2026.0128.SPAC.VERBATIM.TRANSCRIPT

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS 
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING 
OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION 
JANUARY 28, 2026 
 
 
 
 
A Regular Meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission was 
convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in an open and public session at 
4:00 PM 
 
Members Present: Chairman Patrick Garman; Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta; 
Commissioner Bernie Hoenle; Commissioner Polly Bonnett; Commissioner 
Joseph Reyes 
 
Members Absent: Commissioner Randy Crader; Commissioner Paul Smith 
 
 
Staff Present: Deputy Town Manager David Trimble; Deputy Town Clerk Angela 
Padgett-Espiritu

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JANUARY 28, 2026 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING 
 
 
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Post-Production File 
 
 
 
 
Town of Fountain Hills 
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Meeting 
January 28, 2026 
 
 
 
Transcription Provided By: 
eScribers, LLC 
 
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Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not 
be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.  
 
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CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  I'll call to order this meeting of the Fountain Hills 
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission at little after 4 on Wednesday, January 28th, 
2026.   
Angela, could you do the roll call for us today?  
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Chair Garman.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Here.  
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Vice Chair Yazzetta. 
YAZZETTA:  Here.   
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Commissioner Bonnett. 
BONNETT:  Here.   
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Commissioner Crader not present.   
Commissioner Hoenle. 
HOENLE:  Here.  
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Commissioner Reyes. 
REYES:  Here.   
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Commissioner Smith is not present.  We have a quorum.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  Thank you.   
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Okay. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  I don't think we have any public or a statement of 
participation; am I right?  
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  Correct.  We don't. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  Thanks.  All right.  So that was a really quick.  We're 
already down through agenda item 3.  Agenda item 4 is presentations.  We don't have 
any presentations either.  We're going to jump right into business, right?  All right.  So 
we're going to get down to consent agenda, which is the consideration and possible 
action.  This has to do with the approval of the November 19th, 2025, minutes of the 
regular meeting of the Strategic Planning Commission.  Does anybody have any 
comments or anything about what they reviewed for that meeting?   
All right.  Any motions on the floor?

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YAZZETTA:  Move to approve.  
BONNETT:  Second.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  We have a second.  All right.  We have a second.  All right.  
Discussion.  Thank you very much, Angela.  I love them.  We're doing the -- you know, 
we do discussions.  It's all a transcript.  And then we get the kind of the overview of it.  
Those two together really give a good record of the past.  So it's good we talk about all 
this stuff and then we have this record to look back at which really helps, so thank you.  
PADGETT-ESPIRITU:  I'm glad to help.  You're welcome.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  So we're going to move on to vote.  All in favor of 
approving the minutes for the meeting, our SPAC meeting on November 19th, 2025, say 
aye.  
ALL:  Aye. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Any opposed?  Hearing none.  Motion passed.  Minutes are 
approved unanimously.  All right.  We're cruising today.  Okay.  So we are now down to 
agenda item 6 for those following along at home.  That's our regular agenda for today.  
So that's the main meat of our meeting today and has to do with the discussion and 
possible action, but really in-depth discussion of our future strategic plan and our -- the 
signature strategy of land use and development.  If you remember, at our workshop last 
June when we talked about this signature strategy, we carved out, you know, three 
different areas of emphasis that we were going to talk about today.   
Last fall, we talked about finance.  We started with finance and we talked about all the 
different strategies underneath them, underneath finance.  And then we talked about 
infrastructure next.  And infrastructure actually flowed into two separate meetings.  So 
holidays are over.   
And now, we're talking about our third strategic strategy which is land use 
development.  First on the docket, we wanted to have a talk about the state trust land.  
We talked a lot about that.  I think last year we had a good conversation about it, and 
that's why we put it underneath the pillars as a signature strategy.  So I didn't know, are 
we just going to have a discussion or did you want to provide an overview or a map?  Do

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you want to set the table for us, I guess.   
WESLEY:  May I?   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yeah.  
WESLEY:  Okay.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Please do.  
WESLEY:  I didn't click that, I guess.  So Chairman, members, thank you for the 
opportunity to be here today to talk with you about land use.  I saw three items on the 
agenda.  State trust land, underutilized land and flexible zoning.  And so these may 
just -- if it's okay just kind of all mushed together as we talk about it a little bit.  But we 
will start with some discussion of state trust land, which is this area on the north side of 
town, the basically two-square miles of vacant property that was annexed in and zoned 
into the town about 20 years ago when there was a potential developer for this land 
that went through the process with the State Land Department to plan it and get it 
developed.   
That ultimately fell through.  And so it's been sitting out there, various studies and 
comments have happened with regard to this land over the years.  And about a year or 
so ago, we started receiving some more developer interest in this lands.  People kind of 
coming in and poking around a little bit, asking some questions about it, reviewing the 
files on it, and starting to reach out a little bit to the state trust land.   
And so I know over the last few months, some of that's been going on.  And when I was 
asked to come and speak with you today, I thought, well, maybe it'd be a good time to 
reach out to the State Land Department and see if anything's coming of any of that.  And 
as a result of that, I got a response from that Department that says that Pulte has 
actually entered into an agreement with -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Can you say that again? 
WESLEY:  Pulte.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Pulte.  
WESLEY:  Pulte, the residential developer, Pulte, has submitted an application to State 
Trust Land to proceed with the planning process for this property.  They have engaged

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their attorney.  They've been starting to meet with the different utilities to work 
through some of those issues with regard to that.  And based on learning that, we had a 
very brief pre, pre, pre discussion with their attorney on Monday and have set up a 
follow up meeting for February the 11th to discuss how they might move forward and 
what they might look at here on this property.  They are certainly aware of what's gone 
on in the past with this zoning pattern, and they may or may not like some or all of it, 
and some may be requesting some rezoning.  At this point, they are estimating that take 
about 12 to 18 months to get to the auction for the land.  The attorney for Pulte was 
speculating that if they were successful and ultimately purchasing the property, that 
they would hope to be ready to turn dirt within about two years.  
HOENLE:  Could you please tell us how the -- what's bounded, what's around the land?  
WESLEY:  So you've got the middle school site here on the end of Fountain Hills 
Boulevard and maybe it'd be better to go back up to the aerial.  Again, there's nothing 
there.  There's this commercial piece here at Fountain Hills Boulevard in Glenbrook.  It's 
kind of the last thing you really see in town as you exit the town and go up on McDowell 
Mountain Road out of town, but we do have single family residential boarding along the 
west and south portions of this property.  Again, it's about two -- it's a little over two 
square miles.  There's one square mile, another one and a little piece of this next one 
over here.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  I just want to -- but with the kind of the north is McDowell Park, 
Regional Park -- 
WESLEY:  Right.  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- and kind of towards -- 
WESLEY:  Southern park. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- the northeast, maybe, or to the right.   
WESLEY:  Yeah. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Is that bump up against reservation land?  
WESLEY:  Yes, I believe so.  I believe that's all reservation on this side and McDowell.  
Mountain up here.  Then you go on up, you get to Rio Verde and so forth.

