Phoenix City Council Formal Meeting - February 19, 2025

e
good afternoon thank you for joining us
it is February 19th and we are pleased
to be with you we'll begin with an
invitation from police chaplain Harry
ston let us pray pray Heavenly
Father you know it seems that every time
we look around we see the
news the world seems to be just fraught
with problems and
issues we know that sin has ravaged this
world and will lack complete peace until
you return nevertheless father we ask
that you intervene in this world and
particularly in this city of Phoenix and
grant us peace
help us in this Council find more ways
to love our neighbors and to show the
world your
goodness father thank you for your truly
amazing
grace please help us to give your grace
away to others as freely as we have
received it from
you may we see you as the god over the
small things just as much as the big
ones so that we can experience your
unending peace
father we come with these petitions for
your honor and your glory
amen vice mayor O'Brien will lead us in
the pledge I pledge ALG to the flag of
the United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands one
nation indice
thank
you thank you so much to chaplain seon
and the vice mayor for starting us off
on the right note and speaking of
starting us off on the right note um
before we began the uh invocation uh the
Arizona anti-trafficking Network came
here and presented councilman wearing
with a recognition because more than
close about 14,000 city employees have
completed human trafficking awareness
training councilman wearing leads our
human
trafficking effort from the council side
and we just want to say thank you to all
of our city employees who are helping to
combat
trafficking with that I will call the
formal meeting to order and ask the
clerk to call the
role councilman galinda here
councilwoman wado here councilwoman Hajj
Washington
councilwoman Pastor here councilman
Robinson here councilwoman Stark here
councilman wearing here vice mayor OB
Brien here mayor
gyo
here we'll next go to the
interpretation portion of our council
meeting we have a little bit of of sad
news we lost uh Gloria who has led
uh our interpretation company uh and
just want to send condolences on behalf
of the city to her family and her
employees we also want to bring
attention to some of the new changes
that you have probably already noticed
in council chambers first you will
notice two screens showing live
translation of the meeting in both
English and Spanish you can find the
first screen behind the dis and the
other in the back of Chambers this added
tool will provide more accessibility to
our residents here in C council chambers
both English and Spanish speakers who
can follow along in both languages for
the regular City business in public
comment speaking a public comment for
our Spanish speakers you will now be
able to speak uninterrupted for the
entire duration of your comments our
interpreter will record your comments
and translate afterwards for the
audience with that I want to turn to
Mario baras and Elsie dwarte who will be
providing Spanish interpretation today
Mario would you please introduce
yourself to our Spanish speaking
audience yes thank you
mayor as mayor I already mentioned my
name is Mario wahas and together with my
colleague elte we'll both be serving as
Spanish interpreters for today's meeting
I'll I'll take a moment to introduce
ourselves to our Spanish speaking
audience
thank you
mayor thank you so
much will the City attorney please
explain the role of public
comment yes thank you mayor members of
the public may speak for up to 2 minutes
to comment on agenda items comments must
be related to the agenda item and the
action being considered by the council
General comments 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 personal 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 will the city clerk 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 part of
this council meeting and therefore may
be read by title or agenda item only
ordinance is number G 736 0 through 7363
s515 and 51 636 through 51 682 and
resolutions
22275 through
22276 thank you the meeting minutes
councilman wearing due a motion on item
one I do mayor move approval of the
minutes of the formal meeting of
September uh 18th 2024 be ad
second we have a motion and a
second all those in favor please say I
I any opposed passes unanimously item
two councilwoman Stark thank you mayor
um because of some family issues I was
unable to review the minutes so if I
could move them to march the 5th
2024 second all those in favor please
say I I any
opposed passes unan ly boards and
commissions vice
mayor I move to approve mayor and city
council boards and commissions
nominations we have a motion and a
second all those in favor please say I I
any oppose nay congratulations to our
new Commissioners on your unanimous vote
of approval if you could come forward
for swearing in
congratulations how are you
doing
congratulations please raise your right
hand I state your name
I do solemnly swear do Solly swear that
I will support the Constitution of the
United States
support unit States and the Constitution
and laws of the state of
Arizona St that I will bear true faith
and allegiance to the
same and defend them against all enemies
foreign and
domestic and that I will faithfully and
impartially willfully andar discharge
the duties of the office
of State your commission or
board according to the best of my
ability ACC to the best of my ability so
help me God help me God congratulations
thank you for serving our
city e
well congratulations to our newly sworn
in Commissioners some of whom are
continuing extensive periods of service
very important roles at the City of
Phoenix and we are so glad to have you
next we move to the liquor license
portion of our agenda where we advise
the State of Arizona vice mayor do we
have a motion I move to approve items 4
through
18
second we have a motion and a
second all those in favor say I I I any
oppose
nay passes unanimously city clerk are we
ready for ordinances resolution new
business planning and zoning yes
mayor vice mayor do we have a motion yes
mayor I move to approve items 19 through
through 82 accept the following items
37 41 42 51 79 80 and 81 noting that
item 41 has additional information item
82 is an add-on and excluding the
following additional items for virtual
public comment 64
65 66 70
73 and will 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 39 also excluding item
39 we have a motion did we get a second
we have a second from councilwoman
Stark roll call galinda yes wado yes
Hajj Washington yes Pastor yes yes
Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes
O'Brien yes cgo yes passes
90 we next go to item
37 I'll turn to councilman Galindo AA
for this one is it it's in thank you
mayor um I move to continue items
3779 to the April 9th formal council
meeting second we have a motion and a
second all those in favor please say I I
any opposed
nay continuance passes we next go to
item
39 uh do we have a motion vice mayor I
move to approve item 39 mayor we have a
motion in a second uh Scott Kirk is here
to testify
[Music]
classing compens uh compensation process
information sessions were held both
virtually and in person at various City
Sites representatives from HR class and
comp were on hand to answer questions
and provide information in those
sessions HR class and comp staff were
asked if the report used to justify the
pay raade adjustments would be made
available to view HR indicated that it
would be posted on the special CL class
and comp informational website
the website was a special page created
for the class and comp process where
city employees could visit and to view
updates about the class in comp process
to date the report has not been provided
the link to the class in comp
information page website on the inside
Phoenix homepage leads to 404 not found
message the report is being requested to
see what justification is being used to
determine that plumbing and mechanical
inspection inspectors should be one pay
grade higher than that than their
building inspection counterparts
electrical structural General Etc the
report could not have contained much
information about how external
jurisdictions pay positions of similar
nature as the CD of Phoenix is one of
the few jurisdictions that breaks out
its commercial inspection groups by
discipline in this manner and is only
part of a handful of jurisdictions that
separate out its residential and
Commercial inspection groups of those
jurisdictions there's no evidence that
any of them pay any of their inspectors
at different pay grades a possible
solution that I think will amend to all
parties plumbing and mechanical
inspectors currently one pay grade of
above their respective inspector
counterparts one twos and threes current
proposal before council is to move each
position inspection group up two pay
grades this will maintain the inequities
uh between Plumbing mechanical
inspectors and the respective of
counterparts thank you for my
time thank you and just a little
background for folks who are new to us
we uh want to have very competitive pay
and so we did a Citywide analysis of the
compensation for our employees and our
adjusting uh we also did a special
adjustment in one category uh and then
had to do several others as a result of
that and that continues so we are uh in
the middle of a process of looking at
compensation particularly in the
department mentioned and so uh that will
continue and I think there going to be
an HR presentation to on this particular
issue to the employees Lori help me if
I've missed
anything mayor I think you've covered it
well thank you all right thank you thank
you for the important testimony and
we'll work on the website I think as
well all right any comments councilwoman
pestor I have a question uh when we did
discuss this we did uh say that we would
follow up and do multiple items so I
guess what I would like to see is kind
of a timeline in the future so that it
