City of St. Johns, Arizona



CITY OF ST. JOHNSPLANNING & ZONING COMMISSIONREGULAR MEETING MINUTESJune 24, 2020The regular meeting was duly posted. City Manager Paul Ramsey called the meeting to order at approximately 3:07 p.m. at the City of St. Johns Council Chambers.ROLL CALL: Ken Flygare, Celeste Robertson, Preston Raban, Rob Hines, Carl Wilkins, and Councilman Ken Whiting.STAFF PRESENET: City Manager Paul Ramsey, Community Development Director Chris Chiesl, and City Clerk Cindy Lee. OTHERS PRESENT: Daryl GreerREGULAR AGENDA1. Welcome New PZ CommissionersCity Manager Paul Ramsey welcomed everyone for coming.2. IntroductionsThe PZ Commission and City Staff introduced themselves. 3. Appointment of Chair and Vice Chair for 2020Ken Flygare nominated Carl Wilkins as the Chairman. Celeste Robertson seconds the nomination. Preston Raban nominated Ken Flygare as the Vice Chairman. Carl Wilkins seconds the nomination.Nomination passed 5-0PUBLIC COMMENTMayor Spence Udall commented that we have a lot happening in our City. We feel that we have a good Council that is united behind you as a Commission. Council is willing to help in any way we can. We look forward working with you and we have Chris Chiesl as the Community Development Director. This is the first time that we have had someone with expertise in Planning & Zoning, sense he has been in office. She is going to the point person in the office doing the day to day things in Planning & Zoning. He encouraged the Commission to get to know her and work with her. He thanked the Commission for their wiliness to serve and appreciates them also. He is also thankful that the Commission decided to live in our community of St. Johns. Daryl Greer – He saw on the agenda that there is a discussion on tiny homes. He has done some research on the tiny homes. In the last meeting (that was not official) there was a lady that was interested in the tiny homes. In that meeting she was told that St. Johns does not have an ordinance or tiny houses at that time. He has requested public records on the tiny houses. It sounds like the ordinance went through any way. Ms. Chiesl called it a shop and has it going right now. It is in electrical phase. He knows this because he was contacted by some of the employees wanting him to be the contractor involved. It is up and running. In the emails to the County she (Chris Chiesl) as far as she know it is only a shop. That is a blatant lie. He has statements that she told them to keep it quiet and that the person can move in as her home and if any one says anything you can put another one there and make it 800 feet. He has everything coming from the County. The County Building Inspector called her out and said this looks like a tiny home. It has a full bathroom and kitchen and Chris Chiesl needs to get our paper work and to address this. Chris Chiesl states that as far as she knows it is a shop. He is a little concerned that permits are being issued with no approval of Planning & Zoning and not going through the correct steps. We need the Council and the Planning & Zoning involved. 4. Discussion and action of Ordinance for Tiny HousesCommunity Development Director, Chris Chiesl, commented in response to Mr. Greer’s statement regarding the building permit issued for a tiny house. Ms. Chiesl has never issued a permit for a tiny house for the City. The permit in question was for a 448 sq ft shop that included electrical and plumbing. She referred to the Planning/Zoning matrix that she handed out to the Commissioners that under the development standards/R-3 the minimum dwelling size allowed was 400 sq ft for an efficiency or studio dwelling. It was also acknowledged that the building was built to livability code standards as the person applying for the permit had wanted to ensure that it was safe. However, if this person did decide to move into this structure, she would have to have a final fire inspection completed.Regarding the Tiny Home Ordinance for discussion by the Commission, Ms. Chiesl noted that she checked for existing ordinances that may exist with the State, Apache County, the City of Eagar, Springerville and Show Low. The draft ordinance before the Commission consisted of verbiage that was in place from these groups. Ms. Chiesl also referenced the attached criteria presented to the Commissioners that the County had on their website for converting pre-fabricated sheds into tiny homes.The Commission discussed the problem comprehensive values in neighborhoods of having a ‘tiny house’ built there – that it may lower property values. They discussed cargo containers that are sometimes used as tiny homes and how that should be approached – either by an overlay or requiring a Conditional Use Permit.The Commission talked about making the ordinance very clear so there would be no question on what a tiny house consists of and where it can be placed. They felt that an ordinance was necessary otherwise there would be no governance.MOTIONMotion was made by Celeste Robertson to table the tiny house ordinance. Motion was made by Preston Raban. Motion passed 5-0CITY MANAGER OVERVIEWCity Manager Paul Ramsey commented that there is a lot of work to be done. City Council has talked about an overlay to address manufactured homes and tiny houses. He commented that there is only one overlay in town for site built homes; on 24th W. Street, North of the highway, from 4th N. to 15th N. on both sided of 24th W. MUNITY DEVEOPMENT OVERVIEWCommunity Development Director Chris Chiesl thanked everyone on the P & Z Commission for their service and that a priority is to work on the general plan. She asked them to review the land use map for the next meeting. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORTCouncilman Ken Whiting would like the P & Z Commission to address Hemp.FUTURE AGENDA ITESThe P & Z Commission discussed when to have a work session. They decided to have the work session on Friday, July 17th at 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the Regular P & Z meeting on Thursday, July 23rd at 4 p.m.An appointment of 2 year term for 2 Planning & Zoning Commissioners and 3 year term for 3 Planning & Zoning Commissioners needed to be made. MOTIONMotion was made by Celeste Robertson to Carl Wilkins and Ken Flygare 2 year terms and the rest of the Commission 3 year terms (Celeste Robertson, Preston Raban, and Rob Hines). Motion was second by Preston Raban. Motion passed 5-0ADJOURNMENTChairman Carl Wilkins adjourned the meeting at 4:47 p.m.Carl Wilkins, ChairmanATTEST:Cindy Lee, City ClerkCERTIFICATIONI hereby certify that the forgoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the regular meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting held June 24, 2020. I certify that the meeting was duly called, held, and that a quorum was present.Cindy Lee, City Clerk*Please note: Approved minutes are not verbatim record of what happened at the City Planning & Zoning Commission meeting, they capture a summary of the meeting as well as all action taken. A recording of the entire meeting is available upon request at the City Clerk office for three months following the meeting. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download