All right, good evening, everyone.

I'd like to call the city council meeting January sixth, twenty twenty-six to order.

Tonight we'll be led by Ray Grimm for the invitation.

Heavenly Father, we praise you, we thank you, Father God, that we get to live in a great city of surprise, Arizona, Father God, and I pray as two thousand twenty-six kicks off that you give our mayor and council wisdom to lead our city for this year, Father God, give them the guidance they need to make wise decisions for our city.

We pray for our police officers that are on the streets, God, that you'll protect them and give them wisdom when they have to make split second decisions, Father God, and for our firefighters as well.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Thanks, Ray, for uh coming in.

This is the second year in a row.

It's been the first meeting, and I appreciate you doing that.

That means a lot.

Councilmember Jed.

Here.

Thank you, Mayor.

All right, thank you.

So tonight we have a Boy Scout troop or Pac 400 to help lease in the pledge.

Boys, if you don't mind.

Yeah, good kid.

Are we gonna take a picture with the with the pack?

Okay.

I'm always so hesitant with this microphone.

I broke it one time.

Good night.

Okay.

We'll move on to the next phase.

So one of the things is mayor that I like to do, we had community acknowledgements in our agenda, but I think for me it's about community champions and bringing in people that really represent the city.

And so tonight we have the Shadow Ridge, uh Thespian True, but I don't want to get that wrong.

Uh come in.

And so if you guys want to come up here while I'm while I'm talking, but they won an award, it's an overall superior rating from the Arizona Thespian organization.

And so a lot of times, yeah.

Good job.

Good job.

So a lot of times when you know we bring community champions up here, it's been sports teams that have won a state championship and those types of things.

But I think it's important to recognize all community champions.

So when I heard about your award and how significant it was for you know your for theater, it was just it was an incredible thing.

So I want to come up here and personally thank you.

You know, thank you for representing the city.

Thanks for doing a great job.

It's your play was what the diary of amp rank.

And the next step is did you already perform at the Arizona State Thespian Conference?

Not yet.

When is that?

The 19th.

The 19th.

So the 19th, they'll be performing at the Arizona Thespian State Conference in front of over 3,000 students and and parents and everybody else.

So congratulations.

Did Janae, did you want to say anything about the significance of the award?

I don't think I did it justice.

I don't want to put you on the spot either, but okay.

Or Gemma.

Yeah, I'll let Jimmy.

Yeah, Gemma, go ahead.

It's your it's your truth.

That's a great one.

Okay.

Um, so the students have been working on this production since September, and we performed this for our school and our community in November.

Um in November, we were able to get adjudicated by our state board of our thespian organization.

Um that judging consists of two judges coming to two of our three productions, and they score us on multiple um uh different things.

Um so like acting, their characterization, their believability, um, especially because we were performing such a historical piece.

Are the kids giving justice to those historical figures that we know?

Um on the technical side, um, the safety of the production, lighting, uh sound, um are the costumes period accurate, all those things come combined, and um we're lucky enough that they loved her production so much that they scored us an overall superior and um picked us as one of the two plays in the state to perform.

So thank you.

I'm gonna go back up on the dice because it's so big, so we can all stand up behind them.

Yes, right.

Are you serious?

It looks like it's a good idea.

All right, all eyes on me.

Oh, let's let's look at Karina stage left first.

Wait.

All right, perfect.

Can we get one of the somebody wanted to?

Yeah.

This is for your teacher's camera.

Awesome.

Thank you, guys.

Congratulations.

Good job, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you so nice.

All right, Mr.

Davis, do you have a city manager report?

Yes, Mayor, council.

Thank you.

Uh two items tonight.

First, we have Seth.

He has an exciting announcement.

Thank you, Seth.

Thank you, Andrea.

Uh Mayor, members of the council.

Pleased to be here tonight to introduce some special guests who are supporting us in a very special way in our with our new community, uh multi-gen community resource center.

As you know, we've been working with a lot of different partners to try to build this and then grow our programs.

And so tonight, uh love to introduce our friends from Cox Communications who are going to be uh uh sharing with us an investment um to further our technology needs um at our news center.

Um, not only uh for this year, but if we can keep this technology for for years to come.

So um, but this was a group effort.

I'd like to recognize my colleagues Todd Simpson from the city manager's office and Deb Perry, our uh HSCV rock star behind me.

Um, and but right now I'd like to introduce Mr.

Darren Moffat, who's the director of government uh affairs for Cox Communications to share a few words about this donation.

So, Darren, come on up.

Gotta bring the big check as well.

That's the important piece.

Uh mayor council, thanks for uh having us.

I'm Darren Moffitt, the government affairs director in Arizona for Cox Communications.

Uh, a big part of what it means to be at Cox and Be with Cox is being part of the community.

And this is one of the things that we really we do take very seriously, and we're proud to be able to present this today and really help with the Cox Technology Cart at the community resource center.

