32nd Street Revitalization Project

North 32nd Renewed Meeting Update

 in 32nd Street Revitalization Project

The next North 32nd Street renewed community meeting is October 22nd from 6:00-7:00pm at Shea Middle School Cafeteria.

The format will be as follows: The city staff will present the North 32nd St Renewal draft plan to residents and a question and answer opportunity after the presentation using comment cards.  Copies of the draft plan are available here, or in a printer friendly version here.

For residents interested in getting involved with the vision of North 32nd Street you are encouraged to sign up for any of the three subcommittees: Design/ Branding, Transportation and Street Improvements, and land use.

In previous meetings community members participated in mapping exercises. They highlighted areas of the map, indicating what changes they would like in their neighborhood.

The 32nd Street and Shea Intersection has seen the most community interest since the working group was formed. With its southern location within the  corridor, it serves as the gateway to North 32nd street. The results of the mapping exercise indicate that the community mostly favors redevelopment and change (color green). Support is indicated for the repurposing of the right-of-way- that could include simprovmnets such as resurfacing, bike lanes or additional landscaping. 32nd st and shea

Stability (red zone) are those areas that would stay as they currently exist, such as single family residential neighborhoods with an established density (dwelling units per acre) or restoration of existing buildings.

Retrofitting or repurposing (yellow zone) would include additional landscaping within the right of way or parking lot, adaptive reuse of structures or adding new buildings to vacant properties or parking lots at the same scale as surrounding neighborhoods.

Redevelop or change (green zone) meant a significant new development that would completely redevelop the site by changing the scale and increasing the density or daily traffic.

 

 

 

 

Recap of 32 Renewed meeting

 in 32nd Street Revitalization Project, News/ Events

The meeting at Shea Middle school was packed last night. The meeting included city representatives from the following departments: Planning, Arts and culture, Neighborhood services, Parks, Streets, District 3 Office and District 2 Office.

The meeting was attended and facilitated by District 3 Councilman Gates and District Two, Vice Mayor Jim Waring.

Goals: gather input, share specific ideas, identify tasks, develop subcommittees.

Summary of Statements: Due to the bypass of traffic created by the SR51, businesses are not as supported as they once were. This lack of traffic has impacted local businesses and neighborhoods, the purpose of these meetings is to envision a new future for North 32nd Street. Community involvement at these meetings shows the council that the residents of our neighborhood want to invest in our community and support businesses in this area. We hope to start a business association within the corridor. Filling vacancies is our short term goal, a goal that has been helped with Alice Cooper’s the Rock, Jambo, the Original Breakfast Joint, At Home, and many others. The meeting was intended to focus on the long term goals helped to be developed by ASU and the Urban Land Institute. These groups have had in the data and development of our designs. Utilizing this input we have broken the corridor down into three different phases.
Phase One is from the SR51 to Sweetwater, Phase Two is from Sweetwater to Paradise, Phase Three is Paradise, North. They hope to have sub-committees brought forward with community participation. There will be a follow up meeting on October 22 where input from this planning meeting will be brought forward to develop a final plan to be voted upon by the city.

Street Improvements: A road diet will be imposed to take out a Northbound lane and restripe from Shea to past Bell Rd to two lanes each direction and include a bicycle lane. A treatment will be applied from Shea to Greenway for a new rubberized surface, new road striping will take place up North 32nd Street for bicycle lane connectivity. The new pavement work will take place in the spring during March/April 2015. Signage will be installed from Shea to Bell Rd and will include the 32nd street logo, November will mark the start of this work.

road diet

Feedback can be sent directly to the District 3 office at 602-262-7441 or council.district.3@phoenix.gov.

Below are some photos from the event.

32 and cactus 32nd st and shea

Next meeting for 32nd street Renewal

 in 32nd Street Revitalization Project, News/ Events

Councilman Bill Gates and Vice Mayor Jim Waring would like your comments and input on the draft of the North 32nd st plan.  The plan will help guide future development on North 32nd St with regard to land use, transportation, infrastructure, community amenities and branding the corridor.

The next citizen meetings are scheduled at Shea Middle School 2728 East Shea Blvd. Phoenix.

