup. Mr. Ward responded that he and Councilwoman Ralphe had talked about coming up with a priority list and presenting that to the Council. He also indicated that a press release could be made with that information. He said he did not know when the Town would reach the time that this didn't need to be done anymore. He reminded the Council that they annually approved a contract, which could be renewed for four years. Councilman Wyman asked if the Engineering staff was satisfied with the addendum as recommended by Councilwoman Ralphe. He said the Town had the responsibility to keep the washes clean even though everyone wanted to protect the washes from an environmental point of view. Mr. Ward assured Councilman Wyman that the washes would be cleaned so that water would not have any obstructions. That was part of what the wash clean up would accomplish. Mr. Ward stated he was very comfortable with the addendum as he had helped draw it up. Councilman Kavanagh asked if the only vegetation to be tagged would be the trees. Mr. Ward confirmed that the Town would not tag every single shrub. He explained that it would be very tedious to tag every native plant in the washes so it had been recommended that only the native trees be tagged. He noted that since the ironwood tree had been left off the original list,it had been included in the addendum. Councilwoman Ralphe pointed out that in addition to trees, Mr. Ward would be directing and instructing the Say landscaping crew as to what they were doing, what was protected, and what plants get cut. In addition to the tagging process there was a verbal flow of information. Mr. Ward agreed that was correct and either Dave Stepanek or he would be on site everyday with those crews and the foreman and owner of the landscaping company as to what should and should not be cut. Vice Mayor Hutcheson commended Councilwoman Ralphe and Mr. Ward for their plan, especially in light of the results from last year's process. She felt this plan should go along way to close the opinion gap from those who felt the washes need to be cleaned with environmental sensitivity versus those who felt the washes must be fire safe. Councilman McNeill pointed out that this plan had accomplished a good balance between fire and nature protection. Mark Van Boeckel, Cabrillo Drive He proposed that native mesquite trees be added to the protected list. He cautioned that if too much vegetation was cut, it would destabilize the wash banks. To a much greater degree fire hazards existed just on the other side of homeowners' fences as they tended to throw their landscape cuttings there. He wanted to see that addressed as well. He also posed that occasional patches should be left for animals to run into. He said experts on reseeding had pointed out that previously used seeding was not the best choice. He said they had given Bud Clutter their specific changes to be made and he inquired if that mix had been passed on to Mr. Ward. Mr. Van Boeckel pointed out that a better seed mix could actually make the washes more fire resistance. Lori Noss, 14603 N. Fairlane Dr. As Chair of the Committee to Preserve the Environment, she liked what she had heard tonight. She said she has heard many concerns from citizens about blanket clearings of washes and removal of native cacti and trees. She suggested that an educated person walk the washes prior to any cleanup to tag the cacti and trees to ensure that the native habitat was preserved. Saw Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 6 of 31 Bob Barbanica,Hyde Park He agreed the washes were sensitive areas and he did not want to see the situation made worse. He pointed out that the washes could become destabilized if not cleaned correctly. He agreed homeowner trash directly over the irr backside of their fences was a problem. He asked that Fish and Game be involved, as they knew how to stabilize the washes. Mr. Ward said he understood the points made and their concerns. He reiterated that staff would be on site to make sure the work was completed correctly. Mayor Morgan asked Mr. Ward if he also had degrees in this field. Mr. Ward said that he did. Councilman McNeill asked Mr. Ward if there was any erosion problems today because of any severely cut washes. If so, he suggested that student volunteers might be used in a revegetation program. Mr. Ward replied said he had not walked all of the washes that had been previously cut. He said he had worked to re- establish some of the trees in the Panorama Wash and had worked with Puerto del Lago as well as the Lakeside residents on getting that wash taken care of and getting the wash back to its natural state. Regarding the seed pallet, he said he would look into the mix. He noted that he was unaware of any specific erosion problems and said he would look into that as well. Councilwoman Ralphe AMENDED the motion to include the native mesquite trees to the list of protected vegetation and Councilwoman Fraverd SECONDED the amendment. Councilman Wyman asked Mr. Ward if that complicated staffs work. Mr. Ward responded no and read the list of vegetation that would remain, which included the native mesquite. Councilman Wyman then questioned if the amendment was necessary. Councilwoman Ralphe withdrew her amendment and Councilwoman Fraverd withdrew her second to the amendment after Mr. Ward reviewed the extensive listing of plants, which had already included the native mesquite tree. The motion CARRIED unanimously. Mayor Morgan called for a ten-minute recess at 7:55 p.m. Mayor Morgan resumed the meeting at 8:05 p.m. Slaw AGENDA ITEM#13- CONSIDERATION OF ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE COMMUNITY BENEFITS REVIEW COMMITTEE REGARDING THE DISTRIBUTION OF COMMUNITY BENEFIT FUNDS APPROVED IN THE 2000/2001 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET. Director Hansen stated that this was the third year that services of a citizen committee had been used to review the applications for community benefit funds and make a recommendation to the Council for distribution. She pointed out that because of the spending limitations at budget time, a significant reduction in the amount of available community benefit funds (from$80,000 to $40,000) had been required. She said there had been eleven application requests received totaling $107,335. She reviewed the committee's recommended distribution of the available $40,000 and the applicants' funding requests displayed. Director Hansen acknowledged that the committee deliberated over their decision. What had traditionally taken the committee thirty minutes to decide took this committee two hours to reach consensus. She explained that for the first time since the funding process had began, four applicants had been invited to attend the meeting to answer additional questions regarding their program. She noted that five varying combinations of awards had been discussed and debated before the consensus had been reached on the recommendation before the Council. She pointed out that the committee collectively felt comfortable with their recommendation that all groups had been considered fairly. Director Hansen said that all committee members had reviewed the staff report and approved its content and representation of the proceedings. She personally thanked the members of the committee for their efforts and commitment in performing a difficult task. Vice Mayor Hutcheson MOVED to approve the distribution of the Community Benefit Funds as presented and Councilman McNeill SECONDED the motion. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 7 of 31 Vice Mayor Hutcheson said this had been a tough decision and she recognized the work that they had accomplished. She also complimented the committee and Director Hansen for using excellent criteria and for doing the best they could for the amount of money with which they had to work. Slew The motion CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#14- CONSIDERATION OF AWARDING A CONTRACT TO A CONSULTANT TO ADVISE THE COUNCIL AND MANAGER WITH REGARDS TO FUTURE PLANNING FOR THE DOWNTOWN AREA. Mr. Nordin said he had originally identified four groups that might be available to Fountain Hills. He pointed out that had been quickly pared down to the two who had been included in the Council's packet materials. He had asked both groups to come to Fountain Hills, which they did. Both groups were given a thorough tour of the downtown area and were involved in a lengthy discussion that they might completely understand the situation and conditions with which they would have to operate. He said he had been impressed with the Hyett-Palma Group presentation. He felt that Mr. Doyle Hyett had addressed the concerns as conveyed to him. Mr. Nordin said that both proposals from Hyett-Palma and the RNL Design Group had been included in the Council packet material for review. Mr. Nordin said he was recommending that the Council award the contract, in the amount of$43, 500, to the Hyett-Palma Group. He believed there was an opportunity with this particular individual, Doyle Hyett, to bring the varied interests together due to his expertise. Mr. Nordin said there was willingness on the part of all the stakeholders involved to proceed and get something accomplished in the downtown area. He said the Community Center and the Library/Museum construction had been a remarkable catalyst to bring together a consensus that had never been here before. He felt that the hiring of the Hyett-Palma firm could be the linchpin that the Town was looking for to bring the varied, but now very cooperative, interests together in a single vision for what needed to be accomplished in the downtown area. Councilwoman Ralphe MOVED to award the consultant contract to the Hyett-Palma Group as presented and Councilwoman Fraverd SECONDED the motion. Sow Mayor Morgan asked if the master developer (MCO) who owns the remaining land in Fountain Hills was happy with having a consultant help the Town try and get the right people in. She asked if the developer might help with some of the costs of the consultant if it helped sell their land. Mr. Nordin acknowledged that Carl Bommarito (MCO representative) was in the audience and might be able to address that issue. Mr. Nordin responded that he had held two discussions with Carl. He said Carl had indicated that MCO was willing to cooperate in the process and pay attention to the recommendations made by the consultant but there wasn't any approval or willingness on the part of MCO to help the Town pay for the consultant. Mr. Nordin said the Council could directly ask MCO as that was a higher level of request than that coming from the Town Manager. Mayor Morgan explained she was not requesting that the cost be a 50/50 split, but just that MCO be approached to see if they would willing to pay some amount. Councilman Kavanagh expressed concern that there would be varying architectural designs. He asked if design restrictions could be enforced. Mayor Morgan clarified that the proposed consultant would not just address design but they would suggest the type of businesses and establishments for the downtown development. She asked if the consultant suggested something other than what might now be on the drawing board, were the interested parities willing to compromise and listen to what the consultant proposed. Otherwise, she was not interested in spending the money for a consultant's opinion if it was to be an exercise in futility. Councilwoman Ralphe said she had also talked with Carl Bommarito about a town consultant and he had been supportive. She then talked with Phyllis Kern, who represented the existing business owners along Avenue of the Fountains. In that conversation Ms. Kern was excited and had asked how she could help. Councilwoman Ralphe said this plan was one of the best hopes for getting all of the downtown players on track to make something happen kooky there. Mr. Nordin agreed that the main focus of the contract with the Hyett-Palma Group would not be to present a Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 8 of 31 different design, but to look at the types and mixes of the downtown retail businesses that could and would be successful. He said that then it would be up to the Town, working with MCO, to attract those businesses. He said he had been referring to what he called the south 40 acres, which lay south of Avenue of the Fountains. Mr. Nordin said positive cooperation had been received from the property owners in the Plat 208 area. He said the Hyett-Palma Group was willing to work with the Plat 208 property owners association. He acknowledged that the Town would continue to follow the same working format when talking with those property owners. He pointed out there was a good spirit of cooperation there. He felt those property owners would positively consider taking advantage of whatever expertise that Doyle Hyett would have to offer them as well. The work that the Hyett-Palma Group would be primarily focused on would be the south 40 but could help the north 40 as well. Vice Mayor Hutcheson was excited about this process and had also had discussions with Mr. Bommarito. She felt the Town was in an excellent position with the Community Center and Library/Museum to finally have an opportunity to address this area. With regard to the design, she was comfortable with the fact that guidelines had been established for the Town Center and that would take care of itself. She was more