Zoning Ordinance DRAFT Text Amendments

Please review and comment on the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments. These amendments are intended to improve flexibility in the Comprehensive Plan update process and overall flexibility, efficiency and alignment with the Comprehensive Plan in serving the community. The Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments on May 21, 2024 at 1:15pm. Meeting instructions and information will be posted at our website at: https://www.coconino.az.gov/1589/BOS-Video-Stream a minimum of 24 hours before the hearing. Please contact Jess McNeely at 928-679-8869 or wmcneely@coconino.az.gov with questions.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES:

As staff is working on the 10-year update to the Comprehensive Plan, we saw the need to amend the Zoning Ordinance Section 5.13 removing a major amendment hearing requirement from only in October to allow that hearing any month of the year within 12-months of application. This is allowed by State statute and will make the 10-year Comprehensive Plan update process more flexible and allow for better separation between the County Comprehensive Plan update hearing and the Flagstaff Regional Plan update hearing. Staff also has a working list of non-substantive Zoning Ordinance “clean-up” amendments. Efficiency of one Zoning Ordinance amendment allows us to make those updates at the same time.

Proposed amendments are as follows:

1. Under Section 1.12 Permit Requirements, 1.12A Zoning Compliance Review item 1 – adding the Engineering Design and Construction Manual to the Building Code as setting the minimum standards for construction setting permit requirements. And item 6 – requiring Floodplain Permits per the County Floodplain Regulations. And further clarifying other locations in the ordinance that the Engineering Design and Construction Manual and Drainage Design Criteria Manual functions as the County’s engineering permitting standards.
2.  Under Section 2.6.C. Property Development Standards for the MHP Zone, eliminating the required recreation area per manufactured home space. This is not needed as other code requirements for landscaping and open space are adequate.
3. Under Table 2.7 removing the term ‘semi-permanent foundation’ for manufactured homes as State Statutes and building code now require permanent foundations. 
4. Under 2.8.D. Performance Standards: Commercial Zones section C, clarify that if waste receptacles are used they must be visually screened. The code currently requires waste receptacles (dumpsters) when many areas of the county do not have that service available and business operators manage solid waste in accordance with regulations by other means. And further consistent clarification elsewhere in the code.
5. Removing 2.8.D. Performance Standards: Commercial Zones item 8 Other Performance Standards as it requires conditional use permit approval for outdoor storage, this section conflicts with other code sections where the use is permitted. That section also includes unenforceable noise standards that are nuisance complaints.
6. Under Table 2-9 Commercial and Industrial Zones Permitted and Conditional Uses making Self-service Storage a permitted use in CG zoning (consistent with RV storage), adding Health Clinics to Hospitals as a use and increasing the flexibility of residential use and caretakers quarters in commercial zones.
7. Under 2.11.C. Administration Requirements for Planned Districts item 3.C eliminating unnecessary and unused submittal details, adding item 3.J. for proposed fire and emergency services, and eliminating item 4.A – D as being redundant to zone change findings and confusing at hearings.
8. Under 2.11.D. Performance Standards Common to Planned District Zones eliminating item 6.C. as those uses are prohibited elsewhere in the code. 
9.  Under 2.16.B. Design Review Overlay Zone modifying item 4.I. to extend from 1 to 2 years the time to get building permits.
10. Under 3.2. Temporary Uses adding ‘commercial use of property for gatherings or events such as weddings, banquets, celebrations, retreats or conferences’ to clarify special event Temporary Uses. Modifying B.13. to allow for RV temporary use when building a home in the RS Zone and the parcel is 1 acre or larger.
11. Under 3.4. Accessory Dwellings clarifying that only one kitchen is permitted in an accessory dwelling.
12. Under 3.5. Home Occupations item C increasing flexibility for a Home Occupation to use Accessory Structures.
13. Under 3.18 Campgrounds and Recreational Vehicle Parks: section A clarifying that the use is short-term and seasonal, section C.1. clarifying that cabins meet the underlying zoning and building code requirements for a dwelling unit, section C.6. clarifying a fire safety and not ‘Firewise’ plan (Firewise is a defined nation-wide program with specific requirements that may not apply to this County, this is a clarification requested by fire district chiefs) and adding a required posting of National Forest and County fire danger and burn bans, and item D clarifying that the section applies to recreational vehicle parks. The change of the term Firewise to fire safety reflects through several other places in the code.
14. Under 4.4 Landscaping, improving incentives to use existing landscaping on a site to count as required landscaping, increasing plant size flexibility and flexibility of landscape plans by removing a requirement for building perimeter landscaping – many commercial developments are physically unable to fit this on a site.
15. Under 5.7 Conditional Use Permits item 4.A. removing drainage, water and other utility requirements from the list of potential conditions as those items are regulated elsewhere and cannot be conditioned with a CUP.
16. Under 5.12 allowing members of the public to request Zoning Ordinance amendments as this is allowed by State statute and has been done in the past.
17. Under 5.13 Comprehensive Plan item 4 changing major amendment hearings from only in October to any month of the year within 12-months of application. This is allowed by State statute and will make the 10-year Comprehensive Plan update process more flexible.
18. Under 5.14 Enforcement adding engineering, environmental quality and floodplain permits to building permits as required. 
19. Under 6 Definitions editing ACCESSORY DWELLING, ATTACHED specify a structural connection from the primary to the attached accessory dwelling, this is more flexible than the previous description of ‘internally or by a common wall;’ allowing MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT, NOT IN AN ACTIVITY CENTER in commercial zoning that is not within an area plan; under DWELLING UNIT, SINGLE FAMILY adding language to allow one additional kitchen in a single-family dwelling; add definitions for “HIGHWAY INTERCHANGE” and “TENT,”  and other definition edits associated with the amendments described above.