From the June 25- July 1, 2001 edition of the AJ News http://www.ajnews.com/

Pinal County Has A General Plan...Of Sorts

A consolidated General Plan is slated for completion by year’s end

By Lanie Bethka

The News

FLORENCE- The Pinal County Attorney’s Office has completed their research into a claim by a Tucson attorney that the county has no authority to rezone because they have never adopted a county-wide general plan as required by state statute derived from the Growing Smarter Proposition adopted in 1999 and the Growing Smarter Plus Proposition adopted in 2000.

Chief Civil Deputy County Attorney Bill McLean says the answer is that Pinal County Supervisors may continue to make zoning changes as long as they have a consolidated general plan in place by December 31, 2001, and, if it takes longer, McLean says there are no "teeth" in the statute that will force them to have it done.

Further, at the request of the League of Towns and Cities, the state legislature is seriously considering extending deadlines for towns, cities and counties if they ask for an extension. So, conceivably, the county may have as long as they need to complete the task, with virtually no consequences.

An attorney who specializes in municipal law told The News last week that the statute governing counties is very clear. "Once a county has developed a comprehensive general plan, it must update that plan every ten years with the due date determined by the date of the plan’s original adoption. The statute becomes very vague about when a county must first adopt a comprehensive general plan," he said.

McLean told The News that he found clarification under a 1998 Growing Smarter Statute Number 204, Section 2/A2, which said that each county must have general plans in place by January 1, 1999, but did not require the plan or plans to be a single comprehensive general plan. He pointed out that the county had several area plans, one of which had been developed and adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 1991. Another plan was adopted in 1993. And, while these plans were for specific areas in the county, they all contained language about county-wide goals and objectives addressing growth.

The December 31, 2001, date is ten years from the adoption of the Area One Plan, which the Board of Supervisors adopted in 1991. It is the date the county has set for itself to have the plan completed. It is also the date mentioned in the 1998 statute as revised in 1999 that says, "Before January 1, 1989, the county or municipality shall adopt or readopt its general or comprehensive plan in a manner consistent with this act on or before December 31, 2001."

According to Pinal County Planning and Development Director Dennis Cady, the task is "do-able". He told The News that the Citizen Advisory Committees were already being put together. A minimum of 54 citizens are being tapped to participate because the county divided itself into six geographic areas ten years ago when it's then Board of Supervisors adopted the Area One General Plan. The most recent Growing Smarter Plus statute stipulates the appointment of a minimum of nine citizens on each citizen advisory committee. Cady said the citizens would receive two evenings of training before they begin their work.

The Pinal County Planning and Development Department already has two consultants on board who will assist county staff with the task of completing the comprehensive general plan. They were hired earlier to develop portions of the plan including the sections on water resources, transportation and land use.

Once the plan draft is developed, public forums will be held so that citizens may voice their concerns. The county's task will be to listen and take notes. The county will also take letters, e-mail and other communication under consideration before developing the revision of the goals and policies for the general, comprehensive plan. Once the changes are made, the revised plan will be taken back to the public for another round of public hearings. Those comments will be incorporated wherever practicable and the final draft will be submitted to the Board of Supervisors and county staff for a 60-day review. At the end of that period, the final plan will come before the board for adoption.

Cady said, "I'm looking forward to the process. My staff and I are glad to see this move forward."

Cady explained that one of the reasons the county didn't push forward before now to complete the general plan process was the uncertainty created when Proposition 202 and The Growing Smarter Plus Proposition both went before voters in the 2000 election, each with language that canceled the other out if passed. He said developers flooded not just Pinal County, but every county in the state with zoning change requests they wanted pushed through in case Proposition 202 became law.

According to McLean, the legal challenge made by Tucson attorney Anne C. Graham-Bergin on behalf of Mary Ellen Kazda and her group, Pinal County Citizens for Sustainable Communities, Inc., claiming the Board of Supervisors violated the state’s open meeting law, doesn’t have any grounds since the board’s meeting agenda always contains a statement advising attendees that the board may, at any time during the meeting, go into closed executive session with their attorneys to discuss issues which may require legal advice.

Pinal County Citizens for Sustainable Communities, Inc. have initiated a petition drive to put the Willow Springs rezoning issue to the voters in a special referendum election. They have until July 2, 2001, to gather a minimum of 3,030 valid voter signatures.