City Violates AZ State Law and General Plan with Refuge Annexation Agreement

After thorough legal and factual research, one of the most respected planning and zoning law firms in the state of Arizona has concluded that the proposed Refuge annexation and accompanying Agreement between the City of Lake Havasu and City Center is in violation of Arizona state law and the Lake Havasu City General Plan 2002 ("General Plan").

The Phoenix law firm of Beus Gilbert has substantiated this conclusion by filing an amended complaint in Mohave County Superior Court, a copy of which has been submitted to the Court and served to the City. The complaint is public record and is available for review (RefugeAnnexation.com).  The voters in Lake Havasu City have a right to consider this information prior to casting their ballot for the May 17^th Special Election.

The ongoing litigation mentioned here is in the form of a lawsuit directed at Lake Havasu City for alleged zoning irregularities. The challenged zoning at the center of the lawsuit was put in place by the City to accommodate a “partial annexation” application conditioned on specific zoning that allows for the development of an RV subdivision where golf course land now exists.  

The General Plan, enacted in 2002 and updated in 2008, stipulates that the land to be annexed is classified as “Resort Residential” and specifically provides that the Resort Residential classification “does not allow RV Resorts or mobile home parks”.   

The zoning for the parcels and the Annexation Agreement allow for an RV Park.  Specifically, in the Annexation Agreement, the City acknowledges that City Center intends to subdivide the parcels for the development of an RV Park and that the City does not object to such use.  This does not conform to the General Plan and is direct violation of its own classification. 

The City’s annexation of the parcels for use as an RV Park violates A.R.S. §9-462.01(F) as it is inconsistent with the General Plan, inconsistent with the City’s Future Land Use Plan, inconsistent with the goals of said plans and is contrary to the established policies of the City. 

Further, as the General Plan prohibits "RV Resorts or mobile home parks" in areas defined as "Resort Residential," the granting of conditional use permits to City Center for an RV park, and the City's expressed intent to grant such use permits, would violate Section 14.44.050 if acted upon as intended. 

Even with such restrictive language so clearly spelled out in the General Plan, City Officials approved rezoning of the questioned property in such a way that actually promotes the construction of a RV Park.  The larger questions remain as to why the City would rush this annexation as well as the costly election instead of waiting until the legal issues were resolved.   

Click the attached link for an article in today's News-Herald about this new development:

http://havasunews.com/articles/2011/04/22/news/doc4db101c46c4e5834238988.txt