Lake Havasu City Council Regular Meeting – March 11, 2025
Lake Havasu City Council Regular Meeting – March 11, 2025
The Lake Havasu City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the Council Chambers, adjourning at 7:23 PM. All seven councilmembers were present, with Vice Mayor Michele Lin participating via remote conferencing and recusing herself from items 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4. The meeting included a consent agenda, multiple public hearings, a call to the public, and reports.
Consent Calendar
- Approved (7-0): Minutes of February 25, 2025; Resolution No. 25-3804 authorizing an Environmental Access Agreement with ADEQ; and a call for Executive Session on March 25, 2025.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Bonny Toy (Item 7.1) asked whether Lake Havasu High School fields could also be used and referenced a past transportation agreement with the school district. (Item 7.3) encouraged the city to exceed ADA requirements in new developments. (Item 7.5) questioned whether the software would help prevent corruption. (Call to the Public) suggested installing signs to remind drivers to slow down.
- Don Wisdom (Item 7.1) asked if the city uses AI for scheduling and projects. (Call to the Public) requested an update on the Second Bridge (Freedom Bridge) project and the planned roadway with a roundabout.
- Emiliano Torres (Item 7.3) urged the council to require the developer to meet the development code as written. (Item 7.4) expressed concerns about parking and the rectangular design of the barn caves, calling them "mobile homes on garages." (Item 7.5) worried the software would create a buffer between residents and police.
- Patrick Willett (Item 7.3) asked why the developer could not follow the code, questioning if it was financial.
- Aaron Cothran (Item 7.5) asked about oversight, data storage, and public records access for the Guardian Tracking software. (Call to the Public) raised concerns about local animal ordinances (Title 6) conflicting with state law and asked the council to review them.
- Steven Sinkey (Call to the Public), President of Lake Havasu Symphonic Winds (501c3), requested the council rescind the new $51 banner hanging fee, stating it would reduce their donations to youth music programs.
- Barbara Arshenbough (Call to the Public) objected to the name "Main Street Commons", arguing the proper term is "common" (singular) and suggested "Lake Havasu Common" to link with British roots.
- Robert Fischer (Call to the Public) reported drag racing at Lake Havasu Avenue and Kiowa Boulevard and asked for traffic improvements.
Discussion Items
- 7.1 – School District Field IGA (Resolution 25-3818): Parks and Recreation Director Gabby Vera presented Amendment No. 2 to the joint-use agreement with Lake Havasu Unified School District #1. Facing limited field space for over 3,000 youth sports participants, the amendment allows the city to use six elementary school fields (multi-use at Smoketree, Havasupai, Starline, Jamaica, Nautilus; two ball fields at Oro Grande) for practices. The agreement incurs no additional material costs, only staff time. Councilmembers praised the partnership and the school board.
- 7.2 – General Plan Amendment (Resolution 25-3820): Planning Division Manager Chris Gilbert explained a minor amendment to change 2.0 acres at 60 Retail Centre Boulevard from Medium Density Residential to Commercial Mixed Use to accommodate a gym. The property had been changed to MDR in 2022 for a never-built manufactured home park. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval 7-0.
- 7.3 – Gymnasium Rezone (Ordinance 25-1355): The applicant (Rob Sampson, Selberg Associates) requested a Planned Development Rezone from RMH to MU-G/PD for a two-story, 32,000 sq ft gymnasium with a Dubai-inspired pool, plus three exceptions: building height to 35 ft, waiver of 30% alternate material requirement on the east façade, and exemption from certain MU-G development standards. The Planning Commission recommended approval but did not recommend the material exception. After public comment and council discussion—including whether a faux wood material met the 30% threshold—the council approved the rezone excluding exception #2 (6-0). The applicant indicated willingness to add more of the alternate material.
- 7.4 – Residential Barn Caves Rezone (Ordinance 25-1356): A 15.92-acre parcel at 40 Retail Centre Boulevard was rezoned from RMH to MU-G/PD to permit 97 detached single-family dwelling units (barndominium style) with outdoor recreation and access to the gym’s pool. The applicant requested a single exception to allow single-family detached use, which is not normally permitted in MU-G. The development will have private lots, an HOA, and long-term rentals only (no short-term). Planning Commission recommended approval 7-0. Council approved 6-0.