could be placed on the
website um so that employees understand
what the steps we're
taking mayor members of the council we
will certainly look at the website and
make sure that that information is
available to
employees all right roll call got Del
yes wado yes Haj Washington yes Pastor
yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes
O'Brien yes GGO yes passes
90 all right we next go to item 41
Federal home loan ARP funds for Tanner
Thomas Village affordable housing
development on this one I think we will
Begin by hearing the testimony from
those involved this item was contain Ed
from our December 4th meeting because
the application was incomplete we hadn't
seen any evidence that identified
service providers that would provide
onap on-site
wraparound services and the council had
a couple other questions and then asked
that there be Community input we like to
uh that we wanted to hear from the
neighborhoods and
so we are back now uh we will begin with
Kerwin Brown followed by Benjamin Thomas
Senor welcome pastor
uh mayor and Council as as you've
described this was uh something that was
was continued from a previous meeting um
the uh housing director actually uh
provided a uh capsulation of the of the
uh entire plan that we put together um
so I'm I'm not sure if you want me to go
through that entire thing or not but
what was asked was to provide a plan
what was asked was to provide um uh
providers that would be servicing part
of the plan once this is
built what was asked was community
outreach uh there was no particular type
of community outreach that was requested
so we tried to do it all we posted it
publicly
uh we actually had a community meeting
uh actually uh uh tried anyway to follow
up on a second community meeting uh last
night uh unsuccessful um we were told it
wasn't
necessary um we also did a door-to-door
survey where over 200 uh people were
contacted and
surveyed and um it was a a a over 90%
well let me give you exact
figures well it just a over
90% uh uh
favorable response from the community
around the area where we're looking to
to build this development so that is
what we were asked to do uh we were
asked to come back and give a uh a a
um information on the on the
um the meeting the community meeting and
we did that as
well um I think we fulfilled what was
asked to do we were asked to
do thank
you uh the Reverend Dr Benjamin Thomas
senr followed by Chuck firers
greetings mayor and members of the city
council I am Reverend Dr Benjamin Thomas
senior I'm the pastor of historic Tanner
African Methodist Episcopal Church uh
the oldest African-American church in
the state of Arizona dating back to
1887 I'm here to support our veteran
housing program uh through Tanner
Community Development Corporation I
believe that we can help make a
difference in the lives of the veterans
that we serve we have a long history uh
at Hanner of serving our community and
we want to have the
opportunity through you give us that
opportunity to serve these veterans and
Empower them to a better life and help
them to get not only back on their feet
but stay on their feet and become
Fishers rather than always receiving
fish I served in the United States Army
for 16 years I also served as a Chaplain
so I know the mental where out
whereabout and tear physically as well
that it could take on Veterans lives and
I hope that we have an opportunity to
help rebuild their lives and make a
difference thank
you thank you Chuck is next followed by
Cleo Lewis
good afternoon mayor guo and uh council
members and my fellow veteran supports
here they're here today the VFW and and
some other veterans here my brothers and
sisters my name is Chuck buers and I'm
commissioner for the Arizona Department
of Veterans Services and I'm the
national chair for veterans Health Care
with the Vietnam Veterans of America
today I urge you to get on the crisis
that we can no longer ignore the growing
tragedy of veterans homelessness every
summer dozens of homeless veterans die
in the state of Arizona not from combat
wounds but from extreme heat dehydration
and the unforgiving circumstances and
conditions with life without housing
these are the men and women that defend
Ed as our nation and our honor only to
be left behind when we need is
most this is
unacceptable we have a responsibility to
do better Tanner Thomas Village for
veterans is more than just a housing it
is a permanent
solution that provides security
opportunity and a place for veterans can
truly call a home unlike shelters of
transitional programs this development
ensures that once a veteran is housed
they will not have to face homeless
again investing in a permanent Solutions
like Tanner Thomas Village is not just
saving lives it's about honoring the
promise that we made to those who served
this will not be a hand up as opposed to
just a handout now we have the
opportunity to move forward together and
make take this Landmark step in the
ending veterans homelessness and Phoenix
I urge you to support this development
and stand for us to ensure that no
veteran is Left Behind thank you Cleo is
next followed by Benjamin
Jeffrey C
here back yeah okay there he is
okay good afternoon mayor and Council my
name is the Reverend Cleo Lewis I stand
here with my colleagues uh many of which
helped me in 2009 when I was homeless
and I think what Tanner is doing is
something that I didn't have when I was
homeless you see when I came from cash
shelter I wasn't eligible for many of
the VA
programs this
solution will take care of the people
that I continue to run into my greatest
fear is not from drug and alcohol
addiction but falling back into
homelessness
it's the one thing that I feared the
most as a Air Force veteran that my
community would forget about me and this
gives us an opportunity to bring
veterans together to increase their
productivity bring them to wraparound
services and yes I do have a additional
motive as we're going to be successful
The Way Phoenix does it we can be be
more successful at doing the same thing
for some of our other groups thank you
so much for letting me speak thank
you thank you Benjamin is
next followed by
Hubert good afternoon mayor gyo and
council members my name is Ben Jeffrey
I'm a United States Navy veteran who
served two combat deployments in Iraq
for 3 years I was homeless camping in
the river bottom struggling to survive
every day I suffered a stroke heat
exhaustion and
dehydration by all accounts I shouldn't
be here I should be
dead veteran housing saved my life now I
advocate for transformational
programming because it
works right now many veterans who once
defended our nation are left to fend for
themselves on the streets of Phoenix
and yet we thank them for their service
as we step over them on the
sidewalk we know permanent support of
housing is an evidence-based solution we
either invest in real solutions or let
this crisis grow if we fail to act the
problem will not disappear it will be at
our doorsteps in our parks and outside
our
businesses that's why Tanner Thomas
Village for veterans is critical it is
not a Shel
it is not transitional housing it is
permanent real stability real
transformation a place where veterans
can rebuild their lives this approach
lowers crime reduces emergency response
costs and revitalizes neighborhoods
cities that invest in Supportive Housing
save up to $5 for every $1 spent keeping
people homeless cost more than housing
them give this development a chance to
change lives you will not be disappoint
appointed you will rejoice at what
happens in this Village it is our
patriotic moral obligation to uphold the
social contract we have with veterans
this Village will not just meet the need
it will set the standard for how we
fulfill that commitment thank
you thank you Hubert Ross is next
followed by Paul BS
to the mayor and the council members
it's been a long time since I've been in
this building since Calvin good and I
had worked the community for
years uh I've been in Arizona for at
least since
1953 when most of
the African-Americans could not go past
van Beren a lot of
problems uh we had to face but it was a
very positive and
successful
Community people had a lot of skills
they could build they were teachers they
were on and
on I my good
friend that is the pastor
for
Tanner uh this is not in opposition to
the veterans having home
on
Broadway and this is 18th Place in
Broadway I live just across the
street Mrs Johnson and her husband and
her son Jim lived and owned the property
that you're referring
to we ran after
chickens it was a little Community
stop but I I
cannot
fathom some of the problems
that many home the miniature
homes
have brought to any of our communities
across the US this is a residential area
and it has been a Dumping
Ground since I have lived in that area
the companies that put giant buildings
and does that mean that's
over told I have would you give me just
a couple I I my point
is the community is not for the many
homes to be built right on that ground
of
of 18th
Place um East
Broadway
and as Calvin good
and would do we had I'm the person that
was responsible for widening Broadway
there way back now when you approach
80 you have more memories in the
past but I don't know if any of you have
and maybe you did go over your time but
maybe just tell us with one line what
the is there a solution in front of you
is there something we could do to make
it better or just I would like to have
the whole thing postponed for now so
that we can give um people that are
interested in that area time to look at
the area and um you know do something
positive I I you know in my family we've
had a lot of veterans
uh but I just don't uh feel that this is
the place for this um type of building
Community is against it thank you so
much thank you Paul is next followed by
Delonte my name is Paul B the president
of the United fight back and what Mr I'm
just going to add to what had to say
it's a community that I grew up since
1962 and the see just coming to that
Community is not in the area that it
need to be you got one in nin streak in
