The City of Winslow held two meetings two weeks ago that gave the public the opportunity to speak about the newest draft of the city’s general plan. The first meeting on Oct. 9, was an open house meeting held at city hall to discuss potential issues residents have with the plan. The second meeting was a work session with the city council on Oct. 10, right before the council’s regular meeting; both allowed for public input but the purpose of the work session was to relay the issues the public had on the previous day’s meeting to the council.
Twelve members of the public attended the Oct. 9, meeting to voice their opinions on the plan and offer constructive feedback, all comments from which were documented and relayed to the council. Winslow Planning and Zoning Hearing Officer Jason Sanks began his presentation to the council with an overview of what the plan is and, more importantly, what the plan is not. The plan is not policy, explained Sanks, which he said was a common misunderstanding for people. The purpose of the plan is to be a guiding document to inform and inspire future policy and initiatives for the next decade in the city.
The plan is split into four parts: Introduction, Adoption and Amendments, Elements and Implementation, and Action Strategies. The introduction lays out the purpose of the document, as well as some context into the demographics, history, culture and other government organizations outside of the city that offer services to the area.
The second portion deals with what must happen for the adoption and amending of the document, which includes providing the plan to other municipalities in the area including Navajo County, the Navajo Nation, Hopi tribe, City of Holbrook, City of Flagstaff, Northern Arizona Council of Governments, the Winslow Chamber Commerce and several state agencies. It was also sent to organizations with large vested interest in Winslow like ASPC Winslow-Arizona State Prison Complex, the BNSF railroad, the Indian Healthcare Center and the Little Colorado Medical Center as it is legally required for general plans to be submitted to partner agencies 60 days prior to adoption for any comment. It also sets a standard for when a development is too large to be ignored by the general plan and must be amended to include that development.
The third part is by far the largest and the most important part of the plan; it has eight subsections, each with their own goals for the next decade.
The fourth and final section of the city’s general plan is all about reaching the goals set in the previous section, going beat by beat through the goals of the previous section with a short paragraph for each on implementation or actions towards those goals.
The first element the plan mentions is the community character and the protection of the culture of Winslow. The strategies to achieve this include directing large industrial development towards the airport and freeway to keep the small-town feel to the downtown area. Protecting and promoting the history of the city by support of the Historic Preservation Commission and seeking grants to revitalize historic buildings in the city. The objective to keep the spirit of special events alive in the city by supporting the Winslow Arts Council and the chamber of commerce; this section also includes possible upgrades to the downtown area for better hookups for food trucks. The last part of the community character is to promote the rodeo culture, and they plan on doing this by adapting the city code for new rodeo-related facilities to be opened.
The next element is land use, which includes two incentive strategies to incentivize development growth around the airport and interstate, and also to incentivize residential housing development.
The plan then discusses roads and pathways with goals for the city to develop a master plan of the city’s streets and to update the city’s parks and recreation’s master plan to create a network of multi-use paths in the city, which transitions perfectly to the next section surrounding parks, whose goals include more charging stations for electric vehicles and a requirement that new development provides open space for small pocket parks for neighborhoods.
The next section is all about growth and development, which focuses primarily on developing the airport industrial and commerce park as well as supporting utility and transportation upgrades to make those developments possible. This section also talks about adopting code to make it easier to build residential housing.
The next section is titled environmental resources, and it reiterates the earlier goal of wanting more electric charging stations for vehicles in parks and other public areas. Then the plan talks about upgrades to water recreation opportunities such as the city pools and the splash pad.
The final section deals with developer costs and just notes that the city would like to require developers to pay for traffic, sewer, and water demand studies prior to the city granting any permits.
Sanks, during his presentation to the board, went comment by comment explaining what he had discussed with the public at the open house the night before.
The issue of housing was one of the biggest issues the city is facing right now, and the public wants to see more regular single-family detached homes as well as more opportunities for tiny homes, mobile homes, and mixed-use residences.
Another issue that came up several times, according to Sanks, was the need for better signage and parking downtown, as well as improved pedestrian safety and drainage for when it floods downtown. A concrete skatepark and upgrades to the outdoor pool were also suggested by residents.
Sanks also spoke about a resident who was passionate about removing the part of the plan that describes Winslow as being in the “four corners region” because they don’t want to drive tourism to that area. Sanks said that this has been in the city’s general plan for over 25 years, and he kept it in because for someone who had no idea where in the country the city is, they would know it is generally in the four corners region.
After the presentation, the council and Sanks discussed specific zoning in certain areas of the city. Vice Mayor Samantha Crisp asked Sanks about the expansion of the entertainment district; she also asked him about bringing more brick-and-mortar stores that would sell the kind of items that people have to travel to Flagstaff or other cities to purchase. Sanks said he would look into doing a study to better understand what people are traveling to purchase.
The discussion also went through tiny homes and how they would facilitate the building of those types of residences, but Sanks also cautioned the council that in the city of Glendale, they have allowed tiny homes for years but changed to no longer allowing them because too many of them can give a neighborhood an unwanted look and feel.
Winslow resident Ann Schmidt addressed the council during the work session and attended the open house the previous night. She stated that many of the issues she had were raised and already discussed during Sank’s presentation. She said she wanted to see more commerce for things that she would travel to Flagstaff for, like new bookstores and clothing stores. She also said she would like to have more language in the plan to protect the city’s water resources. Her biggest concern was that development doesn’t interrupt the life that people are used to in Winslow and it protects the clean air and water from industry.
The city’s general plan is a living document that outlines the direction of “the city in motion,” a plan that is amendable and fits the needs of its residents. The city seeks as much input as possible to reach that goal. The next community input meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11. For more information about the general plan, the document can be found on the homepage of the city’s website WinslowAZ.gov.
