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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Code Review Council Committee - Meeting Date: 1/23/20200147 Glendale A R I Z O N A MINUTES CITY CODE REVIEW COUNCIL COMMITTEE CITY HALL, CONFERENCE ROOM 133 5850 W. GLENDALE AVE. GLENDALE, ARIZONA 85301 JANUARY 23, 2020 5:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm. 2. ROLL CALL Present: Ray Malnar, Vice Mayor Bart Turner, Vice Chairperson, Councilmember Yvonne Knaack, Member Barbara Lentz, Member Rich LeVander, Assistant Police Chief Ron Short, Member Michael Socaciu, Member Warren Wilfong, Member Absent: Jonathan Liebman, Member Mark Lilly, Member Joyce Clark, Councilmember Also Present: Rick St. John, Deputy City Manager, Public Safety Lisa Collins, Interim Development Services Director Shelli Henson, Council Assistant 3. CITIZEN COMMENTS Joyce Capson, Glendale Resident from the Sahuaro District, apologized to the committee and stated she realizes how important the work of the committee members has been. She stated that the neighborhood looks very good now. She passed around an email received from an Administrator from the Code Compliance Division and said she believes that there is some work to do in the Code Compliance Division. Bill Demski, Glendale Resident from the Sahuaro District, spoke about his concerns regarding Mr. St. John being in charge of the Code Compliance Division. Jeff Chuirazzi, Glendale Resident from the Sahuaro District, spoke in regard to the email that was sent to Joyce Capson. He has concerns about how some alleged violations are addressed by the Code Compliance Division. Beverly Moore, Glendale Resident from the Ocotillo District, spoke about an easement that has been cleaned up. She spoke about a letter she received from Code Compliance in 2016. She stated that the enforcement of the codes needs to be fixed. 4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES a. Code Review Council Committee Minutes of December 5, 2019. A motion was made by Committee Member Knaack and seconded by Committee Member Wilfong to approve the minutes from the December 5, 2019 meeting. AYE: Vice Mayor Ray Malnar, Chairperson Councilmember Bart Turner, Vice Chairperson Yvonne Knaack, Member Barbara Lentz, Member Assistant Police Chief Rich LeVander, Member Ron Short, Member Michael Socaciu, Member Warren Wilfong, Member OTHER: Councilmember Joyce Clark, Member (ABSENT) Mark Lilly, Member (ABSENT) Jonathan Liebman, Member (ABSENT) Passed 5. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION a. 2020 GOAL(S) FOR COMMITTEE Chairperson Malnar asked the committee to make a list of the goals for this upcoming year. He asked the committee to state what they would like to accomplish as a committee. Committee Member Wilfong stated that he would like to see, some of the items that have been voted on, brought forward to the council to be approved. Committee Member Knaack asked to see a report on the number of different code compliance cases that are being opened citywide. 6. UPDATES a. DEPUTY CITY MANAGER, PUBLIC SAFETY Mr. St. John, Deputy City Manager, spoke about his role working with the Code Compliance Division. He stated that he is working on making some changes and adjustments to the division. Mr. St. John said the mission, philosophy, communication and the enforcement of the code division will change. He will look into implementing new programs to help residents bring their properties into compliance. There was discussion among the committee members regarding the proposed changes to enforcement of the city codes. b. INTERIM DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR Lisa Collins, Interim Development Services Director, stated that the zoning ordinance re -write will be a comprehensive re -write and will be presented to Council as such. Lisa Collins presented a memo regarding the right of way and who is responsible for the maintenance of the right of way areas. She stated that this is a complex issue because there are different groups that take care of the right of way in various situations. Ms. Collins presented graphics showing examples of right of way areas. There was discussion among the committee members regarding the right of way areas. c. CODE CONSULTANT Adam Pruitt with Michael Baker International stated that they have been busy speaking with staff, stakeholders and the public to make sure that they understand the issues. He stated that this information has helped them to complete the Zoning Analysis Document and that this document is what will guide the process moving forward. The next step is to meet with the Technical Advisory Committee, made up of key department heads within the city, next week to adjust this document. Once that has been done the consultants will draft the new code. Mr. Pruitt said that Module 1 should be completed by the end of February. There was discussion among the committee members and the code consultant regarding the re -write. d. CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE There were no updates from the City Attorney's Office. 7. