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PRESENT: |
Chair Charlie Hurt
Vice Chair Melanie Barrett
Comissioner Tom Drzazgowski
Commissioner Bob Swope
Commissioner Thomas Gribb
Commissioner Greg Hitt
Commissioner Don Cox
Chair Bruce Wyckoff
Vice Chair Jacob Herrington
Member Sarah Chen
Member Nathan Basken
Member Hal Linton
Member Dick Eggerding
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| EXCUSED: |
Member Kit Donley
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ALSO PRESENT:
Vice Mayor Lou Waters
Council Member Joe Hornat
Council Member Bill Rodman (arrived at 6:10 p.m.)
Joe Andrews, Chief Civil Deputy Attorney
Bayer Vella, Planning Manager
Michael Spaeth, Senior Planner
Milini Simms, Planner
Bayer Vella, Planning Manager, gave a presentation that included the following:
- Purpose is to listen to concerns and gather ideas on the consolidation of the two boards.
- State law requires the Town to have a Planning and Zoning Commission.
- Citizen review is strongly supported in the General Plan and will not be reduced.
- The Zoning Code will need to be amended to consolidate the two boards; currently, it is specific to both boards
- Benefit will be a reduction in number of meetings for citizens and provide opportunities for meaningful input.
- We are near build out in Oro Valley and the number of cases has dropped.
- Consolidation will eliminate the redundancy of items needing to be presented before both boards.
- Explained the process of the consolidation. The team met several times and had representatives from both boards. The discussion was mainly focused on how this will benefit residents.
- The new process will also benefit applicants in terms of speed.
- Seeking recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission in May and Town Council in June.
- Reviewed the duties, responsibilities and primary role of both boards.
- Consolidation is to simplify process; this will incentivize developers to provide more detail and benefit residents by having all information at one meeting.
- A training program will be instituted for a smooth transition and higher qualifications will be required to serve on the Commission.
Questions/concerns/comments raised by the Commission and addressed by staff:
- What would the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association (SAHBA) like to see with the process?
- Does the amendment address general plan amendments or only rezonings?
- Were other options considered other than merging the two boards?
- Why are both boards reviewing the same conceptual site plans?
- The more specific information we can give, the better off we are. This consolidation is long overdue. Art/design is in the eye of the beholder.
- With reduced meetings, how does this benefit citizen input?
- The quality of the staff reports makes the Commission's job much simpler.
- It is about quality of meetings, not quantity of meetings. We are on the right path to accomplish this.
Questions/concerns/comments raised by the Board and addressed by staff:
- The Board has a lot of expertise that will be lost.
- Will the number of staff reports and workload increase?
- Is it optimistic to believe the applicant packets will be completed in totality?
- What is broken with the current process and are we overlooking the value of the Board?
- What is the intent of a "tentative" site plan?
- Determining land approval is one thing, determining what is actually built on the land is another. How can you control changes if you consolidate the two because many things can change throughout the process?
- Examples were given of value the Board has added and changes it has affected over the years. What is the value that will be added by this consolidation?
- What if more applications start coming through?
Discussion ensued between the two boards and included the following:
- Gains can be accomplished with a more streamlined process and getting people on the Commission with design expertise.
- Concern was expressed for residents; usually, the best decisions come from the understanding overall picture rather than getting bogged down with the details.
- How can one board keep all the criteria of both boards in mind when reviewing?
Mr. Vella, Planning and Zoning Manager, stated neighborhood meetings occur at the beginning of the process. Architecture is integral to rezoning. It is better to have one body to holistically review everything.
- Efficiencies sound great, but can you really add a few design trained members on one board and receive the same value as what is currently in place? Will it be thorough enough?
- Feels like the decision has already been made, but just going through the motions. Very opposed to the consolidation.
- Public art is part of the culture, not part of the zoning code.
- Trust is received from neighbors and friends when they know you have volunteered and served on the boards. If we change the current process, that trust may be lost.
- Neighbors want to know their input matters and that they can create an impact.
- The process should not be so easy that you miss details. Art and design is a draw to Oro Valley.
- Have seen evidence firsthand that input from neighbors has made a difference at neighborhood meetings. Developers do listen and make changes.
- We have overkill in the input process. Do not feel we will lose something by combining the expertise of the two boards.
Chair Hurt opened the public hearing.
Mark Lewis, resident just outside the Oro Valley town limits, spoke in support of Item 1:
He is the owner of a homeowner management company that manages over half the associations in Oro Valley. His wife was the chair of Design Review Board (DRB) for many years. The reason for the two boards many years ago was the volume; it wasn't unusual to have 18 items on agenda and very late meetings. Today with the separation of the boards, neighbors are confused about which meetings to attend. From his experience, homeowners would prefer to go to a single meeting.
Chair Hurt closed the public hearing.
Additional comments/issues raised by the Board/Commission:
Concern about the Commission's experience related to design.
Are there any other options to make this more effective, palatable, etc. to both boards?
Chair Hurt adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m.
Prepared by:
Jeanna Ancona
Senior Office Specialist
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Conceptual Design Review Board joint study session of Oro Valley, Arizona held on the 4th day of April, 2017. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present.