Phoenix City Council Formal Meeting - March 5, 2025

e good afternoon we'll begin with an
invitation from police chaplain John
Taylor please
stand bow your heads and pray with me
please dear wise and loving father first
let me say thank you on behalf of all
who are gathered here today thank you
for your many blessings and thank you
for life itself we thank you for the
ability to be involved in useful work
and for the freedoms that we enjoy in
this great nation you have said that
citizen should obey the governing
authorities since you have established
those very authorities to promote peace
and Order and Justice and so I pray for
our mayor for the various levels of City
officials and in particular for this
assembled Council I'm asking that you
would graciously grant them wisdom to
govern a sense of the true needs and
Welfare of our people a confidence in
what is good just and right the ability
to work together in harmony personal
peace in their lives and joy in their
work I pray for the agenda set before
them today please give them Assurance of
what would be pleasing to you and what
would benefit those who live and work in
and around our beloved City of Phoenix
it's in your Most Blessed name I pray
amen thank you chaplain Taylor please
join me in the pledge Alle of Allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the of the United
States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands one nation under
Gody andice
We Now call to order the formal meeting
of the Phoenix City Council will the
clerk call the role councilman Galindo
here councilwoman wado here councilwoman
Hodge Washington here councilwoman
Pastor here councilman Robinson here
councilwoman Stark here councilman
wearing here vice mayor O'Brien here
mayor gigo
here thank you for joining us we have a
packed agenda and we're celebrating an
important birthday today so we're
hopeful for a very good meeting I'll
begin by in introducing our interpreter
Mario baras and Elsie dwarte Mario would
you introduce yourself for our Spanish
speaking audience yes mayor thank you
good afternoon as mayor said my name is
mid wahas and together with h the other
part of my team El larte we're going to
be serving as Spanish interpreters for
today's formal meeting I'm going to take
a moment now to introduce ourselves to
our Spanish speaking audience
thank you mayor thank you Mario will the
city clerk please read the 24-hour
paragraph the titles of the following
ordinance and resolution numbers on the
agenda were available to the public at
least 24 hours prior to this council
meeting and therefore may be read by
title or agenda item only ordinances
number G 7359 7362 2 and 7364 through
7368
s515 s51 673 and s51 683 through 51 721
and resolutions
22277 through
22282 thank you will the City attorney
please explain public comment yes thank
you mayor members of the public may
speak for up to two minutes to comment
on agenda items comments must be related
to the agenda item in the action being
considered by the council General
comments that go beyond the scope of the
agenda item must be made in the citizen
comment session at the end of the agenda
the city council and staff cannot
discuss or comment on matters related to
pending investigations claims or
litigation additionally any member of
the public who appears before Council in
their capacity as a lobbyist must as
required by Phoenix city code disclose
this fact before addressing Council the
city code requires speakers to present
their comments in a respectful and
courteous manner profane language
threats or attacks on members of the
public council members or staff are not
allowed a person who violates these
rules will lose the opportunity to
continue to
speak thank you so much we'll now go to
the meeting minutes councilwoman Stark
IEM have you had a chance to review item
one yes I move to approve October 2nd
2024 minutes second we have motion and
second any corrections all those in
favor say I I I any oppose nay passes
unanimously item two councilwoman
Pastor I approve hang on sorry I approve
1016 2024 uh formal meeting minutes
second any comments all those in favor
say I I any
opposed councilwoman guado item three
yes I would like to move to approve the
meeting minutes on 10:30 2024 second we
have a motion and a second all those in
favor please say I I any oppos nay
motion
carries item four boards and commissions
vice mayor do you have a motion I move
to approve mayor and city council boards
and commissions nominations second we
have a motion and a second all those in
favor please say I I I any oppose nay we
have a distinguished group of Phoenix
leaders to be sworn in for a variety of
positions including Village planning
commissions I will ask them to come
forward now
please raise your right
hand I state your
name do solemnly sare swear that I will
support the Constitution of the United
States support theit of the United
States and the Constitution and laws of
the State of
Arizona law of St AR that I will bear
true faith and allegiance to the same
iar true
Fai and defend them against all
enemies en foreign and domestic for Dom
and that I will faithfully and
impartially will fath andar discharge
the duties of the office of
State your
office according to the best of my
ability so help me God thank you for
serving our community and
[Applause]
congratulations e
congratulations to our new and returning
Commissioners thank you for your service
to our
city we will next go to lior licenses we
provide an advisory role to the State of
Arizona on liquor licenses and I'll turn
to the vice mayor for a motion I move to
approve items 5 through 19 except 10 and
14 second second all those in favor
please say I I any oppose
nay passes unanimously we'll first go to
agenda item 10 which is Brian's discount
Market in District 3 councilman Stark do
you have a motion yes thank you mayor I
did receive a letter opposing V license
from some of the neighborhood activists
in the area however I understand staff
thoroughly vetted it and they are
recommended approval so I'd like to move
forward with no recommendation second we
have a motion in a second any
comments roll call gind yes wado yes
hudge Washington yes Pastor yes Robinson
yes Stark yes wearing yes O'Brien yes
goo yes passes 90 item 14 is in Council
District 5 so I'll turn to councilwoman
gado for a motion thank you mayor yes I
would like to move on item 14 um no
recommendation second we have a motion
and a second roll call alv yes guavo yes
hjge Washington yes Pastor yes Robinson
yes Stark yes wearing yes O'Brien yes
goo yes is
90 city clerk are we ready for
ordinances resolutions new business
planning and zoning yes mayor vice mayor
do we have a motion I move to approve
items 20 through 83 except the following
items 39 40 41 59 70 71 and 79 through
83 noting that item 36 as is as revised
item 40 9 is withdrawn items 41 81 and
82 have additional information and
excluding the following additional items
for public comment 53 and
73 and can the clerk confirm if there
are any other items that should be
excluded for in-person public comment
yes mayor vice mayor also excluding item
46 also excluding item 46
all right so we have a motion did we get
a second okay we have a second from
councilwoman Stark roll call gind yes
guado yes P Washington yes Pastor yes
Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes
O'Brien yes GGO yes passes
90 all right next we go to item 39 uh
this one was put on the agenda at the
request of councilman galinda alira who
is very passionate about housing I'll
turn to him for a motion mayor I move to
approve reconsideration request of item
37 from the February 19th 2025 formal
meeting second item
399 I believe is the correct
item no for reconsideration yes okay
cool so and the motion was to approve
39 okay okay all right second with
motion and a second from councilwoman
Pastor uh this one will be a Voice vote
all those in favor of reconsideration
please say
I any
opposed passes
unanimously uh item 40 is a
reconsideration of a grant of a
temporary
easement uh councilman do you have a
motion mayor I'd like to make a few
comments prior to my motion is that okay
um mayor I had the opportunity to meet
with staff from the or organization um
chos bakaa and I toured it with their
their Executive Vice President Jose
Martinez um it is a beautiful project
that will provide affordable housing in
a much needed area it is ADA Compliant
with 10 dedicated spaces for um people
um under the Americans with Disabilities
Act it's good for district 7 as everyone
knows there is that incredible need for
affordable housing in Phoenix and
district 7 will be one of the prim areas
that that can happen and with that mayor
I move to approve this item
second we have a motion in second thank
you for your due diligence on this
project any additional comments roll
call gind yes wado yes HJ Washington yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes waren
O'Brien yeso yes passes
90 all right we next move to item 41
which is related to Tanner Thomas
Village affordable housing uh do we want
to I think he the speakers first all
right we're going to go to the speakers
on this one we'll begin
online uh with commander reic and then
we'll go in person to Kerwin
Brown okay we have no audio from
reic Jarvis reic can you hear
us okay uh we will go in person to
Kerwin
Brown uh good afternoon mayor city
council uh here we are again um after um
having the community meeting that uh um
uh uh that was was asked for us to to
attend um councilwoman kaj Washington
has offered up some conditions and we
are satisfied with those accepting those
conditions councilman did you have a did
either of our councilwomen have a
question I don't have any questions I
heard uh Mr clearly he said he's
understands the conditions that I
articulated and I intend to articulate
on a record and he's in agreement with
that correct
correct all right I guess um a question
one of the the questions we were
interested in was knowing about service
providers uh can you tell us about your
um yeah the current service providers
and and the
process you went through to select them
yeah
the the service provider that we we
selected is is
faithland um we are currently looking
for additional service providers as well
uh there is a Dr vaugh Who is um uh uh
the head of of Faith land who is has
credential impeccable credentials that
work specifically with veterans and I um
I I think that she will will be a great
addition to being a provider to help
with the veterans uh as as we open this
this uh this facility great and then
your Workforce provider is the Arizona
elk Society can you tell us how you
selected them and what they will do AR
Arizona elk Society actually was
referred to us I to be honest with you
was not aware but when they I came when
they came into my office and met and
talked about their uh equin uh equin um
uh um facility
and how that they work with veterans on
uh and and forgive me I I had more of
this information the last time I was
here but when they came and and talked
about the therapy that uh that they work
with veterans on I I also think that
they'll be a great addition to um uh
what we're providing to the veterans
wonderful thank you and and our memo
says that elk Society will provide job
Readiness correct um what what are what
are the fields well it's gent when they
say job Readiness it's it's kind of just
whatever job that you're looking for
there's there's a process that uh people
need to go through a lot of time
Veterans as well as others uh to get
ready for for uh to to go on interviews
with jobs that's the type of job
Readiness that um they're looking to
provide and there's
also well I'll wait I'll wait for for
your next question
no please continue well I was just going
to say there's there's other um
providers uh there's a veteran-owned
business that provides uh jobs and job
Readiness for specifically for Veterans
as well it's
um desert dogs desert yeah desert the
name of it is des desert dogs they work
with a lot of the construction companies
uh to to do a lot of work they even will
go pick up the veterans to not to to
take them to the job sites to actually
do the work uh and keep up with them
there's it's it they also do a lot of
the job Readiness as well as to to get
them used to going to a uh 9 to5 pos
position as well and working with them
to make sure that they show up I mean
because a lot of times you get somebody
started if they don't continue to show
up then they never complete the process
wonderful thank you I think that is it
for questions thank you and confirming
we do not have audio for Commander reic
okay he was marked as in opposition I
believe that is all of our
speakers all of our speakers all right
we'll turn to councilwoman hjj
Washington for a motion and comments
thank you mayor I'll begin with my
comments first and then I'll proceed to
my motion um this is a project that the
community spoke very very clearly about
what they wanted to see the community
was adamant that they are supportive of
this type of project they had some
concerns about the logistics and the
