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County planning staff outline comprehensive-plan update, schedule open houses and hearing
Summary
Planning staff detailed a comprehensive-plan update that will guide county development for 20–30 years, reported 135 online responses and roughly 900 in-person engagements, and scheduled public open houses Oct. 3 (county complex) and Oct. 4 (Show Low) plus a planning-and-zoning hearing on Dec. 12 and potential Board adoption on Jan. 14, 2025.
Planning staff summarized the scope, public outreach and next steps for Navajo County’s comprehensive-plan update and invited supervisors and residents to participate during a statutorily required review period.
Cody (planning staff, S11) told the board the updated comprehensive plan will guide county development over the next 20 to 30 years and noted the county is required by state law to review the plan at least every 10 years. He said staff had gathered input through a combination of a web questionnaire (135 responses), community interviews and more than 900 in-person engagements at outreach events, and that feedback revealed both priorities and conflicting views that staff must balance.
Cody described the next procedural steps: a 60-day intergovernmental review required by state law (to include adjacent counties, incorporated cities and agencies), two public open houses planned for Oct. 3 (6 p.m. at the Navajo County Governmental Complex) and Oct. 4 (11 a.m.–1 p.m. at Show Low City Hall), a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing scheduled for Dec. 12, and a potential Board adoption on Jan. 14, 2025, at 9 a.m., if the schedule proceeds.
Board members asked how staff would publicize the open houses; Cody said the county and the comprehensive-plan website would post information, staff would issue a press brief, and social media outreach would be coordinated with communications staff. Cody also noted that some topics — for example cell towers — raise constrained local authority because health-and-safety elements are regulated at the federal level (Telecommunications Act of 1996 and FCC precedent); staff said it will prepare fact sheets explaining what the county can and cannot regulate.
Why it matters: The comprehensive plan establishes the county’s long-term framework for land use, transportation, water and other elements that affect future development and zoning. Staff are seeking broad community input before technical review and regulatory amendments that could follow adoption.
Next steps: staff will publish materials on the county and plan websites, conduct the 60-day statutory review, host two open houses and bring recommendations to the Planning and Zoning Commission and then to the Board for possible adoption on Jan. 14, 2025.