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CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So everybody feel free if you turn on your light, I'll look at you 
and call.  And because you've said a lot already, which is awesome.  I really appreciate 
you putting the time in to prep beforehand.   
WESLEY:  Thank you. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So the question is, I wrote down, I kind of looked at this too over 
the last couple of weeks and it says there's one thing I wanted to read and that is -- oh, 
the trust, it does not concentrate.  This is what it says on the website.  It does not 
concentrate on selling the land that is next to urbanized areas until the land has reached 
a significant market value.  It doesn't define what that is.  So has this reached a 
significant market value several times in the past?  Like it sounds like the State Land is 
ready to sell it.  It can get it -- in this subjective verbiage, thinks that it is now worth 
selling.  
WESLEY:  Chair, I would have to say, yes.  That would be a better question, obviously, to 
ask them, but the fact that they have accepted the submission from Pulte and are 
allowing them to move forward towards consideration of an auction in a year or so, that 
would suggest that that would be true that they have believed that it has reached that 
point.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  But for the auction, anybody can -- 
WESLEY:  That's correct. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- get on it.   
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  But it sounds like they've been working with somebody who 
they -- 
WESLEY:  Right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- think might have a good bid.  
WESLEY:  Right.  Right.  And so that's the Pulte, in this case, would be their responsibility 
over the next year or so to go through a planning process with the town and looking at 
what's been approved with the zoning that's in place today, see if they think that's 
something they can work with, or if not to propose some rezonings and work that

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through the town and get all that approved.  So it has its development ready.  And then 
they hold the bid, hold the auction, and Pulte hopes after they spend all this time and 
money, they'll be the successful bidder, but it could end up being somebody else.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So when -- still looking at the lights.  You guys are pretty quiet 
here today.  How or if or does it ever transfer to being part of Fountain Hills?  
WESLEY:  It already is.  It was annexed back previously when -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Annexed.  Why aren't we interacting with the developer to 
auction it off?  
WESLEY:  Because it's still a state trust land.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay. 
WESLEY:  It's inside our corporate limits for zoning and those purposes, but it's still the 
state trust land.  So they're the ones responsible for it.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  State is the landowner -- 
WESLEY:  They are the landowner -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- in Fountain Hills. 
WESLEY:  Correct.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  This is great.  So how much of a say does the -- so do we have 
to -- does it have to go through our zoning -- 
WESLEY:  Yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- commission?  
WESLEY:  Yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So we have a say on how -- 
WESLEY:  Yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- it's -- 
WESLEY:  Absolutely. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- developed according to -- 
WESLEY:  Yes.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So they're going to have -- they're going to -- Pulte is going to -- if 
this -- you know they bid, they buy it, or they to develop the land for the State, then that

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package has to go through our planning and zoning -- 
WESLEY:  Correct. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- to take a look at.  
WESLEY:  Yes.  Town council have to approve any changes to the zoning as it's shown 
there today.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  Go ahead, Geoff. 
YAZZETTA:  As it's zoned currently, how many homes can be built there?  
WESLEY:  I'm afraid I don't recall what the -- 
YAZZETTA:  Okay. 
WESLEY:  -- number is off the top of my head.  It's been a while since I've seen that.  You 
can see the different zoning districts in there with a lot of the different residentials, a lot 
of open spaces for the different washes that run through.  They're all, for the most part, 
you know, the medium to larger lot zonings.  And it's several thousand homes, but I 
don't remember really what that number was before.  
YAZZETTA:  I see.  There's a lot of development going on in the West Valley and 
southeast down towards Queen Creek.  Have we looked at how those cities and towns 
are interacting with the developers to try and streamline the process?  I'm not saying, 
you know, bend the rules or anything, but just try to make it smooth because Fountain 
Hills, in my opinion, needs a shot in the arm as it relates to development.  And I just 
want to know if there's any talk behind the scenes about trying to facilitate this 
development here.  
WESLEY:  Chair, Vice Chair, we haven't had those discussions specifically.  I may be a 
little bit biased, but from what I know about what goes on in other towns, we're about 
as streamlined as it gets.  
YAZZETTA:  Okay. 
WESLEY:  We really help applicants as they come in, particularly for a project like this.  
We will work to get it through as quickly as possible, but also knowing it's a big project 
that'll have a big impact on the town.  We won't want to rush it past the citizens that 
have an interest and want to have their say in what's going on, but --

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YAZZETTA:  Sure.  And obviously, this is predating all of us here in town, but would this 
be the largest subdivision development in Fountain Hills, or were there larger ones in 
earlier?  
WESLEY:  As far as -- that's a little bit maybe challenging to ask in terms of tracts, you 
know, certainly, at the start of the town, see if this curse will pop up, you know, parcels, 
large parcels were laid out at one time for, you know, the bulk of the town.   
YAZZETTA:  Um-hum. 
WESLEY:  And they came back and did individual subdivisions.  So it would be kind of 
similar in that regard -- 
YAZZETTA:  Um-hum. 
WESLEY:  -- and certainly a little bit smaller than this.  In terms of, you know, any recent 
history.  The Adero Canyon up here is the largest single one that we've done.  And again, 
it's smaller.  Eagles Nest up here.  You know, at the time it was done or even Sunridge 
Canyon through here.  They would probably be fairly comparable in their size.  
YAZZETTA:  Thank you.  And one other question.  I know the sanitary district is able to 
accommodate this.  Are there any -- do we know of any water or electrical upgrades 
that need to be made?  
WESLEY:  Chair, Vice Chair, the two big issues for this and the impediments have been 
both water and sewer.  I don't know that electric is necessarily a problem that can fairly 
easily go anyplace.  It's the water and the sewer that are the bigger challenge.  That's 
why they've been meeting with them early -- 
YAZZETTA:  I see. 
WESLEY:  -- in the process to start to work through how those issues would be handled. 
YAZZETTA:  And those obstacles, it creates a financial burden for the developer, which 
makes -- 
WESLEY:  Correct. 
YAZZETTA:  -- the project maybe not make sense for them to pursue -- 
WESLEY:  Correct.  
YAZZETTA:  -- that issue.

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WESLEY:  That's been the issue that we've understood from the State in the past.  And 
consultants who have looked at it is -- it's been a feeling that the cost of infrastructure in 
here is going to drive the land prices so high that it just wasn't going to be cost effective 
to develop.  And so I assume that that Pulte has looked at it, that enough to think that 
they can make those numbers work.  
YAZZETTA:  Thank you so much.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  The proceeds from the land are supposed to be dedicated to K 
through 12, right from the State's perspective.  Will the development or the sale of this 
land from the State to the developer help the Fountain Hill school system?  
WESLEY:  Mr. Trimble, you might know as much about that as anybody here as far as 
how that works on that end of it, but I don't know exactly. 
TRIMBLE:  It all goes into -- yeah, it all goes into a big to the big pot of K-12 funding, so 
it's not -- 
WESLEY:  State -- 
TRIMBLE:  The State.   
WESLEY:  Yeah.  So it'd been -- 
TRIMBLE:  So it'd be dedicate it to Fountain Hills Unified School District. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  
TRIMBLE:  Yeah.  Thought I'd asked.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  And I looked up to -- 
TRIMBLE:  Thought I'd asked. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- the previous question on how many homes as it was zoned in 
2006.  Based on an article here, it says 1,750, so they'll probably ask for -- well, I don't 
know.  They may ask for changes in zoning, but that's as currently zoned.  
WESLEY:  Right.  Again, that's speculation on my part, but I would think they would 
probably want to increase the densities a little bit and get a few more homes than that 
out of this.  But that's just speculation on my part at this point.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  I know we all kind of cut you off.  Did you have more with 
the State Land that you want to --

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WESLEY:  That's really it.  That's what we know at this point.  We will certainly be 
keeping town management appraised as we go through this process.  And at some 
point, they will -- they'll have actual public applications that will be reviewed and you'll 
see those happen.  But I would it'll probably be next fall, I would expect before we'd see, 
you know, the rezoning applications.  
HOENLE:  I had a question, but it got answered already.  And it was related to the 
zoning, obviously.  I'm assuming that they're going to try to get their maximum amount 
of homes out of this development.  But I was also wondering whether there might be 
any opportunities for mixed use to add some like commercial mixed, something or 
anything like that.  
WESLEY:  Sure, Chair, Commissioner, that -- that's a good question.  That's something 
that that we will be discussing with them.  And we will talk about this maybe more here 
in just a second.  There is one spot of commercial zoning on the map.  It was zoned 
before in an area up here for lodging for some type of resort hotel maybe.  Resort hotels 
aren't quite as big a thing as they were back then, and the ones we have been struggling 
a bit.  Well, they still want to resort hotel, I don't know.  We'll see the commercial that 
we're going to talk about in a minute.  Just south of here is kind of a struggling 
commercial center.   
Do we need more commercial in this area at this time?  Don't know.  That's something 
we will discuss with them.  I did throw out to them based on some conversations we've 
been having with the Economic Development Committee about, is there an opportunity 
here for some type of employment land to bring offices or corporate headquarters of 
some kind or whatever here that would be appropriate for the town.  
 They kind of went, oh, I hadn't thought about that one before.  So I don't know if that 
will go anywhere but throwing that out there.  But certainly, from the town's 
perspective, we will be looking at and proposing things that we think are beneficial for 
the town in their considerations.  
HOENLE:  I'm assuming what I heard this morning, and the state of the town, that we 
are continuing to try to find some type of an anchor employer to develop something