  • September 30th  6:00 – 7:00 p.m
  • October 22nd 6:00-7:00pm

Share your thoughts and let your voice be heard!

32nd street

The North 32nd Street Corridor is a citizen driven effort to improve the conditions along 32nd Street. The Corridor is approximately eight miles and runs from State Route 51 to the Loop 101 Freeway. For many years, 32nd Street was the main north-south transportation corridor in north central Phoenix. The completion of State Route 51 from Northern Avenue to the Loop 101 Freeway reduced vehicle use along the Corridor and demographic changes within neighborhoods adjacent to the freeway have impacted and changed the businesses and traffic characteristics of the area along 32nd Street. Vacant commercial lots, dated buildings, signage, parking design, lack of bicycle lanes, decrepit landscaping, and under-capacity traffic are examples of the current status of 32nd Street. Residents and businesses in the area are interested in revitalizing the land uses along 32nd Street to upgrade the number and types of businesses by increasing visitation and to improve the amenities available for residents of the area.

Recognizing the deteriorating conditions along 32nd Street, Phoenix Vice Mayor Jim Waring and Councilman Bill Gates formed a coalition of area business leaders and residents to study and make recommendations about improving conditions along 32nd Street. This coalition, the 32nd Street Working Group, started meeting in the spring of 2012 and formed three subcommittees to focus on specific issues. In addition, reports related to the North 32nd Street Corridor were provided by Arizona State University and the Urban Land Institute.

City Approval Meetings will take place:

  • November 3rd- Paradise Valley Village Planning Commission
  • November 9th Phoenix Planning Commission
  • December 3rd Phoenix City Council Formal Meeting

 

32 Renewed Community Meeting

 in 32nd Street Revitalization Project, News/ Events

The North 32nd St. Corridor Plan Meeting for PHASE ONE took place on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 5:30pm at Shea Middle School Cafeteria, 2728 E. Shea Blvd.

The North 32nd Street Corridor is a citizen driven effort to improve the conditions along 32nd Street.  The Corridor is approximately eight miles and runs from State Route 51 to the Loop 101 Freeway

There were over 60 people from the community who attended.  Vice Mayor Bill Gates spoke as well as Deputy Director Ray Dovalina, and Craig Mavis from the Paradise Valley Village Planning Committee.

The meeting recapped the several urban planning studies that had taken place.  The coalition, the 32nd Street Working Group, started meeting in the spring of 2012 and formed three subcommittees to focus on specific issues.  In addition, reports related to the North 32nd Street Corridor were provided by Arizona State University and the Urban Land Institute. 

The results:

There is approx $2 million dollars being invested in the  corridor.  The main focus right now is a “road diet” to remove unnecessary lanes to accommodate bike lanes and medians.

They are also going to upgrade the road and provide funding for art to decorate the streets.

There was talk about bringing in condos to increase some street traffic to drive more business in the corridor.

The activity we worked on was was looking at the map of the corridor and coloring in areas we felt could be revamped, areas to stay the same and areas to be completely redone.

The maps will be taken into consideration when the final stage is presented to the city council.

Here are the results from Phase One mapping.

Any questions or comments  Vice Mayor Bill Gates can be reached at Bill.Gates@Phoenix.gov

meeting 2 meeting

 

The next planning meeting was scheduled for phase 2

Monday, March 24th 5:30PM
Phase 2 Community meeting (32nd Street between Sweetwater Avenue and Paradise Lane) at The Rock at 32nd Street (13625 North 32nd Street). Project overview (history, ULI/ASU/Subcommittee report) and group mapping exercise to determine areas of stability, retrofit and change.

Here were the results from Phase 2’s mapping exercise.

AZ Republic article about a livelier North 32nd street

 in 32nd Street Revitalization Project, News/ Events

By Nicole Barrett Special for The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:34 PM

The area of north 32nd Street in northeast Phoenix will see improvements over the next few years, including repaved roads, new sidewalks and bike lanes.

Officials hope the improvements will help in the community’s effort to revitalize the neighborhood.

The area — between Arizona 51 on the south and Union Hills Drive on the north — is the focus of the 32nd Street Corridor Working Group, assembled by Vice Mayor Bill Gates and Councilman Jim Waring.

