Smart Growth News

Arizona

EPA Recognizes Communities for Smart Growth Achievements

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson presented the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement on December 1 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Through the awards, four communities were recognized for their comprehensive approach to improving access to affordable housing, providing more transportation options and protecting the local environment for residents.

The four recipients of the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement are:

Overall Excellence: Lancaster County Planning Commission for Envision Lancaster County. Lancaster County, in south-central Pennsylvania, is known for its historic towns and villages, and its fertile farmland. To maintain the county’s character, its diverse economy, and its natural resources for future generations, the Lancaster County Planning Commission established a countywide comprehensive growth management plan, which protects valuable farmland and historic landscapes by directing development to established towns and cities in the county.

Policies and Regulations: City of Charlotte for Urban Street Design Guidelines. As the central city in a rapidly growing metropolitan area, Charlotte, N.C., is under intense development pressures. Rather than continue the automobile-dominated development patterns of the last 50 years, Charlotte adopted Urban Street Design Guidelines to make walking, bicycling, and transit more appealing and to make the city more attractive and sustainable.

Built Projects: Chicago Housing Authority, FitzGerald Associates Architects and Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation for Parkside of Old Town. Parkside of Old Town sits on eight city blocks that were once home to a public housing complex notorious for criminal activity. The redevelopment has transformed the neighborhood by reconnecting it to downtown Chicago and tying together mixed-income housing, parks, and new shops and restaurants.

Smart Growth and Green Building: City of Tempe, Ariz. for the Tempe Transportation Center. The Tempe Transportation Center is a model for sustainable design, a vibrant, mixed-use regional transportation hub that incorporates innovative and green building elements tailored to the Southwest desert environment. The Tempe Transportation Center is a true multi-modal facility that integrates a light rail stop, the main city bus station, and paths for bicyclists and pedestrians.   12/1/2009

Resource(s): yosemite.epa.gov/

Chino Valley, Arizona, to Undertake Public Transit Study

Chino Valley's town council has authorized about $2,400 for its share of a study by the Arizona Department of Transportation to determine whether public transit is feasible for the town, according to the Prescott Daily Courier. The state will pay for 80 percent of the study. Jason Kelly, parks, recreation and senior services director, said the study will be inexpensive because area communities have done a number of regional public transportation studies.   11/17/2009

Resource(s): http://prescottdailycourier.com/

Mesa, Arizona Officials Hope Light Rail Extension Will Spur Redevelopment

Officials in Mesa, Arizona, are planning for a 2015 light-rail extension that will extend the current line to Mesa Drive. As part of the planning process, officials are looking at redevelopment of the downtown area along the extension, hoping to attract reinvestment in the area.

According to this report in the East Valley Tribune, city officials are striving to create a plan that will encourage projects that complement the transit system. ''We want developers to come to Mesa and make wheelbarrows full of money,'' Councilman Dave Richins said.

The city’s planning process will strategically place stations where redevelopment is needed most while at the same time preserving historic uses. The new plan will play a critical role in taking full advantage of the light rail system. Current zoning laws and restrictions prevent certain types of development and also require large setbacks and parking lots. New regulations will encourage mixed-use developments and will remove the setback requirement “in order to create an urban feeling and encourage people to walk.”   10/25/2009

Resource(s): http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/146227

Maricopa Planners Outline Expansive Road, Rail Plans

To cope with Arizona's anticipated long-range population boom, planners at the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) have outlined a broad network of new freeways and highways beyond the White Tank and Estrella mountains, serving an area larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, and an urban landscape stretching as far as the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, reports Sean Holstege for the Arizona Republic.

The plans call for 400 miles of new highways and 320 miles of rail track, doubling the current highway system and creating a commuter-rail network that would loop around the southern mountains and ''deliver a badly needed line to the West Valley.''

Cost estimates for the plan are $60 billion to build all the proposed projects, according to MAG. The plan is needed, they say, to support the millions of people projected to move into the vast desert area by 2050.

The alternative to the plan would be more unrestrained growth, according to MAG and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). Holstege reports that mass transit and compact growth advocates accept the inevitable, and credit ADOT and MAG for thinking ahead.

''You could put your head in the sand and hope people won't come,'' said David Schwarz, president of the Valley non-profit Friends of Transit. ''I think you have to recognize that they will.''

Jay Hicks, a local official with the Urban Land Institute, said: ''We tend to get beaten up pretty badly about being a sprawling city, but we are really building our city for the first time. If we do it correctly and stay with the plan, we have a chance of making this a great place to live.'' -- Arizona Republic   9/28/2009

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Weekend Riders Boost Phoenix Light Rail

Since its debut in December 2008, the Phoenix, Arizona light rail system has been exceeding ridership projections, helped in large part by weekend riders.

The 20-mile light rail line from Central Phoenix to Mesa and Tempe was projected to have 26,000 riders per day, but recent figures bring that total closer to 33,000.

And unlike most other U.S. public transportation systems -- where up to 60 percent of passengers are commuters -- the Phoenix rail line is used largely by riders getting to recreation destinations such restaurants, bars, and sports and cultural events.

The rail system seems to have boosted downtown Phoenix businesses as well. New York Times writer Jennifer Steinhauer reports that downtown Phoenix ''appears to be one of the few bright spots in an otherwise economically pummeled city,'' which has been hit hard by the state's sliding economy.

Figures from the first quarter of 2009 reveal a 13 percent increase in revenues for downtown Phoenix, with the rest of the city dropping by 16 percent, according to Eric Johnson, a redevelopment program manager for the city's Community and Economic Development Department.

Business owners along the line are finding new customers attracted to the new transit system. Businesses along the line, notes Steinhauer, suffered greatly during the many years of construction.-- New York Times   9/19/2009

Resource(s): www.nytimes.com/

Light Rail Could Revitalize McDowell Road, Says Scottsdale Business Leader

Though Scottsdale opted out of the Valley METRO Light Rail system -- its initial 20-mile line north-south through Phoenix, then east-southeast to Tempe and Mesa opened last December, with several extensions planned -- longtime city business leader Virginia Korte, best known for her family's former Chevrolet dealership and for a past Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce presidency, would like to win over her counterparts on the McDowell Road/South Scottsdale Task Force to the idea of light rail or at least less costly modern streetcars in the corridor as crucial to reverse its economic decline.

''If the city wants to see recovery of the corridor in the next five years, something more than letting market forces do is needed,'' she told Arizona Republic writer Jane Larson, ''The space is more broken than people want to talk about.''

Coupled with new mixed-use zoning, a light-rail line would be the best incentive for transit-oriented development in the corridor, while improving Scottsdale's links with adjacent cities and ensuring better mobility for the next generation of residents and workers, likely to prefer transit over constant use of cars.

Hoping that the task force will include a light-rail recommendation in a corridor-revitalization report expected by the City Council early next year, Korte said she favors light rail not as a developer or planner, but simply as ''an individual who has lived down there a long time and been involved with the whole corridor and maintaining a center of commerce there.''

Light rail, the writer observes, has been a contentious issue in Scottsdale, with opponents adamant against any Scottsdale Road tracks as detrimental to Old Town and downtown Scottsdale, and supporters keen to ease commutes and spark redevelopment.

METRO and Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) officials also mention timing and funding challenges.

It usually takes between 10 and 12 years to plan and develop a high-capacity transit corridor, and agencies must identify revenue sources for any new projects before their inclusion in the long-range regional transportation plan.

Equally important is coordination of land use and transportation in target areas, with dense residential and commercial development, ground-level retail, pedestrian-friendly streets, and sports, entertainment or educational centers strengthening transit demand and effectiveness.

''There has to be a market,'' said METRO Director of Project Development Wulf Grote. ''Just because you put light rail on a street doesn't mean you're going to have a market.''

Details of METRO expansion plans at www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/future_extensions/. -- Arizona Republic   8/20/2009

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Phoenix Light-Rail CEO Expects Strong Close to First Year of Service

Projected to reach 26,000 weekday boardings during first-year service, launched last January, ridership on Phoenix's 20-mile Metro light-rail line reached 30,617 in the first month and 37,386 in April, sliding to 33,553 in May and 29,469 in June, a slide anticipated by officials, points out a Metro press release, because of ''typical reductions in travel regionwide due to summer breaks for ASU (Arizona State University) and other schools, as well as the departure of winter visitors.''

Noting that about 5,000 ASU students take the trains each weekday, Metro CEO Rick Simonetta said, ''We expect to have ridership peaks again in the fall and look forward to closing out the year strong.''

According to Metro's monthly and quarterly ridership counts, reported East Valley Tribune writer Mike Branom, the most popular among the line's 28 stops is its eastern terminus, Mesa's lone Sycamore/Main Street station, with some 221,000 boardings in the first quarter and 207,000 in the second.

The next most popular was the western terminus, the Montebello/19th Avenue station in west-central Phoenix, with 218,000 and 202,000 quarterly boardings.

Buoyed by the Mesa terminus passenger counts and by Metro plans to begin work on extension of the line along Main Street from Sycamore to Mesa Road in 2012, the Mesa City Council voted last month for a recommendation to extend it farther east to Gilbert Road.

Although the line has already spurred some transit-oriented development, the economic downturn and tight credit forced prospective developers to walk away ''for the time being'' from purchase of two six-acre parcels near the Sycamore/Main Street terminus, said Colliers International Senior Vice President Charlotte Christian, calling the land ''a good opportunity for someone when the market gets better.''

A smart growth supporter, the writer reports, she is ''banking on a turn toward a more urban style of living, with greater residential density and less emphasis on cars.''

Mesa Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh feels the same, but he also thinks little will happen before the economy recovers, stressing, ''The rules are all different from what they were a year ago.''

See Metro ridership data and expansion plans at www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/newsroom. -- Tribune   7/21/2009

Resource(s): www.eastvalleytribune.com/

Alternative Transit Should Be Focus of New Highway Bill, Says Pinal County Supervisor

Launched more than 50 years ago, the coast-to-coast Interstate Highway System was built ''to accommodate a growing dependence on cars and cheap oil to fuel them,'' but now changes in the national economy, gas prices and growth patterns demand that the network ''share the road with cleaner, more affordable transportation options -- such as intercity trains, urban light rail, buses, regional commuter air, walking and biking,'' writes Pinal County Supervisor David Snider in Phoenix Arizona Republic guest opinion, citing a recent survey jointly sponsored by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the nonprofit Transportation for America (T4A) coalition, and calling the need for a transportation overhaul ''particularly acute in Arizona.''

The January 2009 NAR-T4A survey found overwhelming public support for transit expansion and improvement as more important than new roads, he observes, pointing out that the federal stimulus bill provided a down payment for infrastructure reconstruction and repair and for transit, and that congressional work on renewal of the six-year transportation bill this fall offers another opportunity to shift more highway funds toward transit, and ''to leverage those dollars in support of stronger state laws that encourage integrated regional and local transportation planning -- and limit the negative impacts of sprawl.''

In this context, Supervisor Snider lists three goals for Arizona.

''First, we need to get back at least as much as we donate to the federal system -- receiving only 92 cents for every dollar Arizona sends to Washington is just not enough,'' he writes. ''Second, our counties, towns and cities need to rethink how and where we live, work and play. We need to emphasize smart growth principles and establish livable communities that promote use of transportation alternatives to connect employment and shopping to walkable neighborhoods with plenty of sidewalks and bike lanes -- in other words, people working where they live. Third, our local communities need to be networked via a regional transportation system -- such as the proposed intercity rail between Tucson and Phoenix -- so that Arizonans can move easily throughout the Sun Corridor region.''

The supervisor makes a persuasive argument for public call on Congress.

''Supporting a new federal transportation law that redirects highway dollars toward trains, light rail and other transportation alternatives will save us money at the gas pump and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,'' he stresses. ''It will create jobs and help get our economy going. Most of all, it's one investment we can count on -- guaranteed to create more livable and resilient communities for Americans, and Arizonans, of tomorrow.''

Click here for the NAR-T4A survey. -- Arizona Republic   5/19/2009

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Scottsdale Cautious on Joining Discovery Triangle Development Corporation

A nascent public-private partnership of construction firms, cities and businesses keen to promote redevelopment and create a knowledge-oriented regional center that would link downtown Phoenix, downtown Tempe and downtown Scottsdale, the Discovery Triangle Development Corporation promises to detail its goals, means and needs in a few months, meantime seeking public input and official support, but the Scottsdale City Council isn't yet ready to get formally involved in the effort.

For now, City Manager John Little will continue attending the partnership's meetings, but will need specific instruction from the council if asked for financial or other official commitments.

Preliminary plans, reports Phoenix Arizona Republic writer Lynh Bui, suggest the proposed Discovery Triangle would encourage businesses focused on technology, medicine and science, anchored at the Arizona State University (ASU) campuses in Phoenix and Tempe and at ASU SkySong in Scottsdale, with possible inclusion of Scottsdale Healthcare and General Dynamics.

Scottsdale Vice Mayor Ron McCullagh told the City Council it would be a ''strategic mistake'' to pass over discussions about the Discovery Triangle, since the partnership could help revitalize south Scottsdale.

But Mayor Jim Lane noted than since Phoenix would make up about 95 percent of the triangle, Scottsdale could end up with little say in the decision-making process.

He was backed by Councilman Bob Littlefield, who also feared the triangle could bring regional Valley Metro's light rail to Scottsdale.

In response, partnership advisor Marti Schultz pointed out that although the Phoenix and Tempe light-rail routes attract ''impressive'' transit-oriented development, any line extension depends on Valley Metro and each potential host-city, adding, ''Give this private-public sector board a chance to put something together that would be good for the region.'' -- Arizona Republic   5/6/2009

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Gov. Napolitano Urges Lawmakers to Support Education, Create Statewide Transportation Plan

Called on by President-elect Obama to serve as his Secretary of Homeland Security, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano delivered her seventh State of the State speech with mixed emotions of sadness over leaving the state, pride in work to make it better, and confidence in its future, reminding lawmakers at the session's outset not to seek fiscal savings at the expense of children's education and warning them that if they cut classroom spending, ''the people of Arizona will recognize such a cut for what it is -- not a budget necessity, but a willful and unwise choice.''

Since education means ''a continuum of learning that begins at birth and lasts well into a chosen career path,'' she said, the funding priority must extend to universities and community colleges as the economic engines that ''give our students the skills they need to work in the good jobs of the future.''

With commitment ''to this critical knowledge infrastructure, we must also invest in our physical infrastructure,'' she noted, disappointed by lawmakers' failure to ''prepare a statewide transportation plan for referral to the ballot'' last year and by the Arizona Supreme Court's decision to keep off the ballot citizen initiatives on transportation and state trust land reform.

The transportation initiative made and ''still makes sense, both for our present because we will need jobs, and for the future, because we will need roads, highways, rail and transit to support our growth,'' the governor observed, asking lawmakers to work on it, hold more hearings, and ''allow the people of Arizona to have their say on this critical issue by 2010.''

The state ''must also stay on the path toward a green future,'' she continued. ''We must continue to implement forest health measures that create new industries and protect our forestland communities. We also must work to limit our greenhouse gas emissions through the Western Climate Initiative, and move forward in building a strong renewable energy sector, particularly with respect to solar energy.''

Toward the end of her speech, Governor Napolitano stressed the need to ''reform Arizona's initiative and referendum processes ... to further the ability of the people to enact legislation.''

''When crafting these reforms, I urge you to increase access to the ballot by lowering our high signature requirements, but at the same time crack down on signature fraud by increasing the number of signatures to be examined,'' she said. ''You also must remove the initiative sponsors' now-unlimited ability to give their initiatives misleading names. These changes will help ensure that bureaucratic requirements do not mute the voice of the people in charting our future.''

As to the referendum process, Governor Napolitano pointed out that the legislature ''should not be able to refer a potential law to the ballot without the same number of votes it would take to override a gubernatorial vote'' -- a change that ''would help preserve the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches.'' -- Arizona Office of the Governor   1/12/2009

Resource(s): http://azgovernor.gov/

Arizona Studying Transportation Options to Accommodate Expected Growth

Expecting a surge from 6 million to some 14 million people by 2050, the state is conducting a region-by-region Building a Quality Arizona study of transportation options in the context of its environmental, economic and development needs, reports Mohave Daily News writer Neil Young from two Western Region Framework Study Commission workshops in Bullhead City, where PB America consultant Scott Omer presented three transportation scenarios, each assuming that people will use mostly personal vehicles, but that their car-dependency will be moderated according to a chosen level of smart growth.

Under scenario A, the writer notes, transportation planning and infrastructure would remain basically the same, while ensuring significant transit improvements. Under scenario B, the focus would shift more to transit, walking and biking, with a possible railroad between southern and northern Arizona. Under scenario C, high-density development would allow broader life-style changes and a further reduction in driving.

Asked by Mayor Jack Hakim about the scenarios' funding mechanism, the consultant said the state must first identify regional needs to determine the necessary investments.

Having discussed the scenarios in two smaller groups to provide feedback, some workshop attendees thought the Bullhead area was too sparsely populated for a light-rail system like the one under construction in metro Phoenix, and also questioned the potential for greater local density.

On the other hand, the writer observes, Mohave County public works engineer Steve Latoski cautioned that ''personal choice'' will come ''at a greater cost'' by mid-century.

The state, the writer adds, will unveil recommendations for a long-term statewide transportation master plan next spring. -- Daily News   11/18/2008

Resource(s): www.mohavedailynews.com/

Arizona Will Use Scorecard to Help Prioritize Use of Smart Growth Funds

Ordered by Governor Janet Napolitano last year and now being finalized by her 15-agency Growth Cabinet for a January launch, the state's Smart Growth Scorecard will allow the agencies to quantify local and regional advances toward long-term sustainability, with the Arizona Department of Commerce, which hosts the Smart Growth Office, stressing on its web page that as Arizona faces strong population growth, ''all levels of governments must play a role'' in handling related challenges and opportunities, and that ''(c)ities, towns and counties engaged in smart growth planning and implementation will receive priority in discretionary funding.''

Instrumental in the state's smart-growth efforts, Governor Napolitano's policy advisor for infrastructure and growth Shannon Scutari credits the Washington-based Governor's Institute on Community Design for inspiring the fast work on the scorecard and a 50-question community self-assessment online questionnaire.

The detailed questionnaire, writes Wickenburg Sun Assistant Editor Janet DelTufo, will require state-designated large communities to answer all 50 questions, while those designated as medium-size or small -- the latter category including tribal governments and political subdivisions -- will need to answer 42 or 24 of the questions, respectively.

Assessing the scores, the state departments of commerce, transportation, water resources and environmental quality will determine their outlays, with the scorecard also helpful in distribution of some federal aid.

Nevertheless, the assistant editor observes, the scorecard won't affect Community Development Block Grants, the Highway User Revenue Fund and other revenue sharing sources.

In addition, the state makes it clear that low-scoring counties, municipalities and other entities that can't advance smart-growth planning due to limited resources ''will still be eligible for state discretionary funding,'' to build their capacity for transition to smarter growth and development.

The multidisciplinary Smart Growth Interagency Committee will provide them with ''planning expertise, tools, training and assistance'' necessary for their higher scores in the future.''

With Wickenburg classified among mid-size communities, W.C. Scoutten municipal planning and engineering firm consultant Larry Harmer, whose firm updated the town's zoning and subdivision code, told its Town Council to take advantage of the state's pending smart-growth scoring program.

''Communities that aggressively go after the scorecard,'' he stressed, ''will most like get preferential review.''

See details at www.azcommerce.com/SmartGrowth/Scorecards with the latest scorecard draft available here. -- Wickenburg Sun   11/10/2008

Resource(s): www.wickenburgsun.com/ ; www.govinstitute.org/

Tucson Region to Work on Metro-Area Water Sustainability Plan

One of the nation's most arid regions, with about two inches of rain a year, Pima County and metropolitan Tucson must not only step up water conservation but also work out a multipronged regional water policy to attain long-term environmental, social and economic sustainability as their population of just over a million almost doubles by 2050, reports Tucson Citizen writer B. Poole on local experts' consensus, noting that a 10-foot-deep backyard tank may meet family needs for six months, but its size would have to reach an acre by 62,300 feet to do the same for all Tucson Water customers.

Planners will eventually have to set water allocations and costs, issues that have already led to intergovernmental disputes across the state, the writer observes, quoting Tucson-based Sonoran Institute Deputy Director John Shepard, who attributed southern Arizona's difficulties in seeking a sustainable future partly to jurisdictional fragmentation.

If policies are enacted before governments are on the same page, he cautioned, ''You're quickly going to have a huge fight on your hands.''

The problem stems from the complexity of sustainable development.

''Sustainability isn't just about deciding what the end goal is,'' stressed City Office of Conservation and Sustainable Development Director Lesli Liberti. ''It's about how to get there.''

Sonoran Institute resource economist Josef Marlow said, ''It's important not to completely shut down any chance for economic development based solely on a water policy.''

And Southern Arizona Leadership Council official Michael McNulty told the Tucson-Pima County Water Study Oversight Committee local governments should ''promote policies that facilitate allocation and reallocation of water resources to highest value uses that yield the greatest economic, social and environmental net benefits for the region.''

Given those complexities, Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Barry isn't sure the committee -- with its resources and time -- will be able to craft a framework for metro-area water sustainability in a report expected by February.

Director Liberti called the city-county effort a big step toward a unified water policy, but expressed disappointment after the chairman's remarks.

''We talk about being a sustainable community,'' she commented, ''but we haven't really engaged in a comprehensive dialogue.''

With University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center Director Sharon Megdal convinced that the Tucson-Pima County sustainability discussion ''is going to have to be broadened'' regionally, Sonoran economist Marlow added, ''The question is whether we are going to emerge as a leader in smart growth.'' -- Tucson Citizen, Pima Association of Governments   11/7/2008

Resource(s): www.tucsoncitizen.com/ ; www.pagnet.org/

Transit, Mixed-Use Design Helping Tempe Become Model for ''New American City''

Offering commuters 60,000 jobs in its core Mill Avenue District near the Arizona State University (ASU) campus, thousands of new high-rise condos, free district shuttles and neighborhood buses, 160 miles of bike paths, and easy light-rail access to central Phoenix once the system's $143 million segment opens this December, Tempe is seen by experts, officials and developers as ''a model for 'the new American city,''' reports Arizona Republic writer William Hermann, with many expecting it to become one of the best examples of New Urbanism.

Tempe's version of New Urbanism within eight square miles of its center, he writes, ''mixes old neighborhoods surrounding ASU and Mill Avenue with several thousand new condominium units'' in some 35 projects recently completed, about to be finished, or expected to break ground between now and 2010 -- at a total value of more than $4 billion.

Congress for New Urbanism President John Norquist is confident that the current lifestyle shift toward city living will continue.

''It's partly because of the rising price of gasoline, but many people no longer want to have to drive everywhere,'' he said. ''People want to go to the corner on foot and get a quart of milk. They want to have social life in walking distance of where they live.''

That's exactly what Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman already observes and predicts more for his city as its dense residential construction proceeds.

''You walk out of where you live and pass a bakery and smell the bread, you pass the Italian restaurant next door, pass a theater,'' he told the writer. ''We want a city with all things nearby that create a rich life.''

The city's transportation manager Carlos de Leon and development director Chris Salomone point to its other advantages.

Having worked for years to ensure a pedestrian-friendly downtown and robust transit -- while attracting about 4 percent of commuters to bike, in contrast to the national average of under 1 percent -- noted the former, the city will mesh its three shuttle routes and 36 circulator Orbit buses with the incoming light-rail line into ''the most accessible public-transportation system in the Valley.''

Though the economic downturn and banking crisis has affected sales at some central city projects, ''(t)he financial community and the development community,'' said the development director, ''are treating Tempe as a different market than the general region'' because of its location in the freeway-network center and proximity to the international airport, its ASU campus and the new light-rail line.

Developers Patrick Logue, Ken Losh and Peter Wolff, and real estate agent Sander Streeter, the writer finds, are virtually unanimous in their motivation and assessment of Tempe prospects.

''I built here for people who don't want to commute an hour and a half,'' said Patrick Louge.

''With gasoline up so high, where are people moving?'' asked Ken Losch, calling his central city $300,000-and-up condos priced for most budgets. ''Not out in the sticks but downtown.''

Tempe will do well, agreed Peter Wolff, ''especially given the pressure on gas prices and energy costs, and the move toward a more-urban living model -- the end of sprawl and a flight back to the cities.''

And Sander Streeter, who sells real estate out of his new condo near downtown added, ''Everything is here. I just won't spend hours driving to work on a freeway -- won't do it.'' -- Arizona Republic   10/13/2008

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Prescott Visioning Team Hopes to Keep Small-Town Feel, Build on Quality of Life

Under Prescott Mayor Jack Wilson's sustainability initiative for this old mining city -- about 43,000 residents, some 90 miles northwest of Phoenix -- several topical sub-groups of the Prescott 2050 Visioning team presented their initial reports at its Steering Committee session, with their recommendations including Smart Growth and with downtown sub-group leader Vivian Lucchesi focusing on prospects for high-tech downtown trolleys, historic asset preservation, and housing expansion.

''There are few things as important to the vitality of the downtown as a strong residential component,'' she stressed, describing mixed-use development and downtown living as advantageous both to local businesses and their work force.

The sub-groups' basic recommendations, notes Prescott Daily Courier reporter Cindy Barks, largely mirrored results of an earlier community survey on long-term priorities.

Eliciting some 1,600 responses, subsequently tabulated with help from Yavapai College and the results released by Steering Committee member William Arnold, the survey found 48 percent of respondents seeing Prescott's most important asset in its natural beauty and another 46 percent listing its ''small-town feeling.''

The visioning team's 15 sub-groups, working on such ''hot-button community issues'' as water, economic development, affordable housing, environmental protection and others, the reporter observes, are expected to complete their reports soon, with organizers hoping to submit a final plan to Mayor Wilson by December and hold a large public feedback forum in January. -- Daily Courier   9/26/2008

Resource(s): http://prescottdailycourier.com/

Peoria Officials Set Sights on Urban Village Concept

''People want to live near where they work and shop,'' said Peoria Mayor Bob Barrett at a City Council retreat focused on the housing-market slump as the time to make sure the city's not yet half-drafted General Plan will meet new challenges and emphasize smart growth. ''The days of single family-homes, commuting to Scottsdale for work, are dead. As we come out of whatever the economy is doing to us, it will be a different society.''

Peoria officials, reports Phoenix Arizona Republic writer Cecilia Chan, want their city, roughly 10 miles northwest of central Phoenix, to promote an urban-village concept, with higher densities, mixed housing sizes and types, open space, and compact pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.

''We believe Peoria is in a better position than some of our neighbors in the East and south Valley to have an opportunity to affect changes in the development pattern, because we have not invested so much,'' pointed out City Manager Carl Swenson, counting on help from national planning experts. ''There is still a lot to develop.''

Deputy City Manager John Wenderski noted that one of the city's largest residential developers, Vistancia -- expected to scale down its 7,100 acre master-planned community from 17,500 to 12,500 units because of weak sales of the 4,000 platted for the initial phase -- is also seeking to reconfigure the project's 600-acre urban residential-commercial core to facilitate walking, biking and transit use.

''Single-family homes won't go away, but there will be a mix of housing in Valley communities,'' he observed, with Community Development Director Glen Van Nimvegen adding that rather than developing into mountainous terrain farther north, Vistancia may respond to market forces by expanding the project's open space, which increases home values. -- Arizona Republic   9/17/2008

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Maricopa City Leaders Initiate Commuter Bus Service, Ask Developers to Build Whole Communities

With the combined hardship of high gas prices, long commutes and ruinous foreclosures forcing many suburbanites to reassess their lifestyles and penchant for large homes on urban outskirts, Maricopa city leaders launched commuter buses to Tempe and downtown Phoenix, about 30 and 35 miles north, and took the extraordinary step of asking builders ''not to develop just isolated subdivisions behind walls, but whole communities that encourage walking by including stores, schools and services nearby,'' reports USA Today writer Haya El Nasser, quoting Mayor Tony Smith.

''The people of Maricopa don't want to be a bedroom community, a city of rooftops,'' he said. ''They want a self-sustained community.''

Reflective of a movement afoot nationwide, the writer notes, the ''seeds of change'' also are taking root in Buckeye, some 30 miles west of central Phoenix.

''We've got to get jobs to keep people from driving,'' said Mayor Jackie Meck, worried that gas could reach $8 or $10 a gallon, with Town Manager Jeanine Guy adding that even if gas ''drops to $3 a gallon'' and people may think ''we'' don't need mixed uses or transit anymore, ''We do.''

Urban experts, researchers and increasingly builders agree.

Although ''suburbs are not going to go away,'' pointed out Smart Growth America Communications Director David Goldberg, ''(d)rive-till-you-qualify collapsed. It's done. It's not going to work as a housing strategy anymore.''

The nation is ''sort of stuck with retrofitting the suburbs,'' which is ''not all that bad,'' observed Center for Neighborhood Technology Executive Director Scott Bernstein, since ''(t)here is nothing like a crisis to get people to try something.''

Fiserv Lending Solutions chief economist David Stiff, whose firm reconfirmed other research showing deeper home price drops in areas far from urban centers than in nearby suburbs, called the trends behind the long housing push into distant suburbs and rural areas unsustainable.

''The problem is that it can be two, three, four times as expensive to develop in close-in neighborhoods vs. outlying neighborhoods, if there's any space at all,'' he estimated, confident in people's responsiveness to economic incentives. ''Reducing commuting costs, trying to be more environmentally conscious and trying to find the cheapest housing affects decisions simultaneously.''

And developer Kenneth Himmel, who built the Reston Town Center in Virginia, the Time Warner Center in New York and City Place in West Palm Beach, Florida, told the writer now is ''the perfect moment'' for change.

''Some people will say, 'For $300,000 to $325,000, what are my options to live closer?' Maybe it's a smaller home,'' he stressed. ''Do they want to drive or do they want to be five or 10 minutes from their office? People will make the trade.'' -- USA Today   7/29/2008

Resource(s): www.usatoday.com/

Pinal County Comprehensive Plan Available Online for Comments and Review

Guided by smart growth and sustainability principles, and focused on ways to save open space, improve mobility and attract living wage jobs, the Pinal County Comprehensive Plan -- worked out in a broad public process in the past 15 months, with participation of all municipalities and Native American communities -- is now available for review and comment online, ahead of outreach events throughout the summer and formal hearings this fall, all its policies designed ''to reflect and honor the local jurisdictions' planning authority while ensuring a coordinated, regional effort.''

A detailed follow-up to the Pinal Vision laid out by officials, residents, business leaders, landowners and other stakeholders, reports The Casa Grande Dispatch, the comprehensive plan elaborates on the vision's seven components in chapters -- Sense of Community; Mobility and Connectivity; Economic Sustainability; Open Space and Places; Environmental Stewardship; Healthy, Happy Residents; and Quality Educational Opportunities.

Among other top priorities, the plan identifies four county growth areas targeted for infrastructure investment over the next 10 years; outlines an integrated, multimodal transportation system that provides for vehicular travel and transit, including commuter and local rail lines, along with bike and pedestrian routes; lists 39 prospective mixed-use centers, each with 500 jobs for every 1,000 residents; shows large tracts of protected open space, as well as regional parks, wildlife corridors and recreational trails; calls for efficient use of resources, including water and energy; builds on the recently completed Pinal County Affordable Housing Plan with possible funding mechanisms for a full range of quality housing and neighborhoods; and, a point unique in a comprehensive plan, recognizes educational opportunities ''as critical to the long-term economic sustainability'' of the county and ''an important quality of life component.''