concerned about the creation of a downtown destination. She saw this as a positive step and a window of opportunity to address the downtown issue. She said hiring this consultant would be in the Town's best interests and she hoped to move forward as quickly as possible in order to get these parties together. Councilman Wyman said that in considering how important the downtown development was, and the modest amount of money involved, he felt it was an important thing to do. Whether or not MCO decided to participate financially was not as important. He said the consultant would be recommending a development profile to the Town and would be interfacing with Carl (MCO). He said that if MCO could modestly contribute towards the costs he felt it showed that all the parties were in agreement in a sense. With regard to the zoning, he thought there was a zoning overlay in that area. He asked if that would address some of the concerns expressed by Councilman Kavanagh. Director Valder responded that Plat 208 had not been rezoned to the Town Center Commercial Zoning District as yet. He said that discussions were being held with MCO with regard to rezoning the south half of Plat 208 to Town Center Commercial Zoning District in order to have the benefit of those architectural and landscaping standards. Director Valder indicated this issue could be coming before the Council within the next few weeks to change the zoning. Councilman Wyman said he was confused. He thought the building just off of Saguaro,just southwest of the lake, was in compliance with what was going to be done with the south 40. Director Valder clarified that the commercial project currently under construction on the southwest corner of the park had been rezoned to the Town Center Commercial Zoning District. He said that would give the Council some indication as to the architectural and landscaping style that could be in place. Councilman Wyman said that then there wouldn't be the"hodge podge"architectural concerns. Director Valder acknowledged that there was quite a bit of latitude in the architectural styles that would be permitted in the Town Center Commercial Zoning and reminded the Council of the different architectural styles between the commercial project and the Library/Museum and Community Center projects. Councilman McNeill asked if it would be appropriate for the Hyett-Palma group to look at refining what was included in the Town Center classification to come up with a concrete standard to avoid a jumbled architectural appearance about which Councilman Kavanagh had expressed concern. He thought there was still a lot of room for too much architectural variation. Mr. Nordin said it was his understanding that Mr. Hyett had that type of expertise and he could ask him if he would be willing to do so although it might involve a slight increase in cost, but would fall within the Town Manager's authority to expend funds. He said he would take that up with Mr. Hyett. Director Valder said there had recently been a change to the project approval procedures for commercial and non- residential projects. It was now required that the Planning and Zoning Commission review and approve the site plans. He explained that one of the reasons that the Planning and Zoning Commission had wanted to do that was to ensure that the Town had the ability to look at the site plan and the elevations for project continuity. 1/41141. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 9 of 31 Mayor Morgan asked if the Town had the authority to dictate style and colors. Mr. Farrell replied that if the standards only allowed one choice,that standard would probably fall if challenged because Fountain Hills was not a city. If Fountain Hills was a charter city, some architectural control could be instituted in design review. He explained that a charter city had powers that general law towns and cities do not possess. However, if in the overlay district there were architectural concepts and minimums in styling materials, the Town could uphold those specific regulations as they offered a choice and did not restrict the ultimate commercial development. Mayor Morgan said she had understood it to be specific guidelines with a blending within those guidelines. Mr. Farrell said that was correct. Councilman McNeill said it was important that the study include a pedestrian connection between the linear park, the south 40, and Fountain Park and he felt that was within the scope of the Hyett-Palma proposal. Mr. Nordin said the proposed linear park was part of the work that Hyett would study but the connection across was not part of their proposal. Mr. Nordin suggested he could talk to Mr. Hyett about that but he acknowledged that staff had already done a lot of work on that issue. He was not sure what Hyett-Palma could bring to the table that issue that staff had not already studied. George Post, 17014 E. Rand He proposed that instead of hiring a consultant the town manager should work with volunteers to come up with a downtown development plan. Carl Bommarito,Director of Commercial Sales for MCO He said the architecture styles and development guidelines would be covered in the Town Center Commercial Zoning District. He said MCO had the same concern for standardized architectural style. Mayor Morgan restated that the consultant's primary function would be to find and suggest businesses and establishments that would blend with and would come to the community. She pointed out that would be the expertise for which the Town would be paying the consultant. The motion CARRIED unanimously. Nor AGENDA ITEM#15- CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT TO PERMIT OUTDOOR AUTOMOBILE STORAGE IN A "C-3 GENERAL COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT", TO BE LOCATED AT 16932 E. COLONY DRIVE, CASE NUMBER SU2000-08. THIS ITEM WAS CONTINUED FROM THE NOVEMBER 2 COUNCIL MEETING. Senior Planner Burkhardt said this was a request for a special use permit for a temporary storage yard. He reminded the Council that staff had requested approval with a stipulation that the applicant clean up the rear of the alley way, remove the dumpsters, and place the dumpsters in an adequately screened storage area. He said that staff had taken care of that issue through the zoning code enforcement procedures and therefore,that stipulation had been removed. Councilman McNeill MOVED to approve the special use permit as presented and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the motion. The motion CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#16- CONSIDERATION OF THE TWO-YEAR EXTENSION OF THE TEMPORARY USE PERMIT FOR MCO PROPERTIES FOR A TEMPORARY MODEL HOME SALES CENTER AT 15104 E. WESTRIDGE DR., AKA. WEST RIDGE ESTATES LOTS 1 & 2; CASE#TU2000- 13. Senior Planner Burkhardt said this was a request for an extension of a temporary model home sales office to be continued to be located at 15104 E. Westridge Dr. He explained that staff had received one letter of objection to this extension and that was the reason the Council was hearing this issue. He explained that staff had just received copies of letters in support of the sales office from the applicant (Dori Wittrig) this evening and they were being distributed for the Council's review. He said staff was recommending approval as this application conformed to the zoning ordinance regulations and was considered to be a quality sales office. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 10 of 31 Councilman Wyman MOVED to approve the two-year extension to the Temporary Use Permit as presented and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the motion. Councilman Wyman noted that there were five letters of support for this extension. He asked how much of that development was sold out. Director Valder responded that this sales center wasn't strictly used for the Westridge property. He said there had been a text amendment approved by a previous Council, primarily at the request of MCO, which allowed the model home sales center to establish an office but also include other home improvement related professionals who had staff or informational kiosks in this model home. He explained that this model home sales center was there to provide real estate services essentially for the western half of the Town, which would include Summit Estates, Crestview, Westridge'Estates, and future lot sales. He said the sales center was not tied to a specific sub division. Councilman Wyman questioned that once Westridge Estates was built out, hadn't a commercial center been created. Director Valder agreed that was true. Councilman Wyman stated he had been on that previous Council and at that time it had made sense to have the model home located there as Westridge was just underway. He now noted that those building up in Crestview would probably be working with a designer and not visiting this model home center. He expressed concern that at build out a commercial presence would be created in a residential area. Councilman McNeill asked if the one objection had any reasons. He asked if it was just an objection to the length of the extension. Senior Planner Burkhardt said he had received a phone call prior to the receiving the letter. He said Ms. Kummer expressed the same concern with regard to what would happen at build out. He said that she was here to verbally address the Council. Deborah Kummer, 15336 E. Westridge Dr. She pointed out there were sixteen completed homes and occupied along with four homes at various stages of construction. She said the sales center gave the neighborhood a feel of a commercial business in a residential area. She pointed out that the sales center was advertised in the newspapers with the address advertised as Westridge Drive. She objected to the signage used by the sales center, as those signs were an eye sore to the residents of the community and also violated section 5.0 of the Westridge CCRs. The presence of the sales office also brought ‘1r additional traffic to the neighborhood. Ms. Kummer noted that MCO currently owned only four lots on Westridge Drive. She wanted to see the model home sales center moved to where the majority of their properties were located, leaving Westridge Drive residential rather than commercial. Dori Wittrig,MCO Properties She reviewed that Fountain Hills consisted primarily of custom housing. She pointed out that homebuilders had been allowed to have model homes under the current sub division code but as the community grew and property values elevated, it became more difficult for individual homebuilders to have model homes. A few years ago MCO proposed to build this center to sell not only custom home sites but to represent custom homebuilders. They could have one very nice sales center where the public could be invited to explore the Fountain Hills custom home market. They also dealt with the fact that many outside the community did not credit Fountain Hills for having the high-end luxury homes, which was one of the reasons behind the development of the sales center. She described that they had kept a high level of integrity when developing the center. She disagreed that the sales center was commercial, as it was the design of a very large custom home. Once they moved out it would become someone's home. It had a beautiful kitchen and had many elements found in a custom home. She stated that it had been well landscaped. The approved signage was to have been a 4' x 6' billboard type sign but as the project had been developed a change was made using a metal channel sign on the front wall. Ms. Wittrig addressed the signage issue referred to by Ms. Kummer. They had less than was allowed under their permitted signage to advertise the model home center. They used two to three off premise signs, which were permissible and she thought those signs might be confused with signs planted in people's yards. She stated they worked very hard to follow the guidelines that the community had set. Ms. Wittrig said she did know about any signage on vacant lots along Westridge Drive that belonged to MCO. She stated it was their policy not to put real estate signs on vacant home sites anywhere in Fountain Hills. She said she would address that issue with anyone who wanted to bring it up. She said that until yesterday she did not know there was an issue here with their application for extension of the Temporary Use Permit,but was able to obtain 4iiirr packet of letters, which had been distributed to the Council. She said had there been more time, she could have Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 11 of 31 obtained more letters of support. Ms. Wittrig stated they had tried to be good neighbors and she read one of the letters of support (lot owner#32), which was indicative of all. She stated that MCO was selling Crestview homes from the model home center. Patricia Yount, 15204 E.Westridge Dr. She stated that she was against the home center from day one and was opposed to the extension of the temporary use permit. She noted that they had been the first homeowners. Since they had moved there sixteen homes had been built with four more under construction. She thought that in two years Westridge should be built out. She said there were sandwich type signs at the entrance to Westridge Estates, which advertised lots for sales. Although there were only four lots for sale, they were all owned by MCO. The design center was staffed by about 10— 12 people. She stated that