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somewhere.  So who knows, might be an opportunity for that.   
WESLEY:  Right.   
HOENLE:  Thank you.  
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So pull it all together, State trust, what would you see, and 
anybody can speak up.  The question is for the room.  You know, I was prepping for 
what's this going to look like in five years, and I had a whole different perspective than 
what you just laid out.  So five to ten years now, what are some of the things that a 
strategic plan for Fountain Hills might be able to help land use, especially this area, in 
five to ten years, because you said it might auction it off in a year or so a year or two, 
and then within five years be, you know, up and developing it.  That's a goal.  Well, the 
strategic plan is five to ten years out.  
WESLEY:  Right.  And so you know, I haven't thought about that at this point.  This is all 
kind of kind of new.  But you know, five years from now, if it goes forward as proposed, 
we'd be seeing the first homes built and residents, you know, within five years.  And so 
as this continues to build out, and again, depending upon what actually ends up here, 
you know, the streets, the parks, the schools, all those things, the commercial services 
and needs of the town all get impacted to some degree.   
There are certainly short-term revenues that come in during construction that are 
helpful for the town.  Long term, there are maintenance costs for roads and parks, and 
fire and police and so forth.  And you know, what's the balance there that we're going to 
get out of those in the long run are all things to think about.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.   
REYES:  So I had a long list, and I -- 
WESLEY:  Cut you off.   
REYES:  (Indiscernible). 
WESLEY:  Okay.  Yes.  Yeah.  It's all been new for us.  And think about this coming this 
much sooner.  We've all been kind of thinking it's further out.  And you know, this may 
still, at this point, fall through if they really can't make the numbers work, but it's

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promising that they're getting this far and looking seriously at it.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Does the State make any money off of it right now?  And like I 
looked into it and some of the State Trust Land, they put solar panel farms on them to 
make electricity.  They did agriculture.  
WESLEY:  Right.  Sometimes they'll have cattle grazing.  I don't know that any of that 
happens on this one.  I don't know if you know.  I don't think so though.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  They never -- 
YAZZETTA:  No, I don't think there's any cattle grazing out there.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Legally anyways. 
YAZZETTA:  Right now. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yeah.  Maybe some horses passing through from time to time.  
Yeah. 
WESLEY:  There are some really pathetic looking deer.  They're around the -- 
YAZZETTA:  Yeah, there may be some deer out there, but I don't think the Department 
gets any money right now.  It's a cost.  It's a little bit of a cost to hold it for them, but not 
much really.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  All right.  Okay.  Any other questions about the State Trust 
Land?  All right.  We're going to move on to the next topic, which is kind of broad 
flexible zoning.  
WESLEY:  And if you don't mind, Chair, I'm going to combine that with the other one 
about underutilized land because I think they kind of go together because we might use 
some flexible zoning tools to help facilitate the use of some of the underutilized land.  
And so start by just moving south a little bit here along Fountain Hills Boulevard.  We 
have this commercial node that's there, north of Glenbrook and El Pueblo.  If you travel 
out this area of town, you've seen it.  
 It hasn't changed much in the last 20 years.  It's got a little bit of scattered 
development.  Several vacant lots, some zoning that doesn't work very well on it, 
particularly on the northern piece.  And so yes, it's underutilized.   
Right now, we've had -- over here in this this piece, there's currently an office building

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under construction on this corner with some second-floor apartments.  The person 
who's done that has purchased these properties for some more apartments.  There's 
been discussion about some apartments residential uses and a mixed use over in this 
area, but that didn't quite work out at this point.  It's kind of back on the drawing 
boards.   
There were some apartments approved at one point for the corner up here at 
Glenbrook, but that timed out.  They didn't proceed with it before their special use 
permit expired.  So that's not happening at this point.   
Get periodic questions about these small lots up here.  I don't want to get too much in 
the weeds, but this is Zone C-1, which requires you to have your own parking, but these 
weren't platted.  These were platted like CC lots, which is a common commercial like 
this, down here, we have a common parking lot, and so it throws a wrench into actually 
developing these up here.  
 And so we are going to need to do some things with the zoning up here to really make 
this work.  We've got some ideas in mind, one of which would be to take the overlay 
that we currently have in the downtown area, the planned shopping plaza overlay, and 
do an overlay here, which would allow it to use the common parking would help it some 
as one option.  But we are considering options for what we call -- names just went out 
of my head.   
Floating zones in town.  And a floating zone is creating a zoning district or zoning 
designation, usually through the planned area development process.  And the town 
looks at an area and says, you know, this would really be great if it developed with these 
types of characteristics and uses.  We can't really go in and zone somebody's property.  
Well, we can, but it's -- you face some legal challenges when you do that, and so you've 
got to be careful in doing it.   
And so a floating zone process takes care of that by the town looking and saying here's 
what we really want to see.  Let's make it easy for that to happen.  Let's pass the zoning 
ordinance that allows that.  But we don't apply it to the land.  It's floating there above 
the land until -- one of the property owners says, gee, I see where that makes sense for

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me.  And they say, yes, town.  I want that my zoning change from what it is to that, that 
you've already approved.   
And simply by signing a document, we change the zoning.  They've got that zoning we 
want them to have.  And so since they end up asking for it, there's no legal issues with 
that.  And so that's a type of flexible zoning that we're -- we've been talking about with 
the Economic Development Committee about instituting in the town.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So citywide, so I'm going to jump off a little bit, different areas.  
Do we have a minimum parking requirement for developments?  
WESLEY:  Yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So you know, there's been an emphasis in some places across the 
United States -- 
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- especially in the southwest where parking lots mean sun, mean 
heat, mean, you know, to eliminate any parking requirements.  So you don't need a 
structure that's a quarter full or you don't need an open land that all it is, is has asphalt 
that reflects heat.  Eliminate any minimum parking for the whole town.  What do you 
think about that?  I mean, it's a thing.   
WESLEY:  It is a thing. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  I just think that -- 
WESLEY:  It is.  Yes.  So I've been reading about it.  I'm well aware of it going on around 
the country.  Some various changes.  The high cost of free parking is one of the things 
that talked about a lot in planning circles because there are a lot of costs that go with it.  
Some of which you've named.  There are definitely, like anything, there's pros and cons.  
We've taken a slight step in that direction by establishing maximum parking allowance.  
Because we have experienced in the past, you park your development for the worst day 
just before Christmas.  And the rest of the year, 90 percent of it sits vacant.  
 And so we don't want all that hot asphalt just sitting there.  So we set a maximum as 
well as a minimum in our ordinance.  I think we have to be careful if we were to go 
down that route because there are because of the small town that we are and the small

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commercial areas that we have.  You have to think about if something were to develop 
or redevelop -- well, I guess, I'll go that way first for a second.   
One of the things is right now we are mostly developed and so the parking lot is already 
there.  So we put that in.  It's only going to apply to new development, and there's not 
going to be that much new development for it to really make an impact on.  But it would 
mean that you take -- I think one of the examples I used with the person was take the 
lot there next to the medical center at Trevino and Saguaro got that vacant lot.  It's 
supposed to be an extension of the hospital.   
If now we say, okay, no parking requirement there, and they come in, now, they build 
the rest of that medical facility, the hospital, and we don't have parking.  Okay.  That's 
great.  People can park on all those residential streets around there.  Do we want that to 
happen?  Well, most developers will say, well, no, they're going to think of their 
customers and they're going to put in at least some level of parking.  But will they really 
put in enough or are we going to impact the residential neighborhood around it?  So 
that's one of the challenges we'd have to look at carefully if we were to go down that 
type of route. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  Thanks.  Go ahead, Geoff. 
YAZZETTA:  The floating zone, is that convertible forward and backward?  Meaning that 
if somebody say, you know, buys a property or leases it, they're able to apply for the 
whatever that floating zone might be, but then say it changes hands in the future.  Can 
you then go back, or is it once you snap it on, that's the new zone? 
WESLEY:  That's the zone.  You have to go through the zoning process. 
YAZZETTA:  To revert it.   
WESLEY:  If you can -- you can always apply for rezoning your property wherever, and so 
you can always do that.   
YAZZETTA:  Um-hum. 
WESLEY:  But no, you couldn't just sign something now to revert back to -- 
YAZZETTA:  I see. 
WESLEY:  -- what it was before you --