Elwood it's called veteran one two and
three and you don't lost control of that
okay and this community where it say is
heavily in heavily equipped with drugs
ladies of the streets and all that kind
of stuff so what you're going to do
you're going to put to of here you put
want to put these little bitty 400t
homes and you know 400t that ain't very
much uh room for people to live and
function so it's the wrong project and
the wrong place at this particular time
because uh the neighborhood all they
going to do is add to the
problem what on Ninth Street in the
field M right off of Seventh Street they
had to put in new covers and stuff and
the people's hous locked up over
whatever you walk through and do a of
that they afraid of the veteran a lot of
them not on
medication a lot of them just walk
around and do what they want to do so
you come here you going to give us this
what you're going to do in the community
but you're not taking care unless about
two miles down the road it's not being
taken care of and I've talked when I did
my own survey I've talked to everybody
in community and everybody in Community
First of all we didn't know about it
that's the first thing and number two is
wrong because it wasn't uh proposed to
us right so here we are speak Force down
on our throat right now but family's
veteran and all us was Veterans in
military my dad's bu buried in uh
Prescott Willows up there so it's
nothing new but it's the wrong place
wrong
time thank you Delonte is I believe our
final
[Music]
speaker mayor council members my name is
Del Monte Edwards I'm the executive
director of Tanner
properties we have been operating in
South Phoenix for 550 57 years it's
started with Channer Chapel Manor
nursing home that was redeveloped into
Tanner Manor Apartments 110 unit
facility we own Tanner Gardens 127 unit
property we own Grand family's place of
Phoenix 56 properties and we have two
additional properties outside the
Phoenix area the total another 200
units we are co-developing the new
community called Tanner Thomas the place
of veterans this community like all of
our properties will be permanent
Supportive Housing serving people in
need I want to address an issue that has
risen regarding tender Gardens about 12
years ago a small number of residents
invited a criminal element into the
community once we identifi those
residents we aggressively pursue
counseling and warnings to get them to
comply with Community rules we did evict
some residents when compliance was not
achieved to be clear an eviction of a
senior is the least welcome outcome we
have but our primary primary mission is
the Safety and Security of all of our
residents we work with the police
department to keep those people off the
property with trespassing orders
identifying problem tenants and having
the police operate an on-site operation
using some space we provided to write
reports we were successful in minimizing
the problem
since then we have installed security
cameras added lighting and change
management companies in the past year we
pushed the property out of our property
and we will do it again it may result in
evictions for those refusing to comply
it is important that we work hand inand
with the police department because our
outcome is to make tener Gardens an
unwelcome place to operate crime we are
also aware that this element does not
leave the surrounding area and we will
work with r and community the groups to
help solve the problem they they will
incur thank
you thank you I believe that concludes
public comment I will turn to
councilwoman HJ Washington thank you
mayor uh I want to start off if I may
kind of given a little background of
kind of where I stand on this so once
this project I want to remind the
community that this project um what we
are considering right now is whether or
not to provide supplement of funding to
the project whether or not the project
that moves forward as design is not a
zoning matter in front of the council at
this time I say that to address the
concerns about the type of Dimensions
that you seeing whether or not they are
tiny homes or smaller homes those are
that is not currently in front of the
council what is in front of the council
is the allocation of um additional
funding that we have for certain
projects this as the mayor mentioned was
to actually asked to go back to the
community because well not go back to go
to the community because there was an
absence of community engagement and
there was um not a clear articulation of
what are the wraparound services that
would be provided since the since the
last time we were before Council we did
get a supplement that outlines some of
the um services that would be provided
um and the reason for that was because
we requested that is because this is a
high Acuity population um our statistics
from our office of Homeless Solutions
indicated that the veteran population
sometimes has a little more difficulty
when it comes to job retention when it
comes to Substance Abuse and Mental
Health and behavioral concerns so this
is not to Target this project but it was
about understanding the population in
which they intend to serve and ensure
that there were the proper services to
be provided to that to that population
to provide for an increased um
probability of
success we also received U my office
received some comments from back from
the community and there were some
considerations raised regarding the
operation of other facilities by the
similarly Associated organization and
what that if that was the same level of
expectation they could um they would see
at this new property the community
feedback was they were not in support of
this because of these concerns I also um
I think I'm fair to say I have been a
supporter of housing from this day it's
no secret that I believe believe that we
do need to provide housing for all of
our all of the vulnerable population
including our veterans so this one is a
very difficult one for me because I do
believe that we need to make sure that
we provide housing but I also believe
that we need to make sure that they are
that we are leveraging and ensuring that
they come from they have the likelihood
of success so for that reason I would
move to approve this with certain
conditions on the for the funding the
conditions would be one we need to
ensure that there's 24 47 Security on
site two we need to ensure that there is
an in-person onsite case management and
delivery of behavioral health and
substance abuse treatment for this for
the residents and that site that should
be provided from 8: to 5: Monday through
Friday and there will be continuous
tracking of the metrics to ensure that
these services are provided we also want
to make sure that the community has the
ability to voice their concerns
and there is a direct telephone number
or email address the community can call
with any issues and a response should be
provided within two business days lastly
we want to make sure that the community
is engaged and understands what is going
on in full extent of those services so
we would ask that the creation and
sharing of a comprehensive operational
plan how services are to be provided um
and that has to be shared with the um
public as registered within 600 ft from
from the site as well as within one mile
of the site you um contact and speak
with all the neighborhood associations
and accepting their feedback on how we
can ensure that this is continues to be
a service for all residents that the
resid I'm sorry for all affected it will
not be it will be a benefit and not a
detriment so with that um mayor that
would be my motion to approve with those
conditions second we have a motion and a
second from councilwoman pestor could we
have a representative of Tanner come up
to react to that motion
please mayor I apologize could it is the
longest motion we have ever had I know
and I I tried to take copious notes
could so I can repeat the conditions and
I apologize that I was trying to
incorporate the concerns from the
residents as well as making sure we move
forward with the housing plan so it
includes uh 24 hours Security on site um
a telephone number and email address
that the neighbors can call with any
concern with a response within two
business days they may maintain a log um
that they provide in-person onsite case
management and the delivery of
Behavioral and substance abuse um
substance
treatment and operational plan and it's
the same Outreach that you would do for
a Zone in matter which is 600 feet from
the site to the public one mile from the
site for all registered neighborhood
associations and metrics of success for
the employ
retention and Paul if you want to come
up after curan speaks uh we'll give you
equal
time mayor city council you know most of
what you've just
described is something that we'd be
doing anyway except for this 24hour um
that would be something that uh we'd
have to go back and figure in and budget
but as far as um uh a lot of the other
conditions that you have submitted
actually it's actually in the in the
report uh that I've I've submitted we'll
continue to provide if you want updates
uh as far as um the activity within I'm
kind of like like councilwoman that was
a lot
there um but as as I'm as I'm taking all
this in I don't think I have a problem
with the majority of of of what you're
asking but I will be honest with you um
if you're talking about 24-hour security
as far as cameras are you talking about
uh uh hiring a patrol to come by on a
24-hour there's there's a a lot of
different options there that I think
we'd need to sit down and make sure if
it's easier mayor if you would like a
continu we can discuss this I'm willing
to do that I just didn't want to drag
this out any further but I wanted to
incorporate I wanted to make sure that
whatever resolution let me finish
whatever resolution I move forward
incorporates the feedback that I
received from the community because I
believe their feedback and their
concerns were documented and had Merit
and we needed to address them and that's