Um the idea here is that we'll really get into helping our adults and youth really get bridge that digital divide.

Um this $25,000 that Jamie is holding for us here uh is a big piece of what what we do at Cox, and we're very proud to partner with the city and get this uh get this out into the community.

Um as a piece of that, you know, Cox, we've got nearly 50 technology centers in the community statewide.

So that shows you just kind of what we what we do, what we like to do, and this is a big piece of that.

Uh and again, we're honored to be able to stand here with you guys today and present this, and just really want to thank the city for the partnership and look forward to uh what we can do and create with this.

Awesome.

Thank you.

If I can invite the council to stand and we'll come up here and my colleagues Todd and Deb, if you don't mind joining us.

Down there.

You want us down there, South, or just up here?

Up here is fine, unless you want to come down, you're your pig.

Or the pizza.

All right.

Right here.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Appreciate it.

Good to see you, Jamie.

I just want to say thanks to Cox Communication.

I know we are um we had a lot of partnerships in the city for you guys to do that and provide you know technology for our community resource center.

They're a new one.

It's just uh it's an amazing thing.

We really appreciate it from uh from the mayor from the council.

Uh thanks for your partnership.

All right, and next we have Joanne here to announce our youth council.

Hello, good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm here to introduce our two members of the surprise youth council on the dais tonight.

Uh, first up, we have Desmond.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Desmond Robert.

I am currently a sophomore at Willow Canyon High School, and this is my third year in the Surprise Youth Council and my fifth time speaking on the Dais.

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak this evening.

The Surprise Youth Council has officially wrapped up the first half of our 2025 through 2026 year.

We hosted and participated in many fun and engaging events around the city, from our street cleanups to volunteering at the surprise party.

These fast these past few months have been memorable.

With the welcome of the new year, the surprise youth council has many more exciting things planned.

Many members will be attending the National League of Cities held in Washington, DC, with aims to expand and hone their leadership abilities.

The youth council will also be volunteering at citywide events such as the Martin Luther King Jr.

Day of Service, as well as the Spring Extravaganza.

Our three committees, youth development, outreach, and events all have big plans for the year.

So keep your eye out for important dates and reminders that may come from the surprise youth council.

That is all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Next up, we have Jackson.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Jackson Freeman.

I'm currently an eighth grader at Canyon Ridge School.

This is my first time on the dice in my first year as a member of the Surprise Youth Council.

During my time at SYC, I've helped package meals for kids in need.

Have hosted events like the Nerf Battle where we had to police police officers help with the littles in the epic to our event with great attendance.

During the surprise party, we helped with Operation Santa Claus, where youth council members accepted donations of canned food and toys for the less fortunate.

Finally, in December, youth council members assisted with cookies and crafts with Santa, helping kids make crafts and using their imagination for the winter months.

This group is made up in a of an extending bunch of students, and we are ready and excited for a brand new year with events like our media retreat January 21st.

We are excited to kick off SYC recruiting on February 9th, and some of our elder members of the council have applied to attend the National League of Cities in Washington DC this March.

Additionally, we've also been planning a Moments with Mom event coming soon.

We are ready to serve the greatest community in Arizona for another year, and I know this year is going to be great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

That's all we have.

Thank you.

Good job.

Okay.

Thanks.

Madam Clerk, you have a report.

Uh yes, Mayor, thank you.

I'm very excited about this first announcement.

So for 2026, the city clerk's office is launching a new program related to our passport services, and that is that we are the first and only uh jurisdiction that does passports in Arizona to have our very own photo booth on site.

Um it is completely self-service, uh contactless payment and um hopefully very easy for all of our constituents to use.

So rather than having to go off site and get a photo, if you would rather you can definitely have one stop shopping here at the city clerk's office.

I'm very happy to um announce that.

And then we do have a couple of voting items.

Um before we begin that, I would like to turn it over to uh Councilmember Haney, who's the chair of the nomination committee.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Um, this group has heard me say it, but it's always worth saying it's just it's an honor to not only serve on this commission um with my colleagues, but also to have the opportunity to interact with uh so many talented individuals who are willing to step up and make our city better.

And so I always leave these uh committee meetings just even more fired up for what the direction our city's going, and it's always because of the people that we get to meet during these uh these meetings.

So I want to thank those who who took the time to apply, and then also um the ones who made time out of their busy schedules actually be there and interview and engage with us.

It's it's always been so impactful.

Uh, does any of my other fellow committee members want to say anything?

Nope.

All right.

So I have thank you.

Okay, then we can begin with item number one, consideration and action to approve recommendation for appointment of Madeline Vowling to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission for the four-year term expiration on June 30th, 2029.

I'll entertain a motion.

Yes, Mayor, I'd like to move to uh approve Madeline Bowling to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission for the four-year term expiring on June 30th, 2029.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Please cast your vote.

There you go.

