By Josh Martinez
Twitter: @jmartinez064

Residential homes built on slopes are in the sights of the Paradise Valley Town Council as the local governing body agreed to continue discussing potential changes regarding the topic.

Council discussed a portion of town code regarding building pads at its Jan. 23 study session, making no official decisions. Town Manager Jill Keimach said the topic will return for a later study session.

The town’s current practice allows for a 2-foot building pad underneath a single-family home. If additional height is needed to guard against flooding, the town would allow for 1 foot above the water surface elevation of the 100-year flood, a flood in a land area with a 1% probability of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

The building pad goes on top of the natural grades though this does not change the overall height of the home, which measures from the lowest natural grade, as it would count toward the final height. Natural soil and/or rocks comprise a building pad, Town Engineer Paul Mood said.

Staff allows developers and property owners to further level uneven land with either the addition of non-earthen material such as a two-sack slurry; stem walls and framed floor with crawl space; or thickened concrete slabs. These would act as a wedge to level foundations.

Councilmember Scott Moore said he’s heard resident complain about the current practice because homes appear more intrusive. Using the wedge method allows some developers to create retaining walls in ways that appear unnatural, he said.

Mr. Moore said he would prefer to see a cut method where developers cut into the slope to create a more level look from the street, thus eliminating the wedge and potential retaining walls.

“I don’t know what the answer is, I don’t know what the solution is for us as a town where we want to go with this,” he said during the meeting. “But it’s basically to take a stronger look at if there is someway we could look at requiring more of a cut instead of just taking that slope and building a wedge and building a house on top of it.”

Councilmember Paul Dembow expressed concerns about views as well as potential run-ins with Arizona Prop 207. This state initiative requires municipalities to reimburse land owners when regulation results in a decrease in property values. Mr. Moore said he didn’t think this would interfere with Prop. 207, but Town

Attorney Andrew Miller said he would research it just in case.
Mr. Dembow pointed out if the town were to adopt the cut method, that might effect the views of someone in the house since the house would sit lower. The compromise, Mr. Moore said, would be between potential views and outside aesthetics.

Mr. Dembow also requested staff to bring back information regarding the potential impact a regulation could be on the a homeowner’s view.

“At the end of the day, if I’m standing on this table, I have a better view than if I’m not standing on the table,” he said. “I just want to know what the impact’s going to be, so that we understand that the view they were purchasing, yes, the height is exactly the same as what it would be but now their floor is 2 feet lower and now their view is not as good.”

Other requests for more information included a look at what other cities do and what impact cutting into the hill might have in regards to flooding. Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner said he thinks some people might like the elevated home because it keeps it away from flooding.

Councilmembers also requested an overall impact study on what a regulation like this might have on homeowners but some councilmembers wanted a hypothetical study so residents didn’t think they were being targeted.

“I haven’t expressed my opinion on the ultimate issue but I think the question is driven by a lot of resident questions we get about stem walls and retaining walls and why does this house look like it’s built up 4 or 6 feet,” Mr. Bien-Willner said. “I think the first step is to get some better understanding.”