City Council meeting addresses important city planning issues

Tuesday night’s Maricopa City Council work session and regular meeting tackled important issues about the future of city planning including zoning codes, builder regulations and parking lot structures (see complete agenda).

Parking Regulations
Ordinance 05-08 brought forth a text amendment to Chapter 16 of the City Code and dealt directly with multiple parking regulations including off-street parking and loading, commercial vehicles in residential drives and public garages. Many questions were raised by council members Stephen Baker, Will Dunn and Phyllis Von Fleckinger as to how these regulations affect existing properties and businesses.

Many were concerned over the commercial parking regulations and an individual’s right to park such vehicles in their driveway. Planning consultant Loras Rauch emphasized the need to keep residential areas just that and ensure a residential feel, not a commercial one.

Some builders at the meeting brought forth concerns with the regulations citing examples such as tow trucks or 24-hour plumbing services. According to these regulations, those vehicles could not be parked in individuals’ driveways. Von

Fleckinger responded to the changes by stating that “one size does not fit all in this city.” This theme resurfaced many times throughout the meeting as some council members expressed a concern for too much government regulation.

No decisions were made on the changes and an extension was given in order for more discussion to take place.

Sign Provisions
Resolution 05-17, a motion put forth to establish procedures regulating the erection and maintenance of signs within the city was not discussed at the meeting due to time constraints and the Council’s request for further clarification on the issue. A special work session was scheduled for Thursday at City Hall for further discussion on the issues presented (see related story).

Qwest Cable License Agreement
Councilman Dunn expressed concern over the repeated requests by Qwest Broadband Service, Inc. to obtain a license agreement from the City. Dunn argued that Qwest was not interested in Maricopa originally and now it was too late. “Nothing personal,” Dunn stated to Qwest representatives, “but I don’t like this.”

Dunn argued that we have smaller companies such as Orbitel Communications that have worked hard and grown with Maricopa. Dunn felt as if this was an example of a big business coming in after a large population boom and stealing customers from small companies that have done a lot of hard work. After Dunn expressed concern and some clarifications were made by Qwest representatives, action was taken on the motion and the license was approved by a five-to-one vote.

YES FOR MARICOPA SCHOOLS member Amy Jamieson helps to bring clarity about upcomg Override Election.

Override Election
Presenters Mike Lavalle and Amy Jamieson approached the Council with tax figure information relating to the upcoming Override Election (see related story). Jamieson, founder of the YES FOR MARICOPA SCHOOLS committee, was also present to add clarification and stop rumors circulating about the override.

Councilman Edward Farrell was among those who had heard inaccurate data and expressed his eagerness to hear the facts from Lavalle. According to Lavalle, the average homeowner would see a $91 tax increase this year from the override. This figure was significantly lower than quotes heard by Farrell.

Jamieson clarified Maricopa Unified School District’s plans for the $780,000 generated by a successful override. “The most important aspect,” stressed Jameson, “is the reduction of class sizes.” According to Jamieson, if the override does not pass, classrooms will be filled to a capacity of 45 students per teacher.