why I articulated this
way this I do believe would have to be a
the reason we couldn't do a meeting be
beforehand is because it would be
subject to the transparency policy so we
just have to notice it I think yes it
has to be noticed so if you would like a
continuance we can do that to discuss
these things or we can move forward
today I will I think a continuance would
be in order okay with that being said I
could withdraw my motion and just simply
move for a continuance at this at this
juncture and I would move let me let me
back up I would move to um continue this
for um I don't have the next date let me
look March 5th is the next date March
5th is two weeks away let me see if that
works for
me that should work I'll continue it to
March 5th to um for us to be able to
spend a little more time thank you it's
been second great we have a motion and I
think the first second I heard was from
councilwoman Pastor um Paul I had
offered you if you wanted to say
anything now or we can just have
meetings I agree what you said about
could you move the mic you are quite
tall thank you
I agree with what you said about the
continuation because this this project
was shaved down our throat in the
neighborhood I've heard everything they
said and done do we have to come back
here or can we go to 24th Street
Broadway we would have to vote in this
building but we could we could have one
more meeting at 24th in Broadway I think
I think we need to because I've had a
lot of me we've done special services in
the community for that we've talked to
everybody about it and see the a lot of
time people don't want to talk before
the public okay but they can talk in a
smaller building a smaller area but we
need more time on it because it was not
me personally I don't like it and I'm
not the only one so I'm just I'm the one
I'm the spokesman so I will say we need
more time and for the brothers that was
in the organization right there they
need to be there too and look what we up
against okay that's all thank you and
for our legal folks we can do a city
meeting as long as we is like notice it
appropriately mayor yes you can as long
as it's uh noticed wonderful one of the
very peculiar things that happened in
this process was our housing department
did not attend the community meeting
because of the Care procurement
transparency policy which seemed like a
real deficit in our
policy uh vice mayor could could we have
Gina come up to answer a question that's
great please
[Music]
thank you so much I I know that in other
parts of the city is have we brought on
um shelter beds and and housing
sometimes there is unhappiness with the
community coming can you tell us about
some of the ways that we have worked to
work with the community to overcome
those
challenges thank you mayor um vice mayor
members of the council um yes we've been
through um numerous um site
opportunities for shelters and services
related to um people experiencing
homelessness and generally u a lot of
communication um and with the
neighborhood associations in the area
with with residents that are close by
and businesses um we have um um Enlisted
the help of Neighborhood Services and
the Specialists to to walk the
neighborhood and and leave Flyers um
publicizing the um um meetings and and
taking all the feedback um all of the
projects have included um a requirement
for a good neighbor agreement with an
operational plan that that lays out um
the the various um hours of operations
um who to contact if you have concerns
um security provisions and and other
details related to how it will be
operated
um some of them have um um Community
advisory committees made up of um um
members of the surrounding communities
um a lot of um time and work into
communication and and and listening and
and trying to meet the community um
halfway or as close as we can to make
them comfortable with with the project
thank you so much um I appreciate that
and I don't know if um councilwoman hjge
Washington said I think that the the
community advisory committees are often
helpful if that is something that Tanner
would be open to potentially to work
with the community members so as you
probably gathered some of my comments
and my conditions were based on uh uh
what looks like a community Good
Neighbor agreement so but what I will
commit to doing is trying to organize a
community meeting so that we can
articulate this a little more clearly
with the collaboration with Tanner
development code so thank you for that
vice mayor
thank you councilwoman for trying to
find a way good Way
Forward uh all those in favor please say
I I I any oppose nay continuance
passes next up is item
42 vice mayor do we have a motion mayor
I move to um approve item 42
second thank
you this is one of two items we have
where we're partnering with school
districts this is a purchase and sale
agreement with Isaac School
District Isaac school district is facing
tough challenges related to its budget
deficit before those became public the
city received a request from Isaac to
purchase and sell
4.56 acres of land uh that will go
towards multif family
housing this is an exciting win wi where
we are able to move forward with
building much needed housing and help
one of our important school districts in
the city in a time of their financial
need so we hope that this will be
something that really makes sense for
the Isaac Community several other school
districts had actually had Isaac come in
with our Industrial Development
Authority to talk about what they were
doing as a possible model for how the
city might partner with school districts
on housing that and the housing might
also help with the revenue situ tion at
city so want to thank everyone I'm sorry
Revenue situation at the school district
so I want to thank everyone who has been
working on this and I think Council
pestor wanted to say something as well
on this
one yes thank you mayor um actually this
was part
of of one of the pieces that was very
important for Isaac was to be able to
sell this property and was be able to um
Phoenix Ida uh be able able to purchase
it and close the deal ASAP so that uh
the receiver of Isaac could receive um
the money to lower down the school debt
and this is one of the ways on how Isaac
is moving and working with the receiver
um so I just wanted to put that there as
you know or as you have seen on TV that
there are uh other schools that possibly
would be in Jeopardy for receivership
but you have seen them become proactive
in the way of looking at their finances
and uh cutting staff programs items
getting down to the bones but also uh
selling some of their Assets in order to
have that money within their their
general fund so this is one way of of
assisting a school by selling their
property and their asset and being able
to get dollars so I think um I think in
a way uh this is the way the city also
was able to help through Ida thank you
mayor thank you and there are many
conversations going on about the
enormous challenges facing our Public
Schools the city hopes to be a partner
in solving them because of state law it
is easier if the city is a participant
as it's difficult for the district to
sell the um land directly and certainly
public policy discussions about
legislation around that this land will
be resold and used to create 72 new
affordable multif family housing units
roll call gind yes yes HJ Washington yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes
wearing yes O'Brien yes
Gago yes passes 90 item 51 is next a
contract with the greater Phoenix
chamber foundation for Elevate education
Workforce Development program vice
mayor I move to approve item 51 second
noting there would be a potential
conflict with wearing by councilman
wearing we have a motion and a second
this will help more than 1400 students
be better positioned for the jobs of the
future roll call gind V Yes W yes hjge
Washington yes Pastor yes Robin yes
Stark yes O'Brien yes
GGO yes passes
80 item 64 is a request to purchase fire
apparatus and ambulance equipment vice
mayor I move to approve item 64 second
we have a motion and a second Zachary
Hobbs is uh is virtually present to
testify
Mr Hobbs is not with us Mr Hobbs the
floor is
yours Mr
Hobbs okay we do not have Mr
Hobs um any roll
call G yes yes Hodge Washington yes
Pastor yes Robinson yes Stark yes
wearing yes obrien yes goo yes passes 90
uh Mr uh
items 65 66 67 70 and 73 were pulled
from the consent agenda for testimony
for Mr Hobs since he is not available
Vice we're g to check one more time I'm
here okay hello 65 hello
all right um um yes okay um would you
test tell us about heavy duty vehicle
suspension steering in alignment
please what what about
7064 uh we have already
voted that would be in uh violation of
the the notice you gave when I
requested you you said that anybody who
requests all right why don't we hear
your testimony on 65 which is another
one you pulled and we will figure out if
it was our error tell usy Duty I'm going
go ahead and give my I'm going to go
ahead and give my testimony for all of
them it's all the same thing none of
them provide any itemized budget and
they are all in the millions of dollars
that my issue with them the reason that
this is my issue is because plenty of
people and plenty of backgrounds and
jobs have to do budgets for various
things and and sometimes even when
you're getting out of the military you
have to do a budget to be able to be to
provide proof that you're able to to
live
right
and with the the especially 64 that
is25
million
65 is3 million this is all taxpayer
money so for for all of the ones that
I've requested to speak on the outcome
would be to postpone until
a or to have a continuance until they
can provide a itemized list
because as far as I'm concerned and a
lot of other
people 125 million 3 million 6 million 1
million that's a lot of money to not
have not be
transparent um I think if I were to give
another reason why I would say that
Additionally the fact that these are
such large
projects and a lot of these small things
in the city aren't being taken care of
