Study Session - 5/21/2024 5:00:00 PM

is this your last meeting with
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check one
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Jim
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good evening everyone welcome to our
Council study session for May 21st 2024
I will call this meeting to order we
have a few items on our agenda this
evening the first being a presentation
and discussion of recommendations of the
community engagement task force on Focus
areas related to homelessness and
lowincome challenges and kind and
welcoming Gilbert and I see Melanie dyra
approaching the podium hi
Melanie good evening mayor and council
members yes I'm melie the volunteer and
Community Resources manager and I was
also the staff leaon to the community
engagement task force um and as the
mayor mentioned we are here this evening
to present our final two topic areas um
which will be homelessness and
low-income challenges as well as kind
welcoming inclusive Gilbert uh we have
members of our task force here with us
this evening who will be presenting that
information to you um so again as I
mentioned we'll first be giving an
overview of homelessness and low-income
challenges um but as we look at that um
the overarching goal that they looked at
is to really make sure that there's an
increase of resources education and
awareness of those experiencing
homelessness or lwi income challenges in
our community um and as we go through
these you'll kind of see the highlights
of um still trying to recognize the time
frame what it'll take to do some of
these recommendations whether they're
shortterm uh midterm or long-term we
also recognize we'll be looking at what
kind of resources it will take to
implement some of these recommendations
and we also understand that this is not
going to be done uh just by the town
we'll be looking at who we can
collaborate with who our partners will
be um and who we can engage in um this
process as well um so with that being
said I'm going to bring up Shan who is
the um Shawn Warren is the chair of our
task force and he is going to take you
through um first the low-income
challenges
recommendations good evening everybody
mayor council members I uh I hope it's
okay I wrote down what I wanted to say
tonight just to make sure that I hit
everything that was on there but I would
like to thank you for the opportunity to
speak to you tonight uh my name is Shawn
waren I'm the chair of the community
engagement task force and a bit of
contexts my wife and I and our four
children have enjoyed our lives and our
lifestyle here in Gilbert uh our kids
have attended several of the public
schools here I've been able to help
start and participate in um building
some businesses and personally I've been
able to see a lot of the beauty as well
as the Brokenness in our community as
one of the pastors serving on staff at
Redemption Church in Gilbert so thank
you again for taking a few moments to
give your attention to those of us who
have worked for over two years now on
the task force to bring some
recommendations to consider I'll
Endeavor to be brief and highlight just
some of the recommendations and leave
others fre you to read on your own
um a US president once said many in our
country do not know the pain of poverty
but we can listen to those who do and I
pledge our nation to a goal when we see
that wounded traveler on the road to
Jericho we will not pass to the other
side America is at its best it is a
place where personal responsibility is
valued and expected I do not know why
you ran for Town Council or the office
of Mayor but I would like to think it's
because you two felt personal
responsibility to our community it's
with that in mind that I want to share
with our shared responsibility what I
want to talk to you tonight I'll be
presenting on the low-income challenges
as well as homelessness with low-income
challenges nearly each and every week at
our church we receive applications for
assistance from within and without our
congregation one random Tuesday last
March we had seven different people from
the community come into us and and mind
you we don't have anything that we're
promoting outwardly to come to us for
resources they just came to us for help
and um by far these are people that are
from without our church from just the
community in general there are times
that they simply come in for something
to eat other times they come in for
emergency shelter they also come in for
rent and utility assistance too often
these individuals simply do not know the
resources that we currently have
available for them which reminds me of
the quote the problem with communication
is the assumption that it's going on we
the task force recommend identifying a
referral system I think I'm supposed to
there we go a referral system um to help
close the loop for those seeking
assistance and we believe it would be a
prudent and money well spent uh to Pilot
a town staff position to follow up with
individuals in our community who've had
Direct contact with Public Safety teams
fires Etc uh who most likely have a high
need for the resources of our local
government um and that what we provide
we also believe as a task force we need
uh more needs to be done in finding
resources to help with rent and utility
programs uh and this is a common thing
that we hear and I don't know if you're
like me too often I lead with skepticism
and some judgment uh yet another person
looking to play the system or we can't
resource everyone who has an
outstretched hand to us or just pull
yourself up by your bootstraps man like
other people do um but that is me when
I'm being most like Mr Potter on It's a
Wonderful Life but in
reality uh there are many good people of
our community who are just having a
really rough way to go and uh they're
living paycheck to paycheck so I want to
illustrate that with a couple of stories
for you for the past couple of years we
have opened a cooling station in our
church partnership with the town and
other local nonprofits to give a
reprieve to the uh vulnerable during our
hottest months which by the way over 600
people died last year in our area to
heat related issues but last July when
we were experiencing our run of hot
temperatures over 110 degrees an elderly
man ambled into our cooling station as I
engaged him in conversation I found out
that he was 80 years old and the
apartment complex he was living in had
raised his rent by
40% not having any family around
he found himself evicted alone and not
knowing what to do that council members
is something that we all can agree on
that this is what we would consider a
vulnerable person in our society
ultimately he found his way to our
cooling station and the good people of
Ascend and the Salvation Army helped him
take up his cause he's 80 newly homeless
in crisis living in Gilbert another
picture is of a man who recently came
into my office he had been working a
full-time job and another part-time job
for nearly a decade to make ends meet
with his wife and small children he was
absolutely crushed to have to approach
anyone for assistance he felt like a
failure tears ran down his face he took
up yet another part J job to try to make
things work out but he was but he
couldn't pay his mortgage and utilities
we helped him find assistance to keep
him and his family in their homes
utilities on and everyone's safe he's
just a a regular guy working hard living
paycheck to paycheck and not being able
to make ends meet both of these stories
illustrate vulnerable populations in our
town who are in need of utility and rent
assistance also under lowincome
challenges something we would recommend
the council explore is options for
developing tiny homes on our infill
properties as well as working with
nonprofits Partners to create
opportunities for this type of housing
on their land we would know um while we
know this doesn't end all of the lwi
income challenges by any means it still
allows us to create some opportunities
for people to find a good
home with education and
awareness we need those of you who
control policy in our town to really
know the true cost of living in an
apartment in Gilbert as of today a
studio apartment will cost you north of
$1,500 that's a studio apartment about
750 square ft and a three-bedroom will
cost you more than
$2,300 a month we recommend more
education to our community uh in
Partnerships with nonprofits to provide
more financial education to our citizens
and especially our young people as they
are trying to navigate how to live in
such an expensive environment that's
gone up so quickly
now moving on to
homelessness um we highly recommend
embedding a navigator with our Public
Safety to go on calls to help connect
people to resources I've watched
firsthand how critical a navigator can
be in connecting an individual who has
great need to resources that we actually
have this would be money very well spent
we would also ask the council to
consider more tempor orary safe spaces
which would include being able to house
someone in a hotel briefly who may be
experiencing domestic violence the use