day-to-day operations and to ensure that
this does not become a burden to their
Community um they were concerned about
the level of service providers and some
of the resources that were available uh
that would be available on the site um I
do have a lengthy motion um has been
shared ahead with Mr Brown and he has
indicated his consent to it but for the
record I will read it into the motion so
Jim I'm going to break my record of last
time um because I wanted to make sure
that the community safeguards were
address so and it's written out if
anybody wants a copy I move to approve
item number 41 specifically direct and
staff to include the follower
requirements in the deed of trust or the
Declaration of land use restriction
agreement known as aura or the loan
agreement as appropriate town or
Community Development is required to one
provide 40 24 hour 7 days a week
security onsite to include monitored
surveillance cameras and on-site
security Personnel two form a community
advisory committee to include
representatives from the registered
neighborhood associations veteran
associations and community members
within a one M radius of the project
including but not limited to people
United fight back and the American
Legion Post 65 there shall be continued
effort to engage the community by
offering site visits to see how
maintenance and operations are conducted
and providing Community with proof of
on-site
Services three provide on-site in-person
Case Management Services Monday through
Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
utilizing the services of an
organization that focuses on the veteran
population with a track record of at
least 10 years of experience there shall
be in a place a process to promptly
address emergency needs during off hours
four ensure that its service providers
are certified or licensed for the
service Serv for which it is contracted
to perform for service providers
provided mental health or substance
abuse Services the provider must also
satisfy and comply with the criteria
established by the substance abuse in
Mental Health Services Administration or
similar best
practices five create an operational
plan for the provision of services
assessing the short-term and long-term
impact of the community and evaluating
the effectiveness of the services to the
population being served the operational
plan shall be shared with the community
advisory committee and the city each
year this plan shall be updated on an
annual basis six track metrics related
to employment retention utilization of
services and other metrics important for
the veteran population being served
there must be a clear structured plan
for maintaining sobriety addressing the
long-term stability of the community and
minimizing the impact to the nearby
community the metric shall be shared
with the community advisory committee
and the city on a quarterly basis once a
year a report on the effectiveness of
the project shall be shared with the
community advisory committee and the
city seven provide a telephone number an
email address for Neighbors to call and
reach out with issues and provide a
response within two business days to set
complaints eight Supportive Services
shall be funded through the project net
incomeincome slash flow or that the
recipient is put in required deposit
into Supportive Services Reserve
annually so they can fund services for
the long term and nine these conditions
still continue for the term of the Lowa
the deed of trust or low in agreement
whichever is longer
second we have a motion in a second are
there do you have additional comments
councilwoman HUD
Washington I don't have any additional
comments other just hopefully say that
um these conditions were not are not
meant to be punitive but to ensure that
the community's concerns were heard and
they are documented in a manner that
allows the community to have a say if
they believe that these conditions are
not being
met thank you councilwoman Pastor thank
you I just wanted to say I appreciate uh
councilwoman hjge Washington's efforts
and U meeting with the community and
hearing the community along with Tanner
in um understanding and able to come
together and make it happen I want to
appreciate all parties that were
involved uh in particular Community
because they were heard um the other
piece is that uh the Elks uh ecoin
therapy uh one of the things that I have
to say when I I perked up when I heard
that is I understand equin therapy and
when I was first introduced to it I was
like are you
sure but it was a
firefighter that demonstrated and show
me the impact of ecoin therapy to our
First Responders and so with great
efforts I was able to create a program
for our First Responders police and fire
to participate outside of our internal
health network uh to be able to get
those Services of ecoin therapy um on a
personal note during
covid uh I was watching my kids really
spiral and uh be in a an environment
where there was no
socialization so it was ecoin therapy
that helped them during Co and the
impact of what their mind can do to them
in
isolation and so I commend you for doing
that um and it is a it's a great way uh
to learn about yourself but also care
for an animal so thank
you thank you councilwoman do we have
any other member comments do we have
anybody else signed up on this
item okay
okay
what but but she's not I guess signed in
to sign up or to speak okay okay
okay all right roll
callind I'd like to explain my vote
first um I I really want to thank
councilwoman Hodge Washington for her
diligence and her pursuit of making this
project happen at a time when veteran
are not being as respected in the way
they should we have a duty to care for
them and I really appreciate um the
language that is in the requirements
regarding Mental Health Services and
compliance with samama it's important
and we must do our part to honor our
veterans and this is a good way of doing
it and thank you so much for taking this
issue up I vote
Yes yes yes hudge Washington yes Pastor
yes Robin son yes Stark yes wearing yes
O'Brien yes passes
80 you move on to item
46 move to approve item 46 second and we
have um Margaret Schultz to speak on
item
46 good afternoon chair and council
members my name is Margaret Schultz I'm
here representing worker power uh we
understand the importance of developing
this site successfully given its
proximity to the convention center and
its economic significance as a
city-owned asset that's why we recommend
the city pursue options to lease the
site leasing would allow the city to
have long-term input over the project
and make sure that it is something that
is continuously benefiting the community
as well as allowing the city to gain
revenue over time recent research in the
Yale law and policy review argues for
government and Community stewardship to
maintain the public character of Urban
Land and keep development accessible to
marginalized communities long-term
leases play an important role in this
process they can also help local
governments recoup a portion of
development windfalls according to the
Lincoln Institute of land policy a
previous Hotel development on City owned
land the Edith faced setbacks due to
financing challenges and was delayed for
years leaving the lot underdeveloped
after the land was finally sold it still
took over a year for construction to
begin a lease option would allow the
city to have more flexibility and
control it would also open new long-term
Revenue opportunities to address the
budget deficit this property is a public
asset of the city let's keep public land
in public hands thank you for the
opportunity to speak
thank you any additional
comments roll call gind yes wado yes hjj
Washington yes did I miss
Pastor Robinson yes Stark yes wearing
O'Brien yes
gum yes passes 8 Z Item 53 is solar
powered EV charging system contract do
we have a motion I move to approve item
53 second we have a motion and a second
we have a comment from Vladimir
steuart hello my name is Vladimir and I
live in Lauren pestor count um district
and I'm a little bit sad that I saw that
she left but I just wanted to ask the
city um with the Iran P um will we still
be able to get federal aid for this
program and you have your full uh two
minutes but it's not like a Q&A oh oh
okay um so yeah so I'm for this project
I just was wondering if we'll be able to
use the federal funds that Biden pass
with the IRA and um I'm not sure if
we'll be able to use that federal funds
to use for this program that we're going
to be voting on on
today thank
you thank
you we think so but we're not
sure anyone add add anything to
that right uh roll call valind yes wado
yes hjj Washington yes
Pastor Robinson yes Stark yes waren
O'Brien yes GGO yes Pastor 80
item 59 is uh collaboration between
district 7 and 8 I'll turn to councilman
glendel AA for a
motion mayor and comments to myle
council Washington motion
councilwoman thank you mayor um I move
to approve item 59 and I would like the
opportun to make comments a lot of my
colleag second why don't you second that
I'll second that to the councilwoman for
comments it's a team effort thank you um
as we celebrate women's History Month
I'm proud to recognize a group of
courageous women who played a pivotal
role in The Farm Workers movement right
here in our community these women were
on the front lines marching rallying
organizing voter registration drives and
standing in solidarity with Caesar
Chavez during his 1972 fast at Santa
Rita Hall to protest laws that threaten
the rights of IM of Migrant workers
Santa Rita Hall is not just a building
it is a symbol of our community's
resilience and the birthplace of much of
the social social change we've witnessed
here in Arizona from its beginning in
the 1960s as a place of community
Gathering it became the epicenter of the
Cho movement in Phoenix the installation
of the abanita de la Moes Moes um de
Mento sign topper near the Santa Rita
Hall is significant
because it was where a group of women
some of which were from were Farm
Workers others mothers and daughters
were United in their fight for justice
and dignity
for those who work the land they
organize and mobilize to fight for fair
wages Humane working conditions and the
right to collective bargaining their
efforts were instrumental in the broader
struggle for labor rights not only in
Arizona but Across the Nation their
contributions helped shaped history yet
too often their names and sacrifices
have gone unrecognized so we take an
important step to ensuring their legacy
honored this sign is much more than a
marker it is a statement that the
contribution of women in the farm worker
movement will not be forgotten it serves
as a reminder that women have always
been at the heart of movements for
justice equality and labor rights thank
you once again to district 7 for making
this important moment a reality your
efforts ensure that this piece of
history is preserved for generations to
come and I deeply appreciate this
collaboration to uplift our shared
history thank you councilman mayor thank
you and um I deeply appreciate the
collaboration with Council wman KES haaj
Washington it has been a main stay of my
uh my uh service here on the council and
um to honor the women of the movement is
significant because without women there
would have been no movement and this is
an opportunity to say thank you to
memorialize the work that they have done
and to always remember the C thank you
mayor thank you so much councilwoman
Gord thank you mayor so just want to
thank um councilwoman hush Washington
and council member Galen Dela as a
former or a union organizer and someone
that knocked on a lot of doors with does
wera this means the world to me and I
know to all of the women that are out
there and that have been inspired by all
of these women um to join the labor
movement to join the fight um and given
in the climate that we're living in
these days I really appreciate the two
of you for all of your hard work and
everything you guys did um to make this
happen so this is very exciting and
Monumental um for all of the women in in
the movement thank you guys so
much thank you I will Echo that
congratulations to councilman galinda AA
and councilwoman HJ Washington for
bringing this forward during a month in
which we celebrate women's history and
also really important events in the
history of
Phoenix this will be a beautiful way to
honor the contributions of Arizona
Latinas and the fight for a fair and
better Community it is um befitting to
be near Santa Rita Hall it is one of the
sites I'm most often asked about in the
city of Phoenix and and urge to
appropriately celebrate and we're
appreciative that our two Council
leaders are moving forward with this
roll
callind yes wado yes hjj Washington yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes yes thank you
Stark yes wearen yes O'Brien yes GGO yes
passes
90 item 70 is next it is related to an
item we had earlier in district 7 and
I'll turn to councilman Glendo AA mayor
I move for
reconsideration second we have a motion
