City Council | Regular Meeting - November 25, 2024

e
e
e
e
e e
I call the November 25th
2024 City city council regular meeting
to order city clerk Ben Lane please
conduct the roll call thank you mayor
mayor David Ortega president vice mayor
Barry
Graham I'm here thank you vice mayor
council members tamy caputi here Tom
Durham here thank you council
member Betty Janik here Kathy
Littlefield here and Salange White head
here city manager Jim Thompson here City
attorney Sher Scott here City Treasurer
Sonia Andrews here acting City autor
Lake KF here and the clerk is present
thank you mayor excellent uh we have
Scottdale police Sergeant Shan Ryan as
well as detective uh Dustin Patrick and
firefighter Ethan redbush if anyone
needs assistance um please stand and
join me in the Pledge of Allegiance
United States
ofer for
all well at at this time I U wish to
call our attention
uh to war torn countries around the
world as well as our uh military men and
women on duty in hazardous areas so I'd
ask please join me in time for
reflection uh as these countries fight
for their freedom and democracy
thank
you well uh this week
uh our entire country um reflects on um
our our own um cities states and um
we're very thankful this is a time for
Thanksgiving and Scottsdale especially
is thankful um for having a very stable
City and the city um put together by so
many before us other Mayors and councils
but especially today I would like to um
mention that Scottdale relies on our
volunteers and I want to highlight um
Lois lamb uh Lois lamb is uh with us
today she's served on many boards uh
she's been on blockwatch she's been on
commissions and of course she's been a
Scottdale Ambassador uh downtown for 10
years uh Lois represents really the best
uh attributes that U residents have uh
given to our our cities very selfishly
uh and we rely on on her she is moving
on she wants to be closer to uh family
members out of state and we can
understand that and especially at this
time for Thanksgiving and the holidays
it's really an ideal time to to join
with with uh family members so I would
like to call uh Lois forward and I have
the appreciation
um certificate for you for your many
years uh helping Scottdale be as great
as we are
[Applause]
well um my next item is um really
historic you know Scottdale has an
amazing character and one reason why
Scottsdale grew the way it did is
because of the Salt River Pima uh
Maricopa Indian Nation uh that created
the East Boundary for Scottsdale it's
almost like a coastline where where our
neighbors help identify Scottdale and
all the openness of of that nation is
amazing uh if we were surrounded by Mesa
Phoenix and probably Scottsdale wouldn't
have would be absorbed absorb and
wouldn't wouldn't have the identity that
we have um I do want to call out and the
most significant project really in our
history will be the uh moving forward
with the Puma Road improve improvements
uh for many years uh decades uh Puma
Road was a major north south uh you know
Street and of course the U latest
proposal that has been designed and
coordinated with Scottdale uh we have
presenters here to explain that project
to us and we are very grateful for our
relationship as we move forward um I'm
I'll be calling on the um Jennifer Jack
she's the roads manager and uh josa um
siaka the public re uh Works director on
behalf of the Salt River Puma Maricopa
Community uh they'll be presenting the
Pima Road uh U project which will run
from McDow all the way to Via Linda and
uh bring every everything up to uh
tremendous uh standards please come
forward and take the
podium thank you mayor uh thank you
council members uh City staff and public
appreciate it Anam Chik Josh Shaka uh my
name is Josh Shaka I'm the director of
uh public works at Salt River Pima
Maricopa Indian Community uh I want to
introduce uh Mrs Jennifer Jack she's our
road section manager and she wants to
give a quick update on the Puma Road
improvements and again we do appreciate
the partnership and and thank you so
much for having us here
tonight thank you good evening mayor
vice mayor and
councel again I'm Jennifer Jack and I'm
the road section manager with Public
Works a little background on this
project the Pima Road rideway on the
community side was acquired by ADOT in
199 along with the Loop
101 in 2004 voters approved of the prop
400 funds which is a half cent sales tax
um that goes towards Regional
Transportation and Puma Road was one of
those projects that was funded as part
of that in 2006 the Scottdale and the
community have began their partnering
efforts to improve Puma Road a design
concept report was completed in 20 9
that gave us the standard uh for design
that we would be using uh to widen Puma
Road and um the aesthetic Corridor uh
that would be
used in
2011 Talking Stick way to Via dentura
was constructed and then in 2019 the
bridge over the Arizona Canal was
constructed and then the community was
awarded also in
2019 just under $50 million in a
nationally significant Federal lands and
tribal projects Grant from the Federal
Highway
Administration so an overview of the
project is it is a widening from McDow
up to cril Street which is just south of
Talking Stick way Indian Bend um from
there it's already widen into the four
lanes and it also includes uh drainage
improvements in the Granite Reef
Watershed the city of Scottdale and the
community have have an agreement to
complete these combined projects as
partners and the community is leading
this phase of the project the total
project cost is $ 87.5
million the good news is is much of that
is coming from outside sources so we
have the $50 million that is coming from
the federal highways Grant 20 million is
coming from mag and that's the prop 400
funds that I referred to earlier 7.5
million is coming from the Maricopa
County Flood Control District for the
regional drainage and then the remaining
amount is a 6040 split between the
community and city of Scottsdale for
that local share so it's expected to be
6 million for the community and 4
million for the city of
Scottdale so to dive a little deeper on
what the improvements are the roadway
improvements is widening from two to
four lanes with bike Lanes a landscape
median Street lighting and drainage
infrastructure we're also doing
intersection improvements at all the
major intersections along the way
including up to
vinda this is a rendering of the
crosssection so a couple things I wanted
to point out on this you can see above
um the orange line that shows the
boundary is generally the middle of the
existing two lanes between the city of
Scottsdale and the community
all of the widening is occurring on the
community side so in the future it'll be
one lane on Scottdale and three on the
community side so there's no
interference with the existing sound
wall um all of the widening is going to
fit within the right away that ADOT
acquired then some other uh things that
we are picking up is landscape
improvements up from via day Ventura to
The Loop 101 this section was completed
by developers in 2008 but it did not
include the Landscaping to fit the
corridor Aesthetics so we will be adding
that as well as the Granite Reef
Watershed portion that is from Thomas
South to the Salt
River the contractor is Hayden and this
is um a snapshot of their timeline you
can see it's a two-year project that it
will be under construction
and I wanted to also on the bottom of
the screen point out that there is a
website um where you can sign up for
weekly email um feeds and the hotline
number the project managers for this is
Pamela Tracy from the community she is
leading the project and then also from