See the draft at www.PinalCountyPlan.com. -- The Casa Grande Dispatch   7/8/2008

Resource(s): www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1817

Expert Planner Outlines Growth Strategy for Phoenix Region

Expected to attract some 2 million people by 2060, Phoenix' southeast valley and northern Pinal County region can submit to sprawl and turn into a giant ''cul-de-sac,'' report Arizona Republic writers Lynh Bui and Kerry Fehr-Snyder, or it can launch multi-jurisdictional planning and became a model of smart growth, the latter's advantages clearly outlined for the broad-based East Valley Partnership by nationally known planner-consultant John Fregonese, whose report shows ways to ensure regional sustainability, strong employment, diverse housing, quality schools and recreation access.

''When you take a look at the catalysts in the East Valley, the potential is exciting but the work that needs to be done is staggering,'' said Partnership President and CEO Roc Arnett, most concerned about the danger of traffic gridlock if sprawl continues. ''It's up to the body politic. Do we leave things as the status quo or do we move ahead?''

To move ahead, the Fregonese report advises politicians and business leaders to join forces in planning sufficient infrastructure -- four new freeways, another college or university, two or three hospitals, and open space and recreational areas.

The planned growth would be concentrated on the 275 square miles (176,000 acres) of Superstition Vistas, a swath of state desert land between Queen Creek, Florence, Apache Junction and the Superstition Mountains, the writers observe, noting upon completion of the plans, the land would divided into political units and sold to developers.

''We want to understand how we do good planning so we reserve the right-of-way for roads and know where to put amenities and hook up trails so you don't have to go back over and destroy and rebuild,'' commented Pinal County Supervisor Sandie Smith. ''We're looking for something that's not more of the same.''

Ultimately, it will all depend on teamwork by private and public entities, said Arizona Public Service Co. division manager Evelyn Casuga after presentation and discussion of the Fregonese report at an East Valley Partnership luncheon, stressing, ''The political boundaries don't matter but cooperation does.'' -- Arizona Republic   5/2/2008

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Cochise County Supervisors First in State to Approve Water Adequacy Zoning Regulation

As the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) continues a series of county informational public meetings on changes in its water adequacy rules under a 2007 law that allows counties, cities and towns to require at least a 100-year water supply for new subdivisions outside Active Management Areas, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors took the lead in their implementation by unanimously approving a related zoning regulation amendment, with Board Chairman Richard Searle voicing some concerns but like Supervisor Paul Newman considering it crucial for smart growth.

''One of our big issues is lot splits and we have no control over lot splits,'' the chairman observed. ''I worry that this (amendment) may encourage property owners to do lot splits rather than go through the subdivision process.'' Supervisor Newman called the vote ''historic'' for the arid county.

''We were told we could not be an active management area, so we had to do something about water adequacy,'' he stressed. ''We studied this. And it sounds rational to everyone. Over 80 percent of the people, in my judgment, in the county support the ordinance.''

Supervisor Pat Call agreed.

''We have had the support of every aspect of the community -- the business community, the development community, and private citizens,'' he noted. ''They have all been cheerleaders as we moved through this process.''

In response to his question about what the state can do to help smaller developers provide hydrology studies necessary for project approval, reports Wicks Communications writer Shar Porier, ADWR manager of adequate water supply program Scott Miller said steps are already being taken to assist projects with fewer than 30 lots.

With the new amendment entitling the county and its municipalities to seek state financial help for certain water projects, ADWR regional water resources planning section manager Tom Whitmer said such funds haven't yet been identified, but he hoped for $1 billion over 10 years. -- Arizona Range News   3/26/2008

Resource(s): www.willcoxrangenews.com/

Smart Growth to Be Focus of Pinal County Town Hall Meeting

Held each year to identify and explore crucial issues for Pinal County, one of the fastest-growing nationwide, the 2008 Pinal County Town Hall meeting April 23-25 at the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, reports the Eloy Enterprise staff, will focus on ''the importance of smart growth, conservation and environmentally friendly activities'' to spark a related grassroots campaign and increase residents' awareness, knowledge and means for improving the quality of life in their neighborhoods.

With climate change issues absorbing many people, governments, business and conservation groups throughout the world, the newspaper notes, there is a ''considerable debate over the cause, but no argument about the solution -- conservation of resources or the 'Greening Revolution.'''

Northland Research archeologist Dr. Doug Craig will address these issues in his keynote speech entitled ''Preserving Our Future by Learning from the Past.'' -- Eloy Enterprise   3/20/2008

Resource(s): www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1817

Tucson Growth Forum Participants Frustrated by Inability to Cooperate on Regional Issues

In a Tucson Arizona Daily Star online survey on development, land use and water supply in this arid Sonoran Desert region, 90 percent of 3,388 respondents expressed high or some satisfaction with their personal quality of life, but 83 percent registered concerns about water, infrastructure and residential pressures; 79 percent, ''not much'' confidence in local governments' ability to handle the challenges effectively; and 87 percent, a wish for regional cooperation, with Harvard and University of Arizona Economics Professor Joseph P. Kalt advising a ''smart growth'' planning process -- free of ideology and politics -- to absorb the expected half million or more people by 2050.

The daily echoed the advice.

''We are encouraged that the Governor's Growth Cabinet is developing an Arizona Smart Growth Scorecard, which will be a tool for local governments to evaluate their ability to cope with growth and development issues,'' the daily said in an editorial before the subsequent ''Tucson Growth: Decision at the Crossroads'' forum, which brought together more than 500 city and county residents, officials, planners and other experts.

Sponsored by the University of Arizona, the Thomas R. Brown Foundation, the Communications Institute, and the daily, reports its writer Tony Davis, the forum confirmed the scope of anxiety over the question ''Why can't we all get along?'' and the intensity of demand for regionalism.

''This is a difficult place to get things done,'' observed State Land Commissioner Mark Winkelman about the Tucson area. ''We deal with issues all over the state and it shouldn't be that hard.''

Pima County Conservation Commission Chairman Bill Roe called the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan -- negotiated over five years by varied interest groups -- a great success for regional cooperation, but said ''as I sit back and look at where we need to go now, I'm concerned about our inability to work together.''

Recalling a consultant who described Tucson's area as ''the most fractious'' of the 60 he has worked with, the conservation commission chairman told the forum he found a diametrically different atmosphere on an instructional visit in Portland, Oregon, whose redevelopment achievements reflected all stakeholders' involvement in planning from the start.

Homebuilder John Wesley Miller agreed the community must erase its factional ''line in the sand,'' asking listeners ''to think about 'how do we come together the way we used to,' and think about what is good for our community.''

With several other panelists and attendees, including Tucson Audubon Society Director Paul Green and Downtown Tucson Partnership CEO Glenn Lyons, stressing similar points, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry cited local budget shortages as the biggest obstacle for cooperation.

Each local government looks at development projects as sources of new tax revenue to pay for its operations and services, he pointed out, saying that's the model ''we have to get away from'' in the search for cohesive regional land-use and development policy. -- Arizona Daily Star   3/15/2008

Resource(s): www.azstarnet.com/

Prescott Mayor Pledges to Enlist Residents in Long-Term Community Plan

With regional cooperation, Smart Growth planning and water-supply sustainability atop his 2007 electoral platform for this historic old-West city, amid national high-plateau forests about 70 miles north of Phoenix, Prescott Mayor Jack Wilson launched the Prescott 2050 Visioning committee-formation drive, repeatedly assuring several questioners among some 100 attendees at a public meeting in the local college that officials depend on residents to envision and plan a common long-term course.

Asked by resident Leslie Hoy whether it is ''a vision for the city government, or is it a vision for the people who live here,'' reports Prescott Daily Courier writer Cindy Barks, the mayor responded: ''It is a vision for the people. The government is the people,'' telling another resident, ''This involves the citizens determining your future; I don't want to determine your future.''

Entering the meeting room, the writer notes, residents received applications for serving on the 2050 vision committee, with the mayor expecting enough applications within two weeks to assign applicants to specific subcommittees according to their individual topics of interest.

The subcommittees, each comprising 10 to 12 members, will likely focus on downtown redevelopment, transportation, public safety, city buildings, housing, ambiance, cultural affairs, open spaces, water, sustainability, seniors and youth needs, and any other pertinent subject residents may recommend.

The mayor appointed Arizona State University Emeritus Professor William E. Arnold to oversee the whole visioning and planning process, expected to take 18 months.

A fulltime Prescott resident for the past four years, Professor Arnold led a similar process during the 1980s in Scottsdale for its 2000 development plan, with about 90 percent of committee recommendations adopted by the city within a year.

Expecting to involve the Chamber of Commerce, Prescott Downtown Partnership, Citizens Water Advisory Group and other local organizations in the 2050 planning, Mayor Wilson called the first meeting's turnout ''excellent,'' but was disappointed by the small number of young people in the audience and promised to seek committee participants from schools and colleges.

See details at www.cityofprescott.net. -- Daily Courier   2/22/2008

Resource(s): www.dcourier.com/

Gov. Napolitano Calls for ''Robust'' Rail Solution, New Statewide Construction Standards

Seeing Arizona's advance ''toward a new, dynamic time of transition'' as ''a story with five interlocking chapters'' -- on education, economic prosperity, security and public safety, transportation and growth, and health care, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano pointed out in chapter four of her State of the State speech that ''Arizonans need relief from the 'time tax','' that they ''need to get from work to home, to their places of worship, to the store, and to school to pick up their children, without constantly having to sit, breathing bad air, stuck in a traffic jam.''

With the state's population of some 6.8 million expected to almost double in the next few decades, the governor asked lawmakers to act on ''a statewide plan to create functional new transportation corridors,'' a plan which must ensure ''not just necessary freeway construction, but also transit options, including a robust rail element -- because we simply cannot out-freeway the problem.''

Such a long-term transportation plan should be placed on the ballot either this year or next, she said, calling also for action on her forthcoming energy package and for measures to secure water supply.

The state, she continued, should make sure that 15 percent of its electricity comes from renewable sources by 2025, that at least 10 percent of fuel has low carbon emissions, and that ''the current crazy quilt of local energy conservation rules'' is replaced with real ''minimum standards for new construction,'' standards enforceable statewide.

In addition, she noted the need for new energy efficiency for appliances, new opportunities to generate and use renewable energy, and cuts in harmful pollutants such as diesel exhaust.

''Population growth, combined with climate change and its resulting drought, will make water an ever-present factor in Arizona's future. Through our laws, ordinances and building codes, we must emphasize conservation, as well as preservation of riparian habitat, as we develop new water infrastructure for our state,'' the governor said. ''From transportation to state trust land to energy to water, we have a statewide vision for our future. Our statewide growth policies will encourage planning that is comprehensive and includes all levels of government -- town, city, county and tribal.'' -- Arizona Office of the Governor   1/14/2008

Resource(s): www.azgovernor.gov/

Smart Growth Scorecard, Upcoming Transportation Plan Part of New Focus on Sustainability for Arizona

The state's greatest resolution for this year ''should be to embrace sustainability,'' defined in the 1987 U.N. report ''Our Common Future'' as ''meeting the needs of present generations while not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,'' says an Arizona Republic editorial, stressing that regardless of its definition, ''Sustainability calls on all of us to do our parts to balance the three crucial aspects of our collective lives: the economy, community and environment.''

Just as individuals need ''food, water and oxygen to sustain life -- one of the three is not enough,'' the editorial points out, ''our ability to exist together over the long term requires that we protect and improve our economy, community and environment,'' without favoring one ''to the detriment of others.''

Not a new idea, the editorial continues, sustainability ''is taking hold now in part because of the alarming effect of global development, dramatic population growth, climate change and widening gaps between the haves and have nots.''

Public and private sector leaders ''have seen that business as usual threatens not just quality of life but life in total'' and ''many businesses are realizing that doing good and doing well are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive.''

The change may be difficult, but it's already under way, the editorial notes, citing several examples.

Made from power-plant waste, a new type of concrete block, Navajo Flexcrete, promises more affordable, energy-efficient homes.

Arizona State University (ASU) researchers are testing ''cool'' construction materials that reduce asphalt's ability to hold heat.

And Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano has recently presented a smart-growth ''scorecard'' for county and municipal reviews and ''will soon release a transportation plan that, for the first time, integrates land use, mobility and growth.'' -- Arizona Republic   1/6/2008

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Editorial: 2007 Marks Change in Planning Practices for Tucson Region

After decades of little development planning and regulation, but plenty of ''politics, greed and arrogance,'' things began to change in the Tucson metropolitan area, says a Tucson Arizona Daily Star editorial, hopeful for 2007 to become known ''as the year we finally started to act like we live in a desert,'' where water-supply and land-use management is vital, especially as the region's population reaches 2 million in about 40 years.

Even though ''water law and water policy tend to be impenetrably complex topics for most people, more residents at least understand that controlling growth and water use are crucial to our future,'' and this year, for the first time, the editorial notes, the Pima County Board of Supervisors and the Tucson City Council are cooperating to an extent unthinkable five years ago.

Both ''are creating policies that link land-use decisions to the availability of water and to the impact that water consumption may have on consumers, the landscape and wildlife.''

Many difficult questions remain and most of them center on ''who pays for what,'' including necessary upgrades to Tucson's aging water infrastructure and to Pima County's sewer and wastewater system.

''Answers,'' the editorial concludes, ''won't come overnight, but 2007 will be seen as the year that the various jurisdictions finally acknowledged that their fates are intertwined, and that collaboration is the only intelligent way to move forward.''

To help in that process, the daily is working with the Communications Institute of Pasadena, California on creation of a community forum focused on ''Understanding Growth in the Tucson Region.'' -- Arizona Daily Star   12/23/2007

Resource(s): www.azstarnet.com/

Pima County Will Require Developers to Submit Water Use Impact Data on Projects

With a day-earlier Tucson Arizona Daily Star editorial stressing the need to replace routine ''haphazard and destructive'' development with ''smart growth'' as Pima County's population doubles to 2 million within 20 years, the Pima County Board of Supervisors passed radical policy and comprehensive plan changes, for the first time requiring developers to submit data about their projects' water use and impact on water tables and groundwater-dependent ecosystems before the board votes on plan amendments and rezoning requests.

The board, reports the daily's writer Erica Meltzer, also approved the county's Southwest Infrastructure Plan and prospective impact fee increases for 45,000 acres of Sonoran Desert, along with initial comprehensive plan amendments for the southwest's three mixed-use projects, likely to feature a total of about 6,000 homes or more.

Estimating the southwestern area's infrastructure needs at $885 million over the next 45 years and related developer fees at $25,000 per home, the board ordered county staff to begin the process of increasing those fees, with no rezoning possible until they are in place, probably late next year.

Since state law limits county ability to collect some impact fees, the writer observes, officials want to start where their legal authority is most clear -- by increasing fees for area roads, from roughly $4,400 to $15,000 per home.

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said developers will also have to put more into their site roads, parks and other amenities, with commercial projects likely to pay additional charges depending on the traffic they generate.

At the same time, the writer notes, the new water-resource policy reverses the current procedure, under which developers without municipal water service have to show they have a 100-year assured water supply only after the county has approved their projects.

Commending the board's resolve in the face of some objections from the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, the daily's subsequent editorial says ''rather than wait until the last stages in the rezoning process to determine how a proposed development will impact water supplies, the county's technical staff must examine these issues at the outset.''

It must analyze ''not only where the new development would get its water, but how that water use would affect neighboring water uses, including homes, ranches and riparian, or streamside, vegetation,'' all this before the developer takes the next step.

''Even though some fine details remain to be worked out -- the amendment's impact will be reviewed in a year -- this is public policy making at its best,'' the editorial concludes. ''It reflects the conservation ethic that makes Tucson different from many other parts of Arizona.'' -- Arizona Daily Star   12/12/2007

Resource(s): www.azstarnet.com/

6,000-Acre Santa Cruz County Development Rejected by Planning Commission

Calling itself Arizona's largest provider of ''spacious and pristine'' land and telling online visitors to stake their claims ''to a tract of this vanishing wilderness,'' Santa Cruz County-based First United Realty may have to reconsider offering them 1-to-8-acre homesites amid ''some of the most breathtaking'' scenery in the county's northwest corner, because its Planning and Zoning Commission sided with outraged local residents and voted 7-2 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors deny the developer the comprehensive plan amendment needed for the 6,000-acre Vistas at Sopori Ranch project, which would include 6,839 homes, two golf courses and retail, while keeping some 2,500 acres as open space.

''It's just plain not smart growth. It's suburban sprawl,'' objected Tucson Audubon Society member Scott Wilbur, reflecting sentiments of most of the approximately 180 attendees at the commission meeting.

''It will make travel on I-18 a nightmare,'' warned Tubac resident Emilio Falco, with Amador resident Bill Kurtz observing, ''They (First United) bought the property pretty cheap. They have little concern about us or the environment.''

Others, reports Nogales International writer Denise Holley, expanded the arguments.

Nogales High School senior Jose Ruiz favored growth as providing opportunities for him and his family, but told commissioners ''that growth has to respect the plan'' adopted in 2004.

''If you grant this exception,'' noted Tubac resident Harry Peck, ''you are going to run into a new area of exposure to litigation.''

With the proposal slated for the Board of Supervisors' meeting December 12, another Tubac resident, Susan Maurer, echoed that cautionary remark.

''You are charged with upholding standards in the face of relentless development,'' she pointed out. ''While the comprehensive plan is not written in stone, it shouldn't be written in disappearing ink.'' -- Nogales International   11/20/2007

Resource(s): www.nogalesinternational.com/, www.arizonaland.com/

Lawsuit Questions Parking Garage Subsidies for CityNorth Development

Under construction on 144 acres in the Desert Range area, some 15 miles northeast of downtown Phoenix, the upscale mixed-use CityNorth development ''epitomizes smart growth and dense urban village planning that reduces sprawl, reduces travel, and creates a live, work, shop and play environment,'' said the Thomas J. Klutznik Company's vice president, John Klutznik, as the Phoenix-based conservative Goldwater Institute released two academic studies to substantiate its August lawsuit against a $97.4 million city subsidy for the project's parking garages.

''Each study makes two points,'' said the institute's Center for Constitutional Litigation Director Clint Bolick. ''Those are that the economic impact has been vastly overinflated, and the other is that the jobs that will be created will pay far less than the city's median income.''

One study, by Arizona State University Professor Dave Wells, reports Arizona Republic writer Michael Clancy, focuses on the project's retail economics; the other, by University of Pennsylvania Professor Andrey Pavlov, evaluates all its aspects.

Pointing out that cities should subsidize developers only for providing affordable housing, revitalizing depressed neighborhoods, minimizing environmental impact or enhancing local quality of life, Professor Pavlov wrote, ''The CityNorth project does not meet any of these criteria'' and the subsidy ''cannot be justified on either economic or social grounds.''

The Chicago-based company's vice president is confident the project will pay for itself, becoming an economic engine for Phoenix and taxpayers.

''We stand behind all the relevant financial information we have provided to the city and its consultants,'' he stressed. ''The city did not risk nor did it invest any existing revenue in CityNorth.''

The $97.4 million subsidy reflects a 50 percent sales tax rebate for the company over 11 years, the writer reports, noting the project's first phase -- High Street, with offices, restaurants, stores and housing in 10 three-to-four-story buildings -- is slated for completion late next year.

Goldwater Institute officials hope to settle the case before it goes to trial. -- Arizona Republic   11/13/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/ ; www.goldwaterinstitute.org/

New Scorecard to Reward Arizona's Quality Growth Projects With Priority Funding

Arizona has accommodated its first 6.2 million residents quite well, but to absorb another 6 million by 2030 and keep the same quality of life it must rethink how to plan and ''what kind of communities'' people want, stressed Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano at a City Hall event in Casa Grande, halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, saying her multi-agency ''growth cabinet'' is working on a scorecard, under which ''we will give priority for new discretionary dollars to communities that have really engaged in a smart growth planning process.''

Intent on local control, but ''within the context of a statewide vision,'' the process will be voluntary.

''You get rewarded for doing that,'' Governor Napolitano promised. ''You don't get penalized for not, but you get rewarded with new dollars for participating with others in a quality growth process.''

People should recognize, she continued, ''that what is decided, for example in Casa Grande, may affect what happens in the Ak-Chin Community, what happens in the Ak-Chin Community can affect what happens in Maricopa, what happens in Maricopa can affect what happens in Buckeye, what happens in Buckeye can affect everything along the west side of Maricopa County.''

It's a necessary recognition ''that we really don't have any islands anymore, that we're growing into each other,'' and that decisions have to be made accordingly.

''And, we need to have some 'transit' options -- not transportation, trans-it,'' the governor accentuated the word, because ''we can't build enough freeways'' and certainly not ''fast enough'' for the present and projected population.

Thus, the state is looking ''in-depth'' at the possibility of commuter rail between Phoenix, Tucson and ''the outermost reaches of Maricopa County'' to relieve the region's road congestion.

If done right, rail is a cost-effective and environmentally sound solution, reducing car traffic and ''that brown cloud that is hovering above us,'' the governor said, also determined to address the issue of potential uses for 9.2 million acres of state trust land, whose auctions pay for public schools.

Among other things, she would like the State Land Department to be able to ''set aside some of those lands from development so that we preserve some open space, particularly in the urban counties.''

With the governor calling Casa Grande ''the epicenter of growth in Arizona and Pinal County,'' Casa Grande Dispatch writer Harold Kitching notes that the city is already working on the growth-management and multi-jurisdictional cooperation goals she outlined on the state scale.

After ''a period of poor relations with some of its neighbors,'' he reports, recently elected Mayor Bob Jackson moved to remedy the situation and make progress in other areas.

The city's new transportation plan seeks cooperation with nearby cities as crucial, especially for connecting highways, while making clear that local subdivisions shouldn't be isolated from one another but connected by streets and trail systems. -- Casa Grande Dispatch   9/17/2007

Resource(s): www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1817

Surge in Early Morning Commutes Taking Toll on Arizonans' Quality of Life

Once again overshadowing the nationwide increase in the number of workers on the road by 6 a.m. to reach work on time, from about 11.1 to 12.5 percent between 2000 and 2006, their number in Arizona and Maricopa County surged from 16 to 20 percent, reports Arizona Republic writer Yvonne Wingett, citing the newest U.S. Census data and quoting Maricopa Association of Governments Transportation Director Eric Anderson, who assigned this dramatic surge to ''more affordable housing in the outskirts.''

The early and long commutes, the writer observes, ''come with big sacrifices in relationships and lifestyles.''

She mentions ''less time to spend with family, and less time for sleep;'' extra stress ''caused by bad drivers and bumper-to-bumper traffic;'' and lost weekend ''afternoons by the pool,'' now ''filled with errands and chores that don't get done during the workweek.''

Accidents and other unpredictable factors often stretch the time on the road for many commuters.

Among 513,698 Arizonans who left for work before 6 a.m. last year, including 354,039 in Maricopa County, were the writer's three interviewees from metro Phoenix.

''It's a trade-off I chose to make,'' said Maureen Gerard, who listens to talk radio and audio books as she drives, sometimes for three hours a day. ''But you feel like you have lost, kind of your life, because you spend so much time on the road.''

Josh Ewing cuts his commute time by at least a half hour each way, also to three hours both ways, by taking his 15-month-old daughter along and using the carpool lane.

''I don't have a lot of time to play with my daughter, walk the dog,'' he admitted. ''I just want to get out of the car and go to bed.''

Kim Lewis uses her time on the road to catch up with family and friends by phone, with husband Patrick taking on the chores she no longer has time to do.

''I love my job, but the commute is nasty,'' she said. ''I really struggle with the decision every single day.'' -- Arizona Republic   9/12/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Phoenix Prepares to Align Bus Services with New Light Rail

With the $1.4 billion, 20-mile light-rail line from downtown Phoenix southeast to Tempe, Mesa and Chandler scheduled to open in December 2008, most restaurateurs along its first partly completed 8-mile section saw their business pick up in the past few weeks, though less than they would wish, and the three cities advanced their plans to match local bus services with prospective light-rail stations and schedules and to spur ridership by investing in several park-and-ride lots.

''It seems like every week it's getting better and more consistent,'' said eastside Phoenix teriyaki grill owner Lester Steward. ''We're really hoping that it will pick up even more once the light rail starts.''

Light-rail system (Metro) officials, reports Arizona Republic writer Jennifer Price, will help merchants along the line in two ways to regain customers lost during the construction since mid-2005.

If the merchants offer a discount to the Metro Max Program, Metro will distribute the discount cards throughout the city to encourage customers to visit these businesses.

In addition, once construction crews finish work on a line section, Metro will distribute fliers advertising that section's businesses as obstacle-free and easily accessible again.

As to the projected bus system adjustments in Tempe, Mesa and Chandler, reported Arizona Republic writer Kerry Fehr-Snyder earlier, municipal and Metro officials consider them necessary both to extend the light-rail reach and to make it successful.

''Basically, we look at the system as being complementary,'' said Metro spokeswoman Susan Tierney about bus service rescheduling and new park-and-ride lots. ''You can't have light rail without bus. You have to have a system that gets people to the light rail system efficiently.'' -- Arizona Republic   8/2/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Arizona's Proposition 207 Has Chilling Effect on Community Improvement, Historic Designation Projects

Pushed as ''a property rights safeguard,'' Proposition 207 exploited fears of municipal use of eminent domain for new development and got 65 percent of the votes last November, reports Arizona Republic writer Jahna Berry, but now the legal and administrative burden of its real purpose, to reimburse owners for any property value loss due to zoning and other land use changes made without their consent, is hurting efforts both to improve neighborhoods and to preserve their character.

Apprehensive of lawsuits, cities prefer to delay or deny mixed-use zoning or special-district designation requests until or unless they obtain Proposition 207 legal waivers from each local property owner, even if thousands are involved, who also must file county paperwork and pay a $9 fee.

Owners who oppose rezoning and refuse to sign legal waivers can scuttle an improvement project or make a ''hole'' in an area designation, both contrary to public interest.

The writer cites examples. Phoenix repealed a historic district in April to avert a $40 million suit by an apartment complex owner.

Grand Avenue business owners have been working for two years to boost the street with new galleries, cafes, beauty shops and other services possible under the Arts, Culture and Small Business Overlay, but now the city wants their help to get notarized legal waivers from each of the 1,300 local property owners, some of whom feel the waiver language may give the city takings rights.

The city's Urban Form project, which cost $900,000 so far to plan a tree canopy, miniparks and sidewalk cafes downtown, also faces delay because officials need waivers from about 2,000 local property owners.

In Tempe, with several eminent domain clashes in recent years, the writer continues, a city panel advised against a historic district in the old Maple-Ash neighborhood, with one owner afraid the designation would devalue his property by 30 to 50 percent, and the City Council likely to cast its vote later this month.

''Until a test case hits the courts, cities will continue to be exceedingly cautious,'' the writer predicts, expecting such a case from Flagstaff, where the City Council is ready to disregard opposition and approve historic designation for an area with more than 200 homes, some dating back to the 1800s.

In the first step toward a lawsuit, the conservative Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation has already sent the city a claim on behalf of four owners who object to the restrictions and want almost $400,000 in compensation for their potential property value loss. -- Arizona Republic   7/5/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Can ''Anti-Incentive'' Bill Cool Cities' Competition for Retailers and Developers?

To ease municipal rivalry across Maricopa and Pinal counties over which city offers developers the most in tax incentives to get the biggest retail stores and car dealerships and their coveted sales tax revenue, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano signed a so-called ''anti-incentive'' bill (HB 2515), championed by Democratic Senator Ken Cheuvront and limited to these two counties, reports Arizona Republic writer Peter Corbett, finding a wide split of opinions about the measure among city officials, especially in the Phoenix area.

The city has recently given a $100 million tax rebate to its CityNorth project, while Surprise, some 20 miles northeast, offered $240 million for the Prasada retail complex.

Hailing the bill as good for taxpayers, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, stressed, ''The market will drive the development, not the incentives.''

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman feels the same. ''Getting the first step done to stop the cities from being pitted against one another by retailers and developers is really a great first step,'' he said. ''We should all be working (together) regionally.''

On the other hand, Phoenix Councilwoman Peggy Neely thinks the law will reduce the value of the state's auctioned trust land, because cities won't be able to help developers make the necessary drainage and other improvements.

Phoenix economic development director Don Maxwell and his deputy Paul Katsenes worry about the market's inability to absorb infrastructure upgrade costs related to reconstruction of shopping centers, which could depress adjacent property values.

''Another dirty little secret is that this law puts existing neighborhoods at a disadvantage,'' the latter complained. ''It has taken away a very important tool for redevelopment.''

Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross summed all these views up, saying, ''It's extremely poorly crafted legislation.''

Signing the anti-incentive bill, the writer notes, Governor Napolitano pointed out that the public tax breaks had gone too far and their recipients were likely to build in the region anyway. -- Arizona Republic   7/4/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Support Grows for Phoenix-Tucson Passenger Rail Line

The Phoenix region's population has reached 4 million, the metro area's light-rail service will start in December 2008, already sparking mixed-use projects and plans, and it's time to begin preparations for commuter rail between Phoenix and Tucson, some 100 miles southeast, with links to other cities throughout Maricopa and Pinal counties, agreed the public-private Commuter Rail Stakeholders Group at a workshop in Mesa.

''We must have rail that connects Phoenix to Tucson,'' Mesa Vice Mayor Claudia Walters told the more than 100 state, county and municipal officials, activists and professionals. ''This is for the future of our children and grandchildren.''

Held for the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), which is studying regional commuter rail feasibility, reports Phoenix Arizona Republic writer Kerry Fehr-Snyder, the workshop focused on prospective benefits of and obstacles to such a system.

Among benefits, the attendees highlighted economic development in eventual route corridors. Some pointed out that commuter rail would be more cost-effective than a new highway, because it would generate revenue once completed and in public use.

Among obstacles, they mentioned issues of land purchase, coordination with freight-rail service, and likely concerns of local residents about their potential property value loss. -- Arizona Republic   7/3/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Tucson Bringing Smart Growth to Downtown Redevelopment as it Returns to City's River Roots

Established at the east side of the Santa Cruz River as a Spanish presidio in 1975, Tucson slowly expanded its footprint after the railroad arrived in 1880 and Arizona became a state in 1912, but ''it wasn't until America embraced suburbia in the late 1940s that things really started moving'' toward its present spread across the valley, with Pima County population up to a million last November, writes Tucson Arizona Daily Star reporter Tom Beal, noting that development, ''which once followed rivers, now follows asphalt,'' but also that the city has recently shifted back to its river roots while aiming for long-term smart growth.

''As we look for ways to deal with problems we created by spreading out,' he writes, ''we are returning to our origins, seeking to revitalize Downtown, to rebuild and repopulate the core.''

The ambitious Rio Nuevo project, under which downtown redevelopment will continue both east near the University of Arizona, and west on the other side of the river, especially in the mostly Hispanic and middle-class Menlo Park neighborhood, ''starts to bear fruit.''

