Section 403. Specific plans.
A. Statement of purpose. A specific plan is intended to provide a greater level of detail needed to implement a subarea of the General Plan such as a village core, along a transportation corridor, a large vacant area, a conservation or redevelopment area, or any other area in which the need for special study and planning exists. A specific plan is a detailed element of the General Plan. This chapter prescribes procedures for the adoption, amendment, administration and enforcement of specific plans.
B. Initiation and application.
1. Specific plans may be initiated by the Planning Commission, by the City Council, or by a real property owner(s) within the area to be included in the proposed specific plan. Privately initiated specific plans shall be prepared by the Planning and Development Department based upon the application and shall be accepted for processing where the applicant is able to demonstrate that the applicant owns or is authorized to represent not less than seventy-five percent of the area to be included in the proposed specific plan.
a. No specific plan shall contain less than one hundred acres unless initiated by the Planning Commission or City Council.
2. Specific plans include such regulations, criteria and guidelines as may be necessary or desirable for the systematic execution of the General Plan. Specific plans may, in addition to recommended zoning ordinances and subdivision regulations, include:
a. Regulations, criteria or guidelines determining the location of buildings and other improvements with respect to rights-of-way, floodplains and public areas and facilities.
b. Regulations of the use of land, buildings and structures, the height and bulk of buildings and structures and open areas about buildings and structures.
c. Street and highway naming and numbering plans in order to establish and reserve the official names of streets and highways, to remove conflicts, duplication and uncertainty among such names, and to provide an orderly system for the numbering of proposed or existing buildings and properties.
d. Measures required to insure the execution of the General Plan.
e. Other matters which will accomplish the purposes of A.R.S. tit. 9, ch. 4, art. 6.
3. A specific plan may be regulatory or nonregulatory. A regulatory plan is defined as any plan containing provisions with restrictions on land use that differ from existing regulations. For the purposes of this chapter, specific plans that only contain statements of goals, standards, or policies that will be implemented by other means are deemed to be nonregulatory.
C. Submittal requirements. The proposed specific plan shall be submitted in two parts:
1. The plan document, consisting of maps, sketches, diagrams, and text indicating the magnitude, intensity, and location of all land uses proposed, and the standards which are required for all proposed development, shall be provided as follows:
a. Purpose statement: relationship of the project to the General Plan, and all other relevant adopted City development policies.
b. The general area description, legal description and acreage of the specific plan.
c. Definitions for special terms used in the specific plan.
d. Acreage and/or square footage of the land uses contained in the area.
e. Performance and/or development regulations, criteria or guidelines which may include densities, heights, floor area and floor area ratios, setbacks, building bulk, lot coverage, parking, open space, landscaping, signage and other site amenities.
f. Conceptual or illustrative plans and/or diagrams.
g. Implementation plan including a public and private improvement phasing schedule.
2. The development analysis, consisting of items such as basic data and relationships to judge the appropriateness of the plan with regard to market demands, service impacts, surrounding area impacts, and public fiscal impacts as follows:
a. Traffic study and transportation plan.
b. Natural features study.
c. Archeology and historic features.
d. Inventory and plans for utilities and public facilities.
e. A description of the manner in which regulatory elements in the proposed specific plan will alter the existing zoning regulations including, but not limited to, use, building height, lot coverage, setbacks, open space and parking requirements.
3. The Planning and Development Department may waive any of the above items which are deemed to be unnecessary to support the application. Any additional information intending to support the application may be submitted by the applicant.
4. The Planning and Development Department shall determine that all data to support the plan is relevant to the proposed land uses and locations.
D. Review and hearing procedure.
1. At least thirty days before initiation of a specific plan by the Planning Commission or City Council, a meeting shall be conducted by the Planning and Development Department in or near the subject area to inform interested persons of the possible initiation of a specific plan and the procedures to be followed. Property owners in and within six hundred feet of the proposed area, village committee(s) and others in the village area(s) registered with the Neighborhood Notification Office will be notified by mailed written notice twenty-one days prior to the meeting.