the city Side Elaine Marcado is the um
project manager that is overseeing the
project from the city's perspective with
that I'm happy to answer any
questions well thank you um we are
wonderful neighbors and really
appreciate this update as U this will
beautify um the um area between um our
communities thank you so much thank you
well moving on uh we have the
possibility of a uh executive session
during tonight's meeting the council may
make a motion to recess an executive
session to obtain obtain legal advice on
any applicable item on the agenda if
authorized by the council the executive
session will be held immediately and
would not be open to the public however
the public meeting would resume
following the executive session um also
per our Council rules of procedure
citizens attending City council meeting
shall observe the same Rules of Order
and decorum app applicable to members of
the council and City staff so um please
observe that etiquette and me the
meeting will go much uh smoother we
appreciate your
cooperation additionally um we are
setting aside any electronic uh
Communications um all public meetings or
executive sessions must be open to the
public therefore we set aside our
personal devices um and refrain from
using them during the meeting uh next we
are moving on to public comment public
comment is an opportunity for um
Scottdale citizens business owners or
Property Owners to comment on non-
agendized items um that are within the
council's jurisdiction advocacy for or
against a candidate or ballot measure
during a council meeting is not allowed
by state law and would therefore be
deemed not uh within our jurisdiction no
official Council action can be taken on
public comment and
uh certainly checking with the the um
the clerk you'll be allowed three
minutes uh please come forward uh we had
a request from Brandon Pitman uh he's
not here at this time or is he is there
um Brandon Pitman okay we have a second
um public comment period at the end of
the meeting should he appear uh Steve
Sutton please come forward um you have
three minutes please I think we have
your your uh resident address thank you
sir my name is Steve Sutton I'm at 6637
North 81st Street
Scottdale uh good even evening mayor
Ortega vice mayor Graham and council
members uh it's been a lot of talk at
the dog park since uh I was here last
and I wanted to come in and tell you
that do chaperel dog park users are very
pleased that Council unanimously voted
to accept their petition for new signs
at the park now the city manager Office
is involved dog park users hope that
this is the beginning of better
communication and cooperation between
managers and users of chaperel dog park
so that problems can be solved and
improvements
made the petition for new dog Park signs
is not just about improving the park
with new text on signs but also about
design size placement choices that make
the signs more
effective dog park signs are not just
designation signs they are safety signs
meant to promote safety for people and
dogs there is a term used in safety sign
industry known as sign blindness it is a
concept similar to what is known on the
internet as Banner blindness
these terms describe the ignoring of a
message due to over familiarity with
text and
location at the dog park signs that
match in color and size with only a
slight difference in text recently
caused a demonstration of sign
blindness the very similar large dog
area and small dog area designation
signs were
moved this resulted in people with small
dogs and large dogs unconsciously ing
the wrong areas of the park it was about
2 hours before anybody figured it out
this was early in the
morning when a decision is made about
new dog park signs choices in design
size and placement to minimize the
effects of sign blindnesses must be
considered to make the signs as
effective as possible an example would
be making a round blue
background white text sign for the
passive dog area and a rectangular white
background blue text sign for the active
dog
area in another matter almost
universally dog park users have no
interest in a key card access system
being installed or access fees of any
kind being charged to users they do
however have some interest in making the
dog park a direct Revenue generating
facility through other means such as dog
washing
machines yes they exist like there's one
right here on the
reservation Santa Barbara County
California has dog washing machines at
six locations they generate
approximately
$120,000 annually you can see a dog
washing machine at the gas station
located at the intersection of Pima and
Chapel roads t-shirts Scottdale is a
tourist and seasonal resident
designation they use the dog park why
aren't we selling iRun with the pack at
chapparel dog park Scott Stell Arizona
t-shirts I think they'd probably
sell thank you very much for your
consideration I hope you all have a
great
Thanksgiving thank you Mr Sutton um with
that I will close um public
comment we do not have any minutes by
the way to approve at this meeting so we
would move on to the consent agenda
items 1 through six and um uh we also
have an opportunity for public comment
on consent agenda items I wish to point
out there were no requests from the
public to uh speak on uh cons a agenda
items 1- six I see councilwoman janic
wishing to
speak if it's appropriate at this time
mayor I have a few questions on item
number one certainly so
um why don't you present your question
okay thank you um my question is that
we've got an amount not to exceed 15
million
177,178
for phase Rec construction it is a bond
project and I wanted to see if we were
still on track with our
budget hi Allison Tim Q city engineer um
councilwoman Janik yes so this is it's
the third GMP it's within the existing
budget um and it's actually for the
fourth phase of the work we also have
two more future phases which we will
bring um the gmps to you um in the
future when they're
ready that's very good information thank
you very much
Ellison okay since uh two Council are
remote uh the council uh Mand Durham or
vice mayor Graham have any questions on
consent agenda items I see no requests
to speak therefore do we have a motion
on consent agenda items 1 through six um
I move to approve consent agenda items 1
through six second have Motion in a
second uh please record your
vote vice mayor gam votes yes council
member Gham votes
yes thank you we are
unanimous moving on we have regular
agenda items um we have seven and 8
I do want to note that um uh before we
start the regular agenda uh that um we
amended the agenda last week item number
nine which is the Scottsdale Community U
sustainability plan will be considered
by the council in December so it's been
agendized for Tuesday December 3rd uh
2024 therefore we would um we have two
items on regular agenda item number
seven and number eight um if there's
anyone wishing to speak and I do have
one request for item number seven from
the public uh of course they can check
in with the clerk and we'll keep track
of that so let's proceed with the um uh
um item number seven is presented by
Brad Carr he's our Planning and
Development area
manager hello good evening mayor me uh
vice mayor Grant R members of the city
council um this evening staff is going
to present to you um two separate items
on your agenda there are two separate
text amendments um and they deal with a
number of different things most notably
a few of the housing bills that came out
of the last legislative session at the
Arizona State state legislature so the
first of that is 3ta 2024 item number
seven on your agenda
