Prescott Council declines to advance ordinance requiring outside review for $3M+ projects, asks staff to study 'high-value' threshold

Prescott City Council members on Tuesday debated a proposed change to city code that would require outside experts to review high-value projects located within historic preservation districts.

Mayor Pro Tem introduced the proposal as a request from two council members and described a $3,000,000 project-value threshold as a guideline for when the city should “go out to a professional firm for consultation.” She said the change was intended to “take a lot of the pressure off of the city and the commission and the department” and to avoid decisions driven by emotion rather than the law. "We just don't have the expertise in the city to be able to make a good judgment call based on facts and not emotion," she said.

The proposed amendment would sit under the duties of the Prescott Preservation Commission (Prescott City Code §122-3). Councilwoman Furworth noted that the draft appears under that code section and said the change could empower the commission to obtain technical help, while Community Development…