City of Flagstaff voters,
There’s a lot of misinformation being spread in our community, on social media and by word of mouth, about ratifying the Flagstaff Regional Land Use Plan 2045.
F3 would like to directly address this misinformation by providing direct answers to specific misinformation. The questions and answers below are taken directly from the City of Flagstaff’s Regional Plan 2045 website FAQs.
Does the Regional Plan 2045 require that all new homes must be electric?
No, there is no policy that directly states that all new homes should be all electric. There is an action item in Chapter 10 to “Update the City Sustainable Building Resolution and Sustainable Residential Building Incentives to further implement net-zero energy standards.” The incentives could include points or options for all electric homes.
There may be confusion about the Building Code Update proposal, which includes an appendix that would require a plug for electric appliances, but the builder could still install a gas appliance, if they would like to. This would facilitate fuel switching but would not make it mandatory.
In the Regional Plan 2045, why is there an Employment District designation on the area near Fort Tuthill that was previously proposed as a hospital location?
The Regional Plan did not remove the employment designation for the 98 acres near Ft. Tuthill because the ballot initiative (Prop 480) only repealed the rezoning (Ordinance 2023-11), not the broader policy framework guiding the site.
First, the Minor Regional Plan Amendment (Resolution 2022-06) remains in effect and so both the Regional Plan 2030 and 2045 have the same underlying land use category. The amendment recommended the area for employment uses based on regional analysis, including proximity to the airport and interstate, and the need to replace over 230 acres of employment land lost elsewhere in the city.
Second, the Specific Plan (Ordinance 2023-12) also remains in place. Because it was adopted by ordinance, the Regional Plan cannot override it. Changing the land use back to prior designations of Suburban Activity Center and Suburban and Rural Neighborhood created a maze of conflicts between these adopted plans.
Third, the Regional Plan 2045 did remove the higher-intensity Activity Center tied to the Health Care Village concept. However, maintaining employment uses is still consistent with both the Specific Plan and the regional analysis of land needed for employment uses.
Any future changes or proposals would require new public processes and formal amendments.
What to Regional Plan 2030 and Regional Plan 2045 propose for Section 20 (AZ State Land)? (note: S. 20 is located at the far end of Butler Ave. where it dead ends.)
Section 20 has been in the Urban Growth Boundary in Flagstaff since at least 2001. State Land has had an inquiry about if they would like to auction it for development. They are still in what they call their due diligence phase where they are doing surveys and appraisals on the property. If they decide to proceed with an auction, there will be a notice in the paper and on their website: https://land.az.gov/reports-notices. There is no notice for this property at this time. The due diligence phase may or may not result in an auction being announced so it is not possible at this time to know how long the parcel will remain undeveloped.
If someone purchases the parcel and develops it using existing entitlements, they could build 640 dwelling units without triggering a review for Regional Plan conformance using existing entitlements. If they want to request a different zoning or more density then they would need to propose something that conforms to the Regional Plan, whichever is in place at that time.
Section 20 is a Suburban Neighborhood with an Activity Center in the current Regional Plan 2030. This would ask someone rezoning the property to create an area of high-density mixed-use development somewhere on the parcel if they wanted to rezone it and then limit the density on the rest of the parcel to less than 14 dwelling units per acre (exempting affordable housing units). The Regional Plan 2045 removed the Activity Center and would allow a future property owner to rezone the property into a range that could include from single family homes, townhomes, missing middle housing or apartments (2 to 29 dwelling units per acre) with some neighborhood scale commercial.
It is also important to know that the city is prohibited by State law from designating any part of State or private land as open space without written property owner permission. Due to State lands fiduciary responsibilities, they have not been willing to provide such approval.
What to Regional Plan 2030 and Regional Plan 2045 propose for Section 10 (AZ State Land)? (note: S.10 is located at the far eastern edge of the Flagstaff city limits.)
Section 10 has been in the Urban Growth Boundary in Flagstaff since at least 2001. State Land has announced an auction of this property is coming soon. The parcel is 668 acres and is divided by the interstate and the railroad. Since 2014, most of the parcel except for the northeast corner has been designated Employment. The 2045 plan proposes to make the area south of I-40 Employment as well. No other changes are proposed to the plan concerning Section 10.
Employment is a category on the Future Growth Illustration that allows for Research and Development, Light Industrial, Heavy Industrial and compatible commercial and residential uses when part of a master planned area. The Regional Plan does not automatically change the zoning of any parcel. Someone who wins at auction has to get State Land and City approval for a zoning map amendment. The parcel is currently zoned Rural Residential and allows housing of up to 1 dwelling unit per acre to be constructed by right.
