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Flagstaff regional plan enters 60‑day public review; comments due Dec. 19
Summary
City planning staff told the Flagstaff Indigenous Commission on Dec. 11 that a roughly 230‑page draft regional plan is in a 60‑day public review that closes Dec. 19, and urged commissioners and residents to submit chapter‑level comments via the posted online platform or by email.
Elsa Erling, an associate planner in Flagstaff’s comprehensive planning office, told the Indigenous Commission on Dec. 11 that the City of Flagstaff Regional Plan draft is now in a 60‑day public review period that closes Dec. 19. "So it closes December 19th," Erling said, and encouraged commissioners to use the online comment tools and forthcoming office hours to weigh in.
The presentation described a large, multi‑year effort to update the regional plan that covers the city and surrounding county communities. Erling said an advisory committee met 15 times over roughly nine months and endorsed a draft that staff calls about 230 pages long; that endorsement began the current public‑review window. The draft will undergo further legal review and go to planning commissions, the city council and the county supervisors before final adoption; staff said it could reach the ballot in November 2025.
Why it matters: Flagstaff’s regional plan provides high‑level guidance used in development review, zoning updates and program planning. Changes in the plan can influence where denser neighborhoods, mixed‑use centers, corridors (for example, Route 66) and employment districts are encouraged — with downstream effects on housing, transportation and open‑space decisions.
Key priorities in the draft include housing affordability and displacement mitigation, denser mixed‑use neighborhoods, protection of natural and cultural resources, and increased resilience to hazards and climate change. Erling highlighted housing policies such as a broad affordability goal (HA), a policy to minimize displacement of existing affordable units (HA1), expanding paths to homeownership (HA2) and coordinating with local providers for shelter and transitional housing (HA3). The plan also includes a new policy (noted in the draft as AN2) to "collaborate with indigenous nations to meet the unique housing needs" of Native American students, workers, residents and elders, and implementation guidelines that spell out possible partnership and funding approaches.
How to comment: Erling described multiple engagement options: recorded webinars and workshops, weekly office hours, an interactive online mapping tool and a chapter‑by‑chapter comment function on the posted platform (transcript spelling varies; presented as Conveio). Staff advised reviewers to focus comments on specific chapters or action items to make the review manageable. Erling said there were already more than 500 comments on the site.
Process next steps: Following the public‑comment period, staff will analyze input, possibly reconvene the regional plan advisory committee for complex issues, proceed through legal review and additional layers of commission and council review. Erling said the plan may be presented to voters as early as November 2025.
The commission thanked Erling for the overview. Erling directed commissioners with detailed questions to planning staff contact Sarah (transcript provides several spellings: Sarah Dechter/Dector/Dachter) and reiterated that the current public review window closes Dec. 19.