That is a unanimous yes vote.

Thank you.

Item two, consideration action to approve the recommendation for appointment of Connie Loveland to the Board of Trustees for the four-year term expiration on June 30th, 2029.

We'll entertain a motion.

Yes, Mayor, I'd like to approve the recommendation for appointment of Connie Loveland to the Board of Trustees for the four-year term expiring on June 30th, 2029.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Please cast your vote.

That's also unanimous pass vote, Mayor.

Um, Connie, if you will join me at the front podium, we'll take your oath.

Okay.

Hopefully you can hear well enough.

Um raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I state your name.

I Connie Loveland.

Do you solemnly swear?

You solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

And the laws of the state of Arizona.

And the laws of the state of Arizona.

That I will bear true faith.

That I'll bear true faith.

And allegiance to the same.

And that allegiance to the same.

And defend them against all enemies.

And defend them against all enemies.

Whatsoever.

Whatsoever.

And then I will faithfully and impartially.

And I will faithfully and unpartially discharge the duties.

Discharge the duties.

Of the position of.

Of the position of.

And it's Board of Trustees.

Board of Trustees.

And hereby a test.

And I hearby a test.

To abide by all official ordinances.

To abide by all official ordinances.

Policies and procedures.

Policies and procedures.

Of the city of surprise.

Of the city of surprise.

According to the best of my ability.

According to the best of my ability.

Either so help me God or so I do affirm.

I so I do affirm.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Your selection.

Commissioner has a city surprise in the way.

Hopefully.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Oh, Mayor.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Council.

Yeah, please, one more time.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

All right.

Thank you.

That's it, Mayor.

Okay, thank you.

There are two items, no, three items on the consent agenda.

When we would like to pull an item for additional clarification or have any questions.

Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.

Motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Please cast your vote.

That's a unanimous pass vote, Mayor.

Thank you.

Please read item number six.

Item six, consideration and action pertaining to a rezone from residential high with a planned unit development to residential medium density with a PUD overlay for property generally located at the southeast corner of 147th Avenue and Beardsley Canal.

Okay.

FS25-0420.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Item number six before you is a rezone for the project titled Mandu Ranch, and it's also known as Sierra Sol Ranch.

The project is generally located at the southeast corner of 147th Avenue in Bearsley Canal.

The 14.88 gross acre vacant site does contain does contain some constraints, such as the wash quarter and the outfall from the CAP.

The existing zoning on the site is residential high density with a PUD overlay.

The RH 15 designation was established during the 2021 rezoning, at which time the property was regulated under the surprise unified development code, which is the previous code.

Under the current land development ordinance, this zoning is equivalent to the R3 district.

Currently there's a density allocation on the site which allows for a max of 115 dwelling units.

So what is being proposed tonight is a down zoning.

The previous slide showed the current zoning as RH 15, which is residential high, and what is being proposed tonight is R2 residential medium with the PUD overlay.

So here's the background on the parcel when it was annexed, when the rezone had taken place and approved by council, when the outreach meeting was held for the current project, and when it went before planning and zoning commission.

Full access from 147th Avenue, and the local street will be constructed to continue through to the existing development to the east.

So this table reflects the recently approved zone text amendment known as case 24-1275 that was approved by council on November 4th.

This zone text amendment modified certain residential development standards, such as the R2 zone to allow residential projects for additional home types that aren't currently supported by the LDO.

The PUD request is to modify the current requirements of a nine-foot setback to a three-foot setback from the drive aisle to the garage.

Although this is reflected in that currently that approved zone text amendment, the applicant did ask staff to proceed in case it wasn't an effect for whatever reason.

An outreach meeting was held on September 11th of 2025 with five attendees.

The site posting, mailers, and newspaper publishings were in accordance with the code.

The concerns were mostly with transportation, future commercial, and residential in the general area.

In addition, a comment letter was emailed in to staff and the applicant response was included.

There was no further correspondence from that individual.

Planning and zoning commission recommends approval to the mayor and city council.

Approval subject to stipulations A and B.

Um, just to let council and the mayor know stipulation C was inadvertently omitted.

This contractually required stipulation relates to buy-in fees.

If city council wishes to approve, they should motion to approve ordinance 2026-01, subject to stipulations A through C.

So this concludes my presentation.

I'm available as well as the applicant to answer any questions, and the applicant has a presentation if you wish to see it.

Councilman Hay, would you like to see the presentation?

Sure.

Okay.

This is a um public hearing item, so I'm gonna open it to the public first.

Madam Clerk, do we get any requests to speak on this agenda item?

Uh no, Mayor, we did not.

I'll close this item to the public.

Let's roll it forward.

Next.

I'll do that.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, Mayor Sarator, Council members.

My name is Andrew Yancey.

I'm an attorney at Bergen Frank Smolly and Oberholzer.

For your records, we're at 4343 East Camelback Road in Phoenix.