um and the purpose of this uh text
amendment is again to address one of
those housing bills house bill
2297 um as well as a Senate Bill 1162
that de deals with development
application
determinations um first I'm going to
focus in my presentation on House Bill
2297 the Adaptive reuse Tech uh uh bill
um some background on that bill as well
as reminder that the State of Arizona
grants cities and towns the local
Authority uh with local Authority and
ability to zoning and regulations uh
subject to the state law house bill 2297
was introduced in the last legislative
session as I mentioned and signed by the
governor in April um to allow for
adapted reuse of existing commercial
office and mixed use buildings and sites
um there's generally a lot of or there
can be some varying um definitions of
what adapted reuse is but as the state
has um defined it on the screen there
you can see it generally means the
converting of existing buildings and
sites um from the use that they were
constructed for or to multif family
residential uses um this this bill does
have a deadline for cities and
municipalities to enact that is January
1st
2025 and with um compliance the city is
intending to minimize any negative
impacts that may come from the proposed
legislation or the enacted
legislation and so um just uh on the
screen real quickly this bill applies to
all communities in the state that are of
a certain size that being 150,000 Square
F feet or50 000 uh population excuse me
um most of those in the state are right
here in the valley as you can see on the
screen um the one that is not is the
Tucson uh jurisdiction but as you can
see on the screen Scott Still's kind of
alone in that upper Northeast quadrant
of the valley with regards to what um
how this bill
applies so what does that new state law
dictate to the city first and foremost
and probably maybe most importantly um
with regards to how we normally process
changes in land use the city cannot
require public hearings for the proposed
change from uh for an Adaptive reuse
proposal that means we cannot include uh
require rezoning conditional use permit
or even a development review board
application or approval in order for
these uh proposals to move forward also
the city cannot require any additional
setbacks or density or parking and
Building height that is any greater than
what is set forth in that new state law
so that state law also uh outlines some
parameters as far as criteria when what
we can require and that's shown on the
right side of the screen those include a
site plan review and approval process U
compliance with building and fire codes
adequate public sewer and water services
and public utility review of the
application as well as that the
demonstration by the property owner that
the buildings on the site building or
buildings on the site are economically
or functionally obsolete we'll talk a
little bit more about that later in the
presentation there's also some
exclusions as a part of that um new
state legislation we'll talk about those
as well finally um a minimum of 10% of
the total um new multifam constructed
with one of these proposals must be
either moderate or low income for a
minimum of 20
years so the city's approach uh for this
particular um Bill and and uh bringing
this forward in our zoning code change
is to establish a new land use called
multif family conversion we will uh
account for those specific exclusions as
outlined in the state law um there is
eligibility requirement as we mentioned
well we're going to determine what
percentage of existing buildings are
eligible and then set a maximum
conversion rate um as defined currently
at 1% of existing commercial office and
mixed use areas we'll talk through you a
little bit further about that um
conversion percentage that was set um
and in addition the location there must
be existing buildings on the site before
the end of the year in order to qualify
and you must be on a site with between 1
and 20 acres in size um as we mentioned
there's some needs to be demonstration
of adequate water and sewer and
demonstration that the buildings are OB
obsolete or economically or functionally
obsolete for at least six months um and
again 10% of those uh new units must be
moderate or low income housing as
defined by federal
regulations so what buildings are
included in that um in those new
requirements um uh again this enables
the adapter reuse of any existing
commercial office in Miu building that
qualifies again the land use
requirements are there and and the
building must be in a state of disrepair
or have at least 50% o uh vacancy and
that comes to that functionally obsolete
or economically or functioning obsolete
requirement um again the municipality
can permit up to not more than 10% of
their existing commercial um floor areas
building the floor areas and that's
straight out of the Bill's requirements
as highlighted here uh further down in
that you can see additional highlighting
that says uh the city or municipality
can address that percentage in the
future um as permitted by the bill once
every 10 years so we have an ability to
establish that percentage with the
establishment of these requirements and
again uh we can do that again in 10
years if we need to adjust that so uh
speaking spe specifically to the
exclusions um again the legislation
allows U municipalities to do three
different things with regard to
exclusions one is uh we can designate
specific commercial and employment hubs
where these Provisions do not apply so
those special places that we find in the
community they're essential for
community members um we can designate
those to not be uh a part of this
process of conversion um they also allow
the legislation also allows um or
excludes buildings or sites within the
vicinity of airport and that's defined
by the bill and further defined by the
state as far as what those areas uh
Geographic areas and size of those um
exclusion for airports finally anything
that's designated as historic is would
be excluded as well
So speaking on that first exclusion
commercial unemployment hubs the state
law allows up to 10% of any existing
commercial of the city's overall
commercial areas to be designated as
commercial as commercial employment hubs
the city's intending to utilize that
full 10% and as a result as you can see
on the right side of the screen 10 sites
have been chosen um that equal roughly
10% of the overall area of uh conversion
that we are um seeking that will be
eligible throughout the city uh for
protection and emphasis again was placed
on those areas that are neighborhood
servicing um for community members they
might have adjacent residential um and
includes places like um those that have
grocery stores or other neighborhood
servicing type
businesses further um with regards to
our approach we are limiting the
conversion as I mentioned of commercial
mix juice and office jues to 1% % of the
city's existing commercial space and
this was done as a result of some
analysis um of our existing General plan
and our existing land uses throughout
the community um generally speaking our
existing commercial mixed use and
employment area throughout the city only
makes up less a little less than 1% of
our land area throughout the city when
you take into account the other
exclusions and so in an effort to
maintain that balance of land use
throughout the city this uh we have
chosen 1% uh conversion rate rate of the
remainder of that area that's uh
eligible as being um as eligible for
that 1% conversion again legislation
allows for a review and update of this
every 10 years if
needed and speaking specifically to that