of more heat relief locations throughout
Gilbert More advocacy for the iel
program and identifying locations such
as vacant businesses and Commercial
places that could be used to help
service the needy we also want to
encourage the council to consider the
following and this is something that's
actually close to my heart give Bert is
a town replete with religious
institutions churches stakes and
nonprofits many of these buildings are
situated on large Parcels of land that
go largely unused throughout the week or
simply contain a very well-maintained
lawn imagine if these organizations
worked with a town and built some
housing on their property with
pre-approved Plans by the city that
would provide say for that 80-year-old
man that I was talking about that became
recently homeless or imagine if our
religious institutions and nonprofits
had a few homes on their sites that
would help with the housing of young
people who are aging out of the foster
care
system or people escaping domestic
violence so much land so much need
perhaps the council could consider ways
to bless the vulnerable of our community
by leveraging the relationships with
nonprofits to provide housing to some do
for one what you wish you could do for
all is my personal
motto and lastly under the banner of
homelessness our task force was shocked
to hear how many students in our schools
would be considered homeless students in
our area right here students who couch
surf who live in cars we recommend
working closely with our schools to
better understand to get a better
understanding of this
situation these are the very students
who face real possibilities of falling
through the cracks and into deep poverty
addiction trafficking or
Worse our town of Gilbert is a place to
live is a great place to live we have
great resources Parks restaurants
shopping good education jobs and a high
standard of living for this
we are to be commended but our job isn't
done I want to leave you with the words
of map mandhi when he said the true
measure of any society can be found in
how it treats the most vulnerable
members thank you Council for the
consideration of these
things thank you Sean thanks for all you
do um not only with our community
engagement task force but with
Redemption Church and the last time I
most recently saw you you were at the
Northwest Redevelopment area meeting so
I know that you're very involved in the
community and I appreciate that see
other members of your community
engagement task force here too and I
appreciate them being here in attendance
this evening Melanie you followup uh
were there any questions regarding that
area at all any questions anyone
questions or
comments seeing none not we'll move on
to the final topic area that the task
force um took on to review and
understand which is kind welcoming and
inclusive Gilbert and with this area um
again they really looked at the three
buckets that we've been focusing on
resources education and awareness and
looking really for resources that really
kind of help make a welcoming and
informative experience for those coming
here um around education really
understanding that trauma can really
impact a lot of things so trauma
informed trainings and opportunities for
education and then just general
awareness and really kind of reigniting
um our kindness campaign through our art
and culture and with that I'm going to
bring up um Suzanne Lun who is our vice
chair for the task force and she is
going to take you through those as
well thank you Melanie Melanie has been
a pleasure to work with I just have to I
can't say enough good about her and uh
and the good things that she does for
our town um thank you for allowing me
mayor and Town Council to speak to you
tonight about the things that we've done
um um a few years ago when I heard about
this new task force being formed uh to
bring ideas about difficult situations
that arise in our town I was really
excited as I looked into it and I saw
that we may address the topic of helping
Gilbert to be kind welcoming and
inclusive I knew that this was something
that I needed to participate in uh being
a kindergarten teacher this is what I
teach every day and so I really feel it
and I'm so honored to present to you
today about what we've um come up with
uh let's first just have a little
background um back in the
1830s Alexis dville a French political
thinker and historian visited America
and he wrote his famous work Democracy
in America he observed that as Americans
come together they form bonds of
Association and he was impressed with
how Americans created um groups of
friendship performed good works together
he said if men and women are to remain
civilized or become so the art of
Association must grow and expand I
really like that term the art of
Association more recently as I've
listened to um Michael spones you might
be familiar with him a podcaster and
author and radio personality he's been
talking about how we've been losing the
art of mingling which is just another
way of saying that and as we think about
it with the pandemic and scream screen
time and um political polarization it's
not quite as safe to just um start
talking to someone because you don't
know really what's going to happen and
so um it's really important to remember
that with conversation and friendship
even with strangers we can improve our
psyche um one problem that we face in
Gilbert and globally is we have lost or
forgotten the art of mingling or
Association and while we can be in touch
with anyone by tapping on our screen
we are finding ourselves to be lonelier
than ever it is our human nature to need
to be part of a group and since the
pandemic and even before our community
members have less of a feeling of
belonging and in Gilbert we can do
better our committee recommends that we
use resources education and awareness so
that everyone regardless of race
religion disability political political
party can be treated with respect and
empathy we want Gilbert to be a secure
place of belonging with with neighbors
who are willing to help each other let's
look at some of our recommendations for
using our
resources so I think we're ready for the
next slide are
we oh okay all right um I'm going to
share some of our favorites um we
suggest offering a welcoming program for
our new residents we suggest developing
a Gilbert 101 education program where we
can teach people about Our Town
operations and what's available for them
here we can create a safe environment to
share diverse opinions we can learn to
disagree better and we can continue to
promote that Gilbert kindness program
that we had in place for years and um
maybe bring that around to be uh more
prominent in our walk and talk in
Gilbert our committee has learned that
as we interact with members of the
community we need to be aware of and use
trauma informed and early intervention
practice is so many of us have had uh
traumatic experiences I think almost
everyone has and so as we try to be more
informed and sensitive about that it
will help in all of our areas with our
community um let's go to information we
can increase awareness of town resources
and use utilize social media to
highlight cultural events and also share
stories of kindness that happens in our
community all the time uh in development
we suggest that we can do more to help
connect neighborhoods as
neighbors uh work together on improving
environments a feeling of unity and
welcoming is
created um just a few weeks ago with um
just serve uh my husband Dale and I were
able to participate in a in a
neighborhood uh beautification project
that that just turned out great and now
at the entrance of all of our
neighborhoods we have flowers that are
blossoming and and I can tell that um as
we work together as a community it was a
great way to come
together
um
okay uh let's see we can uh
train and promote greater diversity and
sensitivity in marketing we can
reemphasize the Gilbert kindness
campaign as I H suggested before we can
promote dialogue through ART and
cultural events we can promote the
town's YouTube channel and discover
Gilbert campaign we appreciate the
increas
transparency of our town leadership and
the efforts that are taking place to be
kinder and more welcoming we have noted
that our town leaders can really set the
tone for how we interact with each other
and we appreciate your
examples um next we're moving on to
inclusivity how we can uh be more
inclusive um I'd like to share just a
few of our favorites that got us really
excited have you ever heard of the human
Library program we'd like to explore
having a gilbertt human Library program
where you can meet people who are
centurions or Holocaust survivers or
artists and musicians local hikers Etc
as community members have the
opportunity to meet face Toof face they
can create those
associations um we suggest providing
some free access to sports and other
programs for our kids and youth um I've
visited with people who have come from
communities where the kids sports are
provided for everyone and that all the
kids come out and um so I know that we
may not be able to provide it for