I'm here tonight representing Oakwood Homes.

As uh Chris said in her very informative presentation.

This is the Sierra Soul Ranch project.

It's a proposed single family subdivision for just under 100 homes at the southeast corner of 147th and the Beardsley Canal.

I do have uh Mark Allen, the state director from Oakwood Homes here with me this evening as well.

Oakwood really focuses on developing smaller single family subdivisions, usually on infill parcels, and they usually try to focus on entry-level home buyers.

They've identified this property in this growing area of surprise as appropriate for their product.

But because the property is currently zoned for multifamily, we're here requesting a rezone so that they can build the single family detached product that they want to build in the subdivision.

So this is going to be a down zone both in density and in the type of product, taking it from multifamily to single family.

That worked.

It is situated just south of that canal, so there are some constraints there.

It's in district one.

The surrounding property is largely developed or in the process of being developed for residential use.

So, really, all in all is very consistent with the character of this area.

Now, about four years ago, the owner of this property rezoned it for um RH 15 PUD for that multifamily project.

That multifamily zoning is still on it today.

Currently, 115 multifamily units are permitted on the property.

Oakwood's come in now, they're in escrow.

They don't want to build multifamily.

They want to build single family, so that's why we're proposing the rezone to the R2 district.

So it would both take it again from the 115 multifamily units permitted today down to under 100 single family units that Oakwood is proposing to build.

So here's the site plan.

Um it just kind of shows you how it's going to be laid out.

There's the one main public road.

I think Chris has some good arrows on her slide that are better than mine that show you how it goes.

The way the project will be laid out is there will be private drives that spur off of that main road, creating either four-pack or six-pack configurations of homes.

There's also the wash over toward the eastern part of the site.

It bisects it running north-south.

Oakwood's going to build that public roadway across the wash so that there's connectivity all the way from 147th Avenue on the west to the eastern part of our property, and then it'll also connect to that subdivision that's to the east as well.

And then it'll also connect to that subdivision that's to the east as well.

That previous multifamily plan didn't have that connectivity.

It was just going to dead end the road at the wash, but Oakwo's gonna build a full public road across it.

The project's also going to meet and exceed the city's open space and amenity requirements.

There'll be a mix of active, passive, and uh natural open space.

Up in the little yellow area in the northwest corner, there's gonna be a multi-use sport court.

And then the yellow area outlined along the south, there's going to be a tot lot, uh cornhole area, a remada with picnic tables, and there's also gonna be a trail that runs along the southern edge and has some benches along it.

Uh this is a quick images of what those amenities could look like.

We would like to note the city's PEDs only require three amenities for a subdivision with less than 199 homes.

Here we're gonna come in under 100 homes, so far less than than that requirement.

We're still gonna do four amenities instead of the three that are required by the code.

Um, and I think uh Chris laid it out well the PUD component really was generated when we made our application under the old version of the code.

That new text amendment has has largely cleared up the garage setback issue that we were looking at.

We just want to make sure it is clarified that it applies to these private drive aisles that we're gonna have in our property.

And this is just a little sketch of how those four packs and six packs will be laid out.

The garages and the driveways are all gonna be facing onto the private drive, not onto the public street.

Otherwise, the everything in the project will comply with the city's um R2 standards under the LDO.

So that concludes my presentation.

Um happy to answer any questions.

Really appreciate your time this evening and want to thank staff for their diligent work in bringing this case forward.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

So roughly like I guess how many square feet, like would you mention that?

Maybe I missed it.

Um, would these like homes be?

So it's like it's a smaller home, and right, there's that struggle right now.

They're like we're in a housing shortage, and you have like houses that are half a million dollars, which are out of reach.

Then you also have like you know, the affordable housing, and that's a whole different conversation.

You know, so what are we?

Are we kind of like looking at something in between or uh Vice Mayor Hastings?

Yes, in between the product that that Oakwood has that they're looking to use here is what they call their porch light product, um is two-story homes that range between 1700 and 2500 square feet.

So there's there's a good amount of square footage there.

Okay.

And then do we do you know, does anybody know?

Maybe Lloyd knows if we have Oakwood, has Oakwood come been in surprise before?

Do we have, I don't know if I've heard that one.

Um, so I believe this is Oakwood's first rezoning case.

They do have some lots in North Copper Canyon.

Oh, they've got uh about 140, they've they've closed about 100 lots.

They're already so they've got about 30 or 40 more to go.

And I believe they're bringing in an extra subdivision.

You know, there's there's a lot of um, you know, ready-to-go land up there, and they're looking to do maybe a hundred more homes up in North Copper Canyon as well.

Yeah, well, I won't speak for the district, I don't represent the district.

Um, but um, this product, I feel like there's a huge, you know, need for it.

Um, obviously, I mean, we could talk all day, you know, about housing, but um, obviously there's there's been some area around city center and places too.

