Surprise residents and rural residential property owners are encouraged to review the first draft of code changes for the proposed desert rural zoning district, which is available on the surpriseaz.gov/DesertRural webpage.

Feedback will be taken through Sunday, March 2. The city of Surprise presented the first draft of code changes for the proposed desert rural zoning district during a community meeting on Jan. 29.

Using the “Comment On Draft” button on the webpage, residents can view the proposed municipal code changes and comment on all 11 sections of the 76-page document individually.

As part of the proposed desert rural zoning district, the city will need to initiate an effort to rezone properties within both the rural residential overlay and the corporate limits that wish to be rezoned.

All eligible properties consenting to this rezone will be put on one application and considered by both the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council at the same time, with no charge to the owners.

To roll out this new zoning district, the city needs consent from property owners to rezone their properties. The city can utilize two main approaches to gather this consent: an opt-in or an opt-out approach.

Residents and rural residential property owners are encouraged to decide, as a majority, which approach to take by noting their preference using the “Submit Your Preference” button on the surpriseaz.gov/DesertRural webpage.

City staff will collect resident comments from the submissions starting in March and will work to incorporate the feedback. An updated document will then be presented to the community at a future community meeting this spring.

Residents can sign up for notifications about the process, learn about the desert rural zoning designation, including a list of frequently asked questions, see the desert rural overlay map, view past meeting materials or check on any upcoming meeting dates at surpriseaz.gov/DesertRural.