- 7.5 – Guardian Tracking Software (Service Agreement with Vector Solutions): Police Captain Chad Williams presented a three-year, $32,065 agreement for early-warning software that tracks officer performance, behavior, and risk indicators in real-time. It consolidates existing manual tracking and was the cheapest of three vetted options. The software is not AI-driven and aims to improve officer wellness and accountability. Council approved 7-0.
- 7.6 – Bombay Lift Station Pump Repair: Wastewater Superintendent Thilak Fernando reported that a $90,000 repair (using a City of Chandler cooperative contract) would fix a main pump station that moves ~2 million gallons of sewage daily. A new pump costs ~$250,000. The repair includes a warranty on the work. Council approved 7-0.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda approved 7-0.
- Resolution 25-3818 (School field IGA) adopted 7-0.
- Resolution 25-3820 (General Plan amendment) adopted 6-0 (Vice Mayor Lin recused).
- Ordinance 25-1355 (Gym rezone) adopted 6-0 (Lin recused), with exception #2 excluded.
- Ordinance 25-1356 (Barn caves rezone) adopted 6-0 (Lin recused).
- Guardian Tracking agreement approved 7-0.
- Bombay Lift Station pump repair approved 7-0.
- Future meetings: March 25, 2025 and April 8, 2025, both at 5:30 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. I call to order the Lake Havasu City Council regular meeting on Tuesday, March 11th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. We'll have an invocation from Father Tony from Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Cindy Ritter with Military Moms. Father Tony. We thank you today for this opportunity to gather and for the privilege you gave me to be in this assembly. We thank you for the gift of life of our great country America, our state Arizona, and our city, Le Cavasu. We thank you for all the blessings you have bestowed on us as a city, the many wonderful men and women who make countless sacrifices for the good of all. And all those who bear the responsibility of handling the affairs of our city. Almighty God, we thank you for the many wonderful things that make us known and proud as a city. The beautiful lake, the London Bridge, places of worship, exotic restaurants, a friendly environment, and above all, nice people. We also thank you immensely for the absence of natural disasters in our city, and for working with all the agencies concerned to keep our city free from the types of violence and criminal activities that destroy peace in human society. Thanks to all these visitors that are attracted in their numbers to us, and we have them every year for the London Bridge Day, spring break, balloon festival, the boat competition, the car shoes, the gun shows, and others of this sort. Lord, we pray that abiding by your precepts and the laws of our land, we may live and work together peacefully and have our city grow to the point when big malls like Costco and Target, bigger head facilities and airports and other such things that take us to Vegas or Phoenix are found here. May we accept our Thanksgiving. Bless us and answer our prayers through Christ our Lord. Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen. Thank you. Welcome, Cindy. If you'd like to share a little bit about the Military Moms organization with us. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um, Military Moms is organization that we not only support our moms that have active duty kids in the service, but we try to support our veteran community as well. Um we also are getting ready to send out hundreds of boxes of Girl Scout cookies to our deployed troops. So they'll be very excited in maybe six or eight weeks. I don't know, however long, however long it takes them to get there. Um also we're also part of the veterans resource team, and our veterans resource team is made up of the local veteran um organizations, some of our community members, anybody that really wants to be involved, can be. And what we do is we support our veterans if the veterans need rent paid, utilities paid, groceries, whatever it is that they are in need of, we try to give them a hand up. Um this past year, we paid out $26,236.40 to our local veterans in need. I vet each and every one of them, make sure that they're telling me the truth, and um I've gotten pretty good at weeding out the ones that aren't telling me the truth. My spidey senses go off. Um, and I'll refer them to other sources of um where they can get the help that they need. Um, all together, since I've been taking care of this for 10 years, we've paid out 433,743 and eighty-five cents. And all of that money is from the generous donations of the people in our community. We couldn't do any of this without them. And I've never seen anything like it. So thank you very much for letting me speak. I appreciate it. Thank you, and thank you for all that you're doing for our community. All right, the next item on our agenda is our roll call. Miss Williams, if you please call the role. Council members Nancy Campbell here. Jenny Koch. Here. Jim Dolan. I'm here. David Diaz. Here. Cameron Moses.
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