everybody but as we um make resources
available to people so that every kid
has a chance to be involved in our
community and fck they're part of a
group that will
help um we'd like to explore adding an
annual day of dialogue with the focus on
similarities and also differences and
sharing stories
um in conclusion we are just suggesting
that we use our resources that we can
educate better and bring a greater
awareness to our Gilbert Community so
that we can become more kind welcoming
and inclusive I don't know if you have
any questions for me but we felt so
passionate about this and we would love
to continue to support in any way that
we can so that Gilbert can be a really
kind place thank you well Suzanne I
don't think they could have picked a
more perfect person to present to us on
kindness and sweetness I mean you are
the epitome of that here in Gilbert I
think um everyone that knows you I
believe would completely agree with me
uh I've been to your kindergarten
classroom and the children are just
adorable and you're always so lovely no
matter where I seee you you're always so
lovely so thank you for that thank you
mayor I appreciate that I appreciate you
too thank you uh any comments or
questions Council M torguson any
comments or questions I don't want to
forget he's up
there okay um just to wrap up mayor and
council members in terms of next steps
staff will be returning to the council
in Fall with a final report that will
highlight some of our potential
Partnerships and looking how we can
Implement some of these objectives and
um just bring that um back to you um but
before I wrap up I do want to just send
my great thanks to this group who over
um the last 2 and a half years had over
23 meetings they listened to 31
different presentations um they read
reviewed um 15 book assessments and had
lots of different homework to do uh they
they spent 60 hours in meeting time um
they did come up with like these three
buckets that I think are really nicely
done to really identify resources
education and awareness and
overarchingly the whole group put
together 111 different recommendations
over these five topic areas so um I just
want to say my big thanks to them they
worked very hard in um providing this
information to us as a town which I
think will result in some great ways to
move the needle which some have actually
already been implemented so um we
already heard them along the way and
have already tried to um create some of
these opportunities um such as like our
crisis response team that got started
with an embedded victim Advocate that's
one of the pieces that got started um
Contin to look at some of these
increased Partnerships that we're
excited this year with heat relief as as
Sean mentioned that it's expanded and we
actually will have coverage all the way
from June through September which is new
for us which was great knowing that that
was in need um so we just feel really
fortunate that um they brought to light
some of the really important areas and
we were able to do that um I also want
to thank council member tilky for being
a Guiding Light along our process and
and being at all of our meetings and
also I know dollar is here as well and
she helped facilitate um many of our
meetings which really helped keep us on
track and on the subject area and making
sure we were move moving um with
progress forward um so in conclusion I
just wanted to read a quote if I could
um volunteerism is the voice of the
people put into action these actions
shape and mold the present into a future
of which we can all be proud and that's
Helen Dyer and I really feel like this
group really highlights the volunteers
and piece that they've done um so really
appreciate the time and opportunity to
work with with them and I can answer any
other questions thank you Melanie
council member tilki thank you mayor um
you stole all my thunder there uh
Melanie but I'm glad you did you did a
great job I wanted to make sure we
thanked everybody that participated in
addition to that I wanted to make sure
we recognize you Don Prince and Judy
Martinez who was with us the entire time
and we couldn't have got through it
without your without that staff support
um just as a reminder to the council you
know the goal was us was for us to come
back after each pillar and just give you
a highlight of uh some of the
recommendations as Melanie mentioned the
final recommendations will be coming
back this fall um I think when you look
at the recommendations for each of the
pillars you can see that we can't do
this alone the town of Gilbert can't
solve all these problems as an
organization by ourself it's going to
take our community our um faith
community our schools everybody coming
together to help address these and and
part of that final recommendation we'll
recommend some of those Partnerships
that we already have um from the very
beginning we wanted to identify how we
can close those gaps and how can we
actually move the needle not just talk
about it but actually make a difference
in our community and I believe all of
the hard work this committee has put
into this as is going to bring us great
recommendations in a pass forward
um I also wanted to mention that um and
I'm losing my train auth thought Poli I
have a headache today so it's um losing
me but um anyway we will be coming back
uh with more recommendations um I
anticipate as we move forward to the
teen violence um pillar that you will
see those same three um categories
because I think they fit together very
well on resources education and
awareness and looking at those
Partnerships in the future as well so um
I just can't thank this task force
enough for the amount of time they gave
out of their lives to devote back to
helping those in our community so thank
you Melanie and thank you Suzanne and
Sean for being
here any other comments
want to say um again thank you for all
the work that you've done I know that
Melanie just did a synopsis of the time
that you've given and all of the
materials that you reviewed but I don't
think it captures how heavy the topics
were that you reviewed over the past two
years and um that I know that has to
have weighed on all of you and I
appreciate the time and effort that you
put into all of that and all of the work
that you've done for this community and
you'll make you are making Gilbert a
better place to be so thank you for your
time and efforts and we appreciate all
of it we really do we can't say much
from up here but we really do appreciate
everything that you've done thank you
thank you for being here
too is that council member torguson is
that you yes it is maam would you like
to add
anything well I just want to say that it
to in a sense Echo what Kathy was saying
is that I don't the town we can't people
can't be looking at the town to solve
all their problems if we can make
introductions put you know some
programming together to help that's
great but to for people to be coming to
the town to solve the problems society's
going to solve its own problems and to
quote toille I mean the man wrote about
the incarceration of people in America
he had an entire book on it and he can't
cherry-pick certain things he says about
culture uh he condemned American culture
in a lot of ways so uh you I just wanted
to say that the work of people let's say
like Jesse with kindness USA those
things were great and should be continue
to be promoted and and embraced but uh
council member tilki is entirely correct
that we can't solve all the problems
maybe we can move the needle a little
bit but let's
not try to expect that we solve
everything I think it would be very nice
to to take a deep breath and do what we
can do and move forward but not take on
take this on as a a massive project
because it's just I hate the term of
role of government but we're half the
problem you know if we could even be
close to half the solution it'd be
amazing but I just wanted to say that
thank you thank you council member thank
you all moving on to our next topic
we are looking at a presentation and
discussion on subdivision text
Amendment well good evening mayor and
Council I'm Tom Tom cond development
engineering manager for the
town so what I've got to talk to you
about tonight is a text Amendment for
the Land Development code and it's
relating to our final plat approval
process so I wanted to uh discuss a
little bit about our current regulations
regarding uh our final plat approvals
and there's been some recent changes to
state law that allow for administrative
approval for certain
items so uh we currently process about
20 or 25 applications for final plats
and this is subdivisions and minor
subdivisions
annually um the the process goes goes
through a formal submitt to the
development services
department staff review of the submitted
information and these plats are
basically uh subdivisions of land so you
might have a 20 acre piece of land
that's being subdivided into you know
anywhere from four to uh maybe 40
different IND idual land
Parcels uh the staff then reviews that
submitted information we prepare a staff
report you've seen these in your Council
packets routinely throughout the years
