Study Session - 11/19/2024 5:00:00 PM

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okay I'll go ahead and call this Council
study session to order we have two items
on our agenda this evening presentation
and discussion on update related to the
community preservation ordinance we will
start with that I think I see Kyle
putting his jacket on so he must be up
first
sorry about that good evening mayor and
Council um tonight we're before you um
to talk about the community preservation
ordinance update um I've got Lori deoro
with us uh who is uh in charge of Code
Enforcement at our Code Compliance team
so she can answer the hard question
questions um I've only got about nine
slides and we'll just kind of walk you
through um what we've seen what we've
seen kind of trending in the last uh
last six months and remind me this is
the update that we requested when we put
this in place correct it is yes so um
some background um the community
preservation ordinance was approved on
June 18th 2024 uh it went into effect um
in July uh on July 18th of 20124 um and
you can see here on this slide that the
council did request three-month updates
uh we will continue to do that as we as
we work through this ordinance uh one
thing that's important to know is uh
Lori uh and our legal department put
together a very good training session uh
for all the Code Compliance officers so
that everybody was on the same page and
and really had a good understanding of
the ordinance as we uh as it went into
effect and we walked into it um again
this is an update only there is no ask
of you tonight um we just wanted to
provide the
information one thing that was discussed
several times and you'll hear me use the
words a little differently tonight was
the actual process uh of of Code
Enforcement um typically what occurs is
there is a phone call or a 311 but it's
a complaint from a citizen or it's a
proactive notice um by one of our um one
of our folks um when that happens a
complaint is processed in our system and
a case is created so you'll see the
difference between a case and a
violation as I move forward so a case is
created it's assigned to an inspector
and within 24 hours they go out and um
look look at the site and determine if
there's any um violations or not there
can be multiple violations with one case
and you'll see that in some of the data
here in just a second um one thing that
we stressed when we brought this in
front of you in July is um we are more
um educational in nature and we want to
work with people um through the
ordinance so you can see five six and
seven Are all uh first notice of
violation second notice of violation
third notice of violation again the the
intent is education and working through
people or with people in order to um to
get compliance and then finally if if it
if we just can't get to that that point
at the end of the day um then there
there is a um violation that's created
and it does go to um through our court
system and if I miss anything please
stop me it's a last resort yes it is a
last resort for sure so here's some of
the um uh data that we wanted to go
through um you can see on the bottom
right left I'm sorry bottom left slide
there have been 706 cases that have been
opened since um July of
2024 there have been
895 violations um that occurred from
those
706 uh uh cases that were created if you
just look at the community preservation
ordinance information and the things
that changed through that that ordinance
there were 57 cases that were uh opened
and 67 violations that were um that were
were noted and if you remember right too
we had the long discussion about
backyards and what what was going to
occur um we've had nine cases in
violations in in that have uh uh nine
violations in cases in backyards so when
you look at the proportion of the cases
um really it's one in 12 so far that
we've seen um that are related to the to
the new community preservation ordinance
and if you look at the backyard issue U
approximately 1% of the cases uh have
have uh been located in
backyards now and Lori can expand on
this but there are a lot of different
types of violations in this we're seeing
a lot of inoperable Vehicles we're
seeing a lot of landscaping we're seeing
dead trees we've seen a lot of litter so
there's several different things that
that go into um uh the cases in the
community preservation
ordinance you want to add to that are we
good um good unless anyone has
questions so one of the things that we
found in the last six months is the
number of cases and violations have
increased not a great deal but they have
increased due to our new uh Community
preservation ordinance there were folks
that were actually waiting for the uh
ordinance to become effective so that
they could call in different complaints
uh I mentioned that we did a lot of
training and and really had our code um
compliance officers take a look at this
uh ordinance as they they were out in
the field and and trying to interpret it
um and we've noticed that there are
things that we still have missed um
there are some definitions that uh are
not clear U there are some things with
mailings that didn't really make a lot
of sense um so we're currently going
back through the ordinance and
identifying those things that they
actually identified for us and we'll
make changes to the ordinance and bring
it bring them back forward um again I
think that was um I think that was very
smart of the council to say hey come