in a second all those in favor please
say I I any oppose
nay and councilman uh motion on item 71
like its companion I am appreciative um
to Cho for laaa for this project that
will bring affordable housing to this
neighborhood to this part of the
community that desperately needs it and
I move to approve this item second we
have a motion and a second I think did
um councilwoman pestor wish to say
something oh she seconded it okay uh any
additional comments roll call gind yes
wado yes Hajj Washington yes pastor
Pastor yeah thank you yes
yes yes Stark yes waren yes O'Brien yes
GGO yes passes
90 we next move to item 73 the approval
of historic preservation exterior
Rehabilitation grants do we have a
motion I move to approve item 73 second
we have a motion and a second we have
Jeremy ther to provide
comments Council uh last week a friend
visited visit us and uh has a former
neighbor who lived at the Pavilion right
across the street from us he now lives
in an old RV in a friend's driveway
because his rent sh from under $1,000 to
$1,700 why is he being forced to
subsidize Home Improvements for $650,000
homes that contractually prevent more
housing when historic preservation began
in the 80s these neighborhoods needed
protection they were the housing
equivalent of an endangered species but
unlike endangered species which lose
protection toward the recover historic
preservation has become a windfall for
the
fortunate the 24 homes receiving grants
have an average value of $675,000
and
$400,000 Plus in
equity one home 508 West Portland is
worth $1.5
million these homes are located in in
Kanto Palm crop Willow Coronado and
Windsor some of the most desirable
neighborhoods in Phoenix with the
highest appreciation and the most
taxpayer funded amenities these are not
the homeowners who need protection or
subsidies if that's not enough these
homes already pay half the property tax
of non-historic homeowners so every 10
years the people on this list already
see an average windfall of
$25,000 paid for by the rest of us
providing them additional taxpayer funds
for Home Improvements isn't just
irresponsible it's
immoral alternatively for the same money
we could help 55 firsttime home buyers
with a $7500 payment match down payment
match and instead of a tiny few in a
small area in two districts benefiting
IM matchine seven hardworking families
in each district getting well-deserved
assistance in purchasing their first
home
or we can just continue lining the
pockets of those who are fortunate
enough to not need it with the dollars
those who do thank
you thank you that concludes public
comment roll
call gind yes wado yes hjj Washington
yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes
wearing yes O'Brien yes GGO
yes passes
90 item 79 is a public hearing related
to 7th Avenue between Washington and
Jefferson streets we will welcome our
planning and development director for a
brief introduction to this
one thank you mayor members of the
council I'll turn to to our deputy
director Trisha Gomes for a brief
presentation on 79 and
80 thank you mayor and members of the
council items 79 and 80 are public
hearings for companion items and can be
heard together but will require separate
actions item 79 is GPA cc-2 d247 a
general plan amendment to update the
place types for the 7th Avenue in
Washington and 7th Avenue in Jefferson
Station location for a median urban
center to downtown core the median urban
center has a scale of three to six
stories with an incentive to 10 stories
for medium intensity development the
downtown core has a scale of six plus
stories and has the highest intensity
the planned light rails stations at 7th
Avenue in Washington and 7th Avenue and
Jefferson Street are located within the
business core character area of the
downtown code the business core is
intended to function as a strong
Regional Center for employment
entertainment conventions tourism and
cultural institution drawing visitors
from around the country and attracting
residents from throughout the region the
greatest development intensity within
the region should be located within this
character
area item 80 is the ta- 6- 24-7 a text
Amendment to the down town code height
and density maps for the properties from
Adam Street to Jefferson between 7th and
8th avenues for the height the request
is to change the maximum height from the
existing 30 ft to a maximum of 250
ft for the density the request is to
change the existing density from 14 12
units uh dwelling units per acre to a
maximum of 218 dwelling units per acre
the Central City Village planning
committee has heard this item on January
13 2025 and recommended approval of both
items per the staff recommendation by a
vote of 10 to one the Planning
Commission heard these items on February
6 2025 and recommended approval of both
items per the Central City Village
planning committee recommendation by a
vote to 9 to
zero staff recommends approval of GPA
cc-2 24-7 per the planning commission's
recommendation and adopt the
related resolution and staff recommends
approval of ta- 6-24 per the planning
commission's recommendation and adopt
the related ordinance happy to answer
any questions thank you so much this is
a really exciting opportunity 7th Avenue
is a gateway to our downtown as are the
streets in this area this is a chance to
do some pretty fabulous architecture and
bring much-needed amenities to this part
of our city so many cities would be
jealous of the opportunity to do this in
their downtown and we get to go out to
our community hear what they want and
deliver a fantastic series of
projects uh count councilwoman
Stark thank you uh mayor I would concur
this is pretty exciting especially with
the police uh headquarters moving closer
to City Hall this is quite an
opportunity as well I know the county is
doing some construction of new build
buildings in the area so this is really
right for this change thank you
step thank you so important background
as the police headquarters move we can
redevelop and meet communities this is
the beginning of the process so our
community will have a chance to weigh in
about what they want to see uh the
council has talked about these Parcels
for a while and I think housing remains
a big priority for us but we're
interested in knowing what the community
wants to see uh we will have have one
hearing and then two votes on this I
will open the public hearing we have one
member of the public to comment
Vladimir I'm in favor with this project
the only thing I'm worried about is the
state or the county coming in to change
the ordinance that we want to change the
height and I'm worried that it's too
close to um State and County buildings
that they may come back and say that
we're not able to so that's my only
concern thank
you thank you I will close the public
hearing I will turn to councilman gindo
AA for a motion first on
79 mayor I move to approve the mo the
item second her the Planning Commission
recommendation and adopt the related
resolution yes do that work for all
right any comments roll call
G yes wado yes Haj Washington yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes
wearing yes O'Brien yes GGO yes passes
90 item 80 councilman Glendo
AA or vice
mayor I'll yield to the vice mayor
awesome I move to approve for the
Planning Commission recommendation and
and adopt the related ordinance second
we have a motion and a second roll call
Al yes guado yes HUD Washington yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes
wearing yes O'Brien yes GGO yes passes 9
Zer thank you the start of a really
exciting project and thank you to our
staff who has been putting a lot of time
into this as well as partners including
PCA item 81 is the southeast corner of
56 Street and Shea Boulevard this one
was continued from a previous council
meeting to provide more time for public
input and discussion so I think we'll
Begin by opening the public hearing and
I would ask Jason Morris to come forward
and tell us what's changed
thank you mayor council uh for the
record Jason Morris 2525 East Arizona
boore circle on behalf of the applicant
uh the the largest single change thank
you largest single change mayor is that
when I presented this case uh a month
ago I was single uh I've since gotten
married I are you talking about my
personal life or no the case itself has
actually actually proceeded very well uh
I I appreciate councilman wearing giving
us an opportunity an additional
opportunity to speak and uh really to
work with the neighbors who are
surrounding this property uh it it not
only Galvanize the support we already
had that you saw at the last meeting but
it gave us an opportunity as recently as
yesterday to talk about some of the
concerns and how we can address those
concerns so in lie of going through an
entire presentation because you saw much
of it last month and knowing that there
are many members of the public who wish
to speak uh I I would prefer to allow
them to speak and you can hear both what
we've been able to work through and how
we've been able to work through this and
then if I could recap it uh at the end I
think that may be more
effective thank you thank you
congratulations on your wedding and
thank you very I think you might win the
best opening line of any statement at
today's council meeting I did I did set
you up for that by asking what had
changed but there was app bigger news
than I had yes mayor I believe he did
lie to us though about enjoying this
extra month of this case it's my
suspicion but I do I do believe
hopefully needed Chang has been made I'm
hoping that this is reflected in what
you're about to
hear all right uh we have uh Lisa
Ericson you have up to five minutes if
you would like and everyone else
registered has up to two minutes
TR this is the Trisha this is the
clicker just okay um greetings to all of
you at the council thank you so much for
hearing us today I'm here uh my name is
Lisa Ericson I'm a homeowner on 58th
Street and um I'm here representing
several of the surrounding neighborhoods
that are affected by this zoning
situation
brief I'm going to be talking very fast
very brief history our community has
always historically been residential
entirely in nature this will be the
first time that a zoning request for
commercial related activities would be
would be
occurring we have one unique situation
in our community that I think Bears a
lot on this particular situ ation we are
Phoenix city code but we are Paradise
Valley ZIP code and in that situation
what we found is Builders are extremely
interested in our properties and
particularly high-end custom built homes
so we've seen a tremendous increase in
the size of the property developments
and the quality and the values of the
homes out of that many people in the
community are very protective of the
community and the desire to keep it
resident
stantial you can see all of the new
homes uh now priced out at5 to8 million
in our surrounding areas with the one
acre
lots we have one other situation we now
are seeing a tremendous increase in The
Funnel of traffic flowing through from
all the surrounding communities to 56th
Street in order to uh access Shay with
the light there there are no safe ways
now to make a left onto Shay from uh the
other feeder streets we have concerns
that remain about the traffic increases
that will happen out of this
development we hear that the count that
the uh planning committee intends to uh
recommend this zoning development we do
still have concerns about that but we
also have worked very hard with them and
they've worked very hard with us to come
up with solutions to our
concerns we're working with both
stipulations and deed restrictions one
to limit the the the development of the
property itself and then the usages on
the property and as you see we have
quite a few things that we have
collaboratively worked to to do to come
up with what we feel are good guard
rails around over usage of this property
overc
commercialization what we need most from
the council today and the reason we're
here is to ask you to ensure that the
deed restrictions are fully executed and
perhaps even more important that you do
commit as we have talked over with the
planning uh uh Team to not allow cogo
usage on the other sha facing properties
on that particular section from from
56th Street to 58th Street we understand
from conversations with City Planning
that they have no intention of allowing
that sort of thing but we really would
like to hear some Council support for
restricting those usages in
future I want to thank you for all of
the support from both the the uh City
Planning Group and from the developer
and from his uh uh Team for all of the
work this has not been an easy process
for any of us uh lot of comp compromises
a lot of hand ringing along the way but
we all feel that this is a good solution
to a difficult situation and we withdraw
our objection to the zoning
change thank you Jason might have had
the best opening line and you might have
had the best closing line so we got uh
quite
a good set of presentations we have 11
