Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Wednesday, September seventeenth, two thousand twenty-five meeting of the Lake Havasoo City Planning and Zoning Commission.

Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Commissioner Joan de Zero.

Here.

Commissioner Paul.

Vice Chair Tiffany Wilson?

Here.

Commissioner Lonnie Stevenson.

Chair Jim Harris.

Commissioner Gabrielle Medley.

Here.

Commissioner Maricosta.

Commissioner J.P.

Thornton.

Here.

Commissioner Phillinette.

Okay.

Um correspondence and announcements.

Mr.

Gilbert.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

We have a number of items to go over today.

And October thirtieth from eleven thirty to one thirty PM.

Okay.

Let's start with the minutes of the last meeting.

Are there any additions, deletions, corrections to those minutes by commissioners?

Anyone at all?

And I will entertain a motion to approve or disapprove.

Ms.

Wilson.

Make a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting.

Do we have we have a motion by Ms.

Wilson and a second by Mr.

Thornton to approve the minutes of the last meeting.

Any further discussion hearing none let's go ahead and place our votes the motion to approve the minutes passes 7 to 0.

All right this is a public hearing and I'm going to dispense with the normal introduction that I normally do because we won't be taking any action today.

We will call for the public input if there's any but let's move right into today's hearing.

It is ID 254933 for the first item and this is a 2026 general plan update progress report by Mr.

Gilbert.

Mr Gilbert Thank you Mr.

Chairman good morning to the planning commission and everyone joining us here in person or turning in tuning in remotely today I'll be providing an update on the progress of the Lake Havasu city general plan update.

I'll walk through the process and schedule share a participation update outline the next steps and then open up for questions that you may have for those who may be engaging with this process for the first time the general plan update is a long range planning effort that will shape the city's goals and objectives for growth and development over the next decade and beyond.

It serves as a strategic guide not a regulatory document.

It's important to note that this update does not change the current development code or the zoning map any future policy changes to those documents would require a formal legislative process including public hearings.

While such changes often follow general plan updates we're still early in the process and it's too soon to determine whether that will be necessary last week this briefing was provided to city council just to let the planning commission know so you guys are getting it second this time the agenda for the presentation is up on the screen and I'm going to advance slide from the outset of this two year process we followed a publicly shared schedule developed in partnership with our consultant team at Logan Simpson Design Incorporated this timeline has guided each phase of the general plan update we've completed steps one and two to launch and discover steps and we're now wrapping up step three in vision much of the work from step three is the centerpiece of tonight's presentation today this morning's presentation step four build with the name of it on the screen is already underway while it's progressing well it's still in the early stages and not yet ready to be included in this update we'll cover that in more detail in the future presentation the public participation slide this slide highlights the success of the dedicated website created for the general plan update from the beginning staff and the consultant team have consistently encouraged attendees at every event meeting and workshop to visit the site complete questionnaires and stay informed on the process as shown here the site has received over 18,800 views and currently has 148 subscribers we continue to promote it at every opportunity and we expect those numbers to grow as more residents engage with the update community listening session slide as part of our comprehensive data collection strategy for the general plan update we conducted in-depth interviews with a range of key community stakeholders so you can see on the screen these conversations were guided by a detailed set of questions designed to capture various perspectives and priorities across the city we're nearly finished with this phase and only three interviews remain before this portion of the outreach is complete the committee meeting slide two key committees are playing an active role in shaping the general plan update the general plan steering committee and the technical advisory committee the steering committee whose members are listed on the screen were selected from a pool of applicants representing a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives across the city their role is to provide strategic guidance throughout the process so far they met twice with a third meeting is scheduled for October 15th which I brought up in the announcements earlier the technical advisory committee is made up of city staff from every department these subject matter experts review all materials data reports and

The steering committee whose members are listed on the screen were selected from a pool of applicants representing a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives across the city.

Their role is to provide strategic guidance throughout the process.

So far they met twice with a third meeting is scheduled for October 15th which I brought up in the announcements earlier.

The technical advisory committee is made up of city staff from every department.

These subject matter experts review all materials data reports and draft content for technical accuracy and consistency.

Their role is to ensure the materials produced throughout the process are technically sound and reflect best practices across all departments drop-in event site.

Development services staff along with our consultant team have actively participated in 13 community events so far with more planned through the end of the year.

These outreach efforts through booths and tent setups have allowed us to connect directly with approximately 750 residents we also launched an online questionnaire as part of our public engagement strategy.

The first survey received responses from 831 individuals who shared their thoughts on various aspects of the city's future from analyzing those responses seven key themes emerged first a strong desire to preserve Lake Avasu City's small town character this sentiment came through consistently across multiple engagement channels second affordable housing remains a top concern many respondents emphasize the need for more accessible and diverse housing options third there's clear interest in attracting more well paying jobs at the same time people expressed concern about the city's reliance on tourism and service-based industries fourth traffic congestion mobility were recurring topics residents are looking for solutions that include expanded public transit and approved bike infrastructure fifth access to health care especially specialist emergency services was flagged as a significant issue that needs attention sixth there's a strong call for more recreational opportunities including sports fields indoor facilities and youth programs and finally protecting the shoreline and natural environment emerged as a clear priority reflecting the community's deep connection to its unique setting these themes are helping shape the direction of the general plan update and will continue to guide our work as we move forward workshop number one slide and the the second event as I announced earlier in the announcements correspondence is coming up the end of October but this is the results of the first one showed strong participation with 63 attendees joining in person and another 85 participating virtually it was a valuable opportunity to gather input and begin shaping the direction of the general plan update during the workshop we explored four key concepts that help frame the conversation first we looked at themed aspirational principles.

These are broad values and goals that reflect the community's vision for the future next we identified priorities that focused on areas that residents felt were the most important to address third we also gathered input on visual preferences and gained feedback on design styles development patterns and the look and feel of future growth and finally we discussed big ideas and locational preferences on where certain types of development or improvements should occur together these elements provided a strong foundation for the next phase of planning and helped us better understand what matters most to the community the visioning site so what have we learned from all the outreach surveys workshops interviews and community events after reviewing and analyzing the full range of public input and data we condensed into five core aspirational statements these statements reflect the community's values and priorities and each one aligns with the 17 planning elements required by state law to make the planning process more accessible and meaningful we've grouped these elements into five overarching themes as you can see on the screen the in under these five categories with the color labels are items that include all 17 of the planning elements required by law.

Third, prosperous economy includes economic growth, education, cost of development categories.

Four thriving neighborhoods covers housing, conservation, rehabilitation, development, and neighborhood preservation, revitalization categories.

And finally, healthy environment.

The fifth category includes environmental planning, recreation, open space, and safety.