Next month, residents will move to the first few of 100 homes under construction around seven plazas in Menlo Park's Mercado District, at the end of a planned downtown streetcar route, which will reach the university at the other end.

City Manager Mike Hein calls development along the route inevitable.

''Too many things are converging,'' he says, ''the modern streetcar, the cost of gas and strong developer interest in building Downtown -- for it not to be an inevitable occurrence.''

Accordingly, the Metropolitan Housing Commission wants to make sure that the projected mixed-use development won't displace lower-income residents and that it will include affordable housing.

Last year, the reporter writes, the city and its nonprofit partners rehabilitated 620 units and repaired 342, added 1,071 affordable units, and helped 172 first-time home buyers.

By 2010, they plan to rehabilitate a total of 2,500 homes, add 420 affordable units each year to increase their ''protected'' stock from 5 to 6 percent, and assist 1,500 first-time home buyers, some of them former renters.

Although focused on the downtown and Menlo Park areas for now, the reporter observes, ''planners and dreamers have a broader vision for denser development -- along the city's gateway corridors, around the University of Arizona and just about everywhere the Regional Transportation Authority plans to widen streets, increase bus service or run a modern streetcar.''

The advantages, he adds, are obvious.

The city could repopulate neighborhoods that lost residents even as the region's population doubled in the past 40 years; use existing infrastructure; let people live closer to jobs and shops; help them reduce car trips and greenhouse gas emissions; make transit work, thanks to higher densities alongside; and save the desert from sprawl. -- Arizona Daily Star   6/24/2007

Resource(s): www.azstarnet.com/

Gov. Napolitano Wants Action on Climate Change, Seeks Responsible Growth for Future Arizonans

Arizona's population will likely double by 2030, and the question is ''(w)here are that next six million going to go and what will be the quality of life that we all share?'' pointed out Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano at a regional summit on climate change and responsible growth, stressing the state's need to improve air quality and transportation, secure water supplies and ensure smart management for its 2.9 million acres of public land.

States must take the lead on climate change remedies, the governor told the audience brought together by the Valley Forward public interest group, since ''it takes the federal government awhile to deal with anything and I think it isn't likely that we'll see significant federal action at least within the next two years.''

To curb Arizona's greenhouse gas emission pace -- two and a half times higher than the nationwide rate between 1990 and 2005, and fastest-growing now, reports Bullhead City Mohave Daily News writer Samantha M. Novick, Governor Napolitano created a Climate Change Advisory Group, with her executive order last September setting the state's goal to cut the emissions to the 2000 level by 2020 and to halve it by 2040.

In February, she and her Democratic colleagues from New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, Governors Bill Richardson, Ted Kulongoski and Christine Gregoire, along with California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, formed the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative to coordinate and step up their market-based greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

The initiative has already attracted British Columbia as a new member, with other Canadian provinces and U.S. and Mexican states interested in joining the group.

Calling Arizona and Governor Napolitano his ''heroes,'' Governor Schwarzenegger's chief environmental policy adviser Terry Tamminen complimented them for acting while the federal government ''is asleep at the wheel.''

In addition, reports Arizona Republic writer Shaun McKinnon, he pointed to both the American lifestyle and business responsibility for increased air pollution, the latter contributing to China's expansion of coal-fired power plants and its imminent prospects of overtaking the U.S. as the top greenhouse gas producer.

The pollution and climate threats result in part from ''our desire to put a living room on wheels and take it to the supermarket, something few of us need to do,'' Terry Tamminen said, while China is multiplying its polluting plants ''to build factories to produce pink flamingoes and Nike shoes and all those other products that we buy at Wal-Mart.'' -- Mohave Daily News, Arizona Republic   4/29/2007

Resource(s): www.mohavedailynews.com/ ; www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Expects Delay on Light-Rail Extension Due to ''Onerous'' FTA Requirements

With their 20-mile light-rail ''starter track'' half completed and slated for operation in December 2008, Phoenix and Metro officials realized they can't build its first 4.6-mile extension by 2012, because Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements ''had grown too onerous and time-consuming,'' writes Arizona Republic reporter Sean Holstege, and they decided to construct the northwestern spur in two phases -- the initial 3.2 miles on time, the rest after 2014.

''We are trying to get as far as we can by 2012'' without any FTA help, using solely $273 million from an area sales tax passed by voters in 2000, said Metro's project development director Wulf Grote.

He and others hope the FTA, which usually requires local governments to cover 50 percent of rail project costs, will provide 80 percent for the second phase of the northwestern extension.

They noted that the FTA agreed to such deals in Salt Lake City and Denver, where governments also paid the full cost of early light rail phases.

What's more, the reporter observes, Phoenix officials wished the FTA had allowed them to employ the locally preferred contract method used to build Sky Harbor International Airport's Terminal 4, as being quicker and more cost-effective.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, the reporter adds, remains committed to eventual extension of the northwestern light-rail spur about a mile west, to Metrocenter Mall. -- Arizona Republic   3/15/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ ; www.valleymetro.org/default.asp

Phoenix's Mixed-Use CityScape Project Would Revitalize City Core, But Current Plan Sacrifices City Park

Backed by Phoenix officials, business leaders and many residents, the $900 million mixed-use CityScape project for three downtown blocks, including ''oft-maligned'' Patriots Square park, passed the Phoenix Park Board on a 5-2 vote, reports Arizona Republic writer Kellie Hwang, with supporters happy about new condos, offices and shops in the city core, but opponents upset about the loss of their central meeting place -- the 2.2-acre park, which will be replaced with a 5-acre strip along the blocks.

''We thought it would be a new city around a park,'' complained longtime resident Alex Votichenko at the board's meeting, packed by hundreds and televised to the overflow crowd in the basement. ''It has become a public space issue and this plan uses the park for privatization, which is not right.''

Co-organizer of savepatriotspark.org, Chris Ibarra, said, ''the plan definitely needs reworking as some members of the board pointed out, and we are all going to hold them to that.''

Former City Councilman Calvin Goode spoke for the plan, reminding the others that it has been changed since the previous board meeting and still isn't final.

At that meeting, reported earlier by Arizona Republic writer Ginger D. Richardson, Downtown Phoenix Partnership President and CEO Brian Kearny assured the opponents that their need for ''a vibrant urban park'' will be met, stressing, ''In no way are we turning this public area over to private developers for their own benefit.''

After the 5-2 park board vote for the conceptual plan, Scottsdale-based RED Development spokesman John Bacon promised to heed the opposition's arguments.

''There is a lot more design work to be done, and a lot of work to do,'' he said. ''We can now really get started on that work. The process tonight gave us direction about what we still need to do.'' -- Arizona Republic   2/22/2007

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Proposed Water Supply Legislation Would Help Rural Arizona Communities Plan for Growth

Under state law, developers in the so-called active management areas, mostly around cities like Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott, must ensure 100-year water supplies for their projects, a measure that should protect the entire state, said Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Herb Guenther, stressing, ''Smart growth is growth that's planned for.''

To make it happen, reports Cronkite New Service writer Samantha M. Novick in the Bullhead City Mohave Daily News, the Statewide Water Advisory Group submitted legislation to let all communities adopt water supply standards, create a loan fund to help upgrade rural water systems, and require disclosure of any inadequate water supplies to all future homebuyers.

''We've got to be smart about water. Whether it be a 100-year supply or a 20-year supply, the fact is that if you don't have that water you have got to find something to replace it,'' director Guenther pointed out. ''It's good public policy if you plan not only for the existing population but for the future population.''

Still, as its use increases and supply shrinks, water will become a costly commodity.

Although technological advances and lower water desalinization costs may eventually make oceans a crucial source of drinking water, with Arizona already studying that potential and talking with California and Mexico, consumers should expect higher water prices, especially in rural areas.

''We're spoiled because we have always have had a plentiful and inexpensive supply,'' director Guenther observed. ''Now as sources get stretched and cheap water is no longer readily available, we have to go to more expensive supplies.'' -- Mohave Daily News   1/24/2007

Resource(s): www.mohavedailynews.com

Comprehensive Move Toward Smart Growth Presented by Gov. Napolitano in State of the State Speech

''As I've traveled Arizona, I have heard from thousands of you expressing the same message -- the way we grow has to change,'' said Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano in her State of the State speech, imparting a sense of urgency to the GOP-led legislature with six executive orders signed hours before, one of which expands the scope of her Growth Cabinet, formed of key agency directors last year, and directs it ''to develop -- within 120 days -- an implementation plan for a smart growth and development process.''

With Arizona's population of some 3.7 million in 1990 already up by 65 percent and likely to reach almost 6 million by 2030, the governor told lawmakers, ''We must be vigilant in our work to ensure that rapid growth is smart growth,'' asking them to think of infrastructure ''in a larger sense,'' as including roads, water supply, land preservation, housing, health care and ''careful, coordinated growth planning.''

Her Growth Cabinet's job is now ''to ensure that all agencies of state government are working together on critical growth issues -- for example, creating a water development fund for rural Arizona, and ensuring that infrastructure is built in a manner that contemplates the effects of development on our water quality, air quality and wildlife.''

What's more, she said, the cabinet ''will work with cities, towns, counties and tribal communities so that our efforts build on each other's,'' with future discretionary funds ''available only to local governments that agree to participate in this process,'' a condition she also set for the extra $400 million she proposed for highway construction.

Troubled by ''the 'time tax' we pay, every time we sit, stuck in traffic that should be moving,'' the governor expects to secure the additional $400 million by extending the terms for state transportation bonds from 20 to 30 years.

At the same time, she stressed the need to ''explore transportation innovations,'' give localities tools ''to incorporate more water planning into their growth decisions'' and ''to restrict wildcat subdivisions,'' and aggressively protect air quality.

Related executive orders jump-start these actions.

She gave the Arizona Department of Transportation 90 days to submit ''a list of options for mass transit -- including commuter rail and light rail -- so that this can be part of our transportation planning as we grow.''

She told the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Commerce to provide communities with ''long-term, 30-year financing through a partnership between the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority and the Greater Arizona Development Authority,'' which will save millions in interest, ensure safe drinking water, and protect water resources.

She also ordered the state ''to take further, concrete steps to improve air quality,'' including a requirement for all projects on state property to reduce their particulate and ozone-forming emissions, and a provision for awarding incentives in new contracts involving heavy equipment ''to those contractors that use newer clean fuel technologies.''

In addition, ''we must protect our access to open space, particularly in our urban communities,'' and work on state trust land reform, Governor Napolitano continued, assuring communities with trust lands reclassified under the Arizona Preserve Initiative that the state ''will not move those lands to market for other than conservation purposes without local consent.''

Simultaneously, ''we need to offer housing that is within reach, both geographically and financially,'' she pointed out, promising more financial aid for first-time rural homebuyers and doubled investment in homebuyer education, allocating another $1 million to seek ''creative housing solutions at the center of our communities, rather than further sprawl at the edges,'' and earmarking another $2.5 million for tribal housing.

Having focused the first part of her speech on education, with a proposal to set a minimum starting teacher salary at $33,000 statewide and an executive order for the director of the School Facilities Board to work with school districts on schools for 21st century, Governor Napolitano ended it by addressing the needs of seniors.

With thousands of them already under long-term care due to age or disability, and the number of those over 85 expected to double within 15 years, she announced an executive order to ''crack down on long-term care abuse and neglect,'' and to reward the best facilities, while posting quality ratings on her web site by this July.

''Many more people are joining us; let's welcome them, and be careful and smart about how we make way for them,'' the governor concluded. ''We are stewards. This place of exceptional beauty is not ours to own, it is only ours to care for, for the time we are here. Let's do it well, together.''   1/8/2007

Resource(s): www.governor.state.az.us/

Gov. Napolitano to Outline Plans for More Arizona Smart Growth in State of the State Address

Arizona needs smart growth because the only other alternative is to ''simply sprawl our way into the desert,'' said Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, briefing state mayors on her State of the State address, scheduled for January 8, in which she will present her top priorities for the second term in greater detail.

She is ready, reports Associated Press writer Paul Davenport in the Tucson Citizen, to prod the Republican-led legislature about a greater state growth-management role and accelerated transit and road construction outlays, and to rally local governments for joint growth planning.

The governor pointed out that Phoenix and Tucson, 100 miles apart but growing toward each other, may eventually form an even wider ''megalopolitan'' area from Yavapahi County in the north to the Mexican border in the south, and that the notion of cities as ''isolated communities'' is outdated and must be replaced by ideas of regional cooperation.

With her other priority goals including increased state, regional and community funding for local infrastructure, expansion of affordable housing, better demographic projections, and broad relations with Indian tribes, the governor told the mayors, ''We are embarked on a great and vital discussion on how this state moves forward.''

She said the state would need neither a tax increase nor a debt to implement her transportation plan, and she promised to revive a proposal to give municipalities in regions with few regulations the power to reject development projects without assured water supplies, a practice already established in the so-called ''active management areas.''

Insiders note that at a subsequent meeting with experts from the Washington-based Governors' Institute on Community Design -- formed by the U.S. EPA and the National Endowment for Arts in cooperation with Smart Growth America and the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth Education and Research, and led by former New Jersey Republican Governor and EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, former Maryland Democratic Governor Paris N. Glendening and former Maine Independent Governor Angus King -- the guests found Governor Napolitano receptive and committed to smart growth. -- Tucson Citizen   12/13/2006

Resource(s): www.tucsoncitizen.com/

Voters Approve Arizona's Eminent Domain Ballot Item, Re-Elect Gov. Napolitano

Reflecting a nationwide political trend, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano cruised to another term in office with an easy 63-35 percent victory over Republican Len Munsil, but in a strange twist 65 percent of voters passed Proposition 2007, which mixes eminent domain and regulatory takings issues, seriously curbing government ability to take land and manage growth.

Similar double-barrel measures got defeated in California and Idaho, while Montana was spared from such a referendum by a court, which had found the proposed mixed ballot unconstitutional.

At the same time, Arizona voters turned down two competing measures to protect state trust land, Proposition 105 and Proposition 108. The first, which would have preserved 43,000 acres was rejected by 71 percent of voters; the other, to preserve 694,000 acres, by 52 percent.   11/8/2006

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Scottsdale Residents Not Ready to Climb Aboard Phoenix's Light Rail System

Although construction of the 24-mile Phoenix area light-rail system is well under way and communities along the line, especially Tempe and Mesa, are counting on a great economic boost, the situation is different in Scottsdale, where residents have rejected the system several times and its foes are getting vocal again, angry that the city’s long-range master transportation draft plan includes light rail as one of the possible transit alternatives.

''Light rail is going to be crammed down our throats,'' some claimed during a recent community meeting on city transportation prospects, reports East Valley-Scottsdale Tribune writer Tim Hacker. ''This is in the hands of politicians, and the deal is done.''

Should the city run a train along its signature Scottsdale Road ''we'll look like every other city, and now we don't,'' argued Chaparral Suites co-owner and general manager Tom Silverman, a former city councilman.

In 2003, the writer notes, the City Council voted 4-3 to designate Scottsdale Road as the future high-capacity transit corridor, with Mayor Mary Manross saying of her tie-breaking vote, ''We are just keeping our options open'' to let residents decide later ''what kind of mass transit they want.'' Last fall, when the City Council selected Portland-based HDR consultants to help it plan future transportation, some cried foul because of the firm's involvement in light-rail projects countrywide, including the Phoenix area system.

After its participation in a recent series of informal public meetings on transit, Councilman Bob Littlefield was equally upset. ''They were supposed to come in and gather information in an unbiased way,'' he complained about the explanation of transit-oriented development benefits. ''But their presentations are designed to push light rail.''

Mayor Manross denies charges of ''a fix'' or a bias. ''I’m waiting to get quite a bit of detailed information that the council needs to make a correct decision,'' she said of a cost-benefit analysis and ridership projections. ''I'm not in any corner.'' The strongest light rail supporter has been the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, the writer observes, quoting its President Rick Kidder, who remains optimistic. ''My assumption is when it's time to do so,'' he said, ''There will be no problem in coming up with a formidable group in favor of transit in Scottsdale.'' -- East Valley-Scottsdale Tribune   9/24/2006

Resource(s): www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php

Light-Rail System Spurs $1.5 Billion of Mixed-Used Construction in Central Phoenix

As the Phoenix area's political and business leaders predicted, its 20-mile Metro light-rail system, set to start December 2008, has already spurred $1.5 billion of mixed-use construction in the central city -- half of the investment in public money -- fueled a frenzy of land deals along the most advanced Apache Boulevard line, and recently brought the first transit-oriented project to Tempe, some 10 miles southeast.

The Campus Edge project, reports Scottsdale Tribune writer Garin Groff, a $40 million-plus, 100-unit high-rise condo complex proposed by Nelson Phoenix LLC for a boulevard gas-station site is expected to get off the ground next April and be ready when the trains begin to run.

''I really think everything we're seeing along the light-rail line is exceeding our expectations,'' said Phoenix transit-oriented development manager Bo Martinez. Tempe has spent more than $20 million since 1995 to improve its section of Apache Boulevard, said city redevelopment manager Neil Calfee, pointing out that now developers will be putting their money into the corridor, but noting that light rail usually propels most redevelopment within five to 10 years of construction.

Having the most track miles and a high demand for downtown living, Phoenix is well ahead in transit-oriented development, while Mesa, east of Tempe, with an under-a-mile line and only one stop, still awaits developers. West Mesa Community Development Corporation Executive Director Dave Richins thinks they may be initially reluctant because of frequent local opposition and legal challenges to development and because of a ''lukewarm'' official commitment to light rail. Still, he believes that developers will come to Mesa, too, a belief shared by its Vice Mayor Claudia Walter. ''The fact that there is only one light-rail station,'' she stressed, ''does make a difference.'' -- Tribune   8/27/2006

Resource(s): www.eastvalleytribune.com/

Developers Push Plan for Montosa Ranch Cluster Home Project in Santa Cruz County

Refused an endorsement by the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission twice within a year, with only one resident speaking for them and almost 50 against at a meeting last month, developer J.T. ''Tim'' Bunn and his partner Jaime Molera are pushing their plan to cluster 2,500 homes on the 624-acre Montosa Ranch near I-19 ''in the middle of nowhere,'' writes Tucson Arizona Daily Star reporter Tony Davis, raising a question: ''Will this project be the next domino to fall along the freeway, transforming a once-pastoral area into near-continuous stretch of suburbia from Green Valley to Nogales?''

Designed for agricultural and low-density residential uses in the county's Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the area has been under increased development pressures in the past several years and many fear another project would destroy its rural fabric and ''wreck'' the carefully crafted plan.

The developers make the project sound irresistible. J.T. Bunn promises to create some 3,000 construction jobs and an $850 million economic output over six years, keep 26 percent of the farm as open space, widen and pave a dirt road, build a large Santa Cruz River bridge, help pay for public safety and provide a variety of homes at prices from $140,000 to $500,000.

Jaime Molera, former state school superintendent, argues that in contrast to wildcat development, which costs the county a lot of money for roads and utility hookups, their project would be done ''in a thoughtful, smart growth fashion.'' He considers the strong group of opponents shortsighted and selfish, declaring, ''They've got theirs, and they want to shut off everything else.''

County Commissioner Roy Fish doesn't dispute the selfishness factor. ''They want to protect the area, and I'm glad,'' he says. ''That's what the area's comprehensive plan is all about.''

With opponents sending the county 110 e-mails and letters, and 169 petition signatures, the developers presented 382 petition signatures for the development and commissioned a phone poll of 362 registered county voters, 58 percent of whom backed the project if it meant the promised economic benefits.

But County Community Development Department Director Mary Dahl's report notes that the county usually brings in outside construction workers who spend much of their wages elsewhere. It also points out that the proposed housing type usually yields visual monotony, that a new bridge would open developer access to state land in the east, and that the ranch development would increase traffic on a main local artery from about 450 to 25,000 vehicles a day.

Longtime ranch owner Frankie Donau, 89, who sold to the developers in 1999 because he no longer could make it financially, regrets the sale, saying of the project plan, ''I think it stinks.'' -- Arizona Daily Star   8/14/2006

Resource(s): www.azstarnet.com/

Urban Land Institute to Assess Smart Growth Redevelopment Potential of Mesa's Williams Gateway Airport

Keen on strengthening the role of Arizona State University (ASU) Polytechnics as one of the state's top jobs and education centers, Phoenix area business, civic and political leaders in the East Valley Partnership arranged for the Washington-based Urban Land Institute (ULI) to evaluate the long-term smart growth redevelopment potential of Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, some 20 miles southeast from central Phoenix, with a ULI team of experts scheduled to arrive for a field study in September.

Sponsored by Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Maricopa County, Williams Gateway Airport, Sky Harbor International Airport, ASU Polytechnic and Chandler-Gilbert Community College, the planning and implementation project will be managed by the East Valley Partnership, reports Arizona Republic writer Art Thomason, quoting Partnership CEO Roc Arnett, who notes that the state budget includes $103 million for construction of three academic buildings, adding, ''Over the next 10 to 12 years the moving and shaking driver of this deal is going to be the education piece.''

Polytechnics administrative vice provost Terry Isaacson says the school's enrollment, up by 25 to 30 percent each year, is higher than at other campuses, with the number of students already exceeding 5,000 and the three planned buildings letting it accommodate another 3,000 expected over the next several years. Glad of the forthcoming evaluation of airport land use options by ULI experts, he observes, ''It truly gives us another iteration of planning.'' -- Arizona Republic   6/21/2006

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Building Up, Not Out: Light Rail and Downtown Attractions Spur Interest in Condos for Phoenix Region

In another sign of the increased popularity of city living even in the most sprawling metropolises such as Phoenix, with 60 percent more land than New York City but only 14 percent of its population, developers are building or planning about 8,000 condos downtown and in Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert -- some atop office or business space, and all priced from $200,000 to $5 million.

The condos ''attract two very diverse groups who have historically not been interested in condo living here,'' observes Arizona State University's Arizona Real Estate Center Director Jay Butler. ''Aging Americans, the empty nesters, want to move away from suburban sprawl, and the young, entrepreneurial worker wants to live where the action is.''

The region's lifestyle shift and ''the new phenomenon of building up rather than out,'' notes Christian Science Monitor correspondent Faye Bowers, are additionally stimulated not only by high energy costs and road congestion, but also by construction of Phoenix' light-rail system, its new downtown university campus, and new sports and cultural complexes.

Still, experts can't estimate the number of people who will prefer to live in dense downtown areas or to move farther out in the desert, the correspondent reports, noting that director Butler thinks both sprawl and ''building up'' will continue for some time, and that others expect Phoenix metro and Tucson, about 100 miles southeast, to merge in the next decade. -- Christian Science Monitor   6/1/2006

Resource(s): www.csmonitor.com/

Maricopa County Survey Highlights Growth Challenges: Residents Say Sprawl Is a Problem, But Oppose Smaller Lots, Neighborhood Density Increases

''We're going to have sprawl if we don't have higher-density development,'' warned Phoenix-based Valley Forward President Diane Brossard at the 37-year-old business-civic group's membership luncheon, releasing a WestGroup Research public attitude study, which found that although 85 percent of area residents perceive Maricopa County sprawl as a problem, including 41 percent who consider it a big problem, 77 percent would oppose smaller lots, condos, apartments and other density increases in their neighborhoods, including 52 percent strongly opposed to such projects.

In what seems paradoxical, 39 percent said the county's rapid growth had no impact on their quality of life, while 21 percent rated the impact as positive, and just 40 percent as negative. At the same time, the strongest negative feelings about sprawl and its impact, but also about higher densities, dominated among older residents.

Among those who saw sprawl as a big problem, complained about its quality of life impact or opposed density, 42 percent, 47 percent and 80 percent, respectively, were 50 years old or older. In contrast, those under age 30 were the least concerned about sprawl and the quality of life impact, but also about density increases. Only 17 percent of them considered sprawl a big problem, they were least likely to feel any impact on their quality of life, and 30 percent wouldn't mind higher densities. Also, 81 percent of all respondents thought Valley communities have no effective plans to handle more growth, and 67 percent felt themselves unable to influence local planning for the future.

''It's clear we need to do a better job of educating the public about the planning process and how they can get involved,'' said Valley Forward President Diane Brossard in a press release. ''Apparently, most people do not feel empowered to make a difference and we're here to say they most definitely can.'' -– ValleyForward.org, Phoenix Business Journals   5/11/2006

Resource(s): www.bizjournals.com/ ; www.valleyforward.org/index.php

''Building a Community'': Verrado Project Slowly Takes Shape In Buckeye

In contrast to how the valley grew over the past decades, the master-planned Verrado project of 11,000 housing units and 4 million square feet of office-retail space on 8,800 acres at the foot of White Tank Mountains in Buckeye, some 30 miles west of central Phoenix, is slowly taking shape, its downtown Main Street District opened in 2004 and eight builders now at work on the first of the 1,900 homes, townhouses and apartments of the Heritage District.

For the next year, reports Arizona Republic writer Christine L. Romero, the master developer, DMB Associates Inc., plans initial construction of a resort with up to 900 units, as well as shops, restaurants and entertainment outlets.

''What we are building is a community,'' pointed out DMB residential design manager Steve Berry. ''We look at the sum of all the parts here.''

To ensure Verrado's attractiveness, diversity and sense of place, builders are required to shun ''sameness,'' think out of the box, and implement a ''hometown'' model of development, all of which they found difficult and challenging at first, the manager said, but now consider worthwhile and rewarding. -- Arizona Republic   3/22/2006

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Cave Creek Land Annexation Plan Would Save Pristine Sonoran Desert Buffer from Development

Unlike municipalities that annex land for subdivisions or other revenue-rich uses, the small town of Cave Creek, about 25 miles north of central Phoenix, wants to take in 5,000 acres on Phoenix's outer limits to save this pristine Sonoran Desert buffer from development, with Mayor Vincent Francia stressing, ''We need this annexation to ensure Cave Creek's lifestyle for the future.''

Having worked with the Arizona State Land Department for the past two years on a conceptual plan to preserve a large desert swath near the Cave Creek Recreation Area and Spur Cross Ranch, reports Arizona Republic writer Thomas Ropp, the town fears Phoenix may annex the mostly state-trust land and let developers put scores of look-alike homes along nearby Carefree Highway. Town officials would rather see greater commercial development along part of the highway, which also would maximize the state's return on the trust land, with the revenue going for schools.

Some residents near the highway, the writer notes, don't like the idea of more commercial development in their neighborhood so others can enjoy more open space, but officials expect to complete the annexation July 8, on the town's 20th anniversary. -- Arizona Republic   3/17/2006

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Plans for Phoenix Freeway Bypass Raise Concerns About Effects on Air Quality at Nearby Schools

Alarmed by the Phoenix region's worst air-pollution season in years, its infamous brown cloud full of 2.5-micron tailpipe-emission particulates (PM 2.5) small enough to enter lungs and bloodstream, some members of the South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team for the projected 22-to-26-mile freeway bypass near several schools think the state should set tougher air-quality standards to minimize further public health risks, with Sierra Club representative Michelle Pulich Stewart quitting the group because it decided to stop reading public comments.

Residents who attend the meetings can only leave written remarks instead of voicing their concerns, notes Arizona Republic reporter Corinne Purtill, quoting the Sierra Club representative, who said, ''We can't participate in a process that's not allowing the public component to be there.''

According to Arizona Department of Transportation and the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), which expect to start construction in 2009, by the time South Mountain Freeway is completed in 2015, the Valley's traffic volume will have increased to 134.1 million vehicle miles traveled a day, but the region won't risk violating federal emission standards. Tailpipe emission control technologies, explained MAG environmental director Lindy Bauer, are improving faster than additional cars are appearing on the roads.

Still, the potential impact of the highway on thousands of students in schools along its planned route isn't taken lightly by the advisory team.

''It's a deadly issue,'' said Ahwatukee Foothills representative John Rodriguez. ''They need to bring in medical experts.''

Federal officials, the reporter adds, promised to follow the advice. -- Arizona Republic   2/25/2006

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Tombstone's New High School Sits Empty After Cost of Utility Line Extension Breaks Budget

The $75,000 lease of 57 acres of state land for Tombstone's new high school seemed a bargain to Tombstone Unified School District two years ago, but the cost of extending utility lines three miles north of the city put construction behind schedule and $600,000 over the initial $6.2 million estimate, still keeping the district about $250,000-$350,000 short of what it needs to fix a dirt access road to the state-of-the-art school and still leaving the 350 students in the small 1922 building, many very fond of the old rooms that saw their parents and relatives over the years. ''The school looks great,'' said District Superintendent J. Ronald Hennings of the empty new building. ''We just can't get kids to it.''

For this, reports Arizona Republic writer Susan Carroll, the district must level out, pave and connect the 1,000-yard gravel road to SR-80 with turning lanes, to make it safe for school buses. The superintendent told her the district will drain its $300,000 reserve account, Cochise County will save it about $170,000 by paving the road at cost and the state Department of Transportation will waive $61,000 in permit fees, but he needs up to $350,000 more for the upgrades, expecting $100,000 from the Arizona School Risk Retention Trust and the rest from the Arizona School Facilities Board, which funded the new school.

Concerned about the delay, he thought the Phoenix-based board paid scant attention to the depressed former mining town some 25 miles from the Mexican border, where most of the 1,500 residents work in services and 62 percent of district students benefit from free or low-cost lunches. ''We've got a little, impoverished school district down here,'' he said. ''We're too small and unimportant for (the facilities board) to be worried about us.''

Appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano this month to head the state Department of Administration, former board executive director William Bell denied the allegation, pointing out that the board has built the school, paid for its cost overrun, and may make another exception for the small rural district by helping it with the road even though ''off-site'' improvements are usually funded locally.

Tombstone Clerk Marilyn Slade said the city struggles with other needs but will make sure the students move into the new school. ''One way or another,'' she promised, ''that road will get built.'' -- Arizona Republic   10/12/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Sale of Large Land Tracts in Phoenix Area Presents Opportunity for Orderly Growth

As Phoenix area population growth pushes construction outward and land prices upward, it creates both hardships and opportunities, with DaimlerChrysler Corp. ready to sell its 5,500-acre vehicle testing ground northeast of Phoenix in Maricopa County early next year for an estimated $75,000 per acre -- a state record of $400 million -- and the State Land Department prepared to begin a multi-phase sale of some 176,000 acres of federal trust land southeast of the city in Pinal County next summer for an expected $10 billion over several years, most of it boosting public schools.

''What we do on our proving grounds is confidential,'' explained DaimlerChrysler senior manager Mary Beth Halprin. ''As areas around them develop, our ability to test vehicles becomes more difficult.''

Other automakers with testing grounds in metro Phoenix -- General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan -- are also carefully watching the ever-closer development and the increases in their land value, report Arizona Republic writers Catherine Reagor and Bob Golfen.

''We're hearing some very aggressive numbers in terms of growth and how close it will come to us,'' said Nissan administration and human resource director John Kalandro at the company's 3,000-acre test center -- its other Pinal County facility already surrounded by several new projects and his colleagues talking to area officials and developers about implications. ''The projected growth has surprised us.''

Toyota planning and internal affairs general manager Bruce Brownley felt the same about his 12,000-acre facility, opened 12 years ago 16 miles from the DaimlerChrysler testing ground. ''When we selected that site,'' he noted, ''we thought we would be in a remote location for a long time.''