Within sixty days of acceptance of a private application for a specific plan, a meeting shall be conducted by the Planning and Development Department in or near the subject area. The purpose of the meeting shall be to inform interested persons of the initiation of the specific planning process and to inform them of the procedures that will be followed during preparation and review of the proposed plan. Notice of this meeting shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation and posted in the area proposed to be included in the specific plan at least fifteen days before the meeting. No more than thirty days from receipt of an application by a real property owners(s) and at least fifteen days prior to this public meeting, the Planning and Development Department will notify the applicant whether the proposal would require an amendment to the General Plan. If it is determined that a General Plan amendment is required, then no further meetings, after that provided in this paragraph, nor any further review of the plan shall take place unless:
a. The General Plan is amended so that the proposed specific plan is in conformance with it; or
b. The proposed specific plan is amended to be consistent with the General Plan.
2. Upon preparation and review of the plan by the Planning and Development Department, they shall hold a second meeting in or near the subject area. The purpose of the meeting shall be to distribute the plan, present the plan to interested persons, and to record all comments made or received about the plan.
The meeting shall be advertised and posted as provided in section 403.D.1. For all specific plans, except infrastructure financing plans, written notice shall be sent by bulk mail at least twenty-one days prior to the meeting to all real property owners in and within six hundred feet of the proposed specific plan area. Real property owners shall be identified by the County Assessor, City Clerk, or title company licensed by the State of Arizona.
3. Upon completion of the second meeting, the Planning and Development Department shall submit the plan and all comments received to the Planning Commission for their review and recommendation. The Planning Commission shall conduct a public hearing in regard to the plan. The Planning Commission hearing regarding regulatory specific plans shall be noticed as provided in Section 506 for Zoning Ordinance amendments. Notice of the Planning Commission hearing regarding nonregulatory specific plans shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation at least fifteen days before the hearing and shall also be posted in the area proposed to be included in the plan at least fifteen days before the hearing.
4. A copy of any proposed specific plan with the recommendation of the Planning Commission shall be submitted to the City Council accompanied by a statement of the Planning Commission’s reasons for such recommendations.
a. In the event that a written protest against a proposed regulatory specific plan is filed in the office of the Planning and Development Department or with the City Clerk no later than seven days following Planning Commission action by the owners of twenty percent or more, either of the area of the lots included in such proposed plan or of those immediately adjacent in the rear thereof extending one hundred fifty feet therefrom, or of those adjacent to any one side and extending one hundred fifty feet therefrom, or of those directly opposite thereto extending one hundred fifty feet from the street frontage of such opposite lots, such specific plan shall not become effective except by the favorable vote of three-fourths of all the members of the City Council of the City of Phoenix. If any members of the City Council are unable to vote on any such amendment because of a conflict of interest, then the required number of votes for passage of such amendment shall be three-fourths of the remaining membership of the City Council, provided that such required number of votes shall not be less than a majority of the full membership of the City Council.
b. For plans initiated by real property owners, within fifteen days after action is taken by the Planning Commission on a specific plan, if a petition is submitted to the Planning and Development Department in opposition which is signed by real property owners of at least seventy-five percent of the area within the plan, then no further hearings shall be held and the plan is terminated.
c. Upon receipt of a copy of any proposed specific plan or amendment, the City Council may by ordinance or resolution adopt the plan or amendment. Before adopting the proposed specific plan or amendment, the City Council shall hold at least one public hearing. Notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be given in the time and manner provided for the giving of notice of the hearing by the Planning Commission as provided in section 403.D.3.
E. Interpretation, administration, and enforcement of specific plans.
1. Where a provision in a specific plan varies from the underlying zoning or the Subdivision Ordinance, the specific plan shall control.
2. In any area governed by a specific plan, no building shall be erected and no existing building shall be moved, altered, added to or enlarged, nor shall any land or building be used except in conformance with any regulations contained in the specific plan.