six Monon provision with regards to
economically or functionally obsolete um
the state statutes um does mention
adapter reuse for a building that is at
least 50% vacant but it's Loosely
written and doesn't really provide any
duration to how to qualify if that um
needs to be vacant for a certain amount
of time or not as written as a result
one day at 50% vacancy would qualify and
so um staff has decided that that's
really not the intent of the provisions
really you need to understand if the
buildings I've been obsolete for a
little while in order to understand if
that's really economically or
functionally obsolete so that's why six
months has been chosen that six month
date is uh is consistent with how we
apply other um non-conform forming
Provisions in the zoning ordinance a
non-conforming structure land use that's
been discontinued for a period of 6
months is no longer presumed to be
abandoned and so it's no longer can can
can carry forward that non-conforming
status so this six month uh rule is
generally consistent with other ways we
apply that throughout the zoning
code that would conclude this portion of
of of the presentation so I'm going to
go into the second part of this which is
dealing with Senate Bill 1162
some background on this um this bill is
related to the processing of zoning
District map amendments otherwise known
as rezonings here in this city as well
as other municipalities throughout the
state what it requires the the the city
to do is determine whether a zoning
application is administratively complete
within 30 days of receipt of that
application we also must uh and most
importantly to our overall process we
must approve or deny a zoning
application within 180 days after that
application has been determined to be
administratively complete the city can
grant onetime extensions of not more
than 30 days for any kind of extenuating
circumstances as well as Grant 30 30-day
extensions to an applicant if they
request so U our approach on that is
again um to comply we're going to set
our administrative review process to 30
days for first reviews and uh 15 days
for any subsequent review uh we're also
going to update parameters of incomplete
applications is really a clean up on our
existing zoning ordinance and we're
going to define specific time frames for
the zoning District map amendments as I
mentioned 180 days all other time frames
um that we have for any other type of
case use permits um General plan
amendments things of that nature those
all be the same as they currently are
and published by the
city So speaking a little bit to our
timeline to how we got to this point um
the Planning Commission initiated these
text amendments that I'm speaking about
tonight on July 10th we had two public
Outreach and openhouse meetings um
September 19th and 20 to discuss the
approach with the community
um we had two Planning Commission
meetings initially a non-action
discussion with them on October 9th and
finally an action hearing for
recommendation on October 23rd that
recommendation was approval uh for 61 on
recommendation for approval and again
we're here tonight for possible adoption
of the proposed amendments um we also
our staff are looking at Future General
plan amendments to address anything that
might need to change as a result of
these text amendments and those will
come forward to the council likely next
year
so uh this evening the request is to
adopt three different items for this
particular topic uh one is ordinance
number
4651 for the purpose of adopting
amending the zoning code and Associated
resolution number 13253 is to declare
the adapter reuse and development
application determin determination text
Amendment as a public record and finally
to declare a public record with for the
Scottdale commercial unemployment hubs
and essential areas table uh with
13254 that concludes my presentation
mayor I'm happy to answer any questions
well thank you uh you know at this point
we would move to a public comment and I
see there's only one person wishing to
speak uh so we will uh open up uh Dr
Sunny
kirtley representing COG
happy tury week to you all and Happy
Thanksgiving Elmo
please
Elmo Sonnie kirtley representing
cogs we want to uh
support the
propositions many of our members attend
of the open houses we're impressed with
the presentations by the staff this
staff has done an incredible job on this
you know the state keeps landing on us
they take away our 30-day limit on
short-term rentals they take away so
many of our political signs our
ordinances and this is another footprint
on top of scotchdale so they've done an
amazing job of putting flexibility back
in number one we support the following
maximum conversion is set to 1% it could
have been 10% thank you number two it
excludes those two 10 square mile areas
that protects a lot of neighborhoods
there's a lot of sigh relief there there
was some uh contention I understand with
some government officials down in
Washington that we were also using some
of Sky Harbor's flight paths well
remember that we go all the way south to
Roosevelt or to Continental those people
are
affected number three Scottdale
designated historic neighborhoods and
historic old are protected yes the state
was going to protect them but we've got
them designated so now we know they're
safe number four the conversion must
prove it has sufficient water and
infrastructure for both that sewer and
the water that is our general plan we've
had that Vision let's protect the water
we have a sustainability plan coming up
later in December our town is so far
ahead on every one of these important
policies and the state keeps thumping on
us so let's be strong on this let's
support our staff they've done a great
job thank
you thank you very much uh with that I
will close public comment on item number
seven yeah we are aware and in light of
a correspondence received from the
Arizona House of
Representatives um we have
correspondence in hand related to agenda
item number seven I believe it's it's
appropriate to U uh recuse to a u
executive session on this matter do I
have a motion so moved second we have Mo
we have a motion to uh enter into
executive session and our regular
meeting would um uh resume following um
our executive session please record your
vote
May council member gam votes
yes and repeat vice mayor
Graham vice mayor Graham votes yes thank
you um so uh we are unanimous and we
will adjourn to the executive
session
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e e
we will we will now resume our regular
meeting uh in particular our top our
agenda item number
seven number seven has been presented
and we have uh opened and closed um
public comment this point I see
councilwoman Janik wishes to
speak thank you mayor um I'd like to
make a motion to adopt ordinance number
4651 for the purpose of amending the
city of Scottdale zoning ordinance
ordinance number
455 adopt resolution number
13253 declaring as a public record the
adapter reuse and development
application determination text Amendment
3A
2024 and adopt resolution number
13254 declaring as a public record the
quote Scotto commercial employment hubs
and essential areas table in the Scott
till quote total allocated multif family
conversion development projects
Amendment second can I just ask our
attorney if I did everything
properly mayor and uh councilwoman Janet
you did except the the last word of the
public document is
allotment allotment thank you
corrected second thank you um would you
like to speak to uh your motion or
second I and I will call on um um
councilman Durham and councilman vice
mayor Graham who are remote if you wish
