In This Issue:

Village Planning Committees

Boards and Commissions

Zoning Text Amendment: Group Homes

Project Highlights

Staff Spotlights

Message from the Director

Did you know that the Planning and Development

Department issued more than 41,000 permits last year and

served more than 110,000 customers at City Hall? We also

conduct more than 200,000 inspections per year. These

numbers have increased 25-30 percent over the last few

years, and construction activity is still on the rise. Larger,

more complex projects are being developed throughout the

city, and the downtown area continues to be very active with several high

-rise buildings and extensive multi-family projects in plan review or

construction. Major medical and industrial projects are underway, and for

the first time since the recession, there are a number of large residential

subdivisions being developed.

For us, that means an increasing demand on staff as we work to maintain short wait and turnaround times for our customers. We will continue to work hard to serve our customers .

There are ways that you can get involved in your community and learn more about future growth and development. The Village Planning Committees, as well as our boards and commissions, give you the chance to make your voice heard. You can volunteer to serve or just attend the meetings to stay informed. The article on page two will explain how.

As always, if you have suggestions for information or projects you would like to see in this newsletter, please send them to

pdd.outreach@phoenix.gov.

We look forward to hearing from you about how we can provide the most valuable information and updates. Please follow us on social media or email pdd.outreach@phoenix.gov to be added to our mailing list.

Alan Stephenson Director, Planning & Development Department

Planning & Development Department Newsletter May 2017

updatePDD

We recently created a series of videos to explain planning and zoning in the city of Phoenix. Check them out here:

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Village Planning Committees: The Role You Can Play If you’ve ever wondered what a Village Planning

Committee is and how you can get involved, look no

further. The city of Phoenix is split into 15 urban

villages, and each of these villages has a committee

that is appointed by the City Council. The Village

Planning Committees assist the Planning Commission

in the performance of its duties. Village Planning

Committee activities include: identifying areas or

provisions of the General Plan text that need

refinement and updating; identifying problems and

needs related to implementation of the General Plan;

defining in greater detail the intended future function,

density and character of subareas of the village; and

commenting on proposals for new zoning districts or

land use districts.

You can get involved by volunteering to serve a term

on the committee or by attending the monthly

meetings in your Village. Village Planning Committees

have been active in providing input and direction for

the 2015 Phoenix General Plan as well as ongoing work

to define city centers and designating areas of

preservation, growth and retrofit, which is ongoing

within each of the 15 villages.

Additionally, staff were recently promoted to work

with the Village Planning Committees and their

members. To learn who your staff planner is for your

village, visit the map here http://bit.ly/2ofjkJJ. You can

also use our website to learn more about the Village

Planning Committees and how you can get involved.

Visit www.phoenix.gov/pdd/pz.

Boards and Commissions

The Planning and Development Department works with 21 boards and commissions to serve the community. This month, we feature a community member from the North Mountain Village Planning Committee, which is one of the 15 committees tasked with identifying areas of the city’s General Plan that can be refined or updated as well as defining future growth and use for the villages.

Village Planning Committee Member Profile

Shannon McBride

Why did you decide to apply to serve on the North Mountain Village Planning Committee (VPC)? Originally the idea came as an invitation from Councilman Valenzuela's office. It fit right into my desire to serve, protect and build up my community. What have you enjoyed most about your time serving on the committee? Learning about how the planning of the city works, hearing about new projects for my community, having voice in the decisions that affect my community, learning about the committee process. Is there a project or development that you have reviewed that you are excited about seeing in the community? I am so excited by all the plans — current and future! It's our future, and I love being in the process of making it amazing! What would you say to anyone thinking about joining the VPC or attending a future VPC meeting? If you care about you community, if you like watching the process of creating community, if you want a voice in how your community looks — Jump in with both feet by joining the VPC or attending a VPC meeting!

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Zoning Text Amendment: Group Homes

Group home facilities including adult day care, assisted living facilities or homes for individuals with

disabilities. This text amendment was drafted with input from a stakeholder group including

representatives from Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS), Department Economic Security

(DES) and group home providers, who worked to ensure consistent terms and definitions with Arizona

Department of Health Services, conformance with Federal Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities

acts and provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.

The purpose of the amendment is to ensure compliance with the Fair Housing Act and Americans with

Disabilities Act, include reasonable accommodation pursuant to federal law and modernize definitions

and regulations to conform with state and industry standards. Because the zoning ordinance for group

homes was last drafted in the 60s, terminology used was outdated and needed to be modernized. We

also ensured that the regulations were modified for clarity, compliance and consistency.

