14 May 2017

Public Hearing Planning & Zoning Board Wed 17 May 2017

Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing
City of Mesa
Meeting Agenda - Tentative
Council Chambers 57 E. First Street @ 4:00 pm/ UpperLevel


Chair Michael Clement
Vice Chair Michelle Dahlke
Board members:
Dane Astle
Steve Ikeda 
Jessica Sarkissian 
Jennifer Duff 
Tim Boyle

Consent Agenda
All items listed with an asterisk (*) will be considered as a group by the Board and will be enacted with one motion.  There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Board member or citizen requests, in which the item will be removed from the consent agenda, prior to the vote, and considered as a separate item.     
Items on this agenda that must be adopted by ordinance and/or resolution will be on a future City Council agenda.  Anyone interested in attending the City Council public hearing should call the Planning Division at (480) 644-2385 or review the City Council agendas on the City's website at
www.mesaaz.gov to find the agenda on which the item(s) will be placed.
Call meeting to order.
1 Take action on all consent agenda items.
Items on the Consent Agenda


2 Approval of minutes from previous meetings.

PZ 17035 Minutes from the April 17, 2017 and April 18, 2017 study sessions and regular hearing. *2-a
3 Take action on the following zoning cases:
Page 1 City of Mesa Printed on 5/11/2017
May 17, 2017Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing Meeting Agenda - Tentative

PZ 17036 Z17-004  District 1.
The 700 block of North Country Club Drive (east side). Located on the east side of Country Club Drive north of University Drive (3.4± acres). Site Plan Review. 
This request will allow a multi-residential development.
Peter Swingle, Athena Studio, LLC, applicant; Country Club 72, LLC, owner. (PLN2016-00932). 
Planner: Wahid Alam

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*3-a

PZ 17037 Z17-015  District 2. 
The 400 block of South Higley Road (east side). Located on the east side of Higley Road south of Broadway Road (2.5 ± acres). Site Plan Review.
This request will allow for development of a self-storage facility.
Philip Gollon, ARC Services, Inc., applicant; Nathan Palmer, Intelliguard Self Storage, LLC, owner. (PLN2017-00109).
Planner: Kim Steadman

Staff Recommendation: Continuance to June 21, 2017
*3-b

PZ 17038 Z17-016 District 3. 
1343 South Gilbert Road (east side). Located on the east side of Gilbert Road north of Hampton Avenue (1.23 ± acres). Site Plan Modification.
This request will allow for development of a restaurant with a drive-thru.
Cody Bowman, ID Studio 4, applicant; Amin Dhanani, owner. (PLN2017-00113).
Planner: Wahid Alam

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*3-c

PZ 17043 Z17-019 District 6.
The 10000 to 10800 block of East Point Twenty-Two Boulevard (north side) and the 9600 to 10400 block of East Elliot Road (south side). Located between Point Twenty-Two Boulevard and Elliot Road and between the Eastmark Parkway alignment and Signal Butte Road. (738± acres). Development Unit Plan.
This request will approve Development Unit Plan 5/6 within the Eastmark Community Plan. Jill Hegardt, DMB, Inc., applicant;
DMB Mesa Proving Grounds, owner.
(PLN2017-00083). (Companion Case to Preliminary Plat "DU 5/6s")
(Associated with Item *5-a.) 
Planner: Tom Ellsworth
Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*3-d

4 Discuss and make a recommendation to the City Council on the following zoning cases:
Page 2 City of Mesa Printed on 5/11/2017
May 17, 2017Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing Meeting Agenda - Tentative

PZ 17039 Z16-023 District 5.  
The 2400 to 2600 blocks of North Greenfield Road  (west side). Located south of McDowell Road on the west side of Greenfield Road (69.34± acres).
Rezone from PEP-PAD (formerly DMP) and PS-PAD to PEP-PAD (63.59± acres) and PS-PAD (5.75± acres) (removing conditions of approval) and
modifying the development master plan (project narrative) for zoning case Z08-022.
This request will allow development of a business park.
William Jabjiniak, City of Mesa, applicant;
City of Mesa, owner. (PLN2016-00217). Continued from April 18, 2017
Staff Planner: Tom Ellsworth

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*4-a

PZ 17040 Z17-014 District 5.   
The 8700 to 9000 blocks of East Main Street (south side). Located south of Main Street and west of Ellsworth Road (36.58± acres). 
Rezone from Maricopa County C-3 and RU-43 to City of Mesa GC and RS-43.
This request will establish City zoning on recently annexed property.
City of Mesa, applicant;
Rodger Overson, owner. (PLN2017-00124).
Continued from April 19, 2017
Planner: Kim Steadman

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*4-b

PZ 17041 Z17-017  District 5.
The 1100 block of North Ellsworth Road (west side). Located on the west side of Ellsworth Road south of Brown Road (4.84 ± acres).
Rezone from RS-43 to LC-BIZ and Site Plan Review.
This request will allow a self-storage facility.
Adam Baugh, Withey Morris, PLC, applicant; Magic Gifts, LLC, owner. (PLN2017-00121).
Planner: Wahid Alam

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*4-c

PZ 17042 Z17-018  District 4. 
The 400 block of South Bellview (east side). Located south of Broadway Road and east of Mesa Drive (.5± acres).
Rezone from NC to RSL-4.5.
This will allow for the development of 3 single residential lots.
Kim Fallbeck, City of Mesa, applicant;
City of Mesa, owner. (PLN2017-00243).
Planner: Lesley Davis

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*4-d
Page 3 City of Mesa Printed on 5/11/2017
May 17, 2017Planning and Zoning Board - Public Hearing Meeting Agenda - Tentative