to speak let me know um this point we
have h a motion on the floor uh do we
have any questions of
Staff seeing none um the um this has
been a very large effort uh uh Outreach
to uh residents and certainly
procedurally U done correctly so uh we
have a motion and a second seeing no
other Council wishing to speak please
record your
vote vice mayor Graham votes yes council
member council member Durham votes
yes thank you we are unanimous therefore
the motion carries
unanimously next we will go to um item
number
eight item number 8 is also U presented
um it refers to legislation and
accessory dwelling unit Adu text
Amendment and our presenter is Brad car
once again please proceed thank you
again mayor vice mayor members of the
council uh similar to the last item on
the agenda this next item is a text
Amendment to the city's zoning ordinance
to address several different areas most
notably um accessory dwelling
units um as we as I noted um these are
these two text limits are dealing
primarily with some housing um bills
that came out of the state legislature
this one in particular accessory
dwelling units House Bill
2720 um is the primary focus of this
update but it also includes uh updates
to the zoning code to address um House
Bill 2325 which is related to Backyard
foul as well as some other uh updates to
the code to make it more usable and uh
and read a little bit better so I'm
going to go through all those uh with
this presentation um similar to the last
one house bill 2720 was introduced and
passed by the state legislature and
signed by the governor in April this
particular Bill addresses as I noted
accessory dwelling units on single
family Residential Properties the city
must comply with this similar to the
last one by January 1st
2025 um we are also intended to minimize
negative impacts with this update to the
zoning or
um but notably this bill has um a
requirement by January 1st 2025 the
otherwise accessory dwelling units would
be allowed in the city U Without Limits
so um we want to make sure we address
this appropriately as as um the city and
his residents seek fit um just as we did
on the the previous one we want to knowe
where this one uh this legislation
applies this um threshold for population
is lower than the last one it's at 75
,000 versus
150,000 as a as a result uh more
communities are um qualifying or in uh
have to abide by this new state law but
again notably in the Northeast portion
of the Valley Scottsdale is Alone um in
that um in
compliance so let's speak a little bit
about what an accessory dwelling unit is
an Adu is a subordinate and
self-contained dwelling unit that is on
the same lot as generally as a as a main
single family residential dwelling that
is is already existing it is is designed
for living purposes and includes its own
sleeping facilities kitchen facilities
and sanitary facilities and it can be
either attached or detached from that
existing single family dwelling they
come in many shapes and sizes but most
common is a selfcontain unit that's
detached from the main dwelling unit uh
that upper diagram shows that um but
they can be attached as the lower one
shows um and it could that lower uh uh
element could be attached on the ground
floor it could even be second floor
above a
garage um so what does the state law the
new state law dictate to the city the
city must allow at least one attached
and one detached Adu per single family
property uh in addition if that property
is over an acre in size the city must
allow a third detached Adu if that uh
Adu is designated as an affordable unit
the state also defines or sets a
parameter for the size of those adus at
75% of the gross flare floor area of
that existing home or 1,000 square F
feet whichever is less also the state
says that we cannot do a number of
different things um that is one we
cannot prohibit the shortterm or
long-term lease of an Adu we cannot
require familiar relationship between
the owner of that main unit and Adu
occupants um we cannot require any
additional site parking for an Adu or
any fees in lie of parking we can also
um we cannot require that an Adu look
like the existing home on the property
so that unit could to be completely
separate from a design standpoint from
uh the existing building or home on that
property we can't require any more than
5T of distance um for an Adu in the rear
yard from any side or rear property line
we also cannot uh require improvements
to a public Street as a result of uh
allowing an Adu or any permits or
licenses or conditions between private
parties of the use of an Adu finally and
and and also very important to the city
of Scots as a whole we cannot require an
Adu to have any fire sprinker system as
I know mo all of you know um we have a
fire ordinance requirement currently any
livable or habitable space requires fire
sprinklers this would prohibit us from
doing that in an
Adu so what does Scott still allow for
adus now um the short answer is we don't
uh we allow guest houses and we allow
guest houses on single family properties
and those are different than Adu we'll
get in that in the next slide but
generally for a guest house standpoint
that Guest House can be up to one half
the size of the main building or house
on that property um guest houses must be
connected to the existing water meter
and other infrastructure at that
property and they cannot be rented
separately from the main building or
house on that property so what will be
the difference between a guest house and
Adu as a result of this changes um the
existing Guest House requirements are
still in place uh but the main
difference is um essentially you can
rent out that Adu separate from the main
residence whereas a guest house again
you cannot rent that Guest House out
separately from the main residence it's
designed to be accommodations for guests
of the main residents but in
establishing adus you're essentially EST
establishing a whole new residence on
that property or multiple other
residents on the property in addition
the adus is again going to be limited to
75% of the size U or 1,000 square feet
and um again yeah separately rented is
the big deal there so um the exclusions
similar to the last bill there are
exclusions in this bill um notably
legislation prohibits um adus in the
vicinity of an airport and again those
are defined and in the state statutes
those uh geographical boundaries of
those airports the city does have two U
airports within its vicinity the Scot
airport of course but also the flight
path airflight uh over paath overflight
air path of Sky Harbor airport is also
within the southern boundaries of the
city and also notably HOA neighborhoods
can still privately restrict adus that
was um made clear within the bill that
any existing um uh ccnr or other
restrictions that are in place for an
HOA can still be uh can still restrict
adus so the city's approach for adus we
are going to establish some new
qualifications related to a new
accessory ding unit land use one
importantly that has to be a single
family residents already on the property
in order to establish an Adu utilities
are going to be separately metered
unlike guest house uh we want those to
be again because this is a separate home
ENT essentially a new home on a property
they need to have separate meter
separately metered utilities ownership
um adus cannot be sold separately from
the main residents um and they cannot be
subdivided separately from the main
residents on the property renting um as
we as I noted we cannot prohibit
short-term rentals um for a prohibit an
Adu from being a short-term rental but
the state uh Bill does allow a
