City Council mulls Havasu development
OKs future residential land use on the Island

The Lake Havasu City Council had some tough decisions to make Tuesday night, concerning future development in the community.

With development figures down, the city Planning Department has been pushing for several amendments to the city’s General Plan, including changing the criteria of a major and minor amendment to the plan, allowing some residential development on the Island and designating the Channel Riverwalk area as Resort-Related Mainland for future land use development.

The City Council’s decision on any of the items was not an easy one. On one hand, they could approve residential development on a majority of the Island, excluding in this particular case the Channel Riverwalk area and making it a subject all in an of itself. On the other, approving residential development without some restriction could create a windfall of residential development on the Island, if some future specifications were not made to percentages.

Council voted Tuesday to approve the Island for some future residential land use designation as a major amendment to the General Plan. However, the council and the city Planning Department agreed to no specifics for the amendment and nothing would go ahead until stipulations for development could be determined by the Planning Division and go through the proper public hearing process with the Planning & Zoning Commission and City Council in the future.

One thing the council and Planning Division did agree upon was the likelihood of no Single-Family Residential development on the Island, although nothing was determined for certain.

As both groups indicated Tuesday, the process for new residential development on the Island could take quite some time and be a long way off.

The Council also came to an agreement on the Channel Riverwalk area, designating it as Resort-Related Mainland, which would allow for future Mixed-Use development along the channel. This would include some percentage of residential development, mixed in with commercial business and resort hotels.

A proposal for changing the land use designation of Crazy Horse Campgrounds was tabled, however, as the council determined no action should be taken until further determination was made as to what residential element would be allowed on the Island, other than along the channel.

Council voted to approve a text amendment to the definition of major and minor amendments to Future Land Use as part of the General Plan. With this, developers with a Specific Plan outside the platted area could apply for a change to the land use designation of a property of 40 to 320 acres or more anytime during the year as a minor amendment.

Anything within the platted area that is five acres or more is a major amendment, as is any development of 40 to 320 acres or more without a Specific Plan outside the platted area.

With so many changes to the city’s General Plan, Vice Mayor Dennis Schilling said why not take the city’s General Plan back to the voters with all the requested amendments, instead of allowing the council to make decisions he feels would essentially change the document voters agreed on in 2002. Schilling said he is against any residential development on the island.

The City Council also approved to back Arizona Water Resources in its request for permission to build a diversion facility at the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. The city will join Arizona Water Resources in its application to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It is up to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine of the application and planned development is compatible with the goals of the refuge.

Arizona Water Resources presented its plan at the Sept. 9 meeting of the City Council.

The council tabled its discussion for further regulations on taxi and livery services in the city for a later date. No specific date was provided for future discussion, though.