Spring is just around the corner, and county officials have begun doing a little housekeeping of their own.
Pinal County Development Services has been working on some big changes to its zoning code for the first time since 2012, which “represent a complete update and modernization” of the code, the county said.
But the whole thing could be scrapped next week.
The zoning updates affect residents living in the unincorporated areas of Pinal County, such as Hidden Valley and Thunderbird Farms. Residents in those Maricopa neighborhoods have been extremely vocal about their opposition to the changes.
Some of the changes are quite pleasant — preserving dark sky access and updating zoning for wineries and tasting rooms. But others “don’t make sense,” according to Maricopa’s new county-level supervisor, Rich Vitiello, who lives in Cobblestone Farms.
He offered animal keeping as an example of some uproar he received from constituents.
“If you have x-amount of land, you can only have x-amount of chickens, turkeys, horses, cows, pigs,” Vitiello told InMaricopa. “I get it because these people move out to the unincorporated areas for that rural lifestyle. This has to be re-looked at.”
For example, residents may have up to one pig per acre of land but may only keep a maximum of three, no matter their acreage. And residents who keep horses can have two such animals for their first acre, followed by an additional horse per half-acre.
It’s enough that local residents created a Facebook page dedicated to sharing information about the updates. The posts have ranged from people airing their grievances to planning protests to wanting to recall the county’s elected officials.
However, after a week of criticisms, Supervisor Chairman Stephen Miller said the board had heard their constituents “loud and clear.”
“I have taken the liberty to put it on the agenda for Wednesday’s board meeting and we will remove it as written and start over,” Miller said in a video.
He said he wanted to see the zoning code be “more lenient, to meet the needs of the citizens of Pinal County.”
Vitiello said he agreed with this decision, especially after hearing concerns from residents all week.
“The right decision is to scrap it, start over and listen to the will of the people,” he said.