3. If, at the time of adoption of a specific plan regulation or amendment thereto, any lot, structure or building was being used in an otherwise lawful manner that does not conform to the regulations contained in a specific plan, such lot, structure or building shall be deemed to be a nonconforming use, and may continue in the manner and to the extent that it existed or was being used at the time of such adoption. Nonconforming uses shall be governed by the nonconforming use regulations set forth in the Zoning Ordinance.
4. Violation of any regulation contained in a specific plan shall be deemed to be a violation of the Zoning Ordinance.
5. Deviations from any regulatory provision of a specific plan shall require an applicant to process a variance in accordance with the provisions of section 307 of this ordinance or amend the specific plan before rezoning can occur. This section shall apply to all deviations from regulatory elements of specific plans, regardless of acreage.
F. Amendment.
1. Initiation of applications. An amendment of an adopted specific plan may be initiated by the Planning Commission, by the City Council, or by a real property owner within the area included in the specific plan. Privately initiated amendments to specific plans shall be accepted for processing where the applicant is able to demonstrate that:
a. For map (land use) changes, the applicant owns, or is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of, the property which is the subject of the amendment; or
b. For text amendments, the applicant owns, or is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of, property which is directly affected by the portion of the plan sought to be amended.
Upon acceptance of an application or initiation of an amendment to a specific plan, the Planning and Development Department shall send notice of the amendment by first class mail to the affected village planning committee(s) and the individual or group which originally sponsored the specific plan.
2. Review and hearing procedure.
a. Within one hundred twenty days, but no less than thirty days, of acceptance of an application or initiation of an amendment to a specific plan, the Planning and Development Department shall conduct a meeting in or near the subject area. The purposes of the meeting shall be to inform interested persons of the initiation of the amendment process, to inform them of procedures that will be followed during preparation and review of the proposed amendment, to distribute the amendment, present the amendment to interested persons, and to record all comments made or received about the amendment. No more than thirty days from receipt of an application by real property owner(s) and at least fifteen days prior to this public meeting, the Planning and Development Department will notify the applicant whether the proposal would require an amendment to the General Plan. If it is determined that a General Plan amendment is required, then no further meetings, after that provided in this paragraph, nor any further review of the plan shall take place unless:
(1) An application is filed to amend the General Plan so that the proposed specific plan amendment is in conformance with it; or
(2) The proposed specific plan amendment is revised to be consistent with the General Plan.
b. Notice.
Notice of the meeting shall include the following:
(1) Published and posted notice.
Notice of the meeting shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation and posted in the area proposed to be included in the amendment at least fifteen days before the meeting.
(2) Mailed notice.
(a) Written notice regarding the meeting shall be mailed as indicated in the following chart:
|
Proposed Change To |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Map (Land Use) |
Text |
|
|
Regulatory or nonregulatory provision |
First class mail to all real property owners in the specific plan amendment area and within 300 feet of the amendment’s external boundaries and to the affected village planning committee(s) and any homeowners’ associations and others in the village area(s) who are registered with the Neighborhood Notification Office; lower priority to all other addresses in the specific plan area and within 300 feet of the plan’s external boundaries. |
First class mail to all real property owners in the *specific plan area and within 300 feet of the plan’s external boundaries and to the affected village planning committee(s) and any homeowners’ associations and others in the village area(s) who are registered with the Neighborhood Notification Office. |
*Editor’s note—This table in Section 403.F.2.b was included in Supplement No. 14 to make a correction so this Table will conform to Ord. No. G-3421, adopted May 1, 1991. "Amendment area" was used in the text section of the table instead of "Specific plan area" which is what appeared in the ordinance. Since the ordinance was correct, the typo was corrected without a new ordinance.