like the Litany of um violations of
federal regulations for traffic control
devices people are still getting
violations for those and getting charged
fines so how can the city approve
millions of dollars for these and not
prove $20 or $40 or $100 for paint or no
parking signs I I think that it would be
a disservice to the citizens to to not
take that into consideration
so as to summarize I I oppose these
because there's no itemized budget to
justify the expense on the American
people thank you wonderful thank you for
your testimony any
comments roll call on
65 oh I'm sorry we need a motion I move
to approve
65 well any all right roll call alen
yes wado yes HUD Washington yes Pastor
yes Robinson yes Stark yes wearing yes
O'Brien yes GGO yes passes
90 all right uh would folks like to do
all of the next ones in one motion or
multiple one motion okay vice mayor do
we have a motion on 66 67 70 and 73 66
70 and
73 uh I move to approve 66 70 and
73 second motion a second any
comments 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 80 is
proposed development impact fee update
it is a public
hearing we'll open the public
hearing Matthew kleene is here to
testify Matthew floor is
yours thank you mayor uh good afternoon
mayor gyo and council members my name is
Matthew Klein representing Lincoln
Avenue communities one of the largest
affordable housing developers owners and
investors in Arizona and across the
country with over 30,000 affordable
units I want to commend the city of
Phenix for its ongoing commitment to
affordable housing notably through
initiatives such as the housing Phoenix
plan however we have concerns about how
the proposed impact fee increase will
affect our planned affordable multif
family development in North Phoenix
where there's currently no affordable
housing within roughly 10 miles as
everyone is aware both affordable and
market rate developments have faced
substantial headwinds over the past few
years notably due to Rising construction
costs and volatile interest rate
environments uh we placed a site under
contract in the third quarter 2024 B our
financial model on the then current
impact fees what was originally $3.5
million is now projected to increase to
over 7.5 million jeopardizing the
feasibility of our project and I'm here
today to request you considered
grandfathering in the fees for
affordable housing developments like
ours they're in the process but do not
yet have a final site plan as proposed
grandfather of the old impact fees is
only available if the final site plan is
approved prior to the new fees becoming
effective assuming the current timeline
remains on track the new impact fees are
currently slated for adoption in April
to become effective in June of
2025 uh the land use assumptions and
infrastructure improvements plan was
approved by Council in December has
approximately seven months from approval
to potentially uh becoming effective on
the development side the typical
timeline to get a final site plan
approval for housing developments like
ours and Phoenix can take up upwards of
9 months I'm here to ask that you
consider the timing for implementation
of these increased fees I'm here as a
partner in the effort to provide more
affordable housing in Phoenix to ask you
that you please consider the timeline
for approval to implementation and
correlate the general final site plan
approval timelines within the city with
those developments that are already in
process we appreciate the need to adjust
your development impact fees and I
respectfully urge the council to
consider an extension of the
grandfathering provision for the new
impact fees as it relates to affordable
housing developments we understand that
raising impact e is necessary to
maintain and improve the Su
infrastructure however we request
additional time to finalize our site
plan so that we can move forward doing
so it'll enable us to continue our
entitlement process and secure financing
ultimately to provide for the much
needed affordable
housing thank you for that
testimony any questions for him close
the public hearing and I'll turn it to
my Council
colleagues councilwoman STK
maybe you could speak to State law when
it comes to the timing of impact fees
just maybe give us a re-education on
that I know there is a process in state
law but do we have
flexibility mayor uh councilman Stark
the state law as it relates to impact
fees uh require that the new fees don't
become effective until 75 days after the
council will take adoption currently
that's scheduled for uh April 9th and
setad of their typical 30-day ordinance
effective date so you're getting 75 days
uh for that and then the the fees cannot
increase for 24 months uh from that date
if they have uh for a multif family
project uh and non-residential they have
final site plan approval or plat
approved uh prior to that 75 days uh of
it becoming effective then their
grandfathering under the old fees for 24
months months if it's single family
residential they have to have the uh
site plan and plat approved and then
their first building permit uh issued
and then they are grandfathered in for
24 months so state law does provide a a
generous window for them to be
grandfathered under the old
fees and then just as a followup I he
was saying that it it's taking about 9
months to review a site plan is is that
correct I thought we've gone through
some process improvements to try
expedite the review
process mayor and councilwoman uh Stark
I don't believe it's taking 9 months for
the site plan process I believe this
parcel is up in the far northern part of
the city along i7 where there's some
water service uh issues and
infrastructure issues because it's
actually north of of anthem on the the
terms of east or west side of of i7 up
there but there's some larger
infrastructure issues that I believe are
taking some of the time to work through
and address uh in order to get the site
plan
approved and then just as a followup
that we do ask the development Community
to pay their fair share when they build
but we as we calculate our impact fees
taken to affect existing residents and
businesses because they too are paying
taxes and so don't you when you go
through the assessment look at that if
you could just speak to that very
quickly
thank you councilwoman mayor members of
the council um there there are several
areas where costs of serving new
development are not captured in the
impact fees uh we've talked about um in
our conversations that we can't use
impact fees for operations or
maintenance we can't use impact fees for
replacement Capital this is really
limited to firsttime Capital necessary
to to meet the demands of of new
development and so those other costs
have to be you know made up by uh as the
councilwoman suggests existing residents
as well as new development once those
developments become occupied through
taxes through water sewer rates or other
sources of of uh city
funding and just this one last comment I
know it's tough and affordable housing
is an issue in our city but as we grow
we have to make sure we have safe roads
that we have fire stations police
precincts that we have parks that we
provide what we need to provide so that
people can live in a safe and quality
environment so I um I always have mixed
emotions when it comes to impact fees
but I think they do serve a purpose and
I think that we as a city really try to
look at it in a very fair way so that
everyone is paying their fair share
vice
mayor thank you mayor um and I would
like to talk with you a little bit about
the the impact fees as well as as we
went through the briefing process um I
know that I asked some questions about
fairness because we just talked about
the fairness and and we have a lot of
infrastructure needs in the in the North
in district one and District Two um but
my concern was that the same impact fee
is charged no matter the size of the
home so if I have an 800t home built or
a 5,000 ft home built is it correct that
the same impact fee is assessed to that
um
unit vice mayor uh mayor members of the
council uh under our past and and
proposed plans that is correct vice
mayor okay and all all single family
homes would pay the same rate located
within the same service area the fees
are variable for different types of land
uses however multif family units pay a
reduced rate and other types of
non-residential will be paying based on
their estimated impact on the the
networks and services thank you for that
um answer and as we continue to work
towards ensuring that we have enough um
housing it is I have requested in the
next impact fee study that we look at a
different fee structure for different
size housing going forward I know we are
far too long in the process given the
very the formulas that are all used but
I know that going forward um that would
I think be very beneficial to some of
our affordable home builders as well as
building brand new homes for starter for
new buyers so thank you
mayor
councilman thank you mayor um I want to
express my appreciation to Ellen and to
um for their briefings they've been very
patient with me because I've had a lot
of questions uh and so it's it's been a
very educational opportunity to learn
and to grow from it and um I know that
uh there's a question about the timeline
I think that you all have been very
precise and considerate in terms of the
timeline and how it impacts the
community when it's adopted and so I
just wanted to say thank you for
that Council wi HUD Washington thank you
so much so much mayor um I just wanted
to ask the team to to talk a little bit
about their commitment to ensure that
these fees are not U excessive and some
of the steps for example from the first
time the preliminary fee was presented
to where it has where it currently is
now from a proposal standpoint we have
seen a decrease I just wanted to talk a
little bit about the factors that led
into uh moving the fees
downward thank you councilwoman mayor
memb of the
council uh as the councilwoman suggested
the process that we follow as we go
