This past week, City Council made fundamental changes to the draft of the General Plan (GP) to better reflect community values and protect our City's character, quality of life, and open spaces. The GP drives all 'downstream' ordinances and policies from zoning, to transportation, and the protection of open space.
With clarity, the General Plan can discourage inappropriate development proposals which saves staff time, tax dollars, and limits legal exposure. A well defined GP also tilts the playing field in favor of the highest quality proposals thereby increasing the value of Scottsdale.
It has been 20 years since voters approved a General Plan and your voice will matter. Stay tuned for public input opportunities soon.
Character, and Land Use
Two sections of the General Plan play an outsized role on the City's ability to achieve its goals particularly pertaining to development. Those sections are found in Chapter 1: Character & Design and Land Use. The balance of the GP defines the City's goals and policies. However, success in the latter sections hinges on clear definitions and specificity in these first two sections. In short, these sections are crucial and many of my requested changes were in these two areas.
Recommended Changes: What & Why
Words matter. As stated above, a well written General Plan will save tax dollars and protect Scottsdale's qualify of life. Last week, the City Council focused on the vision and the character and land use sections. Based on Council majority input, a new vision statement is being drafted. Other updates from this first round of discussions include:
1) Ensure compliance by replacing words and phrases that infer optional and with those that direct compliance. Change "promote", "is typically" and "encourage" to "should" and "must".
2) Protect Scottsdale's unique character, such as historic downtown, with added protections via character area plans.
3) Remove Infill Incentive Districts (IID) to promote responsible revitalization requiring all parties to pay their fair share and requiring future IIDs to earn a Council supermajority for approval.
4) Adopt a tree canopy plan to increase shade, clean air, and strengthen tree ordinances on both public and private land.
5) Expand categories that define high density which currently includes any property with 8 or more units and add specificity on building heights. For example, a 300-unit apartment and an 8-unit townhome community should not share a land use definition. .
6) Protect rural and equestrian communities with added zoning protections on larger lots.
7) Create a McDowell Sonoran Preserve land use category defined by the 2018 voter-approved, City Charter amendment and the Preserve Ordinance.
8) Increase open space as Scottsdale's population grows. The first step is to strengthen the protection of existing open spaces. From parks, to land-for-density swaps, and the City's Natural Area Open Space (NAOS) ordinance, the GP must differentiate these open space categories, limit staff's ability to override restrictions, and explicitly define land not eligible for development. Lumping land uses together will create development pressures on protected land and open the City up to litigation.
Scottsdale's equestrian lifestyle is part of our heritage, an important economic driver, and maintaining it is a General Plan priority. Protecting residents' quality of life is a GP priority, too. When these two priorities collided last year, pitting a proposed ranch against a 500+ non-equestrian community, everyone rolled up their sleeves and got to work. The open minds and diligence of the residents cannot be overstated as well as the flexibility of the ranch owners. Many months later, we are closing in on a plan that satisfies the equestrian and non-equestrian sides of the fence. Council will vote on the permit this week.
Photo credit: April Visiel and Scottsdale's Arabian Horse Show