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home / Real Estate
Study group presents Seven Ranches area plan
John Stapleton
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The American Planning Association has finished its final investigative study of the Seven Ranches Area. The organization formed its own Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT) and put together a 59-page report that includes a proposed model for the area if the city were to consider any future development. The report also touches on the past difficulties faced by developers, but lays out both pros and cons on the current status of Seven Ranches.
The CPAT began hosting community meetings for the Seven Ranches area back in December of 2011. It also met with City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission in a joint meeting to discuss the background of Seven Ranches and the objective of the report. Specific areas of focus would be “consensus building, implementation and urban design.”
The report also discussed issues of “mistrust” and, in some cases, “uninformed opinions” that existed among the stakeholders and with City Hall. The report repeatedly talks about a collaborative, cooperative effort among the entities and suggests a Seven Ranches Development Advisory Group.
In terms of the inability to develop the area, the group recognized the difficulties individual owners faced when dealing with water distribution, drainage, and fire suppression. Because of the fragmented parcels, individual owners must collaborate with adjacent owners to develop property. It calls the infrastructure of Seven Ranches “very poor.” It also identifies the inability of the Seven Ranches Water District to provide “the minimum fire flow requirements” and says it poses a significant challenge for new development to meet current fire codes. The roads of Seven Ranches are unpaved and create dust control issues. In the event of heavy rain, the report says some roads are impassable.
Seven Ranches is located in what the report calls “the nexus” of new development with the future City Hall, Banner Health Facility, and the new Central Arizona College Campus. It says with the right development, it could create “synergies with each of them.” Although the infrastructure problems pose a challenge, they “are not insurmountable.”
The highlight of the report is the various models that could exist in Seven Ranches. It takes into consideration the existing conditions and the projected value it would bring to the community. For the highest value creation it states the city would be required to take a lead role and it would also require significant owner participation. A “Village Concept” was the most favorable. In this model, there would be open walking areas between retail. It would allow for two-story retail with a common architectural design. Also, because of the walking and biking trails, it is proposed multi-family housing within the area.
Financing the development of the area calls for both City and landowners to be involved and says a “market analysis of the potential values if the development were to take place in accordance to this plan might provide the basis for funding the improvements.”
In its conclusion, the report reiterates the need for dialogue. “The critical constraint in Seven Ranches is a mistrust that has prevented interested property owners, infrastructure providers, the City, and surrounding citizens, property owners, and interest groups from collaboratively working together with respect and shared responsibility and contribution.”
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www.epsilonengineering.com / CopaNews.com
Development plans for the Seven Ranches area are complex and disputed.
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