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YAZZETTA:  Okay. 
WESLEY:  -- opted in.   
YAZZETTA:  Got it. 
WESLEY:  Yeah. 
YAZZETTA:  Thank you.  
WESLEY:  So again, this is one of our underutilized areas that we've been working with a 
little bit with some of the property owners there.  It's challenging when you've got 
multiple property owners and they're not all in the same place thinking the same thing 
about what they want to see happen there.  But we have been a man and I both met 
with them a couple of times and tried to help them think through some options for 
development there.  Yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  What does mixed use development mean in Fountain Hills?  How 
has that been being interpreted within Fountain Hills?  
WESLEY:  So typically when we talk about mixed use, we're talking about some type of 
commercial ground floor and residential upper floors, but it can be a variety of things.  
There's mixed use within a building.  So again, you've got not just commercial or just 
residential, but you've got different types of uses, or you can have a mix of uses on a 
property.  And so if once we get to Four Peaks Plaza, where the target is and it's been 
approved with a portion of it converting to multifamily, so we're getting a mix of uses 
there and kind of confined area, but it's not really a mixed use in terms of one building 
having a variety of uses.  There are different some different ways to look at it.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Have we been the town has been moving more towards mixed 
use over the last -- 
WESLEY:  Yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- five years? 
WESLEY:  Yeah.  Yes, I would say we have.  You know, it started several years ago with 
the downtown town center zoning and then with the change to the zoning ordinance to 
allow multifamily or residential in commercial districts through the special use permit 
process, and then starting to allow that in some cases by right in the downtown and so

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forth.  So yes, we have been moving that way.  So -- go ahead.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Sorry.  I'm just going to keep plowing through.   
WESLEY:  Okay.  Got you.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Anybody else have any comments?  I'm just going to call on one 
of you guys and make you talk in a minute. 
BONNETT:  I actually do have a question tied back to the floating zone.   
WESLEY:  Okay.   
BONNETT:  That's the first time I've heard of this.  How common is it?  Because it seems 
like it would be really attractive.  
WESLEY:  It's not real common -- 
BONNETT:  Um-hum. 
WESLEY:  -- but I have used it before.  And I've seen some other communities that have 
used it, but it's not real common.  
BONNETT:  So this would be the first use in Fountain Hills? 
WESLEY:  Yes. 
BONNETT:  Okay. 
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
BONNETT:  Um-hum.  Thank you.  
WESLEY:  Yeah.  So I guess I'll come back to that one aspect of it with regard to that.  
And other things we may be doing in terms of flexibilities or modifications is we want to 
determine what it is that we want and need in Fountain Hills and try to make that as 
easy as possible and things that we don't particularly want, make those a little bit more 
challenging to do so that we can hopefully move forward and with what the town 
wants.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  How often or is it mandated all the zoning codes updated in 
Fountain Hills?  Is there a requirement or does the Commission just work with the town 
and do it as it comes up, or is it regimented?  
WESLEY:  So Chair, the general plan is regimented for every ten years.  It has to be 
reviewed and updated and reapproved.  But as far as zoning goes, no, there's no

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requirement for that.  We are constantly either on our own, noticing some things that 
need some improvement, or we get citizens or counsel members who point out some 
places that they'd like to see some differences.   
So it's probably one of the steadiest parts of my job is working on text amendments to 
the zoning ordinance.  But with that being said when the town was initiated as a county 
development under the county zone, zoning ordinance at the time, that was how the 
initial development occurred.  And when the town was incorporated, they created the 
town's first zoning ordinance back in 1990.   
And it started off really as just kind of taking pieces out of the county ordinance and 
saying, okay, this is all we need for Fountain Hills.  And then there's a committee that 
worked from there over the about three years and massaged it a little bit to be the 
town's first zoning ordinance in 1993.  It still carried a lot of the items from the county, 
but a few things were added to it and adjusted.  It hasn't changed substantially in 
format and content since then.   
A lot of tweaks here and there.  In response to that, I'm currently working with a 
Planning and Zoning Commission for a bit of an overhaul of the zoning ordinance to 
bring it more into today's forums and processes, and kind of packaging things back 
together.  Some things have kind of gotten scattered in there that aren't as orderly as 
they could be and so forth.  So we are working on that update with the zoning 
ordinance.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So my question would be, first of all, we went 35 minutes 
without mentioning AI.  So I'm going to -- now.  So now, I'm going to mention AI.  The 
zoning and planning codes could all be easily dumped into AI and ask AI what part of our 
zoning codes need updated after reviewing small towns in Arizona or small towns in the 
United States.  So that leads into the question that I wrote down is AI plus zoning equals 
question mark.  
WESLEY:  That's what it would equal, I imagine.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So that's an open-ended question.  Can you help me with the 
question mark?

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WESLEY:  So I'm not sure I want to say this, but basically being maybe a little bit old 
school, I'm not as versed in using AI as maybe some other folks are.  I hear about it.  I 
know it's out there.   
And it certainly could be an option to go that way.  It's not one I have thought of at this 
point, and there are benefits from doing that.  I have seen it in some areas as we have 
talked about portions of the code and get what AI suggest that we do in this area or that 
area.  We have to be careful with zoning code changes because of land use impacts that 
go with that and development rights that are in place and how those get impacted.  So 
kind of coming back to this current effort to update our zoning ordinance in a more 
comprehensive manner.   
The first steps are kind of the ones I've laid out.  Let's get it reorganized.  Let's get the 
use tables to something more usable instead of how they are today.  And once we get 
all that in place, then I think the next step would be to look at the different regulations 
themselves and see, okay, which ones are these really can be updated and improved 
upon and meet today's needs a little bit better.  I don't want to do all that in one step 
because I think that would really bog us down for a lot of years.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  Okay.  I'm going to keep going.   
WESLEY:  Okay.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  You're good?  Is there a minimum lot or unit size in Fountain 
Hills?   
WESLEY:  Yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Is there a mandated minimum?  
WESLEY:  Yes.  Each zoning district has a minimum size that goes with it, as far as what 
gets built on the property.  It seems like there may be something one of the industrial 
and the commercial districts about a minimum kind of unit size.  But for the most part 
it's the maximums in terms of setbacks and lot coverages and providing all the parking 
and whatever.  Let's see.  Wrong one.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Well, you know, the question I'm leading to in a strategic tactical.  
Why do we need minimums?  Seems like an obstacle.

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WESLEY:  So the suggestion is we have no minimums.  And let's -- let people just build 
whatever they want.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  No.  No.  The State would go wherever they want. 
WESLEY:  Okay.  Okay.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So we wouldn't have a minimum lot in this (indiscernible) lots. 
WESLEY:  Oh, okay.  Just on that one piece.  Not in general.  Okay.  I was about to have a 
heart attack.  Let's see here.  So it's probably more interesting down here.  So yeah.  So 
I'm looking at the commercial districts.   
So the office district has minimum 12,000 square foot lot size.  We've got one lot zoned 
office in town.  Is it two.  Off of Saguaro, west of Shea.  The CC zoning district has a 
1,125 square foot minimum lot size, and all the rest of them have a 6,000 square foot 
minimum lot size.  So they're pretty small to do anything with.  And then some 
minimum widths that go with those.  So they're pretty small.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Bernie.  
HOENLE:  Sort of a tag on that one.  There are areas of the country going to small homes 
development -- 
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
HOENLE:  -- for one or two people.  Okay.  You sort of talking about infill.  The state trust 
land would be expansion -- 
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
HOENLE:  -- and the rest of it is infill.  And most of them, I think what you covered has 
been privately owned.  And then we've got some school owned property.  And how 
about town owned.  Are there parcels that the town is going to develop and where are 
they?  And are there any thoughts or priorities to do any more town development?  
WESLEY:  So Chair, Commissioner, I can answer a little bit of that, and I might see if Mr. 
Trimble has some thoughts he wants to add with that.  So as far as town owned 
property and town developments, certainly, we have some land set aside for parks that 
the towns can develop for parks, but as far as the town developing, I don't know if there 
are any other facilities.  I'm not aware of any.

