Revised Boundary of Agua Fria Traditional Historic Community Area 1B 

 
At the Tuesday, June 13, 2023  Board of County Commission meeting, the board unanimously approved the proposed carve out for Area 1 B which revised the boundary of the Village of Agua Fria Traditional Historic Community (THC) and declared “Area 1B” to be included within the Village of Agua Fria THC.
 
 

 

At the May 30th hearing, certain landowners of undeveloped lands in Area 1B put forth a proposal whereby undeveloped land within Area 1B would be largely excluded from the Village of Agua Fria THC and remain within the so-called “Presumptive City Limits.”  The Board directed County staff to: (1) develop a map that would effectuate the so-called “Carve Out” proposal and (2) notify landowners in the proposed Carve Out and solicit their preference as between remaining within the Presumptive City Limits or becoming a part of the Village of Agua Fria THC.

Notification letters were sent via overnight mail on Thursday, June 1, 2023.  The letters asked landowners to notify the County of their preference by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 9, 2023. 

County staff also revised the proposed ordinance and map attached thereto to:

  • Reflect the proceedings before the Board on the proposed ordinance;
  • Effectuate the proposed Carve Out, on the default working assumption that all property owners within the so-called Carve Out would want to remain within the Presumptive City Limits; and
  • Include specific findings based upon the Board’s action and Commissioner comments at the May 30th meeting, as well as address the interim zoning of the parcels to be included within the Village of Agua Fria THC.

The revised ordinance is attached as Exhibit A.  Exhibit B is a potential exhibit to the proposed ordinance, which, as indicated, has not been updated to indicate the preferences of any property owner.  It was uploaded to BoardDocs separately so that the public could more readily view the potential Carve Out and potential area to be added to the Village of Agua Fria THC.  Also attached to this memorandum are the annexation related agreements referenced in the proposed ordinance.

A few specific notes follow:

  • The proposed ordinance would formally accept the supplemental petitions and signatures filed with the County Clerk on April 15 and May 1, 2023, for consideration;
  • The proposed ordinance generally describes the areas included within the Village of Agua Fria THC with reference to parcel numbers;
  • Where only a portion of a lot is to be included within the Village of Agua Fria THC, the proposed ordinance describes the boundary with reasonable particularity based upon the boundaries of flood zones or with reference to parcel boundaries; and
  • The proposed ordinance reflects the default zoning of Agricultural/Ranching (A/R) for areas included in the Village of Agua Fria THC but recognizes that comprehensive zoning for these areas (including road standards) will need to be undertaken. 
    • As a practical matter, this designation will not seemingly impact existing uses within the areas to be included in the Village of Agua Fria THC due to:
      • The vested rights doctrine, which protects property owners who received approvals from prior zoning ordinances and took sufficient steps to have their rights vest based upon such approvals; and
      • The fact that the County recognizes legal lots of record that do not meet current minimum lot sizes.

Staff will provide the Board with an updated memo and packet material after the 5:00 p.m. deadline on June 9 to hear from property owners within the so-called Carve Out as to their preferences.  To be clear, the draft map exhibit to the proposed ordinance does NOT reflect the stated preferences of any property owner to date.  Instead, County staff will provide the Board and public with a comprehensive update on property owner preferences after the deadline to respond.