through an impact fee update is is
detailed and it is deliberate um we have
uh retained outside professional
consulting firms to conduct uh nearly 20
studies uh to inform our growth
projections to inform our cost
estimates um and look at the the demands
uh the different types of development
are plac ing on our
systems
um we met uh as we've discussed with the
council with a a stakeholder ad hoc
committee uh 14 times over the last year
um so nearly 30 hours of meeting going
through these detailed plans with uh
stakeholders in the industry including
land owners including state agency
Representatives uh and others that have
an interest in development with respect
to the Evol ution of how the fees uh
have changed since uh really since last
summer when they were first um posted uh
kind of in the middle of our work with
the stakeholder committee
um the largest adjustments have occurred
uh between our summer posting and what
we updated in I think it was around
mid-september uh the large um excuse me
this adjustment was primarily a result
of re re visiting the scope of projects
that had been included by one of our
consulting firms in the uh proposed
water treatment fee uh and and just by
way of example that initial fee uh
contained expansions of some of our
existing water treatment plants uh it
was recognized that until we have a firm
surface water source to put through
those treatment plants we could defer uh
the costs of of expanding those
facilities at this time
thank you so in other words oh sorry go
ahead for you
finish mayor uh councilwoman Hajj Wasing
I would would just add that uh staff did
hear from obviously the the mayor and
councel when those fees came up and uh
deput city manager Ginger Spencer and
and Troy Hayes and his team are the ones
who undertook the effort that Adam was
describing to really go back through and
and look at those costs because that was
uh an area that were where a substantial
amount of cost was coming from but it's
being uh generated because of the need
for those new facilities up north and
the advanced water purification so it
was going back through and looking at
all of that where a lot of our other
studies are more traditional routine
ones because we do these impact fee
updates every 5 years so there wasn't as
much ability to go back and look at
what's built into some of those ones but
staff did go back and and do as much as
we can to reduce the cost throughout the
uh entire uh program
thank you so I was going to say so what
I'm hearing is that we we uh there was a
contensous effort to make sure that our
fees were actually true representation
of what we in tend to incur over the the
time period that impact fees are
supposed to cover nothing more nothing
less but we have to make sure the fee is
not too low because then we'll be left
with infrastructure needs um unmet
infrastructure unfunded infrastructure
needs correct mayor council MJ
Washington you correct thank you so much
mayor thank thank you Council pestor yes
yes Adam can you explain to me further
how impact
fees
uh cover the entire cost of growth in
North
Phoenix councilwoman mayor members of
the council as as we've discussed the
impact fees do not cover uh the entire
cost um I mentioned earlier that uh
impact fees can't be used for ongoing
costs um in addition to that and and
kind of in extension of what
councilwoman Hodge Washington was
referring to uh we cannot uh ask new
development to pay for existing
deficiencies in our infrastructure uh
and similarly we can't ask the uh the
next 10 years of development to pay for
facilities or portions of facilities
that are needed to serve development
that will come after that 10-year
Horizon so those are costs that show up
in the impact fee program but ultimately
do not get carried through into the fee
that is assessed to new
development and do you um my
understanding and you can correct me if
I'm wrong but my understanding is impact
P impact fees are are for Capital So
like um we have right now in the bond a
fire station and a police station but
it's imp tact fees that's also help us
in the entirety of other Capital uh
expenses it's not
for
people uh mayor councilman Pastor you
are correct impact fees only cover The
Upfront Capital cost to construct
facilities that are serving the new
development uh in those areas uh and
portions of those as Adam uh described
it does not include any operating funds
for uh for example to staff a fire
station uh does not include any
maintenance uh money to maintain that
infrastructure over time it's simply the
The Upfront costs that are attributed to
the new development that's happening
because they're the ones that are
principally generating or generating the
need and also benefiting from those
services and so when we do new
development and build new development
those are the amenities that people want
in order to move in those areas and want
to live in those areas so it's said I
think it's important to understand uh
why uh we have impact fees and why we're
at the space and place today uh talking
about the increase in Impact fees and
the importance of it
um and I think this is a great dialogue
I also know in the briefings which I do
think that you were deliberate and
methodical in this process because uh as
I would meet with you guys I would push
and say can't we lower the fees and I
want to say uh that we have have lowered
the fees approximately 9,000 plus I was
trying to get to 10 but I think we got
9,000 I don't know what
um but I think I believe that we've done
a good job and we're deliberative in
getting to where we are today um I also
asked in the meeting if we could go any
further and I would like to know why we
can't go any
further mayor uh and councilman Pastor
the uh the impact fee program is based
upon the new uh infrastructure to serve
the different Geographic areas uh based
upon the forecast of development coming
up in this next 10year window and so if
we are going to reduce uh the fees at
all we have to take something out that
is in the program to pay for and uh the
vast majority of what's in the uh impact
fee program is really uh critical
infrastructure to serve new development
it's streets water Wastewater uh then
your police and and fire uh services to
provide the public safety uh needs of
the new residents and and employment
areas there is uh for example in the
Paradise Ridge area about 96% of the
impact fee is just in those critical
infrastructure areas there's 4% that's
in parks and libraries uh and so there
it's critical that we have that in order
to allow for development and if we're
going to reduce the fees anymore then
you have to take something out that is
necess necessary in those particular
areas and so that's why we can't reduce
the the fees further unless the council
wants to try and subsidize some of that
reduction via another mechanism from a
funding perspective because state law
requires that everybody pay their
proportionate share and so that's why
for example uh when the gentleman who
was the caller spoke about affordable
housing the the city cannot say we will
charge affordable housing in less than
we would charge regular housing it's
based upon the fact that this is the
infrastructure that's needed and this is
a proportionate share for all of the
folks are going to develop within those
areas okay so I'm going to do one more
question if I asked I'm just going to
say I'm just going to throw a number out
if I asked I would encourage or direct
could you please give me another uh ski
fee schedule of approximately lowering
at another
$3,000 then you would have the ability
to do that I would believe what I heard
is in that analysis you would also be
able to show or demonstrate where uh
other areas would be affected and how we
would have to then uh figure out those
other pieces my understanding is water
infrastructure um sewer we would have to
look at those other areas to possibly uh
make a the
difference mayor councilwoman uh Pastor
yes we would have to to look at other
areas uh and principally you'd be
talking about uh Geo Bond uh to cover
facilities that are like fire police
streets those things that are are funded
in uh you know in a manner like that
would be looking at some other type of
capital uh needs to fund raise to cover
that Gap because the other thing that
state law is very constraining on is we
cannot reduce the cost within this
5-year window and then charge the next
group of people coming in in that new
area more money to make up for the
people who are paying less right now
because everyone's benefiting from those
services and so that's where it would
take other outside Monies to be
allocated to to make up that
difference thank
you councilman wearing uh thank you
mayor so if I heard it correctly if you
build
$5,300,000 houses in $53 million houses
you're a developer you're they're all
single family homes both groups you're
paying the same
amount mayor council member wearing if
you're located in the same in area then
yes that that is correct I meant to add
that I apologize Adam uh thank you uh so
if uh mayor like if we didn't do
anything with these fees and just left
it uh the way it was
um then then people aren't going to be
able to build houses because they're not
going to have the infrastructure needed
like you can't build a house without
water sewer whole bunch of stuff
included and that wouldn't be happening
or if they tried to go at a loan
building a house would be prohibitively
expensive is that a fair statement yeah
mayor councilman luring you are correct
uh this uh impact Fe program allows for
the city to equitably uh collect Monies
to build the large infrastructure that
is NE Neary to support single family
homes uh of whatever size or whatever
else development will happen in the
future without it it becomes extremely
difficult to develop it's okay um uh to
councilwoman O'Brien's Point mayor so if
we didn't raise the fees but somebody
still wanted to build the $3 million
houses you've got more rle room at least
theoretically as a buyer if you're
building a three Mill buying a $3