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS AND POSSIBLE ACTION a. MISCELLANEOUS SUBCOMMITTEE Committee Member Short read aloud from a hand-out regarding recommended improvements for the Code Compliance Division. A motion was made by Committee Member Short and seconded by Committee Member Knaack to approve the following recommendations for the improvement of the Code Compliance Division: (1) Research the history of "Focus Areas" and create this program to do citywide proactive enforcement in neglected areas. (2) Code Compliance Division publish a public annual report with narrative. (3) Establish a volunteer code compliance program to find violations only. (4) Improve the notification process by first sending a letter to the violator explaining the violation, ordinance citation, picture and request the property owner correct the violation within two weeks. (5) Reduce the complexity and length of processing violations. (6) Work with prosecutors to be more aggressive and don't only take cases they are sure to win. (7) Recognize each area is different and use a different enforcement approach for each. (8) Establish a small resource neighborhood clean-up grant fund as part of the Code Compliance Division. AYE: Vice Mayor Ray Malnar, Chairperson Councilmember Bart Turner, Vice Chairperson Yvonne Knaack, Member Barbara Lentz, Member Assistant Police Chief Rich LeVander, Member Ron Short, Member Michael Socaciu, Member Warren Wilfong, Member OTHER: Councilmember Joyce Clark, Member (ABSENT) Mark Lilly, Member (ABSENT) Jonathan Liebman, Member (ABSENT) Passed b. RESIDENTIAL SUBCOMMITTEE There were no updates from the Residential Subcommittee. C. COMMERCIAL SUBCOMMITTEE Committee Member Knaack stated that she feels that the focus group and volunteers would be helpful to the Code Compliance Division. She stated her concerns regarding blade signs in the right of way that are not legal. d. PARKING SUBCOMMITTEE Committee Member Wilfong spoke about his concerns regarding enforcement of the following: (1) parking on the front yard should be addressed aggressively. (2) Maintenance items such as weeds should be given a timeline of 4-6 weeks. (3) Repairs should also be addressed. (4) Repeat offenders should go to citation immediately. There was a discussion among the committee members regarding these four areas of enforcement. A motion was made by Committee Member Wilfong and seconded by Committee Member Socaciu to ask that Code recognize that there are four types of citations: (1) Behavior (2) Maintenance (3) Repairs and (4) Repeat Offender and asks that a code be written to address each one of these categories. AYE: Vice Mayor Ray Malnar, Chairperson Councilmember Bart Turner, Vice Chairperson Yvonne Knaack, Member Barbara Lentz, Member Assistant Police Chief Rich LeVander, Member Ron Short, Member Michael Socaciu, Member Warren Wilfong, Member OTHER: Councilmember Joyce Clark, Member (ABSENT) Mark Lilly, Member (ABSENT) Jonathan Liebman, Member (ABSENT) Passed 8. STAFF REPORT There were no staff reports. 9. COMMITTEE COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS Vice Chairperson Turner stated that he supports the use of more volunteers. One place where volunteers can be utilized is for yard sales. He stated that this would be good for the community and would make a difference. He also stated that the use of letters in the mail would be a very efficient way to reach people. He said that enforcement needs to be fair to all in the neighborhood and should be used to improve the neighborhoods. He would like to see the abatement program be put into place soon. Lisa Collins stated that the zoning ordinance re -write would be comprehensive and other things will be handled as they come along such as violations and enforcement. Committee Member Short stated that there have been a lot of residents who have been very interested in stating their views on issues and problems. He stated that a citizen group should be organized. He suggested that a future agenda item be added to address this concern. Committee Member Lentz asked if there can be yard sale information added to the newsletter that is included with the water bill. Committee Member Knaack wanted to know if there can be a report submitted regarding abatements. She feels that these committee meetings should be put on hold until the re -write has progressed further. Committee Member Wilfong stated that he is pleased that Mr. Rick St. John is overseeing the Code Compliance Division. He stated that he was disappointed that Joyce Capson received the email from an Administrator of the Code Compliance Division and hopes that gets corrected. 10. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting of the Code Review Council Committee will be held on February 27, 2020 at 5:00 p.m., in conference room B3, located at 5850 West Glendale Avenue, Glendale, Arizona, 85301. 11. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Malnar adjourned the meeting at 6:44 pm. The City Code Review Committee meeting minutes of January 23, 2020 were submitted and approved this 28th day of May, 2020. 1 _ Deborah Gentry Administrative Support Specialist