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We've talked about recently for any town facilities that are needed beyond parks.  We 
do have some town owned land around, and it's one of the things the mayor has 
brought up are there some of these pieces, parcels that we could dispose of and for 
private development to move in on.  And that's an item that will be coming back to 
town council.  I believe the first meeting in March to look at one tract in particular, just 
as an example of what it might be like, what the impacts might be to the neighborhood, 
because that is one of the concerns that a little bit.   
They've talked about it thus far is most of the tracts that the town does own that are 
scattered around were acquired largely for various drainage type projects or floodplain 
or possible future roads or those types of things that just didn't pan out aren't needed 
at this point, but the neighbors used to them being open space.  And so even if it might 
be a compatible house built next door, are they really going to want us to do that.  So 
again, that's just part of the issue or challenge that comes with that.  Do you have any 
other thing to add at this point?  
TRIMBLE:  I really don't have anything else to add.  Like you said, maybe parks, maybe a 
fire station that is one of the -- 
WESLEY:  A fire station could -- 
TRIMBLE:  -- that new the state trust land if that goes and if that's still a thought, but 
that was at one time talked about.  But Amanda, do you have anything that you've 
heard of because I haven't heard anything in terms of town developing, items like that, 
so -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  How about, like, where is the threshold?  Could we increase the 
threshold?  This is about special use permitting.  Special use permits.  Like, where's the 
line where you can approve it, or it has to go in front of the Commission to review.  And 
is that line flexible in other towns and other planners across the country?  
WESLEY:  Yes, chair.  That's very flexible.  That's pretty much a town-by-town type of 
thing and what they want to do.   
Again, my other local experience is in Mesa, where we had two levels.  We had special 
use permits that went to the Board of Adjustment and were a little bit rigorous, a little

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bit more, you know, meet these criteria and you can be approved.  And then council use 
permits, which were a little bit more politically sensitive ones, which would then go on 
to the council.  And so that's just one example of the options they use there.  We can 
have options here.  Again, the Mayor's Economic Committee has started us looking at 
special use permits to see if there's some of those that could be lessened.  So we don't 
hold up that development process and add time for something that's not maybe really 
necessary. 
The town, in my opinion, has maybe relied a little bit too much on special use permits 
here for lots of little things that that don't really rise to that level of needing to go to 
town council.  But anything that maybe didn't quite neatly fit in the ordinance says, oh, 
well, let's make that a special use permit and take things there.  So that is something in 
addition to this overall review of the zoning ordinance that we've been tasked to look at 
are the special use permits, particularly as they apply to and pertain to commercial 
development.  So we'll be getting back with them.  That's on our agenda that we haven't 
maybe talked about in a little while. 
JACOBS:  Make (indiscernible). 
WESLEY:  Yeah, maybe, but in the long list of things, it require special use permit.  I think 
the ones that are really of primary interest, at least to the Economic Development 
Committee.  There's maybe only half a dozen that I think may be of concern that they 
would want to see something modified on that really may impact economic 
development.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Bernie.  
HOENLE:  One other thing that's been considerable discussion with the school board has 
been density and families.  So is there any basically conscious planning towards aiming 
at -- I don't want to use the term "affordable." 
That has a different connotation.  But housing for families, younger families, young 
professionals, for some of these properties that we talked about, including the state 
trust land, because, you know, 1,600 homes or something like that, still a small 
percentage of the total population of the town with declining enrollments across the

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entire valley.  Is there any talk about or focus on trying to look in that direction, whether 
it's single-family homes closer together, whether it's multi-level dwellings or anything of 
that nature?  
FRIEDEL:  Chair, Commissioner, I'll start a response.  I don't know if Amanda wants to 
chime in on this one, too, but yes, as we have the opportunity to talk with folks looking 
at developing in Fountain Hills, we do bring up the need for a greater mix of housing and 
housing that can be attainable by younger families, young professionals, and so forth to 
help balance out our demographics.   
It's challenging because for the most part, we're dealing with a little bit here and a little 
bit there.  The state trust land does give us that opportunity again to look at a larger 
tract that can have a greater impact, and we will be bringing that up as we talk to Pulte.  
So I'm not sure what their thinking their target market is at this point, but I know that I 
did mention to them in our brief initial discussion on Monday that that is a focus of the 
town to help provide housing for families.  
HOENLE:  Is that an emphasis for the town or is that found?  Where's that document 
that says that's an emphasis of the town?  
WESLEY:  It's in the general plan.  
HOENLE:  It's in the general plan that was from ten years or -- 
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
HOENLE:  It's getting close to ten years, isn't it?  
WESLEY:  Yeah, we're about halfway through.  It was adopted in 2020 by the voters.  I 
think so.  Yeah.  
HOENLE:  And it's in there?  
FRIEDEL:  I'm pretty sure.  I'm going to say it is.  
JACOBS:  Chair and Commissioners, I'll just add two.  It's also included in the 2023, 2026, 
which will be time for an update, the community economic development strategy.  And 
then just to follow up, too, with the Commissioner of targeted areas right now, again, 
looking at the community economic development strategy, we've been focusing on the 
downtown area and then of course, the Shea corridor.  And then there's other

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elements.   
So referencing the Fountain Hills and Glenbrook area, that is included in the economic 
development strategy.  So we call it a "CEDS."  But because some of it is already 
developed, it's a little bit hard.  And in the case -- case by case.  And so we had a mixed-
use property get approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission, as well as council, 
what a couple of months ago, the Bondy project.  But again, that's something.  It's now 
just six units and they're thinking to of selling those for $1 million.   
Now, of course, I see Bernie's face.  So, of course, again, once all of it's approved, it 
becomes private.  We can cite our general plan, strategic plan, what we're hearing from 
constituents, but again, at the end of the day, it's their product.  
TRIMBLE:  Yeah.  It's not in the strategic plan.  I know that.  
JACOBS:  Oh, the town strategic plan.   
TRIMBLE:  Plan. 
JACOBS:  Yeah.  So remember the community economic development strategy. 
TRIMBLE:  I would say this is -- I'm going to say this, put this in the minutes.  But 
anybody in Fountain Hills who's -- who wants to have more affordable housing is 
welcome to sell their house for what they paid for it.  They'll get people clamoring.  So 
we'll start a line after this meeting for people in Fountain Hills who want to sell their 
house for what they paid for it.   
That line is going to be pretty short, so it's not in the strategic plan.  It was.  The reason I 
bring that up, it's a joke, but it was in the strategic plan prior to this one, and it was 
taken out at the council.  You know, when we had interactions with the council for this 
one, so -- okay.  
WESLEY:  So just another part along that line.  The general plan prior to this one had a 
cap on density at 12 units per acre.  If you wanted more density than that, you had to 
get a general plan amendment.  We took that out of the current plan.  And you may be 
aware that we've been talking about density for the downtown area as it continues to 
develop and redevelop.  And that's current topic that the Planning Zoning Commission is 
reconsidering about what should be that allowable downtown density.

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CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So but along those lines, I got a little bit.  My question is do we -- 
what is our zoning like for allowing family homes, multifamily homes in commercially 
zoned areas?  So we have some empty commercial -- 
WESLEY:  Right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  We have commercial lots that are out of business and -- 
WESLEY:  Right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- you know, people might want to change those into homes. 
WESLEY:  Right.  And so for most of the town to do any type of residential, single family, 
multifamily in a commercial zone, C0 through C3, it requires approval of a special use 
permit by town council.  The exception to that is downtown.  So in the TCCD district, 
which is along here, where Park Place is, and over here where Plaza Fountain site is, you 
can't have that mixed use of commercial and residential by right.  And in the Plat 208 
area where we currently have the planned shopping plaza overlay, you can have eight 
units per acre by right on a second floor.  So you don't have to go through that special 
use permit process.   
Again, that's that idea of make what you want to have happen easy instead of hard.  The 
new downtown overlay that's been approved but not yet applied, but is now being 
potentially amended set that at 35 units per acre, but when council got to the last 
minute, they thought maybe that's too much.  It ought to go back down to 15-ish or 
something.  So that's what P&Z is now considering is what that density should be by 
right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  Are folks in Fountain Hills allowed to have a home 
business?  
WESLEY:  Yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So business out of their home?  
WESLEY:  Yep.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  No -- okay.  Thanks.  
WESLEY:  There are certain parameters in Section 5.14 of the Zoning Ordinance, but yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  What's that?

