Provide direction to staff on the proposed Zoning Code Text Amendments.

The Zoning Code was adopted by the City Council on November 1, 2011, to replace the former Land Development Code.  Since its adoption, the code has been amended several times to address procedures, add clarity, resolve conflicts, address planning initiatives (accessory dwelling units), incorporate applicant’s requests (West University Drive Entrance Sign District), and to address changes in state law and U.S. Supreme Court decisions (i.e., Reed vs the Town of Gilbert).  In addition, on July 2, 2019 the City Council approved an amendment to the Zoning Code to address a series of technical, conflict resolution, and clarity modifications – as well as the addition of the Seasonal Amusement/Entertainment and Sales, Indoor and related provision to the into the Light Industrial (LI) zone.

The request for a work session with the City Council is to discuss concepts to amend the Zoning Code (Case No. PZ-19-00124) pertaining to the goals, policies, and implementation strategies of the High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan.  More specifically, to replace the Rooming and Boarding land use with the High Occupancy Housing Development and Mixed-use High Occupancy Housing Development land uses, including related provisions.

In February 2018, the City Council adopted the citywide High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan (HOH Plan). The plan was developed in response to the community's dialogue pertaining to previously proposed high-intensity mid-rise developments that primarily catered to college students and large-scale developments near historic neighborhoods. The HOH Plan is intended to provide direction in the form of goals, policies, and strategies to accommodate a variety of housing options in areas of the city that can support infill, redevelopment, and mixed-use activities.  The HOH Plan:

• Fulfills the Regional Plan Policy NH.1.7. to, “Develop appropriate programs and tools to ensure the appropriate placement, design, and operation of new student housing developments consistent with neighborhood character and scale.”;
• Refines goal and policies for High Occupancy Housing (HOH) mixed-use development in activity centers;
• Incorporates goals and policies to preserve the character of existing and historic neighborhoods;
• Incorporates goals, policies, and strategies that provide guidance for future HOH developments to enhance and maintain the city’s character; and
• Addresses the public concerns related to large buildings and unintended consequences of past zoning in Flagstaff (1972, 2011).

As indicated above, the HOH Plan addresses a broad spectrum of topics (Please refer to Chapters 4 and 5 of the HOH Plan).  To address the Zoning Code specific items, staff will break up the implementation tasks into smaller and related topics.  Goals, policies, and implementation strategies of the HOH Plan that are not specific to an HOH development may be incorporated into related amendments. Staff is anticipating that at least four related Zoning Code amendments will be proposed.  It is the intent that these amendments will not be reliant on each other. Each separate amendment is anticipated to address specific items that are closely related.

Proposed Amendment
Case No. PZ-19-00124: Updates to Zoning Code 2019 – High Occupancy Housing is a request to amend multiple divisions of the Zoning Code to implement several goals, policies, and implementation strategies of the HOH Plan.  The initial concepts (Attachment 1) that this amendment is anticipated to include are:

1. Definitions for the High Occupancy Housing Development (HOHD) land use, and Mixed-Use High Occupancy Housing Development (MHOHD) land use;
2. Conditional Use Permit criteria specific to use;
3. Maximum bedroom densities;
4. Specific to use property development criteria;
5. Parking requirements; and
6. Parking reduction allowances.

In addition to the concepts above, the HOH Plan Strategies to be Implemented by 2019 (bullet 2, page 102) includes replacing the Rooming and Boarding land use in all zones with the HOHD and MHOHD land uses. The following are the primary reasons for the recommendation to remove the Rooming and Boarding land use:

• Is based on leasing arrangements that are difficult to enforce;
• Allows the HOH style of development in locations in the City that are not supported by the Regional and HOH Plans;
• Does not have criteria pertaining to the maximum number of dwelling units or number of bedrooms per acre;
• Does not address building mass, scale, or form; and
• It requires significantly more parking, which may result in large parking garages and lots, which are typically associated with increased vehicle trips and limited use of other multi-model options.

