The Town Council approved the proposed General Plan on Tuesday, May 19, and voted to send it to the voters for ratification with the November General Election.

The council offered a few tweaks to the 150-page document, and included in the motion that staff address those items in the final document. Staff indicated they had those requests on the record and a motion to include them would be appropriate rather than bringing the document back due to time constraints outlined by the process.

Several council members expressed their desire to make a clear statement in the plan stating the General Plan is a flexible document with a design to be amended to adjust to current conditions.

Vice Mayor Mike Scharnow said the council has been severely taken to task over the past several months for approving an amendment to the existing document.

In an email to The Times, Scharnow said he was not specifically asking that the document be changed.

“I felt it was important to note that state law mandates that general plans include a process for amendments and that as proposals come forward, certain factors may warrant a council to actually amend such a plan,” Scharnow said. “Of course they are meant to be general guidelines and, yes, they do help with re-zoning considerations, but a General Plan in and of itself is not meant to be written in stone. I believe it is more of a fluid document that sets the tone for 10 years, but not all future projects can be anticipated in such a plan. It comes down to a case-by-case basis.”

Development Services Director John Wesley said that state law requires that the town have a General Plan to be updated at least every 10 years. He said the law only specifies that the town must set the standard for what is a minor amendment and what is a major amendment.

Scharnow also pointed out that the proposed General Plan calls for higher density and mixed use in the downtown area and the Shea Blvd. corridor.

Council Members Dennis Brown and Alan Magazine agreed with Scharnow and asked for the clarification in the plan.

Mayor Ginny Dickey said the proposed plan is a good reference for the overall theme for the community.

“This is a good picture of what people have thought about our community,” Dickey said.

The current Fountain Hills General Plan was adopted in 2010, making this year the deadline to complete the revision.

In 2018 the council authorized a contract with a consultant to assist staff in developing the new plan. They have led several public workshop sessions and began drafting the new document in the summer of 2019. Public meetings were also held to receive input on the draft plan, which is being finalized to present to the Town Council.

The staff description of the plan proposal was outlined by Wesley in a report to the commission.

The plan is divided into five sections, which Wesley described in a memo.

Section 1 is planning for the future. This section of the Plan provides an overview and historical context for the Town and the Plan. The first part of this section translates public input into a Vision and Overarching Principle that guided the development of the Plan.

The vision project’s eight points include native and natural resources and terrain, neighbors and social gatherings, community and civic involvement, opportunities that promote healthy lifestyles, stable economy and housing. The vision presents a “memorable setting that offers distant mountains by day and countless stars by night.”

The overarching principle is to support the vision and is articulated as “Carefully and thoughtfully integrating neighborhoods, environment (built, natural and social) and economy to maintain a thriving community.”

Other sections of the plan include Thriving Neighborhoods, Thriving Environment, Thriving Economy and General Plan Administration and Implementation.

Maria Masque, project manager for The Planning Center, the consultant that prepared the document for the town, told the council that an executive summary of the document would be forthcoming soon. She said she needed to wait for council approval before completing the summary. The Executive Summary should offer the public a clear picture of the document without having to read the entire plan.