municipality to restrict um that the
owner of that property reside on the
property
if the short-term rental is an uh if the
Adu is a short-term rental so um that's
going to be added to the provisions that
the city's proposing as I mentioned you
can't subdivide it separately and we
need to make sure there's sufficient
Water and Sewer capacity uh for these
for these new Adu
units um we also going to establish some
de uh development standards some
objective development standards for adus
first again we have to allow certain
number of those on the lot as I
mentioned one attached one detached and
one restricted affordable Adu for Lots
larger than one acre um the size as I
mentioned 75% of the main residence or
1,000 square fet whichever is less for
the first unit and all other 80 80 units
on the lot will be limited to 500 square
feet occupancy um currently the city
limits single family properties to six
um unrelated people uh on a single
family property where to can continue
that forward so the total occupancy for
a single family uh lot can still not
exceed six regardless of the configur
ation of number of people in Adu and the
main residents um but we want to
emphasize a familiar relationship is not
required as part of that total number of
occupancy and finally we can't require
more parking as I mentioned but we can
still maintain that code Min code
minimum requirement for the main
residents at all times so that's uh
outlined in the new Provisions some
additional Pro uh development standards
we are going to require private outdoor
living space for each of these new adus
um similar to when we have multif family
devel El ments we require an outdoor
living space to ensure people have the
ability to outjo the outdoor space
adjacent to their unit so we're
requiring a 50 foot size minimum here
building Heights going to be the same as
underlying zoning District as well as
setbacks U with the exception that again
the Adu can be as close as 5 feet from a
rear or side property line if it's
located in the rear yard um we are going
to ensure access to each unit is
separate uh each ad unit is separate
from the main access to the uh main
residence and it needs to have a clear
path to travel if that unit is in the
rear we want to make sure there's a
clear path of travel for First
Responders to get there in case of
emergency and similarly addressing
addressing we need to make sure that
there's a unique address for each of
these so that um again responding
through emergencies is easy um and
straight
forward that concludes uh anything on
the Adu portion of this particular text
happy to answer any questions there or
we can go on to the next part why don't
we continue with the item eight uh the
HB
2325 backyard file certainly mayor um so
in addition to the Adu changes we're
making to the zoning ordinance we're
also incorporating recent changes
regarded to back backyard foul that were
passed by the Arizona legislator at the
last session in short the the
requirements um make it clear that there
needs to be enclosure for keeping a
backyard file on a residential property
and there needs to be some distance for
that enclosure from property line so um
we're going to just basically copy
straight over what those requirements
the state uh established and those
include the setbacks as I mentioned 20
ft uh from a property line and a maximum
size of 200 square fet the enclosure can
also uh not exceed 8 feet in height any
existing parameters that we have in the
city code related to domestic animals
will continue to
apply so as I mentioned there's a number
of different additional amendments we
are making to the text again to clarify
certain things um related to how this
City administers a zoning ordinance
related uh especially related to single
family residential dwellings the first
is non-conforming structures there's
some minor cleanup there accessory
buildings and structures also some
cleanup residential Recreation areas is
Sport courts tennis courts pickle ball
courts so there some additional
clarification there we needed to make
some further distinctions between what a
guest house is and an Adu is so there's
some changes there as well and some
manufacturing home changes to clarify
some things there fit Hills overlay is
unique area in the city as I'm sure many
of you know um it defines the separation
between certain accessory buildings on
the property because adus have certain
requirements for special requirements
for setbacks we had to make some changes
there as well and finally correcting any
typographical areas or restructuring
text reusability was also included so
similar to the timeline this was on the
exact same timeline as the last text
Amendment 3A went to Planning Commission
in early July for initiation followed by
public Outreach in September back to the
Planning Commission for two items in
October and finally tonight with city
council we are anticipating again some
changes to the general plan as a result
of the changes to the zoning ordinance
text those will come in
2025 so the the request this evening is
to consider adoption of ordinance 4652
for the purposes of amending the zoning
code um as well as adopting uh
resolution 13255 which declares that
public record for that accessory dwell
unit TCH Sumit 4 ta 2024 with that that
concludes my presentation I'm happy to
answer any questions sure at this point
I would call for U public comment seeing
none for agenda item number eight
therefore I will close public comment um
moving on uh councilwoman
wead thank you thanks mayor yeah well
first of all I once again want to thank
staff um as the mayor has said multiple
times you know we are seeing our uh
governing power significantly reduced
along with our Revenue and the uh
residents come to us not their
legislators when things go wrong so this
bill is probably my least favorite since
1487 and the short-term rental law this
is an assault on our local control in
our neighborhoods and I just want to
thank the many hundreds of residents
that responded to an email I put out um
simply writing to the governor's office
and the legislator
explaining simple Common Sense ways to
make this law better much better we
still prefer local control but we know
that our housing is um we struggling
with our housing because of short-term
rentals so common sense number one make
the ad use for long-term rentals but the
legislature chose not to do that they
chose to exasperate the problem and
number
two when people buy a home they
understand that the zoning at the bacon
lot might change or the commercial
center might go through a renovation to
have some changes but when they look in
their
backyard and they see their neighbor's
yard a large yard with maybe a tree in
it they don't expect a building to
suddenly appear 5 feet from that wall
that completely
upends residential real estate in our
city and then of course one of the
things that defines Scottdale is um our
high development standards this blows
that out of the water for no apparent
reason and finally it would certainly
appear that Public Safety is not of the
interest of these
legislators by uh allowing us to even
require the the mandatory fire sprinkler
codes that we require in all of our
homes so these are homes they're just
not safe homes and they're not situated
in a way that a person um buying a home
next door can expect anything their
privacy or their view or anything to
remain the same so I consider this a
terrible Terri
law and um again I appreciate what staff
has done with it so I do have a
question and that's with this business
of the occupancy of six adults can you
go into more detail I just want to point