Community Involvement
On August 14, 2019, a work session with the Planning and Zoning Commission was held. The purpose of the work session was to inform the Commission of the upcoming public open house meetings and to receive initial feedback on the proposed amendment. A summary of the Planning and Zoning Commission comments are:

• It is appreciated that the proposed definition captures the HOHD development that is occurring in single-family neighborhoods.
• The proposed definition and Conditional Use Permit criteria will assist the community and developers identify locations where HOHD developments would be acceptable and the City’s desires.
• It appears that the intent of the proposed Conditional Use Permit criteria is to direct HOHDs to locations indicated in the HOH Plan rather than increase the number of the HOHDs.
• The concept of compatibility as a Conditional Use Permit criterion needs to be more specific.
• We need to incorporate strict criteria that assist in protecting the City’s character and historic buildings and neighborhoods by including proximity requirements for large scale HOHDs.
• Incorporate requirements for a compatibility study of a HOHD within and/or near a historic building and neighborhood by an independent qualified architectural historian to determine the compatibility, impact, and relationship that the HOHD may have on these structures and areas.
• Additional data is needed to demonstrate that the high-security bike parking spaces actually reduce the parking requirements. This information is available in the HOH Plan.
• It’s hard to qualify the benefit of providing car share options to reduce the parking requirements due to the limited data, although it is an important piece to reduce parking and vehicle trips that should be explored in more depth.
• The replacement of the Rooming and Boarding use with the HOHD is not appropriate in all districts (i.e. such as the Manufactured Housing (MH) zone).

Public open house meetings were held on August 19, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. at the Murdock Center, and 5:30 p.m. at the East Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library. In accordance with the Zoning Code and State statute, the meetings were advertised in the Arizona Daily Sun on August 3, 2019. Persons of interest on file with the Planning and Development Services Department, and the property owners on file with the Coconino County Assessor’s Office of lots and parcels that contain Community Commercial (CC) zoning were notified of the open house meeting via first class mail. Persons on the HOH Plan contact list were also notified. In addition, the open house information was posted on the City’s Zoning Code Amendments webpage. Forty persons attended the open house meetings.

In addition to the open house meetings, public comments were accepted through the City’s Flagstaff Community Forum website from July 26, 2019, to September 15, 2019. The public was notified of the option to participate and provide comments utilizing the City’s Flagstaff Community Forum website through the Flagstaff Community Forum subscriber’s notification, in the Arizona Daily Sun on August 3, 2019, on the City’s Zoning Code Amendments webpage, and on the first-class mailings that were sent to the property owners.  A total of 260 persons viewed the Flagstaff Community Forum website regarding this topic.

A majority of the comments received offer support for the proposed concepts to implement the HOHD and MHOHD. Although due to the low number of responses to some of the concepts, some percentage results may not be an accurate statistical representation of the community’s desires.  In these situations, the HOH Plan policies, technical expertise, the City’s commissions, and the City Council will be utilized to continue vetting the concepts.  A summary of the open house and Flagstaff Community Forum comments are included as Attachment 2. Also, comments received via email are included as Attachment 3.

On August 21, 2019, staff attended the ECONA Business Attraction Meeting. At this meeting, staff provided an overview of all of the current amendments proposed and the Zoning Code amendment work program. The attendees were concerned regarding several of the amendments and current zoning allowances. Although, it did appear that a majority of the attendees were supportive of cleaning-up, shortening, and resolving conflicts in the Zoning Code.  A summary of the comments received is included as Attachment 4.

Timeline
The anticipated timeline for these amendments is:

• August 14, 2019 – Planning and Zoning Commission Work Session
• August 19, 2019 – Public Open House Meeting
• October 8, 2019 – City Council Work Session
• October 23, 2019 – Potential Planning and Zoning Commission Work Session
• November 2019 – Potential Second Public Open House Meeting
• November 2019 – Potential Planning Work Session
• December 2019 – Potential Planning and Zoning Commission Hearing
• January 2019 – Potential City Council Public Hearing (1^st Reading of Ordinance)
• January 2019 – Potential City Council Hearing (2^nd Reading of Ordinance/Adoption)

Conclusion:
As indicated above, the purpose of the work session is to present concepts to amend the Zoning Code pertaining to the goals, policies, and implementation strategies of the High Occupancy Housing Specific Plan.  More specifically, to replace the Rooming and Boarding land use with the High Occupancy Housing Development and Mixed-use High Occupancy Housing Development as new land uses, including related provisions. Also, the work session is to allow the Council to ask questions, seek clarification, have discussions, and offer comments/direction on the proposed amendments. Additional opportunities for discussion, public comment, and action by the City Council will occur at a future public meeting and hearings - see timeline above.  No formal action is to occur at the work session.