Goodyear advances draft design guidelines to improve transitions, quality and affordable-housing flexibility

City planning staff on Monday previewed a draft update to Goodyear's design guidelines intended to align development standards with the newly ratified general plan and provide clearer expectations for quality design and transitions between uses.

"The design guidelines update builds on the existing design guidelines to provide the clarifications necessary to attract high quality building and site design," Senior Planner Guadalupe Ortiz Cortez told the council. Ortiz Cortez described outreach on the draft that included council interviews, an online survey, an in-person public meeting and developer forums.

The update, staff said, strengthens protections for residents where industrial uses sit adjacent to homes by adding "sensitive land use adjacency" standards that clarify screening, landscaping and orientation expectations. Staff also said the draft includes an "affordable housing exception" to allow staff discretion to consider additional design flexibility for affordable family and senior projects while maintaining quality.

Planning staff noted the manual is intended to provide options and clarity so developers do not need supplemental guidelines for every project and said the document was presented to the Planning & Zoning Commission on Oct. 16. Staff said public hearings will be held in November and the council will see a request for adoption on Nov. 18.

Council questions focused on the document's relationship to code enforcement and the zoning ordinance, water stewardship language, public art, parking and how the guidelines will address the appearance and long-term maintenance of multifamily developments. Planning staff said code enforcement remains a zoning-ordinance matter and that an associated zoning-ordinance update will follow the guidelines.

Vice Mayor Kano asked staff to strengthen language on water stewardship and to consider more directive language in places where the council wants less flexibility; other council members recommended broadening the public-art language and ensuring consistent landscaping and shade expectations across categories.

Several council members urged staff to include clearer expectations or administrative review for water features, to require meaningful façade and maintenance standards for multifamily developments and to consider aesthetic treatments that help distinguish Goodyear at city entry points.

Ending: Staff said the draft will be refined based on public and council feedback, then considered in public hearings in November with a Council adoption request planned for Nov. 18.