the dirt parking lot had numerous cars parked there at any time that someone would go there. Ms. Yount said the community CCRs do not allow residents to park cars in the driveway overnight, yet these cars are parked there and there have been tour buses parked there. She pointed out that there have been tour buses, which drive back and forth down their no outlet street, creating traffic and rubbernecking by people thinking that there were model homes to tour and lots for sale. She wanted to know who wrote the five letters of support. Mr. Yount, 15204 E.Westridge Dr. He agreed with his wife and was against the extension of the temporary use permit. He said that MCO owned lots 1 & 2. He thought their gravel lot for parking should have been paved. Adjacent to that was lot #3, which was nothing but dirt, which was used for individual parking and for the parking of 40-and 50 passenger tour buses. He noted that these buses go back and forth on a cul-de-sac road creating traffic. Dori Wittrig, MCO Properties She said she found it distressing to know that people were concerned about their operation. With regard to the tour buses, she explained that they brought realtors to Fountain Hills. MCO felt for years that people in the valley did not understand Fountain Hills so this was a way of educating realtors. She offered to make changes to that situation, as that was unacceptable to the neighborhood. She reiterated that they were very careful about their signage. She pointed out that people like to drive around looking at lots and houses. Ms. Wittrig felt that even if Nisr their signage wasn't there, she guessed there would still some of that traffic because people were curious. She stated they would do whatever they could to minimize that. She hoped that they could make this work. She did remind the Council that MCO applied for the permit one year before they were able to use the center as they had wanted to make sure that it was an approved usage. She said they've had a year at that location and would like to continue in that location. Councilman Wyman said he was on the Council when the original decision was made to support the placement of the custom home center there. One of the reasons he was glad to see that happen was that Westridge was not built out. He suspected that Crestview would then be promoted and that would enhance custom homes and sites in that particular area. As he understood it, there were sixteen home now completed in Westridge with four more under construction, with a total of forty lots. All of the lots were owned except for four, which were still for sale. It seemed clear to him that under the circumstances that Westridge had been sold out although there was some advantage in promoting Crestview. He said two years from now if MCO came back for another extension, and he was again on the Council,he would vote no. Councilman Kavanagh said comments from some of the area residents had raised a lot of questions that he would like to have resolved before he could make a decision on this issue, one of which was allegations of sign code violations. Senior Planner Burkhardt responded that the residents referred to their community CCRs and that MCO only had one sign on site and their one off premise non-directional sign. Mr. Nordin clarified that the resident was quoting from some type of deed restriction and not quoting from Town regulations. If that were correct, the Town would not have any control or enforcement authority over those deed restrictions. Councilman Kavanagh asked if CCRs were out of the Town's purview. Mr. Nordin responded yes. Councilman Kavanagh then asked about the allegation of the applicant using a dirt lot for parking. Director Valder Nay stated the resident's comment was viewed as a complaint so he would have the Marshals Department go by on Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 12 of 31 weekends. If it was a violation then the owner of the vacant lot would be cited. Councilman Kavanagh asked if the model home was also serving Crestview. Senior Planner Burkhardt said yes, the Temporary Use Permit allowed the applicant to market any product within the Town of Fountain Hills. Councilman Kavanagh inquired how many lots were available in Crestview. Senior Planner Burkhardt said approximately 100. Councilman Kavanagh asked if there was a policy in place that stated when this type of a use ended. Senior Planner Burkhardt stated that this was an approved use by issuance of a renewable Temporary Use Permit, which was now being reviewed by the Council. Councilman Kavanagh then asked if there were any guidelines for the issuance of this application. Mr. Nordin stated this process that the Council was now participating in was in the Town's control. He pointed out that the application would come up for review every two years. Councilman Kavanagh gave an example of his question. He said if Crestview only had two lots left and Westridge only had one lot left, could the Council still grant a two- year permit for a real estate operation there. Mr. Nordin responded that would be the Council's prerogative if requested. Director Valder replied that there were some limitations on the types of usage that could happen within that house. He said they could not sell homes that were already constructed, land within a subdivision that had a model home in that plat already, or property outside of the master plan village. He explained that when the original application came in two years ago, he had understood that MCO's master plan village consisted of lots that hadn't sold or future lots that would become available in the western half of the Town. He concurred with Mr. Nordin that the Town's control came every two years when the application was reviewed. He also agreed with Councilman Wyman scenario. If all of the lots in that plat where this house was now located in were to be sold, the Town could then inform the applicant that the time had come to construct a new sales center closer to where the lots were marketed. Vice Mayor Hutcheson clarified that Town staff would address the issue of parking on the vacant lot. Director Valder responded yes. Staff would address the issue of parking on lot one over from the approved parking lot. Vice Mayor Hutcheson asked Ms. Wittrig if she had agreed to address the tour bus traffic issue. Ms. Wittrig said yes. She said that regarding the parking issue,MCO owned the third lot as well. When that development occurred there was a large cut there and MCO had purposely kept that lot open for any overflow parking. They had thought that was better than having them park on the street. She stated that MCO did not direct traffic to park there but she acknowledged that it was there if the home center needed it. Ms. Wittrig pointed out that they had a staff of five working out of the home center and other traffic could be customers' cars. Vice Mayor Hutcheson asked Ms. Wittrig if MCO was aware of the CCRs as they had helped create them. Ms. Wittrig agreed that they were aware of the CCRs. Vice Mayor Hutcheson asked if it would be appropriate to suggest that MCO follow the signage guidelines outlined in the CCRs that were imposed upon the rest of the neighborhood, with exception of the one sign. She said did not believe that MCO had done that, in fact it was company policy, regardless of what the deed restrictions or Town ordinance restrictions were, that for sale signs were not to be placed on vacant lots. She did agree to check into it for the resident. Councilman McNeill noted that the letter read by Ms. Wittrig was from someone who intended to be a resident, but lists a Scranton, PA, address today. He suggested that if that person lived there today and was experiencing the things that the residents had brought to the Council's attention, he might feel differently. He agreed that MCO had made an investment at that site and it was not appropriate to close them down tonight, but he questioned if the extension should be considered for one year. Councilman McNeill said if there were continuing problems the Council could then look at the situation to see if it should be continued for an additional year. Director Valder said the Council was free to do so. Councilwoman Fraverd stated that in her opinion this use was borderline commercial use. Because there were enough empty lots in that particular area there might have been some reasoning for placing the center there. She was concerned that there were many lots becoming available in the western part of Town and it could be ten or fifteen years before the lots were sold out. She did not think it was fair for the residents to have this center in their area for that length of time. Councilwoman Fraverd pointed out she had not heard about a specific cut off time for this home center. She pointed out that that the CCRs stated there was to be no parking in the driveway and she did not iflow think MCO could get around that issue. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 13 of 31 Councilwoman Fraverd AMENDED the motion to extend the temporary use permit to November 10, 2001 and Councilman Kavanagh SECONDED the motion. Mayor Morgan said that much had been made of this home center being located in a residential neighborhood. She pointed out that there were many neighborhoods where custom homes were used as model homes. She stated that there were some neighborhoods where they were still used as model homes. She felt that made the previous statement null and void that there was a commercial use in this particular neighborhood. A model home anywhere else should also be considered commercial use if they did indeed make sales from that home. Mayor Morgan expressed concern with only extending the permit for one year in view of the fact that MCO had only gotten the permit one year before the home center opened. She asked if the Council was indeed telling MCO to start building another home center elsewhere because the Council might not approve another temporary use permit a year from now and then they would be out. Councilwoman Fraverd said yes. She pointed out that MCO had another development south of Shea Boulevard. She said if MCO asked for support for a model home in that area she would probably have said yes because they had many lots for sale there. She clarified that she did not want to see a home center go on forever(with regard to FireRock) as residents there would probably not like to have a model home on their street or next to them for any length of time. She felt that use was appropriate for a while but not in perpetuity. Councilwoman Fraverd said that previous model homes had been for one builder and in this instance it was for a group of builders. To her it put the use closer to a commercial project than having just one particular builder and a limited number of lots that he might be showing versus what was being looked at with the home center situation. Mayor Morgan asked if the temporary use permit should be worded differently since this was worded for the western area of Town. She did not believe that the model had been set up just for WestRidge. Director Valder responded that MCO was free to sell lots anywhere within the Town out of this structure. He repeated the sales limitations imposed on the home center. He explained his understanding why this location had been attractive to MCO. He said that shortly after Palisades had opened up, MCO realized that most of the traffic coming from Scottsdale would want to turn down Palisades to head to the newer platted regions of town. MCO had identified this WestRidge lot as an excellent location because it was essentially right off Palisades. By traveling east or north, traffic would be coming into their newly platted areas. He said that two years ago MCO had expressed their desire to keep the home center open as long as they could. Director Valder pointed out it was up to the Council to collectively make the decision as to how long it was appropriate for the master plan village sales and information center to stay open. He said it was not actually called a model home as it had a more complicated title. He suggested that the Council might want to consider modifying characteristics of the model home operation to bring it into compliance with what the Council felt the neighborhood might want. Mr. Nordin asked Mr. Farrell if it was appropriate for the Council to actually change the code provisions that Director Valder was quoting. Mr. Nordin said with regard to stipulations that could be put on the Temporary Use Permit(TUP). He asked Mr. Farrell for comment. Mr. Farrell responded that the Council could not change the text of the code tonight. However, the code in Section D, under master planned village and information centers, stated that in granting the use permit the Council could consider lighting, landscaping, hours of operation, signage,parking, duration, and neighborhood impact. Councilman Wyman recommended that the permit be extended for the two-year period. He pointed out that the sales center served the communities of Westridge, Stoneridge, and Crestview and there was some time between build out that would make having the sales center an advantage for the same reason that the previous Council granted the TUP two years ago. He hoped that MCO was on notice that this could be a problem two years from now. He did not think that two-years was a long period of time. He wanted the residents that have homes in Westridge to know