Following the regular council meeting last week, the Holbrook Council reconvened for a work session. The topics covered included discussion on how to move forward in creating a general plan in order to be in compliance with Arizona Revised Statute 9-461.05 implemented in 1998, and the review and updating of the city’s strategic plan.
Mayor Kathleen Smith explained to that despite the state requirements that each municipality have a general plan that is to be reviewed every 10 years, the City of Holbrook has never had one. “There’s a lot that goes on in municipalities so nobody’s pointing fingers at any past administrations or anything like that, we’re just moving forward. I’m excited to be a part of this move,” she said.
Smith noted that as part of the requirements, a statement of community goals and development policies needed to be formulated. The council reviewed the specific requirements that should be included such as land use, open spaces, recreation, housing, education, and many more categories that would create a well vetted document for community development. As noted in the statute, the development of this plan requires “early and continuous public participation.”
To initiate that participation, it was suggested by Councilman Tim Dixon that council members reach out to their constituents to avoid obtaining information from people who may not live in the community. Smith agreed with Dixon, stating that it is important for the council to reach out to the community and that other approaches from cities that she researched included online surveys that required an address to verify residency, and inviting civic leaders to be part of the discussion. Another option would be to create an advisory committee of the citizenry and host a town hall. The council also discussed whether or not to bring in a facilitator to oversee the process. Mayor Smith said she would create a timeline for developing the plan then provide it to the city manager for distribution to the council in order for it to be discussed at the next council meeting.
For homework, it was determined that the council would review the requirements of the statute that also includes options for cities of smaller populations, and decide what is important for the city and determine what the consensus will be from those results, with the outcomes to also be discussed at the next council meeting.
This discussion would also involve the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission so Smith called upon Planning and Zoning Chairman Mike Sample, who was in attendance to ask for any comments he may have regarding this process.
In addressing the council, Sample stated that the commission has rarely met and expressed concern over that fact. “I think we’ve only met two or three times last year. But residents call me because they have (concerns), and I’ll use (as an example) all these motels in our community that have turned into apartments. The latest one I’ve been hearing is the Howard Johnson’s up on the hill. But according to city code, that is a C2 Commercial and that is not within the zoning ordinance of that area, so they have to come in and get a conditional use permit to be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commissions. The same way with all these motels, and they’ve not come to the Planning and Zoning Commission.” He added that not only do these property owners not come to the commission, the city does not enforce the violation for not doing so.
“Same as with all the bed and breakfasts that are going into residential areas, because they’re considered commercial, they have to get a conditional use permit or application to allow that in their communities.”
Smith agreed that enforcing those codes would need to be a priority and would be part of the discussion for development.
The issue that Sample referenced regarding the 41-room Howard Johnson Hotel on Navajo Blvd., involves ChangePoint Integrated Health, a behavioral health organization, who had moved ahead with the process of purchasing the property for a residential care facility after being given the go ahead by the city’s planning and building administrator, without being informed by the administrator that a special use permit would be required by the Planning and Zoning Commission. When asked about the incident after the meeting, City Manager Ted Soltis stated that he had only recently learned of the situation and was in the process of researching it.
The discussion then moved to the strategic plan, which falls under the general plan and includes goals for the coming three to five years. The current strategic plan has not been reviewed since 2007. Smith suggested that to start, the council revisit the vision statement posted for the city on its website and determine how to modify it. “This was great back in 2007 but now we are different in a lot of ways.” The council will be providing more information on the process moving forward at the next meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