A look at 32nd Street, north past Arizona 51 in Phoenix. The corridor has experienced a major decline since the installation of the Arizona 51 beyond Shea Boulevard in 1999. Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Republic

The group has met about a half-dozen times to discuss solutions to enhance the area, Gates said, adding that some of the meetings have attracted “50, 60, 70 people.”

“My district is essentially all built out … so it’s about taking what we have already and getting creative,” Gates said.

Decline linked to Arizona 51

The corridor has experienced a major decline since the installation of Arizona 51 beyond Shea Boulevard in 1999.

“Since I came on the council, the corridor has been a focus,” Gates said. “After the freeway was built, a lot of people would simply jump on the 51 and drive elsewhere.”

That traffic took northeast Phoenix residents to newer, trendier shopping spots like Kierland Commons and Desert Ridge Marketplace.

The result was from 19 to 20 percent vacancies along the 32nd Street corridor, and a drop in street traffic from 40,000 vehicles per day to between 15,000 to 18,000 vehicles, city officials said.

But Gates sees the vacant areas as opportunities for  innovative and collaborative projects, and he said he wants to revitalize the proud history of the once-heavy retail area.

Gates represents Phoenix District 3, which is bordered by Bell Road, Northern Avenue, Interstate 17 and 64th Street.

Inspired by other areas

The non-profit Urban Land Institute, which specializes in researching land use and development issues, helped identify what projects — such as bike lanes or landscaping — or events they could develop to draw new businesses, residents and shoppers to the area.

The city applied and received a grant from the Maricopa Association of Governments to repave and restripe the street, add sidewalk room for pedestrians and construct medians, Gates said. By eliminating one lane, the corridor will become a five-lane configuration, and the city will create two bicycle lanes on both sides of 32nd Street.

“Right now, there are no bike lanes on 32nd Street, and it’s difficult,” said John Barker, a landscape architect and consultant who helped design a logo for the group. “We’ve looked at doing some temporary cost-effective enhancements to beautify the area.”

Officials are modeling the renovations after Melrose on Seventh Avenue and 16th Street and Bethany Home Road, Gates said. Both were once-vibrant urban retail areas that risked languishing in the 1990s, but were revitalized by amenities that made the centers more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.

“The folks in the area have been inspired by other areas of revitalization,” Gates said. “They can sort of imagine their neighborhoods can have that.”

The street project will take about two years to complete in addition to six months of construction, Barker said.

Ray Dovalina, assistant director of the Street Transportation Department, said the project will receive $445,000, but the city can’t use the funds until fiscal 2016. However, Gates said the city could potentially begin work and use the grant money to pay the city back.

“We are trying to get a design plan started before the end of this calendar year,” Dovalina said.

Gates said the city is working with the Parks Department to include public-art pieces with the project. And the group also has discussed utilizing the nearby preserve. One idea: create a major biking event.

Attracting new business

Gates said the revitalization efforts already have attracted some youth- and family-oriented businesses.

“We’ve been working with the Mayor’s Office to give the area a push forward, and we are encouraging businesses to work with each other,” Gates said. “We’ve been very fortunate to attract some new entities.”

A noteworthy partnership between Genesis Church and Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. What was once a vacant strip mall for two years, the Rock at 32nd Street is now a functional church and full-service community center.

Lead Pastor Pat Stark, 49, said he chose the North 32nd Street location because of the socio-economic diversity of upper- and lower-income communities and room to grow. After existing as a “set up and tear down” church for 10 years, Stark was ready to open a church with a Monday-through-Saturday community center.

The collaboration began with a mutual friend who was both a member of the church and on the board of Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock. The two organizations had similar visions and have since gained three new tenants in their building and seen a 20 percent growth in congregation.

“Because of our early partnerships, we’ve hopefully set the tone that there needs to be more collaboration for growth,” Stark said.

In addition to the Rock, businesses such as the Original Breakfast House, at Thunderbird Road and 32nd Street, and Basis charter school have opened in the area.

Gates said the community has a big role in the project, which has three citizen-driven and community-led subcommittees.

“One of the best things about the project is great neighborhood involvement,” Gates said. “People who grew up in this neighborhood are coming back to start their families.”