back every six month three months so
that we can take a look at this and and
see where we we may be off and I
appreciate you working out the bugs
right there's always Kinks when you do
things and it's like my greatest fear
when we pass propositions because you
can't change them when it's at the local
level and we have ordinances we can fix
something that's not working right thank
you yes well and this was a brand new
ordinance we' never really had anything
in place like this so uh it makes a lot
of sense that we find some some
challenges um again you saw the process
slide where we go through three
different types of um notice of
violations again it's about education
and it's about working with people I put
the slides back in from July that showed
the emergency and minor home repair
program um the things that that's
available uh to help with um and then
also some of the other programs that we
mentioned in July that that folks can um
get a hold of and that we can um connect
uh you know connect folks that are
having some challenges with in order to
um get to compliance and make sure uh
we're moving forward
next steps I mentioned we're going to
amend the ordinance so we'll be bringing
that in front of you uh for those
changes uh in the not too distant future
and then again we'll continue to update
Council uh every three months um to make
sure this is going in the direction that
we want and see if there's any type of
uh um community outreach or any type of
uh trends that we see
again and that is my nine slides we are
happy to answer any questions any
questions for Kyle and Lori council
member tilki thank you mayor hi Kyle and
Lori thank you very much for the report
I'm just curious on backyard items was
there uh any type of uh uh theme that
was you know for the nine cases or was
it just
individual yeah thank you good evening
mayor and Council um the trend usually
that we're seeing right now is an
accumulation of multiple items
so they are not a a one-off situation
you're going to see large piles in
situations um but you know nine cases
out of the the total 800 cases um very
good statistic so and the inspectors are
very good about working with the
individuals because in a lot of
instances they're not aware that now
this potentially is an issue for them
and they've had years of accumulation so
um the inspectors are very good about
working with them to educate them and
then find out what items they ultimately
love most and want to keep and then the
other items that they can find new homes
for thank you it it appears that it it
was um something more major than what
some of the residents had concerns and I
don't blame them that was going to be
something kind of minor I don't like my
neighbor so now I'm going to do that you
know report you so um I know that we've
had some issues um which I think
probably generated the interest in this
ordinance to begin with so I appreciate
that when the inspectors are going out
that they're educated about what
programs are out there to help them
because sometimes it's not always just a
um convenient way of storing things
perhaps there's other reasons and they
need some help so thank you appreciate
it
council member bonani thank you mayor
it's a followup to uh council member
til's um question in general was the
property own were the property
owners positive neutral get out of my
yard um in general um I don't know the
specifics as far as all nine cases but
usually if there's an issue the
inspector will ultimately bring me into
an issue and in all of these nine cases
there has been a what I would call a
positive outcome because I haven't been
involved to mediate an issue or to to
sit with the the resident to explain
further why we need to do
this council member Tuson I'm just
curious as to those nine backyard
violations the actually I have two
questions but that one were the houses
next to them or behind them two stor is
that how it was generated from two
stories or is it just generated because
they
knew per the per the policy and the
directive that legal has provided for us
when it comes down to viewing um the
backyard issue of potential bar backyard
issue those properties have to be
adjacent to a a second story uh home or
something um a home with an elevated
viewing deck something that's
intentional for someone to be able to
view um many homes have the uh back
patios that have like a spiral stair
case and then you have a viewing deck um
those two are the only options that are
available for inspectors to view back
backyard
issues that and I'm curious as we saw it
go up because neighbors now turning on
Neighbors do you feel that that's going
to slow down or we can continue pitting
our neighbors against each
other
um I don't see an an uptick in the the
situation nine cases out of the the 800
I mean overall with the overall code not
just those
nine
um I haven't seen an increase in
adversarial
conversations um so that
um slight increase yes because of the
preservation ordinance but um not in a
negativity um towards the the
preservation
ordinance and I think L I think um your
Kyle said
that the there were people waiting for
the preservation ordinance to go into
effect because of situations that they
had surrounding them and so that might
have been the initial uptick too I'm
thinking no you're
go yes I I think there were several
individuals that were waiting for us to
be able to address um they were
egregious situations I know we've been
