As we predicted in the last issue, the anticipated update to the Mohave County General Plan (GP), that includes a huge Angle Homes planned community in the northwest part of the Valley, has been stalled due to acknowledged Open Meeting Law (OML) violations.
With only days to read it instead of the “at least sixty days” required by A.R.S 11-805 section F, the Supervisors were expected to rubber stamp the 170-plus page document, despite no presentation even being made to them to explain the changes by the Development Services Department.
But with separate Open Meeting Law complaints made to the AZ Ombudsman and the County Attorney’s office, the Board was forced to send the Draft Plan back to the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission. While the Ombudsman’s Open Meeting Law Enforcement Team (OMLET) has yet to issue a report on it’s findings, Civil Deputy County Attorney Jason Mitchell confirmed that their office had substantiated at least the one allegation that “an Open Meeting Law Violation had occurred for each meeting where an agenda was not posted.”
The Board’s vote to reject the plan was unanimous, and the law (A.R.S. 11-805, section L) will require any future version of the GP to be approved by a 2/3 majority (unanimous on a 5 member board) vote. If they fail to adopt or re-adopt a version of the plan, then the current plan remains in effect until a new one passes. They must consider a new plan or reconsider the proposed plan with one year, and must continue to do so until a plan is adopted. There is no hard deadline for the Supervisors to approve a new 10 year growth plan, so it looks like concerned GV residents will have a new round of public comment battles with Angle Homes.
What will that process look like? Well according to Development Services Director Scott Holtry, at the July 13th P&Z meeting, they are “going to “re-do all 8 Subcommittee presentations, but...abbreviate them a little bit” at one very long regular P&Z meeting next month, and “allow the public from any of those areas to come and voice any opinions, just to make sure that we’re satisfying any and all public notices that we mentioned before.” And “We will hold a special meeting with the Board of Supervisors and I believe they might have some changes that they’re looking to make...we will have to come back another time to the Commission.” Thus giving the general public another bite at the apple, or several, to drive home their concerns.
One additional issue that has recently been revealed upon research by the Mohave Free Press, is that the County was required by A.R.S 11-805, section B-1, to have, at some time in the past, formally adopted written procedures as to how the GP process would proceed. Yet nobody involved in the process appears to have been provided a copy of that document so it in unknown if the law has even been followed in that regard. Was staff given a copy of the official procedures for drafting the GP and, if so, did they follow it to the letter? If all provisions of the law, A.R.S. 11-805, were not followed then is this misfeasance on the part of County Manager Sam Elters or the County’s legal counsel or both?
Will OMLET impose the potential $500 fine on lawbreaking member of the GP Subcommittee, or will everyone involved just get a slap on the wrist? Inquiring minds want to know. Coincidentally, a “training workshop” has been scheduled for August 26th at 3pm in the Board of Supervisor’s Auditorium featuring “Guest Star” Will Davis, an attorney for the County.