Planning Commissioner hypocritical in opposition to widening of Carefree Highway

Reporter Kathleen Stinson’s “Final recommendations for Carefree Highway revealed” article (The Desert Advocate, May 30, 2007) revealed what I would call hypocritical comments from Cave Creek’s Planning Commissioner Ted Bryda. He objects to the widening and possibly losing deceleration lanes near 36th Street near his home.

This is the same Ted Bryda who just a few months ago, along with town of Cave Creek elected officials, supported and voted for upzoning hundreds of acres of land in that area alongside Carefree Highway. Lands that were zoned for rural, single‑family homes, which would have generated only a few hundred vehicle trips per day, were upzoned to very intense commercial and multi‑family, increasing traffic counts into the thousands. This new zoning designation will add about 4,000 more full‑time residents and commercial traffic numbers beyond any predictions.

In fact, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Cave Creek have all contributed to turning Carefree Highway into just another Bell Road commercial strip as lands upzoned from single family homes to commercial between Cave Creek Road and I‑17. Only Carefree has fought diligently, even having to protect in court, to keep the rural residential zoning at the intersections of Scottsdale/Tom Darlington and Cave Creek/Carefree Highways.

Will Mr. Bryda and cohorts also welcome the proposed upzoning needed to accommodate a Wal‑Mart store at Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road all in the name of greed/sales receipts? With a budget now of over $42 million, greater than Fountain Hills, Cave Creek is on a non‑stop track to becoming a major city. With all that growth, why shouldn’t Maricopa County Department of Transportation recommend more lanes? Their mandate is our safety. They are simply having to clean up after the mess that Cave Creek, Phoenix and Scottsdale have promoted in the last few years.

Anna Marsolo
Cave Creek