And and I only mentioned that it's not because you know, we're super gung ho about only getting housing in city center, but any pressure we can take off of you know, North Surprise down the road.

I love this project.

I love that it's like a down zone.

Is there is there a catch?

You know, it sounds like almost like too good, you know, any, I mean it's it's a down zone, right?

It's going to so it's a down zone of like you know 20-ish percent, and then more amenities, you know.

Are they detached or are they connected?

Uh Vicemor Hastings, it would be detached single family homes.

Right.

Thank you.

Councilman Melton.

Uh thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just uh one of your slides.

I think the proposed rezone, you I think you had a listed approximately 100 units.

Did I read that right?

Uh Councilmember Melton, yes, that that's correct.

For the the purpose of the rezon, the rezone doesn't actually set the unit count.

The pre-plat we're working on is 92 units.

92 units.

Okay.

So we're going from a potential 115 under the old zoning to 92.

Okay.

I'm happy with that.

Thanks.

Councilman Judd.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Andrew.

Uh, quick question.

How's garbage pickup gonna work with that small of a road and that many houses?

Yeah, Councilmember Judd, thank you.

And we this is something that we um we started meeting with staff on uh very early.

It was back when Lloyd was the planning director all that long time ago.

Um, and so we that that's one of the issues we tried to address.

It's gonna be flushed out more in the the pre-plat, but part of the idea of taking the individual homes in their garages and driveways go on to that private drive.

You know, trash day, they pull the trash up to that that public street.

So there are going to be marked off spaces where their trash goes, and and and that's where where it'll be.

So it'll be on that that public street Alameda that runs through the middle of it.

Okay.

And since we have fewer driveways, we're just lying the street with garbage cans that day, I guess.

Well, it it won't.

I I've seen the sketches, it doesn't take up the the whole street there.

Um, but that's that's the idea.

Okay, thank you.

Do you have anything?

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Andrew, when you did your community outreach, I know there was some concerns, but uh oftentimes in district one, uh residents kind of get inundated with rezone cases, and so it's hard for them to keep up, you know, with what project is what is this what what is this rezone entail?

Was a lot of the concerns that were cited within the presentation, was that centered around them thinking this was a rezone for just we're going from rural residential to medium density, or was this was there some confusion around that?

Uh council member Haney, uh thank you.

I yes, that that's exactly right.

I believe we had five people come out to our neighborhood meeting.

Um, I think most of them had been to other neighborhood meetings for rezoning cases and uh seemed used to people coming in trying to increase the density.

Um came in with questions, a lot of pretty informed questions, I'd say, but once we explain what we were doing, what the property's zone for now, how it's a down zone, um, I felt like it was very receptive.

You kind of feel the tone change in the room a little bit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I I appreciate that because I think all of us up here, even when Christy was reading it out loud, it still just doesn't feel real.

So and my only disappointment with this is we're starting the first council meeting of the year off with a case like this, and they're not always going to be like this.

So um, but I I appreciate one, you know, we've high communication about this project.

Um, and I've always appreciated one, your attention to detail, but also your commitment to engaging the group of residents out there and making sure they're informed, they know what's going on.

Obviously, we have told them, you know, through our conversations, is a lot of the land was zoned and approved, and there's already entitled lots, but any opportunity that we can take to identify a project that maybe doesn't need that high density.

So this multifamily and reducing the density while still giving folks an opportunity to have you know the opportunity to own a home is is awesome.

And so I want to appreciate one your ability to communicate with residents, clear up that confusion, but also for bringing a project like this that um will integrate well into our community.

So thank you.

This is this is good.

We're able to decrease density and also make sure that we're hearing residents out.

And so that's a win in my book.

Thank you very much, Councilman.

I agree.

What's the timeline on this project?

Like if it's approved tonight, it moves forward.

When can somebody turn a key to open their home?

Uh sure, Mayor.

I think uh Mark from Oakwood told me if this is approved, he's got a shovel, he's heading out to the site right after this to get going.

Um they're they're ready to go.

I I don't know what the exact timeline is, but the the pre-plat application will come next.

Um, once that's approved and go to final plat, you know, I I'd expect there'd be construction next year, um, possibly this year, if um if if we can move quickly.

And how does somebody get from their house out to let's say Phoenix?

What route would they take?

Sure.

So um we did have a traffic impact study that was a part of this, and and one of the things I actually found interesting, and it was when it one of the things they look at is the distribution of trips, and about 60% of the trips leaving this project are gonna go up 147th to Happy Valley Road, presumably to go west.

About 40% are going to go east along Midmick and Way and hook up with Happy Valley there, presumably to hit the 303 from Happy Valley there.

So it actually the traffic flows pretty evenly in two different directions there.

Happy Valley to the 303?

Correct.

Okay.

All right, because my concern was 163rd and adding more traffic and people to that.

But if that's not the case, then I I think it's a good project.