talking about a couple or a few of them
for quite some time and so that was
another reason that this was discussed
and put into place was because of those
situations and to help the folks out
that are having those issues too right
whether they're the neighbors or the
people in the homes themselves so any
other questions or
comments I actually thought that it was
a smaller increase than I thought it was
going to be and really encouraged by the
only nine backyard um that you've put
through so far I think that uh I
expected more for you know for different
reasons for people maybe going after
neighbors or so on and so forth and kind
of the mentality that we're living in
right now if you will yeah so that's
great thank you thanks you guys thanks
for being here thanks for bringing this
forward again and staying on the updates
too thanks Lori nice to see you um item
two on our agenda this evening is
presentation and discussion on Municipal
Code amendments amendments related to
section 54-1 obstruction to public
property and section
46-43 prohibited
activities Oh we have a
group hi Don oh turn your mic on Don
please
there we go um good evening mayor
members of the council um the purpose of
the study session tonight is to present
the council with some proposed updates
to the code related to our ratas and our
bus stops within the town through some
recent experiences with our parks and
with our with our ratas and with our bus
stops um we realized that there were
some areas of the code that needed to be
updated to provide our teams with added
guidance to ensure that these facilities
are being used in the manner most
um aligned with their intended use and
purpose for each of these updates um our
team will be talking about um our
current practices the updates we're
proposing and what those updates will
mean for our residents and our teams as
they are working through these issues
and first up will be Lane who will talk
about our radas our ratas followed by
Chief angstead who will talk about our
bus
stops thank you
joh a little taller good evening mayor
and councel thank you for the
opportunity to present this information
to you today um as Don said I'm going to
start off my name is Lane Graham and I
have the honor of overseeing our park
ranger program so I've been nominated I
guess to H go over this proposed code
Amendment um so the Parks and Recreation
Department is proposing uh the amendment
to chapter 46 Article 2 Section
46-43 the language added will require a
reservation permit when using a remata
or picnic area for more than 3
hours I'm going to go over a little bit
of our current practice to give an
understanding of where we're going and
what this impact will be so currently
our ratas and P covered Pavilions are
first come first serve without a
reservation reservations are allowed in
all Community or District Parks um we
don't allow day of reservations um for a
couple of different reasons one if you
have somebody you know let's say I set
up my family we're having a picnic and
somebody walks up and they say Boop I
have a reservation now you have to leave
um so we don't allow those day of
reservations for that and also our front
office takes a lot of time and
consideration of what the activity is
that they're doing in the remata to make
sure that we don't need additional
documentation or certificates of
insurance for bounce houses or other
things like that um the park rangers
that I oversee currently enforce all the
reservations and we added a QR code sign
to all of the reservable spaces so that
if you walk up to a remata you can scan
the QR code and find the park that
you're at and find if there is a current
reservation in that remata um and then
if there isn't then obviously you can
use it and set up your picnic or party
whatever you're looking to do so that's
a little bit about our current practice
the proposed language would be
unauthorized use of town-owned
improvements no person shall damage or
wastefully or impr properly use any
town-owned improvements in a town park
or recreation facility including
occupying a remata or picnic area for
more than 3 hours per day unless
authorized by a reservation permit in
accordance with Section
4642 I think it's important to note that
we did a lot of research in looking at
surrounding cities and other um
municipalities that have this language
and um currently several have different
languages within theirs but we chose to
kind of mimic temps which um they have 4
hours for their reservation requirement
and looking to reduce that um we found
three hours to be appropriate for our
ratas and what we were looking to
accomplish with this so some of the
anticipated impacts the first is we want
to encourage Advanced reservations
especially for that extended use if
you're looking to have um a guarantee of
the space I think a reservation should
be required and so we're still using a
first come first serve basis with those
um ratas and allowing anyone to come up
and use them we're just trying to
encourage more reservations in advance
and reduce conflicts and issues that may
come by people fighting over ratas or
walking up and trying to use them
without the
reservation and increasing the dropin
availability and usage of those
ratas I look at this as um kind of
mentioned a family walking up wanting to
use that Rada and another group is
already um utilizing the Rada they've
been kind of monopolizing it for several
hours and a family just kind of waiting