The notice shall include the date of the first Planning Commission hearing on the amendment. Real property owners shall be identified by the County Assessor, City Clerk, or a title company licensed by the State of Arizona. The applicant shall provide the addresses to the Planning and Development Department which shall mail the notices. First class mailings shall be sent at least fifteen days prior to the meeting; lower priority mailings shall be sent at least twenty-one days prior to the meeting. The applicant shall pay the cost of the mailing. For purposes of this table, "village" shall mean the village(s) in which the specific plan is located and an adjacent village if the plan area abuts a village’s boundary.
(b) Mailed notice shall not be required for infrastructure financing plans.
c. Upon completion of the meeting, the Planning and Development Department shall submit the amendment and all comments received to the Planning Commission for their review and recommendation. The Planning Commission shall conduct a public hearing in regard to the amendment. Notice of the Planning Commission hearing on regulations contained in regulatory specific plans shall be published and posted as provided in section 506 for Zoning Ordinance amendments. Notice of the Planning Commission hearing on amendments of nonregulatory specific plans and amendments of nonregulatory portions of regulatory specific plans shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation and shall be posted in the area proposed to be included in the amendment at least fifteen days before the hearing.
d. A copy of any proposed amendment to a specific plan with the recommendation of the Planning Commission shall be submitted to the City Council accompanied by a statement of the Planning Commission’s reasons for such recommendations.
The process for specific plan amendments at the City Council shall be the same as that provided in Section 403.D.4 for the adoption of a specific plan, except that Section 403.D.4.a shall apply only to map/land use amendments to regulatory portions of specific plans.
e. A specific plan amendment and a related General Plan amendment may be heard on the same or a separate agenda. The Planning and Development Department shall determine the hearing schedule at the time the application for a specific plan amendment is accepted. A zoning case shall be heard on an agenda which is separate from, and subsequent to, the agenda at which a related specific plan amendment is heard.
3. Effect of decision. A new application concerning amendment of a specific plan about which a previous application for amendment has been approved or denied may only be considered when:
a. The application does not involve the same request for amendment as the previous application; or
b. A period of not less than one year has passed since the date of decision of the previous application or since the date of adoption of the specific plan.
The "same request" shall include an application for the identical or similar allowance for height, floor area ratio, intensity of land use, reduction in setbacks, and other similar requests.
4. Determination that amendment of nonregulatory portions of a specific plan is necessary.
a. Unless this section is specifically modified in the adopted specific plan, an applicant for rezoning shall be required to process a request for amendment of nonregulatory portions of a specific plan in the following situations:
(1) Projects of ten or more gross acres, as defined in the Zoning Ordinance, with a use different than that shown on the specific plan land use map or set forth in the specific plan text regarding land use, or other proposals that would set a precedent or would collectively change the overall land use in the specific plan area.
(2) Residential proposals that would significantly raise the overall density for an area beyond that shown on the specific plan map, or discussed in the specific plan, or would set a precedent for other proposals that would collectively exceed the density shown or discussed, and which do not in other respects further the goals of the specific plan taken as a whole. Significance of a proposed increase in residential density shall be calculated using methods as found in the General Plan amendment procedures which are kept on file with the Planning and Development Department.
(3) Residential uses, except hotels, in designated industrial areas.
b. The Planning and Development Department shall determine whether a rezoning request will require a specific plan amendment within ten working days after:
(1) Receipt of a rezoning application; or
(2) Receipt of a request for such determination without formal submittal of the rezoning application.
c. A Planning and Development Department decision regarding the need for a specific plan amendment may be appealed to the City Council within ten working days after the Planning and Development Department has rendered its decision.
G. Repeal.
1. This section applies only to specific infrastructure financing plans.
2. An adopted specific infrastructure financing plan may be repealed, all or in part, at a public hearing of the City Council upon recommendation of the Planning Commission.
3. Notice of the intent to repeal shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation at least 15 days prior to public hearing.
4. Repeal of a specific infrastructure financing plan will not be effective prior to adoption of a new infrastructure financing plan created in accordance with applicable State statutes. (Ord. No. G-3421, 1991; Ord. No. G-3807, 1994; Ord. No. G-4128, 1998; Ord. No. G-5653, 2011)