individuals here to speak on this item
10K marked and support one marked
neutral uh we will begin with Savannah
followed by
Grant is
Savannah all
right and in case you want to start
coming down after Grant we'll go to Rick
Pasqual whatever
IE go ahead my name is Savannah and I'm
at the property of 5319 East fista Rica
and I just wanted to come up here today
and express my 100% confidence and
support in this project this project is
going to be a COO building which will
provide amenities to the community such
as doctor's offices dentist office
anyone and everyone in that Community
can find essential
um this co building will have regular
working hours which means people don't
have to worry about loud and noisy on
weekends and afternoons um it also being
a CO building it'll provide more safety
measures such as cameras and lights
which I know anyone would benefit from
people that have children would I'm
pretty sure U appreciate that um it
being a CO building in a community would
also increase property values of
everyone nearby and lastly this co
building is going to come off as
residential it's going to match the flow
of the community it's not going to look
commercial so I know that was a big
concern to everyone within the community
um it'll have vegetation which will make
the community look more lively um and it
will it will overall bring everyone
together and this property has been
empty for years and that's an eyesore
and that's honestly not very attractive
so what they're willing to do is put a
an attractive and aesthetically pleasing
property right here in this space again
I I am 100% in support of this project
and I and I'm very confident with what
they're doing here so thank you very
much thank you grant is next followed by
Rick
good afternoon thank you very much uh
for taking the time to hear this and
I'll keep it uh short and sweet uh and
thank you Lisa for all the work that you
did from an opposition standpoint to
make sure that this Advanced um and and
had some uh guard rails around this
project I'm coming in 100% support of of
this item I am a resident on actually on
56 between Shay and Cactus um I've been
a resident there for about 10 years now
and be able to see the development a
former me member of the lamaria Racket
Club which we've seen developed into
Mountainside Fitness in an emergency
room uh With Honor Health being a father
of four kids the opportunity to have
pediatric offices Dental facilities and
as a small business owner the
opportunity to have additional office
space very close to home is something
that uh excites me as I've dug into this
project uh more more and seen some of
the renderings of what the plans are for
it uh I couldn't be uh more enthusiastic
about what the architecture the vibrancy
that I think we will provide to our
community uh as it progresses and that's
all I have to say thank you thank you
Rick is next followed by
Mandy hello my name is Rick pasali I
live on 57th Street at 10210 I was the
appellant in this case and as you heard
Mr Man the developer has agreed to
stipulations and most recently further
limits on development so I no longer
have any objections to this request
however I I do want to U share what
we've learned subsequent to this
continuance that U Council Ming arranged
we we saw that under co go zoning a
developer can tell a neighborhood that a
complex will be one purpose like Medical
Dental but if circumstances change
potentially pursue far more disruptive
commercial uses like Banks night night
schools Veterinary and government
services Etc so we were lucky in this
case that Mr urman was ultimately
receptive to the restrictions I say
lucky though because we discovered that
state law prohibits the city from
executing stipulations against
permissible
uses additionally we learned from Mr
Bernar that the reason Planning
Development supports the jump to cogo in
this residential area is because the
single block of 56 South of sheay is a
minor collector and has a traffic
signal I would suggest that that little
two-lane Street and it traffic signal
don't indicate that residential office
might be a more fitting
zoning because rro achieves the city's
stated goal of reasonable levels of
increased intensity while protecting the
neighborhood from disruptive commercial
uses so while I am not opposing today's
request I urge that for future resoning
Planning and Development VPC and the
Planning Commission heighten their focus
on that land use objective and balance
development with the residential
neighborhood protections and most
importantly to recognize that this is
achieved on Ro zoning but cannot be
assured under
cogo because of the law preventing
stipulations thank
you thank
you Mandy is next followed by
Melinda thank you thank you to all and
thank you so much for your enthusiasm
for Progressive New Growth um I'm I'm
sharing my support I'm 100% in favor of
this project um this project has been
needed for a long time 56 and Shay is
sort of a unsightly area and it's really
not pleasant to drive past uh so this
this is going to diminish the charm of
the not this is not going to diminish
the charm of the commun community at all
it's only going to enhance it it's going
to hopefully help us have Services we
can get to without driving all over town
and wasting valuable fossil fuels and
gases and certainly is going to be a
beautiful facility for us to look at as
we drive past and for visitors that come
to the area to see that we actually have
some architectural interest in our area
um I I don't have any problems with a
CO facility taking its its um place
there I believe it will be much more of
an amenity to our community than
anything else and it is time for
something like this to happen in that
area thank you very much for your
time thank you Melinda is next followed
by
Steve glass is on hi first of all I want
to say that I'm in favor for the
Improvement on Sha Road can you hear me
um I've been in the valley since 1983
and I use shade daily and there has not
been any Improvement since I'm fre
quently disappointed by the homes and
the depressing structures that line the
street and also the landscaping and some
of the trees that come out in the middle
are never cut it's an eyes sore and
something you don't want to see in a
high-end
neighborhood the current developments
don't match the neighborhoods on either
side I'm in favor for this project and
to hopefully see more developments on
Sha road to bring more Beauty to Shay
and to our area
I'm also in favor of more retail or any
type of development that can help us
with doctors and as the lady before said
the dentist and maybe even any kind of
restaurants for Neighborhood use thank
you thank you Steve is next followed by
Michael
mayor and city council thank you for the
opportunity to speak my name is Steve
bandler I'm speaking on behalf of
congregation Beth Israel located across
the street from the subject property at
10460 North 56 Street give you a little
bit of
History I was very involved in our the
congregation's task force that to sell
that property to Mr Man 56 and sha LLC
we always found throughout those process
uh Mr Man to be extremely concerned
about our concerns compatible uses
safety of our children we have between
250 and 300 children on our campus on a
daily basis between our preschool and
the children that attend um a charter
school Scottdale Country Day School
which is a tenant in our
building
we when we spoke with Mr Man initially
he told us that this was likely to be a
medical office building so that though
that decision had not been made as a
final one at the time we expressed our
concerns about um the type of use to
make sure it was compatible with
children and synagogue usage we were
assured that it was but even so we asked
for certain restrictions to be placed in
our sale contract which he was more than
happy to abide by I Now understand that
our contract uh Mr man has also agreed
to put these into deed restrictions so
that those prohibited uses go beyond his
use of the property should um it be sold
down the
road considering the context of the site
located right on on Shay our real estate
brokers informed us that residential use
was not
likely so we settled on the commercial
use we have we talked about safety the
children we have two full-time security
guards on campus um the schools do not
use it after business hours and when the
children cross the street they are
accompanied by those security officers
so safety is covered thank you very much
for your time thank you so much Michael
is next followed by
Jennifer hi Council thank you for your
time um I've been in the neighborhood
for more than 20 years and and like most
we've seen a lot of development we've
seen lots of Redevelopment uh lots of
new businesses coming into the area um
but we still have a large portion of the
area that still is uh you know not
brought up to current standards or that
doesn't really support that the new
socioeconomic you know plan of
development that's you know surrounding
the area right now and I think that like
most I also was kind of opposed to the
this program or this uh development but
after meeting with the developers on
multiple different different occasions
they've really addressed a lot of
concerns a lot of concerns with the
traffic that that's you know a major
concern for a lot of residents and
they've just really done a great job of
working with us and explaining a lot of
different benefits and taking our
thoughts and our concerns into uh into
their hearts and and when they're
developing this project I think that
they've done a great job of of really
addressing everything um I now I see
this as a as a big benefit I see that
there's going to be a potential where a
lot of people could um not only ride
bikes but they could also walk uh to
some of the this particular project and
maybe this project leads way to
additional projects in the future um
there is like I said a lot of
Redevelopment going on I think this
supports what's happening in the
community and I stand firm and
advocating for the project thank
you thank you Jennifer is next fder
Rebecca
hello good afternoon my name is Jennifer
um I am in support of this what I
consider an architecturally pleasing um
and beautiful building uh tasteless and
Timeless design being brought into the
community and into the neighboring areas
um I'm a native to Arizona myself my
family is as well we use Shea Boulevard
as a daily vein um for our daily
commutes several times a day I'm up and
down sheay particularly um my daughter
is a student at Cherokee Elementary back
inside deeper inside of that
neighborhood uh we use 56 Street as well
um for the safety as others mentioned of
leftand turns um and using that light
there and the reduced I believe this
will reduce the traffic immensely um I
use that like I said that light uh for
the left hand turns and just that vein
um bringing some character and some
aesthetic appeal to that street
continued um is something I think is
very important uh like everyone else has
mentioned it's it's there's run down
portions of Shea Boulevard and watching
it grow and become something more
aesthetically pleasing is uh exciting um
it could be something much different and
I think that this is uh um an
upscale uh um gain to that area the
landscape uh like others mentioned the
safety precautions for the temple across
the street um
and that's it so I'm full and support
thank you thank you Rebecca is next
followed by Ariel
hello my name is Rebecca I'm here to
share my support for the project on 56
anday um I'm born and raised in the
neighborhood so that's 31 years and I
live in the neighborhood as well and
that's why I chose raise my kids um to
me sheay Boulevard is no longer
primarily a residential street um
because there's so much traffic there's
churches synagogues Rell spaces along
the road so to me putting this beautiful
building there would um serve as
something nice to look at when we're
driving down the street um a lot of the
homes uh that are kind of along the
street right now are um have pretty
unruly landscape and seem very unkempt
so putting this here would um actually
be very pretty um the lot in question
has remained vacant since my childhood
um probably I feel like I was around 8
years and now I'm 31 so that many years
so um yeah I think that it would be
great um I also feel like having on sh
you know across the street in the area
there is that mountain side and there's
that honor Health which is amazing
um especially for people who have
children who are raising children in the
neighborhood so to have that access
there so um yes I'm in favor thank
you thank you Ariel is next followed by
Trent good afternoon I'm Ariel um 56th
Street has been a long overlooked space
that has the potential to to transform
into a beautiful Center benefit both
residents and businesses alike for years
as everyone has mentioned this lot has
remained vacant and an ey sore serving
as a missed opportunity rather than a
potential Community Asset however the
vision for this complex offers a chance
to revitalize the area in a modern and