out to anybody who has written to us and
complained about short-term rentals all
of those people know that the city has
no power to enforce the six adult rule
and and and one other point I want to
make is this
law puts a tremendous burden on the city
without any funding to enforce what
limited enforcement mechanisms we have
so go ahead explain this six person one
more time for me certainly and thank you
uh mayor and councilwoman Whitehead I
don't know uh I don't if I want to get
into all the detail on the short-term
rental side of that but um right now our
zoning ordinance says that you can have
up to six um unrelated people on a
single in a single family home
essentially and that means you can have
six people unrelated in on a single
family lot so we want to carry forward
that standard that the community has of
certain number of people in these on a
residential property which has other
ramifications such as the amount of
parking that's going to be on that
property um since we can't require more
parking uh through foreign Adu through
this process we kind of that parking is
going to have to probably go somewhere
maybe not on the lot maybe in the street
just larger impacts that start uh
escalating from there so in attempt to
limit those impacts as we noted we want
to limit the number of people on a lot
that's similar to what people are
accustomed to which is six unrelated
people and so that's why that that
provision is in here if you have one
additional Adu and on you have one Adu
and one main dwelling you have six
adults between the two if you have two
uh adus and one main dwelling you still
have six total between the three
different buildings on the site the
reason I asked that question is I just
want our constituents to understand how
hard our staff Works within the
boundaries of a law to protect protect
our community so thank you another
question uh the law requires um an
operating an Adu operating as a
short-term rental to um have an owner
occupant in the main house of course
there's no enforcement dollars or
mechanism for that so that's I won't go
into that
however in a buyer of a let's say an
equestrian property can come in and
correct me if I'm wrong can come in and
build let's say it's a two acre property
can build three adus and not reside on
the property they have no vested
interest is that correct uh Council
Whitehead if that if that none of those
adus are offered as short-term rental
then yes they do not need to occupy the
site if even one of those though is a a
a short-term rental then the owner will
be required to reside on the site but my
point is that we can have equestrian
properties we're in equestrian town and
this is one of my Big Field fears and
also I want to point out as well that
the burden once again falls on our older
properties and our large lot properties
in uh kind of the traditional Scottdale
neighborhoods that have had felt this
burden all along um my point is is that
an investor can now purchase an
equestrian property put three homes
where there was one and not reside even
in one of the homes or even in the same
town is that correct that would be
correct yes I think that's a big problem
thank you so
much councilwoman Janik councilwoman
caputi and councilwoman L field thank
you mayor first of all I totally concur
with what councilwoman Whitehead has
said um very disappointing to see this
as part of our state laws um I totally
appreciate all the work that planning
has done and staff has done because
everything here is interrelated so it's
not like you can make one change you
have to go through everything and make
sure there's a consistency and um they
have done an outstanding job of that but
I guess my biggest objection which I
just shake my head at require an Adu to
contain a fire sprinkler system we
cannot allow that as a city we value our
residents that's why we require a
sprinkler system but Heck if it's an Adu
doesn't matter you don't need the
sprinkler system and by the way
sprinkler systems do save lives I
believe that what should have been said
is that if a city already has a code
requirement for a for sprinkler systems
the adus should have to follow that code
as well
um I just I'm amazed that this is what
they did shows a total a of to me
appreciation for human life but I guess
that's what they did so thank you
councilwoman caputi and councilwoman
Littlefield well good comments by my
colleagues obviously with both of these
laws we're trying to land in a place
where we're balancing protecting our
city and our residents and appeasing the
legislature and following the law so it
puts us in a super
awkward position um we're trying to do a
little Balancing Act here for the best
of everybody I just had one question um
you said that the adus can be rented
separately and they can't be sold
separately I'm curious what is the logic
behind mandating the separate metering
given those two parameters certainly
mayor and councilwoman caputi the the
reasoning is is these essentially are
different dwelling units they're
separately they could be people that
don't even know each other and likely
will be people that don't know each
other that live in these two units um so
for instance if you had an issue with uh
the the sewer line with one of the units
if it got had an issue and that unit is
dependent on the other unit for that
sewer line to be unclogged you have
could have an issue where um you know
you have two people that are don't know
each other they likely are paying
different bills and they're then are
dependent upon each other for that
service similarly we had some
conversations with local utilities
electrical utilities they want the the
separate utilities for electrical
connections they said that their
preference is that those be two separate
connections I don't know uh they didn't
really get into much detail about why I
think it's maybe for ease of uh
maintenance or billing or whatever uh
but I think they prefer two homes two
different people having separate
utilities and so there's a there's some
good reasons to have those utilities
separate okay I mean I'm picturing you
know there is a main homeowner and it's
seems like that would that should be
left up to the homeowner because I mean
they could they could rent to a person
that's related to them or you know um um
it can still be like a casino with a
family member on the yard it seems like
it just feels to me like that should be
something the homeowner should be able
to decide or not but that's just my two
cents it feels weird to mandate that
um that's my opinion thank you
councilwoman Littlefield and I will go
on to uh remote uh councilman Durham and
uh vice mayor Graham if you have
comments go ahead councilman
Littlefield thank you mayor um and I
agree with all of the comments that have
been made up here tonight about this um
every single one of them is pertinent
and meaningful to the future of this
city um I also would like to thank staff
very much for the time and effort that
you put into this researching every uh
crevice that you could and find every
way that you could to make this less
honorous for our people and for our city
to have it and I really appreciate the
work that you've done so I thank you for
that and I I totally agree with
everything that said this is not
something that is good for Scottdale or
any other city that has to comply with
it thank
you okay councilman Durham did you have
a comment or
um thank you mayor I I just wanted to
comment to um both the continuing
members of the council and future
members of the council as as if we
needed more proof that this is clear
that uh we don't have the final word on