to have their picnic or birthday party
in that rata so really this increases by
by kind of trying to get a group to move
on after three hours this increases the
availability and usage for the general
public to be able to walk up and use
that remata as well in addition it's
maximizing the opportunities for public
use um I give you the example of our
tennis courts currently I think that
gives me a little bit of perspective I
won't say pickle ball T tennis courts
we'll say um so if you're using a tennis
court without a reservation and there's
no one waiting you're allowed to use it
for that an extended period of time but
if there is someone waiting we have a
rule that you have one hour to use that
tennis court before you need to move on
and allow the next person you can get
back in line of course but it's a rule
that we've put in place and we're
looking to kind of Institute that same
kind of move on so that someone else has
the opportunity within our ratas so this
language added to our code allows for
maximum opportunities of public use and
then again I've mentioned reducing
potential conflicts the more
reservations that we have the reduced
opportunity for people to fight over
that space um currently the park rangers
spend a lot of time um when someone's
utilizing the remata and someone does
have a reservation but the group that's
in it does not they tend to have a lot
of conflicts in a group not wanting to
move on and not wanting to leave so some
of this language encourages more
reservations and also helps us reduce
some of those potential conflicts and
again it's a it's a public park and we
want them to be available so adding this
language is more about um really
encouraging more public use and not
because we don't want them to use it
because we want more people to be able
to have the opportunity to use
them all right any questions for me
about um radas before I pass on to Chief
council member bani thank you mayor so
do you envision um 9:00 in the morning
there's someone in a Rada with without
reservations do you envision the park
ranger approaching them and and telling
them hey you've got three hours to kind
of cushion it in case you have to kick
them out later right I think um again
there's going to be some learning curves
that I think we'll add to our Q QR code
signage or communication about our
remata rules and adding the threeh hour
um maximum in there without a
reservation that is and yes if someone's
using the rata and we see that there are
other people that want to use it we may
at that point have the park rangers say
you know you have a three-hour maximum
um this is an area where I think we're
going to learn a lot like it's same as
the tennis courts park rangers are not
in every Park to mitigate what's going
on so it does take a little bit of the
community to say I've been waiting for
this rata for 3 and 1 half hours and I
would like for the park ranger to come
and help me you know to be able to use
it so I think we're going to rely on the
community but also try and communicate
the three-hour maximum ahead of time so
that we don't have to go and approach so
we don't want to discourage you
obviously we don't want to um go up as
soon as you walk into the remata and say
hey you have a time limit um so we want
to make it more comfortable and make
sure they know that before they go into
the remata any any guesstimate currently
how many percentage wise of people that
have reservations verse those who don't
it depends on the park um I would say at
Gilbert Regional Park you have about 97%
of reservations because everyone kind of
knows that that is the only way to
guarantee the use of a remata there but
at a park like Freestone there's not
probably as high of a percentage of of
reserved ratas and McQueen some of those
more neighborhood parks which we'd like
to encourage more reservations and I
think that's what this those are the
parks that this ordinance is really
going to support awesome thank you thank
you good questions council member til
thanks mayor I'm curious
um when you walk into the park and you
go up to the remata how do you know
there's a reservation that's going to be
there in the next hour or so right right
now we have signs in every reservable
space that has a QR code and it says you
know um it has language it's like check
the reservation so you scan that QR code
with your phone and it takes you to our
website where um every every night
morning at midnight it is updated with
the daily reservations um so you would
be able to select the park and then see
what reservations are taking place in
that Park um we're trying to really do a
lot of social media outreach and
showcasing that that's available because
you can just look at it from the website
before you go to the park you don't have
to do it that website that web page is
available before you enter the park or
even plan your visit okay I I appreciate
that the more Outreach we can do to
Residents so it makes it easier yes
nothing worse than taking a whole car
full of kids and and thinking you have a
remata for whatever reason and you don't
but um so the enforcement is done by the
Rangers and how how do people get a hold
of the Rangers if there's issue we have
a phone number that's posted on that QR
code sign as well as our rule sign that
has the park ranger phone number and
whichever park ranger is on duty um they
change it to call them directly so
there's always one Ranger that has it
from about 5: in the morning until
