Public Hearing, Consideration and Possible Adoption of Resolution No. 2018-08:  A resolution of the City Council of the City of Flagstaff, Arizona adopting the High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan as an Amendment to the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 and establishing an effective date.

The High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan (HOH Plan) contains a package of proposed amendments to the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 (Regional Plan), a specific plan, and, eventually, a set of proposed City Code updates intended to provide clearer direction and more consistent implementation of HOH projects in the City of Flagstaff. The overall vision of the Regional Plan, feedback from the Flagstaff community, and research on best practices to achieve desired outcomes all informed the proposed goals, policies and implementation strategies.

The HOH Specific Plan includes the following chapters:

• Chapter 1: Introduction – provides a basic background of HOH and its development as a community concern as well as a history of density standards in the City of Flagstaff.
• Chapter 2: Site and Area Analysis - goes into detail on each major component of development that relates to HOH. The purpose of this chapter is to illuminate potential ideas, solutions, and/or issues. Each section explains the current regulations, programs and conditions in Flagstaff that relate to HOH. Then a section describes principles and practices for moving forward. This section demonstrate a combination of concepts that have proven successful elsewhere, or situations or constraints that are unique to Flagstaff.
• Chapter 3: Concept Plan - The Concept Plan is an illustration of the land use and transportation concepts in the document with accompanying descriptive text. The Concept Plan does not encumber private land or limit the ability of a private landowner to develop in accordance with their current zoning or City standards. It is intended to help with the interpretation of the Plan’s goals and policies. This chapter includes conceptual maps for activity centers, and illustrations and photos demonstrating how the goals and policies in Chapter 4 and implementation strategies in Chapter 5 could influence future projects in Regional Urban and Suburban Activity Centers and Historic Urban Activity Centers. This chapter also demonstrates the impact of the proposed amendments to the Regional Plan’s Future Growth Illustration on future neighborhood planning and growth patterns.
• Chapter 4: Goals and Policies - Goals and policies in the HOH Plan are topic-specific ways of advancing the goals and policies of the Regional Plan. Goals and policies in this chapter are written broadly because they are intended to be viable for a 10- to 20-year planning horizon. Goals and policies are written in a manner to influence future discretionary decisions of the City, including, but not limited to rezoning cases, updates to City Codes and policies, budgetary decisions, and work programming for staff.
• Chapter 5: Implementation Strategies - Implementation strategies are actions recommended for the City and its partners to take in order to move forward in achieving the goals and policies in the HOH Specific Plan. Strategies are organized by anticipated timeline (immediate, by 2019, by 2023, and long term), and the staff that will take the lead.

There are few direct financial impacts to the City from the adoption of the High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan.  The cost of producing 100 copies of the plan will be approximately $3,000.  Most of the proposed strategies in the near and mid-term time frames in Chapter 5: Implementation Strategies are already budgeted as part of the City's existing service levels, except for:

• funding to support additional and faster work on Zoning Code amendments,
• potential impacts to the Parks and Recreation budget for operation and maintenance that will need to be addressed a part of their policy work,
• new annual funding for mitigating the solid waste impacts of move-in and move-out weeks to off-campus neighborhoods and communities, and
• funding for new historic context reports and inventories for all historic districts and neighborhoods.

The long term strategies costs have not been estimated.  For the most part, they require more scoping and partnership work before an estimate can be prepared.
 
 

Through the process of developing the High Occupancy Housing Plan, the City has reviewed existing City policies and codes for their ability to achieve the Regional Plan goals of sustainability and place making in the context of larger buildings, and especially HOH.  This review has identified areas of improvement in the Zoning Code, Subdivision Code, Engineering Design Standards and Specifications, Solid Waste Code, and Building Code. The outcome of this evaluation is that almost 50 implementation strategies related to code updates have been identified. Work on some of the changes is already underway, even before the HOH Plan will be adopted.  The pace and details of the code amendments will be dependent on the City Council and City Manager direction, level of desired public participation and organizational capacity to complete them.  They may be completed as a batch of changes or individually or as part of a separate effort, such as a Climate Change Plan. In addition, the details of how these strategies achieve the goals and policies of the HOH Plan may also change if there is a better way to address the underlying issue that evolves either from a change in State or federal laws and programs, or a change in lifestyle or technology that alters the conditions upon which the need for these strategies was based. The benefit in the HOH Specific Plan is that it is flexible enough to adapt to changes in conditions over time, but it captures the intent and desired outcomes.

BUILDING & ZONING / REGIONAL PLAN - Revise the Zoning Code to remove ambiguities, and ensure it is consistent with community values and with the Regional Plan.

The HOH Plan is in substantial conformance with the current version of the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 (Regional Plan). The policies amended to the Regional Plan do not conflict with any existing policies. This project narrative provides a synopsis of the elements of the HOH Plan and amendments and how they conform to the Regional Plan. The High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan addresses the need identified in Policy NH.1.7. Develop appropriate programs and tools to ensure the appropriate placement, design, and operation of new student housing developments consistent with neighborhood character and scale. It also addresses:

• Goal LU.18: Develop well designed activity centers and corridors with a variety of business shopping, civic engagement, cultural opportunities and residential choices.
• Goal NH.1. Foster and maintain healthy and diverse urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods in the Flagstaff region.
• Goal NH.3. Make available a variety of housing types at different price points, to provide housing opportunity for all economic sectors.
• Goal NH.6. Neighborhood conservation efforts of revitalization, redevelopment, and infill are compatible with and enhance our overall community character.
• Policy T.3.3. Couple transportation investments with desired land use patterns to enhance and protect the quality and livability of neighborhoods, activity centers, and community places.
   

January 26, 2016: The City Council directed staff to work on the High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan (HOH Plan) as the next specific plan prepared by the Comprehensive Planning program.

September 26, 2017: The City Council reviewed the 60-day public review draft of the HOH Plan.

November 8, 2017: The City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission held a joint Citizen's Review Session to review the updated HOH Plan. At this meeting, the Council considered several future agenda item requests and how to integrate them into the HOH Plan.

January 30, 2018: City Council reviewed the Comprehensive Planning Work Program and gave direction to add an illustration to Chapter 3 in response to the Future Agenda Request to Initiate a Regional Plan Amendment that creates a high occupancy housing overlay to indicate where the community finds development of high occupancy housing acceptable.