and then um we uh then you make a
decision to approve or deny this the
final plat and then we record it so it's
a fairly straightforward simple
process um in May of 2023 Senate Bill
1103 was signed signed into law and this
this allowed well it's it had wide
widespread Municipal support and and
League of cities support and support
from the town of
Gilbert what the the bill allows for is
the review and approval of preliminary
plats final plats and plat amendments
without the process of an administrative
approval by the Town
Council um the development services
director or design would then be allowed
to approve the plats without waiting for
the council
action we expect that should you move
forward with this and we make these
adjustments we'll significantly reduce
the amount of time it takes to receive
final plat approval uh side note on that
typically these final plats are one of
the last things that the deel developer
does is they're preparing to get their
permits and it can be a two-e process to
load it up into Council get the staff
report done and then another maybe week
or so to get all the signatures and get
it done and recorded So it it would be a
Time Savings for the
developers and uh last thing I want to
mention on that it what we're proposing
is amending the final plat process not
the preliminary plat process we still
think there is a need to go through that
more detailed review at that preliminary
plat
stage so we analyzed the bill and we're
REM recommending revisions some of these
revisions would allow uh the development
services director or design to
administratively approved plats
consisting of less than 300 lots and
that uh may contain right of way public
right of way and easement dedications
necessary for the
subdivision under the current LDC
language uh all these plats must be
approved by Town
Council also it allows any
administrative approvals should the
applicant not uh not agree with the town
staff maybe we deny it for one reason
other and they want to move it forward
they can appeal to the Town
Council and then there's various uh
Technical and conforming changes that
are being made as
well so on uh on May 1st the Planning
Commission went through their process
initiating this text Amendment and the
required citizen review was conducted
so um just a quick summary of the types
of plats final plats which are approved
by the Town Council our current code uh
says that five a regular Subdivision
plat is five or more Lots or
Parcels minor subdivision is four Lots
or less and uh and those also need to
come to the Town Council currently then
the minor land division which is an
administrative process this is for
basically very small divisions of land
uh two or three lots on two and a half
acres things like that lot ties lot uh
lot splits um that sort of
thing so and again just uh the revisions
will expedite the application and
approval of these
plats and uh we will align the minor
subdivision application process with the
minor land division process and also the
revisions align the appeal
process and I think that is all I have
if you have any
questions thank you Tom any questions
council member tilki thank you hi Tom um
I was trying to catch everything that
you
mentioned would be part of those
revisions
and so I may have heard wrong so I
that's why I want to ask the question
some
about um a development with
350 units so I'm I'm I'm not sure what
that's about do you explain that yes
it's uh what we're proposing is
modifying the language to allow for
administrative approval of up to 300
Lots okay so anything above that
anything above 300 Lots would still have
to come to the council okay and lots are
different than units yes yeah so I just
wanted to clar I know I said units so I
said the wrong thing but um okay um I I
I'm supportive of this as always I'd
like to see the language but um I think
that anything we can do to streamline
that
timeline never and all the times that
I've come to Council meetings
seen a plat not be just approved on
consent agenda without any questions so
I think that especially if it saves time
for staff as well thank you
vice mayor Anderson Tom have you um
reached out to the other communities
around us are they on that 300 number
also um you know I I have seen that
several communities have adopted um
these revisions I do not know the
specific number of
the um I'm I'm looking back at Elena
because uh I don't know she may have
done more research than I did on that
particular
numbered by the league oh the three oh
thank you the 300 number was recommended
by the league by the league yes okay
thank
you council member B Buckley um well I
just I myself am not sure about this uh
just
because when you when you do the plat
you're talking about the final plat
right correct so and no
changes or have
happened we can and I guess the question
I'm asking is can someone change things
that have already been stated and in
there will that come back
for uh comments or questions from
developers
and do we don't know what any of these
plats will be I kind of I think I I need
more more information on some of this to
to feel comfortable with not having that
come to council I think that and I I I
get that you want to have things quickly
done and and move forward but as council
member Tikki said you know she's never
seen something you know a final flat
come to council that either you know
wasn't approved right away so I'm not
sure
exactly what the purpose is other than
making this a little bit faster
yeah I I may be able to address that uh
council member Buckley I might be able
to address a little bit of that and
maybe answer a couple of your questions
um I've I've been in the in the
development engineering now for over 20
years and starting at Queen Creek coming
to Gilbert I've probably processed well
over 300 plats that have gone through to
the council I think in that time I've
seen two plats come off both of the
times that a council member had a
question it was about a a note
that was on the plat and wondering about
a note and we got that addressed and it
was and it was approved and uh these
were plats anywhere up to I think maybe
500 lots that sort of thing um the the
final plat is really it's it's primarily
a survey document it shows all the meats
and Bounds carves out the Lots does the
dedications of the land it's something
that our staff reviews with a fine tooth
comb with the engineers and develop ERS
um but uh that that's that is what a
final plat is the preliminary plat often
times will have more interaction with
staff about setbacks and other things
that really do have to do a little more
with some of the nuances with a project
and how it relates with the
code right I I I guess you know my kind
of my issue is um and not questioning
obviously your role in this because you
have a a great history and uh but I'm
not quite understanding why you wouldn't
want it to come to council I think I I I
personally think that it's something
that have we seen this in the process we
have to comply with state law so so a
law was passed last year in 2023 oh by
the state of Arizona which were finding
a way
to word our ordinances to comply with
the state law good summary Tom excellent
yes thank you yeah so we're trying to
comply with state law so we're we're
working our way through that
process well then I guess that answers
my question I'm not happy with that I I
I think that uh I I don't like that at
all myself because I think that uh you
know that final review with with Council
and the mayor and and questions and
things I think that's important but um I
guess the state overrules us yes they do
so another thing that we have to uh
abide by which I will you know I mean if
it's if it's a rule it's a rule and and
I I appreciate your
feedback um mayor can I clarify one
thing sure I just want to mention that
uh I think council member Buckley makes
a good point the the changes in the
state law are
voluntary so we're bringing this to you
because we recognize the fact that uh as
we've seen these plats come forward
there's we we never see a question from
the council and it will save the
developer time but it is voluntary the
state isn't mandating
this thanks for the clarification Tom I
think what we found council member
Buckley is um with our state legislature
over the past several sessions including
the current session that we're in is
they're um constantly trying to find
ways to speed up the development process
wherever they can and this was one this
was one way that they chose that they
could pass down to the cities and towns
there other modifications coming to that
were just I think signed by the governor
today in fact that we'll be discussing
in the near
future yeah I mean I I I understand the
speeding up of the process but I also
think the process should be
thoroughly done and reviewed and that
that's just my my point on on this but
thank you for that information I
appreciate that vice mayor Anderson I
was just going to say thank you for
clarifying that but I do know and
recognize that it may be voluntary but
if we choose to not do it someone will
be on the phone to Kyle tomorrow Kyle or