million house and there are three four
million doll houses in District 2 then
that developer might be able to build
build in the costs that otherwise are
going to be picked up by these impact
fees into the cost of the
product um I might argue that leaving
the developers to pick up the tab then
if they don't want to see these fees
raised might arguably more
Equitable because you'd have the bigger
houses probably would wind up paying
more do you see what I'm
saying yeah mayor council meing I think
largely you are correct that at least uh
a much more expensive home has the
ability to work in some of those costs
uh you know whether or not they can make
it financially viable is still uh going
to be difficult but there probably is
more ability to do that when they're
charging that much money for one home
the infrastructure would be less of a
percentage of the total price to the
actual ultimate
purchaser probably I mean correct Adam
what have you like add
anything well I council member I I think
that that would depend on the density of
the development whether you're spreading
the cost across a number of units or a
number of land I think matters in the
example that you're providing uh
generally a $300,000 home is going to be
on a smaller lot generating more units
and spreading that infrastructure cost
further whereas a $3 million home
typically would be on a larger lot and
so you're you know you're again
allocating that cost to fewer units but
I think in my example mayor I said 50 of
each so when you sell the $53 million
houses you're going to get a lot more
money than you would you're going to
spend a lot more money building them but
you're probably also going to make more
of a profit I'm guessing per unit you're
going to get a lot more total money back
to cover your inflated expenses so I
don't know I necessarily agree with your
economic analysis I would also point out
to you fine gentlemen that uh at some
level we just had an example of this
today neighbors are not happy when
things get
built um so doing things that
incentivize more development aren't
always well received by the
citizenry um we see that at pretty much
every meeting so um doing it so that
there's a more Hefty price tag for the
developer might argue I mean we've
already heard from at least one
developer and I think there have been
others that have contacted me saying you
know I really wish you wouldn't do
this they're in the private sector they
they might be able to better gauge
what's profitable for them than we are
because we're sitting here pontificating
about it but we really don't know we
don't build houses for a living or
multif family or anything
else let them be the judge if they want
to build water infrastructure rure and
so forth and whether it pencils
out and if it doesn't then frankly we
make some of the citizenry are around
these empty
properties I guess happier by limiting
growth but in a more Market driven way
than what we're talking about I have
pointed out before in District 2 we have
lots of open space owned by the state
the state sells it for those who are
unfamiliar and the money goes to schools
but that money you know I've been on
this Council for 13 and half years and
those properties have more or less just
sat there with lower
fees now we're talking about increasing
the
fees and expecting these things to get
gobbled up to take care of the housing
needs for tsmc and mayo and so forth
that doesn't seem particularly realistic
to me as I've mentioned
before so maybe there is a better way
and I think maybe councilwoman Brian
kind of touched on it um because it is
probably too late to change course
but just food for thought nothing in
your answers has told me that I was
necessarily off track with how this
might shake
out just something to think about a
little different perspective thank you
mayor councilwoman
pestor I'm just listening to the
dialogue but I would assume and I don't
like to assume so I would like to know I
believe
roads water
fire stations police
stations all cost every house it would
cost the house the same amount
regardless of how big or how small
they're paying the same in order to use
that
road have water have the infrastructure
that is needed or will we start to have
to do different fees
for small home versus big home and in
order to use that
road so mayor councilman uh Pastor is
your questioned about doing something
different as it relates to what uh Vice
O'Brien brought up relative to the the
impact fees for differen size
homes
or I'm trying to understand I'm just
saying what I am saying regard of how
big the home is how how large the acre
is each one of those homes is paying the
same Fe are yeah go ahead mayor uh
Council Pastor correct they are uh
paying the same because they're paying
their proportionate share to get the
services uh that are are providing are
being provided to them uh and so it's
water that's going through the same
42-in pipe whether or not it comes out
in a a smaller tap on a 800 ft house or
uh a larger tap um then they're paying
the water rates based upon how much
water is coming out but the actual
infrastructure that's getting there is
largely the the same in terms of
cost I guess in my area you know fees
aren't the same everywhere in the sense
of in my area is really uh building the
infrastructure where they can build the
infrastructure in the core I don't have
a lot of land it's more of uh small
pieces and going density uh where up
north it's more expensive uh because
we're creating that infrastructure and
District 4 I already the infrastructure
is already there so could you explain
that
[Music]
piece mayor council woman Pastor um yes
and thanks for the the question uh one
thing I want to clarify is that the
assumptions about demand or impact on
our facilities are the same irrespective
of where you're located within the city
um so if you're in District 4 in a
single family house our assumptions
about the number of vehicles that you
put on the streets the amount of water
that you use is the same as the
assumption that we would use in District
2 um what's different however is the
cost of the facilities the the scale and
scope of infrastructure that is needed
to serve those
locations thank you for eloquently
explaining what I was trying to explain
thank
you thank you also important to note
that many of these costs are the
same the the vast majority of the cost
is not specific to house if you're
building a huge pipe and Wastewater
system a lot of the expenses for the
huge fight pipe are not specific to
houses and the Wastewater system needs
investment having represented a council
District where people had septic systems
those were a nightmare like we want to
have sewers in this city and we want
it's very important to the development
community that we have a strong water
supply unfortunately that is costing
more and more as we go out and look for
new water supplies but if we didn't do
that really important work it would be
devastating for housing affordable
attainable and more so I think we do
need to keep investing and so many of
these costs are not specific to house
sizes and we couldn't say people in big
houses have heart attacks more than
people in little houses so they should
pay more for fire service so I think we
got to we got to keep investing in
capital that is what has made us a
strong City and we got to be ahead of
the
growth all right anyone else would like
to comment I'm sorry I heard someone
else did anyone else have a comment was
that may say you're absolutely correct
in uh the impact fees are designed to uh
equitably disperse the cost of this big
infrastructure that's needed across all
of those who are primarily benefiting
from it in the future and uh there's
some nuances in how it gets used but
that's at an end state that isn't really
known uh at the time of building
everything when you have to plan it and
put it in to serve that area and so
that's why the impact Fe program is set
up the way that it is
all right well thank
you uh that concludes the public hearing
the vote will take place at a later date
we next go to item 81 multif family
conversion and adaptive use open that
public hearing I do not believe we have
anyone here to comment close that public
hearing any council member comments
before we go to a
motion by SM do we have a motion I move
to approve for the Planning Commission
recommendation and adopt the related
ordinance I will second motion and a
second roll call gind V yes wado yes hjj
Washington yes Pastor yes Robinson yes
Stark yes wearing yes O'Brien yes GGO
yes passes
90 we will next go to the final portion
of our agenda which is public comment I
will turn to the City attorney to
introduce that portion thank you mayor
during citizen comment members of the
public May address 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 open meeting law permits the
city council to listen to the comments
but prohibits council members from
discussing or acting on the matters
presented wonderful and for those who
are joining us and weren't at the
beginning of the meeting uh for our
Spanish speaking residents you can now
speak uninterrupted for the entire
duration of your comments our
interpreter will record and Translate
uh we will begin public comment with
Elizabeth Venable followed by Mark
Schaefer okay hello we're trying to beat
the record for most public comments by
one organization in a year just kidding
but it's true though um so anyways um
what I wanted to say is we're very
concerned that um you make the choice in
the budget and we just want to keep on
the
process um of approving uh Revenue uh
approving the allocations to keep the
shelter facilities open these are
investments or essentially
infrastructure and um we uh are still
going off of the number in that was
provided in the fall which was $15.3
Million needed you know you may have
approved uh some of this
but I think it's supposed to be approved
in the budget and I think that's the
correct number um also we are concerned
about other Federal funding that you may
be relying on that you know perhaps is
