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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/03/2000 Study Session MinutesPLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, October 3, 2000 CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Sutton at 6:07 P.M. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Mayor Sutton III. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Bobby Sutton, Jr. Ora M. Ham Ed Honea Herb Kai Jim Blake Roxanne Ziegler Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Present Present Present Present Present Present STAFF Michael Reuwsaat Jocelyn Entz Jim DeGrood Joel Shapiro Brad DeSpain Assistant Town Manager Town Clerk Development Services Administrator Planning and Zoning Director Utilities Director IV. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS A. COUNCIL ACTION 1. Update of the Northwest Marana General Plan Amendments Process a. Land Use Mr. DeGrood distributed a color-coded land use map for the Council to review and then turned the meeting over to Maria Masque from The Planning Center for a presentation. The land use map and an informational handout regarding the land use element have been made a permanent part of this record. 1 Ms. Masque briefly discussed the map and, in detail, described the individual categories of land use designations planned for use within the Northwest Marana Area. These designations included the following eleven classifications: 1. Agriculture/Open Space 2. Agriculture/Institutional 3. Ranchette/Estate 4. Institutional 5. Residential/Commercial Village 6. Residential Low Density 7. Airport Commercial 8. Commercial Corridor 9. Industrial/Business Parks 10. Town Center 11. Resource Production/Reclamation Council Member Harn asked for an explanation of two of the residential designations: single-family attached and single-family detached. Ms. Masque replied by using examples such as a free standing single-family residential unit as opposed to a 4-family attached complex with two entryways facing one street and two other entryways facing another street. Council Member Honea stated his appreciation for all of the hard work that went into the Northwest Marana General Plan. He also voiced his reservations about the proposal of higher density levels than were originally suggested by the Council at the start of this study. He said that the Council initially specified 2.5 RAC and compromised on 3 RAC after complaints that a 2.5 designation was unreasonable. He said that now he was seeing plans for 4 RAC on the west side of Northwest Marana and up to 6 RAC for the east side freeway areas. He was particularly troubled with the 1-10 Corridor Commercial designated area which is located at the Tangerine/I-10 Intersection. He said that this area contained some rough terrain and the topography was comprised of many hills and gullies coming out of the Santa Cruz River floodplain. He added that the ability to get transportation into that area was suspect at best due to the fact that Union Pacific Railroad needed to be involved in order to obtain access rights. He said that, because this was the most difficult land for the Town to serve with sewer and infrastructure, in his opinion, it was illogical for that area to hold the highest density designations. Another area he was concerned with was the area surrounding the Town Core. He said that, with a 2 to 6 RAC 2 designation range, this area would become high density and force the outlying areas to become higher density than originally planned. He commented that he did not see any way for the Town to control this type of occurrence. He said that, since each property owner would want to achieve the maximum profit available, it would be difficult to deny a higher density to one landowner when an adjacent landowner had been granted a higher designation. His conclusion was that not enough written parameters were incorporated into the Plan to secure its viability in tact over time. Council Member Honea continued by stating the need for an addition of specialized wording to the Plan for the northern Marana areas when a single owner had occupied their property for many years. The examples he cited were Berry Acres, Honea Heights and Marana Vista. These areas included properties with non-conforming uses such as existing residences with goats, chickens and horses. He suggested adding specific verbiage for the exemption of these existing non-conforming uses, which included language covering the termination of the exemption status when the property ownership changed hands. He emphasized that he wanted to protect and ensure the rights of established, long-term residents as well as wanting to avoid upsetting some of the founding families of the community who had livestock, horses and poultry on their properties. Ms. Masque pointed out that this type of scenario was covered in the proposed plan and that language pertaining to these existing non-conforming properties was contained in the section rifled Existing Land Uses. She directed the Council to the proper page of the informational handout. Council Member Honea further stated that a section of the proposed Plan titled Residential/Commercial Village: Average Density troubled him the most. He said that he specifically recalled an original density maximum of 3 RAC being proposed by the Council at the beginning of this planning process. He commented that this particular section called out densities ranging from 3 RAC up to 6 RAC and added that these densities were even higher than some found in the Continental Ranch area. He said that the Council originally wanted to promote functional, reasonable growth in the Northwest area but had also wanted to ensure that the infrastructure and transportation system were in place prior to high density development. He asked if there was any specific reasoning for the change from the initial lower density designations that were recommended by the Council. Mayor