The proposed revisions to the town’s General Plan have one last stop – the Town Council Thursday night – before being sent to voters for ratification in May.

Last week the Planning and Zoning Commission held its final public hearing on the plan and made about a dozen last-minute changes before voting to recommend council approval.

The council will hold a pubic hearing during its regular meeting on Thursday, Dec. 17, before considering approval. With council approval the proposed plan would need to go to voters since this would be considered a major revision.

Commissioner Cecil Yates noted that it was about a year ago that a subcommittee of the commission sat down to go through the plan and begin what was believed at the time to be a minor update.

A number of things delayed progress, including a court challenge to the council approval of a new plan and zoning for the former state trust land now owned by the Ellman Cos.

Ultimately staff made the decision to go forward with a major revision to be to be placed on the ballot since the town would be required to send a major update to voters within two years.

“Considerable effort has gone into this project,” Yates said. “We went over the General Plan word for word.

“This was a tremendous job by staff and others involved.”

While most of the wording changes made by the subcommittee went into the draft version of the plan, final changes by the P&Z commission were made last week.

Between a public open house, two public hearings and comments from as many as a couple of dozen entities that are considered to have an interest in the plan, there were some revisions the commission wanted to send on.

A citizen who supports the creation of unpaved trails through washes in Fountain Hills proposed his own language to the plan’s chapter regarding open space.

The commission tweaked that so the new language related to trails reads, “The town should investigate the development of unpaved trails within the town limits that provide opportunities for recreation and enjoyment and use of the Sonoran Desert, including trails that can be built in washes subject to appropriate findings and studies.”

Commissioner Gary Goodell opposed that language, saying he believes the issue of trails in the washes needs additional research before it is included in the General Plan.

Staff had also opposed encouragement of trails in the washes, stating it is a major variance from town policy.

Other changes

Regarding potential development by adjoining communities, a statement was added saying, “the town should work with all adjacent communities to ensure that development on our borders is compatible with development in the town.”

It was noted that in Strategic Planning forums there has been interest in recreational opportunities related to Fountain Lake.

A comment related to recreation in Fountain Park states, “the lake itself is not currently used for active recreational purposes, but the park that surrounds it is widely used by community residents and visitors for both active and passive recreation.”

Roundabouts and other traffic control options were discussed through the downtown visioning process.

In regard to safe, efficient circulation patterns, this statement was added, “The town should develop neighborhood traffic control plans to monitor non-neighborhood ‘cut-through’ and speeding traffic as necessary. Traffic calming measures, including speed humps, speed tables, roundabouts and other appropriate measures should be implemented in accordance with the town’s adopted ‘Neighborhood Traffic Management Process’ manual.”

Regarding pedestrian circulation between the downtown and Fountain Park this statement was included, “The two should complete a study of the pedestrian/vehicular interaction in and around the Town Center to identify possible locations where pedestrian crossings and/or traffic calming improvements are justified to ensure that the Town Center is pedestrian friendly.”

The plan also addresses regional transportation and circulation options.

The plan proposes, “the town should consider conducting a community transit needs/feasibility study to consider 1) the need for improved inter-community regional connections, including both to Scottsdale and Mesa, as well as to the adjacent Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and Rio Verde and 2) the need for in-town service, possibly in the form of a van pool or dial-a-ride operation. The existing RPTA regional transit plan, which encompasses all of Maricopa County, could be used as a foundation and resource document for the study.”

An attorney for the Fountain Hills Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Ellman Companies, asked that the plan’s references to “Ellman property” be changed to either “former State Trust Land,” or “the property owned by the Fountain Hills Investment Company.”

Additional changes include a text change to state: “promote the public and private construction of timely and financially sound infrastructure expansion through the use of infrastructure funding (e.g. development fees) and financial planning that is coordinated with development activity.”

Also, “The town should continue to annually adjust development fees for inflation and conduct a development fee study at least every five years.”

In reference to air quality the plan notes that, “The town periodically experiences high levels of ozone pollution, primarily due to regional air currents. This can be exacerbated by automobile emissions, the use of certain power equipment such as leaf blowers and by wood burning. Leaf blowers and wood burning are also major sources of particulate pollution. Air pollution could be further reduced in Fountain Hills and other Valley communities with an improvement in the jobs-housing balance. In other words, if more people live in the same communities that they worked, they would spend less time commuting, generating less air pollution.”

Also related to air quality, this statement was added, “The natural desert and sandy wash bottoms are a minor source of airborne particles during blowing storms. A much greater source is airborne dust generated by moving vehicles. This is known as PM-10 pollution, which refers to airborne particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter.”

Also, “in March 2008 the town amended the Town Code consistent with changes in state law to further control the causes of dust and airborne particulates.”

Also recognizing changes in access and the residential nature of the neighborhood, the plan states, “the town will work with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation to consider changing the designation of Grande Boulevard as a truck route.”

The public is invited to make additional comments on the changes to the General Plan during the public hearing during the council session Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at Town Hall.

If the council approves the General Plan amendments, state law requires that major revisions be put to a vote of the citizens, and that major revisions be visited at least every 10 years.

The current version of the town’s General Plan is dated 2002.

The plan would be placed on the ballot for citizen ratification on May 18, 2010.