Staff outlines key changes and public-review schedule for Flagstaff Regional Plan and county comprehensive plan update

Melissa Shaw, a Coconino County planner, briefed the planning and zoning commission Dec. 4 on the draft Flagstaff Regional Plan and the county’s ongoing comprehensive-plan update, answering commissioner questions about policy weight, land-use maps and public engagement.

Shaw said the regional plan is in a 60-day public-review period that ends Dec. 19. Staff are posting materials on a public portal and have scheduled webinars and office hours; Shaw demonstrated the Conveio review site and explained users may register to edit comments. She said advisory committees have completed recommendations and staff will conduct legal review and organize public comments after the 60 days.

Shaw described the plan’s organization: goals and policies are front-loaded in the document, followed by a growth and land-use framework, then implementation and background chapters. She said the update intentionally reduces the total number of goals and policies (the prior plan contained many redundant and non-policy items) and clarifies an implementation hierarchy: goals (desired future condition), policies (courses of action) and implementation guidelines and action items (projects and work-plan items assigned to agencies).

Commissioners asked whether implementation items would carry the same weight as goals and policies in decision-making. Shaw replied, "the goals and policies, just in short, are the main, pieces of the plans ... The implementation guidelines basically tell how those are interpreted and applied." She said the action-item list functions as a 10-year work program with assignments to county and city departments.

Shaw also reviewed the draft future land-use illustration and policy maps. She said the county’s version of the map largely reflects existing zoning parcels but noted the regional plan’s map is parcel-specific rather than a broad paint-layer. Commissioners raised questions about how much weight to give the map in rezoning decisions and whether the plan could imply downzoning; staff said the future land-use illustration cannot remove existing entitlements and that major or minor plan amendment rules would govern substantive changes.

Shaw said the joint retreat with city and county elected and appointed officials is planned for a single day in March with a paid facilitator and a small group (around 24 people) to focus on goals and policies before public hearings. She said that if additional committee review is needed after the comment period, the regional plan committee would reconvene. Shaw noted staff plans a legal review before phase 4 public hearings and that city public hearings and a city ballot initiative are expected to precede county public hearings.

Shaw and commissioners discussed how the plan’s illustrations show denser, mixed-use and multimodal street design as possible futures in growth areas; commissioners stressed that future-density illustrations are not a carte blanche to rezone established single-family neighborhoods without a separate rezoning process. Shaw demonstrated how to zoom and comment on the plan maps on the county’s parcel viewer and the Conveio review site.

No formal action was taken; the commission was briefed and encouraged to submit comments during the 60-day review period, which Shaw said ends Dec. 19.