Fountain Hills planning commissioners approve revised downtown overlay, raise density to 50 units per acre

Fountain Hills planning commissioners voted 6-0 June 9 to recommend approval of Ordinance 25-02, the town’s proposed downtown overlay, after amending the draft to increase residential density and modify the Avenue boundary.

The vote came after a multihour public and commissioner discussion of allowed ground-floor uses, parking impacts, sidewalk widths and special-use permit requirements. Director West, the town staff presenter, told commissioners that the overlay’s goals are to “have a more active and vibrant avenue, more employment opportunities in the area, more mixed use, and to find ways to better use and maintain some of the vacant properties until they can be developed.”

The commission’s action recommends increasing the by-right residential density in the overlay area to 50 units per acre (matching density already permitted on the south side of the avenue), removing the proposed restriction on first-floor uses along part of the Avenue of the Fountains, revising the Avenue boundary to exclude a constrained corner parcel, and directing staff to amend code language to recognize existing easements or plat setbacks. The commission left existing…