I think what um, you know, we need starter homes for folks.

I'm gonna have a son that's looking to buy a home, and it's just a real challenge for for a lot of young people.

So I appreciate that, you know, the the builders willing to do this.

Yeah, last thought too.

And I think that I know before I got on the council, I was guilty of sometimes comparing what's going in to dirt.

And obviously, you hear the argument like well, you know, traffic's gonna increase.

Well, obviously, you know, one home, you know, in the in the middle, obviously it's getting like something is gonna increase traffic when nothing's there, obviously.

But hypothetically, it's zoned um high density now.

So theoretically, if you know we did want to like, you know, be like, I don't know, in my opinion, maybe maybe not the most reasonable and been vote no on this like 115 years, like right.

So, like, can you explain the concept too?

It's it's 2026, and we're trying to educate people as far as like private property rights go too.

Because I think like a lot of maybe that's a question for like Lloyd or something, but or I mean, could you expand on that a little bit and how like landowners can build is as far as in what control city council has on zoning?

Uh sure, Vice Mayor Hastings, and happy to have Lloyd jump in it if he wants to.

But I mean, in in short, um, you know, zoning is a set of permissions, it's a set of boxes.

You can do the things in in one box, but not in another box.

So the box that is in right now is multifamily.

And in multifamily, you can't draw new lines on the property and create lots for individuals to buy.

And that's the big reason why, even though this is a down zone, it's less density.

We have to come before you asking for this because the current zoning does not allow us to draw lines in the dirt and create lots for individual homeowners to buy.

So, you know, by doing this, we're getting to a uh the R2 district does allow single family residential use, and that's why we're going to go through the plotting process next.

The plotting process is where you you create those those lots, and um then we get to sell them to individual homeowners, and now a family owns a home.

It's a great answer.

I think Lloyd would hire you after that.

I think it's just important too, because like we go through these so quick, and I obviously I'll stop talking because we're overcomplicating at this point, but um super excited about this as long as it goes through.

So thank you.

Council, any other questions or concerns?

I'll entertain a motion.

So before I make the motion, just again, because a lot was said, this is a down zone.

This is our there is already multi-family units approved.

We are down zoning now.

Just want to make the record clear.

So I would like to move to approve ordinance 2026-01, subject to stipulations A through C.

I went to ASU.

I could get that.

Seconded.

That's been moving.

Second to please cast your vote.

I got a vote here.

Unanimous pass vote, Mayor.

Thanks.

Please read item seven.

Item seven, consideration and action pertaining to the approval of a resolution for the intent to annex our portion of the project known as Vistas Montanas.

FS250291 resolution 202602.

Hey, Chris.

Good evening again, Mayor and Council.

The item before you is a request for annexation for right-away for Vista Montanas.

The parcel is located south of the CAP Canal along the Dixoleta Drive and when 79th Avenue roadway alignments.

So this slide shows the existing city boundary.

The purple is a city of surprise, and then you can see the unincorporated Maricopa County area.

As shown, the two parcels are totaling 5.57 acre sites.

So these are the two parcels that are proposing to be annexed for the Vista Montanus project.

If the annexation is approved, this is what the proposed boundary lines would look like.

So these are the steps for annexation.

So tonight is just the request for the intent to annex.

So more specifically, receive authorization from city council for the staff and applicant to move forward with the annexation.

So at this time, staff's available to answer any questions as well as the applicant.

I move to approve resolution number 2026-02.

Second.

Please cast your vote.

That's a unanimous pass vote, Mayor.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

At this time, I'll do a call to the public.

Madam Clerk, do we get any requests to speak on non-agenda items?

Yes, Mayor, I have two.

Uh first, I'll invite up Alex Christ.

That's good.

That's good.

Alex, happy new year.

Happy New Year, Mayor.

Thank you, Alex at Wadell and 175th.

Um, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, happy new year to you.

Um, I just want to share this quick anecdote uh from this uh past holiday season.

I went to my local Walmart and um I saw a family.

Um, and when the wife was speaking to the husband, they had a very heavy British accent.

Uh I'm a curious guy, so I said, are you all visiting us?

And they were visiting from England.

So um City of Surprise is fast becoming an international um destination for us, and I am so happy about that.

Uh Mayor, I went to the tourism community meeting yesterday, and I want to thank uh the chair uh Duffy for allowing me to sit in.

They were talking about the Big 12 uh conference baseball tournament that's coming to our city.

And I just hope that my fellow surprise know how great that is.

Uh I want to thank um um uh Chair Duffy and um Vice Mayor and also Mr.

Haney was there as well.

This is going to be a great economic um boom for us.

Uh and it's also gonna bring us into the national spotlight because ESPN will be transmitting these uh baseball games.

Um if you don't know about the Big 12 and who's in it, look it up because there's a lot of teams in there.