According to the writers' sources, DaimlerChrysler will lease back its proving ground from a yet-unnamed investment group to test vehicles until late 2007, while the group pursues plans for a project like Verrado some 25 miles west of central Phoenix. Verrado is a 1,145-acre community ''with small-town appeal,'' varied home types -- including rental lofts -- pedestrian-friendly streets, a village green, 20 parks and a public golf course.

The State Land Department also expects well-planned development on the vast trust tracts scheduled for auctions starting next summer. ''We could break this up into 300-acre subdivisions and sell it to home builders, but I think we have the opportunity to create some value,'' said State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman about an area stretching from Apache Junction east of Phoenix, some 30 miles south to Florence.

To help arrange the initial auction, for the first 1,650 acres of the 7,750-acre Lost Dutchman Heights tract in Apache Junction, notes Arizona Republic reporter Shaun McKinnon, the department enlisted the Colorado-based Lend Lease Communities company, which will draw up basic planning guidelines for prospective developers.

''We're starting out with a big chunk of the land that will bring a new identity for this area and set the stage to have orderly development,'' the commissioner stressed, hoping for voter approval of a trust-land law reform package in November 2006, which would let his department expand its development planning role and help contain sprawl.

For now, the reporter adds, the department will require the winning bidder of the Dutchman tract's first 1,650 acres to put up planning funds for the other 6,100 acres, which will go on auction later. -- Arizona Republic   10/5/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Trump ''Tower'' One of Two High-Rises to Get Green Light from Phoenix City Council

Always supportive of Camelback East neighborhoods -- some four miles northeast from downtown Phoenix -- in their two-year fight against Donald Trump's proposed 150-foot-tall condo-hotel tower amid buildings at most 56 feet high, Arizona Republic editors urged the City Council to give the entrepreneur a pink slip and tell him ''Donald, you're fired,'' but a day later the council voted 5-4 for his zoning change request, trimming the tower to 140 feet, while confirming the same height for the time being at Biltmore Fashion Park mall two blocks away, where Westcor wants to build 165-foot high-rises.

''For all its trendy and upscale appeal, the Trump project is in the wrong location,'' stated the daily's editorial, pointing out that the height and density would fit downtown Phoenix or Camelback Road more to the west, both areas generally willing to accept it and both slated for light-rail stations. The editorial also warned the council it risked inviting a wider push to break the corridor's height limits, which would result ''in a canyon of glass and concrete structures,'' increase its traffic and block mountain views, undercut downtown revitalization, and send ''a terrible message to Urban Village Planning Committees throughout the city: Your input is not wanted on big zoning decisions.''

But after futile last-ditch negotiations -- in which the Trump group rejected local proposals for an 86-foot height and a set of planning rules -- five council members sent that message, over objections from Mayor Phil Gordon, Vice Mayor Mike Johnson and Councilmen Greg Stanton and Tom Simplot.

Echoing some area residents and developers from across the city who praised the project's economic benefits, report Republic writers Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor and Glen Creno, its five supporters on the council cited fiscal and ''big picture'' reasons and the need to make the city grow rather than sprawl.

Reflecting the anger of many in City Hall's crowded chamber and among the hundreds in front of TV screens outside, Central City Village Planning Committee member Dana Johnson said the 18 months of work by his Camelback East colleagues was for nothing. ''Show us the respect we deserve,'' he told the council, holding up a stack of plan pages. ''Show us that these documents are worth the paper they are printed on.''

Still, the writers observe, the fight will likely continue. Should opponents collect 9,923 valid signatures within 30 days, the project may be put to a citywide referendum in the council election of September 2007. -- Arizona Republic   9/22/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/news/

More People, Less Road? Pinal County Says Population Growth May Be Greater Than Projections Arizona DOT Uses to Assess New Road Needs

As they study which valley areas southeast of Phoenix will need new and expanded roads by 2030, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) staffers base their recommendation against any road extension through southern Maricopa County toward Florence and Coolidge in Pinal County -- some 50 miles from central Phoenix -- on a projection of its population growth to 1.1 million, a forecast the fast-growing county's officials now counter with a privately funded report by Elliot D. Pollack & Co., which suggests the county may have 2.1 million residents within 25 years.

''(ADOT) has been working on generally accepted growth numbers, and we're here to say things are different,'' asserted Pinal County Supervisor Sandie Smith, even though the report's author cautioned that his projections aren't ironclad. ''That's just a ballpark figure. A lot can happen in 25 years,'' he said. ''It's better to anticipate more than less.''

His report, notes Arizona Republic writer Carl Holcombe, links the inadequacy of the Phoenix region's roads and their congestion with ADOT's two-decade-old, insufficient growth projections for Gilbert, Surprise and Goodyear around the city. The report argues that now ADOT underestimates the potential impact of high home prices and land shortages in Maricopa County on Pinal County development.

Noting different regional growth projections by municipalities, the Maricopa Association of Governments, the University of Arizona and other bodies, the writer adds that according to ADOT project manager Dianne Kresich, the department's study is too advanced to use the numbers preferred by Pinal officials. -- Arizona Republic   9/13/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Transit Waiting for Completion of Passenger Survey to Examine Factors Behind Steady Ridership Increases

Although many observers and residents in other regions make gas prices accountable for most of the growing transit use, Phoenix area officials take a wait-and-see attitude, pointing out that Valley Metro buses, vanpools and carpools saw steady ridership increases over the last few years and expecting a month-long September passenger survey to show exactly what role gas prices played in their latest gains -- four percent for all buses in each of the two past months, and 24 percent for Phoenix Transit's rapid bus service on non-stop express routes between downtown and the suburbs.

''All our '05 numbers are larger than our '04 numbers, but I can't tell you conclusively why that is so,'' said Valley Metro spokeswoman Susan Tierney. ''There are a whole lot of factors that could contribute to that.''

Vanpool and carpool commutes also became more popular, reports Arizona Republic writer Bob Golfen, with Valley Metro adding 10 vanpools last month and planning another 10 in September, for a total of 250, and providing a matching list of potential carpool partners for 1,700 applicants, as compared to 839 requests in May.

Under its vanpool program, the writer notes, the agency leases vans to drivers organizing a group of commuters, who share an average $418 monthly cost -- depending on van sizes and trip distances -- including insurance and maintenance. -- Arizona Republic   9/13/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Home Prices Expected to Rise Faster Than Rest of Nation in 2006

With the nation's median price for existing homes likely to rise 10.5 percent and reach $204,000 this year, it had already jumped in metro Phoenix by 32 percent to a record $250,000 in June, reports Arizona Republic writer Catherine Reagor, finding that despite the expected national slowdown in home sales next year, experts think the area's prices will still go up by more than 10 percent, or double the rate projected nationwide.

The National Association of Realtors is projecting about a five percent increase in home prices throughout the nation in 2006, the writer notes, quoting the director of the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus, Jay Butler, who observes, ''No one says the market is going to crash, only that the housing market's growth rate won't continue at this pace.''

The area's home sales and prices might have still risen in July, but ''the market's frenzy could be ebbing,'' the writer adds. ''The past two months, it has taken longer for Valley homes to sell, and the number of homes for sale has climbed.'' -- Arizona Republic   8/10/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/news/

Phoenix Developers Plan More Condo Projects at Area Malls

The housing market expansion may slow down next year, but Phoenix area developers trust that the wave of demographic and lifestyle changes in favor of easy access and everyday convenience will only strengthen demand for pedestrian-friendly mixed uses -- including transformation of shopping malls into open-air town-like centers -- and they act accordingly, projecting hundreds of mostly high-end condos and lofts for existing and future malls.

The Phoenix-based Westcor company, reports Arizona Republic writer Erica Sagon, has already built 30 of the planned 85 $400,000-to-$1 million lofts in the ''main-street-type'' Kierland Common mall it co-owns with Woodbine Southwest Corp.

Westcor also proposes adding condos to Biltmore Fashion Park and Scottsdale Fashion Square, without ruling out such additions to its eight other malls, and may include condos or apartments in five regional malls planned at the Valley edges, starting with condos atop parking garages at Gilberts's San Tan Village, which will feature a mix of upscale and discount stores.

''As this town approaches 4 million people,'' says Westcor development senior vice president David Scholl about Phoenix, ''I think there is enough critical mass to have an urban living environment'' at shopping malls.

The Kierland Commons mall's residents are an early proof of his point. Real estate agent Ken Clark, who lives with his wife Debra in a two-bedroom $800,000 loft above Banana Republic, with a view of the mall's main street, says he initially saw the unit as a good investment, but its convenience became more important.

Resident Willy Theisen says he took his one-bedroom $635,000 loft because of shoppers and diners through the evening, stressing, ''If I wanted total solitude, that wouldn't be the place to go.''

Indeed, the writer sums it up, a Kirkland Commons resident ''can get home from work, run downstairs for a steak or seafood, try on a new outfit, pick up a coffee and buy a book to take back upstairs and read before bed.''

Although the director of the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University, Jay Butler, says some of the mall condos and lofts are ''so high-end, you sort of wonder who they're going after,'' the writer observes, the industry's key demographic target is the bracket of buyers exactly like the Clarks and Theisen -- affluent empty-nesters and young single professionals. -- Arizona Republic   8/9/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/news/

Lot Splitting Could Bring Chaos to Rapidly Growing Pinal County

As Phoenix area growth rapidly pushes southeast into rural Pinal County and little keeps landowners from multiple lot splits despite lack of roads, utilities and other infrastructure, county officials and conservation-minded residents are working with state lawmakers on a bill proposal for the next session in January, which would bring some land-use order and avert developmental chaos.

Under state law, reports Arizona Republic writer Carl Holcombe, lots within city limits can be split into three parcels and rural lots into five parcels of only 1.25 acres -- either for sale or another purpose -- without any oversight, approval or environmental review. Over the past eight years, the writer notes, landowners carved out almost 17,000 unregulated parcels and filed 371 splits this year so far, which may ultimately mean another 3,000 such parcels, a record annual number since the county began to keep records in 1998.

The total figures may actually be even higher, due to illegal ''wildcat'' splits that ignore the lot size minimum and some zoning limitations.

''Just about every county in Arizona can show you horrific results from (lot) splitting,'' said Pinal County Supervisor Sandie Smith. ''It's a big issue.''

Nevertheless, in a state ''where private land rights are a rallying cry,'' the writer observes, lawmakers may be reluctant to pass legislation that could ignite these sentiments. But according to a study by the County Supervisors Association of Arizona and the Arizona association of County Planning Directors, current lot split practices invite serious problems. Among others, the county can't pave the resulting roads, utility companies find it difficult to plan services, and neighbors ''can squabble over road easements simply to get access to their land or houses.'' -- Arizona Republic   8/8/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Trust Reform Ballot Proposal Would Save 700,000 Arizona Acres from Development

To improve management of the state's 10.9 million acres of pristine trust land, put on auction only to boost school funds, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano voiced her strong support for a proposed November 2006 trust-reform ballot to streamline sales, but save almost 700,000 acres permanently from development, which would include immediate protection for 250,000 acres of desert, mountain and grassland around Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tucson and rural communities.

The governor called the proposal ''very good and very balanced,'' pointing out at a Valley Partnership breakfast in Phoenix that since lawmakers failed to act on such a ballot in the past two years, the issue is now ''on the people's front burner'' in a preservation campaign.

''With the kind of growth we are anticipating in Arizona, it is our responsibility to hand over the state in a better way than we found it,'' she told the audience, stressing the need to keep ''the quintessentially unique Arizona quality of life'' even as the state grows by another 5 million people in the next decades.

Valley Partnership, an organization of mostly commercial developers, reports Arizona Republic writer Robbie Sherwood, supports the land trust reform ballot proposal, along with the Arizona Education Association, a teachers' union, and conservation groups.

To make the ballot happen, proponents must collect almost 184,000 signatures by next July. -- Arizona Republic   7/30/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Gilbert Hopes to Reduce Car Dependency By Adding Bike and Pedestrian Trails to Town's New Transportation Plan

Determined to facilitate Gilbert's traffic flow and reduce residents' car dependency, the Town Council augmented its new transportation plan's arterial street and transit segments by including in it a bike and pedestrian trail system project, which will encourage more physical activity among adults and children and offer them easier access to key commercial, recreational and municipal facilities and local schools.

Project leader, Deputy Town Manager Tami Ryall, said people will be attracted by the chance ''to ride their bikes with their family to the park.''

But the project is also important for the economy, notes Arizona Republic writer Mike Walbert, quoting Maricopa Association of Governments transportation planner Maureen DeCindis. ''When businesses look at resettling into another locale, they assess the quality of life,'' she observed. ''And one of the things they look at is the opportunity for physical activity.''

Confident that once people ''find a suitable route instead of getting in their cars,'' they will do so to avoid traffic, the planner stressed that bike and pedestrian trails must be both comfortable and safe to meet the different needs of those ready to bike and walk. -- Arizona Republic   7/30/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Commerce Gets Boost from Light-Rail Project

Its construction in full swing across downtown Phoenix, the 20-mile Metro light-rail line that will link Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa by 2008 is already boosting business, along with public and industry confidence in prospects for mixed-use transit-oriented development, greater sales tax revenue and other benefits of smart growth, reports Commercial Property News editorial intern Andreea Fodor, quoting Cushman & Wakefield Inc. senior director Don Rodie, who says, ''You're going to have businesses on a larger scale that are going to come in from neighboring submarkets where the light rail isn't accessible.''

CB Richard Ellis Inc. first vice president Charles Miscio and Transwestern Commercial Services senior vice president Jim Achen agree. ''We will see 10 times more people walking up and down the streets of downtown in three years than we see today,'' says the former, while the latter adds, ''There are a lot of high-end condo and loft developers looking for sites downtown.'' -- Commercial Property News   7/16/2005

Resource(s): www.commercialpropertynews.com/cpn/index.jsp

Phoenix's Hope VI Project Rebuilds Community Without Permanently Displacing Residents

''Hope VI is a leading example across the country of New Urbanism and Smart Growth,'' said prominent center-city developer Reid Butler, commenting on the 1992, $5 billion federal program, under which Phoenix received $35 million in 2001, and leveraged almost twice as much in private money, to transform the New Deal era's mostly black and long-neglected Matthew Henson Public Housing Project, just a few blocks of downtown, into the 160-acre mixed-use Henson Village by 2008, with all former residents eligible to return if they choose.

''The key idea for Hope VI,'' the developer told Arizona Republic columnist Jon Talton, ''has always been to replace inadequate/outdated public housing -- the 'vertical ghetto' in many communities -- with high-quality, lower density, mixed-income housing with a very strong commitment to design.''

Accordingly, the columnist reports, Henson Village will offer a mix of 611 subsidized and market-rate ''two-story stucco townhouses and apartments,'' new streets, senior and teen centers, parks, small-scale commercial space and some retail opportunities.

The columnist expects results no less spectacular than those he saw in Charlotte, NC, where Hope VI turned ''a blighted quadrant of the city's downtown into one of its most dynamic areas, and recently in Oakland, CA, where the Mandela Gateway Hope VI project ''is a beautiful bridgehead in the blight of West Oakland.''

Henson Village project manager Dee Wheeler-Cronin expects the same, seeing already significant investor interest in adjacent areas. Local business owners and professionals are excited, too, the columnist writes, observing that since ''Greater Phoenix can't sprawl or pave its way out of our urban challenges,'' Henson Village and nearby neighborhoods ''should be a prime location for people who want to live close to center-city employers'' and ''a prime spot for affordable worker housing.''

But to realize the area's full potential, the city needs better transit, better schools, improved public safety, more private capital, and replacement of the Seventh Avenue railroad overpass with ''a traffic underpass and a surface-level pedestrian promenade'' to the village.

''In one stroke,'' the columnist points out, ''this would make Henson rightfully part of the emerging vibrancy of the region's downtown.'' -- Arizona Republic   6/19/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Park Around Back: Phoenix Alleys Make a Comeback with Neo-Traditional Home Styles

Long-ceded to ''debris, trash bins and graffiti,'' but rescued by New Urbanism, alleys are coming back in the Phoenix region even as developers move toward the Valley fringes, writes Arizona Republic reporter Peter Corbett, quoting Scottsdale-based DMB Associates designer J.T. Elbracht, who describes the company's neo-traditional Verado community in Buckeye, some 30 miles west of central Phoenix, as an answer to housing that has lost its way and to neighborhoods that have became ''garage door, garage door and beige, beige and beiger.''

Since the first $300,000 homes opened in Verado last year, the reporter finds, almost 600 people have moved in, attracted by the varied architectural designs, front porches, alley garages and parks, but also by the Main Street business and shopping block, a school, a golf course and other amenities. ''We're saying,'' the Verado designer points out, ''that there are qualities to enduring communities that allow people to meet their neighbors and create a community fabric.''

Although New Urbanism has its critics, with the reporter citing University of Southern California planning professors Peter Gordon and Harry Richardson, who called it ''pie-in-the-sky social engineering based on a false diagnosis of society's urban problems,'' most experts believe builders will increasingly pursue neo-traditional mixed-use projects. They are selling well, the reporter observes, mentioning also the Park at Silverleaf in north Scottsdale, Marley Park in Surprise, and Agritopia and Lyon's Gate in Gilbert.

Gilbert's acting planning director Linda Edwards says town officials changed zoning codes to allow neo-traditional neighborhoods, requiring alleys to be paved, lighted and wide enough for emergency vehicle access, and encouraging developers to build half of the homes with front porches.

''People are buying the homes before the models are built,'' she adds. ''That should say something.'' -- Arizona Republic   6/14/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/news/

Republican Pollster Calls Smart Growth a ''Balance Between Development and Nature''

''Arizonans like their state and they appreciate the beauty,'' said nationally known Republican pollster Frank Luntz. ''They don't want to lose it, but they also expect to have the conveniences of 21st Century America, so the smart growth issue is a balance between development and nature.''

A guest presenter at a meeting of the state chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), reports Business Journal of Phoenix writer Mike Padgett, the pollster complimented Arizonans for the friendliness and candidness he always found during his many research visits in recent years.

''Because the Phoenix area is growing rapidly,'' he observed, ''people are moving in, making it a very good test market for determining how people think in other communities.'' -- Business Journal of Phoenix   6/13/2005

Resource(s): http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/

Flagstaff's Big-Box Cap Falls in Mail Referendum

A 12-point drop in Flagstaff resident support for a planned Wal-Mart Supercenter since last summer was not quite enough to uphold the big-box cap ordinance passed by the City Council in September, with 51 percent of voters in a mail referendum now shooting it down.

The vote, writes Arizona Daily Sun reporter Rachel Peterson, takes the public ''a step back from the city council majority's New Urbanism agenda that opposes supercenters as promoting urban sprawl, motor vehicle dependency and wasteful land use,'' but it hardly suggests a mandate. The campaign against the big-box cap was led by the Protect Flagstaff's Future group -- bankrolled by Wal-Mart -- and by the Chamber of Commerce, which lost about 10 members in the process, but gained more than 100.

The group's chairman, Frank Dickens, never doubted the results and now wants to work for common goals -- clean air and water, a strong economy and overall quality of life. ''It's time for the divisiveness to end,'' he said. ''It's time for all of us to come to the table and agree that's what we want.''

Chamber CEO Julie Pastrick described the vote as one in favor of shopping choices and business opportunities, adding, ''It's all part of the quality of life ... and economic vitality.''

Upbeat about the chamber's first-ever political involvement, its government affairs director Joe Galli announced it will be taking such actions in the future ''to protect the business interests.'' Councilwoman Kara Kelty said the council will have to make some adjustments ''to the New Urbanism vision,'' promising further efforts ''to maximize land use,'' with a focus on affordable housing.

Councilman Al White said although he preferred a different outcome, the council and voters must work together, noting, ''I think a healthy democracy is majority rule with consideration to the minority.'' -- Arizona Daily Sun   5/18/2005

Resource(s): www.azdailysun.com/

Marana Town Council Adopts Strict Impact Fee Ordinances

Just a week after Mayor Bobby Sutton, Jr.'s bold smart-growth address, the Marana Town Council adopted two tough growth-pays-for-itself ordinances -- one setting a $2,884 impact fee for a new house anywhere in Marana, to fund parks; the other adding a $5,941 fee for each in the Northwest Marana Transportation Benefit Area, to fund its arterial and collector road improvements -- both taking effect July 4.

Currently, reports Tucson Explorer community newspaper writer Ryan J. Stanton, developers are charged only a $2,435 impact fee for each new home in the South Marana Transportation Benefit Area, to fund a $57-million interchange construction, slated to start next year.

But with the town's population projected to jump from some 24,000 to 90,000 by 2025 -- about 70,000 in its north sector alone -- the new impact fees, says town manager executive assistant Jim DeGrood, are ''creating an incentive to have developers build infrastructure in a timely fashion.''

Pointing out that developers agree they can build roads far more cheaply than the town can, he tells the writer that rather than collecting impact fees, the council would prefer to credit builders with the amounts due if they undertake road and park expansion as part of their projects.

''It's far more efficient for everyone and, what's more, when they're selling their homes, there's a nice road that's well-built and landscaped, and the same thing with parks,'' he explains. ''We would just assume we won't collect a single dollar.''

Despite some concerns about housing affordability, Southern Arizona Home Builders Association (SAHBA) government liaison Alex Jacome commends town officials for their vision and cooperation with developers. ''We wish to remain a partner with the town, and a part of the solution rather than the problem,'' he says. ''The result is a plan that is fair.''

Noting that the new impact fees should provide about $183 million for roads and $90 million for parks, or the equivalent in construction by developers, assistant manager DeGrood acknowledges that housing affordability may become an issue, especially with the strict design standards soon to come. ''But I'd argue,'' he adds, ''that the market is having more of an impact on affordable housing than our impact fees.'' -- Northwest Explorer   4/13/2005

Resource(s): www.explorernews.com/

New Apartments in Phoenix-Area's Chandler City Include Plenty of Outdoor Amenities

The Phoenix area's recent job growth and home-price escalation has spurred construction of upscale apartments in Chandler, with the 418 units built in the past half year looking ''more like resorts than dormitories'' and offering such facilities as fitness centers, sand volleyball courts and dog parks, reports Arizona Republic writer Edythe Jensen, quoting Scottsdale-based Mark Taylor Residential Inc. vice president Kevin Ransil, who stresses, ''Ours are not 'crash your stuff for six months' kinds of places.''

Priced between $750 and $1,400 a month, he tells the writer, his apartments attract those who can now afford homes only on the urban fringes and hate long commutes, and those who have tough jobs or heavy travel schedules and prefer ''lock and leave'' convenience over home maintenance.

Chandler Advance Planning Manager Hank Pluster says this city, some 12 miles southeast of central Phoenix, wants to remain mainly a ''family-oriented, home-ownership community'' and having little residential land left, follows strict rules for location and design rules of new apartments. They are usually near freeways and must feature outdoor amenities, which can include tot lots, picnic areas and pools.

And they do include even more, the writer finds, mentioning San Cervantes with a lagoon pool, sandy beach, volleyball court and waterfalls; Stonebridge Ranch with staff putting out bottled water and snacks each day for renters and treats for their pets in a dog park; and Italian-theme Villa Pallavicini with free wine lockers, bocce ball courts, commercial pizza ovens and wine-and-cheese parties. -- Arizona Republic   4/9/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Editorial Credits Marana for Setting High Bar for Future Development

While most ''state of'' speeches can be ''pretty droll,'' Marana Mayor Bobby Sutton, Jr. delivered really ''a great'' State of the Town speech, outlining a vision that, ''if successful, will make the community one of the most distinctive and unique in the Western United States,'' opines the Tucson Explorer, asking the crucial question as to whether Marana can make it a reality.

Aside from a standing ovation from the audience, the newspaper notes, an informal survey of listeners showed reactions ranging ''from rosy optimism among Marana elected officials and town staff, to uncertain pessimism among other regional government officials, home builders and business leaders.''

The newspapers sees the deck ''stacked against Marana.'' If its governmental design standards, rather than market-driven ones, ''drastically raise the cost of housing,'' the newspaper surmises, home buyers and businesses may look to cheaper construction elsewhere in Pima County or in south Pinal County.

''Tweaking housing design standards is one thing. Rising up to battle rampant urban sprawl and redefine what a suburban town should look like smacks of tilting at windmills,'' it says, adding, ''Here's hoping Marana Quixote bags its dragon.'' -- Northwest Explorer   4/6/2005

Resource(s): www.explorernews.com/

Marana Mayor Pledges Bold Steps Build a Vibrant, Varied Community

Initiated by home builder William Levitt on a Long Island potato field in the late 1940s and by Austrian architect Victor Gruen in Minneapolis in 1953, car-oriented suburban subdivisions and enclosed shopping malls have sprawled throughout the countryside with hardly any other option left, but Marana ''can do better,'' announced Mayor Bobby Sutton, Jr. in his State of the Town address, stating that this town some 20 miles northwest of Tucson needs ''the feel of community,'' varied density and varied quality design, diverse housing options, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, preserved open space, a vibrant walkable town core, and a ''bold new direction.''

Pledging ''the boldest steps'' the region has seen, the mayor said, ''This council, this town, this community will implement the highest impact fees in Southern Arizona, not to stifle growth, but to ensure the residents of this community will get everything they need and deserve without the taxpayers subsidizing development.''

Telling the builders and developers ''this is not a project, it is a place'' and it will grow in ''an aesthetically pleasing, functional, livable way,'' the mayor expressed confidence in the success of the crucial change in housing quality because the town and the private sector ''will be partners, not rivals,'' and jointly ''can deliver to our residents a neighborhood, not a subdivision; a town, not sprawl.''

Under its forthcoming ''most comprehensive and stringent residential design criteria,'' the town council ''will reward innovation and creativity and prevent sameness and monotony,'' the mayor said, listing 13 specific goals. The town will incorporate parks and open space into the fabric of neighborhoods; integrate paths and trails to link neighborhood components and amenities together; enhance neighborhoods with more landscaping and less pavement; promote visually attractive perimeter landscape scenes instead of repetitive vertical walls that will always need council approval; make collector streets more attractive; build narrow pedestrian-friendly streets de-emphasizing cars and pavement yet allowing emergency vehicle access; and require alley and courtyard parking access without creating new ''parking lots'' behind homes.

In addition, the design criteria will ensure more elevated front porches and courtyards to encourage social interaction; incorporate smaller lots only if they enhance the neighborhood and add high quality design variation; allow more multi-story buildings to modify streetscapes with different heights and massing; permit builders to exceed height restrictions only if they incorporate unique elements that enhance the community; expand color palettes to ensure true variety; and require a range of residential-unit details and massing that together will make an attractive and unique project instead of simply allowing endless repetition even of good elements.

Pointing out that the Town Center Development Plan integrates all these mixed-use, varied-housing, pedestrian-oriented components and serves as a long-term guide for land redevelopment or reuse, the mayor concluded: ''This council recognized that we had some tough choices to make about how growth would come to Marana, but then again, were they really difficult choices? Sprawl or smart growth? Repetitiveness or variety? Status quo or a true sense of community? When you put it that way, those seem like easy decisions to make, but now the work begins.''   3/30/2005

Resource(s): www.marana.com

Political ''Game Playing'' Threatens Future of Arizona's Department of Environmental Quality

While many politicians everywhere do their best to advance bipartisanship, a prolonged public dispute between Senate Appropriations Committee Republican Chairman Bob Burns and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) turned into a threat to the agency's existence, with a routine bill to authorize it for another decade getting only 13 of the needed 16 senatorial votes, no change in which by July 1st would put state land, air and water programs under direct U.S. EPA control.

Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano called it ''game playing'' and the bill's Republican sponsor, Senator Carolyn Allen, chastised her party colleagues for holding the vote when she and two other key Senators were absent.

A week earlier, under media scrutiny, reports Arizona Republic writer Chip Scutari, the Senate leadership backed off a plan to delay DEQ funding, with Senator Burns telling reporters he wanted to hold up the agency's budget until officials answer his questions related to complaints from companies about handling environmental investigations.

Governor Napolitano thought the criticism unwarranted. Expecting the Senate to change its vote on DEQ re-authorization soon, she said, ''This is a very well-run department. This is a department that works to protect the integrity of our air and water supply. They are working very well with businesses.'' -- Arizona Republic   3/24/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Developer Faces Triple Fines for ''Moonscaping'' State Trust Land

Reckless enough to have begun clearing 2,000 acres in southern Pinal County for his 67,000-home La Osa Ranch project before county officials decided to turn it down in 2003, Scottsdale-based Johnson International principal George Johnson has let bulldozers invade adjacent state trust land in the process, for which five state agencies hit him with a joint civil suit in Maricopa Superior Court, seeking fines and penalties for ''unprecedented'' and largely irreversible damage to the environment, wildlife and Native American sites more than 1,200 years old.

''We are not talking about a few feet here and there,'' pointed out Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard at a news conference in Phoenix. ''We are talking about moonscaping 270 acres over a period of many weeks, knocking down saguaros, filling in creeks and washes used by wildlife and destroying priceless archeological sites.''

The attorney general, reports Arizona Republic writer Mary Jo Pitzl, dismissed developer lawyer Lee Stein's arguments that the destruction was accidental and the suit unnecessary since both sides were talking about remedies over the past year. ''It was a deliberate action in violation of a wide number of state laws,'' he said, stressing that the state cannot ''allow a blatant violation such as this to be written off as a cost of doing business.''

The suit includes 9 charges related to the developer's actions at La Osa Ranch and one stemming from water-quality violations at his South Fork development, Apache County, in fall 2001. The five agencies, the writer notes, are seeking triple fines for trespassing on state land, penalties of up to $25,000 a day for each violation of water-quality statutes, reimbursement of $70,000 for treating infected bighorn sheep, and a minimum of $15,750 for 21 sheep that died due to infection-caused blindness.

''It's a long time coming,'' said Defenders for Wildlife regional representative Jenny Neely. ''Some of the scars he inflicted on the lands down there are hard to bear.''

An Arizona Republic editorial also applauds the suit. ''In a state where growth is king, this legal action sends an important message that developers can't flout the rules without consequences,'' the editorial says. ''And they can't violate our heritage.'' -- Arizona Republic   2/15/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

San Tan Residents Wait for Official Count on Petition for Self-Governance

The fierce year-long publicity battle among the 20,000-plus San Tan residents over whether this Pinal County area -- some 35 miles southeast of central Phoenix -- should remain rural or become a city will be soon officially decided, with incorporation proponents certain that the county will validate enough petition signatures to realize their goal of self-governance and smart growth planning before the local population reaches 210,000 by 2025, but opponents equally confident that many signatures will get disqualified.

Pinal County Clerk Laura Dean-Lytle told Arizona Republic writer Alia Beard Rau that officials have 25 working days to check the signatures. If they find a sufficient number valid, the Board of Supervisors will approve incorporation of San Tan as a city, appoint its council, and hand it local control on July 1.

Maricopa County's cities of Gilbert, Mesa and Queen Creek, just northwest of the San Tan area, support its incorporation. Pinal County's city of Florence, south of San Tan, opposes the move, but its consent is not required because of a greater than six-mile distance from the proposed San Tan boundary.