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WESLEY:  You need your business license. 
BONNETT:  I understand. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Polly.  
BONNETT:  Since there is interest in more density and affordability for families, has 
there been any discussion around developments with multigen housing?  
WESLEY:  So Chair, Commissioner, yes, we do get requests along that line periodically.  
Fountain Hills has maybe been a bit ahead of the game compared to other valley cities 
in terms of our allowances for accessory dwelling units or the in-house next gen homes, 
which really is all in one house.  We have some parameters for that in terms of the 
relationships of sizes of those pieces, but they're allowed.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Joe.  
REYES:  Going back a step, I take it that any houses in some of those areas that you 
pointed to a few minutes ago, some of those lots are not all that large.  And I'm 
wondering, would there have to be special considerations for the parking that would go 
kind of hand in glove with any -- 
WESLEY:  Right. 
REYES:  -- homes other than obviously multi-level?  
WESLEY:  Right.  Sure.  So starting first with the downtown area here in Plat 208, it was 
developed with the idea and understanding that all the existing parking provides the 
parking necessary for whatever development occurs.  And so you want to add 
apartments to any of these buildings, it doesn't matter.  For the most part, residential 
requires less parking than most commercial uses, so it actually reduces the parking 
requirement.   
When we get in other areas, though, it's just part of the mix.  Over here, you know, if 
they wanted to come over here on the Bashas area and add some multifamily in there, 
we would look at that, you know, what we have in terms of commercial and residential 
required parking for each use.  And look at the parking and make sure it had enough to 
cover both.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  One other topic, and this is -- it might help.  Have you ever heard

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of the term "accessory dwelling units?"  
WESLEY:  ADU's, yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  ADU's.   
WESLEY:  Um-hum.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Is that legal in Fountain Hills?  
WESLEY:  Yes.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Can you have an ADU, attic or basement or garage?  
WESLEY:  Yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  It's good to know.  Thanks.  
WESLEY:  Again, there are certain parameters that go on those, but yes, you can.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  So see, you can have affordable housing in your attic.  You 
can tell why all of us are not on the Planning and Zoning Commission, right?  You guys 
just are all very excited to talk about zoning today, but we could move over if you 
wanted to also -- I know you wanted to put them together, but underused parcels is 
kind of what we called it or underused land.   
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Is there anything specific you wanted to mention on that before I 
ask you a couple questions?  
WESLEY:  Just a couple of things we wanted to mention is having the downtown map up 
here is a good one for this is you look at the map, and you can see the number of 
unused parcels in there based on the discussions we've recently been having with 
Planning and Zoning Commission.  I happen to know that's a little bit over 11 acres 
worth of land that's available in Plat 208 for development.   
But while it may be looks kind of challenging and a lot to do, know that also as Staff and 
Amanda could speak more to this if you want some details.  We do have inquiries from 
people about various parcels, until they really get to the point of pulling the trigger and 
submitting for site plans or building permits.  You know, we really can't say much 
because things can change.  We don't want to get ahead of the game.  But there are a 
number of these parcels that are actively being considered right now for development.

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CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Are most of them are privately owned? 
WESLEY:  Yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Almost all of them -- 
WESLEY:  Yeah.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- do you think? 
WESLEY:  Yeah.  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Were you going to say something?  I saw you --  
JACOBS:  I don't know if he -- I got -- 
YAZZETTA:  I was just -- 
JACOBS:  Oh.  It's okay.  Yeah. 
YAZZETTA:  I'm sorry.  No, I was going to ask how much of an obstacle to developing 
those, say, 11 acres is Plat 208 itself?  Do we have any feedback from potential 
developers?  Because I know the CC&R's from Plat 208 are 40, 50 years old at this point.  
And I know there are some very difficult hurdles that need to be cleared for, you know, 
some of the voting requirements.  I know a lot of the property owners are either out of 
state or even out of the country, which makes it difficult to find consensus on some 
things that, you know, might -- 
WESLEY:  Right. 
YAZZETTA:  -- be changing there.  
WESLEY:  Right.  So Chair, Vice Chair, I'll give my quick answer, then we'll see if Amanda 
has anything to add.  There are challenges when it comes to doing things with the 
common area of Plat 208, primarily the parking lots or the little pocket parks.  But when 
it comes to developing the individual lot, there really aren't too many hurdles there.  
They do have to comply, like anything else, with the Property Owners Association with 
some of the rules.  They have the architectural committee and so forth, but the actual 
development of a platted lot, as far as I know, that's not any bigger challenge there than 
it is in place else.  
YAZZETTA:  Thank you.   
JACOBS:  Yeah.  And I'll just add.  Yeah, that part is not difficult.  And then to add on

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what John was saying is, again, so you see some vacant parcels but some of them are 
owned.  There's maybe just a couple that are for sale.  And then where we've been 
approached of, you know.  So there's a piece of parcel that went under escrow in the 
summer and the gentleman plans to build a restaurant.   
We can't exactly tell you where just yet, but why it's been delayed and has taken so 
many months.  Is he would like to make it larger?  He would like to do more.  And so 
when John and I spoke to him over the summer, I was like, do you believe in it may not 
be for sale, but if the price is right.  And so we connected him to parcels that are vacant 
or maybe a building next door to have conversations.  One fell through, another, he's 
still reaching out to a gentleman.   
So again, you may see that it's vacant or think, oh, nothing's happening.  There's a lot of 
stuff behind the scenes.  And one thing I like to share is an example with council and 
Commissions and the public is take the former Appian Way, which is now Haan Korean 
BBQ.  So if -- most of the Commissioners I know, hello, Polly.  I'm Amanda.  Nice to meet 
you.  Is before I started.  So it's going to be four years this March.  I can't believe it, but it 
was purchased by the current owners, but it took him almost four years to then open 
this restaurant.   
So again, like, there was a lot of talk, like nothing's happening, but it's -- well, you're not 
seeing a for sale sign.  It is owned.  And again, the timing has to be right because also 
there's a struggle as you guys know to get the right workforce when it comes to 
restaurant and retail.  Are they pulling from Fountain Hills or again, the outskirts of, you 
know, into Mesa, Scottsdale where people are traveling here.  So just wanted to add 
that note.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Thank you.  
JACOBS:  You're welcome.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So can the town declare or have an ordinance that says, you 
know, this property's been empty for 10 years, 20 years.  We're going to decree that it's 
abandoned.  And this is what we do with abandoned properties in our town.  Now, is 
that -- have you -- no, I don't want to get close to what's -- I forgot the term.  I'm not

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talking -- yeah, eminent domain.  But the town, you know, people -- well, people -- you 
know, the town has expectations and the direction it wants to go.  And I mean, 
something like that is possible, right, especially if you give somebody time.  You're not 
taking anything from them.  You're saying, here's the expectations for being a 
landowner in our town.  And if it's been abandoned for so long, this is what is going to 
happen. 
WESLEY:  So I've never seen anything like that.  I don't think anybody -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Well, if your towns don't declare lots abandoned, eyesores? 
WESLEY:  Not like -- not in that regard.  You know, there are situations where you've got, 
you know, a built property with a house on it that truly has been abandoned and is 
falling down to declare a nuisance and abate the nuisance by going and having it cleared 
off and then putting a lien on the property.   
So whoever the property owner is will someday pay for that, but it stays in private 
ownership and, you know, probably just sits there and maybe becomes an eyesore again 
because it's not really being taken care of.  But beyond that, I'm not aware of any way 
particularly with just a vacant tract of ground that just hasn't been developed since the 
town was incorporated. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Interesting.  That seems to have crossed the line there.  It's just -- 
everybody's, like, backing away from me.  
WESLEY:  Yeah.  Along that line, however when we -- through the downtown revised 
strategy that was done a year or so ago, one of the items on that list that's hasn't 
received quite as much attention yet, but we recognize it's important from the input we 
got from the public, is that level of property maintenance that does go on with these 
undeveloped, unused properties downtown.  
Are there some things that could be done to get them up a little bit higher level while 
they're sitting there vacant?  That is someplace on the list to consider at some point, but 
that hasn't been a high priority yet, but maybe along that line.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  You can work with these, hey, this has been empty for 10 years 
or 20 years.  We have this company over here that could put solar panels on your