Sutton commented that the overall density projections for this area would be considerably lower than what was indicated and he asked Mr. DeGrood to respond to the questions raised by Council Member Honea. Mr. DeGrood clarified some of the density designations by stating that the planners were looking at the grand scale of the infrastructure necessary within the original planning area. This area included the land protected by the bank protection and amounted to approximately 4,300 acres. He said that one of the identified constraints within that acreage included the existing sanitary sewer capacity. He explained that the existing plant site, after rehabilitation, could handle up to 3.3 million gallons per day of wastewater treatment. This capacity translated into 12,500 residential units or approximately three residential homes per acre. He commented that subtractions were made for many different uses such as roads and infrastructure, office facilities, and commercial and existing land uses. He added that, after the exclusion of all of the roadways, a 6 RAC designation calculated out to be 7,200sq. ft. per lot and the 4 RAC designation was at approximately 10,000sq. ft. He said that the planners felt that those calculations were in keeping with the spaciousness requested by the Council and that the target was to establish the 10,000sq. ft. lots within the 4 RAC area. Council Member Honea said that, in a money-driven market like homebuilding, there was a certainty that sewer plant expansions and even the addition of another sewer plant were inevitable for this area. This would bring the sewer treatment capacity up to 20,000 residential units. Mr. DeGrood agreed. He said that, according to the 208 Amendment Study, a need for another treatment plant was expected beyond a 20-year timeframe. A recommendation by Pima County was made to place this new plant in close proximity to the existing Tangerine Road Landfill. He said that the Town was also aware of identified future treatment plant needs for the region. He stated that the existing 3.3-MGD treatment plant site was used as a starting point for planning the Northwest Marana area. Council Member Honea remarked that he understood that there would be mixed density uses but he did not see anything in the Plan that eliminated having smaller lots. Mr. DeGrood replied that the planners were aware of the concerns regarding the "truth in zoning" factor and that he felt this was appropriately addressed in the Town's overall zoning code. He added that a revision was in process and would apply to all of Marana rather than just the Northwest area. 4 Joel Shapiro said that one of the strong concepts in this Plan, particularly in areas expected to urbanize through the Village concept, was that developments would be driven by either specific plans or the rezoning process. He said that the Town was encouraging projects to be specific planned so that developers would create a master planned community with a mix of land uses including neighborhood, commercial and recreational areas. He said that the issue of lot sizes could be easily addressed at the rezoning stages if a developer opted not to go with a specific plan. Council Member Honea directed the meeting's attention to another section of the irfformational handout regarding standards for Residential/Commercial Village Core areas. He was specifically concerned about setback standards. He asked for clarity regarding these standards. Mr. DeGrood said that the point was well taken and that further review of the setback standards was warranted. Council Member Honea concluded by making several points. He emphasized that he believed the goal of revising the General Plan was to preserve the rural character and heritage of the Northwest region. He added that he did not think the Plan adequately policed the prospects of high-density growth. He pointed out that if high-density zoning designations were allowed within the Town Core area and outward within the Town's sphere of influence, then the property owners would follow suit and high-density would become the norm. He stated that he considered land designated in the 6 to 8 RAC range to be high-density developments. Council Member Ham said that, by carefully planning the Northwest Marana communities, roof-to-roof housing could be avoided and innovative neighborhoods would evolve. Mayor Sutton said that the Town's goal was to learn from past mistakes and to better plan neighborhoods in the future. He said that he was not as much concerned with lot sizes as he was with being able to offer the public a range of housing options within Marana. He remarked that the infrastructure that was in place prior to development was vital. He pointed out that the Northwest Marana General Plan gave the Town a framework to work from and was not a "fix all" Plan. He said that the planners were working toward staggered setbacks from the street, mixed lot sizes, and medium to high densities throughout each new development. He stated that this planning process had been a tough process but that he was satisfied with the progress so far. 5 Mike Reuwsaat commented that the type of environment the Town wanted would be created when all of the cumulative units were in place. He explained that a lot of work remained but that Council Member Honea's point was well taken. He suggested transmitting the Plan, after adoption by the Council, to Pima County in order to get regional cooperation. He said that Marana could ask the County to look at their land use planning around the Town and see ff the County would adopt the standards Marana was recommending. VI. ADIOURNMENT Upon motion by Council Member Blake and seconded by Council Member Honea, adjournment was unanimously approved. The time was 6:58 p.m. CERTIFICATION ! hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council Study Session held on October 3, 2000. I further certify that a quorum was present. 6