Dove
Valley residents win one, lose one
by
Kathleen Stinson
NORTHEAST
PHOENIX – Residents in far northeast Phoenix fought hard to
get the city council to listen to them recently over a zoning
issue and won a partial victory.
Those
residents did not prevail, however, in their opposition to
a rezoning which will allow multi‑family (condominiums)
housing at the southeast corner of Rancho Paloma Drive and
Cave Creek Road, approved by the council Nov. 15.
The
good news is the council “formally informed” the city’s planning
department it would approve only single‑family dwellings
at the northeast corner of the same intersection in the future,
said Kathy Hulka, spokeswoman for the Dove Valley Coalition
representing area residents. The council also included in
this promise Parcel M, the open land at the northwest corner
of the intersection behind homes on the south side of Quien
Sabe Way.
“The
northwest corner ... has been a grave concern for many years.
There have been three unsuccessful attempts to make it a commercial
parcel over the last five years. Fortunately, the parcel has
now become known as the ‘Bloody Parcel’ in some developer
circles,” the coalition’s news‑letter recently stated.
Hulka
addressed the city council before a vote was taken.
“...
the perception in our area is that we are the bastard children
of Phoenix. We have a Cave Creek address but are part of Phoenix.
The city is happy to take our taxes, and we pay a lot of them.
But when we try to protect our homes and our quality of life,
you don’t care what we think,” Hulka said. “They (developers)
are resorting to the biggest bang for the buck and we are
supposed to accept it?”
Councilwoman
Peggy Neely was instrumental in this compromise of sorts,
according to Joshua Bednarek, Neely’s chief of staff. He said
Neely told city planning staff she didn’t feel multi‑family
was an appropriate use for the parcel at the northeast corner.
Residents
feared the city’s rezoning decision affecting the southeast
corner would open a floodgate of multi‑family development
in that area, Bednarek related.
Hulka
says she is glad to get the council “on record” regarding
these adjacent parcels. “They heard this time just how concerned
we are,” she stated.
Construction
of the condominiums will not begin for at least several months,
or possibly more than year, the coalition’s newsletter states.