that there was a termination point for this sales center two years out. He felt that should give those residents some comfort and give time as well to MCO Realty to consider other options. • • Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 14 of 31 Councilman Kavanagh asked for clarification with regard to the amendment. Mr. Farrell said there was a motion and a second to amend the motion for approval of the two-year extension and that had to be voted on first. Councilman Kavanagh asked if the amendment changed the extension from two years to one. Mr. Farrell confirmed c. that was correct. Councilman Kavanagh asked if that was legal. Mr. Farrell said absolutely yes, the Council could make the duration sixteen minutes or sixteen months. He said that there had been an indication earlier that there was somehow a geographic area referred to in the Code. He confirmed that there wasn't. Councilman Kavanagh asked if one year from now if things became very friendly between the center and the neighbors it could extended for an additional year. Mr. Farrell said yes,it could be extended for a year or two. Vice Mayor Hutcheson asked if the home center was found to be in violation of stipulations, how did that affect a temporary use permit, was there a revocation of it. Director Valder replied that a TUP had to stay consistent with all of the conditions placed upon it. If staff determined that there was a violation of one of the stipulations, they would bring it to the Town Council for revocation of the TUP. Vice Mayor Hutcheson reiterated that in addition to being in compliance with the TUP stipulations,the applicant would have to comply with the Code. She asked if the TUP were to granted for two years and the applicant was found to be in violation of any of the Town codes, the Council could possibly revoke that TUP. Director Valder said possibly, but staff would first try to work with them and bring them into compliance. If they refused, then staff could bring it to the council. Mr. Farrell reminded the Council that a violation of Town Code,no matter how serious on lot three, would not affect lots one and two. Councilman McNeill wanted MCO to know that if the Council approved a one year extension, in his mind it did not preclude them from asking for additional extensions whether for one or two years at that time. Given the concerns that the Council had heard,he felt it appropriate to consider granting the TUP for a shorter time period. If at the end of another year they were selling lots at Crestview and still had empty lots at Westridge, it might be appropriate at that time to extend the term for an additional period of time. He said he was inclined to grant a one-year extension. A roll call vote was taken with the following results. Councilman Wyman nay Councilman McNeill - aye spe Vice Mayor Hutcheson - aye Councilwoman Fraverd- aye Mayor Morgan- nay Councilwoman Ralphe— aye Councilman Kavanagh- aye The amended motion CARRIED on a vote of 5—2. AGENDA ITEM#17- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-21 AMENDING THE TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW ARTICLE 7- 10, DEVELOPMENT FEE PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS, CONSISTING OF SECTION 7-10-1 PURPOSE AND INTENT; SECTION 7-10-2 DEFINITIONS; SECTION 7-10-3 GENERAL PROVISIONS, APPLICABILITY; SECTION 7-10-4 PROCEDURES FOR IMPOSITION, CALCULATION AND COLLECTION OF DEVELOPMENT FEES; SECTION 7-10-5 ESTABLISHMENT OF DEVELOPMENT FEE ACCOUNTS, APPROPRIATION OF DEVELOPMENT FEE FUNDS AND REFUNDS; SECTION 7- 10-6 APPEALS; AND SECTION 7-10-7 EXEMPTIONS AND WAIVERS; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Director Valder gave an overview of the process that the Town had gone through so far. He said this meeting was at least two weeks after having held the public hearing so if the Council chose they could adopt the ordinances that would adopt the fees. He said that Ordinance 00-21 was the ordinance that created the procedures on how all of the fees work. He pointed out that Ordinances 00-22 through 26 were the ordinances that would adopt each individual fee and Ordinance 00-27 was an ordinance that clarified what permit issuance meant. He said that staff anticipated that if the Council adopted the fees, staff would need procedures, which addressed how the effective date happened and how the fees were applied. He said he would provide a mini staff report on each when the individual ordinance ikow came before the Council for consideration. He said that Jim Carpenter, who worked for the consultant, was also present. Director Valder said that the Town Attorney had wanted him here to present for the record their Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 15 of 31 presentation on the fees one last time and to be available to answer any questions. He stated if the Council agreed, staff wanted Mr. Carpenter to make his presentation between Agenda Items 17 and 28. Mayor Morgan asked if the Ordinances contained the changes, which addressed Councilman McNeill's concerns. Director Valder replied yes. He responded that Councilman McNeill had sent an e-mail to Mr. Nordin pointing out typographical errors. Director Valder wanted those changes to be made a part of the motion if the Council chose to approve Ordinance 00-21. He listed that the changes would affect pages 2, 4, 5, 6, and 13 as reflected in Councilman McNeill's e-mail. Councilman McNeill MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-21 as presented and Councilwoman Ralphe SECONDED the motion. Councilman Wyman inquired if this Ordinance was just the methodology behind the fees. Mr. Farrell replied that this was what would appear in Town Code and on the Town's website. If anyone was to inquire about any of the numerous things such as offsets, refunds, appeals, exemptions, and waivers and the subsequent ordinances would actually adopt the category and the fee. Councilman Kavanagh said he found the wording of the ordinances somewhat confusing. He asked Councilman McNeill to read the before version and corrected version with respect to the payment of the fees. Mr. Farrell said that issue was on a different ordinance later in the agenda. The motion CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#18- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-22 AMENDING THE TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 7- 10-8, TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF A TOWN MARSHAL DEVELOPMENT FEE ON ALL NEW RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PAYABLE AT THE TIME OF Now BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE TO PROVIDE FOR NECESSARY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND PATROL AND OTHER VEHICLES TO SERVE PROJECTED DEMAND RESULTING FROM NEW RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PERIOD 2000 TO 2020 AT THE LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS) STANDARD CURRENTLY BEING PROVIDED IN THE TOWN; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Director Valder introduced Mr. Jim Carpenter, BBC representative and a consultant to Giardina who had prepared the development fee study. Mr. Carpenter reviewed his presentation. He gave a brief definition of development fees and the methodology used for this Town Marshal fee. He emphasized that when considering development fees that these were fees that had to be charged to new growth against new development projects. He pointed out that the fees did not apply to the resale of existing homes. Mr. Carpenter said the fees had to support infrastructure, which applied to capital development and did not apply to any operating deficit that might be implied by new growth. He stated that the fees had to be the proportional amount of capital development that was required by the new growth and development. Mr. Carpenter reviewed the Town's standards in place and what was required to determine what development fees could be charged. He noted that those standards flowed out of the three principles he had just talked about: • The fees only apply to a specific kind of capital infrastructure, with the purpose of serving new growth and maintaining service standards. • The fees must reflect the Town's current service standards • The fees must be proportional to the impact that a particular residential or commercial development might have on the Town's capital needs. • The fees must meet certain accounting requirements and must be segregated in a certain fund for tracking purposes to ensure all of the standards just talked about were met. Mr. Carpenter described the methodology used to calculate all but one of the fees. He acknowledged that the Street fee was calculated a little bit differently. He presented their fee calculations, which were recommended as the Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 16 of 31 maximum legally allowable fee that could be charged: per Residential unit - $32.00 and per Commercial unit - $0.02 per sq. ft. He said it was important to remember that was the fee the Town would need to charge if the Town was to maintain the current standards and the Town was to ask new growth to pay their appropriate share. If the iklay Town were to decide against charging that fee, the Town would then need to make other choices. He pointed out two alternative options. The Town could choose to have a different service standard or to fund the growth through other methods if a lesser amount was chosen. He then presented a summary of all of the fees that the Council would be considering based upon their recommendations: • Residential—approximately $3495.00 • Multi-family—approximately $3211.00 • Commercial -$2.25 sq. ft. • Industrial -$0.88 sq. ft. He concluded his presentation and reviewed the total revenue projections based upon the development projections from the Town's Planning office. He explained that based upon the development that had yet to happen between today and build out, they estimated that the Town would collect approximately $16.5 million towards new capital infrastructure as a result of these fees. Mr. Carpenter said that was the portion that the Town would need to recover if the Town was to recover the cost of the capital infrastructure required to serve new growth at the existing service standard in Fountain Hills. Councilwoman Fraverd MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-22 as presented and Councilman McNeill SECONDED the motion. Mayor Morgan AMENDED the motion to approve the residential fees as presented and reduce the non-residential fees to zero with direction to staff to research development fee options for non-residential development fees and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the amendment. Mayor Morgan stated that she would be making the same request on Ordinances 00-23 (Streets) and 00-26 (Federal Government) non-residential fees. She proposed that for each of these three ordinances (00-21, 00-23, and 00-26) that the proposed fees for the non-residential development fees be reduced to zero with direction given to Paul and staff to further research options for reducing the amounts on non-residential development fees. She suggested that at a later date the Council could again consider recommended amounts for the individual fees with regard to these three ordinances. She explained that in this manner the Town could leave all of the appropriate written mechanisms in place and give the Town additional time to consider what the appropriate amounts for non-residential development fees should be. She hoped that the other Councilmembers would support this idea. Councilman Wyman asked for a point of order. If the Council was considering just one ordinance, wasn't such a blanket request out of order. Mayor Morgan said she could remove her reference at this time to Ordinance 00-23 and 00-26, but she would reread the statement each time. Mr. Nordin clarified that the Mayor would not have to repeat her statement, she would just have to make a short amendment. Councilman Wyman said he would support that amendment because he agreed that issue needed additional study. Councilman Kavanagh said he would also support the motion, as it was his understanding that other large revenue generating projects, such as the hotel, could be jeopardized if the commercial fees were passed at this level. Vice Mayor Hutcheson said that at some point the Town needed to have impact fees on commercial development. In reviewing that out of the whole development fee for commercial that the sanitary and water did take up a considerable part of that, but she had some concern about the proposed fee. Since the Town was in the process of encouraging development, particularly in the Town Center commercial, she wanted staff to restudy that issue to see if the fees could be brought into line before a decision was made. Councilwoman Fraverd was confused and concerned because of the prior statements made by Councilmembers. She asked why these comments weren't brought up a couple of meetings ago at the public hearing, or when the fees were first initiated. She said that if there were concerns, it seemed that the time to go back and take a look at them was back then. Councilwoman Fraverd wanted more explanation as to why there was a change of venue. Mayor Morgan said she had done some thinking since then. She said she had not agreed with that issue then and did not Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 17 of 31 agree with it now and was