Taking no stance in the dispute, an Arizona Republic editorial calls it fortunate that ''both groups agree the area is beautiful, making preservation of its natural beauty a top concern.'' If incorporation gets a green light, the editorial says, ''the views of opponents will be an important addition to the political order in the San Tan arena because the best interest of all residents should be paramount throughout the process.'' -- Arizona Republic   2/8/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Receives $650 Million in Federal Funds for Light-Rail Line

''We're trying to build a national consensus about the benefits of Transit-Oriented Development'' (TOD), said Federal Transit Administrator Jennifer Dorn at her meeting with Valley banking, business and real estate leaders in Phoenix, prior to a crowded ceremony of signing a long-negotiated agreement that guarantees the region a $587.2-million federal grant for its $1.3 billion, 20-mile light-rail starter line between Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe, with a separate $60 million available in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds.

Noting the creation of a TOD zoning overlay in the line corridor, reports Arizona Republic writer Bob Golfen, the administrator called the overlay crucial for maximizing the investment in light rail. She pointed out that the Valley Metro Rail project ''is uppermost'' on the her agency's highly competitive funding list, and stressed that the grant money will be accompanied by ''very robust oversight'' to ensure that light-rail is built ''on time and on budget.''

Valley Metro Rail chief executive Rick Simonetta said the grant ''is the ultimate expression of confidence'' by the Federal Transit Administration, adding, ''We're now partners. No more worrying about how much, when or if.''

The starter line, now under construction, must be completed in December 2008, after which Metro Rail will begin work on the currently studied five-mile Metrocenter segment. Next, the writer reports, light rail will be extended into Glendale, west and north Phoenix, and farther into Tempe and Mesa, as envisioned in the region's $15.8-billion, 20-year road and transit improvement plan.

Last November, 57 percent of Maricopa County voters endorsed the plan, approving extension of the half-cent transportation tax till 2025, to raise $8.5 billion, with $2.3 billion earmarked for light rail. -- Arizona Republic   1/25/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Gov. Napolitano Urges Lawmakers to Prioritize Management of Arizona's State Trust Land

Determined to make Arizona's economy, education, health care and land-management overcome modern challenges, Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano told lawmakers in her State of the State address they don't have ''the luxury of partisanship or defeatism,'' and the choice ''is not between Republican and Democrat'' but between can't-do and can-do attitudes, spelling it out in these words: ''Can we be true stewards of our water and our land while encouraging responsible growth? Some say, 'No, not ever.' I say, 'Yes, we can.'''

Since Arizona growth depends on water, the governor promised legislation to improve water-supply monitoring, let the Department of Water Resources help rural areas to plan better, and entice all communities, regardless of size, to adopt long-term water conservation plans. She also pledged to continue the fight for a fair share of water from the Colorado River, adding, ''And with our three state universities, we are creating a virtual water university to demonstrate to the world how to sustain vibrant communities in a desert environment.''

In this context, the governor stressed the need for better stewardship of the state's beautiful open land, to protect it from disastrous wildfires and overdevelopment. Pointing out that many of Arizona's natural treasures lie within the 9-million-acre state trust area, she said, ''We have a duty to use these lands wisely and to find the right balance between development, preservation and generation of resources for our schools.''

With the trust laws being ''old and rusty,'' the state lacks a mechanism to protect its natural resources, better manage areas targeted for conservation and open space, and efficiently ''market land for the highest return.'' Calling a broad-based plan worked out last year a good starting point, the governor urged legislators to put state trust land among their highest priorities, ''and then allow the voters to make their decision.'' -- azcentral.com   1/10/2005

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Federal Funds Boost Prospects for Phoenix Light Rail System

Buoyed by the Federal Transit Administration's pledge of $587 million for the $1.3 billion, 20-mile light-rail system under initial construction between Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, and by congressional approval of a $75 million down payment for its final design and engineering, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon says this ''now guarantees'' that light rail will be built, but observers call for stronger support among Arizona congressional delegates and state lawmakers.

Noting that Oklahoma Republican Representative Ernest Istook and Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby, who chair their respective congressional subcommittees on transportation, visited the Valley and gave its light-rail project ''a thumbs up,'' The Arizona Republic names only two dedicated light-rail advocates among Arizona's own eight U.S. Representatives, Democrat Ed Pastor and Republican J. D. Hayworth.

At the same time, Business Journal of Phoenix writer Mike Sunnucks points out that the Republican majority in the state legislature gave its transportation committees to ''anti-rail conservatives,'' state Representative Andy Biggs and state Senator Thayer Verschoor. They both wanted to invest more in roads and criticized the $18.8 billion regional transportation plan, crafted by the Maricopa Association of Governments and passed by voters last month, which includes $2.3 billion for future light-rail expansion.

But stressing that ''(r)etail, housing and other development will be spurred near the light-rail stations,'' The Arizona Republic opines, ''Light rail has proved its worth in other major metropolitan areas -- and it will do the same here.'' -- The Arizona Republic, Business Journal of Phoenix   12/6/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ ; www.bizjournals.com/

Maricopa County Voters Approve Continued Funding of Transit Improvements Through Half-Cent Sales Tax

After heated and costly campaign, 57 percent of Maricopa County voters approved continuation of the half-cent transportation sales tax through 2025 (Proposition 400), to raise $8.5 billion toward the county's $15.8 billion road and transit improvement plan, including $2.3 billion for future expansion of the separately funded 20-mile light-rail system under construction in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa and Glendale.

Even though the Maricopa Association of Governments, report Arizona Republic writers Bob Golfen and Pat Flannery, earmarked $9 billion for freeways, $2.7 billion for expanded bus service, $1.5 billion for arterial streets, and $1.3 billion for bike and pedestrian paths, and local planning and air quality programs, the light-rail expansion funds became a lightening rod for opponents. They wanted lawmakers to draft a plan totally focused on roads.

Led and funded mostly by Gilbert businessman-millionaire Dave Thompson, opponents spent up to $1.8 million to derail Proposition 400, but backers put in about $1 million more, especially on last-minute detailed TV rebuttals of harsh and misleading claims.

''We began to respond to their charges,'' said proponents' chief consultant Chuck Coughlin, ''and people began to understand this was a one-man crusade'' and that freeways alone make no sense for the region.

After the defeat, the Gilbert businessman suspended his opposition to light rail, saying, ''We should build the starter line and see how the accountability measures play out'' in a performance audit scheduled for 2010.

MAG transportation director Eric Anderson said the agency should have its detailed five-year Transportation Improvement Program for the plan's first phase by next January or February. -- Arizona Republic   11/4/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Expecting Upscale Retail, Chandler Residents Say Wal-Mart Will Harm Local Quality of Life

Upset that instead of an anticipated variety of upscale stores at Chandler's Crossroads Towne Center they may get a Wal-Mart Supercenter, some 50 home owners in the quite new Peterson Farms neighborhood formed a Smart Growth Initiative group to fight the already-approved big box as detrimental to local quality of life.

City officials argue they had no choice, reports Mesa East Valley Tribune writer Angela D. Wagner, quoting planning and development director Doug Ballard. ''We didn't approve a Wal-Mart; we approved a project,'' he justifies the decision.

''We don't have the power or authority to say, 'You can put a Costco in there, but you can't have a Wal-Mart there.'' Wal-Mart community affairs manager Peter Kanelos echoes the statement. ''Many times planning and zoning issues are misunderstood by the public,'' he elaborates. ''The city cannot say, 'Oh, no, we want Nordstrom. That's against the law. They can only look at the project on the basis of does it meet the particular criteria for the site.''

Smart growth proponents, residents Tiffany Zinn, April Nicholson and Sepi Hoff, aren't persuaded. They point out that this suburban city some 15 miles southeast of Phoenix already has a Wal-Mart, another under construction, and two more proposed, and that the one approved just across the street from a SuperTarget construction site is simply ''overkill.'' -- East Valley Tribune   10/30/2004

Resource(s): www.eastvalleytribune.com/

Phoenix Outlines Major Investment Plan for Renewed Downtown

As Phoenix market forces constantly favor suburbia, while numerous dirt and asphalt lots mar the city and downtown usually empties after 10 p.m., city officials plan to correct the trend by investing several billion public and private dollars in redevelopment of the 960-acre urban core by 2009.

In their recently unveiled ''blueprint of the future'' draft, report Arizona Republic writers John Stearns, Judd Slivka and Ginger D. Richardson, they envision a 15,000-student Arizona State University (ASU) downtown campus, a massive bioscience research center, a 1,000-room hotel near the expanded Civic Plaza convention center, 10,000 more housing units and some 700,000 square feet of new retail, restaurant and entertainment space -- all served by a light-rail line running to Mesa and Tempe.

The draft also proposes conversion of old warehouses on the southern downtown edge into bars, nightclubs, shops and galleries along streets with tree-shaded sidewalks, which would draw pedestrians and ensure connections among buildings, adjacent neighborhoods and art enclaves.

Plan advocates point out that mixed-use downtown transformation ''will attract the creative class and knowledge workers who will define successful economies of the 21st century,'' the writers report, quoting a city consultant, former Austin (TX) Mayor Kirk Watson, who told them the first downtown requirement is ''residential, residential, residential,'' and the second is ''young residential,'' to ensure a 24/7 atmosphere of energy and activity.

In response to skeptics like Goldwater Institute fiscal policy analyst Satya Thallam or Arcadia district activist Rick Handel, who question the prospective bond-funding, the openness of the planning process and the inherent risks of gentrification, backers cite from the blueprint that ASU Phoenix alone ''is expected to create 7,700 jobs and generate more than $500 million a year in spending and $7 million a year in revenues to the city.''

Already explored by developers, the writers note, the downtown redevelopment vision is also endorsed by all seven of the region's municipal chambers of commerce, with their East Valley association representative, Tom Dom, saying, ''To us a high tide raises all boats.''

They are right, agrees Washington-based Urban Land Institute (ULI) senior fellow Maureen McAvey. ''In the simplest terms, you can't be a suburb of nothing,' she says. Although cities that lost residents and business during the 1970s-1980s flight to the suburbs can reverse their decline, she stresses, ''it's a whole lot easier not to lose it to begin with'' and to prevent sprawl-related tax increases through ''compact development or smart growth.'' -- Arizona Republic   10/17/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Peoria's Desert Land Conservation Guidelines Kick In November 4

Under the 1999 Peoria Desert Lands Conservation Master Plan, the Peoria City Council adopted an Overlay District ordinance and conservation guidelines for land north of the city, which will make developers take extra steps to protect desert plants, trees, natural features, cultural sites and wildlife habitat.

Effective November 4, reports Arizona Republic writer Charles Kelly, the ordinance requires developers to submit well-documented protection plans for large projects in the city's northern areas, with somewhat less documentation allowed for sites below 10 acres.

The city, he notes, is especially determined to defend desert assets like Baldy Mountain, Big Spring, White Peak and Morgan City Wash from ''the onslaught of houses and shops.''

Involved in work on the ordinance over the past two years, major area builders have already pursued desert conservation, said Community Development Director Debra Stark, stressing, ''Most of the master-planned developers ... see the value in protecting that type of landscape.'' -- Arizona Republic   10/12/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Anti-Congestion Ballot Proposal May Hinge on Republican Support

Endorsed by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, a November ballot (Proposition 400) on a 20-year extension of Maricopa County's half-cent transportation sales tax to help the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) implement its $15.8 billion regional anti-congestion plan may ultimately depend on wider Republican commitment, with Secretary of State Jan Brewer, House Transportation Committee Chairman Gary Pierce and others backing the measure, but Representative Andy Biggs and some business leaders lambasting the projected $2.3-billion light-rail expansion as ''a boondoggle'' and ''a Disneyland ride.''

The measure, reports Arizona Republic writer Pat Flannery, would also let MAG fund 78 miles of new freeways, expand regional bus service, and improve local arterial streets.

The inclusion of money for light rail, noted proponents during a televised debate sponsored by The East Valley Tribune at a Mesa City Council forum, was specifically requested by Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, which are already building their lines and need further traffic-relief alternatives.

Unmoved, and supported by area businessman Dave Thompson, Representative Biggs insisted that light-rail expansion should require a separate vote and promised a plan next year that would dedicate 90 percent of money to freeways and 10 percent to transit, with no light rail.

Fellow Republican, Transportation Committee Chairman Pierce, doubted that could be done before the current tax expires at the end of 2005, especially since federal funds depend on plan approval by all municipalities and the MAG. He pointed out that the plan on the ballot has been approved as meeting municipal needs and federal air quality standards. -- Arizona Republic   10/12/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Maricopa Mayors Shut Down Anti-Transit Tax Arguments at Phoenix News Conference

Strongly backed by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, about 80 percent of state lawmakers, and most of the Phoenix area's civic and business groups, the Maricopa County plan to extend its half-cent transportation sales tax until 2025, which would raise $9 billion and leverage $6.8 billion in state and federal money for major road and transit improvements -- Proposition 400 on the November 2 ballot -- came under heavy attack from transit opponents, with the mayors of Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale, Avondale and Queen Creek immediately returning the fire.

Drawn up by local mayors in cooperation with the Maricopa Association of Governments and the state Department of Transportation, writes Arizona Republic reporter Pat Flannery, the $15.8 billion plan promises the region 344 miles of new or improved freeways, 275 miles of new or improved arterial streets, an expanded regional bus system, and expansion of the 20-mile Phoenix and Tempe light-rail system, already in the works, for another 27 miles.

And it's the last component -- expected to take about $2.3 billion, or 15 percent of the total cost -- that especially antagonizes critics. In their ''No on 400'' campaign, bankrolled by Thompson Industries owner David Thompson, they label light rail as slow, too costly, prone to exceed the budget and unlikely to attract riders. They instead want a group of lawmakers, led by state Republican Senator Thayer Verschoor and Republican Representative Andy Biggs, to craft a new plan and ballot measure strictly for funding roads and freeways, mainly outer loops to keep the traffic out of the central Valley.

But their recent news conference in downtown Phoenix ''erupted into open political warfare,'' the reporter observes, with six mayors, local planners and other officials telling Thompson and his allies they ''don't have their facts right.'' They stressed that new freeways in densely populated areas are not feasible because of right-of-way costs, resident displacement and other quality-of-life factors, with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon noting that ''neighborhoods don't want two- and three-story freeways overlooking their backyards.'' -- Arizona Republic   9/16/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Peoria Homeowner Group to Continue Challenging High-Density Projects

Its double-ballot challenge to the City Council's rezoning for two planned-growth projects in semirural north Peoria opposed by The Arizona Republic and decisively rejected by voters on September 7, the Peoria Citizens for Responsible Development homeowner group will still work to stem the area's higher densities, expecting to force two other commercial projects on the ballot for 2006, in the hope that voters will meantime see what all this development does to traffic.

The group, writes Arizona Republic reporter Charles Kelly, fought the rezoning for the 87-acre Lake Pleasant Towne Center shopping complex at a key intersection and an adjacent 47-acre housing project as too dense, certain to produce gridlock and detrimental to quality of life in this quiet single-family-home and golf-course area. It now focuses its ire on the City Council's two June rezoning decisions, for 40-acre and 55-acre retail centers at the same intersection's southwestern and northeastern corners, respectively.

Peoria officials stressed that they can't afford to let sales-tax revenue slip away, noting that should the shopping centers go to nearby cities or county areas, the residential property taxes ''could become backbreaking.''

Separately, the writer adds, Peoria voters also endorsed a Wal-Mart proposal to leave the old store and build a Supercenter four blocks away. -- Arizona Republic   9/13/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Voters to Decide Fate of Northwest Phoenix Development Projects

Growth is coming to north Peoria's desert, some 25 miles northwest of Phoenix, regardless of those who would erect ''a mythic Cactus Curtain'' to keep their rural lifestyle intact, states The Arizona Republic, pointing out that city voters will really make a ''smart growth vs. no growth choice'' on September 7, and asking them to endorse City Council zoning changes for the planned 87-acre Lake Pleasant Towne Center shopping complex and the 47-acre housing project nearby, or propositions 417 and 418, respectively.

The projects, the daily reminds readers, conform to a citizen-approved general plan and their rejection would only send the growth elsewhere, while depriving the city of an anticipated $50 million in center sales taxes over 20 years, which would ''seriously hurt the ability of Peoria to provide services for all its residents.''

The daily counters views that the commercial center threatens local character and the housing project is too dense, but stresses the importance of setting ''design guidelines and setback requirements to ensure that these developments blend with the landscape.''

Both ballot propositions were forced on the City Council by a group of homeowners calling itself Peoria Citizens for Responsible Development (PCRD), reports Arizona Republic writer Charles Kelly, with PCRD chairman Bryan Turner accusing supporters of false claims that the projects would diffuse area traffic and that developers would pay their costs. In response, Vestar Development Co. spokesman Jason Rose cites polls showing ''overwhelming support'' for the commercial center, argues that its customers wouldn't have to clog roads closer to Peoria, and that other jurisdictions would welcome new sales tax revenue.

The housing project's campaigner, Wes Gullet, offers similar arguments on behalf of site owners, Brophy College Preparatory and Catholic churches in Phoenix and North Dakota. If the housing is rejected, he says, the city will lose prospective developer impact fees and the property-tax revenue increase that would reflect the higher values of developed land. -- The Arizona Republic   8/24/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ ; www.azcentral.com/

Gila River Indian Tribe Plans Land Purchase to Preserve Reservation Community Life

Heartened by recent casino revenue streams, Gila River Indian Reservation leaders -- their site in Sacaton, Pinal County, some 30 miles south of central Phoenix -- can now fulfill their hopes to stave off housing incursions toward tribal territory and save it from the problems of a ''checkerboard reservation'' by buying three must-have inside tracts totaling 2,480 acres.

The planned acquisition's goal, says tribal spokesman Gary Bohnee, is to ''basically have a conservation easement where we're pretty much guaranteed there is limited use of that land.''

Intrinsic to this plan is ''guarding community life against the influence of modern suburbia,'' writes Arizona Republic reporter Adam Klawonn, again quoting the spokesman, who stresses that the county's projected development is ''a good thing,'' but many tribe members worry about ''interrupting the pristine nature of the land and the cultural value that the land has.''

The tribe, the reporter notes, is ready to spend $8 million for 1,200 acres in Maricopa County's San Tan Mountain Regional Park, and later acquire 640 acres of a private dairy near the town of Maricopa and another 640 acres of state trust land east of Sacaton. The San Tan tract borders the reservation; the two others are surrounded by its territory. -- Arizona Republic   7/7/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix's Development Boom Makes Efficient, Mixed-Use of Land Resources a Necessity

As metro Phoenix development hikes up land prices and pushes farther out, the good news is that the State Land Department will be putting more auction money into the permanent trust fund mainly for public schools, and that the most efficient, mixed use of the land will become an economic necessity, with The Arizona Republic calling the department's land south of the Superstition Mountains in Pinal County -- some 246,000 acres already dubbed Superstition Vistas Growth Area -- ''(a) broad vista for smart growth.''

With its desert land 15 miles north of central Phoenix grabbed by high-end condo and apartment builders at $482,000 per acre last year and at $780,500 per acre last month, the department could pour between $50 billion and $100 billion into education once it starts auctioning the Superstition Vistas tracts, the daily observes, stressing that the department's exclusive land ownership until then allows real advance planning.

''A mixture of housing, light industry, commercial buildings and consumer services as well as trails, parks, freeways and flood-control areas can be worked out on paper before the first cactus is moved,'' the daily says, glad that the East Valley Partnership, Pinal County, the city of Apache Junction, and the nonprofit Sonoran Institute are ready to pay $750,000 for a two-year study of such growth-management prospects.

In the study's first year, Arizona State University's Morrison Institute would envision growth alternatives, ''playing out 'what if' scenarios;'' in the second year, experts would work on ''broad-scale planning of employment areas, transportation corridors and flood control.''

As the public focuses on Superstition Vistas, the daily notes, state lawmakers are expecting to consider ''a package of state trust land reforms to put before voters in November.'' These reforms would help the department use sophisticated tools for planning the region's growth, so as ''to do it smart.'' -- The Arizona Republic   6/8/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Former Gov. Babbitt Urges Adoption of State Land Use Plan

The late Arizona senator and 1964 Republican presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater, came to fear that metro Phoenix would soon become one unbroken 200-mile strip between Benson on the southeast and Wickenburg on the northwest, writes former Arizona Democratic governor and U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in The Arizona Republic, believing another 2 million residents may make this prediction true in 10 years, and in turn predicting ''(m)any of us will live to see 10 million Arizonans living in an unbroken arc extending from the Mexican border through Central Arizona clear to the California border.''

To avert ''the ecological nightmares of southern California,'' he writes, Arizona will need ''a state land use plan,'' which must cover ''all land and all landowners, federal, state and private.''

Most of Arizona's federal land ''should be designated for permanent conservation use.'' Large blocks of state trust land around Phoenix and Tucson ''should be planned for the right mix of development and conservation'' -- in line with recommendations by the broad-based Fox committee -- which would require putting the measure on the November ballot.

As for other public and private land in the Phoenix-Tucson corridor, the legislature should find incentives ''both to save the remaining Sonoran Desert and to direct development onto the lower areas along I-10, much of which is farmland abandoned due to declining groundwater tables.''

The state 1980 Groundwater Management Act and other measures, the writer points out, ensured sufficient water supplies for the Phoenix-Tucson area, but is inadequate ''to protect our remaining upland streams and rivers,'' especially the Verde River to its north and the San Pedro River to its south. That water crisis must be prevented, too, he stresses, concluding: ''Effective land use and water management laws are not about slowing economic growth or discouraging people from coming to Arizona. To the contrary, good planning will protect and preserve the values that continue to attract people and growth.'' -- The Arizona Republic   5/2/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Arizona Preserve Initiative's Trust Land Sale Program In Jeopardy

With the state Attorney General's Office finding partial merit in claims by two property-rights activists that the 1996 Arizona Preserve Initiative (API) violates the 1911 Arizona Constitution, State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman reluctantly suspended API sales of trust land for preservation near urban areas until a solution is found, which raises fears that cities may eventually lose this key safeguard against sprawl-minded developers, able to spend much more on land for development.

Under the Constitution, explain Arizona Republic writers Shaun McKinnon and Lesley Wright, Arizona holds more than 10 million acres received from the federal government in trust, with sales allowed only through public auctions to the highest bidder, and all proceeds put into a permanent trust fund, to benefit several institutions, especially public schools.

Under the API law, in response to a conservation application from a city or a nonprofit land trust, the state may reclassify a given tract, take it from the auction process, and sell it to the applicant at the appraised value. Since 1996, the state Land Department has reclassified over 46,000 acres, selling a total of 2,331 acres to Phoenix and the Desert Foothills Land Trust, and putting more than $39 million into the state trust fund.

To take advantage of the law, the writers note, Phoenix voters approved a 0.1 cent tax in 1999, which should raise $256 million over 10 years, and Scottsdale voters passed a similar 0.2 cent increase in 1995, bond issues to speed the process in 1996 and 1999, and will vote on another 1.5 cent tax and more bonds on May 18.

Although the law prevents no one from bidding on API land, its parcels carry a deed restriction that bars uses other than conservation. And that is wrong, argue the two property rights activists from the People for the West group, Jonathan DuHammel and Jim Stosberg, the former saying, ''When it's sold at auction, it goes for more. The restriction in our view is cheating Arizona schoolchildren.''

State Republican Senator Carolyn Allen, who helped the API through the House eight years ago, offers a different view. ''I'm concerned,'' she says, ''that our opportunity to save the open space and not build red-tile roofs all over some of this gorgeous land will be severely harmed.'' -- Arizona Republic   4/21/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Mesa Grande Residents Opt for New Urbanism Design at Neighborhood Charrette

Instead of another East Valley big-box mall, proposed by DeRito Partners of Scottsdale for 220 acres in northwest Mesa, residents from the Mesa Grande Community Alliance looked toward New Urbanism at their recent charrette, envisaging a quality Riverview neighborhood, with options including niche retail shops, a hotel, an outdoor concert area, a greenbelt and open space, a golf course and a bass-fishing pond.

The residents, reports Arizona Republic writer Adam Klawonn, were helped by volunteer planners, brought in by Arizona State University Joint Urban Design program coordinator John McIntosh and designer Michael Dollin. As Mesa land gets scarce, designer Dollin said, officials, developers and residents should be able to work together and establish the city's identity, lacking after years of routine subdivision and shopping center development.

Charrettes, or public brainstorming, planning and designing sessions, sparked many successful projects, the writer notes, mentioning downtown Phoenix's Grand park neighborhood and a former Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) South Side steel mill site turned ''into a hip scene with cafes, bars, restaurants and living space.'' He adds that Mesa City Manager Mike Hutchinson expressed willingness to work with residents on the Mesa Grande project, while DeRito Partners official Doug Himmelberger declined to comment. -- Arizona Republic   3/9/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/news/

Glendale's Transit Tax Could Be Tapped to Fund Street Repairs

In contrast to Phoenix and Tempe, which targeted their 2001 voter-approved sales tax increases strictly for transit, Glendale aimed its half-cent hike -- expected to raise $903 million over 25 years -- at a variety of transportation improvements through new streets, pedestrian paths, bike lanes and expanded bus service, but that ''contract with voters'' became shaky as maintenance costs grew, the city fell behind in street repairs, and officials looked to fund them now by tapping sales tax money, which could delay or eliminate some of the promised projects.

So far, the half-cent sales tax increase has funded evening and weekend bus service, improvements at two key intersections, and a bike-pedestrian creek bridge, reports Arizona Republic writer Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor, quoting Mayor Elaine Scruggs, who sees no point in expanding services and amenities while many older streets are in disrepair, saying it's an extremely serious ''public-health, safety and welfare issue,'' because without money from the tax fund, the city would have to save on streetlights, new parks or even fire and police protection.

Caught in this dilemma, the Citizens Transportation Oversight Committee supervising the tax fund outlays recommends a one-time allocation of $1.2 million for street repairs in fiscal 2005, beginning in July. Committee Chairman Erman Fisher and other members wouldn't want to go further since the city should keep its promise to voters. But project manager Terry Johnson says besides the initial $1.2 million for street repairs, the city needs some $4.7 million each year over the next decade. -- Arizona Republic   2/18/2004

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Gov. Napolitano Asks for Funding to Protect Arizona's Military Bases From Urban Encroachment

Among top Arizona challenges on the way to the knowledge-based economy and better quality of life is preservation of the economically crucial network of military facilities and the environment, said Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano in her State of the State speech, reminding lawmakers that the bases provide 83,000 jobs and contribute $5.7 billion a year to the state economy, and asking them to approve a legislative package that includes $1 million this year ''to create the Military Installation Fund, to be used by state and local authorities to support projects that protect our bases from urban encroachment.''

To maintain this fund after 2005, the governor proposed putting into it up to $3.5 million annually for the next 20 years from state taxes paid by active-duty, reserve and retired military personnel and National Guard. Applauding Arizona's reawakened ''can-do spirit'' and ''an eagerness among all interested parties -- including many who have not seen eye to eye for years -- to sit down together and forge a consensus approach to restoring Arizona's forests'' and protecting them from fires, drought and infestation, the governor pointed out that most of the threatened forests are on federal land and that a recently passed congressional forest health bill lacks adequate funding. ''The federal government must do more to protect Arizona's forests and adjacent communities,'' the governor said, stressing that ''(f)ederal disaster aid is best spent before fire ravages communities, not after'' and that she ''will continue to urge the President to recognize that we already have a disaster on our hands.''   1/12/2004

Resource(s): www.governor.state.az.us

$15.8 Billion Maricopa Transport Plan May Be Delayed

Since increased Republican opposition to the Maricopa Association of Governments' (MAG) $15.8 billion valley transportation plan may preclude the two-thirds majority in both houses needed next month to put the plan and related sales tax extension on the May ballot, key Republican lawmakers want to delay the ballot until November and any funding for Valley-wide light rail until the plan's second phase beginning in 2011, a move taking aback local officials, business leaders and Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza, who urged a joint call for help from Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano.

The MAG plan, reports Arizona Republic writer Pat Flannery, earmarks $9 billion for road building and improvement, $1.4 billion for major street upgrades, and $5 billion for transit, including some $2 billion for regional extension of local light-rail lines soon to be built by Phoenix and Tempe. The plan hinges on voter extension of the 1985 Maricopa County half-cent transportation sales tax -- which funded most new Valley freeways -- for another 20 years.