PZ 17044 Z17-020 District 1.
The 2400 to 2800 block of East Thomas Road (north side).  Located north of Thomas Road and west of Lindsay Road alignment.  (13.3 ± acres)
Rezone from Maricopa County RU-43 to City of Mesa RS-43.
This request will establish City zoning on recently annexed property.
City of Mesa, applicant;
City of Mesa, owner. (PLN2017-00162).
Planner: Kim Steadman

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*4-e

5 Discuss and take action on the following preliminary plat:
PZ 17045 “DU 5/6” District 6. 
The 10000 to 10800 block of East Point Twenty-Two Boulevard (north side) and the 9600 to 10400 block of East Elliot Road (south side). Located between Point Twenty-Two Boulevard and Elliot Road and between the Eastmark Parkway alignment and Signal Butte Road. (252.4± acres).
Preliminary Plat. Jill Hegardt, DMB, Inc.,
applicant; DMB Mesa Proving Grounds, owner. (Companion Case to Z17-019)
 (Associated with Item *3-d.) (PLN2015-00450). 
Staff Planner:   Tom Ellsworth

Staff Recommendation: Approval with conditions
*5-a

6 Review, discuss and make a recommendation to the City Council regarding the following proposed amendment to the Mesa Zoning Ordinance:
PZ 17046 [see added section to see report]
Proposed zoning ordinance amendment to Section 11-31-34 regarding medical marijuana facilities, including dispensaries, cultivation facilities, and infusion facilities. *6-a
Items not on the Consent Agenda
7 Other Business.
7-a Receive a presentation and discuss the draft update to the City of Mesa Sign Ordinance.
8 Adjournment.

___________________________________________________________________________

*6a
PZ 17046 Proposed zoning ordinance amendment to Section 11-31-34 regarding medical marijuana facilities, including dispensaries, cultivation facilities, and infusion facilities.

Planning and Zoning Board Report      
DATE:  May 17, 2017

TO:  Planning and Zoning Board
FROM: John Wesley, Planning Director 
SUBJECT: Medical Marijuana Facilities – Proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance regarding separation from churches     
PURPOSE AND RECOMMENDATION Consider an amendment to the zoning ordinance that would modify the required separation for a medical marijuana facility from a church. The proposed amendment would remove the setback for churches located in zoning districts other than a residential district; the 1,200’ separation would remain for churches located in residential zoning districts (RS, RM, DR, T3N, T4N, and T5N Districts).  
The impetus to make these changes is based on experience we are having in implementing the current separation of 1,200’.  Because churches can locate in any zoning district and do not require any special permitting, they can easily locate in industrial and commercial centers without staff being aware they are there. 

We have had two instances where there has been a church with very little signage in a strip center that went unnoticed by staff and the applicant early in the review process.  
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
In 2010 the voters in Arizona approved a ballot measure allowing for the use of medical marijuana in Arizona.  Mesa, along with all other jurisdictions in Arizona, had to amend their local regulations to address this new use. 
Mesa’s regulations are contained in Section 11-31-34 of our zoning ordinance. 
The ordinance approved by Council provides reasonable zoning regulations while still protecting citizens from potential negative impacts.   
The zoning regulations for medical marijuana facilities include both cultivation facilities and dispensaries.  The regulations, as adopted by Council, include restricting the use to industrial zoning districts and separation requirements from other uses (schools, churches, libraries, parks) where youth may congregate.       

 2
The requirements for both dispensaries and cultivation facilities are: 
Medical Marijuana Facility Required zoning district LI, GI Separation requirements:     Between dispensaries 5,280’ Between dispensaries and off-site cultivation facilities 2,400’ Between cultivation facilities 2,400’ From residential substance abuse, alcohol rehabilitation, or Correctional Transitional Housing facilities 2,400’ From public parks in LI or GI, churches, libraries, schools,  1,200’ From day-care centers, pre-schools, public parks (except in LI or GI), privately owned open space in HOA’s 500’ 

Since the adoption of the ordinance we have had several years of actual application of the ordinance and operation of these facilities to learn from. 
Based on this experience we see the need to make some adjustments in the ordinance to address the actual impacts of the use and the operational process of implementing the ordinance.  Staff believes it is time to do a thorough review of our ordinance, compare it with other jurisdictions, and evaluate the actual impacts we have experienced.  This will take several months to complete.   
In the meantime, staff is proposing a minor change to the regulation based on a one specific issue that we believe needs to be addressed now.

In two instances, we have processed requests for medical marijuana dispensaries where there ended up being a conflict with a church.  Churches are allowed by right in any zoning district. This makes it easy for churches to locate in industrial and commercial areas without being noticed.  We have had two situations over the last couple of years where a church has gone undetected.  In both cases the church was in a strip center with very little signage.  In one case the church was found prior to the action on a rezoning case, in the other it was not discovered until after the dispensary was in operation. 
To address this specific issue and still mitigate any potential adverse impacts, staff has reviewed a variety of options.  These options have included everything from reducing the separation requirement for churches to 900 feet or 500 feet to eliminating the requirement in all districts.  Given that the issue is finding the smaller churches that locate in non-residential areas, reducing the separation requirement would not solve the issue.  Further, until we do the more thorough study we did want to remove the protection from the churches in residential areas. 
RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends amending the code to remove the setback for churches located in zoning districts other than a residential district; the 1,200’ separation would remain for churches located in residential zoning districts (RS, RM, DR, T3N, T4N, and T5N Districts). The reason being if a church chooses to locate in a non-residential area they must expect and understand that there will be a variety of uses and activities around them, some that may be very intense.  Typically, these are generally small churches that will generally be occupied during times when the dispensary or cultivation facility will be closed

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