midnight
okay great thanks I appreciate that
obviously I have not reserved a remata
for my grandkids so maybe I I've let
them down but thank you no it's up to
their parents now that's not your job
that's right I've been at I've been down
at Gilbert Regional Park for a party
that was in a reserved verada and had
people already there and had the mom
have to say excuse me we have a
reservation for this verada but people
were great about it you know and I know
it's very busy down at Regional Park so
um any other questions for lane at this
time
seeing none thanks Lane thank you very
much Chiefs up
next hi mayor and Council Mike angstead
I'm one of the assistant Chiefs over at
PD and I'm I've been nominated kind of
like Lane to come uh talk about some
proposed code amendments uh specifically
chapter 54 Article
2 uh it talks about language that's
going to be added to limit the use of a
bus shelter or Transportation facility
to 1 hour and this also will provide a
definition of a transportation
facility our current practice when it
comes to especially uh bus stops are are
sort of what we're talking about here no
restriction on time uh stay at a bus
stop location so our officers will drive
by and see folks sitting at bus stops
and it's uh not against the law
currently to be there all day or a week
or a month if you wanted to um bus
shelters are maintained and operated by
the town of
Gilbert uh number three here the longest
Headway route is 108 on Saturdays and
Sundays and what that means is there's a
bus route that goes from uh Elliott and
48 Street over in auki comes all the way
across the East Valley and runs through
Gilbert along Guadalupe Road the longest
wait that uh somebody would have is 1
hour between buses uh it's a half an
hour during the week but the longest on
Saturdays and Sundays currently the city
of Mesa has uh implemented the same
language that's being
proposed and the proposed language is
thus uh number three it's unlawful for
any person to remain at a bus shelter or
Transportation facility for more than 1
hour and this proposed language defines
a transportation facility um as used in
this article means a location from which
a public bus trolley shuttle Valley
Metro or other public transit vehicle is
used to transport
passengers so the implementation plan
would be to post uh stickers and signage
that says no trespassing and informs
people that there's a one hour limit the
signs will reference the Gilbert code
and the plan is to start with education
and verbal warnings we uh have officers
when they notice that folks are at a bus
stop for a long time particularly in the
summer if they have children um it's
it's more of a welfare check you know do
do we know where we're going and can we
help you in some way um but this would
be hey just so you know there is a 1hour
limit uh at this particular bus shelter
and then provide information on services
available
I would say by having a statute that
defines a period of time it gives the
officer a little bit more uh teeth when
they go and they do contact somebody and
they say hey you know I've noticed that
you're kind of setting up camp here you
have a tarp over the shelter and you're
you know in a cooler like let's have a
conversation try to get you some
services and and your name and let's try
to work together uh if criminal activity
drugs liquor violations occur the
officer can issue a citation that's uh
currently we can but again this gives us
uh an Avenue to go up and make contact
uh based solely on the amount of time
that somebody's been at that
location any questions on this proposed
language thanks Chief Council mayor Bon
Giovani thanks mayor uh
Chief is this a
problem uh mayor and council member Bon
Giovani it's been a problem in Mesa uh
we haven't experienced it here yet I
think our officers are pretty
expeditious about uh having
conversations in and trying to get
people where they need to go our fear is
that um without having anything on the
books we we don't want to be reactive in
the future so we're trying to get ahead
of it okay because last time we spoke
about data like nine people a day ride
the buses M okay just check all the just
checking and I I don't think this is
limited just people that are waiting to
use the bus I think it's just people
using the bus shelters any other
questions or comments
council member Toki thanks mayor um
because we just talked about ratas I was
trying to look at the
language um the way it's written for the
ratas it appears that the same kind of
activity Could Happen up to 3 hours and
at that point I'm assuming if the ranger
came in and needed police assistance
they would call at that time is that
correct that's correct yeah that's
pretty common that we get called to the
parks to help okay back up those rules
okay I I was just thinking if we were
going to do bust stops let's not forget
about the ratas if that's an issue as
well but it appears that it's already
covered thank you
yes any other questions or comments
council member torguson yeah I'm just
curious and this Chris would be for you
the uh on the remata language some of it
lends itself to be a little vague a
little broad let's say is there a way to
to hone that down so there's no
misapplication of
that mayor council member torguson could
you point to the language that you think
just want to make sure I I'm on the same
page as
you are you looking at the definition of
the actual prohibition
is there a way to bring the language