zoning decisions in Scottsdale and
um um it's important to remember that um
our word is not
final thank you mayor thank you vice
mayor Graham any
comments yes thank you mayor I agree
with the sentiments I think this is U an
attack this legislation was an attack on
uh communities like
Scottdale and uh it's you know many of
us up here have found it disturbing we
we have you know we're thankful to what
our staff has done
to um read it closely and
to uh apply it um to apply it um
carefully um I want to uh is uh I can't
see is is Brad Carr still at the podium
yes um you were you were watching this
closely legislatively and I want to call
out um and thank we have have a you know
Scott still has a legislative
delegation and I want to thank
personally on the record uh
representative grass representative
chaplick representative collan
representative
trik for voting against
this um I believe both legislators in
District 8 including representative
Hernandez voted for
it and um
I don't remember on the Senate side I'm
pretty sure that um Senator Senator
Marsh voted against it and Senator
Kavanaugh voted against it um Mr Brad is
that
correct mayor and vice mayor I I don't
know the specific um votes for the the
bill I'm sorry I don't have that it's
just uh it's just sort of an angle in
all of this because you know the
legislature does have control
but we can show appreciation to our
Scottsdale delegation most of them not
all of them for standing up for
Scottdale and standing up for their
representatives um and making sure that
we know and they know that we know and
putting rant to the record um who was
there for Scottdale so thank you
mayor okay well um my concluding
comments are that the
um Arizona legislature subverted our uh
Decades of planning and Decades of
working in
consensus the item number eight uh does
has two um legislative actions first one
um basically allows many hotels
everywhere short-term rentals and the
second action is um as though we don't
have enough uh short-term rentals the
second action is
um to allow I guess more production of
eggs in our city because now we are they
are permitted foul everywhere so for
some reason we don't have enough eggs
and the price of eggs should go down
because of their action uh we will have
uh complaints we will have other uh
situations to deal with uh what I want
to emphasize is that staff did our due
diligence on these matters and we U were
dealt a bad Hand by the legislature I
think there's uh some precedents that
are also in danger in the future uh
possibly going after
HOAs uh that may come uh it's not
without U uh out of the question uh they
they've come at our um non-hoa areas uh
so uh I appreciate U the U uh comments
councilman caputi and you know we have a
motion and need a motion I just wanted
to make one last comment because I meant
to make it when we were talking about
the Adaptive reuse and I I just think
it's important on this page 10 of your
presentation it says existing commercial
mixed use and employment land uses make
up about
0.8% of existing land area outside of
the airport exemption um and we all had
the both of us had printed out the page
from our general plan and I just I I
don't think we can emphasize that enough
that less than 1% of our City commercial
mixed use and employment land and when
you look at the page from the general
plan 50% of our land use is single
family low density residential and
almost 40% of our city is open space I
feel like I need to repeat that 10 or 12
times up here tonight and maybe I should
have been repeating this well I feel
like I have been for the last four years
as well but most of our city you know is
very low intensity uh residential single
family homes and that has not changed
over time so the character of our city
remains and uh we are all talking about
the Teeny tiniest little less than 1% of
our city that's even impacted by some of
this higher intensity building so just
want to make that clear thank you okay
councilwoman uh Whitehead do we have a
motion yeah I moved to adopt ordinance
number 4652 for the purpose of amending
the city of Scottdale zoning ordinance
number
455 adopt resolution number 13255
declaring as a public record the
accessory dwelling unit text Amendment
4-
ta2024 second we have a motion in a
second seeing no F
second thank you uh we have a motion in
a second no one else wishing to speak
please record your
vote vice mayor Graham VES
yes council member Durham votes yes okay
the motion passes
unanimously um next um I want to remind
everyone sustainability was uh continued
till December uh therefore uh we will
move on to public comment public comment
is an opportunity for Scottsdale
citizens business owners or Property
Owners to comment on non agendized items
advocacy for against a candidate or
ballot measure during council meeting is
not permitted by state law and of course
we will not take any action on a non-
agendized item I have a request uh from
Mr St uh sorry Brandon Putman to come
forward you have three minutes sir
please uh State your place of residence
thank
you good evening mayor members of city
council my name is Brandon hman I am at
7536 East Virginia Avenue in South
Scottsdale I'm here tonight to urge you
to pass the Scott sales sustainability
plan a Visionary document that has been
two years in the making shaped by
extensive research public input and
expert analysis this plan represents a
culmination of your commitment to
Scottsdale's future and it's critical
that we act now first let me emphasize
that this plan is aspirational and not a
mandate there are no penalties if the
targets are not met no Financial burdens
no restrictive regulations what it
offers instead is a roadmap for
Scottdale to address the most pressing
challenges of our time while preserving
a Vibrant Community and unique desert
environment we all cherish as
represented by the continuation of the
sales tax uh recently voted on by our uh
Community we cannot afford to delay this
this further climate change is already
altering our life in the desert as
evidenced by record heat waves failing
Saros dying shade trees and drought
fueled wildfires each summer we feel the
financial strain of rising cooling costs
and the growing economic toll of extreme
weather events costs that have been
compounded by srp's recent rate hike
without action these challenges will
only escalate threatening not only our
environment but our econom our economy
our tourism and our quality of life this
plan is not just about adaptation it's
about Innovation it lays the groundwork
for Scottdale to continue as a world
class sustainable City in the southwest
fostering economic opportunities while
protecting our natural resources as
Community leaders you have the chance to
make this your legacy a commitment to
ensuring Scottsdale thrives for
generations to come climate change will
not wait passing the sustainability plan
is a vital step forward signaling that
Scottdale is ready to confront these
challenges headon with Solutions
grounded in collaboration and
practicality thank you for your
leadership and consideration now is the
time to act I look forward to seeing you
next
week thank you Mr
butam next we therefore I will close
public comment uh moving on to petitions
petitions is um an opportunity for
citizen to come forward there seeing
none therefore I will close the petition
uh uh posted agenda item with that we
have concluded our regular agenda items
and U may have a motion to
adjourn second moved and seconded please
record your
vote vice mayor Graham votes yes
council member Durham votes yes
unanimous we are adjourned thank
you
e
e
e
e for