The Peoria Planning and Zoning Commission as well as the City Council considered a number of minor general plan amendments recently.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the city is seeing a rapid influx of new development.
If anything, blame the fact that the final version of the general plan is about to be put on the ballot.
The general plan is a municipality’s road map to how the city will look in the years to come and establishes the vision and guidance for current and future development. The plan must be updated every 10 years and be voter-approved, according to Arizona state law.
The process is nearly complete.
As such, the city recently considered any and all last proposed refinements to the general plan.
Planning and Community Development Director Chris Jacques said due to ballot and pamphlet lead times needed to place it on the ballot, a number of amendments had to move to council by April in order to ready the general plan for the ballot, thus the influx of minor general plan amendments.
Mr. Jacques said in May staff will be asking city council to place a final version of the general plan on the Nov. 3 ballot. Additionally, between May 19 and Nov. 3, the city is instituting a general plan blackout, meaning Peoria will not take any action on general plan amendments during that time.
“The purpose of this blackout is to minimize voter confusion. Hence, the timing issue of hearing minor general plan amendments in April,” he said.
Typically, a general plan amendment moves forward with an associated rezone, but that is not happening right now due to the timing of the general plan’s move to the ballot.
The associated rezones – when they are ready to move forward – will be heard at a future planning and zoning commission and city council public hearing, Mr. Jacques said.
“There are no projected hearing dates for those rezones right now. When they do move forward, the city will provide full notification as required under the zoning ordinance, which includes direct notification to property owners of record within the radius,” he said.
Among others, the city has considered cases regarding Arrowhead RV & Boat Storage at 112th Avenue and Beardsley Road, the Cowley property near Ridgeline Road and 135th Avenue and Peoria Commons at 91st and Olive avenues. Some of these have generated public interest, which can be addressed during their companion rezoning cases.
Mr. Jacques said people often confuse the general plan with zoning, but they are very different.
“At the general plan level, we are just looking at the land-use appropriateness of the request. At the rezone level, we are considering specific attributes of the development proposal and standards such as traffic, building height, density, product type, open space, connectivity and so forth,” Mr. Jacques said. “There has been some public interest on the Arrowhead RV and Cowley cases. It’s important to note that those concerns will be addressed and conditioned, if appropriate, during the rezone. That is the appropriate place to address detailed, development plan concerns.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at 623-876-3697, phaldiman@newszap.com, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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