back up on the slide kind of go
backwards unauthorized use of town owned
improvements no person shall damage or
wastefully or improperly use any Town
owned improvements in a town park or
recreation facility including occupying
a remata or picnic area for more than 3
hours uh unless authorized by a
reservation permit in accordance with
the section back on but wastefully or
improperly
use is a little
subjective I mean aren't we just trying
to say you can't waste improperly using
it I mean I don't know what that would
mean but I would think that if it's you
can't use it for more than 3 hours with
a reserv without a reservation is clear
when you start getting into wastefully
or improperly I mean is it a you know
you're having a
a little rally for some politician that
you don't like is that wasteful I mean
under this it could be considered that
that's why I'm I'm asking if we can kind
of just clean up the language a little
bit Council council member Tas that's a
good point I think some of the language
is vague so that there's left for some
interpretation but we've we've mimicked
um other cities and I think in this we
took tb's language and and like kind of
molded it to what fits for us but I
think that's a good point if you want us
to add some more
I I'd like to hone it down because I
really don't want to become temp I I
like the fact that we could be a little
bit clearer you know in fact I really
liked not to be Mesa either but it seems
like that one's pretty clear uh I just
want to get it down there because it's
just when somebody can we can leave it
up to Too Much interpretation it can be
abused misused misapplied if we have it
nice and clear and we're really worried
about people just taking too much time
isn't that it essentially yes that's
what we're looking at is so who's
monopolizing the use of the space for
longer periods of time for all day
multiple days in a row yeah I think
someone taking too much time and also
encouraging more users for the space if
you limit one person's time then more
people get to use it yes I think there's
an in I'm just looking at
language and I agree that sometimes it
gets a little vague and it's hard to
interpret those things vice mayor
thank this question and thank you for
presentation this question actually may
be for Melanie um when we do our
homeless census do these bus shelters or
our ratas ever come into play when we're
doing the
census
right the P count you're referring to
the pick count mayor council member
Anderson uh Yes actually when we do the
pick count and we do go and um do our uh
conversations with those who are
unsheltered we do check all of the parks
and we are visiting the bus stops uh we
actually get that information from PD or
from the park rangers um the park
rangers actually help us with some of
those conversations so we do utilize all
of the prior data that we've received in
order to make sure we are trying to
check those locations to interview those
who may be in needed Services as
well any other questions or
comments mayor if I may go back to
council member torin's question if we
can get some direction um we've got the
proposed language up there if if it were
to say we'll go to no person shall
damage would you want to remove
wastefully and improperly used and just
leave damage in
there I would assume damage is already
covered by something else but if it's
not of course have damage in there I
would assume some sort of vandalism of
public property exists but to make it as
concise as possible wastefully and
properly used I mean when they have a
like we're going to have a gy torus and
statue building day the mayor may think
that's irresponsible and wasteful myself
I think it's fantastic so you know it
leaves it to interpretation so let's try
and hone it down so that we have a nice
nice and clean and nobody arguing over
an adjective is that Y no that's clear
we can do that we can remove wastefully
and properly use and we'll look at the
damages um and we'll come back with the
language on the council meeting lot more
concise to the point with the three-hour
prohibition thank you one followup on
the parks aren't our Parks already
marked as no overnight stays am I yeah
the parks closed at 10 o'clock at night
yeah because I was thinking they do the
pick count about 4 or 5:00 in the
morning correct Melanie so technically
we shouldn't have anybody in the Parks
at that point in time and um as far as
the the ordinance the the changes in the
sections that you were talking about
Chief I appreciate that we're mimicking
Mesa since we share so many borders in
space with them and bus stops and you
know Baseline Road gets confusing to
people and who who belongs to what and
so thank you for that I appreciate it
and I agree we don't want to be Mesa I
love my Mason friends but that's a good
thank you all thank you very much for
your um oh council member Tiki did you
have mayor I just wanted to mention that
one of the prohibited activities is
urban camping so I think that probably
covers if somebody's staying overnight
and the parks are closed
right accepted the riparium because
camping is allowed there but FAL cats
are still allowed to sleep there feral
cats are not allowed there well they're
there but they're I'm not going to say
anything I love cats um I will say I
love cats okay that's all we have on our
agenda for the study session this
evening we will go ahead and adjourn
this meeting and be back at for student
of the month