Patrick tomorrow asking why we're not
doing it and and I think when Tom
started this discussion he mentioned
that um this was supported by cities and
towns throughout the state because as
cities and towns we are working every
day to find ways that we can meet the
requests from our state legislators
without
them forcing things upon us and so
making it voluntary they're saying
wherever anybody can pitch in let's
pitch in and this is one place that
Gilbert said yes we can find a way to do
that um Tom what do you need from us on
this next step um this was just to to
open it up and get your feedback on it
um with the next steps we will be going
to uh Planning Commission with the
actual proposed language and it'll come
back to you probably in about a month
for uh formal action should you wish to
do so we come back for public hearing
for comments from the public if they
would like to do them yes I see I see
Kyle's head doing this okay I'm glad
Kyle's head is doing sitting right in a
spotlight back there and I can see him
thank you appreciate it oh council
member tarason sorry council member
tarus just a a a quick question and it's
probably an impossible question to ask
but or answer but what would you see as
the unintended consequences of this
action I don't know that I can see any
particular unintended
consequences uh it is it is it truly in
my mind it's been an administrative
process I know the council has every
opportunity to review the plats now and
make comments but in my experience I've
not seen
it I'm just looking for what the
downside could be and uh you know with
all the things that the legislature has
thrown at towns and cities including
something about a new mobile home
designation for every municipality that
I've heard about I'm just looking for
our downside so thank you for
that thank you council member thanks Tom
I haven't seen you present to us in a
very long time that's right was so
surprised when you stepped up to the
podium I know I even even wore a tie for
you you did thank you I appreciate that
thanks Tom next on our agenda is
presentation and discussion on Accessory
dwelling units which I also know is a
bill that was signed by the governor
today a brand new bill so
Ava good evening mayor and Council Ava
cutro planning manager and thank you for
the opportunity tonight to discuss
accessory dwelling unit
this was something I was originally very
excited to bring to council staff had
worked for over a year revising our
standards we in no way we're trying to
eliminate accessory dwelling units we're
really looking to streamline the process
and just to make sure our design
standards were on par with the rest of
Gilbert at the same time we were working
on revising the standards it appears the
state was also working on regulations
for accessory dwelling units and as the
just mentioned when I did this slide
yesterday we had that house bill
2720 had not been signed on the governor
but was on her desk and you are correct
she did sign it today so staff will put
aside all of our proposed changes that
we brought to commission and commission
recommended approval of in March vice
mayor got to hear those Bazar Le on to
the commission but tonight I thought I'd
just do a quick run through of House
Bill 2720
and how that differs from our current
Land Development code standards knowing
that we will now have to make revisions
to come into compliance with House Bill
2720 and our demand for guest homes
accessory dwelling units and large
accessory structures keeps increasing in
Gilbert it's actually doubled in the
last three
years so looking at our Land Development
code incidental dwelling units accessory
dwelling units are allowed in our single
family six which are lots um 6,000
square ft up to our highest SF 43 lots
that are greater than an acre and these
are allowed with the use permit and we
currently allow one guest home and one
accessory dwelling units this is
actually very generous many other
municipalities only allow one or don't
allow them at all so House Bill 27 720
also allows one attached and one
detached accessory dwelling unit as a
permitted use so that's similar to what
we currently allow then when you go to
Bullet number two they also allow if you
have a lot that's over an acre you can
have an additional accessory dwelling
unit as long as you're restricted to an
affordable dwelling unit and they do
Define affordable as for housing
households that are up to 80% of the
area's median
income so again we're just getting a lot
of this language for the first time as
well so that would allow you're allowed
two one attached one detached if you're
over an acre you're allowed a third if
you make it an affordable unit but then
bullet point number three was confusing
to us it states an accessory dwelling
unit that is 75% of the gross floor area
of the single family dwelling or 1,000
square F feet whichever is less we're
not sure if that's allowing a fourth
accessory dwelling unit or if that's the
standards for the three that are in one
and two it's just poorly written
language uh Rob bore has kept us
informed about this house pill house
bill and we have made comments on this
language but it was not
clarified moving on the Gilbert Land
Development code says that guest homes
cannot be rented
and they cannot have full kitchens while
accessory dwelling units can be rented
can have full kitchens House Bill 2720
does not differentiate between the two
accessory dwelling units may or may not
include kitchen facilities but they do
prohibit
municipalities from putting restrictions
on long-term rental housing when you
look at long-term rental housing their
definition was for 90 days or on a
month-by-month
basis so that also wasn't the clearest
language and it does not require that
the renter be somehow related to the
owner um how this could affect the town
is right now we would only allow the
main house and the Adu to be rented if
you do have three units or more if
you're over an acre there's nothing
preventing you from having up to three
rentals on the
property the Land Development code also
states that the accessory dwelling unit
has to be subordinate to the main we
don't Define that in
rldc the house bill does State a single
family dwelling has to have greater or
square footage than the accessory
dwelling unit so at least we know the
accessory dwelling unit has to be
smaller in size than the main dwelling
on the
property and we do have language that
except for secondary dwellings
constructed over a detached garage
secondary dwellings shall be located
within the building envelopes meaning
they have to meet the same setbacks as
the main home but the but the square
footage Ava there's no minimum or
maximum or percentage put on that so if
I have a 2,000 foot home the other one
could be 19990 square fet if they fit on
the property that's what we're assuming
we're still reviewing the language and
now that it has been signed we'll meet
with the league and other
municipalities but this is probably the
biggest change because when we look at
our r43 Lots they require side and rear
setbacks of 30 feet then it goes down to
20 feet 15 feet and only on our smallest
slots do we start approaching 5 to 10
foot setbacks under house bill 2720 if
you look at the last bullet Set uh rear
or side setbacks for accessory dwelling
units cannot be more than 5T from the
property line so that does bring
accessory dwelling units much closer to
property lines than currently allowed in
the
LDC additional LDC language is that the
design of the accessory dwelling unit
shall be compatible with the design of
the principal dwelling on the site in
materials colors and architectural style
how Bill
2720 specifically takes that out it says
that we cannot require an accessory
dwelling unit match the interior design
roof pitch Etc of the main house so we
do get proposals for container units for
adus and we've always said no you have
to match match the architecture of the
main house house build 2720 does now
remove that we also require that all
adus provide an onsite meaning off
street parking space um House Bill
2720 does prohibit us from requiring
additional parking on site for the
adus lastly uh the Land Development code
requires an administrative use permit
for all accessory dwelling units and
throughout this process staff gets to
review the dwelling unit make sure it
matches the main home letters are also
sent to the neighbors to make them aware
that an access accessory dwelling unit
may be going up in their neighborhood
while they can't make demands they could
certainly make suggestions at that time
under house bill
2720 accessory dwelling units are now
permitted uses so by right you can have
them so you would just apply for
building permits and there would not be
any use permit
required the last thing that house bill
2720 States is that we municipality has
to adopt regulations by January 1st
2025 or else accessory dwelling units
shall be allowed on all Lots zon for
residential use in the municipality
Without Limits so we will have to
quickly come up with code language and
you'll see me again shortly before
January 1st so that we do have
