Payson holds first hearing on rezoning for 1500 E. Frontier Street to allow five-lot subdivision

The Payson Common Council on April 23 held the first public hearing on Ordinance 969, a zoning map amendment and Unified Development Code text change requested for a 7.66-acre parcel at 1500 East Frontier Street to allow a five-lot subdivision.

Planning staff said the proposal, zoning case P25-001, would rezone the parcel from R1-175 to R1-90 to complete the Mountain View subdivision and permit five single-family lots of at least two acres each. Planning staff told the council the request aligns with the town general plan’s designation for traditional residential development and complies with the recommended density of no more than seven dwelling units per acre.

The applicant, Michelle Hellenard, told the council she and her husband purchased the 5.25+ acre parcel with the intent to create home sites for family members and said the cost to construct the required roadway, drainage and other infrastructure made a two-lot division infeasible. “We basically can build the same road, but now have five parcels if we can get this zoning change done, and spread it out over five,” Hellenard told the council.

Neighbors and the applicant discussed well impacts and notification. Hellenard said a handful of mailed notices were returned as undeliverable and that one neighbor had called expressing concern about potential impacts on groundwater if additional lots with wells are developed. She said she has reviewed publicly available well data and spoken with a water hydrologist; “as long as the neighbors’ wells were drilled to appropriate depths, there shouldn’t be an impact,” she said.

Planning staff noted the property is outside the Green Valley Water Sanitary District and is not served by town water; wells are permitted in the requested R1-90 district. Off-site road improvements to Frontier Street are required and are under review. Staff also said the planning and zoning commission recommended approval to council with conditions contained in the staff report.

Because this was the first public hearing, the council took no action and closed the hearing. A second hearing and final action will be scheduled at a later meeting, when council may vote on the ordinance after staff and applicant responses to comments and any required conditions are finalized.

The hearing record includes the staff report, mailed notices to neighboring properties, and the applicant’s citizen participation meeting summary; several neighbors attended that meeting, staff said.