Advocates want the plan and the sales tax extension on the May ballot to help the public focus on their benefits separately from numerous electoral issues they will be deciding in November. But Republican state Representative Gary Pierce said delaying the ballot for six months would give lawmakers more time to find votes for ballot authorization, while delaying funds for regional light rail would stop some Republicans from seeking a separate vote on such an extension and the first-phase Phoenix and Tempe lines could prove themselves in the meantime. -- Arizona Republic   12/4/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Tucson Voters Reject Light Rail System

Though only two percent of Tucson voters chose incumbent Republican Mayor Bob Walkup over his Democratic challenger, former mayor Tom Volgy, more than 60 percent rejected a 13-mile light-rail system proposal backed by the Democrat, who warned against further neglect of public transit, an issue much better dealt with in metro Phoenix some 100 miles northwest, where Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza, Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano, Glendale Vice Mayor Tom Eggleston and Messa Councilman Mike Whalen have just helped break ground for an airport-area bridge reconstruction as the first step toward construction of a 20-mile light-rail system next spring. The Phoenix area light-rail system, approved by voters last year and by the Federal Transit Administration in July, notes Arizona Republic writer Bob Golfen, will link the northwest and East Valley with downtown Phoenix before the end of 2006. Valley Metro is looking into bids from four manufacturers for supplying 36 to 60 of the 93-foot railcars for the system. -- Arizona Republic   11/5/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Forums Detail Services, Assistance for Affected Businesses During Light Rail Construction Project

Readying work on a 20-mile light-rail line through Phoenix and southeast into Tempe and Mesa between next spring and December 2006, Valley Metro Rail officials launched a series of three forums for about 3,400 mostly small businesses in the line's corridor to apprise them of services and assistance from the transit authority while construction lasts, with Phoenix Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten saying at the city forum ''We are absolutely committed to making sure we do everything possible to help you during our labor of love.'' Most forum attendees expressed concerns about the dirt, noise, blocked access and overall disruption for almost three years, but were upbeat about business prospects after the line's completion, reports Arizona Republic writer Bob Golfen, quoting businessman Angelo DeNicola, who thinks the light rail ''will be good once it's finished,'' and his wife Maria, who says, ''I'm excited about it really. It will bring people right to our office.'' The 20-mile line, the writer notes, is seen as the first part of a proposed Valley-wide light-rail system. -- Arizona Republic   10/27/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Phoenix Officials Hope to Add Upper Deck to Black Canyon Freeway

Designed in the early 1960s for 20,000 cars a day, the northbound Phoenix section of the Black Canyon Freeway, I-17, widened from four to six lanes meantime, is now strained daily by 195,000 to 225,000 vehicles, but since heavy commercial development on both sides would make another widening too costly, city officials are trying to win the state's nod for their proposed eight-mile upper deck to ease its perpetual backups and rush-hour jams between downtown Phoenix and the Metrocenter mall area. ''We've just got to make these improvements,'' said Mayor Skip Rimsza, with City Manager Jack Tevlin expecting a feasibility study first, followed by the Arizona Department of Transportation's design work and the deck -- on pillars set in the freeway's median -- between 2016 and 2020. That would roughly coincide with the early phases of development on the recently annexed 11-mile stretch along I-17 further north, where about 80,000 people may eventually live and work, reports Arizona Republic writer Bob Golfen. He notes that the Maricopa Association of Governments has set aside about $1 billion for Black Canyon Freeway improvements in its 20-year Regional Transportation Plan, which also seeks money for other roads and mass transit. If Maricopa County voters approve the plan on May 18, the county's half-cent sales tax will be extended for another 20 years, until 2025. The double-deck idea irks a Community Leaders Organizing for Urban Transformation (CLOUT) group in west Phoenix as a waste of money, likely to make the freeway an even greater ''scar in the desert'' and further separate the area from the rest of the city. CLOUT chairman Ron Friesen said planners should see the road as a transportation corridor that needs light rail and dedicated bus lanes to ease congestion much more and also improve air quality, stressing, ''You can move people in all kinds of ways besides private cars.'' The writer adds that city officials got the idea from Tampa, Florida, which is erecting a three-lane deck over a six-mile stretch of a cross-town freeway at a cost of $350 million. -- Arizona Republic   9/16/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Tempe Embracing Smart Growth With Plan for 3,500 Downtown Housing Units

About seven miles southeast of central Phoenix, ''Tempe has found smart growth and is clinging to it with all the energy of a religious convert,'' planning for 3,500 downtown lofts, condos, dormitory rooms and apartments within the decade, reports Arizona Republic writer Alia Beard Rau, quoting Tempe community design and development director Steve Nielsen, who says, ''We are not a suburban city anymore, but an inner city'' and the demand for ''this new type of urban environment ''seems to be greater than anyone anticipated.'' Developer Grady Gammage confirms a huge demand for downtown housing, but cautions against overexcitement about ''the upscale lofts.'' He advises Tempe ''to be realistic'' and ''embrace the fact that it's a college town,'' with Arizona State University campus housing lagging behind the student enrollment and downtown multifamily rentals aging. The university's Arizona Real Estate Center director Jay Butler stresses the need to answer questions such as how deep is Tempe's downtown market and how the city can match an urban lifestyle of San Francisco or Chicago. -- Arizona Republic   8/14/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Gov. Napolitano Points to Need for Regional Transit in Phoenix's Fast-Growing West Valley

In a ''tremendous shift'' in Maricopa County development patterns, more than half of building permits were issued last year in the West Valley, said Arizona Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano at a business-sponsored luncheon in Avondale, urging hundreds of area officials, professionals and business people in attendance to heed the lessons of massive growth in the Valley's south and southeast over the past two decades and plan wisely for its western surge. Calling this a job both for the state and local communities, reports Arizona Republic writer Marty Sauerzopf, the governor stressed the crucial role of planning regional transportation. As the population ages and life spans lengthen, she said, ''we are going to have more and more people who will need access to public transportation to be able to remain in their homes and still live normal lives.'' Communities must also think how their growth decisions affect the state's ''ability to retain Luke Air Force Base'' some 15 miles northwest of central Phoenix and a few miles west of Glendale. One of several military bases that provide a total of 83,000 jobs and pump $5.6 billion a year into the state economy, notes writer David Madrid, Luke Air Force Base is seriously threatened by residential encroachment, especially from Surprise and El Mirage some four miles to its north and northeast. And such an encroachment will be a deciding factor nationwide in the selection of many bases for closure in 2005. With the governor's Military Facilities Task Force just beginning its search for ways to ensure the viability of Arizona bases, the writer points out that the state leads the nation in base protection laws -- even if they are skirted by Surprise and ignored by El Mirage -- but lags in raising money to buy land and development rights around its bases. -- Arizona Republic   6/11/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Regional Smart Growth Project Will Bring Up to 83,000 New Homes to Buckeye

Strongly encouraged by an Arizona Republic editorial to approve the proposed 35,000-acre Douglas Ranch master planned community as the regional smart growth future for Buckeye -- now a town of about 7,000 -- 63 percent of the 660 voters who appeared at polls said yes to a project expected to bring 83,000 homes, thousands of retail and office jobs, and 170,000-300,000 residents within 50 years to the desert area 15 miles north of its historic downtown. Though gratified by the approval of this smart solution for the area's inevitable growth, the daily admits in subsequent editorials that the ability of several hundred voters to ''determine where 300,000 people ultimately will live doesn't give slow-growth advocates anything to cheer'' and that the project's opponents will have some legitimacy since its 413 Buckeye backers ''hardly represent a cross section of the Valley.'' That's why, the daily stresses, the Buckeye Town Council ''must demand the best development possible because like it or not, Douglas Ranch will be held up as a model for good or ill, because of its size.'' Noting that the first subdivision will be built in three to five years and that about 6,000 homes are needed within 15 years to retain the zoning, the daily calls for state and Maricopa County transportation planning as soon as possible to prevent traffic problems in the absence of present freeway access to the project area. The daily's reporter, Marty Sauerzopf, Quotes Sonoran West Properties partner Mel Shultz, who confirms the development team's commitments, including the creation of the Fund for Buckeye, with a first $1 million donation for its historic neighborhoods to be made at the start of construction and others likely to exceed $30 million as construction proceeds. Buckeye Mayor Dusty Hull hopes to secure similar contributions from other area developers. -- Arizona Republic   5/27/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/ ; www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/

Booming Pinal County Looks to Retail, Commercial Projects for Help in Funding New Roads and Services

With Phoenix area developers finding cheaper land and fewer restrictions in the mostly ''sleepy'' Pinal County, the county's growth has exceeded the 50-percent Arizona rate and reached 65 percent since 1990, its big houses on former farmland selling for under $100,000 -- almost $60,000 less than in the most of adjacent Maricopa County -- and its population projected to grow by half to 300,000 in the next decade. Pinal planning director Dave Kuhl expects even more developers in the county as the city of Queen Creek, just to the west, wants to increase its development impact fees to more than $13,000, the highest in the Valley, reports Arizona Republic writer Catherine Burrough. Aware that residential growth alone wouldn't provide means for new roads and services, the county is ''trying to create bedroom communities with commercial centers,'' says director Kuhl, pointing out that ''the necessary amenities like grocery stores go up now'' and that other retail and commercial projects will create jobs much closer to homes. With a shopping center at Johnson Ranch along the Hunt Highway under way, the writer adds, the county is building a $24.5 million house for the Superior Court and Sheriff's Department, and planning to widen the highway and other roads from two to five lanes. -- Arizona Republic   5/13/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Residential Growth Pushes Edge of Phoenix to New Frontiers

Devouring over an acre per hour, rampant residential growth around Phoenix and across the Valley is redefining the ''edge'' and forging a 9,200-square-mile metropolitan area -- larger than Massachusetts and six other states -- with many central city workers willing to trade an hour-long drive each way for big and less costly homes in the master-planned Anthem community 32 miles to the north, in the Estrella Foothills 33 miles to the southwest or in the prospective 83,000-home Douglas Ranch development at 339th Avenue -- 45 miles to the west. ''The physical limits tend to disappear as we figure out more places to put people,'' Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy director Rob Melnick tells Arizona Republic reporter Shaun McKinnon, who writes that growth also pushes toward Queen Creek at Maricopa County's southeastern edge and farther to Florence in Pinal County, as developers envisage more than 100,000 homes between these two cities in the next decade. Among the few factors that may slow down this growth somewhat and ensure its quality, experts mention water, money and good planning. Peoria planning director Debra Stark says for several years now, the city has required developers of ''leapfrog'' projects to secure their own water supplies and to pay fire, police and water treatment service fees. The city is also working on a land swap to create a growth buffer around Lake Pleasant. Maricopa County is planning a similar buffer further north to preempt developers from pushing toward Black Canyon City, with supervisor Andy Kunasek saying ''if we didn't draw some sort of line in the sand,'' it would be ''one giant grid of roads, houses, a strip center on the corner, and a megamall every four miles.'' Others find hope in a ''region-within-the-region'' concept, under which governments could save billions of dollars by creating local employment and commercial nodes instead of building more roads to handle the incessant cross-region, edge-center commuting. Maricopa County principal planner Matthew Holm says, ''We identified some employment nodes in the West Valley area to try to alleviate some of the potential traffic problems.'' And Arizona State University geography professor Elizabeth Burns notes that people are already staying within ''urban realms,'' or mixed-use neighborhoods with schools, stores, parks and jobs, and that East Valley is balancing homes and employment, which makes it ''unlikely that residents will have much to do with the center city at all.'' -- Arizona Republic   5/11/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Arizona Property Rights Bill Could Hamper Redevelopment of Blighted Sites

In a tug of war between property rights advocates and city officials over an eminent domain limitation bill passed from the Arizona House to the Senate, the bill author, Republican Representative Eddie Farnsworth, accuses municipalities of ''rampant'' abuses as they exercise ''absolute authority to take away private property'' and points out that they still could condemn land for light rail or other infrastructure projects, while League of Arizona Cities and Towns legislative coordinator Kevin Adam counters, ''The bill would hamper the cities' ability to redevelop key areas such as Phoenix downtown.'' The bill would make municipalities wait until a given site or a prospective redevelopment area was 85-percent blighted before condemning it and 10 more years before putting it on the market. Local officials, report The Arizona Republic writers from several cities, are indignant. In Tempe, trying to reclaim a 200-acre contaminated and trash-strewn site for an office-residential complex, chief planner Neil Calfee warns, ''Without eminent domain, we wouldn't be able to clean up the mess or deal with the environmental contamination.'' In Yuma, seeking to help the depressed Carver Park neighborhood by cleaning up its six trailer parks, replacing trailers with new homes and deeding them to current residents, neighborhood services manager Bill Lilly explains, ''Without eminent domain, our hands are tied. The property owner knows what we're doing and is going to shoot the price up. And we're not going to pay a million and a half bucks for something that should cost $300,000.'' In Prescott, hoping to revive the decrepit Ponderosa Plaza Mall where one shop owner refuses to sell, city attorney John Moffitt says even if the city condemned it and then let it sit idle for a decade, ''It's highly unlikely Wal-Mart is going to wait 10 years.'' -- The Arizona Republic   4/9/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

In Phoenix's West Valley, Growth Includes Revitalizing Older Residential, Commercial Areas

With West Valley's population expected to jump from under 1 million to 1.5 million by 2020, growth will become its new catchword, but even those now unfamiliar with this once-rural range northwest of Phoenix, will ''come to respect (it) for smart growth,'' writes Avondale Mayor Ron Drake in The Arizona Republic, pointing to the area's 70,000 acres of already saved open space, affordable homes, educational institutions, recreational amenities and cultural diversity, and stressing, ''For us, growth doesn't mean just adding new developments; our plan calls for the revitalization of older residential and commercial areas, too.'' Avondale itself, he notes, has adopted new design guidelines for its Old Town, renovated several buildings, drafted a water supply master plan and is now working on residential street improvements, a $14.5 million wastewater treatment plant expansion and a new government center that ''will turn 11th Avenue into a major commercial corridor of the city.'' Listing ''the planned West Valley Recreational Corridor, with its parks and hiking trails'' among other regional priorities, the mayor ends: ''It's an exciting time for the West Valley. All eyes are upon us as we transform sleepy communities into major cities and employment centers.'' -- The Arizona Republic   4/5/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Arizona Livable Communities Forum Emphasizes Importance of Regional Planning, Cooperation Among Localities

Put politics aside for the sake of a 50-year regional vision, Arizona Republic columnist Art Thomason paraphrases a keynote message by Utah Governor Michael Leavitt at a Growing Livable Communities forum held by the East Valley Partnership for area leaders and activists interested in smart growth, pointing out that one of the governor's ''most creative projects was founding an institute specifically to help develop the smart-growth leaders of tomorrow.'' The governor said regional vision or planning means ''creating a sense of destination'' and other experts on land use, growth management and conservation talked about the need to make localities cooperate rather than compete for land, water or ''the next regional mall'' and to create a transit system that helps attract economic development, increase community interdependence and density, and lowers reliance on cars. But none of these ideas, the columnist writes, will have ''impact here unless we start pulling together to build, from the ground up, a sensible growth plan for the entire Valley and beyond.'' He expects the East Valley Partnerships to ''become the fulcrum for such invention under the commitment of Executive Director Roc Arnett, chairman Charles E. Backus, and its core of civic, business and political leaders, from the Ahwatukee Foothills and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community to Apache Junction.'' -- Arizona Republic   3/26/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/gilbert/

Responsible Growth, Quality of Life Are Top Issues in Apache Junction Election

As Apache Junction, 30 miles east of Phoenix, nears the March 11 municipal election, a common goal for this city of 35,000, so attractive to young families, ''is responsible growth with a strong infrastructure for a better quality of life,'' says The Arizona Republic, recommending reelection of Mayor Douglas Coleman and council members Joe Durbala and smart-growth-advocate Carol Urich, along with former member John Insalaco, while encouraging the four other candidates for the council, three of them also smart-growth backers, ''to remain active in their community and seek elective office again.'' The daily hails Mayor Coleman -- a high school teacher with ''a wealth of insight'' from his 12 years of combined public service -- for his commitment to strong urban services and annexation of land at the city's southern edge. It points out that Councilman Durbala can use his earlier planning and zoning experience to guide the city's ''growth to the south and attract businesses;'' that Councilwoman Urich, a long-time former civilian defense program analyst, embodies the community's voice; and that former councilman, business owner Insalaco, can advance ''better communication'' among businesses, residents and city staff. -- The Arizona Republic   2/21/2003

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/eastvalleyopinions/

Arizona Gov. Napolitano Discusses Water Resource and Land-Trust Goals

Handed ''the reins of a state that ranks at or near the bottom of nearly every measure of quality,'' but encouraged by a ''breed of new leaders'' in the legislature and a partnership pledge from its Republican majority leaders, House Speaker Franklin Flake and Senate President Ken Bennet, Arizona Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano focused her first State of the State speech on the urgent need to end the $300 million to $1 billion deficit ''without decimating vital state services'' and to look beyond ''the next election cycle or the next fiscal year'' in the pursuit of Arizona's long-term goals -- better education, new economy, homeland security, child and senior well-being, and land and water conservation. Reminding lawmakers -- more than a third of them freshmen -- that President Theodore Roosevelt, who admired Arizona's beauty and endless vistas, ''viewed conservation as striking a balance between people and nature,'' the governor said, ''Our land, forests and water are three of our essential resources. If we want to leave the next generation the same beautiful state we inherited, we must preserve all three.'' To that end, she continued, she told the State Land Department to ''implement a balanced state trust land policy'' of managing and selling its lands as valuable assets, ''while preserving essential open space.'' She urged a similar balance in efforts to prevent forest fires. ''For too long our forest policies have been buffeted between two extreme views'' of management, she stressed, promising a stakeholder conference this spring, to map out ''a sensible fire prevention strategy,'' which would permit officials ''to thin our forests of small diameter trees in the areas around communities like Prescott and Flagstaff.'' The governor also specified three top goals for her new Director of Water Resources, Herb Guenther. She asked him to defend Arizona's right to a Colorado River water share, endangered by other states, especially California; settle age-old water disputes within the state; and renew its focus on conservation to ensure that Arizona ''will have adequate water resources for generations to come.''   1/13/2003

Resource(s): www.governor/state/az.us

Phoenix Planners Eye Mixed-Use Development for 160 Downtown Acres

Taught by Phoenix's experience that big commercial projects alone can't sustain downtown shopping and dining, city planners want to boost the area through redevelopment of several nearby blocks, totaling 160 acres and slated previously for a stadium, as a true pedestrian-friendly urban hub, with densely packed townhouses, specialty-shops, small offices, sidewalk cafes and art galleries, all geared to young professionals from two biotech firms opening in late 2004, empty-nesters and others ready for downtown housing. Pointing to ''a growing interest in arts, new galleries and new uses in older buildings,'' city assistant planning director Joy Mee tells Arizona Republic writer Yvonne Wingett the area will ''have a historical flavor, a mix of new and old'' and ''It will be a creative workforce that wants to be there.'' With the ''pent-up demand,'' she adds, developers ''would build there tomorrow'' once the city commits itself to the redevelopment project. Since the project would require demolition of about two dozen historic single-family homes, area activists want to move them to vacant lots in the adjacent Garfield and Roosevelt neighborhoods. Central City Village Planning Committee chairwoman Louisa Stark and Roosevelt Action Association president, city planning commission member Louisa Stark think the rescued homes could be upgraded for office, gallery or residential use. -- Arizona Republic   12/6/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/

Phoenix Downtown Partnership Honors Copper Square Revitalization Leaders

The Phoenix Downtown Partnership honored five officials and groups instrumental in boosting Copper Square business with its Downtown Revitalization Effort Awards of Merit and Recognition, DREAMR, applauding them for going ''above and beyond their professional responsibilities to take Copper Square revitalization to new heights.'' The award recipients are Richard Mallery in the private sector individual category for attracting the headquarters of the International Genomics Consortium to Copper Square; Phoenix police chief Harold Hurtt in the public sector/nonprofit individual category for keeping downtown safe; Phelps Dodge Tower, Phelps Dodge Corp. and Ryan Cos. U.S. Inc., for locating a Fortune 500 company downtown; Risk Management vice president George Bevans in the unsung hero category for ensuring safety at America West Arena, Bank One Ballpark and Dodge Theatre; and nonprofit arts advocacy group Artlink in the organization category for promoting arts in the Copper Square area. -- Arizona Republic   11/19/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Editorial: Mesa's 2025 General Plan Good for Smart Growth and Quality of Life

As Mesa expects to continue the spectacular decade-long 40-percent growth, which brought its population to almost 432,000 by June, an Arizona Republic editorial says voter approval of the 2025 General Plan on November 5th would put the city into compliance with the state's 2000 Growing Smarter Plus law and benefit it with ''smart growth, economic development and revitalization'' -- all vital for its quality of life. The plan, the editorial observes, would help the city adjust growth to community needs, generate revenue by maximizing public investment and securing an efficient transportation system, revitalize older residential and employment areas and improve its 34-to-100 job-to-resident ratio to 56-to-100 or better. Recommending voter approval, the editorial points out that the plan could be modified in the future according to the city's changing needs, while aiming it now in the chosen direction: ''To be a community where residents can live, work and play.''   10/18/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Scottsdale Weighs Requiring Subdivision Builders to Consult with School Districts

Long-troubled by the impact of residential growth on local schools, Glendale three years ago became Arizona's first city to make builders consult school districts about new subdivision plans and now Scottsdale is considering a similar ordinance, with some developers fearing such a trend would practically let the districts veto housing projects or demand cash payoffs, but others pointing out they routinely donate land or money for schools to attract home buyers. The deputy director of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, Spencer Kamps, equates the proposed Scottsdale ordinance with ''extortion,'' which puzzles its author, City Attorney David Pennartz, who says it simply requires ''communication'' with a school district, and only if a developer seeks residential rezoning or a density increase. DMB vice president Charley Freericks, whose company gave 34 acres for a Scottsdale elementary-middle school and offered 30 acres for a high school, says the ordinance is ''reasonable'' and ''really encourages better communication.'' School officials agree, wishing they had more influence on home construction rates in their districts. Expecting the current number of 4,827 students in his rural district to double this decade, Cave Creek Superintendent John Gordon thinks under the ordinance he will have at least gradual warnings about the influx. Arizona Republic writers Lesley Wright and Anne Ryman also quote Scottsdale Councilwoman Cynthia Lucas, who says she would prefer relevant state legislation, but in its absence ''I began to do what I could on a city level.'' -- Arizona Republic   8/6/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Coping With Budget and Social Shortfalls in Fast-Growing Gilbert, Arizona

Once ''the hay capital of the world,'' Gilbert, some 15 miles southeast of Phoenix, saw its population explode from 2,000 to 127,000 in the past three decades, becoming an upper middle-class suburb and the nation's fastest-growing municipality, losing character and searching for money to service that growth, but still drawing about 1,000 new residents a month to the sea of stucco houses with red tile roofs. With a $31 million police and court building under construction and demand for more roads, parks and other infrastructure unabated, reports Edythe Jensen of The Arizona Republic, Town Manager George Pettit is expecting a possible $67 million budget deficit by 2005, while the second impact fee increase in two years for single-family homes -- to $7,530, starting in December -- will bring in only $2 million more a year. The reporter also heard residents yearning for neighborly contacts and ''lamenting the social barriers created by miles of block walls and rule-laden homeowners associations.'' A retired San Franciscan heading the Sonoran Vista Homeowners Association, Danny Kennel, unhappy that people ''don't sit out on the front stoop and talk here,'' persuaded the community to install playground fixtures in its small park and initiated block parties, wishing state lawmakers would step in and limit association powers and heavy deed restrictions. Fed up with small-lot home uniformity, Bill and Jan Biester moved eight years ago to an older Country Acres subdivision of 55 homes on one-acre lots in central Gilbert, where they live without walls and a homeowners association, talk to neighbors and can count on their help in need. On the other hand, Gilbert native Howard Morrison, who is developing his family farmland into a 2,000-acre subdivision with old grain silos intact and with white fences and pecan trees reminiscent of the area's rural past, thinks the town ''has done an excellent job managing growth'' and will become even better with a regional shopping mall and expanded freeways. -- The Arizona Republic   6/17/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/

Smart Growth Practices Still Elusive in Arizona

The 2000 Growing Smarter Plus law and its accompanying Arizona Preserve Initiative changed little in ''America's boom belt'' and smart growth is still elusive, reports Arizona Republic writer Shaun McKinnon, finding that 190,000 more residents between the 2000 census and July 2001 pushed the total past 5.3 million and that only 13 of the state's 85 town and cities have updated their general plans and won voter approvals. A compromise alternative to the strict growth-control measures sought by the Sierra Club and rejected by voters, the Growing Smarter Plus program spurs residents' involvement in local planning and lets localities curtail leapfrog development, impose impact fees and take other anti-sprawl steps, but it lacks statewide standards, offers little aid for costly plan updates and contains no enforcement clauses. With nothing to prevent a municipality from drawing a plan for almost unrestrained growth and with no other guidelines, the writer continues, the tiny town of Buckeye has drawn a Phoenix-size planning area of more than 600 square miles, while Phoenix has focused on neighborhood design details and on planning infill districts along a future light-rail line. Noting that Governor Jane Hull's Growing Smarter Oversight Council proposed to fix the program with guidelines, measurable performance standards and other provisions, the writer doesn't expect much other progress this year. The legislature may include the fixes in bills on peripheral growth issues, but the Sierra Club considers them inconsequential and, its fund still depleted after 2000, doesn't plan a campaign this fall. Nor are public preferences crystalized. In a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders, respondents generally favored ''smart growth,'' but asked about the most desirable neighborhood traits, they gave the two top spots to ''homes spread out'' and ''less traffic,'' which is ''an impossible combination,'' the writer attests. He quotes Phoenix deputy planning director Joy Mee, who indicates the need for regional cooperation, saying ''No one jurisdiction can do growth management. There are a lot of problems we can address at the local level, but we can't solve all the issues because they're not all local.'' The daily's full special report on Arizona growth management, including city- by-city progress, is available at   4/21/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Sprawl Threatens Operation of Arizona's Luke Air Force Base

As residential sprawl creeps from metro Phoenix toward Luke Air Force Base, seven miles west of Glendale, it threatens to make operations of this world's largest F-16 pilot fighter training center more and more risky, due to flights with live ammunition and exercises in night navigation. Consequently, Republican Senator John McCain is bluntly warning West Valley mayors to use their joint political clout, press the state and find money to preserve open land around the base or face its loss, together with an estimated $2 billion to the area economy. In response, reports Arizona Republic writer David Madrid, Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs invited valley municipal leaders, along with state and congressional lawmakers, to discuss the area's initial strategy. The participants agreed to keep the base's southern flight corridor -- the last one with a straight course to the Barry Goldwater Range -- free from development below; raise money to purchase the corridor's land or compensate its owners; figure out development options for other areas around the base; and educate lawmakers, business owners and the public about the base's crucial role in the Arizona's economy. State Republican Senator Darden Hamilton noted that the state refused a 2002 budgetary expense of $7.5 million for land around the base, providing only $500,000 for a study of its use. A group of West Valley leaders known as the Fighter Country Partnership pledged to continue its efforts to keep the base, by raising $40 million in cash, services and other assets to protect land in the southern corridor. Peoria Mayor John Keegan, who said New Mexico, Texas and Florida air bases would be eager to assume Luke's F-16 training mission, promised to seek federal dollars.   4/17/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Phoenix Real Estate Board Exec Seeks to Balance Growth and Preservation

With the real estate industry Valley Partnership's board recently expanded to include city planners, neighborhood activists and a Grand Canyon Trust conservationist, its executive director, Maeve Johnson, is walking a tightrope on ''smart growth,'' reports Arizona Republic writer Catherine Reagor, quoting her words ''We support new development paying for itself and open space.'' Spending her days among builders, conservationists and legislators or over city plans and at community meetings, Johnson strives to coordinate planning for the valley's growth. She denies that her tasks as a lobbyist for the interests of more than 500 real estate firms and a planning coordinator are contradictory. She points out that many builders care about quality growth and Phoenix's future and that the partnership wants to set development examples and promote them among its members. Developers are not asking for Arizona growth, she says, ''but they are building for it.''   3/29/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Runoff Election to Decide Final Seat in Scottsdale City Council Elections

With a mere 17-percent voter turnout in elections for three open seats on the six-member Scottsdale City Council, the races -- perceived by the slow-growth Coalition of Pinnacle Peak as a contest with the development-minded Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce -- brought outright victories to one candidate of each group, while the two remaining coalition candidates must face each other in a May 21 runoff. The winners are the chamber-supported incumbent Cynthia Lucas and the coalition-backed newcomer Wayne Ecton. Longtime incumbent George Zraket is in a statistical tie with his ally, another slow-growth newcomer, Robert Littlefield. But no matter which one wins, ''for the first time in the history of any city in the Valley,'' the council will be ''citizen-interested instead of special-interested,'' Littlefield observed. The coalition's president, Bob Vairo, concurred. The electorate saw the line between both slates ''clearly drawn,'' he said, with the chamber promoting its vision of ''looser regulations, taller buildings, denser development,'' all suggesting ''the urbanization of Scottsdale.'' Noting that two chamber candidates ''lost in a race that pitted those who advocated the growth of urban cores within the city against those who want to keep Scottsdale suburban,'' Arizona Republic writers Lesley Wright and Bob Golfen quote chamber chairwoman Linda Milhaven, who said its message got skewed, leaving voters under the false impression ''that we were advocating high- rise skyscrapers downtown.''   3/14/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/ ; www.azcentral.com/elections

Land Donations Creating Buffers Around Arizona's White Tank Mountain Regional Park

With the West Valley's fast residential growth heading toward the 26,330-acre White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Maricopa County Supervisors enlarged it with a 2,880-acre strip of rugged terrain donated by the federal Bureau of Land Management, while a White Tanks Concerned Citizens Group is hoping the state will transfer the home-per-acre zoning from the adjacent 16,000 acres and add them to the park as another buffer. ''Obviously with the growth in Maricopa County, the density has become a huge issue throughout the whole region,'' said Republican Supervisor Jan Brewer, who joined his colleague Andy Kunasek two years ago on a hike through the range with then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to win his support for the land donation. Arizona Republic writer Marty Sauerzopf notes that having received the federal land under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, the county is required to maintain it exclusively as parkland.   2/5/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Arizona Gov. Hull Cites Growth, Preservation Successes in State of State Address

Arizona has ''made progress in finding solutions to urban sprawl and disappearing open spaces,'' said Governor Jane Hull in her State of the State address, stressing that without any ''one size fits all'' precepts, the Growing Smarter laws both compel communities to plan growth ''based on their own needs and vision'' and ensure a public voice in the decision-making process, which means that ''Yuma can decide what's best for Yuma, and Flagstaff can decide what's best for Flagstaff.'' The governor pointed out that under the Arizona Preserve Initiative, which lets communities buy adjacent state trust land for preservation, the state has protected more than 38,000 acres of urban open space, with another 55,000 acres in the pipeline. This saves open space and gives public schools ''fair value for the trust land that belongs to our students,'' she said, mentioning the recent example of Scottsdale, able to save almost 13,000 acres of desert ''while putting more than $30 million into our public school coffers.'' The governor thanked lawmakers for placing on this year's ballot two key measures that would allow the state to exchange trust land for other public land and put all new income from trust land into the Classroom Site Fund. Noting progress on water and air quality issues, she expressed her hope that the EPA will permit Arizona experts to implement surface water quality regulations in the state, which ''would enable businesses to expand more quickly and help the state economy.'' She also expressed satisfaction that despite its fast growth, Arizona has met current federal health standards for ozone pollution and that EPA approved its dust control plan. Emphasizing that she cannot talk about growth and planning issues without discussing transportation, the governor noted that the state has built more than 700 highway lanes during her tenure and that its nationally-acclaimed ''Intelligent Transportation System'' of real-time signs, on-line information and metered ramps has ''increased the capacity of our roadways without the addition of concrete.'' And calling the work of the Vision 21 Task Force a starting point, with an ''overriding message'' of ''cooperative, regional planning'' on transportation, the governor said, ''We're long past the point where individual cities, especially in crowded urban areas, can go it alone. It is now time to work together.''   1/14/2002

Resource(s): www.nga.org/governors/

Whitman Applauds Intel, Scottsdale for Recycling and Preservation Efforts

EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman joined Governor Jane Hull and Intel officials in Chandler to sign the agency's first renewal of its national Project XL (eXcellence and Leadership) and Mayor Mary Manross in Scottsdale to reward the city for its alternative- fuel success and for creating the 12,000-acre McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Arizona Republic writers Lesley Wright and Jane Larson report that under Project XL, launched by the previous administration to help public-private partnerships reduce pollution, Intel Corporation has recycled more than 65 percent of its waste and more than 2.5 billion gallons of water, with the Administrator hailing its efforts as a model for the nation. They also report from the Scottsdale award ceremony that in response to the Administrator's praise for the city's desert preserve, likely to be gradually expanded over a third of its area, Mayor Manross credited residents for their willingness to tax themselves for this purpose, stressing their ''continuing interest in a clean environment and a real commitment to preservation.''   1/10/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Phoenix Unveils Light-Rail Car Design

As the Phoenix Citizens Transit Commission responded to pressure from residents and business leaders by reinstating two of the five stations it had wanted to cut along the 18-stop city section of the 20.3-mile light-rail line to East Valley, planners unveiled the public's preferred car design for the proposed train, expected to carry about 29,000 daily commuters by late 2006. Arizona Republic writer Elvia Diaz quotes rail project director Wulf Grote, who says by deciding to scrap two stations, shade only half of each built and substitute pavement for gravel, the commissioners lowered the price of the 13-mile city line to about $663 million, with half expected from the federal government. But should the city fail to raise $47 million more, the two reinstated stations may still be eliminated and the line may go unpaved. The design, sketched by Arizona State University Professor Patricia Moore and guided by numerous public suggestions, shows sleek 90-foot-long cars with bicycle racks and wheelchair spaces, linked in threes and powered from overhanging electric wires. They will run on steel rails in the middle of the street at maximum speeds of 55 mph, and will hold up to 450 passengers. The writer adds that planners will ask manufacturers to review the design before soliciting bids this summer for 40 custom-made cars, at $3 million each.   1/4/2002

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com/

Phoenix Light-Rail Project Copes With Budget Revisions

Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa transit officials will try to keep the Valley's planned 20-mile light-rail system within their almost $900 million budget, with $500 million in federal funds, by gradual cuts in construction costs -- first to $46.7 million and then to $43 million a mile. In the initial cost-saving phase, reports Arizona Republic writer Betty Beard, they will propose to eliminate two park-and-ride lots and enlarge the other nine, to provide commuters with the same total of 3,767 spaces; reduce shading and landscaping at the lots and all 26 stations; substitute concrete under half the tracks with crushed gravel; and simplify electrical substation relays.   11/26/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Arsonist Tells Court He Wanted to Stop Encroaching Development Near Phoenix, Scottsdale

Arrested June 14 for setting eight fires at luxury-home construction sites near protected desert in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas, 50-year-old Mark Warren Sands told the court that he had wanted to stop encroaching development, pleaded guilty to extortion and lesser charges and now faces 15 to 20 years in prison and restitution of $3.1 million. According to an Associated Press dispatch from Phoenix, the arsonist -- a former radio reporter and hospital public affairs worker in Utah -- became a suspect in April, when he was seen marking in red a sign on a home construction site previously strewn with leaflets reading "Thou shalt not desecrate God's creation" and signed CSP, for Coalition to Save the Preserve. Sands' sentencing is scheduled for February.   11/8/2001

Resource(s): www.sltrib.com

The era of road building may be over

The era of road building may be over, said the new Federal Highway Administration chief Mary Peters in an Arizona Republic interview, stressing that now the goal is to make present roads work better and to ease congestion with such combined measures as adding lanes, facilitating traffic flow with intelligent control systems, and shifting to transit and telecommuting. A former director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, Peters noted that the state exhausted its new road capability several years ago and that she has focused her four-year tenure on project completion rather than planning. Taking over the $30 billion national agency when the interstate highway-building program is basically complete, she has posed a question about its new "appropriate role" to professionals, local officials, transit advocates and other experts nationwide, with a joint brainstorming session scheduled for next month. For now, she sees her priority as providing transportation research, getting advanced traffic control technology from labs onto roads, and promoting road safety and security.   10/18/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Governor Jane Hull announced a $35 million HOPE VI grant

Governor Jane Hull announced a $35 million HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for replacing Phoenix's largest public housing project, the blighted 360-apartment 1940s rowhouses on the Matthew Henson site, with 86 single-family homes, 75 apartments for seniors and 261 units elsewhere in the neighborhood. Civic and business leaders expect the redevelopment grant, which also provides for a community learning center, to attract $90 million in public and private funds for retail and grocery stores or more homes. Phased construction will start in spring 2003.   10/18/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Historic preservation is "catching on around Valley ...

