Council refines General Plan text; keeps nondiscrimination language, trims some voluntary elements

Prescott City Council reviewed and directed multiple text changes to the draft 2025 General Plan at its June 12 workshop, keeping the plan’s nondiscrimination language intact, adding a short compliance sentence to the climate and energy chapter, and instructing staff to trim or reframe several voluntary or technical sections before the June 24 voting packet.

Chelsea Walton, the city’s community development director, said staff added a narrowly worded sentence to the climate and energy text to meet state statutory requirements. The recommended insertion reads in staff wording as an addition to page 33: “increasing the use of and access to renewables, such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy, and promoting energy efficiency.” Walton said staff believes the wording complies with the statute’s requirement to consider access to incident solar energy for land-use categories.

The council also debated references to federal programs and electric-vehicle (EV) charging. Members agreed to remove an explicit reference to the U.S. Department of Energy from a paragraph and to edit a sentence that had asked staff to include “federal” funding in recommendations; council replaced the term with a more general reference so the passage would not hinge on current federal priorities.

Dark-sky and Tree City USA text prompted a lengthy exchange. Several members favored keeping goals on dark-sky principles and pursuing voluntary measures; others objected to language that looked like regulatory requirements or mandatory spending. Council agreed to remove the detailed four-point “framework” language describing Tree City USA requirements and instead to add a short, business-case evaluation: staff will study the costs, code changes and implications and return recommendations for council decision.

Parking and regulatory incentives drew firm direction. Strategy 3.3 listed potential incentives such as expedited review, density bonuses and “reduced parking.” After public and council debate about downtown parking impacts, council instructed staff to remove the specific phrase “reduced parking” from the list of automatic incentives and to require any parking-related incentives be accompanied by a thorough analysis of surrounding neighborhood conditions.

The workshop also included a contested discussion about the plan’s nondiscrimination sentence in the introduction. The language reads that “people of all ages, races, national origin, sexual orientations, genders, religions and disabilities can make use of Prescott’s land and amenities without facing discrimination.” Mayor Goode raised a procedural concern about retaining the word “genders,” citing a federal executive order directing agency employees to use sex-based terms for certain administrative purposes and urging removal to reduce risk to federal grant applications. Councilman Moore and a four-member majority of the council defended keeping the term “genders” in the statement. The council ultimately left the wording intact by majority direction (four in favor, three opposed).

Public comment: about 27 residents signed up to speak. Dozens of public commenters urged the council to send the plan to voters with climate and nondiscrimination language intact; several speakers urged preserving environmental and inclusivity language and keeping voluntary chapters such as climate and energy. Other commenters urged scaling back voluntary elements or removing specific programs such as Tree City USA.

Staff actions and next steps: Walton said staff will implement the agreed edits — adding the solar-access compliance language, removing the DOE reference, removing “reduced parking” from strategy 3.3 and reframing Tree City text for study — and return a revised, formatted packet for the June 24 voting meeting. Walton indicated the city will continue to check statutory compliance before final adoption.

Why this matters: the edits affect how the general plan frames future policy and city priorities, what the public sees on the ballot and how the city positions itself for future grants and development agreements. Councilmembers emphasized the distinction between advisory plan language and any later regulatory code changes, which would come back to council as separate actions.

Selected quotes: Walton said staff added the climate sentence to be compliant: “increasing the use of and access to renewables, such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy.” Mayor Goode recommended removing “genders” to avoid potential grant risk; Councilman Moore replied, “The word genders is appropriate. We know there are 2 genders,” and spoke in favor of keeping the inclusive language.

Ending: Staff will prepare the revised General Plan packet incorporating council direction for the June 24 meeting; the council reiterated that formal adoption will require subsequent votes and any code or funding changes implied by voluntary elements would require separate council actions.