regulations in place by the
deadline so very quick summary we've
really just signed today so hot off the
presses if you have any questions I
might be able to answer them we'll see
thank you Ava Vice Mary
Anderson Ava is this voluntary like the
final
PL no it is not too
bad council member tilki thank you mayor
um I think this is an example of it's
hard to keep track of what's going down
at the legislature and as they continue
continue to push forward agendas such as
this it is really taking away the
Public's ability to have any input into
what's happening in their community and
their neighbors uh hoods um that's just
an editorial on my part at this point
yeah um the question I have is how does
this impact HOAs and ccnr because we've
just passed some things in our HOA that
um are could be in conflict of this if
somebody tried to move forward mayor
council member tilki I don't know I'll
see if uh Elena or perhaps Rob bour
knows any more on that and we don't have
to have an answer tonight I think that
as we move forward that's an area I'd
like us to explore so that we can make
sure that we are letting them know
unless you have an answer
today okay according to B CC andrs would
still apply okay so in some respects
then part of our neighborhoods are
protected just based on their cc&rs but
there are a lot of new Properties or as
we've found these
infill um desires coming forward of um
large lots that um maybe the family
members aren't around anymore we're
going to see more and more of this and
we won't have much to say about that
thank you vice mayor
Anderson so uh three is the maximum is
that what you're saying not
sure not 100% sure that is what we think
um sorry because you're definitely
allowed one attached and one detached
and if you're over an acre you are
allowed a third if it's affordable it's
the language in three that's confusing
we're hoping
that just gives standards for the adus
that are permitted by one and two but
it's it's not clear language I mean I
could see as council member til's
talking about if you're on an acre lot
you have one home I could see somebody
getting creative and trying to create a
tiny house subdivision in their backyard
yes if you're on an acre lot you could
definitely have an attached you could
have a detached and you could have a
third as long as it's affordable and
eligible for people that make up to 80%
of the area median income which
is which in Gilbert is still over
$80,000 I mean because the median income
in Gilbert's what
$107,000 today so 80% of that would be
up in the so 80 81,000 yeah over $80,000
my basic math yes and mayor vice mayor I
just received clarification
that the uh talk is that three is the
max so hopefully then bullet three does
just give standards for the three that
would be allowed by one and two so
bullet three shouldn't really be a
bullet three it should be under one and
two the way that it was written coun M
tilki did you have something else um
just one thing and I know we won't have
the answer today but as we move forward
I'm curious on who's enforcing this um
the affordable unit in the long term so
I'm sure the legislature in their wisdom
has already thought of that and has that
we'll have it written out for us but
anyway I think that that will be
important yes and here here is the
definition they give so it would have to
be restricted through a deed restriction
or a development agreement with the
municipality so a little more
information but
in reality there's no way to enforce
that at all um any other what if you're
renting it and you receive a raise and
now you make 82% of the med yeah I mean
it's just it's not something that would
be able to be enforced on and we're
we're talking now about putting three
homes to an acre essentially right on in
a neighborhood that would have acre lots
thinking that there's going to be one
home but you could put three homes on
that acre now and we have no say the
town the neighbors has has no say over
even design of those buildings and what
those buildings will look like on that
property or if they have parking for
them sorry Eva or if they have parking
for them right that's exactly what I was
going to add mayor so we um couldn't
have a say on the design we couldn't
require on-site parking and of course on
those large Lots we lose a lot of the
large setbacks that are currently
required mhm I mean I'm thinking
thinking about our three Neighbors
neighbor hoods if this was allowed in
our
neighborhoods the people would have to
park on the street in our neighborhoods
yeah you just gave me an idea right oh
yeah there you go you're
welcome any other comments council
member torguson any comments yes ma'am
okay uh question for I did notice when
it said municipalities so the cc&rs of
HOAs would remain intact we'd be dealing
with the the neighborhoods that don't
have official uh ccnr correct
um mayor council member torguson that is
what I've been informed or neighborhoods
that don't have limits on their or
standards for adus in their
ccnr now also the uh I I probably it
probably cut out when you said it uh
properties less than an acre are they
affected um I'm sorry council member tus
said I'm not 100% sure what you're
asking this would apply are
they my question is that properties
under an acre how does this law apply to
those properties this law applies to all
single family
zones so this would also allow the adus
on 6,000 sqt Lots as well as over an
acre lots but the you're only allowed
the third unit if you're over an
acre that that I wanted that
clarification because I I missed that in
the conversation somehow so on top of
all that basically if somebody wants to
take a mobile home and slap it on the
you know the side of their
property we don't get to say a word do
we correct we may great
legisl mayor council we may get to say
something about mobile holds under the
building code it might have to be on a
permanent foundation or something like
that but I would have to discuss that in
more details with our building
department and and I would have to say
that if we're not able to look at any
details of what's being built there that
would yeah bring that into question
right yes but council member Tuson any
single family residential ff6 and up in
the town of Gilbert can now have a
second
dwelling unit on the property and
anything that's over an acre can have up
to three and mayor we we did say sf6 to
SF 43 we also have an sfd category and
we'll have to look if it applies to
those categories as well like SFA allows
detached and attached so we'll have to
see how far this extends so it may be
every single family residential lot in
the town of Gilbert is what we're saying
it maybe yes yes any other comments or
questions um Chris Payne just want to
clarify language from the bill the
question about the ccnr it says this
section does not prohibit restrictive
covenants concerning adus entered into
between private parties so the bill
expressly allows for HOAs if they have
prohibited adus then they can stay
prohibited under the bill or I'm
assuming they could an HOA could
prohibit those if they go through the
process and amend their existing CCN RS
so so the bill was signed today it
doesn't go into effect till when 60 days
after the session ends is that correct
or does it go
rob 90 days after the session ends I
can't remember what the
technical effective date so the
effective date is is 90 days after um
Sunny die so we don't yet know when that
is but but this it requires us to
establish an ordinance by January 1 of
2025 so and my train of thought was if
there are HOAs out there listening right
now that don't have adus and their ccnr
and want to update something they have
90 days from the date that the session
ends I'm going to say session ends
because it's un it's more understandable
for our residents than signy die I
believe mayor I believe that would be
the case that it would be able to to
make that change within that time frame
yeah I'm just spitballing yeah for the
sake of it thank you thanks Rob thanks
um Council M Buckley did you have a
question uh yeah just just uh a couple
of quick questions and actually
you the mayor asked the the qu one of
the questions that that I was thinking
of is can the HOAs now go in and put
something in their HOAs that prohibit
that and I they can get it done Before
the bill goes before before the 90 days
and and it's not 90 days from today it's
90 days and I want to be very clear
about that anybody listening it's 90
days from the day that this legislative
session ends and this session is not
ended or closed yet when they go signy
die which is what Rob just said but
that's officially the last day of this
legislative session 90 days from that
date is when these bills go into effect
and we don't know when that date's going
to be at this point we don't know when
the legislative legislative session is
going to end at this point so I'm I'm
assuming or thinking that the HOAs are
up on this it just got passed it just it
just it was just signed by the governor
today so I don't know what the a are
doing or know about it so my other
question is setbacks and if I recall