But the more that I looked into it, the more excited I got, the more um um uh I wanted to bring out into um how our city is fast becoming a great destination.

Uh I want to also thank Miss uh I think it's Kendra Pettis uh for allowing me to sit in and ask questions, and she answered um everything for me and she indulged me on a couple of tips that that I kind of pointed out on that.

So uh mayor, our city is fast becoming one of the best cities, I believe it's gonna be in Arizona.

I hope that we can send you on an international tour to bring more of that uh out here to us.

But um 2026 is gonna be a great year.

We're gonna be turning 66 uh years old as we were incorporated, and our nation is gonna be 250 years.

So God bless our nation.

God bless our city and God bless all of you.

I want to thank you, Mayor.

Um, you're making this uh a city a great place to live in.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I didn't pay him to say that either.

Next, uh I'll invite uh Lisa.

Do we have anyone else, madam clerk?

Yes, Lisa Everett.

Lisa, happy new year, Lisa.

Happy New Year.

I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, but I left my home today about two o'clock, and I was going down, and there was this interesting little accident.

I want to thank this council for passing the resolution against BNSF.

I'm going to ask you all to pay close attention to how BNSF responds to this situation, what they do, how they work with El Mirage and any other entities that they need to work with.

From all of my research, I have found that BNSF is one of the least cooperative companies to work with.

And I'm just grateful for your support, but I also know that they're still knocking on our door.

So I want you to just be aware and pay attention.

What are they doing with El Mirage?

How are they handling this?

Are the citizens well informed?

Are they communicating well with city officials in El Mirage?

I personally already know these answers, but I want you to watch and see what happens.

I appreciate everything all of you do.

You're amazing.

I like the gentleman before.

I'm extremely proud to say I live in the city of surprise.

I know each of you put your heart, blood, sweat, and tears into the work that you do for our city, and I'm grateful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

No additional speakers, Mayor.

Thank you.

Was there any other business or future agenda items that any of the council wants to bring up?

Hearing none, I'll go to District One, Councilman Haney, for your report.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'm not gonna lie, I thought that was going to start with you left at 2 p.m.

and you just now made it here.

So I was like, oh no.

You did go like that.

Yeah, I was like, oh, here we go.

Well, happy new year, everybody.

It's great to uh start another year off um with an incredible um group of colleagues up here, but also an incredible group of staff that we get to work with.

So I'm excited to kick off this year.

Uh we'll have a community meeting January 14th at 6 p.m.

Uh, we'll also be going over the parks and rec master plan.

There's Holly.

So um I know, especially in my area, uh, there's been a lot of questions about kind of recreational um items coming up north.

And so this will be a great opportunity for us to have a voice and kind of chart our path, hopefully to the future.

Um Duffy got a pool, so I think now it's only right that I get a poll.

So um, other than that, uh, if you guys need anything, please don't hesitate to email me or give me a call.

Uh, there's a lot of great things on the horizon, uh, not only for district one for our city.

Um, and so I'm excited to see what this year brings.

So I have mayor, thank you.

All right, thank you.

Councilman Greenberg.

Um, I don't have anything coming up until February.

Uh, three of us have almost made it through a year.

So we should like go have uh a cake or something like that.

Yeah.

And it's been an interesting year.

I mean, we had a lot of um like musical chairs for a while going on on the fourth floor, but I think everything's settled down now, and everybody is in the place that they belong um to serve the community as best as can possibly be done.

And I said last year we will never have enough money to do all the things we want to do, but I think we're doing a damn good job with the money that we have.

So thank you to staff.

And that's all I've got.

Thank you.

Councilman Duffy.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just real quick.

Uh this Saturday, we have a meet and greet at that uh pool.

Councilman Haney was referring to Rescue Oasis in my district, uh cactus in Perryville Road is at 9 a.m.

And we'll be discussing the recreation master plan.

So we'll try to keep everything away from 163rd and in District 3.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

You're not kidding, Nick.

I know.

Uh Councilman Greenberg.

You're not ready.

Oh my god.

Oh, I meant Mountain.

I looked up Greenberg.

I was looking at Mountain.

Um it's good to be back home.

I know you guys missed me.

Thank you.

I do.

Happy New Year.

I almost got it.

Yeah, I thought you were here.

It looked like I was here, I know, but I was gone.

Um I I uh wanna thank uh PD uh fire department for supporting that derailment that occurred or this afternoon.

Thank you for supporting Almirage.

Um it's important that we that we support them.

And I'm glad there was nothing, no hazmat.

That was a big disruption to traffic, but um doesn't sound like there was no injuries, so that's all it's important.

But um, thank you, Chief.

Um, I don't have a meeting until the 28th, so I'll talk about that later.

Um, but that's also so I look forward to uh another year's year on council.

It's gone by fast.

I've loved it and I've loved working with you gentlemen.

So thank you.

I'll second that.

Uh Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, happy new year, everyone.