updated Way Beyond its functional
benefits this project presents an
opportunity to strengthen our
community's
infrastructure if not more beautiful
than the other plazas and businesses as
well as buildings that line Shay it will
encourage job creation and stimulate
this area I strongly support this
project and by embracing this in
development we are investing in the
future of this space and surrounding
area making it a more vibrant and well
served place thank
you thank you Trent is next followed by
Todd for
virtual good afternoon mayor council
members I'm born and raised in this
neighborhood and I'm here to voice my
support for the development this
development will increase property
values in the area bring necessary
services to our community and serve as
the best use for this land the
structures renderings show that it will
be visually beautiful this highquality
sophisticated modern design fits
perfectly and will even enhance the
neighborhood's character and aesthetic
the development will also create
highquality jobs and attract
sophisticated Enterprise
raising the bar of economic prosperity
for everyone around it creating a
meaningful economic infusion for our
local community furthermore the design
specifically plans for traffic flow and
management ensuring that the development
peacefully coexists with the surrounding
residences dentists doctor's offices and
other Health Care Professionals are
necessary services for our communities
and these are the kinds of professionals
and businesses that any Community would
want to attract and they will contribute
to our community's foundation for
long-term growth and prosperity
attracting these professionals to live
in our community through this
development providing their vital
services for our citizens will enhance
the overall vibrancy of our local
community finally this office
development is the best use for this
land Shay is one of the busiest streets
in our community and that's not changing
any time soon with constant traffic flow
and these conditions are beneficial for
a commercial development but detrimental
for a personal private residence with
the property located on Shay a private
residence will always suffer deflated
value from the traffic but this office
development with its highquality design
that accounts for traffic management
will turn this detriment for a personal
residence into a strength for our
community bringing economic prosperity
and attracting vital professionals and
services for our
citizens members I'm born and raised in
this neighborhood and I strongly support
this development thank you for your
time thank you
Todd and TOD hear me okay we can great
thank you um hi my name is Todd Weiss
thank you for your time um I'll keep
this brief because I don't have much
more to add than what everyone else has
uh added but um I am uh speaking in
favor of the project um kind of feel
like if anyone had um an objection to
this it's probably myself and my family
we actually live two or yeah I guess two
houses south of the project with the
only thing in between us is the uh newly
developed playground for CBI um but I
also recognize that in today's world um
you know no one's going to build a house
on that lot and I've known Ronnie for a
long time uh Ronnie approached me a
while ago about this um I think he's
done a great job from an aesthetic
standpoint he's done a good job of
maintaining some residential attributes
when it comes to this building um and
maybe even most importantly I really
appreciate um the fact that since it was
not a um a project that everyone was in
support of um from the GetGo that he's
really worked with all the stakeholders
to you know address their concerns as
best as possible so given all that um I
am in support of the project thank you
thank you so much that concludes our
speakers except for uh the
representative of the
applicant thank you mayor there there's
not much to counter uh I appreciate it
I'd be happy to answer any questions I I
will say because I promise to put this
on the record uh there are a list of
stipulations that are a part of our
presentation in the record those
stipulations plus the deed restrictions
that were referenced uh have been agreed
to but more importantly committed to by
this developer as part of the overall
program to ensure that the uses that are
planned for this project are in keeping
with what the neighborhoods expectations
are so I wanted to make sure that is on
the record thank you thank you so much
councilman wearing uh yeah just for
Jason so um there were a few people who
wrote in comments from Country
Estates uh I think you met with their I
don't know if it's the HOA president he
is a former assistant chief in the city
of Phoenix Andy Anderson um Lisa I guess
was also at that meeting and then there
was a third person quite I can't
remember who she was representing maybe
herself can you for any country of
States people who might be uh listening
or WR wrote in but did not speak at this
meeting um can you speak about what
their HOA president said at the meeting
yesterday certainly uh mayor councilman
wearing the meeting yesterday did
include Andy Anderson uh at that meeting
the stipulations that are part of
today's case package as well as the deed
restrictions uh that Lisa mentioned were
agreed to and he was a large part of
that agreement and was supportive of
what we're doing okay so I can only
conclude mayor Jason if he was again it
uh we would have heard about it and I
have not heard him mentioned today so I
think that's a very safe ass okay so
it's possible maybe the message didn't
get disseminated to the the few people
who wrote in identifying themselves as
living in Country Estates is that what I
can I would assume that's what occurred
thank you I appreciate that um I did
make a joke earlier I knew after the
last meeting you couldn't have been too
happy my wedding present to you was you
got to deal with this for another month
um uh because I knew you're getting
married and going off on your honey moon
but I do think it was time well spent uh
for those who came I appreciate very
much your willingness uh to work with
the applicant um and that's not free for
the applicant either Jason you're not
working pro bono on this are you okay so
yeah extra time it costs money you know
keeping that property empty for another
month cost money so I
recognize you know you probably weren't
thrilled with how it worked out last
time but I do appreciate that it does
seem like it's led to a turnaround in
neighborhood support I did want to ask
Josh bner from our staff could you just
talk things have changed from the city
perspective as well not just the deed
restrictions from last time so could you
just run through that really quickly
mayor councilman wearing there are
additions in the memo that address uh
design for the garages notification for
future development and and several
standards related to signs and th those
are in in excess of the existing
stipulations regarding height lands
caping design that that even far exceed
what was done previously in the RO case
down the street thank you and Josh what
we call stipulations are not helpful
hints or suggestions they are actually
laws that the applicant will have to
follow correct mayor councilman wearing
that is correct they're an extension of
the zoning ordinance yes so you know
they're not optional they have to do
them uh for again people I recognize the
people who came and people listening at
home they don't do this for a living so
they don't necessarily recognize all
those terms uh Josh you referenced the
case from two years ago that is somewhat
close by we did try to use that case as
a template for future uh development
that might happen in the area this case
uh is one of those uh potentialities
that we had in mind at the time does
this case fit with what we committed to
Citizens uh a couple years ago mayor
councilman wearing yes it does thank you
I appreciate your time mayor and your
Indulgence from last time I had planned
to continue it but given uh that some
people had uh confusions and and wanted
to make some suggestions
I think those suggestions have been made
so I'm willing to make a motion if
you're ready to have
one close the public hearing and turn to
councilman wearing for motion uh thank
you mayor uh motion to approve for the
March 3rd 2025 memo uh from the planning
director and adopt the related ordinance
second second we have a motion and a
second earlier I complimented councilman
Glend AA for his hard work on a and
diligence on a case I should have also
councilman HJ Washington and and Council
wearing this is a very different feel
from the last time this was here so it
seems like time uh well worth it thank
you to all the neighbors who made this a
second job thanks for I don't know doing
it over your
honeymoon
um and so congratulations to all
involved roll call or does anyone else
have a com a
comment roll call M Yes W yes H
Washington yes pastor
Robinson yes Stark marriage is working
for you yes wearing uh mayor just before
I vote I should say uh this this this
property is exactly on the border of uh
District Two and District three so uh
Deb Stark also heard from constituents
and I appreciate very much her
willingness to personally call them I
know she talked to some as recently as
yesterday so I appreciate that very much
and I vote
I O'Brien
yes goo yes passes 8
Z wonderful congratulations to all
involved we next go to item 82 which is
related to the northeast corner of 20th
Avenue and Van Beren Street on this one
we will
go and open the public hearing
uh we will I believe 10 minutes from
each side uh in presentations uh we'll
begin with the applicant who can
reserve uh a little bit of time at the
end um each party may choose how to use
their 10 minutes if you speak for the
whole 10 minutes that's fine if you want
to pass to others that is okay okay
anyone who speaks during the 10 minutes
uh will not have a chance to speak
during the 2 minutes um
allocated to members of the public so uh
begin with I believe Peter is here on
behalf of the
applicant mayor council my name is Gary
pler I'm the current executive director
of the neighborhood Christian clinic and
have been in that position for 17 years
our address is 1929 West Filmore uh
85009 Peter furo of quals has taken on
this project for us pro bono uh and did
so last March and has uh represented us
well the clinic opened for patient care
in
1999 we moved to our current location 22
years ago uh the clinic is directed by a
board of Physicians and community
members with a mission to provide Health
Care to the uninsured underserved
Working Poor if someone has health
insurance our policy and Mission
precludes us from seeing them the clinic
delivers highquality primary and
Specialty Care to those who otherwise
might not have access to health care at
all
we do not Bill insurance companies and
we receive no government funding some
funding comes from local foundations
however the preponderance of our funding
and revenue stems from private
individuals who wish to care for the
underserved by helping to provide health
care for them funding has even come from
uh in the past from City of Phoenix
employees through a program called
community service fund drive and our
latest donation from that source is
occurred yesterday
We Exist because of and are able to
provide care through many collaborative
relationships that have been developed
over time including the Arizona
Community Foundation St Joe's Hospital
Sonora Quest vitals Health Simon Med
Thunderbird Charities the Phoenix rotary
and dozens and dozens and dozens more
not the least of which includes
neighborhood Ministries who represents a
great deal of this community and
neighborhood we are on track to
facilitate well over 10,000 patient
visits this year approximately half of
these these visits are handled by
volunteer providers which speaks volumes
of a community effort to care for this
neighborhood in need an acute need has
risen over the last few years for
Community Health or excuse me for
Behavioral Health uh counseling which we
are really trying to address with this
project we have exhausted all other
building options on neighborhood
Ministries campus our application for
rezoning is the only means of offering
this very critical service to the
community we pray that the council
approves our proposal so that these
critical Services can be provided to a
community that lives in great need thank
you for your time and consideration
Peter will answer any or address any
other issues that
arise
thanks um mayor council uh my name is
Peter furo uh to North Central AV
85004 the law firm of corals and Brady
on behalf of neighborhood Christian
Clinic
you able to see my presentation perfect
so Gary went over uh the details on the
clinic he's happy to answer any
questions specific to the services
they've been offering on the site for
for now over 20 years in in this
community um I'm going to discuss our
request as well as how we've responded
to uh some neighbor comments as well as
responded uh following Planning