correctly on this someone could come in
and if you're in an acre lot you know
you have space and everything
but they can build a building or put a
mobile home or whatever within 5 feet of
your fence of your property line yes
that is what the house bill language
says it's the last bullet in capital on
here said that it prohibits a
municipality from setting rear or side
setbacks for accessory dwelling units
that are more than 5T from the property
line currently on an r43 lot the
accessory dwelling unit has to be within
the building envelope and those side and
rear setbacks are 30 and 40
ft but we wouldn't be able to enforce
those any longer it would be 5et under
this
bill even for the Acre
Properties wow I don't know I wish I'd
have been a lobbyist on this because I
would have been there every day against
this pardon me our legislators wanted it
they've been pushing it
well we we need to be looking at
them wow I this
is member Tuson I heard something from
you other than a gasp of
exasperation with our legislature uh
that's really all you heard was me just
gasping that uh you almost feel like why
are we here they're telling us how to
run our
municipality uh remotely it's fantastic
you know end of my sarcasm
uh I am really it's really does strip
away some of the and although I'm
supportive of people having accessory
dwelling rooms units for a myriad of
reasons but to do it in such a manner is
uh really counterproductive for a
community oh
well I guess it doesn't pay to complain
today so what what do we do to get rid
of
this yeah
how Chris how do we do this we've
beening it there's nothing we can do
about it at this point it has been
signed by the governor we've been
fighting it the best we can um and it
passed today and so it is now reality
that we now have to figure out how to
work with as municipalities and mayor
council member Buckley um many other
states have already passed this
legislation when we go to planning
conferences we were just in Minnesota
and their mayor in their opening keynote
said how proud they are that they now
have no limits on Accessory dwelling
units to help the housing shortage when
I was in California I was actually on a
tour where they were really stating how
fantastic this is and showing us all
these Lots with multiple units on it and
I was the naysayer in the group like
whoa I don't think that this is great
but they all thought I was terrible you
know and I and I I don't want this taken
wrong either I am all for affordable
housing and helping the people that do
not have a home but not at the at the
risk of my own family and putting you
know putting units that are five feet
from from me there could be a mobile
home five feet on the other side of the
fence and mayor council member as I
mentioned Gilbert is and always has been
very generous with allowing an accessory
dwelling unit and a guest house on
single family properties so right we
were always supportive of allowing them
it's just now we have additional
constraints on how we can set standards
and regulate them um laws like this will
change the landscape of our communities
all of our communities yeah um vice
mayor did you have something you wanted
to add okay thank you Ava may may if I
could just add council member Buckley to
your comment what
what can what can you do the council the
community um what what the legislature
giveth they can take away meaning
nothing prohibits at the next session
that's getting Revisited maybe revised
or potentially repealed if there's a lot
of push back from the people of Arizona
that maybe the legislature will take
another look at it in a future
session great Point Chris this is to
answer the um affordable housing
situation the housing crisis they're
they're looking for ways to create more
dwelling units and this is the
legislature's answer to that so thank
you Ava yes oh did you have another
question no I I was just saying there
there's a lot of other ways to to create
affordable housing there is a there's a
ton of land I mean there's land west of
Buckeye there's land you know north of
scel we I I mean there's massive land
that we can create affordable housing on
versus trying to put them in everyone's
backyard nobody wants to live in those
places well I I think I have found my
Niche and that is uh for the and I'll be
talking to Chris to see how you know it
won't do any good I'm probably sure but
I'm I this is I just think this is very
very wrong well thank you again for the
discussion and you'll see me again soon
when we have to amend the LDC thanks AA
appreciate it thank you AA very much we
have one more presentation and
discussion on community preservation
ordinance
Kyle good evening mayor and Council Kyle
Maris development services director um
I've got about 10 slides to to go over
with you um to talk about the uh
Community preservation ordinance and and
where we're at now uh as you remember we
had a discussion with mayor and councel
last fall uh about a potential Community
preservation ordinance um and sought
Direction at that time um for mayor and
Council on how to move forward with it
um so I will give you an overview again
and then let you know where we're at um
again what is a a community preservation
ordinance and and what does it actually
do and how will it make a difference for
us um this will enable the town to
address issues of of blight beyond what
is currently authorized in our code
there are certain things in our code now
that we um can't touch because it's not
spelled out so we're limited to certain
things uh like weeds um but NE not
necessarily things like broken windows
or um fences that are falling over
things of that nature so um what this
ordinance is meant to do is is give us a
little bit more Authority in and um
contacting um residents and having
discussions um with them and helping
them find the resources that are that
are needed um to maybe make these
changes to their their site um again
this is not uh necessarily um to be a
punitive ordinance it's more of a tool
that we want to put in place uh in order
to help connect dots um with folks that
may be in need with resources uh in
order to um uh in order to change things
on
properties um these are some of the
slides that we talked about um at The
Retreat um showing things that um that
um Lor's team is not able to address at
the moment our Code Compliance team um
these are some of the pictures they've
taken through Gilbert that that show um
some different conditions that that may
not be ideal and that we would like to
be able to work with the property owners
on in order to um uh help the sites uh
this was probably one of the favorite
ones from last year um all of the
different stuff in the in the backyard
of of this uh residence
uh and then again I mentioned even
things like broken windows or or boarded
up Windows uh there's nothing currently
in our code if it's not a life safety or
health issue that that we can really um
lean on and um address Property Owners
with again with this ordinance our hope
is to um help connect some folks with um
uh resources and I've got some slides
that'll show that in just a
minute at The Retreat um we did an
overview of the um of the ordinance the
way it was drafted at the time at the
time it had four different parts um
we've since refined it um into three
different parts we combined the
abatement with Administration and
enforcement um General provisions and
the maintenance standards remain the
same we provided examples of different
residential and Commercial challenges
that we've had across the community um
some of the pictures that I just went
through are the same pictures that you
saw uh last fall um we had a really good
discussion about how the ordinance
should be applied um the discussion and
the end of the discussion was that the
ordinance shall be applied townwide
uh and then takeaways and
recommendations this is where we wanted
to hear from Council and uh and um gain
some of that direction as we were coming
back to you um early this spring so what
we heard at the retreat was continue to
provide information and education on
resources to Aid residents you had a
really good presentation from Melanie's
team earlier today you can see a lot of
the resources that are available that
that um uh that we can um continue to um
to push out um and then I've got some
slides that show some other resources as
well um incorporate language to prevent
abuse of ordinance um through putting
together this ordinance um we had a
really good team involved uh we had
folks from Economic Development we had
folks from um development services we
had folks from the legal department so
uh Alena and Cole were able to
incorporate language into this uh draft
that that you have now U that talks
about prevention of abuse of the
ordinance and and steps that the town
could actually take uh in order for us
um uh not to continue to receive um
additional um complaints one of the
things that we know that we do need to
address and and before we come back um
are um how does the town not become
necessarily the HOA enforcer in this so
we've we've heard that loud and clear
and we need to uh um take a look at what