thus stating that point now. Councilwoman Ralphe said she also had concerns. The businesses in this community had paid to make government what it is, as have present homeowners. She was confused as to why the Town won't impose development fees so that new business could pay the price of government services that were required. She did not think the Council could say the Town would or would not have development fees. She said it was time to face the fact that government costs money. She pointed out that there would be development fees or new taxes. Some way or another, new government to cover new development had to be paid for. If it were paid for by taxes, it would be double taxation on the part of the existing businesses and homeowners. Mayor Morgan replied it was not her intent that commercial would be exempt from development fees. Her purpose was to have the rates studied further. She agreed that everyone who was new should have development fees. She said all that she was asking for was a little more time to look at the commercial fees. Councilman Kavanagh said there were ways to cut down on other taxes besides imposing very high development fees. One way would be to cut down on large ticket items. Councilman McNeill said that by taking an action like this it should not be read as an indication that the Council was backing away completely from development fees. He suggested there were other approaches instead of taking the non-residential fees to zero with staff reporting back to the Council. He felt that by doing that the Council would put back an increase on the table. He said if they adopted a fee, it would require an additional notice period. He pointed out that the Council had already had the notice and the required public hearing leading to further delay in imposing the development fees. He agreed this issue could be studied and debated. He noted that there was tension when thinking about imposing fees on new commercial development at the same time the Town was trying to promote, attract, and develop the downtown area. He said instead of studying, debating, or thinking about it, perhaps the Council could cut the proposed fee in half and adopt that fee. He suggested that the Council could decide to adjust the fee in the future if they needed to. He said he would support adopting that fee and would restrict that action to the Street fee. Councilman Wyman believed there should be some fee and his concern had been the amount of the fee. At this stage of the Town's development he did not have any concern about imposing development fees on new homes. With regard to commercial, the current residents would benefit from the commercial development coming into Town. He said there should there be some additional commercial fee because there would have to be additional police support,roads might have to widened somewhat so he was not opposed to Councilman McNeill's suggestion. He said the only reason he had indicated support of the Mayor's suggestion was if the fee was being reduced to zero and then later examined, what the specific requirements might be. He pointed out that the Mayor's amendment was on the floor. Councilman Kavanagh said that if an exact amount was to be imposed, it would take more thought and input than just saying let's cut the fee in half. He felt that would send a bad message to everyone including the business community that the Council would be so arbitrary. He stated that additional thought and staff input was need. He added that by cutting the fee in half it would still keep the total impact fee for everything (including water and sewer) in the area of $29,000 for a 10,000 sq. ft. commercial facility. He said that fee was quite high when compared to other towns in the area. He pointed out that Fountain Hills was in competition for commercial business, which gave the Town property taxes,jobs, and also generated sales tax. He did not want to rush in with a flat figure but would rather that the issue be studied further as he felt the Town still had time before any large project was submitted. Mr. Nordin said that Councilman McNeill was correct with regard to the delay that would occur if the Council adopted the amendment as the Mayor proposed as it would indeed be an increase in fees. He estimated what the new time frame would be. If the Mayor's amendment passed, it would add two full months to the process of adopting development fees for implementing the non-residential development fees. He said the earliest date that another public hearing could be held would be the first Council meeting in January. The earliest date that an impact fee could be adopted would be the second Council meeting in January. Therefore, it would be ninety days after the ikirr Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 18 of 31 second Council meeting in January when the fees could be implemented, which would be in mid April instead of mid-February. illow Mr. Nordin said it was his understanding that the Council had within its prerogative this evening to cut the development fees as suggested by Councilman McNeill,if that was the Council's desire. Councilwoman Fraverd asked if the Council couldn't just pass the original fees and at a later date come back and reduce the fees if necessary. Mr. Farrell said the same public notices would be required. Councilwoman Fraverd said that way no one would have the opportunity to slip through the loop. Mayor Morgan responded she would rather be reviewed as careful and not greedy and get some commercial establishments. Councilman McNeill agreed his suggestion was arbitrary but then anything that the Council did other than adopting the maximum rate was arbitrary. He said the issue could be studied but again anything short of adopting the full rate was arbitrary. Councilman McNeill AMENDED that the non-commercial development fees be cut in half. Mr. Farrell pointed out that there had not been a vote on the first amendment yet. Councilman McNeill withdrew his amendment. Councilman Kavanagh said it was important to recognize the audience when talking commercial and industrial impact fees. He noted that these were businessmen who looked at the bottom line,profit and loss, investments, and the Town's future. He said these people who invest their own money want stability. By imposing 50% or imposing the full fee, only to back off later, the Town was communicating to the business community that this was an unstable Town and unpredictable. They will ask why risk money in that type of environment. He supported the Mayor's position. Councilwoman Ralphe reminded the Council that it was the Council's job to take care of the Town government's bottom line. She was concerned that if no commercial fees were adopted this evening the Town would lose income for the citizens in terms of impact fees from a Hilton Hotel and Barclay Group's Target Shopping Center. She felt those would be substantial loses. Mayor Morgan contended that the Town needed to be careful when talking about the government. She felt the Town might stand to lose a lot more if businesses decide not to build here because the Town will have cut them out all together. She noted that the Town might be losing income either way whether it was in the short term or permanently. Councilman Kavanagh said that the bottom line of business was as much the Council's bottom line as the bottom line of individual residents. He said the Town could not survive without businesses and commercial property,as it was the lifeblood of any town. He agreed that businesses needed to be attracted. He stated that some fee was needed, but he did not want to scare businesses away or send a message that the Town was erratic. He wanted the opportunity to think about the fees. Councilwoman Fraverd stated that she had not been contacted by any business owner expressing concern that the rates were too high. Nor had any business owner made the request to her that the Council reexamine the rates. She was not sure where some of the Council was getting their information. Mayor Morgan said that she had heard from several today who had thought that the Council had already made up their minds to impose the fees and there was no reason to come to the Council meeting tonight. They thought it was a"slam dunk". Vice Mayor Hutcheson reiterated that development fees on commercial and industrial development were necessary. She expressed that she had also heard concerns today. In looking at the numbers, she too had a few concerns. She said that when looking at the bottom line on the impact fees the Council had to consider those, which come from the Town and those that come from other sources, which would make a huge difference. She said she could not agree with just cutting the fees in half, because she needed a rationale as to why she was doing that. She pointed out that after staff had time to study the fees, in fact, the fees might not be at 50% of the proposed fee. Vice Mayor Hutcheson wanted staff to have the time to complete the research and to come back to the Council with justification Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 19 of 31 for the recommended numbers. She wanted time to re-evaluate the fee schedule and she did not think that there would be any significant commercial projects turned in to the Town within that two-month time period. She pointed out that the Town was not currently being over run by commercial development and that was why the Town was hiring a consultant. She agreed that there was small possibility that there might be a large project that could slip through that window. She said that if that happened, she would have to live with that because she wanted to be able justify her decision. Vice Mayor Hutcheson said she would support the Mayor's amendment as is. Councilman Wyman asked that the issues be handled one at a time. Mr. Carpenter pointed out that the Council was discussing the competitive position as a Town and he agreed that was vitally important to what the Council was trying to do. He asked that the Council, while they thought about their options,think about some of the standards previously discussed at the beginning of the process. He stated that if the Council chose to cut the commercial fee in half, the Council had two options. The Council could decide to also cut the residential fee in half or if they were going to charge the full residential fee and charge half of the commercial fee,the Town would pay the difference per square foot out of some other revenue source. He explained those were their options because if the Council charged a residential unit the full amount, they would be paying for a certain service standard. If the Council only collected one half of the commercial amount, the Town would not have the total amount money to deliver the service standard for which the residential unit paid. He pointed out that the residential unit would be paying more than their appropriate share of the capital infrastructure that the Town could develop. If the Town determined that commercial development came to Fountain Hills, the Town would commit money from somewhere else to make the Town whole. He suggested a solution another client had made. That client charged new retail less than the total fee but committed all sales tax revenue collected off that site, for whatever period of time that it would take to make themselves whole, in order to collect the difference. He noted that then the sales tax was not available to pay for operations. He felt it was important to remember that it was not in accordance with direct proportionality standard to charge the full fee to residential,charge some portion of the fee to commercial and then walk away. He stated that the Town would some how have to make themselves whole. Mayor Morgan again reiterated that the Council had not said that there wouldn't be a fee charged to the commercial units. She was just asking for the time to study the issue. Mr. Carpenter asked if the Town collected fees from residential for two months and nothing from commercial for those months, in his mind it would raise some question with regard to equity of those fees collected from the residential. He again stated that by doing so, the Town would not be able to meet that same service standard for which the residential units were paying. In his opinion it would be legitimate to say that the Council was unsure and postpone implementing the fees until April, but to collect only the residential fee would raise some questions and concerns if the Town were to be challenged. Councilman Wyman asked if this wasn't a pocketing issue because basically the Town had been paying all the fees regardless of how and when they were collected. In an upscale community like this that was so far built out, the price of the homes going up from this point forward and would for the most part support residential fees. He noted that Fountain Hills was land locked and would not have the opportunity to expand from a constant income from development. He said that the Town was looking for ways to do two things: • To be financially self sufficient, which meant having continuous revenue. • To serve the newcomers and to provide additional in town services to the residents. Councilman Wyman felt that it would be difficult for potential commercial businesses to make a profit if they had to charge the residents higher prices due to paying these development costs. He was concerned that it might prevent some