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property, you know, and get you some income. 
WESLEY:  Right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Or, hey, you know, we could make this a community garden until 
you -- 
WESLEY:  Right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- decide what you want to do with it.  
WESLEY:  Right.  So again, along that line with the new overlay for the downtown area, it 
does include a provision in there for temporary uses -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay. 
WESLEY:  -- to make it a little easier for somebody to do -- I don't know if community 
garden would really be the right thing, but if they wanted to put some kind of 
community garden on it or something, that's very low in terms of upfront costs to get 
something started happening on the property.  Maybe they put some gravel down and 
on Friday nights, they have a movie night and -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yeah. 
WESLEY:  -- you know, whatever.  Just something to get them using it on a temporary 
basis.  So that is an allowance in the new downtown overlay for the downtown area.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  But that's just for the downtown area? 
WESLEY:  At this point, yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  There's nothing like writ large for the town -- 
WESLEY:  No. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- or anything.  
WESLEY:  So I'm going to go to this map and unfortunately, it's kind of small for you.  But 
if you look at some areas in here, I'm not sure if you can tell what's happening in these 
lots, but that's a bunch of broken-down vehicles that are stored in some of these areas.  
And that's on our code enforcement list and our town list to see what we can do, so 
we're talking about underutilized properties.  That's another way that maybe they're 
really not being utilized to the best benefit of the town by essentially being junkyards.  
I'm not being recorded, am I?  Okay.  She's not.

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CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yes, we are.  
WESLEY:  Oh.  
JACOBS:  What?  I'm sorry.  Oh.  It's -- 
WESLEY:  Okay.   
JACOBS:  I was deep in thought on something.  
WESLEY:  Um-hum. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  But you can look --   
WESLEY:  Sorry.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- temporary uses.   
WESLEY:  Right. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  I'm going to go research that.  
WESLEY:  Okay.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  Any other comments about anything from a business 
point of view?  I don't know, underused parcels.  Sounds polite, doesn't it for these. 
JACOBS:  Forget anything, John? 
WESLEY:  Switched it to the to this slide if you want  -- 
JACOBS:  Oh, we wanted to -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  What about -- are some of these properties -- I looked at some, 
they would use some of these properties as an easement access and they would say, 
you know, this property hasn't been used in a while.  And these are your neighbors next 
door, or this business next door needs a bigger easement.  So if you're not going to do 
anything with this property, we're going to take this to the Zoning & Planning.  We're 
going to have an easement so they can drive a truck through it.  Well, okay.  Easement 
was another one.  I'm sorry.  Go ahead, I interrupted you.  
JACOBS:  Oh, no.  I think we've covered most of it.  And then again, do we dare bring up 
again the Four Peaks Plaza of -- really to as staff, we're looking at each area case by case.  
So with this balancing, okay, do we give up the commercial for the rezoning?  And then I 
think you all know that John and I were supportive of doing a partial rezoning at the 
Four Peaks Plaza, or as I call it, the Target center, to add apartments.  And again, it's --

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some people are like, well, there's no benefit to that, but there is, so -- right.  We're 
growing our population.  We get state shared revenues.  
 We're looking at that heavily.  And then not to steal Paul's, our CFO's, thunder.  But 
next month, we'll be having our council retreat.  And I don't know if you guys are aware, 
but San Tan Valley incorporated.  And so now, guess what?  Are we getting the same 
level of state shared revenues.  No, we are not.  So that's something that is a loss.   
And then also just looking at after 2020 with COVID-19 of you're not seeing some of 
these large commercial plazas being full like it maybe once was, again, way before my 
time.   
And then -- so part of that what happened as a result of that.  And again, some people 
don't know unless they hear some of our updates.  But the dark Walgreens is what 
people call it.  So there's a former Walgreens at adjacent, that then was purchased by a 
different developer, and then someone who likes to turn it over, revitalize it.  And so 
John and I have been in conversations with that property owner.  There has been some 
opportunities, but it has to be the right opportunity to potentially split up that space.   
And then, of course, if some of you were at today's mayor's, the State of The town 
address, you know that John's been diligently working with Sandor and Sprouts on their 
building plans and permits.   
So they're inching very, very close.  And hopefully within the next couple of months 
they'll be breaking ground.  And so the mayor, the town manager, and I actually had the 
opportunity to meet with the Sprouts' CEO and as well as some other executives.  And 
were, they too, feel strongly, you know, about their product that other retailers follow, 
but sometimes people need to see the reality.  Like, okay, this actually is coming.  And 
then they start to follow.  
 So again, looks pretty underutilized, but hopefully things will be taking shape.  And we 
are asked often, have there been any formal submittals for the apartments, and there 
has not.  So it's on our to do list to do a little check in with the property owner, Sandor.  
Did I miss anything?  
WESLEY:  No, you didn't.  I will -- this is a pretty small tidbit that doesn't really have

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anything to do with what your question was.   
But just as a side note here, with regard to the Four Peaks Plaza and The Target store 
that's here, they have submitted some information to this -- to us about needing to take 
up part of their parking lot out here in front on a temporary basis, while they're doing 
some extensive remodels inside the store.  So that's good to know that they are 
planning that kind of investment into the store.  They must be planning on sticking 
around.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  Joe. 
REYES:  Last related question scoping down to a very small little -- well, not that small, 
but can you share what the latest is with respect to the view property on Eagle 
Mountain.  A lot of talk going on about it being revitalized and ready to open as a 
number of things.  
JACOBS:  How about -- let's see.  Well, you know, I'm not going to be that quick.  So 
thank you for bringing that up, Joe.  So again, you guys may know.  So The View 
Restaurant has also been vacant since I have been here.  A couple of years ago, John and 
I met with the owner at that time that took overlooking to do a restaurant.  Everything 
was super exciting and then he decided to put it up for auction.  So the folks purchased 
it.   
They approached John and said, well, we want to do offices, and we were not very 
excited about that.  You know, of course we want it to be developed, but if you've been 
in there, it's like this has to stay a restaurant.  And so call it persistence, call it 
manifestation, but The View Restaurant will be a new restaurant called Trilogy at Eagle 
Mountain.  And so two gentlemen who opened up Ember at We-Ko-Pa Casino Resort 
are key players in this.  They are hoping to open up in a couple of months.  So they have 
obtained their business license.   
We've spoken directly to the owner, so we felt comfortable, so it's hot off the press.  We 
let mayor and council know today they were hearing stuff.  And we're like, until things 
are formal, we like to wait and keep it under the vest, and then we're working with 
them because, of course, if there's modifications inside, they need the proper building

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permits.  So we're super, super excited.  
REYES:  Coincidentally, I did hear about it at the Embers.  
JACOBS:  Nice.  
REYES:  Thank you.  
JACOBS:  You're very welcome.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Do you have any long-term zoning request that you think would 
help attract manufacturing?  
JACOBS:  Well, so we have been targeting, and again, so it's still in the works, and I 
would need your help navigating the maps.  But looking at doing some light industrial 
within the downtown.  So we're on our health is, Sonora Quest, if you had your blood 
drawn.  So I've been asking for that for four years.  And so we were getting far along 
with the Planning and Zoning Commission, as well as council.  And then we hit a bit of a 
hiccup, as John mentioned earlier, regarding that the 35 units for the density and 
perhaps lowering it back to 15.   
And so John and I have been doing some work with our commissioners, as well as some 
of our constituents who are afraid maybe or thinking we're giving up stuff to have that 
type of density.  So we're hoping to get it back on track, because unfortunately, since 
that would be an ordinance and an actual rezoning when the Commission decided, you 
know, to wait and move it to a different month, it's then it requires the 30 days' notice.  
So it won't go back to the planning and Zoning Commission until March.  And then 
fingers crossed, they make a decision and then it will go back to council.  And then is it 
just 30 days or is it 60 days to go into effect, the ordinance?   
WESLEY:  Thirty. 
JACOBS:  Thirty.  So then 30 days.  And what was that? 
WESLEY:  So hopefully in May, we will get that. 
JACOBS:  So hopefully in May.  And what I've shared and then -- so some of the 
constituents who are very involved with the community, what I've shared is if I don't 
have the zoning, I can't approach a bioscience company light assembly because then 
look at this as an example.  They would have waited four years and then the reputation

