Reference:
07 September 2020
What We Did Not See or Hear > PLANNING & ZONING BOARD STUDY SESSION Wed 08.26.2020
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| (Nana) |
What we do have are only so-called "Approved Minutes" that are submitted by Kusi Appiah (seen in the image to the left), as "Nana K. Appiah, AICP, Secretary Planning Director" - who is not the City Clerk usually in charge of providing "Approved Minutes".
Whether they are accurate and reliable as the acceptable public record is open to question. . .
Any discussion was already done in the Study Session that preceded this - and we don't know anything about that!
Respectfully submitted,
_____________
Nana K. Appiah, AICP, Secretary Planning Director
Planning and Zoning Board
Study Session Minutes
Virtual Platform
Date: August 26, 2020 Time: 3:00 p.m.
(*Board members and staff participated in the meeting through the use of audio conference equipment)
1. Call meeting to order.
Chair Astle declared a quorum present and the meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m.
2. Review items on the agenda for the August 26, 2020 Zoning Board Hearing
3. Receive and discuss a presentation on proposed text amendments to the Mesa 2040 General Plan including, but not limited to, Chapter 7 (i.e. Community Character Areas) and 16 (i.e. Plan Implementation and Amendment).
Planning Director, Nana Appiah, stated that staff previously discussed this item with the Board and made a presentation to the City Council in February. He further stated that the City’s General Plan requires staff conduct a 3-year evaluation of the General Plan and make recommendations to Council of any possible changes to the Plan. This requirement allows the City to continue to move towards achieving the goals of the General Plan. This year staff conducted the 3-year evaluation in
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association with the annual report of the General Plan. Through the evaluation, staff identified several issues to be addressed in the General Plan to allow the City to keep moving in a direction consistent with the goals of the community. Through the evaluation process staff received feedback from other city departments as well.
Senior Planner, Rachel Prelog, presented the proposed text amendments to the Mesa General Plan including, but not limited to, Chapters 7 and 16
The General Plan is the guiding policy document of the city that guides its physical development. It also fulfills the requirement of state law and of the City charter. As part of the comprehensive review, staff may make recommendations to policies and implementation tools.
During this review, staff identified two areas for improvement, specifically Chapters 7 and 16 of the Plan. Ms. Prelog stated Chapter 7 of the General Plan relates to community character with the purpose of guiding land use policy within the City.
Rather than focusing on individual parcels and specific land uses, the General Plan focuses on the character, look and feel of an area. The goal is to create a sense of place and this chapter combines concepts of land use, building form, and intensity to define the character of an area. In the presentation,
Ms. Prelog showed the 8 different character areas contained within the General Plan. Ms. Prelog stated when staff presented to the Council in February, they shared data from the Maricopa Association of Governments of existing land use in Mesa compared with other valley cities. Ms. Prelog further stated that while we may hear concern from the community regarding an overabundance of residential development and not enough commercial uses, that Mesa is actually well positioned within the land use percentages of other surrounding jurisdictions, and by comparison, does not have an over concentration of residential uses but it is critical to ensure commercial land use designations are protect from conversion to residential.
Ms. Prelog stated that there has been a slight increase in the composition in single family uses since the 2017 data was review with Council.
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