businesses from locating here if they felt they couldn't make a profit. Mr. Farrell said that Mr. Carpenter had made some legal conclusions that he would not necessarily agree with in terms of the rigidity of the fundamental assumptions. He stated that if the Council was absolutely convinced that the ratios and the assumptions in the package received were the only basis, then maybe the half down theory might come into play. He said that the Council needed to take a number of other factors into consideration, which maybe wasn't done during the initial process. He said that the Council wasn't bound into a rigid mathematical ratio. He iiittir reiterated that what the Council seemed to be requesting was to have staff re-examine the fundamental principles of the report to determine if the ratios that had been established between commercial, industrial and residential were, in Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 20 of 31 fact, those that would produce those kinds of revenue numbers. Or, were there other factors that should be taken into consideration and re-examined. Law Mr. Carpenter pointed out that a lot of the discussion was on the Marshals fee but there had been a reference made to the Street fee. He pointed out that the fee was based on the trips that different kind of land uses generated. He said that was based upon national engineering studies and not anything that his firm had developed. He gave the example of putting in a McDonalds. That use would create a lot more trips than a residential use. He said he would be happy to meet with staff or any of the Council members to talk about any of the assumptions made. He emphasized that was the basic assumption underneath the distribution of the Street fee with regard to how trips were generated. Vladimir Hulpach, 16439 Nicholas Drive. He was surprised at the amount of the proposed commercial fee. He asked the Council to re-examine those rates. Bruce Hansen, Sunburst Drive(Director of the Chamber of Commerce) He and the other directors were concerned that charging these commercial fees would hurt the downtown development. They were opposed to imposing the commercial impact fees at the proposed level and thought it needed to be studied. He stated that businesses could not afford to build here with these rates. He questioned the purpose of Town government amassing money when the Town was in good financial shape and what it would be used for. Bill Pape, 1268 E Emerald Dr. He was concerned that the development fee would hurt the downtown development, as the commercial businesses wouldn't be able to finance their buildings. Carl Bommarito,MCO Properties He stated that commercially the Town was at somewhat of a disadvantage because of the Town's population. He 4,100 agreed with the position of taking additional time to study what the commercial development fees should be. George Post, 17014 E. Rand Dr. He favored passing the fee schedule recommended by the consultant. Councilman Wyman stated that the Town's revenue for the last year was $7,780,000 without state revenues. He noted that all construction related revenues totaled last year $4,181,000 and that calculated to be 53.4% of the total local revenues generated. He said that this Town had gone to a great deal of trouble to preserve the mountains by denying the property owner the right to build in those mountains. This would attract more people to move here because the they wanted to preserve what was here now and for the future residents. He knew the Town wanted to limit the number of people who came here in order to avoid becoming an extension of the metropolis. He explained that for the current residents in this land locked area,the Town needed to be financially self-sufficient. Councilman Wyman pointed out that there were states and towns in this country that went out of their way to give away money to commercial developers in order to create jobs and a revenue stream. He said that the Town desperately requires going forward to replace that 53.4% of locally generated revenues that currently come from construction. He stated that construction was being inhibited by some of the Town's necessary actions but the people had agreed with these actions. He said the way to replace any portion of that 53.4% was to attract businesses to Fountain Hills. He felt that those coming in to build in the upscale areas of Fountain Hills could pay those residential development fees. He wanted to do everything possible to attract businesses to the downtown area, including the small ones. Large commercial development fees would essentially make them change their minds. Councilman Kavanagh AMENDED the amended motion to also reduce the residential development fees to a level of 40% of the recommended rate. He explained that it was not only the commercial fees that were high and excessive but he believed that the residential were high and excessive. He pointed out that if the fees were to be adopted as presented, the Town would wind up with the second highest residential and multi-family impact rates libr and the third highest commercial development fees in the valley. He said that was based upon total payments Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 21 of 31 (including sewer and water), not just for those fees imposed by the Town. In his opinion, he did not feel residential fees could be left out of the picture because that was what the people wound up paying. He felt that the Town could not blindly impose any fee increases and taxes and just because the Council hadn't imposed the other parts of the tittor fees (such as water and sewer). He agreed there should be some fees charged because there was a large number of items that the Town needed to purchase. The cost basis of some of those items included monies that current town residents had never paid for, such as a large amount of open space, cost basis, and parks, cost basis. He felt it was unfair to expect the new residents to pay a high cost basis, when the original residents never paid for most of or a significant portion of that amount. He also pointed out that neighboring towns (Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Paradise Valley) did not charge any impact fees in these areas and he acknowledged that they were Fountain Hills' direct competitors. The only neighboring town that did so was Mesa. He said if the full recommended fee amounts were imposed, it would place Fountain Hills higher than Mesa. He believed that the overall housing costs in Fountain Hills also needed to be considered. He agreed that those people building $300,00—$500,000 houses were not really going to be affected by this, but what about the children. He asked if the citizens would want their children to have to move out of Town because they couldn't afford a house with the inflated prices due to implementing these development fees. He said that for these reasons he would be making this same motion for each fee although he would not be repeating the reasoning each time. The amendment DIED due to the lack of a second. A roll call vote was taken with regard to the amended motion with the following results. Councilman McNeill- nay Vice Mayor Hutcheson- aye Mayor Morgan- aye Councilman Kavanagh- aye Councilwoman Ralphe— nay Councilman Wyman aye Councilwoman Fraverd - nay The amended motion CARRIED on a vote of 4-3. Mayor Morgan called for a five-minute break at 11:00 p.m. Mayor Morgan reconvened the meeting at 11:05 p.m. AGENDA ITEM#19 - CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-23 AMENDING THE TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 7- 10-9, TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF A STREET DEVELOPMENT FEE ON ALL NEW RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PAYABLE AT THE TIME OF BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE TO PROVIDE FOR NECESSARY ARTERIAL STREET WIDENING, STREET BUILDINGS, TRAFFIC SIGNALS AND STREET VEHICLES TO SERVE PROJECTED DEMAND RESULTING FROM NEW RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PERIOD 2000 TO 2020 AT THE LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS) STANDARD CURRENTLY BEING PROVIDED IN THE TOWN; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Councilwoman Fraverd MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-23 as presented and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the motion. Mayor Morgan AMENDED the motion to approve the residential fees as presented and reduce the non-residential fees to zero with direction to staff to research development fee options for non-residential development fees and Councilman Wyman SECONDED the amendment. Councilwoman Fraverd said in reading Councilman McNeill's e-mail she wondered if the Council would have the ability to impose a fee for a certain project if the Council desired. Mr. Farrell responded yes. Councilwoman Fraverd said that if there was a certain commercial project that the Council wanted to see go through, the Council would be able to waive any of the fees that they wanted. Mr. Farrell said that the procedural ordinance that the Council had previously passed set out the process for a number of exceptions. He said the waiver process was one of the terms and conditions, as were appeals, exceptions, and offsets that were available to the Council. He said for some to just come in and say they did not want to pay the fee that would probably not be sufficient for the Council Now Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 22 of 31 to grant a waiver. Councilwoman Fraverd clarified that the Council could consider waiving the fee if the applicant had a valid argument for such a request and Mr. Farrell said that was correct. Mr. Farrell explained that he and Director Valder had worked on a change to Councilman McNeill's considered amendment. He gave an example of a single family resident that took out a building permit and was struggling with financing and had not done anything for 180 days. If that resident came to the Council on the 179 day and requested an extension on the building permit for 6 months, that would have been done by the Mr. Davis at the Building Safety Counter before development fees were imposed. Now the new procedure would include having the resident appear before the Mayor and Council if the building permit had been acquired before February 15t. He gave an example of a situation. The resident Would explain that he could not get his financing. He would state that he had the plans, which had been approved but he did not have the loan. He would ask if he could have a waiver as he had his building permit issued before fees were implemented. It would then be up to the Council to make the final decision. Mr. Farrell stated that after six months,this would cease to be an option because the building permits issued after February 15th, 2000 would all pay the fees. He noted that there was a six month window of opportunity for those folks who were going to get their building permit, before the development fee was in place That person might be in a position where they had not commenced work. He felt there was an extremely small segment of the population that would be affected by this. Councilman Kavanagh AMENDED the amended motion to reduce the residential development fees to a level of 40% of the recommended rate. The amendment DIED due to the lack of a second. Director Valder pointed out a correction. Where the ordinance read per 1,000 square feet it should read per square foot. Edwin Keyes,Agate Knoll He questioned who would pay the commercial development fees if the new commercial did not. Mr. Farrell explained that the specific capital project, at the time for which it was budgeted, would have the Town take a portion of the costs from the development fee and a portion from the other general accounts. The Council would then authorize the Town Manager to go forward, make the improvements, and spend the money. It would come from other sources of funds traditionally. Mr. Keyes stated that then ultimately it would come from the taxpayers in the community. Whether they were residential or commercial taxpayers, they would still have to foot the difference in this amount in order to maintain the same level of service existing prior to the development. Mr. Farrell said that it was not really taxes that they were being charged because everyone that paid the development fee was paying those same sales taxes and property taxes. Mr. Keyes asked if Mr.Farrell would agree it was still a form of a tax. Mr. Farrell clarified it was an allocation issue and not a raising issue. He noted that the Town Manager each year gave the Council his best estimates of the revenues that could be expected to come into the community. Then the Council decided,after mandatory set asides, which were the bond interest funds. Then the Council decides on what they were going spend that money. If one of the projects was one that qualified for the use of development fees, then an allocation would be made out of the development fee account and the rest of the project would be paid for with general fund monies. Whether or not the Town charged commercial development fees or not, that would still be the exact situation. Even if the Town were to charge commercial and industrial development fees starting tonight, the Town would still follow the same procedures. Mr. Keyes felt that that was another way of saying that the rest of the community would subsidize the people who did not pay the commercial development fees. Mayor Morgan pointed out that no one had said that the commercial was not going to pay. She said they were going to pay and it could be the recommended rate or less. She wanted the rates to be studied more before implementation. Mr. Keys was concerned that sometime when things were postponed, it could become indefinite and he did not think that would be fair to the rest of the community. Mayor Morgan agreed with him. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 23 of 31 Vice Mayor Hutcheson concurred with the Mayor saying she did not want this postponed indefinitely. She said it was important to keep in context that right now the Town was paying for everything because there weren't any development fees in place at all. The portion that is now being paid, even though there might be a lapse of two- months in commercial, was still very significant compared to what the Town had now. To keep that current service level,the Town was now paying for everything out of the Town's revenue. Mr. Keyes said that when there was new development, whether it was residential or commercial, there wasn't any question that the new development required additional services. How the Town was paying now was not relevant in the sense that what was being discussed was new development and the additional costs to serve that new development. Vice Mayor Hutcheson pointed out that the Town had been paying for new development all along since this discussion of development fees. This was the change. Otherwise the Town had been picking up those costs. Mr. Keyes did not disagree that commerce must be encouraged but stated that the fairness issue must be resolved. Mayor Morgan said that was why she would like more study. Councilman McNeill said the projected revenue from all of the development fees was a total of$16.5 million over the life of the collection period. Of that, the amount for commercial was projected to be $2.5 million and was relatively a small percentage of the total development fee (15%). He said he was hearing a strong commitment by most of the Councilmembers to move quickly on this issue and to arrive at some figure for a commercial fee. He said his suggestion of 50% of the recommended fee had been described as an arbitrary amount but he wanted to look at it as balancing. Whatever was done would engage a balancing test, which would pit desirable commercial development developing sales tax revenue for the Town against loss of 100% of the development that the Council could otherwise enact. He said he would support this amendment. George Post, 17014 E. Rand Drive. cilleHe felt the Mayor had a conflict of interest with regard to commercial development fees since she was involved with the Chamber by voting for the elimination of commercial fees. Mayor Morgan asked for a response from the Town Attorney regarding Mr. Post's statement. Mr. Farrell said it should be viewed as criticism. A roll call vote was taken with regard to the amended motion with the following results. Councilman Wyman aye Councilman McNeill - aye Vice Mayor Hutcheson - aye Councilwoman Fraverd - nay Councilman Kavanagh- aye Councilwoman Ralphe— nay Mayor Morgan- aye The amended motion CARRIED on a vote of 5 -2. AGENDA ITEM#20- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-24 AMENDING THE TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 7- 10-10,TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF A PARKS AND RECREATION DEVELOPMENT FEE ON ALL NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PAYABLE AT THE TIME OF BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE TO PROVIDE FOR PARK LAND PURCHASES, PARK CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENTS AND PARK CONTROL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION TO SERVE PROJECTED DEMAND RESULTING FROM NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PERIOD 2000 TO 2020 AT THE LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS) STANDARD CURRENTLY BEING PROVIDED IN THE olor TOWN;PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Director Valder pointed out that there was only a residential fee for the Parks and Recreation fee. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 24 of 31 Vice Mayor Hutcheson MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-24 as presented and Councilman McNeill SECONDED the motion. Councilman Kavanagh AMENDED the amended motion to also reduce the residential development fees to a level of 40% of the recommended rate. The amendment DIED due to the lack of a second. A roll call vote was taken with the following results. Councilman McNeill- aye Vice Mayor Hutcheson- aye Mayor Morgan - ' aye Councilman Kavanagh- nay Councilwoman Ralphe— aye Councilman Wyman aye Councilwoman Fraverd- aye The motion CARRIED on a vote of 6 - 1. AGENDA ITEM#21 - CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-25 AMENDING THE TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 7- 10-11, TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF AN OPEN SPACE DEVELOPMENT FEE ON ALL NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PAYABLE AT THE TIME OF BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE TO PROVIDE FOR OPEN SPACE LAND PURCHASES AND OPEN SPACE DEVELOPMENT TO SERVE PROJECTED DEMAND RESULTING FROM NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PERIOD 2000 TO 2020 AT THE LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS) STANDARD CURRENTLY BEING PROVIDED IN THE TOWN; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Director Valder said he would be happy to answer any questions and staff recommended approval. Councilwoman Ralphe MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-25 as presented and Councilman McNeill SECONDED the motion. Councilman Kavanagh AMENDED the amended motion to also reduce the residential development fees to a level of 40% of the recommended rate. The amendment DIED due to the lack of a second. Councilman Kavanagh asked Director Valder if any and all lands that the residents hadn't paid for but were in fact donated or otherwise acquired by grants or other means, were used in calculating the cost basis and how that would affect the recommended current fee. Director Valder said there were two things that the residents had paid for: a small portion of the postcard ridge land and they had allocated $1.5 million towards open space in the mountains. He estimated that if the fees were calculated only on that, it would be a$158.48 instead of$1258 per unit. Vice Mayor Hutcheson asked if that same formula was to be used for any of the other fees, particularly the Parks fee, she guessed that would significantly reduce the other fees as well. Director Valder replied probably, although he had not calculated that. Councilman McNeill said that this exercise was to make sure that the level of service was maintained. To do that, it was absolutely essential, that the full value of the property be looked at which was dedicated to these purposes regardless of whether it was Parks or Open Space. He said the Town was not looking to receive any free land in the future. He pointed out that the Town might be lucky enough to acquire grants for Parks and Recreation, but maybe not. He said he had heard some people speculate that the Town already had received their share of grants for Parks and Recreation so that might be a thing of the past. He had certainly not heard anyone suggesting that the Town would be getting any free land for open space or for the preserve. He concluded that to maintain the level of service he did not see how the Council could do anything but to proceed with the full fee valuation. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 25 of 31 Councilman Kavanagh said he had asked at the last hearing about the question of donations being removed and what the amount would be. He paraphrased the response that the calculations would be much too difficult and really weren't available. He said that in his own rough estimates it would have be somewhere around 40% and that was why he had been going with the 40% level. He did not think it was fair to claim that new people should pay their fair way. He understood that these figures were the legal maximum fee that could be charged. He noted that the Council did not have to charge it and the Council could make that determination. Just because the Council could legally do something didn't mean it was the right,the fair, or the prudent thing to do. Vice Mayor Hutcheson understood Councilman Kavanagh's point, but the numbers that the Council was considering were to maintain the Town's level of services. Therefore, if someone was advocating additional services in any way, such as increasing open space or adding new facilities, or park facilities, the Council could not support that because where would the Town get the money from if there weren't any impact fees. A roll call vote was taken with regard to the motion with the following results. Councilwoman Fraverd- aye Councilman Kavanagh- nay Councilwoman Ralphe— aye Councilman Wyman aye Councilman McNeill - aye Vice Mayor Hutcheson- aye Mayor Morgan- aye The motion CARRIED on a vote of 6- 1. AGENDA ITEM#22- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-26 AMENDING THE TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 7- 10-12, TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPOSITION OF A GENERAL GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT FEE ON ALL NEW RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PAYABLE AT THE TIME OF BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE TO PROVIDE FOR NECESSARY LAND PURCHASES, BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO EXISTING TOWN-OWNED BUILDINGS TO SERVE PROJECTED DEMAND RESULTING FROM NEW RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PERIOD 2000 TO 2020 AT THE LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS) STANDARD CURRENTLY BEING PROVIDED IN THE TOWN; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Director Valder requested that the Council make the one change where it said 1,000 square feet. Councilwoman Fraverd MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-26 as presented and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the motion. Mayor Morgan AMENDED the motion to approve the residential fees as presented and reduce the non-residential fees to zero with direction to staff to research development fee options for non-residential development fees and Councilman Kavanagh SECONDED the amendment. Councilwoman Ralphe said she would again pass a no vote, which indicated her desire that the Town levy the fees equally against both homeowners and commercial establishments. A roll call vote was taken with regard to the amended motion with the following results. Councilman Wyman aye Councilman McNeill - aye Vice Mayor Hutcheson - aye Councilwoman Fraverd- nay Mayor Morgan - aye Councilwoman Ralphe— nay Councilman Kavanagh- aye Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 26 of 31 The amended motion CARRIED on a vote of 5 -2. AGENDA ITEM#23- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-27 AMENDING THE TOWN low CODE, CHAPTER 7, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 7- 10-13,ENTITLED PERMIT ISSUANCE. Director Valder explained that this was the last of the ordinances on fees. This ordinance had to do with how things would be handled right around the effective date. This ordinance clarified what constitutes permit issuance. Ordinance 00-21 said that if the permit were issued by the effective date the applicant would not have to pay the fee. Staff also wanted to note that if a complete application were made by the effective date the applicant would also then get in under the wire. This ordinance clarified that situation. Sections A,B. C talk about if the application was made under the wire for the purposes of the fee that constitutes a permit issuance. He again referred to Councilman McNeill's e-mail. Staff suggested that the Council make the change that Councilman McNeill suggested to the paragraph on page one. He said that he and the Town Attorney also asked that they add the language after that, which had had been outlined. Director Valder said that Section C had to do with if a permit was issued prior to the effective date and six months passed and no work had happened on the project. It covered what happened next. That section provides for an extension that the Town could give to an applicant in an administrative manner. The ordinance said that might be OK but the applicant would not get the fees waived at that time but would come before the Council for a waiver on a case by case basis. He explained that the added language at the bottom, covered what would happen if the Council denied the fee waiver. The applicant would then have a thirty-day period to pay the fee or the building permit would be revoked. Director Valder noted one other change, Sub Section E on page 2 change October to February. Councilwoman Fraverd MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-27 as presented and Councilwoman Ralphe SECONDED the motion. Councilwoman Fraverd said she found the wording confusing, permit issuance versus permit application. Usually when someone thinks a permit was issued that they had received the permit. What was really being said was that they had until February 14 to apply for the permit. Director Valder said that was correct. Councilwoman