Apache County Planning and Zoning to Hold Public Meeting January 14

Apache County’s Planning and Zoning Commission met Jan. 14 in the Board of Supervisors meeting room at the County Annex Building, 75 West Cleveland Street in St. Johns. The commission convened a work session at 4:00 p.m. MST followed by an open public meeting at 5:00 p.m. The session addressed items listed on the county’s posted agenda for January 14, 2026.

The county’s Community Development office, which manages planning and zoning requests, building permits and inspections, oversees the commission’s schedule and materials. Agendas and notices are posted at least 24 hours in advance at the County Courthouse, the County Annex Building in St. Johns and on the county Public Notices page. The Planning and Zoning Commission typically meets monthly, making these meetings a regular forum where local land-use policy and permitting decisions begin to take shape.

For residents and stakeholders, the meeting is where preliminary decisions and recommendations are made that can shape development, property use and infrastructure demands across Apache County. Zoning approvals and permit interpretations emerging from the commission influence where housing, commercial projects and agricultural operations locate, and they can affect timelines for inspections and permit issuance handled by Community Development. Those outcomes in turn carry implications for property values, service delivery and the county’s long-term land-use planning.

Community members seeking more information or who had business before the commission were directed to contact Matt Fish or Shanna Pearce at (928) 337-7526, or to write to Apache County Community Development, P.O. Box 238, St. Johns, AZ 85936. The county also provides an on-site contact link for email correspondence and posts the full meeting agenda online under the title "January 14, 2026 - Agenda."

Institutionally, regular Planning and Zoning meetings function as the gatekeeper between individual permit applications and formal action by the Board of Supervisors. The commission’s recommendations and findings feed into county permitting practice and enforcement overseen by Community Development staff. For residents tracking development patterns or seeking to influence local land-use decisions, attending monthly commission meetings or submitting comments through the Community Development office remains the most direct route to participation.

What comes next for readers is practical: review the posted agendas for future commission meetings, use the Community Development contact information for questions or to request records, and consider attending upcoming sessions if a proposed project or zoning change affects your property or neighborhood. Continued public engagement at these monthly meetings will help ensure that Apache County land-use decisions reflect community priorities and local needs.