Prescott council denies petition to send major general-plan amendments to voters, directs staff on map, nondiscrimination language and other updates

Prescott City Council on March 11 rejected a petition that would have required voters to ratify major amendments to the city’s General Plan and gave staff multiple drafting directions for the Prescott 2025 update.

The council voted 7-0 to deny the petition submitted by resident Ralph Hess after a multi-hour discussion that covered the General Plan Review Committee’s work, changes to acreage thresholds and whether the plan should include nondiscrimination language in the introduction or in the community-quality chapter. The city attorney told council staff recommended denial; the petition would have changed how a major plan amendment is treated, not the numerical triggers for an amendment.

Why it matters: Council members said the General Plan committee and staff had tried to strike a balance between too-restrictive rules that could stall development and too-permissive rules that would allow unchecked growth. Several council members and the committee’s chair, Terry Sapio, described the committee’s compromise to set new major-amendment triggers at lower acreages than the previous 40-acre threshold so more probable projects would be reviewed through the major-amendment process rather than being effectively exempt.

What the council decided and directed - Deny petition: Council moved and approved a motion to deny the petition from Ralph Hess 7-0. The denial was procedural — staff said the petition would change the decision…