Commission and Village planning
committee um so so again our request is
to go from R3 to R5 for professional
Counseling Services it's an extension of
the existing Clinic to the east of the
site uh there's a single family home on
the property that is not being altered
as part of this
request um the current rth3 entitlements
allow us to do everything that's in that
left green column uh an example is U
having 10 individuals uh unrelated
individuals at the home overnight for
Community residents our request is a
much less intensive uh request it's just
professional Counseling Services 9 to5
on the property and due to the size of
of the clinic can let's pause the clock
for a second uh councilwoman
Stark uh yeah I this is kind of
important to me so you're saying that
the house will remain there but you're
you're not going to use it for anything
other than a single family
home uh mayor council uh woman Stark
that's correct the single family home on
the site will remain as employee housing
or volunteer housing okay because if you
didn't this house could be used for
something like a group
home or some other kind of use but
because you're going to continue it the
way it is it will have a small quiet
office and a single
family that will be deed restricted
correct mayor uh Council corre follow
that chart thank you yep okay um so the
main uh aspects I want to discuss are
we've had two neighborhood meetings um
three meetings with uh neighbors
including one private uh three separate
letters that go out and we've received a
lot of comments um and I just wanted to
go over uh everything that we have
stipulated to as well as the deed
restriction that we've placed on the
property um so stipulation one we're
stipulating to uh R3 height um we are
also voluntarily stipulating to R3
density which is two dwelling units on
the unit at most um or on the property
at most uh as far as architecture and
signage we're also voluntarily
stipulating uh to match the existing uh
single family home on the property in
terms of design and materials so that um
it matches the character of the neighbor
uh hood and then as far as signage uh we
are voluntarily stipulating to uh no
signage and no advertisements visible
from North 20th
a um the uh most important uh response
or action that we've taken uh since
Planning Commission uh that was the
result of an extra U meeting we had with
uh former councilman uh nowakowski as
well as uh the rosalis family uh Hilda
and Ry was a deed restriction so that um
as you can see here has been recorded so
that's um on title it's on our deed you
can do a simple property search record
search and see that was recorded on
February 25th that was following a
meeting that we had with with those
Neighbors on the 24th and after
listening to their concerns about
um potential R5 uses that are not the
professional counseling services that
could exist on the property after we
sold uh the the property uh sometime in
the future we wanted to make sure that
one they they would know that that could
not happen and then two we wanted to
make sure that they had uh you know the
power in this situation so to speak so
we made it to the benefit of the Rosales
family uh UC APN 10930 108 um and what
this means is even if this case is
approved uh for R5 the only uses that
are permitted on the property are those
that are already existing in R3 as well
as uh office for professional use
specifically professional Counseling
Services the office for admin and
clerical is just in case there's any
data retention or files on the site we
want to make sure that it was covered in
the use um I wanted to leave some time
for rebuttal but just wanted to point
out one other extra important thing so
on North 20th um AV uh you see our our
property uh we wanted to make sure that
nothing would be going through the
existing single family home on the
property so parking as well as access
will be going through uh how it how it
is occurring right now on the site so
it's through the existing clinic so you
see the the three access areas the
circled areas where parking will be
patients will be going through uh the
existing clinic on site going through
LED through the back and entering the
back where the uh proposed Clinic is uh
this is just to show you that uh two
stories uh uh buildings uh whether it be
commercial or industrial surround uh the
sites uh here are photo examples and
just wanted to show you very quickly on
the site plan existing home proposed
Clinic the proposed access to the clinic
going through the back connecting to the
existing clinic so once again nothing
will be on 20th
um and with that I would like to reserve
the rest of my time for rebuttal thank
you thank you so
much and will Michael noow presenting on
behalf
of the neighborhood wonderful welcome
back councilman former councilman Noah
Kowski good evening mayor council
members my name is Michael no Kowski I
have a home right there on 30 at 328
North 20th Avenue and basically it's
just three houses down across the street
from this property right here the reason
that I'm here today is to basically ask
you to deny deny this um R3 to
R5 the proposed um Professional Services
are the counseling services that they
want to put in there is in the center of
a residential neighborhood
with increasing the dwelling from three
to 9 that means you can have three um
units in that facility which there's no
house or no home in that neighborhood
with more than three Dwelling Places
right to decide to basically your
decision or to postpone I'm put this um
res zoning on there would ruin the
integrity and the historical neighbor
neighorhood dated back in the 1990s
1920s the character that we have the
children that play on the streets it
took us a long time to revitalize that
whole neighborhood for one time we had
prostitution going on in Van buan
Sheriff Joe AR pile thought it was a
great idea to drive a tank down van burn
and drive off the prostitutes but they
drove him into our neighborhoods then we
as a neighborhood worked along with the
city of Phoenix Police Department to
drive them out of our neighborhood and
then with the whole closing of the
homeless shelter we ended up having a
lot of individuals in our neighborhood
working together with the city of
Phoenix we're able to look for housing
and places for those individuals to stay
so saying that we're just afraid that
the proposed Clinic situated in the
middle of two homes in the middle of our
block would just create a potential
rezoning of the whole neighborhood and
commercializing our whole neighborhood
you know we got three notices the first
notice is right around Thanksgiving time
and my wife Delia and I we read and we
said wow this is a great opportunity for
the community because it's stated
northeast corner of 20th Avenue in vanan
so on the northeast corner of of vanan
right there on vanan in 20th Avenue is
an empty field it used to be a grocery
St little Neighborhood Grocery Store
that was demolished but there's an empty
lot there and across the street from
there is a motel that's been for sale
for the last 6 months so we thought
because of the description of the notice
that was the northeast corner of 20th
Avenue and vanen that that was going to
be the site two weeks later after
receiving the first notice we noticed a
big old billboard
4x8 sign right in the middle of our
neighbor's yard then we realized that
the zoning wasn't on 20th Avenue in Van
Buren but it was actually in the middle
of our
neighborhood and we said wow this can't
be done so what we did is we encouraged
a handful of neighbors to go to our
planning and um our Central City Village
to voice their opinion after the
Commissioners heard that it was a 10 to1
vote
against I'm rezoning um that um the R3
to r10 R R3 to r five and one of the
things that was brought up to the
Commissioners is why didn't you put the
address
down and make it very clear for the
residents that live on that block to
know that it's right in the middle of
their neighborhood the other thing that
was noticed was that 80% of the
residents that live in the and what they
called the St Matthew's neighborhood
happen to be Hispanic which 50% of them
speak Spanish and this was only sent out
in English the first two
notices then we went to the Planning and
Zoning Commissioners and they voted it I
think it was 9 to
Zer 10 oh I think it was 9 to Zer he's
saying it's 10 to Z so it's anonymously
against it and once again what they
recommended is that the applicant and
their attorney pull the application and
meet with the community find a win-win
situation and instead of doing that they
decided just to have a community meeting
because there was a petition going
around with the um n neighbors the
property owners within 150 ft from this
site and everyone signed it everyone
didn't know about this happening until
they seen that 4x8 billboard and they
were upset about it they love what's
going on with neighborhood Ministry but
at the first meeting the village
planning meeting it we found found out
that they have nothing to do except for
leasing the property with neighborhood
um Ministry that they are a separate
entity and then other people were saying
well why don't you go ahead on the S and
a half acres of land where you're
renting your clinic on which is A1 why
don't you build an addition to that they
said no we own this property and we'd
like to have the clinic there in the
middle of our neighborhood so I believe
that if you look at the petition that
we've given you earlier you'll see
the the the neighbors have signed it if
you look at that aerial spot that he
showed you that we have three sides of
our neighborhood our residential
neighborhood which is
R3 surrounded by
A1 that's from the I17 from the I 10 to
Van um from 19th Avenue all the way up
to where these properties are and vanan
is C3 so this is the only neighborhood
once you see that map again it's the
only neighborhood that's intact and if
you allow this to happen this is opens
the floodgates for other projects other
non-residential projects that come into
our district so we really want an
opportunity to sit down and have a
conversation putting Deeds restrictions
and all that well that's a conversation
not just with the nextdoor neighbor on
one side but the other nextdoor neighbor
on the other side that person was
offered a half a million for his
property and he was saying I'm not going
to sell it for not even a million if
they give me a million he threw out the
number of million this is what Mr Martin
was telling me so my thing is that we
need to have a conversation and figure
this out because what they do for the
community is great what they do for the
whole city of Phoenix is
wonderful but having a clinic in the
middle of a city block a residential
Block it's not right so I give up the
time to anyone else who needs to speak
thank you so
much thank you so
much uh we'll
go next to
Oscar followed by Vladimir
good afternoon mayor council um my name
is Oscar Kota I live in the neighborhood
I have three homes in that neighborhood
which are about 300 feet from the
rezoning issue that we're talking about
today my daughter lives in one and my
son lives in the other and between our
three houses we have I have six
grandchildren at attend school at
Capitol school and they play in that
neighborhood
um my concern is
we don't have enough parking in our
neighborhood we have we constantly have
semi trcks that are not supposed to be
going through our neighborhood going
through the neighborhood now we want to
add a business in the middle of our
neighborhood and have more traffic in
there that's it's it's going to be an
issue again parking is also an issue we
we we don't have any place of park or
cars all right um that's a problem too
and then you're going to think about
this commercial building in the middle
of our neighborhood the lighting that's
going to be put there for security
purposes yeah two stories but how about
the neighbors next door on both sides of
their one story and lights to secure
that building it's going to be
interfering with with the
neighborhood
um I was one that went out and collected
signatures yesterday and I collected
approximately 20 signatures and I sent
those signatures this morning to all
your offices uh I hope you received them
and you'll you know most of those people
that I spoke to yesterday did not speak
English and luckily between my broken up
Spanish I was able to communicate with
them um they they were all opposed to it
and most of them didn't know what was
going
on I'm involved I was involved with the
ministry at at at neighborhood
Ministries for a long time I I still
help them out and I was I was surprised
to find out that the clinic is not part
of the Ministries
also although they are their their
building is on the property
um I know there's seven
acres of ministry property and with that
I guess I'm done thank
you thank you so much Vladimir is next
followed by
Hilda I'm so sorry um
uh I feel really hurt today CU I made
sure that I blocked my schedule to be in
this meeting so I have my representative
here representing my voice and the