not
forthcoming um that may support other
services that um you know also benefit
uh people on the streets and and prevent
uh death um one of the main concerns is
support for the heat relief um this I
I'm not sure if this is also in the
upcoming budget I would imagine it is um
I think it's critical that those heat
relief facilities stay open um you know
there are still deaths on the streets um
and otherwise from uh from heat in the
city of Phoenix the temperature gets
higher every year the number of days
over 100 gets longer
or or higher every year and um you know
it's just critical and and and I think
that you know to be honest one of the
reasons why we focus on City of Phoenix
is in some ways you all are the most
responsive uh entity I think even in the
state of Arizona um you know sometimes I
I don't say this to you all because you
know maybe it's not my role to just you
know cheerlead but to be honest there's
a reason why we focus on City of Phoenix
uh almost none of the other cities are
as responsive as City of Phoenix and um
you know I think that it's you know to
to show that you do care you know and it
show that you are concerned about
whether or not residents die um you know
from heat from preventable you know
illness and you know I I think it's just
important to make sure you do not uh cut
these allocations especially because in
in real terms sometimes in comparison
the rest of the budget they're actually
quite small you know a $15.3 million if
there's over $15 million return as I
stated in a previous comment you know
only based on 15 million for you know
th000 beds you more than 1,000 beds
you've invested in I'm going to be cut
off if the return is over the amount of
money you're paying you know it makes
sense to keep these allocations going
and even with the heat relief you know
it depends on how much you value an
individual life but you know there is a
return and and the allocations are not
very high so thank you thank you Mark is
next followed by
Linda hello uh I work with Elizabeth and
uh I just wanted to expand a little bit
on the heat relief
um I've been here eight years eight and
a half years and uh of course the first
two years I was I was like oh my gosh
you know didn't know anything about the
Heat and uh but the last couple years
they've they've actually been improving
uh last year the main library on Central
Burton Bar uh they had they opened a
24-hour heat relief for the homeless and
uh and I know there's um you know it
takes money you know we had security
there uh water of course you know food
but uh hopefully they can do that again
this year with the funding and um
because it's you know it's not getting
any better so and I think there's
another
shelter uh trying to be you know built
or you know to help us so thank
you thank you Linda is next followed by
Frank hi my name is Linda pudlo this is
my first time at any meetings thank you
for having me um I'm here to discuss the
Community Camp population in
Phoenix uh TNR uh with limited support
from governmental
agencies uh volunteer Trappers have to
pay out of their own pocket
for um trapping cats taking them to the
clinic getting them spay neutered
returning them I personally I've been
rescuing cats for about six years now
and I haven't even totaled the amount of
money that I've spent on on helping the
the community care cats uh the first
year I started I was TNR is trap neuter
return so you trap a cat you get it
neutered and you return it however what
do you do when the cat is behind a
Circle K living at a dumpster at a
Circle K you can't return a cat there so
I started a barn cat program I've been
doing that for six years and uh trapping
cats whose lives are in Intimate danger
and finding them a barn placement a
suitable Barn placement all this cost
money I mean you know all all the
expenses involved and it would just be
really nice to have some sort of program
or some sort of assistance from the city
of
Phoenix thank
you thank you Frank is next followed by
Missy hello council members my name is
Frank Urban
um I would just like to say that we need
to keep the allocation for the sh for
homeless shelters open
because quite frankly helping them would
be helping yourselves in so many
ways
um and also on uh heat relief and
affordable
housing I believe that affordable
housing should be affordable for
everyone regardless of their personal
income or situation
[Music]
uh and that's and I'll close with
that thank you Missy is next followed by
Lan hi Mary High
Council good to see you guys um at last
meeting I was here I left a little bit
disheartened um councilman I'm not going
to pronounce your name right because I
just I can't pronounce it right so I
apologize but cman um from district 7
the entire three minutes that I spoke
you laughed I don't know that you were
laughing at me maybe not but it would
have been nice for you to just pay
attention so that's all I would say um
and then after that after the meeting um
District 3 Stark your um assistant came
and talked to me and said you guys were
absolutely paying attention you had gone
and talked to Humane Society which is
awesome I urge you guys all to not just
speak with the Humane Society that is a
completely different level than people
that are boots on the ground there are
many many local rescues that're doing
way more than what the Humane Society is
doing they're doing great things but a
different level they're doing different
things um you told me um councilwoman
star you told me that you were raising
taxes and you couldn't help
cats um
and they I I told you that the other
cities all have some sort of program and
you said to me that um we help homeless
people we don't help cats you this is
basically what I took from it um and he
kind of walked away a little snarky and
I just was like oh I left kind of like
and I'm sure you've gotten a lot of
emails and calls because I absolutely
posted about it and you'll probably get
more
um so I don't know if you noticed but I
have these red shoes on today when I put
these red shoes on today it reminded me
of Dorothy you know Dorothy um she not
only helped become these shoes not only
helped her become a hero but also gave
her the power to um help those around
her achieve their goals the shoes were
on her feet when she rescued the Tin Man
and when she rescued when she rescued
the Cowardly Lion they were on her feet
when she defeated the wicked witch they
were also on her feet when she helped
her friends in making their dreams come
true I wear these shoes that I can
remember that we can make a change that
one person can make a change but there's
lots of one people doing this cat thing
and we're really passionate about it
just like you're passionate about things
that you're passionate about um we all
need a little help sometimes these shoes
give me courage and strength and wisdom
and help is a reminder that we can make
a difference and make other people's
dreams come true um I'm asking you guys
today to find your red
shoes find that quality within you put
the red shoes on not these red shoes
unless you have size nine then by all
means you can have them um be brave be
kind be compassionate and caring and
find courage and strength to help us
help the
cats we want to help you to help us help
them um I just want to remind you all
that we have over a million homeless
cats living on our streets
the suffering they go through is not
something that I would want anyone to go
through thank you
our final speaker will be
Luan hello and uh thank you for
listening to me today um my name is Lan
Arrington and I live in district 6 I'm
an Arizona native and I've never seen
the Homeless Cat problem in Phoenix as
bad as it is now um and and right now
it's really hard me for me to get up
here and talk about homeless cats when I
know there's the homeless situation in
Phoenix homeless people is horrific and
they need help too but you I think
people often ask me you know why do you
care so so much about the cats
well I care for homeless people and I
care for homeless dogs too which I do a
lot of volunteer work for that but why
should we care about these cats it if
one female cat and its offspring
have the potential of creating up to
420,000 cats if gone if they're just
left alone nobody spays or neuters them
takes care of them that's a lot of cats
so there's a lot of cats running around
in feedings right now um they they can
cause a lot of issues they can spread
disease it's it's a horrible
situation um especially now that I've
noticed uh there's the seems like
eviction rates are on the rise and in
fact I met a lovely couple right outside
these doors right now that had a cat
with them imag I was so excited like
there's a cat so of course I was like
drawn to the cat immediately a lovely
couple uh they were evicted from their
house about 3 weeks ago uh they're
living in the streets uh they're
actually living in a tent down here on
Jackson um their cat Kiki is one of the
lucky ones Kiki is actually neutered so
he's not going to be out there creating
more cats but um the cats are being
dumped and abandoned left and right uh
just in my neighborhood there were two
old trailer parks that were recently
demolished these trailer parks were a a
very great place so lowincome housing
totally demolished and looks like
they're rebuilding a apartments or
condos or something but after the
trailer parks were
demolished there was about 50 cats that
were left behind um a lot of these
people they probably may they wanted to
take the cats with them but uh cats are
an easy animal just to dispose of um I I
get calls two or three times a week from
people saying you know hey somebody left
this cat at our Poma complex can you
help us um you know somebody just dumped
these cats in a dumpster can you help us
and and and so like what Missy said
there's a the Humane Society is great
but anyway thank you I just wanted to
bring that to your attention thank you
thank you so much thank you for that
important testimony we are
adjourned yeah some of these panels from
folks who pass away in the late