Historic preservation is "catching on around Valley," reports Arizona Republic writer Betty Beard, noting that Phoenix has created 24 residential historic districts since the 1980s, Mesa has followed with five in the last seven years, and Glendale may expand its combined residential-commercial historic district soon. Pointing out that many of Mesa's oldest buildings were lost "in waves of redevelopment starting in the 1960s," the state's historic preservation officer, Jim Garrison, calls its surge of historic preservation "pretty amazing." A resident of Mesa's newly created Robson Historic District, Barbara Atkinson, says that as people are fixing up their houses, the enthusiasm becomes "almost contagious," with more and more renovation around. Other residents are inquiring about the possibility of creating another three historic districts. Other area municipalities are shaping similar policies. Scottsdale just surveyed about 14,000 homes and Tempe about 5,000 homes, most built in the late 1940s and 1950s, to determine potential for local historic districts. But in Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert, the writer finds, the problem is that the older homes are often run down, scattered or remodeled too much to be eligible for historic designation.   9/26/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Since its adoption of home design standards ...

Since its adoption of home design standards in 1995, along with apartment and commercial design standards later, Chandler -- whose population more than doubled to 200,000 in the last decade -- has earned a reputation among developers as "the toughest East Valley city to build in," which officials see as a benefit. "We like when they don't like us. That means we're doing our jobs," says city spokesman David Bigos. Arizona Republic writer Heather Urquides notes that the city followed with a restrictive big-box store ordinance in July and plans to update its home standards and raise developer impact fees within months. Developers voice their usual objections. The deputy director of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, Spencer Kamps, says, "We oppose efforts to mandate often unnecessary regulations that do nothing but increase the cost of housing" and may hinder efforts to diversify housing. 09.10.2001   9/17/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Having recently approved a proposal to turn ...

Having recently approved a proposal to turn one of Pinal County's "greenest patches of desert, about 30 miles north of Tucson, into one of its biggest cities," county officials found themselves between a rock and a hard place, with a Pinal Citizens for Sustainable Communities group stunning them with a petition to put the project to a public vote and a developer lawsuit claiming they validated the petition after the 30-day deadline. The controversial Willow Spring project near Oracle -- a town of 3,500, with two restaurants and no bank, high school or medial center -- would start with 8,516 homes on 4,600 acres for 20,000 residents in 2004 and expand to 34,000 homes on 19,000 acres for up to 100,000 residents by 2014. County officials, reports Heather Urquides of The Arizona Republic, justify the project approval by the need to boost the local economy, still suffering from mine closures and layoffs during the 1990s. Developers, Anam Inc. and the Remington Group of Tucson, promote the project as a live-work, "self- sustaining," environmentally-friendly community, featuring solar power, rainwater harvesting technology, desert-style landscaping, trails, golf courses and greenbelts. Their spokesman Alex Argueta promises to donate land for schools and pay $14 million to $18 million for road, water, sewer and other utility extensions. He describes the suit against the county as an effort to spare it the "terrible expense" of a referendum, confident that most residents would support the project. But opponents think developer promises may evaporate without a formal agreement. Questioning the lack of preliminary designs and provisions for impact fees, they point out that the project would severely affect the area's scarce water supply and destroy prime hiking and hunting terrain. One of their leaders, Frank Pierson, stresses that they are not against growth, but against radically changing "the nature of the place overnight." Local residents Eric and Jean Schwennesen, building a home on a 10,000-acre cattle ranch, say the developers should post a $1 million bond for rancher buyout if the project dries up area wells. Calling it "a complicated issue," Jean says he believes in private property rights, but that doesn't reassure him they "won't end up broke and bankrupt to enrich sprawl." 08.08.2001   8/16/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

With a ten-year extension of a one-percent ...

With a ten-year extension of a one-percent sales tax for open space approved by voters last year, Prescott officials hope to expand the city's natural areas from the current 400 to more than 5,000 acres, at a cost of about $40 million by 2015. City open space coordinator Eric Smith says the areas will stay "in fairly pristine condition," with no recreational facilities except "trail systems." Noting that the City Council has identified about a dozen preservation sites -- for their historic, biological, environmental or geographic value -- he says it's not "an anti-growth or anti-development endeavor;" it's "just about trying to find a balance" between growth and open space protection. The city, he adds, can learn a lot from Phoenix's move to create the Phoenix Mountain Preserve in the 1960s. Set in northeast Phoenix, notes Associated Press writer Walter Berry, the preserve "features mountain trails with some park and picnic areas that blend with a freeway system and luxury homes." As people keep moving to Arizona, he writes, state and local leaders are pushing to preserve open space and "guard against urban sprawl. In June, Arizona officials reclassified 3,414 acres of trust land in north Phoenix as open space and Pima County officials scheduled a series of public hearings on their "ambitious Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan," which would create a desert reserve around Tucson, including most of its mountain ranges and protecting the area's 56 vulnerable species and all major habitats. The writer quotes an Arizona State University professor and pollster, Bruce Merrill, who says, "People are starting to understand we just can't pave over everything." 08.06.2001   8/8/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

As recommended by a committee of residents ...

As recommended by a committee of residents and developers, the Scottsdale City Council unanimously banned 75,000-or-more-square-foot "big box" stores on 134 square miles of environmentally sensitive land in the city's north. Sparked by residents' fight against a Home Depot "megastore" proposed last September, the new ordinance requires developers to seek use permits for such stores if located a quarter-mile from residential areas. The permits mandate low lighting to keep the sky dark, building beautification features and traffic-and truck-noise calming solutions. City analysis shows that big-box stores contribute about ten percent of city sales-tax revenues and that sensitive area protected by the ordinance contains only one site suitable for such a store. "We're not eliminating big-box stores; we're directing them" to proper sites, said Councilman George Zraket.   6/21/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

In the 50 years from its incorporation ...

In the 50 years from its incorporation, Scottsdale has grown from a mile-square, 2,000-inhabitant "rustic hamlet" with "the frontier personality" into a wealthy 185 square-mile, 220,000-resident city, determined to nurture the quaint character of its downtown, preserve fragile desert and curb strip-mall-type development. In anniversary articles on Scottsdale's transformation, Arizona Republic writers note that while some call it "Snobsdale," former state planning director Harry Higgins responds, "It's high-end for everyone. Even the poor people are upscale," with the median home price in the city's "least ritzy"southern section at $154,000, compared to $350,00 in the north. The writers themselves count three Scottsdales: "South Scottsdale, with its old growth neighborhoods, strip malls and convenience stores, has a lived-in look far removed from downtown's polished antiquity" that "seems a galaxy away from the Lexus-land of north Scottsdale, with its new-money mansions." Still, they write, over the years its residents "have gotten together to produce some urban wonders" such as the Scottsdale Center for Arts, the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Planners say that the city will be built out in 20 years and that it faces several long-term issues. South Scottsdale residents and businesses fear that the northward growth fueled by "ever-wealthier residents" may result in their area's gentrification and further exacerbate the city's lack of affordable housing. The city has bought abought 400 federally-subsidized apartments, but with 12,000 families needing assistance, "few neighbors are willing to allow even moderately affordable housing complexes to be built next to them." Downtown merchants want more investment and more amenities to attract visitors, but oppose the present redevelopment district program, which allows property condemnation. Traffic congestion and noise will increasingly focus public attention on road expansion, bus service upgrades and light-rail feasibility. Having purchased 12,876 acres for the Sonoran preserve since the 1995 voter approval of a 0.2-cent sales tax increase, the city wants to buy 16,600 state-owned acres, which would let it keep one-third of its area as permanent open space. And despite fast development in the city's north, its "wealthy and active residents are bitterly opposed to more shopping centers in the desert."   6/21/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

In the 50 years from its incorporation ...

In the 50 years from its incorporation, Scottsdale has grown from a mile-square, 2,000-inhabitant "rustic hamlet" with "the frontier personality" into a wealthy 185 square-mile, 220,000-resident city, determined to nurture the quaint character of its downtown, preserve fragile desert and curb strip-mall-type development. In anniversary articles on Scottsdale's transformation, Arizona Republic writers note that while some call it "Snobsdale," former state planning director Harry Higgins responds, "It's high-end for everyone. Even the poor people are upscale," with the median home price in the city's "least ritzy"southern section at $154,000, compared to $350,00 in the north. The writers themselves count three Scottsdales: "South Scottsdale, with its old growth neighborhoods, strip malls and convenience stores, has a lived-in look far removed from downtown's polished antiquity" that "seems a galaxy away from the Lexus-land of north Scottsdale, with its new-money mansions." Still, they write, over the years its residents "have gotten together to produce some urban wonders" such as the Scottsdale Center for Arts, the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Planners say that the city will be built out in 20 years and that it faces several long-term issues. South Scottsdale residents and businesses fear that the northward growth fueled by "ever-wealthier residents" may result in their area's gentrification and further exacerbate the city's lack of affordable housing. The city has bought abought 400 federally-subsidized apartments, but with 12,000 families needing assistance, "few neighbors are willing to allow even moderately affordable housing complexes to be built next to them." Downtown merchants want more investment and more amenities to attract visitors, but oppose the present redevelopment district program, which allows property condemnation. Traffic congestion and noise will increasingly focus public attention on road expansion, bus service upgrades and light-rail feasibility. Having purchased 12,876 acres for the Sonoran preserve since the 1995 voter approval of a 0.2-cent sales tax increase, the city wants to buy 16,600 state-owned acres, which would let it keep one-third of its area as permanent open space. And despite fast development in the city's north, its "wealthy and active residents are bitterly opposed to more shopping centers in the desert."   6/21/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

As recommended by a committee of residents ...

As recommended by a committee of residents and developers, the Scottsdale City Council unanimously banned 75,000-or-more-square-foot "big box" stores on 134 square miles of environmentally sensitive land in the city's north. Sparked by residents' fight against a Home Depot "megastore" proposed last September, the new ordinance requires developers to seek use permits for such stores if located a quarter-mile from residential areas. The permits mandate low lighting to keep the sky dark, building beautification features and traffic-and truck-noise calming solutions. City analysis shows that big-box stores contribute about ten percent of city sales-tax revenues and that sensitive area protected by the ordinance contains only one site suitable for such a store. "We're not eliminating big-box stores; we're directing them" to proper sites, said Councilman George Zraket.   6/21/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

As recommended by a committee of residents ...

As recommended by a committee of residents and developers, the Scottsdale City Council unanimously banned 75,000-or-more-square-foot "big box" stores on 134 square miles of environmentally sensitive land in the city's north. Sparked by residents' fight against a Home Depot "megastore" proposed last September, the new ordinance requires developers to seek use permits for such stores if located a quarter-mile from residential areas. The permits mandate low lighting to keep the sky dark, building beautification features and traffic-and truck-noise calming solutions. City analysis shows that big-box stores contribute about ten percent of city sales-tax revenues and that sensitive area protected by the ordinance contains only one site suitable for such a store. "We're not eliminating big-box stores; we're directing them" to proper sites, said Councilman George Zraket.   6/21/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

In the 50 years from its incorporation ...

In the 50 years from its incorporation, Scottsdale has grown from a mile-square, 2,000-inhabitant "rustic hamlet" with "the frontier personality" into a wealthy 185 square-mile, 220,000-resident city, determined to nurture the quaint character of its downtown, preserve fragile desert and curb strip-mall-type development. In anniversary articles on Scottsdale's transformation, Arizona Republic writers note that while some call it "Snobsdale," former state planning director Harry Higgins responds, "It's high-end for everyone. Even the poor people are upscale," with the median home price in the city's "least ritzy"southern section at $154,000, compared to $350,00 in the north. The writers themselves count three Scottsdales: "South Scottsdale, with its old growth neighborhoods, strip malls and convenience stores, has a lived-in look far removed from downtown's polished antiquity" that "seems a galaxy away from the Lexus-land of north Scottsdale, with its new-money mansions." Still, they write, over the years its residents "have gotten together to produce some urban wonders" such as the Scottsdale Center for Arts, the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Planners say that the city will be built out in 20 years and that it faces several long-term issues. South Scottsdale residents and businesses fear that the northward growth fueled by "ever-wealthier residents" may result in their area's gentrification and further exacerbate the city's lack of affordable housing. The city has bought abought 400 federally-subsidized apartments, but with 12,000 families needing assistance, "few neighbors are willing to allow even moderately affordable housing complexes to be built next to them." Downtown merchants want more investment and more amenities to attract visitors, but oppose the present redevelopment district program, which allows property condemnation. Traffic congestion and noise will increasingly focus public attention on road expansion, bus service upgrades and light-rail feasibility. Having purchased 12,876 acres for the Sonoran preserve since the 1995 voter approval of a 0.2-cent sales tax increase, the city wants to buy 16,600 state-owned acres, which would let it keep one-third of its area as permanent open space. And despite fast development in the city's north, its "wealthy and active residents are bitterly opposed to more shopping centers in the desert."   6/21/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

Following voter consent in 1999 and recommendations ...

Following voter consent in 1999 and recommendations by a citizen committee and a specially-formed facilities district board, the Tucson City Council unanimously approved a 62-acre, mixed-use, three-section downtown redevelopment project, named Rio Nuevo. Expanded since its inception, the master plan of the 20-year, $757 million project -- including an expected $408 million in private investments -- calls for 500,000 square feet of office space, 750,000 feet of retail space, 1,750 residential units, two hotels, museums, restaurants, shops, parks, an open-air market, a visitor center, an amphitheater, 3,000 parking spaces and a 20-acre cultural park. In the coming months, the city will select the first-phase redevelopment targets and guidelines for tax breaks and other incentives to attract investors and builders.   4/23/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Glendale Citizens Advisory Committee for Transportation may ...

Glendale Citizens Advisory Committee for Transportation may recommend a half-cent sales tax increase for the November ballot, to fund its proposed $1 billion package of transportation solutions, with more than half of the money earmarked for public transit and the rest for city traffic-flow improvements. Specifically, 34 percent of the new tax revenue would used to expand Glendale's bus service, 17 percent to build a light-rail line, and a yet undetermined percentage to help Phoenix to speed up its Chris-Town Mall light-rail construction, with both lines meeting at 43rd street. The Phoenix light-rail line is slated for completion by 2006. Glendale would proceed with the linkage shortly thereafter, provided that the city secures funding. Phoenix and Tempe voters approved sales tax increases for transportation last year. 04.20.2001   4/23/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

The redevelopment of Phoenix's dilapidated Capitol Mall ...

The redevelopment of Phoenix's dilapidated Capitol Mall, sought by activists and residents since the mid-1980s, has finally begun with construction of the first two of 11state buildings and the 200-unit Legacy Bungalows affordable apartment complex, targeting 35 percent of the mall for a government hub, 25 for retail and other businesses, 20 for housing and 20 for open space. "A vibrant downtown is good for the entire state," said Governor Jane Hull at the groundbreaking for the Bungalows, where monthly rents will be about $600, well below the $1,000-plus cost of nearby apartments that makes many government workers live far away and endure long commutes. The state committed $250 million for its new mall buildings. The first two are slated for the Department of Administration and the Department of Environmental Quality, with almost 1,400 employees working at other central city locations. Next to the mall, Maricopa County is developing its own 500,000-square-foot office center.   3/22/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

Growing Smarter Plus promises a real change ...

Growing Smarter Plus promises a real change in Arizona's long-term growth, says an Arizona Republic editorial, welcoming the progress in cities' critical reviews of master plans required by law on local ballots next year and in developer-conservationist talks about a public land protection measure generally expected on a statewide ballot. The editorial points out that most Arizona cities have never had to submit their master plans for public approval. And even though cities lack clear options should their plans fail at booths, says the editorial, voters at the very least will keep "the issue of urban growth on a front burner" and hold officials responsible for their growth decisions, which also has "tremendous value." What's more, the editorial continues, developers and conservationists who battled last fall over Governor Jane Hull's proposal to protect three percent of public trust land and the Sierra Club's initiative to impose strict growth restrictions -- tripping up both at the polls -- are now "at the same table," trying to work out something better than the three-percent idea. "There is no real progress to be made, the editorial concludes, "in managing growth with 'solutions' that fail to achieve a meeting of the minds of all the interested parties." 02.21.2001   2/28/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

With 11 unfinished Phoenix-area luxury homes at ...

With 11 unfinished Phoenix-area luxury homes at the edge of the wilderness set aflame since 1998, the most recent on January 18, a self-described arsonist told the Phoenix New Times free newspaper in a secret interview that he set the fire the night before to prove his group's "credibility" and show his resolve to save the desert from urban sprawl. The result, reports Associated Press writer Joel Eskovitz, has been "a furor" about the fires and the interview, with accusations that the alternative newspaper crossed "the line between reporting on the arsons and encouraging them." Defending the newspaper, Associate Editor Patti Epler said "we're just doing our job." The interviewer, James Hibberd, who has resisted efforts to subpoena his records, declined to comment. The writer notes that the fires have caused more than $5 million in damages, that the Phoenix Fire Department has linked four of them to the same person or group, and that graffiti at two fire sites and letters to several media outlets bore the same "C.S.P." initials, with a letter to The Arizona Republic saying development of "an acre an hour is obscene." He adds that major environmental groups have disassociated themselves from the fires, but Earth First has recently supported the arsons "so long as only property is destroyed." 02.16.2001   2/21/2001

Resource(s): www.ajc.com

Following the state's 2000 Growing Smarter Plus ...

Following the state's 2000 Growing Smarter Plus law and asserting its own slow-growth stance, the Scottsdale City Council voted 6-0 on ordinances to force intense scrutiny of large projects that deviate from the city's general plan and to protect the pristine landscape of the Desert Foothills with a new stringent zoning "overlay." The city's director of planning, Don Hadder, says each of its planning zones will have different size, road and other "character-altering" criteria that can put projects into his department's "slow lane." Such projects will face at least six months of public review and two public hearings by the Planning Commission, with the City Council voting on each project only once a year and a majority of five votes needed for approval. Arizona Republic reporter Lesley Wright notes that the ordinance to protect the scenic Desert Foothills area, one of the last without subdivision plans, heartens local residents, but infuriates "property-rights advocates, who object to rules governing building heights, lights, designs and setbacks."   2/21/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

Counting the Growing Smarter laws "to save ...

Counting the Growing Smarter laws "to save open space and manage growth through improved local planning" among the legislature's and her own top bipartisan feats last year, Governor Jane Dee Hull (R) said the laws gave residents more power to determine their neighborhoods' future, including the right to vote on their general plans. To make sure that the laws work, the governor asked lawmakers to appropriate $800,000 for small community planning assistance and promised to appoint a public-private Growing Smarter Oversight Council "to keep an eye on implementation, compliance and refinement." Disappointed that 52 percent of the voters rejected the trust land preservation measure last November, the governor reached out to those who care about growth and trust land, and pledged her "best efforts to form a partnership" with all interested to achieve common goals. Listing her other priorities as improving air quality, ensuring sustainable water supply and expanding affordable housing, the governor challenged those in the transport industry who contest new fuel standards to join efforts "to find a cheaper, cleaner and more effective solution;" urged continuous funding for the Rural Water Studies program; and told the legislature to create the Arizona State Housing Finance Authority, which would link state and federal programs "to spur the private sector's production of affordable housing." Noting that the state's growth "has been a mixed blessing," with Arizonans increasingly worried about its impact on quality of life, the governor stressed the need to enhance growth quality, not quantity, to succeed in the New Economy. She also thanked her Vision 21 Task Force for two years of hard work on transportation improvements. She expects the task force's incoming transportation report to focus on how to ensure more accountability in the decision-making process; improve planning coordination between all levels of government; establish more reliable funding sources; and develop a "strategic plan for improving our state's multimodal transportation system in a way that keeps Arizona competitive with other states and enhances our ability to move people, goods and services in a safe and efficient manner for decades to come."   1/18/2001

Resource(s): www.nga.org

In another bid to reduce metro Phoenix ...

In another bid to reduce metro Phoenix traffic and smog, officials announced plans for a fourth park-and-ride commuter center, projected to cost about $4 million and to open early in 2003. Planned for the city's northern edge, the center will let that area's commuters leave their cars and take rapid transit buses for the approximately ten-mile trip downtown. The chairwoman of the citizens transit commission, Diane Scherer, hopes the center will spur the use of public transportation, which is convenient, fast and "saves gas." She describes the plan for the center as "a precursor to light rail."   1/2/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

After a lawsuit and safety concerns forced ...

After a lawsuit and safety concerns forced the Federal Aviation Administration to delay the implementation of strict rules for quiet air over the Grand Canyon from December until March, air-tour companies expect more substantial leeway from the Republican White House. Noting that Republicans had "very, very aggressive support" from the United States Air Tour Association, its president, Steve Bassett, said "we were never going to get a fair trial under the Clinton administration," but certainly "the Bush administration will take a more balanced view of air touring over the Grand Canyon" and elsewhere. He added that seven air tour companies, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, are safely flying 800,000 tourists over the canyon a year, despite constant harassment by "extremists in the environmental community seeking to put us out of business." Wilderness Society official Rose Fennell pointed out that tourists on the canyon's South Rim hear a plane or a helicopter every 17 seconds and that quiet air advocates have long included Arizona Republican Senator John McCain. She promised that the Wilderness Society, together with the Sierra Club and the Grand Canyon Trust, will keep fighting for the implementation of the anti-noise rules won in the last few years.   1/2/2001

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Following a Home Depot's loss of its ...

Following a Home Depot's loss of its fight to build a store in Scottsdale, a team of local residents and developers worked out rules for a "big box" ordinance, which would require such chain stores to get special use permits and meet design and operational criteria. Scheduled for public hearing and a review by the city's Planning Commission in January, the ordinance's first draft defines big stores as retail or warehouse buildings of at least 75,000 feet square and 28 feet high. None can be built within 300 feet of a single-family residential zone or linked with a residential street. To be permitted in a commercial zone, owners must submit plans detailing business hours, noise and litter control, lighting, landscaping and access and traffic solutions. Still, some team members seek other specifications. Architect Arnold Roy says the ordinance should prescribe the number of windows and look of the facade instead of footage and height limits, because a building may be just under the 75,000 square feet and 28 feet in height, but no less ugly. A homeowners' representative, Bob Vairo, says the ordinance should ban big box stores in Environmentally Sensitive Land zones and limit their business hours and the size of their parking lots.   1/2/2001

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

Even though 70 percent of Arizona voters ...

Even though 70 percent of Arizona voters rejected the Sierra Club's ballot initiative to set urban growth boundaries throughout the state, officials and builders should realize that if they let sprawl continue, such a ballot will win next time, said one of its opponents, author of Designing the Future, architect Vernon Swaback. "All the anger that led up to that is still with us," he told participants in Westmarc's eighth annual Report Card Luncheon at Arizona State University West, noting that the problem is compounded by officials who routinely approve mediocre "cookie-cutter" designs, while scrutinizing innovative projects. As evidence that suburban living doesn't have to be a negative, he presented pictures from Wisconsin and Europe, showing suburbs with varied-style homes, wide open spaces and easy pedestrian access. He also said that the West Valley, where he is designing the 8,800-acre DMB/Caterpillar project next to the White Tank Mountains, should get "ready for a new, affluent market" and doesn't need to become "the lower cost alternative."   12/15/2000

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

Cococino County voter rejection of a conservationist ...

Cococino County voter rejection of a conservationist ballot proposal to build the mixed-use Canyon Forest Village at Highway 64 north of Tusayan leaves the entry area for the 4.5 million visitors to Grand Canyon National Park a year with aged housing, inadequate tourist amenities and random development. The proposed $330 million village, with 900 hotel rooms, nearly 2,400 housing units and a large commercial component, would have created 2,700 jobs and pumped $1.4 billion into the area's economy within the first five years. Local business owners feared they wouldn't be able to compete with the huge village, adding that hotel occupancy was under 75 percent this year. Still, the president of a Northern Arizona business group, Rick Lopes, agrees with the conservationists' leader, Geoff Barnard, saying that something has to be done for long-range planning in the region, to maintain its economic balance and the integrity of the canyon.   12/4/2000

Resource(s): www.sltribune.com

Arizona voters defeated the trust land preservation ...

Arizona voters defeated the trust land preservation part of Governor Jane Hull's Growing Smarter package by a 52 to 48 percent margin and the more stringent Sierra Club Citizens Growth Management Initiative by a 70 to 30 percent majority. The legislative part of the Growing Smarter package, enacted in February, authorizes counties to charge developer fees and requires cities to present voters with ten-year service plans; the rejected part would have let the state protect three percent, or 280,000 acres of its trust land from development. The governor, says her press secretary Francie Noyes, is disappointed with the vote because she has hoped to save open space since she took office in 1997, but remains committed to that goal. Sierra Club officials express similar sentiments, promising to work out a trust land protection measure for the 2002 election. Meantime, says Sandy Bahr of the club's state chapter, environmentalists will also watch whether the Growing Smarter provisions are able to curb sprawl.   11/22/2000

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

In a brief comment on the growth-control ...

In a brief comment on the growth-control losses in Arizona and Colorado, the president and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance, William D. Fay, said voters are rightly concerned about quality of life issues, but equally so about growth restrictions that could harm the economy and incite countless lawsuits. Describing both initiatives as extreme, he added that voters inherently know that stopping highway improvements will worsen, not improve, traffic congestion. Created in 1932, the nonprofit alliance of more than 300 national trade organizations, corporations, small businesses and other nonprofit groups represents over 45 million highway users.   11/22/2000

Resource(s): news.excite.com

In a drive to dominate the forefront ...

In a drive to dominate the forefront of smart growth, the National Association of Home Builders invited the sponsor of Pennsylvania's new growth-control laws, Republican state representative David J. Steil, to speak at a luncheon briefing on how he succeeded and why anti-sprawl measures failed in Arizona and Colorado. Introducing Steil, once scolded by the association, to the audience of builders, activists and officials, the director of its smart growth program, Gary Garczynski, called him an innovator whose legislation will help reach consensus on an issue that continues to polarize segments of the society. Association spokesman Jay Shackford exulted, I think we've really stolen the center of the debate. Having recounted his and Republican state senator James Gerlach's efforts to build consensus on growth-control in Pennsylvania, Steil said he was surprised by the invitation to the Washington luncheon, but grasped it as a chance to win more people the for smart growth cause. He added, It's sort of a new-found religion for builders.   11/22/2000

Resource(s): web.phill.com

The Glendale City Council unanimously turned down ...

The Glendale City Council unanimously turned down a 24-hour Wal-Mart megastore proposed for a site zoned last year for commercial use, but with smaller stores in mind. Mayor Elaine Scruggs and others involved in zoning discussions pointed out that no one had thought about a Wal-Mart until this summer, when its sudden announcement triggered resident protests. Though the site's commercial zoning doesn't specifically exclude megastores, the council's decision means that the Wal-Mart proposal would have to go through a long zoning process with opponents ready for a fight, at a time when the council is considering an ordinance on special-use permits for retail businesses requiring more than 75,000 square feet of space.   10/26/2000

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Scottsdale residents want the City Council to ...

Scottsdale residents want the City Council to strengthen the 1991 Environmentally Sensitive Lands Ordinance, which has helped the city preserve more than 9,000 acres of open space and its wildlife. Expressing great concern over enforcement, the vice chairman of a resident-based environmental quality advisory board, Randy Nussbaum, says that with many people ignoring the guidelines, the city needs a mechanism that strongly encourages cooperation. The city's environmental coordinator, Mike Milillo, predicts a residential lot minimum increase to protect not just open space, but also public safety, because new houses are now getting real close to washes and big boulders on the hillsides.   10/10/2000

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Some panelists at an Arizona State University ...

Some panelists at an Arizona State University conference on growth and land use weren't happy with the state's November ballot proposal to put three percent, or about 279,000 acres of its 9.4 million acres of trust land in the Arizona Conservation Reserve. The head of the Sonoran Institute in Tucson, Luther Propst, called it a considerable step in the wrong direction and planning professor Frederick Steiner described the need as much higher than three percent. They also noted that the 70,000 acres selected for immediate preservation include a lot of peaks, ridges and washes, hardly ever at risk of development. But Arizona Preserve Initiative Director Arlan Colton pointed out that Arizona is the state is the first willing to take off the market and permanently preserve a portion of the land entrusted to it by the federal government in 1912, for sale or lease to fund schools and other public institutions. The proposal's supporters said the three-percent preservation limit is only prudent, considering that the prospective amendment to the Arizona Constitution is also dependent on the Congress, unlikely to approve an unspecified trust land preservation target.   10/10/2000

Resource(s): www.arizonarepublic.com

Standing up to a threat of lawsuit ...