Some of the definition changes included adding adult day care homes and centers, group foster homes

and hospice and deleting foster homes and rooming houses. Adult day care facilities will have similar

provisions as child care facilities, and hospice facilities will be similar to nursing homes.

The Planning and Development Department conducted outreach before moving forward with these text

amendments, including stakeholder meetings,

updates at the Village Planning Committee

meetings, and three neighborhood leader

meetings. Currently, this text amendment is

on schedule to go before City Council in July

and will be the first part to address zoning

issues. The City Council and Downtown,

Aviation, Economy and Innovation

subcommittee have directed staff to work

over the summer with outside supports on the larger regulation issues like licensing and/or additional

sober living home regulation.

Project Spotlight: Taphouse Kitchen

The Planning and Development Department Office of Customer Advocacy (OCA) continues to assist the group behind Taphouse Kitchen in the Hilton Village to redevelop a vacant restaurant and bring its concept to 3131 E Shea Blvd. The site was subject to building violations due to non-permitted construction, and has sat vacant for the last several years. A significant portion of the 5,750 square foot building was recently demolished to eliminate safety concerns and build out the space to suit the new user. The OCA has helped to facilitate conversations between the business owner and city staff in order to identify development requirements, assist with plan submittals, and resolve technical issues prior to permit and the anticipated opening in the Fall of 2017.

Downtown Housing

Several downtown housing projects are currently underway or in the final stages of

inspections, including The Oscar, Illuminate, Broadstone Arts, Linear and Portland on the Park.

These new residential communities range from storage container apartments to luxury

condominiums and are located along both Roosevelt Road and Portland Street.

Staff Spotlights Racelle Escolar, planner III

Tell us more about your specific job duties. I was recently promoted to Planner III in the Zoning section. I represent the department at the Planning Commission hearings and briefing meetings, draft zoning interpretation/determination letters,

work on amendments to the Zoning Ordinance, review and provide input on rezoning and general plan amendment requests, coordinate post-application meetings for rezonings and general plan amendments, resolve internal and external inquiries, and supervise other planning staff members.

What are some of your day-to-day activities? Working with other staff on rezoning and general plan amendment cases, researching zoning related issues, and responding to inquiries from staff and the public.

What is your favorite part of the job? Problem solving - I enjoy working jointly with other staff, applicants, and the public to find solutions that will benefit the city as a whole.

How long have you been with PDD? And with the city? I have worked for the city in the Planning and Development Department (in some form) since 2005. I worked for both the Planning Department and the Development Services Department prior to the two departments merging. I started with the city as a GIS Technician in the Planning Department. I have worked as a Planner I with the Site Planning Section and Zoning Section, a Planner II with the Site Planning Section, and more recently with the Long Range Planning Section as a Village Planner for three villages in northwest Phoenix, Deer Valley, North Gateway, and Rio Vista Villages.

What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on? I do not have a favorite. Projects that tend to be the most rewarding are the ones that have posed challenges, but have resulted in successful development.

Michael Ornoski, commercial team lead, Inspections

Tell us more about your specific job duties. I am the team leader over commercial inspections, which includes structural, electrical, plumbing/mechanical and new construction fire prevention inspectors. Additionally, I oversee the non-permitted work enforcement

team. I work closely with our plan review teams to help bring consistency between divisions.

What are some of your day-to-day activities? My day to day activities including managing the commercial inspection group. Our team works very closing with helping construction schedules meet their deadlines while obtaining code compliance. I am in constant contact with inspectors, developers and PDD staff to help guide process and procedures.

What is your favorite part of the job? I truly love what I do. I enjoy working with an amazing group of individuals! Helping the construction process by interacting with professional developers, contractors, business owners and our inspectors gives me personal satisfaction by helping them complete their goal to open for business.

How long have you been with PDD? And with the city? I starting with as a commercial electrical inspector in March 2004 and worked in both Public Works and Water Services before returning to Planning and Development in 2012.

What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on? I have so many! I enjoy each of them as they allow me to witness how dynamic the city is with diversity. The one that stands out is the old Beef Eaters restaurant on Camelback Road. Growing up in the Valley, this was of my family’s favorite restaurants. Being part of the revitalization process and witnessing the historic attributes was very rewarding as I felt the historic connection.

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