voices of the members in my community
that she represents she's no longer on
the calm and I felt really hurt today
because I looked forward to talking to
her about things that I felt like that
would improve our community at the end
of the meeting and she's no longer here
and I feel like my voice doesn't matter
in this rest of the day for the meeting
so I will be going home and I feel
devastated that my representative is not
here virtually or in person anymore and
I feel devastated because I was looking
forward to being able to talk to her
about concerns that I've talked to may
may he's not on subject and that's why
I'm no longer going to be talking and I
want to leave today thank you thank you
thank you Council woman you are
correct Hilda virtual public
comment thank you mayor and council
members my name is Hilda Rosales and my
address is
8740 West Sierra Vista Drive glendell
Arizona and I and my husband own the
home next door to the uh the home where
uh they are asking to have professional
Counseling Services I am to the just
Northeast of that at 339 North 20th
Avenue for the sake of um not repeating
ourselves but just making some some key
points uh again to make sure that our
voices are heard uh we all of us who
have spoke um in and against this know
that the uh services that are currently
being provided which is the medical and
dental services by um the clinic are
definitely uh good services for our
neighborhood and we commend them for
providing them and we've known that
they've provided those Services uh for
uh many years Our concern is that it is
now wanting to be expanded into the
counseling services or Behavioral Health
Services and again if this was being
offered on the corner of 20th Avenue in
vanan where it is commercial that I
believe is much more conducive than in
the middle of a residential area uh
where we would not have traffic and
individuals in the same street going
into the the clinic on 20th Avenue uh
there is just too many unknowns going
from an I3 R3 to an
R5 um and there's a lot of potential for
in my mind um the unknowns even though
that uh it was spoken of earlier that
there are some deed restrictions those
there's no guarantee that uh things
could not change in the future many of
us plan to continue to have our our
properties there and we're looking at
not only from a community perspective in
terms of safety security but also from a
market value perspective think about um
you know individuals who may need to
sell their homes uh and they turn around
and next door there uh there's a uh
professional Counseling Center where
individuals are driving in from 20th
Avenue to receive their their services
that could have an impact there could be
some you know uh unknowns for those
individuals and would they want to have
that next door to their home and so um I
believe that there's just too many uh
unknowns in this situation and um I know
that uh uh we uh have soon thank you our
light
thank you so much we'll ask the
applicant I think to
return for to address Community
concerns I think this might have got
adjusted can everyone still hear me
perfect yes we can um
so first off thank you uh for the
comments the the the folks that have
spoken here uh this afternoon um former
councilman Noah Kowski uh Hilda Rosales
um and Mr uh okado have uh been at the
previous VPC and Planning Commission
hearings um and and since that Planning
Commission hearing we have um met with
them twice uh separately once through a
neighborhood meeting and once in a sit
down meeting giving them a tour of the
clinic and and walk through um every
change that we've made in response to
every comment that they've given um in
response to uh for former councilman
Noah Kowski with the neighborhood
meeting um uh the the notice
letter the way that the address is
described is the way that it is legally
required to be described in City of
Phoenix so um obviously if there's any
confusion that's why when we had the
second neighborhood meeting and the
second neighborhood notice go out we
made uh two major fixes so
uh one we provided both an English and a
Spanish uh uh version of the the notice
and and two in addition to the the legal
address we provided um a bunch more um
exhibits that circled exactly where the
the meeting would be taken place so that
there could be uh no room for for
confusion as far as uh the unknown which
was uh mentioned by Miss Rosales uh the
purpose of the the deed restriction and
all of the stipulations that we have
voluntarily uh placed upon oursel are
the um are the exact reason that we we
did that is to remove that unknown so uh
uses that are already permitted as well
as just this additional professional
Counseling Services which again is not
an intensive use of the site people will
be um parking just as they normally park
to reach the clinic entering through the
existing Clinic um will not add any uh
extra stress onto North 20th Avenue it's
all going to be contained on the uh
existing uh neighborhood Ministry site
as far as uh the comments uh received
about uh why can't you just locate this
somewhere else or buy this property um I
just wanted to make it very clear that
the client is a 501c3 it is a nonprofit
all of their funds that they do receive
go back into um funding uh expensive
medicine as well as uh you know the
day-to-day operations of providing these
health care services for the uninsured
so they don't have just a spare you know
million dollars to go buy a new piece of
property um thank you could you address
Mr kota's comment about the
lighting sure uh so the business or the
um additional uh the proposed clinic
will only be open from 9 to 5 if there's
stipulations you can place on on your
end to make it so we have to have
certain lighting that's non offensive or
not going off past a certain hour we're
we're happy to stipulate to those uh we
don't want to have lighting disrupting
either Neighbors on either side so any
reason would you just be the existing
lighting could work correct
okay uh question from Council Members or
shall I close the public
hearing councilwoman HUD Washington I
think had a question or a
comment I think I think councilwoman H
Washington thank you I just had one
question for you um what is the plan or
what is the what can the what can the
community expect when it comes to
addressing any concerns that may arise
if this moves forward
uh councilwoman hjj Washington I think I
understand your question which uh if
anything were to happen in the future
what can they expect from us yeah how do
they how could how would they how could
they expect for their concerns to be
address if there are complaints moving
forward given the questions about the
uncertainty at this juncture right uh
thank you for the question so I guess my
first comment is Paul lawrenson who's
unfortunately not here he's the
executive medical director as well as
Paul executive director they've been at
this site for 20 plus years a lot of the
neighbors know them um they are more
than welcome to to uh take any comments
which I think is evident from our
presentation every comment besides by
another piece of property has been
responded to thoughtfully as well as uh
we've given uh again the power the deed
restriction is to the benefit of the
neighbors they are the decision makers
as far as uh future uses of the property
so um I know I don't want to speak on
behalf of Gary but I've had the uh great
opportunity to be working on this with
him for the last year I can assure you
he's a very good man and would be very
willing to work with the
neighbors and you've mentioned the deed
restrictions in your in your in your
comments I think it might be helpful to
explain for those that are not legal
trained what the deed restrictions truly
mean and their effectiveness and how
long they
uh they exist
for uh mayor Gago councilwoman Hajj
Washington yeah uh I would love to so um
the deed restriction was recorded
February
25th uh what this means is on the actual
deed itself for the property when you
look up the property you see this
restriction that's spelled out um I had
it up on my presentation but if not I
can still walk you through it
essentially what this deed restriction
says is condition upon approval so if
this uh resoning were to be approved to
R5 the following um are the only uses
that are permitted and it lists the
existing R3 as well as professional
Counseling Services which is what we're
here today to speak about what that
means is no other R5 use uh that is
listed in the Phoenix zoning ordinance
would be permitted on the site it's a
it's a it's legally binding it shows up
on title
within the deed restriction you can make
it end with the current owners or it can
run with the land we recorded this deed
restriction so that it runs with the
land so that it binds future owners we
did that because the biggest concern
wasn't with our client neighborhood
Christian Clinic it was with If This
Were to be sold to a future owner who
they do not know who hasn't been in the
community for 20 years and the only way
this restriction can be removed or
amended is with written consent of both
the Rosales family as well as
neighborhood Christian clinic so they
would have to work together thank you
for that I just always sometimes I know
as lawyers we speak in a language and
not everyone else always understands and
I just wanted to make sure you gave
explanation so thank you for that thank
you mayor of course thank you anyone
before I close the public
hearing all right Peter I have a
questions for you um I'd like to talk
about the entry for
services you said that it would entry
from the clinic is that going to
continue and be the policy for use of of
this building uh mayor Gayo uh
councilman ginda ala um your question is
will uh the entrance to Clinic be on to
North 20th or through the back it will
be through the back through the existing
Clinic um as it is today right now so
you would go through the existing Clinic
uh go all the way to the back there will
be a door you let in and then it's
access through the back of the the
property at at discussion today um how
about loitering um I was out at the
property and um I did notice that it
does meet the character of the
neighborhood It is Well groomed well
kept up um is that going to be ongoing
and what can we expect about any of the
patients in the front part of the
property yeah councilman glind Alvar um
it's a a good question thank you for
asking so the property the single family
home will remain as such that has
nothing to do with the proposed Clinic
the front of the home will not be
utilized it's not for patients it will
be contained to the back so that there's
internal circulation so it goes from
existing Clinic small pathway into the
proposed Clinic nothing will be
happening on the front and nothing on
North 20th half and um I'd like for you
to go over again restate the parking
situation I know that was a concern for
the neighborhood in terms of congesting
the area how will that happen can you
walk us through that again yeah of
course so we are for spaces uh deficient
is uh I think the the phrasing uh and so
in order to meet parking we are doing a
cross access agreement with um
neighborhood Ministries for the four
spaces so the par our parking is
satisfied on their property so today
when you go to the clinic you're parking
in neighborhood Ministries as that is
where the existing Clinic is that will
continue If This Were to be approved our
parking is on the neighborhood
Ministries
parcel and on your slide presentation on
page three the requested entitlements
you said at most three patients
receiving talk therapy at any time yep
is that through the 9 to 5 hours
what I was uh or councilman ginda um so
that was a comment on um the size of the
building is is quite small the the
proposed Clinic it's 600 foot a floor so
at most we would be able to fit three
therapy rooms U more than likely one on
each story and so what I was trying to
say is that any given time at most there
would be two people or two patients
receiving um this professional
counseling services at any time not
throughout the day only too it would be
at most at any one time and my last
question for you Peter is are you paid
to represent the
applicant uh councilman gindo alira I am
not uh this is a pro bono client so I am
not paid for this and then I have a
question for Josh Josh the 8x4 uh
billboard is that considered public
notice
mayor council M gind that the the
signage referenced in the uh comments is
the required signage the 4 by8 sign
that's required as part of re zoning uh
process
okay and is it still your Department's
recommendation to
approve mayor council member our our
recommendation is still for approval
yes thank you
we will close the public hearing I will
turn to councilman glendel AA for a
motion mayor um I have visited the site
and I have gone through the walkth
through to understand the accessibility
for um the use of this uh of this
building I'm sufficiently satisfied with
the that the applicant comes in good
faith um most especially with the deed
restriction and I agree with the staff