some other other surrounding communities
do and what we can do to move forward so
that um HOA boards don't just say please
go talk to the town and and now the town
is the uh uh The Enforcer necess
necessarily um provide examples of
public nuisance and and non-conforming
use um this is an interesting one um we
had the conversation at The Retreat
about um this maybe being a case-by
casee basis um a non-conforming use a
lot of times is a a use that may have
started in the county or or predat some
of our codes um but it's more of a it's
more of a land use and really needs to
be kind of looked into uh where a public
nuisance is something that's more um uh
happening currently on the um in in
Gilbert so that's one of those where
we'll have to take a close look um as
those pop up to see how they would be
interpreted and fall underneath the code
um clarify only in Gilbert uh that this
does not apply to County standards again
Elena and Cole did a great job of of
adding in the clarity so that it's very
clear that um this community
preservation ordinance would only apply
uh within the town of Gilbert and then
Council gave us direction to bring
forward the document for Council review
and discussion um I did email you all
the um the um draft ordinance last week
um we've got plenty of time in order to
review it and make um any types of
changes before we come back on June 18th
uh hopefully for um adoption at that
time mentioned I had some uh slides that
talks about um some um programs and and
some help that the town can provide um
this is the emergency and minor home uh
repair program uh again this slide is is
directly out of the retreat slides uh
this program is available to income
eligible uh Gilbert homeowners to assist
with health or health or safety related
home repairs and you can see there on
the screen the examples of what the the
repairs could
include Additionally the town has a
roofing and repair replacement program
and we do an exterior painting program
um the town is one of those um great
partners with nonprofit organizations uh
who can also assist with emergency minor
home repair needs um you can see there's
ability 360s home modific modification
program the home safety and critical
home repair and Habitat for Humanity are
some of the different um programs that
that we can partner with and then I I
have this card that I I uh received
recently it's from Community Resources
again melan's group um that talks about
um the finding the full list of
resources so these are cards that can be
given out either by our Code Compliance
team um by Community uh resource um
teammates um but but scanning the QR
code or going to that uh website then
would provide folks with uh additional
resources um to help them in any type of
need uh again I mentioned that the June
18th Town Council hearing is is our next
step uh we've got a couple Outreach um
things set up between now and then um to
um gain some additional feedback from
folks U make any types of necessary
changes to the to the council draft uh
and then we'll come back to you on the
on the
18th um that is what I have for you um
this evening thank you thanks Kyle any
comments or questions for Kyle vice
mayor
Anderson being a cynic so when we have
blight in the backyard because of
accessory dwelling unit when we use this
code to address
it on a complaint on a complaint basis
Vice May great
question yeah that that is funny that
vice mayor uh Anderson said that because
when I saw that photo it came in my head
that could be my next door neighbor's
backyard
could council member tilki thanks mayor
um thanks Kyle and the entire team I
know this has been a a long process for
you all um I know I've shared some
comments with you and I appreciate you
looking at that um Elena and Cole I know
you're looking into a couple things for
me um just so the council knows um I
appreciate looking at that HOA
connection because we do not want to be
the first call that's why we have HOAs
that's why I pay big bucks to our HOA to
make sure that happens right uh so it's
not the town of Gilbert's responsibility
but we should be there when we're needed
to be there obviously um I know you're
looking into this but um we have there's
an exception in there which I think is
standard language that I want to take a
look at um exempting government from
this there I don't believe there's
anything in this um ordinance that we
should be allowed to do on our own
property that we wouldn't allow in
somebody else's property but perhaps
there is and you'll find that and let me
know but um and I I do understand that
we don't have jurisdiction over some of
the county or the schools but it doesn't
mean we can't go in there and let them
know something's going on and I don't
know what the process at that point but
I don't think they should just be
Exempted or ourselves um the other um
portion I appreciate is the connection
to resources and I think as we continue
to have more conversations in our
community um it kind of ties back to the
conversation we just had on kindness and
helping each other in the community we
can um determine resources because there
are people in our neighborhoods that
either because their physical needs or
their financial needs cannot keep up and
so there're knowing that we have some
resources is going to be really
important
um I've asked um Kyle and the team that
I talked to today to consider or for the
council to consider as well that since
this is a new program we don't know how
it's really going to work instead of
initiating a pilot program that we um
collect data and get feedback every
three months to see how it's going uh
for the first year at least because I
think that we're going to run into some
things that we might want to be aware of
so that if we need to change the
ordinance we can um I read through it
very quickly and made lots of comments
but I haven't read it word for word so I
I may have other comments when I do that
but um that that's my um I guess two
cents on this um and again as the mayor
mentioned this will be um more of a
reactive than a proactive going out
there looking in people's backyards and
things that's not what this is about and
I just want to make sure that people
understand that thank you thank you any
other comments or
questions council member
torguson any
comments no thank you ma'am thank you
I'll just say that I
think I agree with council member tilky
that this needs to be followed up on if
we bring this back in June when would
this go into effect Kyle I believe it's
30 days is it 30 days so it would go
into effect mid July we'll just say for
argument sake um and so this Council
would see this you could come back to us
maybe with an update within three or so
months after that so sometime this fall
maybe even at the fall Retreat or
something give us an update on how the
program is working and if you've seen
anything that we need to maybe take a
look at that's always a great idea and I
think we tend to do that in Gilbert
anyway we're very data driven and so we
need to see what's working and what's
not working and as we kind of joked but
this is on a complaint basis this isn't
the town driving around looking for
situations that would come to our
attention this is somebody calling in to
complain but if I call in complain and
say my my neighbor Bobby has four foot
weeds in her yard I best not have four
foot weeds in my yard too because then
if the town comes out to look they're
going to say we both need to have a
little talking to or whatever right it's
it's going to on that kind of a
situation you you used that example with
me earlier so I just used it again um
and so I think that it's important to
note that but I also think it's
important to note that this is the next
step for the future of Gilbert as we're
looking at being a city of the future
Vice Mar you refer to all the time
doesn't mean us becoming a city it means
us staying a town but staying a very
well-run goodlooking clean
forward-looking community and that's
what we're trying to do here with this
is to make sure that it's it's done in
the same way across the whole entire
Community we're looking at the community
in the same light and that we're making
sure that blight isn't happening any
place within our community so I think
it's all part of what we're planning for
the future of this town thank you Mar if
I may add um I think Gilbert is one of
the only communities without some sort
of preservation ordinance thank you for
adding that too and again we've been so
focused on growth that we haven't had to
think about the fact now that I mean I'm
been in my house almost 29 years those
homes are now aging our neighbor those
neighborhoods are now aging and you're
starting to see this but that doesn't
mean that a new home in a new
neighborhood couldn't end up with a
broken window that sits that way for
quite some time too so we have to look
at everything at the overall the whole
entire community so we appreciate that
thanks Kyle thank you see you in
June that was the last item on this
agenda so I will go ahead and adjourn
the study session and we'll take a
we'll be back for our next meeting thank
you