And yeah, thank you to the, I mean, we had a lot of turnover in the last election, having three new members, including a new mayor.

Obviously, it's it's a lot to learn.

We've all kind of gone through it.

And so appreciate having you guys all on board.

Um, so yeah, happy new year.

You know, reflecting on the last year, I'm just overwhelmed with how I just feel incredibly blessed.

You know, if you would have told me in 2010 when I was hired by that lady over there, Holly Osborne, as a lifeguard, um, that 15 years later that I would be the vice mayor of the same city that dealt with me when I was a teenager.

Um I would have I would have genuinely laughed or done something.

I don't even know what I would have done.

Um but in all seriousness, um, out of my five years serving on the council, um, it's it's definitely been you know an honor to serve as vice mayor.

And it's the last the reason I'm saying this because my last full term is vice mayor.

The vice mayor term is for a year, but it's time for someone new.

And so I'm looking forward to the next meeting to nominating someone else and supporting them as vice mayor.

And I want to reiterate that it definitely is a team up here, you know.

Each year, one of us gets to play the role as vice mayor, but it's definitely all hands on deck, and there's been a lot of great experiences this year um from you know working with Councilman Jed to reduce the and the rest of the council, um, the property tax rate, um, working with Councilman Haney to um you know cut the business license fee in half, you know, making it easier to start a business surprise.

I know I I met with Councilman Duffy over the Christmas holiday in between Christmas and New Year's to uh promote Spencer's place, um, which this is my shout out to them if you haven't been to their second location.

It's uh it's a coffee shop that employs uh individuals with special needs.

They have two locations.

Um we were out promoting the one on Greenway and 303, which has received less traction just because of of where it's at.

But um, we have a great group of people up here.

Um, and I'm and I'm honored to work with them and and continue to serve another year.

Um I'll be wrapping up my vice mayor term um a week from today at 6 p.m.

Um we're gonna do kind of like a town hall style um, you know, community meeting.

It's been a while since I've tried to do one on my own and see if anybody else show up.

So I figured if you know maybe I can you know use the fancy title and you know, do a town hall format.

We're gonna be in the public safety uh um public safety what's the auditorium.

Yep.

And so we'll have city manager there, police chief, uh, Eric from transportation, maybe a maybe a few others.

Um and I encourage you just to stop by and like have a conversation.

You know, I used to tell my students when I was a teacher that in a democracy or in a republic, a republican democracy that um you have a responsibility to be involved, and I encourage all of you to be involved, and I appreciate the people who came out tonight to spend their first meeting of the year or their Tuesday night with uh just a group of regular dudes up on a die.

So um appreciate y'all and best looking forward to 2026.

Thank you.

Councilman Judd.

Thank you, Mayor.

Well, happy new year.

Proud to be serving with you for our second year together.

Um just real quick, my community meetings on Wednesday nights or this or this year, gonna be on the second Wednesday.

So next, not tomorrow, but a week from Wednesday on the 14th at the Tap House, six o'clock come out.

Open questions.

Anything you want to talk about.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Uh, you know, a year ago, uh, well, let me start off with uh I really enjoyed Christmas and New Year's.

It was uh time to you know rest, refresh, focus, kinda um look back on the on the previous year, and I really enjoyed that that time.

And I'm ready to approach this year with a renewed you know sense of purpose.

Uh you know, last year I talked about you know, let's get to work at you know, my when I took my oath and all that stuff.

But um I'm I think we're ready to do the same thing, but with you know, a year of perspective, a year of experience, and um I I'm looking forward even more, you know, this year just just because it's you know, I kind of got my feet underneath me.

We're ready to go.

We got you know, like um I think it was Councilman Greenberg had said, we have almost a whole new fourth floor up there, and so I think all of us together are really gonna be able to achieve a lot of good things this year, and I'm looking forward to it.

Um I will say though, uh you talked about being a lifeguard.

Those applications are open, right?

Or what do they open, Holly?

Uh assistant management open now.

They'll be open till March.

They'll be open till March.

So now I think it's how much is it an hour?

1711.

1711.

1711.

My daughter did it last year, she loved it.

Um got to go through some uh training on how to save lives, and so I encourage everybody to new students that are out there wanting to do it.

It's uh it's a good time.

What's that?

You might meet your spouse.

You might meet your spouse.

I yeah, hopefully she didn't.

I don't know, maybe she did.

No, good job.

Um, but no, it's uh, you know, it's it's a good we have a great city.

We have a lot going on.

Um there's a lot to focus on.

I think we're really gonna I don't want to we'll do the state of the city later, but um yeah, I appreciate everybody in this room, the residents staff.

We're uh let's just uh let's get to work.

So I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

It's been moved and seconded.

All in favor, aye, all opposed, we'll adjourn.

We said we'd never break the three-second rule.

We'd never make a separate dinner.

And never do that.

We'd never let them sleep in our room.

And