recommendation I move to approve for the
February 28 2025 Memo from the PDD
director and adopt the related ordinance
second we have a motion in a second any
comments roll call gind yes wado yes P
Washington yes
Robinson yes Stark yes waren yes O'Brien
no
GGO yes passes
71 thanks to everyone who worked on this
one we will next go to item 83 also in
district 7 uh legal funding for 69th and
Thomas Redevelopment
area I will open the public hearing uh
Vladimir had signed up to speak on this
one but he let us know he was departing
we do have Nick Wood on behalf of the
applicant available to speak if
necessary would you like to comment
thank you I'll close the public hearing
and turn to councilman ginda aier thank
you mayor I moved to approve the staff
recommendation and adopt the related
resolution second mayor if I may I just
wanted to note that a two-thirds vote is
is required for for this for this
it thank
you roll call
yes gind thank
you yes HJ Washington
yes
yes Pastor she's not here Robinson yes
Stark yes waren yes O'Brien yes GGO yes
passes 8
z uh we will next go to the final
portion of the meeting which is our open
public comment and I'll turn to our City
attorney to introduce citizen public
comment thank you mayor during citizen
comment members of the public public May
address the city council for up to 3
minutes on issues of Interest or concern
to them the citizen comment session is
limited to 30 minutes the Arizona opena
meeting law permits the city council to
listen to the comments but prohibits
council members from discussing or
acting on the matters
presented thank
you thank you so much we'll begin with
John Bowden followed by John fory
John
Bowen is is
here okay I do not see John Bowen so we
will go to John
foresight continuing with the theme
followed by John
Paul good afternoon I am John fory one
of the unique unicorns here in town I
was born 52 years ago at St Joe's and I
haven't really matriculated very far
from
here in therapy we learn that there's
three steps to solving a problem the
first step is admitting we have a
problem the next step is to be honest
with ourselves and the third step is to
talk about it I'm wearing a shirt today
that says privilege privilege is when
you believe something isn't important
because it doesn't affect you personally
well I hope problem with hoping is
hoping is not a plan I hope that people
don't have to fight for their civil
rights but Phoenix still is going
through a civil rights
struggle I have uh a lot of experience
in the city of Phoenix graduated broy
1991 I can tell you from personal
experience that Phoenix police have
declined in the 30 years 35 years since
I have graduated
roofy let's talk about a few of the
issues if I came over here and put hands
on this officer I know this whole
chamber would be
outraged but I'm concerned about the
lack of outrage for the past three years
as the federal government has looked
into the City of Phoenix and roasted you
it's not good but nothing's been
done we have Maricopa County attorney
that's lost her law license for
conspiring
to phony up charges against American
citizens I mean that just shreds the
Constitution we have a lieutenant Moore
who recently admitted in court that he
has not read the doj
report there's no urgency there's no
outrage we have an O director Roger
Smith the
quit because he was being bullied in her
harassed by the Phoenix police the very
people he was in charge of holding
accountable we live in a constitutional
republic that means we talk about our
issues City of Phoenix is failing to do
this there is a gentleman I've never met
him or his attorneys Michael
Kenyan his case
is
astonishing he was forced to lay on the
ground for 4 minutes minutes burned his
entire front of his body he was innocent
he was the wrong person the wrong place
at the wrong time we don't want to talk
about this because there's a court case
but we live in a democracy my time is
ending and I need to give this more
careful consideration I'll be back in
three weeks discussing Michael Kenyan
because this is
important civil rights you have to fight
for first if you lose them they're gone
forever thank you thank you John Paul is
next followed by
Sandy thank
you uh I want to apologize for my
limited
English because I us I speak French
uh I want I wanted you to know that it's
very important to keep the
shelters uh open and to keep the heat
radi centers
open we want you to
do the whole
amount of $29 million for next year I Al
want you to know that I was helped by
the by this programs
so I was out of the heat in the summer
while I was a
sleep I'm arve in part because of this
programs
please keep them open thank
you thank you so much Sandy is next
followed by
Mark mayor gyo and city council this is
so wonderful to be able to speak in a
public setting like this thank you so
much it's it's just great I live in
Lichfield Park but I was
born in the late 40s in Phoenix my dad
who has already passed away was born in
Phoenix in
1920 he graduated from alhamra grade
school in
1934 in uh M her's District 5 that's why
I'm here to
speak I am so passionate about this
because I found on Facebook not too long
ago that they there is a probable
demolition of that historic building the
gym it is the only thing left standing
from that wonderful School the AL hamur
Grade School District was started on it
was begun on August 6th
1888 the school itself which I went to
through sixth grade in 1958 was
demolished decades ago but that
beautiful historic gym is still standing
and when I cross over on that overpass
at 35th Avenue in Grand in Indian school
I'm always comforted to look North and
see that white building still standing
and I can't even imagine driving and
looking to my left and seeing that gone
so I am here to plead and find out if
there's any way that that building can
still be saved I know that is slated to
be demol demolished probably in 2026 or
even this year maybe at the end of the
year for public housing for a needy
families which is wonderful that is a
wonderful project however there are five
and a half acres of land on that
parcel the gym um the fence is still
there maybe it's not the same fence but
when I was a little kid in first grade
it's um like a pie-shaped parcel uh
piece of that property where that gym is
still standing and it goes like this
there's all this land behind it 5 and a
half acres they want to put a four-story
building it'd be
192 uh units for these people it's great
but can that gym not be reconstituted
into like a recreational building or or
just leave it alone but don't demolish
it so I've been in contact with several
different people that's why I'm here
today
to hope and pray that that building can
be saved because it is historic for the
City of Phoenix thank you so
much thank you Mark is next followed by
Frank H
so the movers and shakers for the City
of
Phoenix um as far as the homeless
Community uh we we know you have 50
plates spinning in the air every day and
it's very stressful and uh but and our
issues many of you probably think you
know put on the back burner little
things but uh housing Mental Health
Care uh drug abuse you know oh that's
someone else's problem or you know
that's a little thing but to us you know
the little things are our lives so as
far as funding for the homeless um we
don't want funding we need it thank
you thank you Frank is next followed by
Elizabeth hello Phoenix City counc so my
name is Frank Urban um with fund for
empowerment as you already probably
already
know
um I think we need to keep the heat
relief programs going 247 if possible
because it's coming toward
summertime and we all know Phoenix in
the summer gets really hot out
there um and I myself have
seen people wither and pass away that I
personally have
known
um and and I also think that the shelter
should stay
open
and not be located
miles away
from any resources that these people
need like the shelter on uh East Thomas
on 75th
Avenue great idea that you built it but
it's miles away from any resource that
the homeless Community needs they can't
get
anything there's no stores out there
there's nothing
uh with that I'll
close thank you Elizabeth is next
followed by
Missy um I'm glad you voted for
neighborhood Ministries I thought it was
great I didn't know if I would help the
item or not help the item to be on it um
it's it's a different from how the
council acted in the past and I think
it's an improvement and I
appreciate uh you all almost all of you
voting for it you know I appreciate the
the changes um the other thing is I
wanted to say so a uh a little bird
tweeted in my ear that we had been
saying the wrong number based off of a
presentation we saw in the fall so I had
been saying $15.3
million but it the L the number for
keeping the shelters open and possibly
other facilities you know it's hard to
see without being itemized right um is
about 29 million however um you know I'm
just looking I looked at the um you know
the amount of beds that that Rachel M
says that you know have been completed
of permanent beds right and that
estimate the last time I saw it was
1406 I did the math on that and that
alone if you don't have any other items
that would be funded that has a monetary
return and cost Savings of over $21
million just on that 1406 it's about
$15,000 in cost savings from fire
emergency policing you know when you
provide housing to people you know let
alone you know the the increased
economic productivity reduce uh harm to
other surrounding communities right um
so you know I I it's sort of a broken
you know clock but um I uh wanted to um
just say that I think it's critically
important to keep these Services open I
mean it's something new for me but you
know um if I don't say it maybe no one
else will say it other than you know our
friends and and I and I think it's
critically important and I and I um so
we're going to keep saying it you know
the other thing is um you know I think I
I know about you know some developments
that are coming down the pipeline with
that property
storage um I hope it can be
done effectively more
effectively than it was sort of started
as in 20 2023 you know with the
earnestness and follow through in terms
of people getting there things back um
uh because some of these items are
critically important to people and um
you know I I you guys know I'm always
working on trying to get people's stuff
not being thrown away so you know um I
just hope that the city will make
effective policies right in this area
that assists
people thank you thank you our final
speaker will be Missy
hi Mara Council I have a whole speech
that I was going to read but I'm tired
and have a headache and I just pretty
sure you're over it too um I'm obviously
here to talk about cats and the
suffering that they're going through in
Phoenix basically I just want us to not
overlook this situation anymore I come
to these meetings and it's hard for me
to even pay attention because we're
talking about all these things that
definitely matter but there's suffering
and living beings being
killed having sickness and there's just
there's zero regard for it apparently
because I can't even get anyone to
respond to me
um I just want you guys to just I came
here as a as a business owner in Phoenix
as a resident of Phoenix hoping that I
could come here and and you guys would
help us we could together figure out
something I have a lot of knowledge I
can help this but with your help maybe I
could we could do something real I'm not
asking you for any money I'm asking for
your time and your um I'm asking for
your time and your just to listen and
maybe your something that you might have
to help so that's basically all I have
why I'm so passionate about this is for
many reasons obviously but I did Kids
Camp when I had the Cat Cafe and kids
would come there for the whole summer
they'd come for um Christmas break and
for spring break and we would they would
spend the whole week there with cats and
we did all kinds of things and it was so
fun and it was so um inspiring for these
kids one of the girls her name is Ella
she came to 5 years of kids camp she now
asked her mom to buy her a trap for
Christmas because she wants to go out
and trap and neuter cats it breaks my
heart to think that in 20 years when
she's in her 30s that she's going to
spend her life doing this every night
like a lot of the cat people are doing
now this is what they do 24/7 they don't
get to go to the movies they don't get
to go on vacation this is what they're
doing they're spending their all of
their money on this so it just breaks my
heart to think about that for a little
girl now that is going to be us someday
and that's just not what I would want
for for my um for my kids or the future
or the citizens of this this community
thank
Youk thank you so much we are adjourned
for our students we know every year we
sit there at the beginning of the year
and say okay how far are we going to go
in temperature to let them safely play
outside and having a shade structure
allows them access to more play for
longer periods of time