WHY VOTE NO
This is TOWER zoning outside of the areas with the investment of billions of dollars of public money in infrastructure, private development should be encouraged closer to the infrastructure so we all benefit from the private and public investments in our city's future.
This TOWER zoning is invasive and should be limited to the more urban areas where it transitions to single family neighborhoods with mid-rise and low-rise buildings.
TOWER zoning among three residential neighborhoods is ridiculous.
The Developer claims that the project will revitalize the corner of 7th Street and Thomas (that Phoenix Country Club has long neglected), however, its project proposes to turn its back to the corner, providing concrete walls containing a parking structure to Thomas, the corner, and 7th Street. The project will not revitalize the corner any more than the Phoenix Country Club could do right now by planting a few trees.
The Project will offer amenities, some open space and a park deck, to its residents, elevated on the top of the parking podium while those on the sidewalk and street will be presented with high concrete walls enclosing an imposing parking structure towering above grade.
The Developer claims that its project is "walkable" because of nearby bus lines, light rail a half mile away, and potential trolley lines on 3rd Street, but a walkable development does not have more parking than recommended by the city and does not make all pedestrian trips hundreds of feet longer by having its main entrance on the opposite side of each mass transit opportunities that it touts.
The zoning precedent that this TOWER project relies on is from the 1960s before we had the city planning and public investment in infrastructure that we have made in the last 50 years. The proposal violates numerous guidelines of the Phoenix General Plan.
This Developer has claimed that golf courses are in trouble and that this project will help the Phoenix Country Club keep its golf course, but there is no restriction on future development of portions of or all of the golf course, we have no enforceable power to require that golf course will remain open space if this TOWER zoning is approved. We are offered an empty promise that 105 acres of green space will continue to exist.
The Crystal Point development is not a valid basis for a precedent in support of approval of this request. In the intervening decades, planning policies have evolved to reflect sound planning principles for context-sensitive development, as well as the need for a development form which allows government to provide services in a much more cost-efficient manner.
We oppose the PUD rezoning in case Z-51-19:
1. 110 foot height. This is too high for the area, a more than a half mile off of Central, 1/4 mile outside the village core, and more than 1/2 mile from the light rail. The Phoenix Country Club simply wants to plop a TOWER in one of its parking lots.
2. Open Space. The PUD seeks to reduce the open space required in an M-R district from 30% to 25%. The Phoenix Country Club is trying to preserve as little open space as possible in this PUD, which it will later argue is a template for redevelopment of other parcels that it might want to carve out of its property next. Piece by piece the Phoenix Country Club will reduce the open space that it has said should be preserved.
3. Parking Podium. The PUD proposes a 25 foot tall concrete parking podium on the corner of Thomas and 7th Street that will forever surround the corner with concrete walls, forever preventing any other amenities or uses.
4. Parking Problem. The Phoenix Country Club frequently hosts large events, and plopping a TOWER in its parking area will reduce the Phoenix Country Club's parking by a large number of spaces— we believe over one hundred.
This TOWER zoning is invasive and should be limited to the more urban areas where it transitions to single family neighborhoods with mid-rise and low-rise buildings.
TOWER zoning among three residential neighborhoods is ridiculous.
The Developer claims that the project will revitalize the corner of 7th Street and Thomas (that Phoenix Country Club has long neglected), however, its project proposes to turn its back to the corner, providing concrete walls containing a parking structure to Thomas, the corner, and 7th Street. The project will not revitalize the corner any more than the Phoenix Country Club could do right now by planting a few trees.
The Project will offer amenities, some open space and a park deck, to its residents, elevated on the top of the parking podium while those on the sidewalk and street will be presented with high concrete walls enclosing an imposing parking structure towering above grade.
The Developer claims that its project is "walkable" because of nearby bus lines, light rail a half mile away, and potential trolley lines on 3rd Street, but a walkable development does not have more parking than recommended by the city and does not make all pedestrian trips hundreds of feet longer by having its main entrance on the opposite side of each mass transit opportunities that it touts.
The zoning precedent that this TOWER project relies on is from the 1960s before we had the city planning and public investment in infrastructure that we have made in the last 50 years. The proposal violates numerous guidelines of the Phoenix General Plan.
This Developer has claimed that golf courses are in trouble and that this project will help the Phoenix Country Club keep its golf course, but there is no restriction on future development of portions of or all of the golf course, we have no enforceable power to require that golf course will remain open space if this TOWER zoning is approved. We are offered an empty promise that 105 acres of green space will continue to exist.
The Crystal Point development is not a valid basis for a precedent in support of approval of this request. In the intervening decades, planning policies have evolved to reflect sound planning principles for context-sensitive development, as well as the need for a development form which allows government to provide services in a much more cost-efficient manner.
We oppose the PUD rezoning in case Z-51-19:
1. 110 foot height. This is too high for the area, a more than a half mile off of Central, 1/4 mile outside the village core, and more than 1/2 mile from the light rail. The Phoenix Country Club simply wants to plop a TOWER in one of its parking lots.
2. Open Space. The PUD seeks to reduce the open space required in an M-R district from 30% to 25%. The Phoenix Country Club is trying to preserve as little open space as possible in this PUD, which it will later argue is a template for redevelopment of other parcels that it might want to carve out of its property next. Piece by piece the Phoenix Country Club will reduce the open space that it has said should be preserved.
3. Parking Podium. The PUD proposes a 25 foot tall concrete parking podium on the corner of Thomas and 7th Street that will forever surround the corner with concrete walls, forever preventing any other amenities or uses.
4. Parking Problem. The Phoenix Country Club frequently hosts large events, and plopping a TOWER in its parking area will reduce the Phoenix Country Club's parking by a large number of spaces— we believe over one hundred.