Tempe Development Thread

[Sekkle]

Another article about Tempe development...

Sports, arts urged near Town Lake
Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 24, 2007 12:00 AM
Tempe's City Council facilitated a community conversation on Saturday about the future of key land south and west of Tempe Town Lake.

About 80 people gathered at the library for the discussion came to a consensus that the approximately 110 acres should be dedicated to arts and sports.

Afterward, many community members said they were pleased with the meeting's outcome. It helped overcome tensions lingering after a hotly contested process last year when two developers vied to develop some of the land. The process was eventually scrapped, but not before disagreement erupted among artists, the developers, city staff and neighbors.

"I was really pleased," said Nancy Goren, who is a member of the Municipal Arts Commission and lives in a neighborhood south of Broadway Road and McClintock Drive. . "People came with serious ideas and concerns. It was helpful to toss them all out there and try to get the tension relieved."

There has never been such a meeting in Tempe's recent history, Mayor Hugh Hallman told the crowd.

The neighbors and city leaders generally agreed that they want to see some kind of arts community that would encourage interactive and hands-on learning about fine and performing arts, as well as open land that would serve as youth and amateur sports fields and facilities.

Retail and commercial land that would provide services aimed at the athletes and their families could be included, they said.

This would help address a dire need for basketball courts and playing field space for the Valley youths, said George Scobas, chief operating officer of the Valley of the Sun YMCA.

Some participants did raise concerns about the sports concept. There was speculation about potential damage to young ears and lungs from air and noise pollution coming from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

"Who knows when they'll stop adding flights over there," said Mark Lymer, a local architect and Mitchell Park West neighborhood resident.

Moving the Public Works maintenance storage yard at the corner of Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive has long been on the council's wish list, despite the project's estimated $16 million price tag.

But the community pushed that idea further into the forefront after local architect and The Lakes resident John Kane voiced the importance of turning the area south of the Priest Drive bridge into an attractive gateway into the community.

Residents nodded their approval at the idea of allowing a developer to build there with some height in exchange for picking up the tab for moving the public works facility.

Hallman and the City Council said the ideas and concepts discussed Saturday would be handed over to several community advisory commissions and council committees to make sure they are honored and implemented.

Again, as noted above by DevdogAZ regarding the site near the Arts Center, I'm not sure how much height they could get in this area, since it's so close to Sky Harbor. I wonder if there are any plans for the NW corner of Priest & Rio Salado. That's a huge lot, but maybe it's owned (or in some way restricted) by the airport (?).