Lake Havasu City planning commission approves broad zoning-code amendments, forwards changes to council

The Lake Havasu City Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a package of amendments to the city's zoning code (Title 14) at a public hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, directing staff to forward the draft ordinance and related definition changes to the City Council for final action.

City planning staff presented a consolidated set of changes to Section 14.03.02 (the permitted-use table, Table 3-1), related use-specific standards, and definitions. The package breaks out several uses (for example separating animal grooming from animal boarding), proposes new permitted uses in multiple mixed‑use districts, and adds a definition and standards for accessory caretaker quarters. "The highlighted items are things that staff went through and said, 'Hey, these kind of maybe make sense. Let's bring it to the commission,'" planning staff Luke Morris told the commission.

The changes reflect three years of incremental adjustments to a 2016 development code update and the commission's direction during prior work sessions. Staff said the goal was to align specific use definitions with fire and building code thresholds, clarify where services such as medical offices and clinics are allowed, and to better match current business patterns (for example, separating short-term indoor grooming from longer-term animal boarding).

Key provisions and outcomes

- Permitted‑use table: The commission agreed to multiple edits across Table 3-1 to add, remove, or change the status (permitted, conditional, accessory, temporary) of many uses. Staff will edit Section 14.03.03 and the definitions to reflect table changes.

- Continuing care/long‑term care: Commissioners debated whether continuing care retirement communities and residential care facilities should remain conditional uses or be permitted outright in several mixed‑use and higher-density residential districts. After discussion the commission generally moved to treat those senior‑care categories as permitted in the mixed‑use neighborhood and mixed‑use general transect districts and in appropriate higher‑density residential districts, with R3 and above noted as a baseline for permitted higher-density residential uses.

- Residential care threshold: Staff proposed changing the residential care facility definition threshold from six residents to five to match some fire and sprinkler code triggers; commissioners discussed legal precedents and fire code requirements and ultimately retained the existing six‑person threshold while noting applicants must meet fire‑safety retrofit requirements when they reach the higher threshold.

- Animal uses: The commission approved splitting the existing "animal care and boarding" category into at least two distinct definitions: (1) "animal boarding," which includes outdoor runs and multi‑day boarding (kept as a more intensive use and subject to conditional use in several districts), and (2) "animal grooming and care," an indoor, short‑term activity to be permitted in most mixed‑use and commercial districts. Commissioners and staff confirmed that veterinary hospitals remain a separate category (and include limited medical boarding related to treatment).

- Medical and institutional uses: The package added or clarified where hospitals, medical offices, clinics, libraries, museums and similar institutional uses may locate. Commissioners directed staff to add medical offices and clinics to the Mixed Use General and UMS columns and to allow certain institutional uses (for example libraries and museums) as permitted in the UMS and other appropriate districts.

- Island/Resort and golf course columns: The commission discussed the Island/Body Beach (IB) and Golf Course (GC) districts at length. Several resort‑related and recreational uses (restaurants, hotels/motels, conference facilities) were clarified as permitted or accessory in the IB and GC districts to reflect the island and waterfront intent in the code language.

- Caretaker's quarters (new definition): The commission approved a new definition for an accessory caretaker's quarters: a site‑built dwelling unit used for 24‑hour care, supervision, or security accessory to a nonresidential primary use and occupied by the custodian/caretaker (and family, as applicable). Commissioners discussed limits (location, square footage and number per site). The commission directed staff to keep the use narrowly accessory to an operating nonresidential use and to add a one‑per‑site limitation; commissioners left specific maximum square footage to staff refinement so that properly scaled caretaker units can be reviewed with applications.

- Drive‑throughs, indoor/outdoor recreation, retail changes and other housekeeping: The commission agreed to multiple technical and policy edits: permitting indoor recreation in certain industrial buildings, clarifying gas station and light‑vehicle service definitions (creating a separate category for gas stations), allowing general retail in some industrial zones, adjusting marina and parking‑facility rules for the island district, and other use‑specific standards.

Public comment and vote

No members of the public spoke during the hearing. After final staff clarifications and an opportunity for commissioners to note exceptions or refine language, Commissioner Robert Still moved to approve the package "as described," and Commissioner Chad Nelson seconded. The motion passed unanimously and staff will forward the amended Table 3-1, the related use‑specific standards in Chapter 14, and the revised definitions to the City Council for review and ordinance adoption.

Why it matters

The changes are a comprehensive cleanup and targeted policy update to Lake Havasu City's development code intended to reflect current uses, align land‑use categories with fire and building safety triggers, and reduce ambiguities that had allowed some existing businesses to be technically out of step with the code. Because the amendments alter where institutional and certain residential‑care uses may locate, the City Council vote will determine the final zoning rules that affect future applications for senior‑care facilities, medical offices, animal services, caretaker housing and other uses across the city.

What comes next

Staff will prepare Ordinance language and edits to the code sections discussed (per the motion: Table 3‑1, Section 14.03.03 use standards where needed, and the definitions section) and forward those materials to the City Council for public hearings and final action. The commission record and a redline of the code changes will accompany that transmittal.

Sources: Lake Havasu City Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing, Dec. 18, 2019; staff presentation by Luke Morris; commission deliberations