Commission endorses major amendment to Sailing Hawks 'Coves' plan, reduces density to 22 lots and locks pad grades and 15-foot height limit for upper lots

The Lake Havasu City Planning and Zoning Commission voted April 3 to recommend approval of a major amendment to Planned Development PD-01001 (The Coves at Sailing Hawks), reducing density in Phase 3 from 63 lots to 22 and making the developer’s proposed grading plan a condition of approval. The commission also added a condition limiting building height to 15 feet above the approved pad elevation for lots 1 through 15.

Staff presented background on the site and prior approvals. Stuart Schmeling, city staff, said the original general development plan was approved in February 2005 and later modified in 2013 and 2014; the site currently had approvals and permits in place for a denser plan that included 63 lots. The parcel is “a little over 13 acres,” Schmeling said, and “the parcel slopes down toward London Bridge Road from east to west” with “approximately 35 feet of elevation change on the subject site from 495 to the low elevation of 460,” language Schmeling read from his background materials.

Michael Gordon of Desert Land Group, the applicant, described the request to reduce density and the rationale. Gordon said the owner is currently grading and constructing toward the approved plan but prefers the lower-density option to create larger single-family home lots that better suit market demand. He said the developer met with neighbors and revised the design to address view concerns, lowering upper-terrace pad elevations “between 1 and 2 and a half feet” on average and adjusting lot lines to open view corridors.

Several neighbors and property owners spoke in public comment. Ryan Atkins, who said he bought the project with partners in 2004, said he recalls staff analysis and meetings that discussed roofline relationships between the Ridge and The Coves and that he believed roof heights would be at or below finished floor elevations for adjoining properties in earlier staff materials. Don Bethke, who lives in the Ridge at Sailing Hawks, said many homeowners could not attend a weekday hearing and asked the applicant to lower lots so rooftops would not be higher than their slab elevations. Bernie Lash and Joe Orlando, other residents, described calculating visual impacts and said certain front lots (lots 10–12 under the earlier plan) would block substantial lake views if taller structures were built there.

Gordon and the applicant responded that the existing approved plan remains permitted and could be built under current entitlements, and that the developer purchased the property with those approvals in place. Gordon said the developer was willing to accept the proposed grading plan as a binding condition and to restrict building heights on the upper lots. “Ownership is okay with a condition that lots 1 through 15 have a maximum build height of 15 feet above the approved pad elevations,” Gordon said on the record.

Staff recommended forwarding the amendment to City Council with conditions. As modified by the commission, the recommendation replaced the existing condition 3 with the applicant’s proposed grading plan (submitted as an exhibit) and added the 15-foot maximum building height for lots 1–15. Commissioner Chad Nelson moved for approval with those modifications; Commissioner Dan McGowan seconded. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the motion and forward the amendment to City Council.

The commission’s action binds the project to the grading exhibit adopted as a condition and to the 15-foot building-height limitation for the stated upper lots; engineering staff must still review and approve utility and infrastructure plans and a revised subdivision plat must reflect the new lot configuration. The applicant acknowledged that some requested further reductions to pad elevations would add engineering complexity and cost related to export of material, drainage and infrastructure adjustments. The item will proceed to City Council for final action.