Standing up to a threat of lawsuit, the Scotttsdale City Council unanimously voted to stop a 150-home project near Rio Verde by replacing the site's one-acre minimum lot zoning with a mix of two and five acres. Developer Gary Lane's attorney Jeffrey Gross said the city is denying his client a profit, while more than 150 residents applauded the rezoning decision. By another unanimous vote, the council initiated a three-month process for a new ordinance to limit the size and height of the so-called big box stores. This vote also drew an enthusiastic response from residents, who hoisted No Home Depot signs.   9/25/2000

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

In a battle heating up over the ...

In a battle heating up over the Sierra Club ballot measure that calls for urban growth boundaries throughout the state, its leading opponent from industry-funded Arizonans for Responsible Planning, Stan Barnes, warned Gilbert and other East Valley cities crucial to the vote's outcome that the measure would ruin Arizona's economy. Addressing officials, builders and business leaders at a Gilbert now! luncheon, the former state legislator-turned-lobbyist said the measure's approval would mean worse traffic congestion, higher urban density, less affordable housing and a loss of 200,000 jobs. The conservation director of the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon chapter, Sandy Bahr, dismissed his claims as nonsense and scare tactics. Noting that the fast-growing and important East Valley is full of residents suffering the impact of poorly planned growth, she said the measure will give voters in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa and all of Arizona a strong voice in how their communities grow. And that, she added, is what has the development industry so scared.   9/25/2000

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com

In a preliminary opinion, an unidentified judge ...

In a preliminary opinion, an unidentified judge of the state Court of Appeals in Tucson said the city of Apache Junction lacks the power to charge developers with a $1,363 school impact fee per single-family home. Arizona law lets cities impose impact fees for essential services, without mentioning school fees. The opinion holds that schools are not essential city services. The closely watched two year-old case, in which the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled for the city in August 1999, goes before the full three-judge appeal panel's telephone hearing on August 23. The city is supported by the Arizona School Boards Association and seven school districts with friend-of-the-court briefs. The plaintiff, the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, has similar briefs from the Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association, the Arizona Tax Research Association, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, eight home-building companies and several real estate firms.   8/17/2000

An Arizona Republic editorial entitled Unfortunate decision ...

An Arizona Republic editorial entitled Unfortunate decision bodes ill for Arizona laments the removal of Growing Smarter Plus from the November ballot by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Bolton and hopes that the Arizona Supreme Court will restore the state's chance for sane and reasonable growth management. Otherwise, the editorial says, the only ballot option for voters, who undeniably are in a mood to take action against sprawl, will be the draconian 'growth boundary' measures delineated in the Sierra Club's Citizens Growth Management Initiative. Assuming in good faith that the opponents' wait till mid-July to challenge the moderate option wasn't a cynical ploy to kill it, the editorial warns that the prospect is looming of Arizona's economic future being dictated from the offices of Sierra Club lawyers.   8/17/2000

In the first legal ruling on Governor ...

In the first legal ruling on Governor Jane Hull's Growing Smarter Plus anti-sprawl package, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Bolton removed it from the November ballot, which left voters the rival Sierra Club's Citizens Growth Management Initiative and prompted the state to promise an appeal in the Arizona Supreme Court. The judge found the package failed a state constitutional test by seeking a single instead of separate votes on its two parts - one that would preserve three percent of state trust land, or about 270,000 acres, as open space and one in effect since May that requires public input in rezoning and other local land-use decisions, and obliges cities of more than 10,000 and fast-growing smaller ones to present voters with new comprehensive master plans. Governor Hull expressed her hope that the ruling is only a temporary setback for open space and pledged to continue the fight for preservation. But critics of Growing Smarter Plus described it harshly as a con game written by and for developers, noting that 97 percent of state trust land would have remained open to development. Pleased with the ruling, Sierra Club spokeswoman Sandy Bahr is also confident that Growing Smarter Plus has never really threatened the Citizens Growth Management Initiative, which proposes urban growth boundaries and other strict land-use measures similar to those in Portland Metro, Oregon.   8/17/2000

One of the Phoenix area growth-management challenges ...

One of the Phoenix area growth-management challenges is to stem the tide of asphalt - the paved streets, driveways and parking lots that make up half of the Valley's average subdivisions - writes The Arizona Republic's Kathleen Ingley. Many residents and planners agree that the paving takes too much land and increases both storm runoff and heat. According to Arizona State University professor Anthony Brazel, asphalt absorbs 90 percent of sunlight energy, 20 percent more than desert, and with its surface temperature reaching 160 degrees can raise air temperature over a close area by 10 degrees. Since asphalt cools after sundown much slower than desert, the night temperature difference between urban and open areas widens to 15 degrees. A traffic-engineering consultant, Paul Box, says the 32-foot street-width minimum in most Valley cities should be lowered to 26-28 feet, which is more than sufficient for neighborhoods with two-car-garage homes and much cheaper for taxpayers. Phoenix transportation coordinator Jim Slaker calculates that 4-foot narrower streets would save $70,000 a mile in paving and 10-15 percent in annual maintenance costs.   7/21/2000

Entering the unfamiliar growth-control and land-protection path ...

Entering the unfamiliar growth-control and land-protection path laid out in February by the Growing Smarter Plus law, many Phoenix area cities are seeking professional help to revise their general and specific plans, while ensuring the required public input. Under the new law, city councils have to approve the updated general plans by the end of 2001 and voters by the following spring. The planning costs may be high. The city of Gilbert has already spent almost $100,000 for general planning consultants, and the city of Mesa will spend more than $1.3 million hiring six firms to update its zoning, park and transportation plans.   6/22/2000

An Arizona Republic editorial on the annual ...

An Arizona Republic editorial on the annual Arizona Economic Forum in Flagstaff sympathizes with the many small-town attendees who sounded genuine alarm over the Citizens Growth Management Initiative likely to appear on the November ballot. The editorial explains that the Sierra Club-led initiative contains enough draconian 'musts' and 'shalls' to chill the soul of just about any community leader, but it fills small-town leaders with a special sort of dread. Not only does it requires ten-year urban growth boundaries, but it also dictates the growth level within them. In the town of Bisbee, the editorial says, the initiative would permit its population of 6,580 to 'grow' by a total of 86, while the less populous town of Superior could add all of 57. In addition, the required developer fees are certain to hike home prices, which would be detrimental to small towns where high-dollar jobs are scarce and the margin for many families between affording a mortgage and continuing as renters is slim. According to the editorial, rural Arizonans' rile about the initiative was exemplified at the forum by the bellicose Prescott Mayor Sam Steiger, irked by outsiders' assumptions that they know better than Prescott residents about how best to grow their community. The editorial quotes the mayor as stating that if we have any backbone at all, we will reject this Citizens Growth Management Initiative.   6/22/2000

In a reversal of a three-decade trend ...

In a reversal of a three-decade trend, Phoenix business leaders want to build about 300 low-rent, single occupancy apartments downtown to provide safe, affordable, decent living quarters for service workers. Called workforce housing and modeled after new units built by the Tom Hom Group in San Diego and Las Vegas, the 200-square- foot apartments would include a bathroom, bed, TV set, small stove and microwave. Monthly rents would be kept at about $500, including utilities. Hom Group Vice President James Scott Brown says his company, which also provides linens and weekly maid service, runs very tight operations and monitors sites for drug dealing or any other suspect activities. He noted that the company would seek financial incentives such as federal tax credits and a loan from tax-exempt bonds. The Phoenix City Council will vote on the single room occupancy project in May.   4/28/2000

To help bring the Valley and the ...

To help bring the Valley and the state ... to a much improved community, The Arizona Republic outlines its strategies in three April 2 opinions on smart growth, sprawl and commitment.   4/7/2000

In an opinion entitled Sprawl: The good ...

In an opinion entitled Sprawl: The good, the bad, the definitely ugly, The Arizona Republic says that with the Valley's 2.8 million population expected to perhaps triple within the next generation, its residents owe it to forge a community future inhabitants will be proud to call home. The daily notes that despite the enormous popularity of growth management and urban sprawl concepts, their true meaning remains elusive. It says that in a positive sense, sprawl is the ultimate expression of the success of American free enterprise, reflecting the capacity of 65 percent of the nation's families to realize the dream of home ownership. The daily defines sprawl as also the ultimate success of mass-produced building materials and home projects, efficiently organized under the same principles that go into the building of a Ford Cavalier. This system brought to the Valley dozens of identical communities, cookie-cutter repetitions of a handful of single-family home design, big-box supermarkets, Blockbuster video stores and Circle Ks. In its worst form, the daily continues, sprawl is a rapacious consumption of land that most resident believe should have remained undeveloped and outside the urban perimeter. Settling for a wide definition of sprawl as imbalance, the daily expresses the fears of sprawl's sensible opponents that it is consuming this Valley's resources, including its reputation as a desirable place to be, and eventually it will flame out.   4/7/2000

In an opinion titled Future lies in ...

In an opinion titled Future lies in smart growth, not boundaries, The Arizona Republic supports Governor Jane Hull's Growing Smarter II program and opposes the Sierra Club's Citizens Growth Management Initiative, which will probably be on the November ballot, with a distinct possibility of passage. The daily stresses that Growing Smarter II changes the Land Department's mission of selling the highest priced tracts to fund public education, allowing a better balance that would include the value of preserving open space. Strongly backing the requirement that communities plan for growth while determining its nature locally, the daily says that Growing Smarter II allows for dynamic growth in smaller, rural communities that would be strangled if the Sierra Club's CGMI forces them to enact its highly restrictive growth boundaries. It also applauds efforts to expand Phoenix transit and downtown development, noting that mass-transit hubs generate denser clusters of housing and that a rail system may actually have its greatest impact in changing how Phoenix grows.   4/7/2000

In an opinion entitled Real commitment is ...

In an opinion entitled Real commitment is vital, The Arizona Republic lists the most manageable areas within the growth management framework as open space retention, regional and municipal planning, and the public role in community building. The daily backs efforts in all three areas. It calls for buying both urban and natural open space, stresses that planning decisions must be made by tough-minded persons and supports public subsidies for open space preservation, but not for excessive periphery development. Seeing the the question of who rightly pays for what as the tightest Gordian knot around the development issue, the daily says that in the pursuit of impact-fee fairness everyone should remember that developers are not the only ones who profit from growth and that banks give high ratings to bonds of growing area communities, indicating their belief that the Valley cities are getting adequate bang for their buck. In all recent downtown revival success stories, from New York City to Cleveland, Denver, San Diego and Phoenix, the daily concludes, two constants were that the people who work, live and play in those city centers feel safer; and that public seed money prompts urban pioneers.   4/7/2000

Governor Jane Hull called a special legislative ...

Governor Jane Hull called a special legislative session to move on her Growing Smarter plan. In nature voluntary, the plan would extend the authority to impose developer impact fees from cities to counties; require large or fast-growing communities to establish voter-approved growth areas; let local governments set service limits, beyond which developers would pay full infrastructure costs; enable counties to curb lot splits, or so-called "wildcat subdivisions" that escape local zoning and other legal norms; and seek voter approval for a constitutional change to create the Arizona Stewardship Reserve, which would protect three percent, or about 280,000 acres of state trust land as open space. The governor's plan is competing with a stronger, mandatory plan the Sierra Club is pushing for the November ballot as the Citizens Growth Management Initiative. Its campaign chairwoman, Renee Guillory, says voters need to step in to ensure "meaningful land-use reform."   2/15/2000

The Arizona Parks and Recreation Association is ...

The Arizona Parks and Recreation Association is inviting officials, experts and residents to the Governor's Conference on Open Space at Arizona State University. The day-long conference will start with Governor Hull's remarks and cover such issues as state trust land, county planning and growth-management measures sought by environmental groups.   2/15/2000

Warning lawmakers that the people want action ...

Warning lawmakers that the people want action on growth and that the state has "fallen behind the public's expectations," Governor Jane D. Hull said she will ask this year for legislation recommended by her Growing Smarter Commission. She wants "Growing Smarter to help limit sprawl in at least three ways: provide citizens a real voice in community planning by giving them a vote on general plans; require development to pay for itself; and allow cities and counties to restrict services to areas within their self-determined limits." Stressing that the state has 80,000 acres "in the preservation pipeline," and revealing her imminent executive order to preserve 9,000 acres of desert in North Phoenix, the governor called for a conservation trust, which would allow the State Land Commissioner "to set aside some of our spectacular landscapes as open space." The governor described the rival Sierra Club growth-management proposal, including mandatory growth boundaries, as a "bad public policy put into tasty sound bites," which would undercut local control with "arbitrary limits, while doing nothing to ensure open space." Noting that growth can't be isolated from its transportation and air quality context, the governor said that the state spent almost a billion dollars on roads in the past three years, but will face "a significant revenue shortfall" for its long-term transportation needs. She asked everyone to recognize "that transportation and growth are interlocking issues," whose scope is not parochial or regional, but statewide. Thus, the governor instructed her Transportation Vision 21 Task Force to work out firm guidelines and ensure that "regional plans are not fragmented."   1/31/2000

In an opinion piece on the Growing ...

In an opinion piece on the Growing Smarter Commission's work, The Arizona Republic compliments the commission for agreeing that the state Constitution should be amended "to permit the preservation of state trust lands as open space" and that conservation should "not be tied to the principle of maximizing revenue, which governs Land Department policy." But the daily regrets the commission's inability to agree on "the critical questions of how the desired results are to be achieved." The commission "should try one more time to round out its proposal and give lawmakers a compass heading." In short, the daily says, "finish the job."   1/31/2000

Governor Jane Hull is reportedly ready to ...

Governor Jane Hull is reportedly ready to call a special legislative session this month to enact a Growing Smarter bill. The bill is opposed by the Sierra Club, which wants to put on the November ballot a stringent Citizens Growth Management Initiative. Both sides maintain firm public stances, but according to The Arizona Republic's Steve Wilson, they agree in private talks that "a compromise could be the best" for the state." Growing Smarter chief architect Jack Pfister is hoping for a compromise in the form of a "Growing Smarter Plus" measure. The writer says legislators may accept such a measure out of "fear that voters will adopt the more draconian Sierra Club plan." The club leaders may accept it knowing, as they say, that far more money would be spent to defeat the citizen initiative in "a massive misinformation campaign" than they could raise for its support.   1/10/2000

Spared from inside development, Grand Canyon National ...

Spared from inside development, Grand Canyon National Park will benefit instead from the adjacent Canyon Forest Village project, a planned community for the estimated five million visitors a year. The $330-million village, recently approved by the U.S. Forest Service, will include high-density lodging, visitor services and mass transit links to the park and its local gateways. The buildings will use energy-efficient technologies for lighting, heating, cooling and water management. Village building standards mandate that 20 percent of materials come from within a 500-mile radius, which will create economic and cultural opportunities for the area's Indian tribes. A planned one percent village sales tax is expected to bring in $1.2 million annually for habitat restoration, fragile land purchases and environmental education.   12/8/1999

Phoenix voters hoping to protect their nation's ...

Phoenix voters hoping to protect their nation's fastest- growing city from also becoming the least livable, have reelected Mayor Skip Rimsza, who promised to limit development to six "growth management" areas. U. S. News and World Report reminds readers that a statewide May poll found 73 percent of residents favor legislation requiring cities to set urban growth boundaries.   9/27/1999

With more than a third of Phoenix ...

With more than a third of Phoenix homes built in the last ten years, and with the population of the surrounding Maricopa County surging at an annual rate of 23 percent since 1990, construction dust has become "public enemy number one" in the Valley of the Sun. Los Angeles Times reporter Julie Cart writes that area officials are spending millions on dust abatement measures, an innovative dust removal industry is thriving, and almost everybody is thinking how to control the incessant growth. A recent poll has revealed that 51 percent of Arizonans blame air pollution for their lung and vision problems, and EPA has stepped in under court order to ensure corrective actions. Phoenix is also a "heat island." The US Census Bureau reports that the city's temperature has risen ten degrees in the last 40 years, often exceeding 110 degrees during the day and rarely dropping below 90 degrees at night.   9/27/1999

After looking at everything from subways to ...

After looking at everything from subways to monorails, Phoenix area planners have proposed a 17-mile electric light-rail line between the city's center and downtown Mesa, as the most cost-effective start for rapid transit in the 2.8 million-resident valley. Costing up to $40 million a mile, the line could be in use by 2005. But opponents dub it a 19th century holdover, sneer at its speed and instead push bus, monorail and Personal Rapid Transit proposals.   9/22/1999

Facing strong pressure from the Sun City ...

Facing strong pressure from the Sun City West residents, several other community groups and Maricopa County Supervisor Jan Brewer, Continental Homes withdrew plans for Pleasant Valley Ranch, a high-density development of 2,472 houses on a 638-acre orange grove northeast of the city. Activists, who have led a year-long battle against the project as incompatible with local character, consider the withdrawal a great success. Continental president says the company will re-evaluate the project, reviews its economics and perhaps propose other option.   9/13/1999

With their number up from 150 to ...

With their number up from 150 to about 1,100 in eight years, Central Arizona neighborhood groups are turning into a powerful political force, causing Òpoliticians, bureaucrats, businesspeople, criminals and everybody else to sit up and pay attention.Ó Most municipal planning agencies already tell builders to seek project approval from such groups before seeking it from the city, and everybody expects their clout will grow with the next election cycle. Among the largest and best organized are the Greater Coronado Neighborhood Association, led by Kate Wells, and the Westwood Community Association, led by Donna Neill and Paul Enniss. In 1995, the two formed a broad coalition called Neighborhood Activists InterLinked Empowerment Movement, or NAILEM, to lobby for pro-neighborhood laws. By e mail, NAILEM reaches about 25,000 neighbors and activists, aiming to link hundreds of thousands in the near future. Governor Jane Hull credits these groups with spurring anti-slum legislation. Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley sees them as Òthe purest expression of democracy.Ó Well-known political consultant Larry Landry says they call politicians and developers to a higher standard and Òknow how to file lawsuits.Ó Phoenix City Councilman Phil Gordon thinks they could be the political parties of the future, as Òblight, sprawl and public safety will become the issues of the new millennium.Ó   7/30/1999

Governor Jane Hull's Growing Smarter Commission has ...

Governor Jane Hull's Growing Smarter Commission has completed a statewide series of 15 open houses, amassing feedback on its first draft of proposals to manage the state's explosive growth and save open space. According to The Arizona Republic, the commission's chairman, Jack Pfister, is startled by "the lack of support for the state planning goals," and by "a split between town and country." The paper says that some open house attendees opposed "anything that smacks of state mandates," while others questioned "goals that are strictly voluntary." Regional planning and open space protection ideas ranked high among Phoenix attendees, but very low among rural participants. Governor Hull expects the commission's full report by September.   7/27/1999

Chandler: To the cheers of the 500 ...

Chandler: To the cheers of the 500 people in its hearing room and outside the building, the Chandler Planning and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 against a huge Wal-Mart Superstore proposed for the city's upscale area of Carino Estates, Clemente Ranch and Ocotillo. The area residents adamantly oppose the project as detrimental to local traffic, quality of life and the safety of students from two nearby schools. They also fear that the superstore will undermine area property values. The City Council is to decide on the project by the end of August.   7/27/1999

Governor Jane Hull's criticism of a federal ...

Governor Jane Hull's criticism of a federal move to protect 731,000 acres of state land as threatened pygmy owl habitat, drew a sharp riposte from environmentalists. The governor said the designation would bar sales and leases of the 145,000-acre state trust land and undercut school funding. Calling it costly, needless and scientifically suspect, she added that pygmy owls "actually belong in northern Mexico." The executive director of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Kieran Suckling, considers the governor's words "extremely revealing" and contrary to her own Growing Smarter law. Sierra Club's Sandy Bahr calls the comment "outrageous." Dubbing this reaction unfair, the governor's press secretary, Francie Noyes, says environmentalists are using the Endangered Species Act and pygmy owls to stop growth. Republican state representative Steve Huffman is exploring a possible court challenge to the federal move.   7/12/1999

By a 4-3 vote, the Fountain ...

By a 4-3 vote, the Fountain Hills Town Council decided against a McDowell Mountains development deal, in which the town would have bought 310 acres for preservation at bargain prices from the MCO company, while waiving some ordinances to make it easier for developers to build on the upper slopes. MCO wants to put 28 of its planned 340 homes higher than 2,500 feet. Conservationists want the town to condemn land above 2,400 feet and buy as much of it as possible with $6 million in bonds dedicated to preservation. MCO official Hank Lickman reiterated the firm's intention to challenge the town ordinances in court, saying MCO may build "all the way to the top of the mountain."   7/12/1999

Phoenix: With its 21.3 percent population jump ...

Phoenix: With its 21.3 percent population jump to 1,198,000 in 1998, Phoenix has became the nation's fastest-growing big city this decade, ahead of San Antonio and San Diego, which have grown 14.1 percent and 9.9 percent. Arizona Chamber of Commerce official Farrell Quinlan says the city's growth, sparked by cheap land and housing in the early 1990s, diversified local economy and brought in high-tech, high-paying jobs. But a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club, Sandy Bahr, points out that all this growth wasn't very well planned. Phoenix's quality of life is undermined, she says, by more cars and accidents, longer commutes, higher insurance and crime rates, overcrowded schools and rising pollution.   7/2/1999

A day after developers filed final plans ...

A day after developers filed final plans to build a Wal-Mart Superstore next to the upscale Chandler neighborhoods of Carino Estates, Clemente Ranch and Ocotillo, a lawyer for the Concerned Citizens of Southwest Chandler said that this 2,000-member group is prepared to sue the city if it approves the project. The group fears that the 25- acre project, with a superstore, 11shops and almost 13,000 parking places, would bring traffic, pollution and crime, and would endanger students on their way to two nearby schools. The city Planning and Zoning Commission is to review the project in about four weeks.   6/25/1999

Maricopa County: After a two-decade eight-fold population ...

Maricopa County: After a two-decade eight-fold population increase to almost 100,000, the city of Peoria, northwest of Phoenix, has concluded that "growth should pay for growth." Thus, the city wants to raise its developer impact fees from among the lowest to perhaps the highest in Maricopa County. Peoria's current single-family developer fees -- for water, sewer, solid waste, fire and police services, libraries and parks -- total $2,582. According to the city's consultants, Tischler & Associates, "the maximum supportable" fees would be $4,455 for south Peoria and $6,339 for its less developed northern area. City officials will study these recommendations through the summer and decide how much to raise fees by the end of the year.   6/11/1999

Maricopa County: The Maricopa Association of Governments ...

Maricopa County: The Maricopa Association of Governments and the Western Maricopa Coalition, a group of business and community leaders known as Westmarc, are stepping up their efforts to draw the area's long-term growth blueprint, Valley Vision 2025. In a series of summer workshops for local officials, Westmarc will seek consensus on how communities, without losing their autonomy or character, can cooperate on such common issues as education, transit and growth management.   6/11/1999

Chandler: Only nine percent of Chandler voters ...

Chandler: Only nine percent of Chandler voters bothered to vote on a three-eights of a cent sales tax increase, and 58 percent of them rejected the measure, which would have raised about $122 million over ten years for bus system and traffic flow improvements. After the 1997 rejection of similar proposals in Phoenix and Scottsdale, the only valley city with a dedicated transit tax is Tempe. The defeated transit activists say "it's very easy to battle tax increases." Their opponents respond that "voters weren't fooled by a proposal that would cost them plenty and give them little."   5/28/1999

In a report on Arizona environmental legislation ...

In a report on Arizona environmental legislation, the Sierra Club awarded Governor Jane Hulls' increased land protection efforts a grade "C," but hit half the state's lawmakers with an "F." The club rated their votes on bills dealing with alternative sources of energy, and with protection of endangered species, open space, desert, rivers and streams. Some of these bills sought to weaken the governor's Growing Smarter Law, which the Sierra Club seeks to replace with a much stronger anti-sprawl package it is preparing for a ballot in 2000. The report occasioned a testy exchange. Noting that Republican Senator Scott scored no points in the report, a lobbyist for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Sandy Bahr, said "He's a big zero." The senator responded in kind, saying that he is "not surprised by the left-wing agenda of those environmental wackos."   5/28/1999

Drafting a report on how to handle ...

Drafting a report on how to handle the state's explosive growth, the Growing Smarter Commission is reviewing its subcommittees' proposals to increase county land-use powers, let local governments set road and service extension limits, and standardize developer fees and infill incentives. The most controversial proposal calls for protecting ten percent, or 1 million acres of state trust land from development. The proposal would require a change in Arizona constitution, which says the trust land must be sold or leased at maximum profit for schools and other public institutions. It would also require a federal law change, which Republican Senator Jon Kyll is ready to sponsor. But Land Commissioner Michael Anable points out that keeping some of the most valuable urban-fringe trust land from development wouldn't stop sprawl, which would "just leapfrog" farther into the countryside. The commission's report is to be ready for a series of public hearings across the state by mid-June.   5/20/1999

Maricopa County: In a book entitled "Phoenix ...

Maricopa County: In a book entitled "Phoenix in Perspective: Reflections on Developing the Desert," a prominent Phoenix lawyer, Grady Gammage Jr., says that Maricopa County, which has raised $240 million in less than three years for a baseball stadium, should raise at least as much to save open space. Taking a middle road between Sierra Club-style urban growth boundaries and unrestricted development, Gammage would like to add stronger provisions to the state's Growing Smarter law. He suggests creating a Regional Open Space Authority, making development decisions more predictable, insulating the state Land Department from political pressures, curtailing business recruitment and using water supply as a determinant of future growth limits.   4/27/1999

Developers are responding to the growing demand ...

Developers are responding to the growing demand for new housing in central Phoenix with luxury projects, until recently typical for the sprawling suburbs. Artisan Homes is awaiting city approval for a five-story loft project, and Gray Development is designing an upscale apartment complex -- both on long-vacant sites next to shopping and transit.   4/23/1999

Even though neighborhood activists "fighting huge developments ...

Even though neighborhood activists "fighting huge developments feel outgunned by high-powered zoning attorneys," says The Arizona Republic, all across the Valley they are debating growth issues in living rooms and public halls, uniting for a common cause and "exerting more and more influence in the planning process." Both developers and city officials are increasingly sensitive to public perceptions, with the later sometimes declining campaign contributions from builders who seek new zoning or project approvals.   3/1/1999

Avondale: With its population quadrupled since 1980 ...

Avondale: With its population quadrupled since 1980, and with 20 projects under way this city in southwest of Phoenix, hopes to make growth pay for itself through a development fee increase from $2,975 to $5,495 per housing unit. Non-residential developers will pay the rate based on the square footage of their projects. The money will help finance infrastructure and services for the new neighborhoods.   1/1/1999

Two months after voters approved the Growing ...

Two months after voters approved the Growing Smarter package, the Senate Government and Environmental Stewardship Committee proposed to "water it down" by exempting rural towns with less than 75,000 residents from the obligation to develop comprehensive growth plans by 2001. The proposition sponsor, Democratic Senator Gus Arzberger, wants to give these towns more time for smarter growth planning.   1/1/1999

Maricopa County: A developer proposal to change ...

Maricopa County: A developer proposal to change zoning of a 640-acre orange grove from agricultural to residential and to build 2,400 homes, a school, a church and a shopping center there, has antagonized residents of nearby Sun City West. Three thousand of them crowded a meeting with the developer and county officials, questioning the impact of the project on traffic, public safety and local resources. Assurances that the project would not hurt the city did not convince all participants. Most promise to take a stand and fight for their quality of life.   12/1/1998

Governor Jane Hull won voter approval for ...

Governor Jane Hull won voter approval for her Growing Smarter packet that earmarks $220 million until 2010 for open space preservation, but bars the legislature from demanding tough local growth laws, unless the bar is lifted by two-thirds of the legislators or by popular ballot. The governor named her 16-member Growing Smarter Commission to devise a master growth control plan by next fall. Unexpectedly, the governor asked the commission also to consider urban growth boundaries. The idea lacks legislative support, but is cherished by many voters and by environmental groups. The Sierra Club intends to push for urban growth boundaries and other strong land conservation measures during the 2000 campaign.   12/1/1998

Scottsdale: A lawyer and slow-growth advocate, Alan ...

Scottsdale: A lawyer and slow-growth advocate, Alan Kaufman, has single-handedly foiled a mix-use and high- density 311-acre greenfield project, by pointing out that its backers have failed to submit the number of local signatures required by the city ordinance. The project's critics were afraid that it would worsen already bad traffic and invite even more commercial development.   12/1/1998

Chandler: The City Council scheduled a May ...

Chandler: The City Council scheduled a May 18 special advisory poll on a three-eighths-of-a-cent sales tax increase for transit and other transportation improvements in this congested outer suburb of Phoenix. The raise, proposed by the Chandler Citizens Committee, would bring in $54 million over the next five years, allowing the city to expand bus services and improve street safety. In 1997, a half-cent sales tax for transportation was levied by the nearby city of Tempe, and part of a similar "quality of life" increase passed last spring in adjacent Mesa also goes to transit.   12/1/1998

Stirred up by the Citizens for Growth ...

Stirred up by the Citizens for Growth Management initiative, Arizona developers are buying as much unincorporated land southeast of Phoenix as they can "before they are halted by anti-growth efforts."   7/1/1998

Supporters of the Growing Smarter Initiative are ...

Supporters of the Growing Smarter Initiative are starting an educational campaign to win November votes for state spending on open space preservation. The campaign is led by a civic committee, Neighbors for Planning and Preservation, under 86-year-old Ruth Hamilton of the Phoenix Mountain Preservation Council.   7/1/1998

The city of Mesa, on the edge ...

The city of Mesa, on the edge of Phoenix, is launching its growth-pays-for growth policy with higher development fees, effective November 1. Fees for a $150,000 home are going up from $2,511 to $3,063. This will add more than $3 million to the current budget, helping the city defray costs of parks, libraries and services for new developments.   7/1/1998

The Citizens for Growth Management's petition to ...

The Citizens for Growth Management's petition to put a tougher growth control proposal on the November 3 ballot was dropped until 2000. Since March, proponents have collected 90,000 signatures, or 23,000 short of the number needed by the July 2 deadline.   6/1/1998

After "a rocky trip through the legislature ...

After "a rocky trip through the legislature," the Growing Smarter bill was signed by Governor Jane Hull. The bill requires cities and counties to adopt general plans every ten years, sets up a commission to study growth and schedules a November 3 ballot on a ten-year $200 million open land protection fund.   6/1/1998

Phoenix's fast redevelopment, engineered with the whole ...

Phoenix's fast redevelopment, engineered with the whole commmunity's involvement through the nonprofit Downtown Phoenix Partnership Inc., is admired internationally as a model of urban revival and seen as defacto smart growth. In 1997, more than 100 foreign cities sent officials to learn from Phoenix's success. The city also gets ten million tourists a year. About 90% of the residents support the city's direction and expect future action on mass transit and affordable housing.   3/1/1998

Phoenix's suburb of Glendale is taking a ...

Phoenix's suburb of Glendale is taking a similar community involvement path to revitalize its downtown around a new $7.2 million civic center.    3/1/1998

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