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we would have had.   
And I say this to out of experience from my previous employer we're had something 
huge.  And then the council was like, so again, not here.  No thank you.  And the 
developers, the investors were like, Amanda, we will never come back.  So again here, 
it's like, let's really position ourselves so it can be a little bit more turnkey.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Especially if it's I don't know what you want to call it, small scale 
manufacturing in a residential area that has like low vibrations, low noise that -- I wrote 
down some towns called artesian zoning.   
Have you ever heard of that?  Is that kind of what you're talking about, the kind of draw 
a line where it's easier?  I know you're talking about like total rezoning, but we should 
have something that's a little easier for businesses that don't create, you know, don't 
have a lot of noise and things like that going on.  Is there something like that in our 
zoning code or -- 
WESLEY:  Not -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  It sounds like about -- 
WESLEY:  Not really.  Right now, anything like that would most likely be an industrial 
zone requirement.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yeah. 
WESLEY:  We have -- what did I do?  There we go.  The only industrial zoning we have in 
town is in this area, and the only tract that's vacant is this half acre right here.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yeah. 
WESLEY:  Could -- so currently, we're processing a special use permit for this suite in this 
building right here for a window manufacturer.  It's Cone C3.  It's not manufacturer.  
Window assembler.  The zoning ordinance allows assembly in the C3.  If it takes up no 
more than 50 percent of the building, and it's just, again, just assembly use in C3.  So 
that's one of those examples, though, of why does this take council approval for 
something that's really not that different?  It's not -- sure.   
It's not commercial like a commercial you would think that.  But in this type of area, 
that's really not a negative impact.  And the other thing, I guess I was kind of hearing

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from what you were saying, is there another tier to home-based business that would 
allow a little bit more activity out of your home, out of your garage for that start up 
business that once it gets started, than it is moving off someplace in town to grow, 
maybe.   
That's not something we've really looked for or pushed at this point, but is a possibility 
to consider in the future.  We've taken a lot of time.  I'm going to come back here just 
real quick.  We're talking about underutilized properties or properties that may be used 
for something at some point.  If you were here for the daybreak discussion.  That hilltop 
is still sitting there, unused.   
Now, get my cursor back in the right spot.  You know, that is a large tract that we 
haven't heard anything from That property owner now and probably a year and a half.  
The last they talked to us, they were still trying to find a way to implement the approved 
resort community on that property.  Could it be something else, maybe, but -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Nothing right now? 
WESLEY:  No.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  All right.  I don't have any more questions.  Does anybody 
else?  Anything else you wanted to finalize?  Drive a point home.  Anything else?  
WESLEY:  That was it.  Glad to have the opportunity to let you know what we think we 
know.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Covered a lot of ground.  
WESLEY:  Yes. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  I know you probably invite you back when we do the economics 
later on the spring or this year, but thanks, John.  
WESLEY:  Okay.  You bet.  Get out of this.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  We got a lot in the transcript for that.  I think that we'll 
be able to review.  So I'm going to move down to B now under six regular agenda, which 
is update from the Commission and work groups.  And I want to see if Geoff wanted to 
give an update on the workshops this year.  
YAZZETTA:  Sure.  Thank you.  So I'm looking at the community center either late

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February or early March to host another one of our community outreach sessions.  I'll 
communicate through Angela what date that will be.   
And we'll have the poster board set up, and we'll be gathering feedback for the strategic 
tasks.  So now, we've gone from the 40,000-foot level to the 20,000 foot.  Now, we're 
going to be at ground level looking for specifics from the participants.  And then I'll be 
also working with Bernie to host a similar event at the school district.  So we'll have two 
opportunities for people to give their feedback.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  So what dates will they be after our next meeting like we have 
one at the end of February? 
YAZZETTA:  Yeah.  I'm looking at the last Saturday in February, which off the top of my 
head, I think that's the 27th or 28th.  So that would be after our last or our next SPAC 
meeting.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  And that one will be, I think, in the community center? 
YAZZETTA:  Yes.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  And then the one in the school will be later, like March or 
something, right? 
YAZZETTA:  Yeah.  To be determined on that one. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Okay.  
YAZZETTA:  Yeah.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  All right.  Hopefully, we'll give you good material for that too.  
You have -- I mean, we have a lot of information to put up for people to -- 
YAZZETTA:  Absolutely. 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  -- kibbitz about, discuss.  Okay.  All right.  Any other comments 
on the work groups or workshops, I'm sorry, coming up?  No.  Hearing none.  Possible 
discussion on future topics.  Just let you know about the agenda in the future.  The two, 
you know, pillars and strategies that we have left to discuss is -- I worked in economics.  
I know that's not exactly.  It's not.  It's business and economics -- economy.   
I always put economy.  Yeah.  And quality of life/safety, which is a big one as well.  So 
does anybody have any thoughts on what they might want to see next month in

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February?  I mean, I can pick and look and see which people in the town can be here, 
you know, from the town government to help us with it.  Or is there any that you guys 
might want to talk about because you might not be here for a meeting later on in the 
spring or something?  No, no, no.  
HOENLE:  I'd like to hear what the blue zone is up to, because they were working 
towards fundraising to have the assessment done of the town, and it's all about living 
healthy and walking between places and things of that nature, so -- 
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Yeah.  They came and talked to us.  It's been a couple of years 
now.  We could get an update, right?  Okay.  All right.  I just know that quality of life and 
safety is a big topic that might take two meetings so that we don't have a two-hour 
meeting or an hour and a half like we did tonight.  So we probably have at least three 
topics left to cover the pillars.   
And then we'll have a discussion probably on the workshops as part of one of our 
meetings, and then we'll have a workshop again in June to kind of put it all together, 
what we did this year.  And I'll probably put together a draft plan then probably June, 
July, and to present to you all by August.   
So you can -- we can start reviewing it, editing it and talking about it, socializing it as we 
head into the fall this year.  So that's kind of the plan right now, where the plan is still to 
put it in front of the council for approval at the at least first quarter 2027.  So probably 
have a plan socialized and ready for them to vote on very early '27.  Right.   
Okay.  Any other comments?  All right.  Hearing none, we can go down to agenda item 7 
which is agenda item 7, possible adjournment.  Are there any motions on the table?  
YAZZETTA:  Move to adjourn.  
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Do I hear a second? 
HOENLE:  Second.   
CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Second.  Okay.  Any discussion on the meeting today, any 
comments?  Nope.  The motion on the table is to adjourn.  We'll move to a vote.  All in 
favor, say aye.  
ALL:  Aye.

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CHAIRMAN GARMAN:  Any oppose?  Motion carries.   
Meeting is adjourned.  Thank you very much. 
 
 
APPROVED: 
 
____________________________________  
 
PATRICK GARMAN, CHAIRMAN 
 
ATTEST: 
 
____________________________________  
 
ANGELA PADGETT-ESPIRITU, EXECUTIVE    
                                       ASSISTANT/DEPUTY TOWN CLERK 
 
 
CERTIFICATION 
 
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING MINUTES ARE A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF 
THE MINUTES OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING OF THE 
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA HELD ON JANUARY 28, 2026.  I FURTHER CERTIFY 
THAT THE MEETING WAS DULY CALLED AND HELD AND THAT A QUORUM WAS 
PRESENT. 
 
 
 
 
________________________________  
ANGELA PADGETT-ESPIRITU, EXECUTIVE 
ASSISTANT/DEPUTY TOWN CLERK