Fraverd asked why staff didn't just say permit application instead of issuance. Director Valder said that these codes had been taken from the Town of Queen Creek and our Town Attorney had a heavy hand in preparing those. That was how it had been structured. Instead of reinventing the wheel he had just used those ordinances. Councilwoman Fraverd said she had received a letter from someone who had misunderstood due to the language used. Mr. Farrell explained the methodology used to prepare the ordinances. The motion CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#24- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-28 AMENDING SECTION 12-4-2, SUBSECTION A. OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN CODE, TO REDUCE THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF RESTRICTED PARKING SIGNS FOR PRIVATE PARKING AREAS AND TO MODIFY THE INFORMATION REQUIRED ON SUCH SIGNS. Director Valder said a request had been made by Mr. Robert Sternfelds, an attorney who was quite active with Plat 208 property association, if not the president of the association. He noted that Mr. Sternfelds wrote the Town Manager a few weeks ago to request that staff look into a little reviewed part of the Town Code having to do with those signs that were seen in commercial parking lots. He referred to the signs that display tow away zone and include the name of the code section which enables the property owner to tow away illegally parked cars. It also includes the phone number to the Sheriffs. He said that the current Town Code requires such a sign needs to be visible from any point in the parking lot. Mr. Sternfelds felt that would require an inordinately large number of these signs. His second request was that the Town should not provide the phone number to the local law enforcement agency. His third request was that the signs should not list the maximum towing charge. Director Valder said he reviewed this with the Town Marshal and they felt that there was merit in reducing the number of Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 27 of 31 signs. He said then they put themselves in the position of someone who had just had their car towed away. Without the telephone number or maximum towing charge on the sign, they felt that the average person would not know whom to call. Staff also wanted to have some control on the amount that the towing company might try to collect. He explained that Ordinance 00-29 allowed for a reduced number of signs, which would be placed at the entrance to the parking lot from the public street. Director Valder said that staff had also made a small change in the telephone number requirement. Currently the code required that the Town Marshals' and the Sheriffs number be printed on the sign. They felt that all that was needed was the Town's law enforcement phone number, so that change had been made. Staff also kept the sign requirement for the maximum towing charge information. He noted that a small change had been made to reduce the size of the sign on the Town Code section. He said staff recommended approval. Mr. Nordin pointed out that he had contacted Mr. Sternfelds, who was agreeable to staffs proposed changes. Councilman Wyman MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-28 and Councilwoman Ralphe SECONDED the motion. Councilman McNeill asked what was the problem. Were there parking lots that weren't posted at all? Director Valder replied that the Plat 208 Property Owners Association was trying to get their act together. They were looking at what Town Code requirements had to be complied with in order to get their parking lots up to code. They had questioned why they had to place hundreds of these towing signs all over the lot. Councilman McNeill said it seemed reasonable to cut down the number of signs. He asked if it would be reasonable to tie the number of required signs to the size of the lot, with a look at the number of spaces in the lot. He felt that for everyone to see the signs, it would require more than just one sign at the entrance. Director Valder proposed adding the phrase "as required by the Town Engineer". Councilman McNeill acknowledged that would give some flexibility. Mayor Morgan asked where they wanted the signs. Director Valder said they wanted the signs on the common parking lots in Plat 208. Mayor Morgan asked if they would have to drill holes in the pavement to place the signs. Director Valder said for the property owner to tow away cars, they had to have the signs. Mayor Morgan said staff needed to look into that issue a little more. She explained someone who works in Plat 208 and they had been told they could put up signs that said private parking. She said that if a space was labeled for "Sharon Morgan" and someone beat her to the space there wouldn't be anything that she could do to remove the car. She noted that had come directly from the board members of Plat 208. Director Valder said that from a common parking space utilization point of view, he would have to take a look at this to see if the Town would permit the Plat 208 owners from restricting those common usage-parking spaces for specific people. Mayor Morgan then asked why they needed those signs if they were going to tow someone away. Director Valder responded he did not know. Director Gendler said these were the signs that were seen at Safeway. He said these signs were required before the property owner could have them towed away. They were also in places such as apartment parking lots so people couldn't store private vehicles and things. He explained that was how those signs were used right now. He said he did not know what the Plat 208 people had in mind. Mayor Morgan asked what the Town Engineer had to do with the placement of these signs. Director Valder said the Town Engineer was the person who was most responsible for reviewing parking lot layouts and issues. Councilman McNeill AMENDED the motion to add the phrase "as required by the Town Engineer" to Ordinance 00-28 as discussed and Councilwoman Fraverd SECONDED the motion. The amended motion CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#25 - PUBLIC HEARING ON ORDINANCE 00-29 AMENDING THE "C-2 PUD INTERMEDIATE COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT ZONING DISTRICT ORDINANCE" THAT WAS ADOPTED BY ORDINANCE 00-06, AKA THE SHEA RETAIL CENTER (TARGET) PROPERTY, SO THAT "AUTOMOBILE FUEL DISPENSING STATIONS OR GASOLINE Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 28 of 31 SALES" AND "CONVENIENCE STORES" ARE PERMITTED ONLY BY SPECIAL USE PERMIT, CASE NUMBER Z2000-14. Mayor Morgan recessed the regular session of the Town Council and opened the public hearing at 11:55 p.m. olow Director Valder said two months ago or so the Council adopted Ordinance 00-20 by a vote of 7 — 0. In that ordinance the Council changed the text of the C-2 and C-3 permitted uses section to permit convenience stores and gas stations only by special use permit. The intent was that the Council wanted the ability to individually review and approve new requests for these two types of uses. In conversations at that meeting, the topic of the Target property came up. At a subsequent meeting, the Council initiated that staff prepare this ordinance, which would have the same special use permit requirement for a gas station or convenience store on the Target property as was now applicable throughout the rest of the Town. Director Valder said he had a conversation with a representative from MCO Properties who had indicated no objections to this. Councilman Kavanagh asked if the Barclay Group had made any comment on this. Mr. Nordin said he had talked with Ralph Pew and he had informed Mr. Nordin that they did not object. Councilwoman Fraverd asked Director Valder to comment about this issue going to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Director Valder said he had made a mistake last week. He said that staff had adequately advertised the public hearing that the Council was in tonight and the one that the Planning Commission had last week. His mistake was that he did not prepare a staff report for the Planning Commission nor had he put it on their agenda until he had added it as an emergency last Thursday afternoon. He had simply forgotten about it. The Planning Commission reviewed staffs request to add the agenda as an emergency last week. The emergency was that staff had advertised that public hearing for three weeks prior to the meeting. The Planning Commission talked about it for a while and accepted the rationale. They added the issue as an emergency and held their public hearing and did take action on that issue. He stated that the Planning Commission had unanimously recommended approval of Ordinance 00-29. Mayor Morgan reconvened the regular session at 11:57 p.m. AGENDA ITEM#26- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-29 AMENDING THE "C-2 PUD INTERMEDIATE COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT ZONING DISTRICT ORDINANCE" THAT WAS ADOPTED BY ORDINANCE 00-06, AKA THE SHEA RETAIL CENTER (TARGET) PROPERTY, SO THAT "AUTOMOBILE FUEL DISPENSING STATIONS OR GASOLINE SALES" AND "CONVENIENCE STORES" ARE PERMITTED ONLY BY SPECIAL USE PERMIT, CASE NUMBER Z2000-14. Councilwoman Fraverd MOVED to approve Ordinance 0-29 as presented and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED unanimously. AGENDA ITEM#27- PUBLIC HEARING ON ORDINANCE 00-30, AN AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS, CHAPTER 12, SECTIONS 12.05 AND 12.06 TO PERMIT LIGHT ASSEMBLY AND RELATED STORAGE AS AN ACCESSORY USE BY SPECIAL USE PERMIT,IF CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE MET,CASE NUMBER Z2000-15. Mayor Morgan recessed the regular session of the Town Council and opened the public hearing at 11:59 p.m. Director Valder said staff was approached by MCO Properties and a company called DSE who was a high tech firm. They would like to relocate their corporate headquarters to Fountain Hills. They were interested in constructing a new office between the office building where MCO had their office space and the medical office building on the corner of LaMontana and Saguaro, which was zoned C-2. The significant part of their operation was very light assembly of small computers and the testing of those computers. When staff reviewed the assembly portion of their iklav use to see if it was permitted in the C-2 zoning district, staff found that it was not. Staff wanted to have the Town in Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 29 of 31 a flexible position to accommodate companies like this who were interested in coming into Town, as long as the Town could be assured of a few things. What this ordinance would do would be to permit light assembly and storage as an accessory use to the C-2 and C-3 zoning districts if two criteria were met. One: that the assembly and storage areas were not more than half of the enclosed space of the building. Second: that they could not use any hazardous materials in their operation. He asked the Council to keep in mind that it was by Special Use Permit,so if any abuses came in, they would still have come to the Commission and the Council to convince each group of their worthiness by the Special Use Permit process. Staff recommended approval. Mayor Morgan asked who would regulate that the firm was not using 51% of the building. Director Valder said staff would review that when the building permit came in or any tenant improvement permits that came in after that. He said this company only wanted 25% to 30% areas open, but the Planning Commission increased it because they wanted to maximize the Town's flexibility. Mayor Morgan reconvened the regular session at 12:02 p.m. AGENDA ITEM#28- CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 00-30, AN AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING ORDINANCE FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS, CHAPTER 12,SECTIONS 12.05 AND 12.06 TO PERMIT LIGHT ASSEMBLY AND RELATED STORAGE AS AN ACCESSORY USE BY SPECIAL USE PERMIT,IF CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE MET,CASE NUMBER Z2000-15. Councilman McNeill said he had been in attendance at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting when the representative from Digital Systems Engineering was there. He stated that this was definitely the type of business he would like to see attracted to Fountain Hills. Mayor Morgan concurred. Councilwoman Ralphe MOVED to approve Ordinance 00-30 and Vice Mayor Hutcheson SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED unanimously. (l AGENDA ITEM#29- CALL TO THE PUBLIC. �r No one came forward. AGENDA ITEM#30- ADJOURNMENT. Councilwoman Fraverd MOVED to adjourn and Councilman McNeill SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED unanimously. Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 12:04 p.m. Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 30 of 31 TOWN OF F UNTAIN HILL �r✓ By w G Sharon Morgan,Mayo ATTEST: lbw 13 )J Cassie B. Hansen, Director of Administration/Town Clerk PREPARED BY: . --%etit ( Bev Bender,Executive Assistant CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular and Executive Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 16TH day of November 2000. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 7th day of December 2000. Cassie B. Hansen, Director of Administration/Town Clerk Town Council Minutes Regular and Executive Session 11/16/00 Page 31 of 31