Current Policy:
The following policies contained within the city of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance are applicable and relevant to this requested text amendment:
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential has a 35-foot minimum lot width requirement.
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential has a 2,800 minimum lot area (square foot) requirement.
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential has a 75% maximum building lot coverage requirement.
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential does not have provisions for Reduced standards within Article 3-2 Table 3-2-3-E.
Details of the Request:
This request for text amendment is to create Reduced R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential development standards to facilitate the development of townhomes (missing middle housing). Several PAD Overlays have been requested over the city R1-A Zoning District which seek similar requirements to the ones now being proposed by this staff initiated Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment. To achieve this intent, the text amendment proposes the following revisions:
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential may reduce minimum lot width down to 20-foot.
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential may reduce in minimum lot area (square foot) down to 1,600 square feet.
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential will be allowed an 80% maximum building lot coverage requirement.
- R1-A (Single-Family Attached) Residential will have provisions for Reduced standards within Article 3-2 Table 3-2-3-E as well as alley loaded development, layout and parking requirements, illustrated below:
1 Two (2) Amenity Elements shall be required for all lots.
- For developments with more than 50 alley-loaded units planned, which have minimum widths less than 30 feet, one of the Amenity Elements listed in 3-2-3-D.d.i.3.a or 3-2-3-D.d.i.3.b shall be developed.
2 Three (3) Streetscape Elements shall be required for Lots between 20-30 feet.
- All residential lots developed with a width between 20-30 feet and all alley-loaded lots shall provide an Alley-Loaded Streetscape Element and be developed with residential units that have alley loaded garages, and the alleys shall include either carriage lights on either side of the garage door or private HOA maintained lights/bollards to provide security lighting to the alley. Where a rear facing garage is provided with access via a private alley tract, the rear setback shall be reduced to 0 feet, provided fire separation requirements can be met. All driveways, which provide access from the internal alley or streets to a private unit garage, shall be no less than 5 feet in length but no greater than 20 feet in length.
- For residential lots developed using the Reduced development standards set forth in Table 3-2-3-E above, the following Streetscape Elements shall be provided within the Residential portion of the Property:
- An alley shall be defined as a motor court or tract that serves direct access to a series of garages on the rear side of residential lots.
- The entry drive to into an alley, measured at 200 feet or less from the edge corner of the street, that intersects with an alley at a T-intersection or continues as an L shaped alley AND serves as an access point to an alley from the street, is not a separate alley.
- Alleys serving multiple rear garages shall not exceed 450’ unless either (1) the fronts of lots being served by the alley are fronting along a public street (or private street built to public street standards) OR (2) lots adjacent to the alley’s entrance provide street frontage to a public street (or private street built to public street standards) that intersects the alley. Any portion of the alley adjacent to common area open space tracts shall not count towards the maximum 450’ alley length.
- There shall be a total parking ratio of no less than 2.5, including 0.5 guest parking spaces, per platted residential lot subject to the following:
- Guest parking spaces may be provided by on-street parking or in a guest parking space located on private lot driveways, in HOA owned and maintained alleys or parking lots so long as guest spaces are located no more than 225 feet away from any individually platted lot.
- The following applies if guest parking is to be provided within HOA owned and maintained alleys or parking lots:
- A Parking Plan addressing parking management shall be submitted to the city for approval with the Preliminary Plat in which parking is to be provided. All parking shall adhere to the approved Parking Plan. CC&Rs recorded against the Residential Property shall incorporate the approved Parking Plan and shall include provisions to enforce the Parking Plan; and
- Guest parking spaces shall be labeled or numbered. The failure to comply with an approved Parking Plan shall constitute a zoning violation; and
- Guest parking spaces shall be reserved for the use of a 3rd vehicle owned by the residents of an individual residential unit in the development or by the use of guests visiting the development; and
- All vehicles that park in a guest parking space shall have a pass that indicates to a management company which unit the vehicle belongs or which unit the vehicle is a guest of; and
- Guest spaces shall not be used by the 1st or 2nd vehicle owned by residents of a residential unit. If a resident uses a guest space for vehicles owned by the resident, the resident shall obtain a pass as provided above.
Housing Impact Statement:
The probable impact on the average cost to construct housing within this Zoning District will be a reduction in cost. The reduced standards will allow for narrower lots which will allow for additional units to be constructed and reduce the overall cost of construction within a development. The standards for these reduced lots are in-line with the existing standards within our Zoning Ordinance. Additionally, the ZOTA allows a new product to be constructed that does not exist today on a by-right basis within the R1-A Zoning District, thus a less costly or less restrictive alternative does not exist.
Evaluation Criteria:
As previously noted, Section 1-3-1 (Amendments) of the Zoning Ordinance provides evaluation criteria for text amendments. The criteria and accompanying staff analysis are provided below:
A. Documentation indicating inconsistencies in terms of the Ordinance or problems and/or conflicts in implementation of specific sections of the Ordinance that will be resolved by the amendment;
The amendment is intended to streamline the development process. If approved, several months (approximately 4-6 months) of processing time will be removed from the development process which will result in a time and financial savings to the customer and accelerate the time it takes to construct townhouse (missing-middle) developments.
B. Whether amendment is needed to respond to changes in the law, statutory or case law;
This text amendment is not being driven by a change in law, statutory or case law; rather this staff-initiated amendment is a proactive response to streamlining the development process.
C. Whether amendment is needed to address zoning and/or development issues or to improve processes for addressing such issues;
The development community has expressed a desire to bring additional platted townhome developments (missing-middle) to Goodyear. Our existing R1-A (single-family attached) standards does not provide some of the flexibility the development community is seeking. As a result, PAD Overlays have been the preferred method to seek that flexibility. This text amendment will codify the standards associated with providing flexibility to the development community, if they elect to utilize reduced lot size standards.
D. Whether amendment will to promote implementation of goals and objections of the City’s General Plan;
The following 2025 General Plan Goals support the proposed Zoning Ordinance Tex Amendment:
Objective GD-1-1. Establish a land use hierarchy and community form that maintains a broad variety of land uses and responds to the community’s vision and needs.
Objective CC-1-1. Create and foster complete neighborhoods.
Objective CC-1-3. Foster the creation and maintenance of attractive, high quality neighborhoods.
Objective CC-2-1. Provide diverse and quality housing products.
Objective CC-2-3. Advance the concept that every person should have access to safe and affordable housing.
E. Any other factors related to the impact of the amendment on the general health, safety or welfare of the citizens of the City and the general public.
The text amendment should not have any adverse impacts on the general health, safety or welfare of citizens or the general public. The proposed text amendment promotes added housing diversity within Goodyear and encourages additional missing-middle units to be constructed in a more streamlined manner.
Public Participation, Public Comment and Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting:
This Zoning Ordinance text amendment requires public hearings before the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council. Notice for these public hearings included a full-size legal notice published in the Arizona Republic West Valley Edition on March 29, 2024.
Following the notice of public hearings, a letter of support was received by a member of the development community; the letter, attached to this staff report, was addressed to The Planning and Zoning Commission.
On April 17, 2024, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing for this item. After the staff presentation, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted (6-0) to recommend approval of the Ordinance.
A public notice that this rezoning request would be considered and reviewed at a public hearing to be held before the City Council on April 29, 2024, appeared in the Arizona Republic West Valley Edition March 29, 2024.
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