BILTMORE AREA PARTNERSHIP LUNCHEON
Tuesday, May 3, 2011

SPEAKER: Mark Thornton, Camelback East Village Planner for the City of Phoenix
SUBJECT: Power point presentation of the Camelback East Village Core Specific Plan

We try to have 15 villages located throughout the City of Phoenix. Camelback East Village is kind of located in the center portion of the city. We have three municipalities that border us-Paradise Valley, Scottsdale and Tempe. Most of the major growth areas and population is in the northern portion-those are recently annexed portions to Phoenix and those are also our newest villages-Rio Vista, Northgate Way and also Laveen. Those also happen to be our largest growth area.

Our boundaries for Camelback East Village is 7th St. on the West side, Northern on the North side, Grand Canal as the Southern border and 3 municipalities on the East side.

The way the City of Phoenix works is that we have a general plan that is basically our guiding principles documents for future development. We have 3 cores-we are in one currently the 24th St. and Camelback-44th St and Thomas and 44th St and Washington the gateway to the Airport

Some of the assets we have in the village- we are in a unique area of town with assets like Camelback Mt., Phoenix Zoo, Scottsdale Park, for example; large investment in our Public Transportation system; and historical monuments throughout our core village. One of the things that we work with is the Camelback East Village Planning committee. Basically we are the first stop for a developer or property owner if they want to re-entitle or redevelop their properties. We make recommendations to the planning commission and they make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council. The buck actually stops there. That is where the entitlements take place. We all work on our general plan update. In the last couple of years we have been working with our community and our village members to update that document. The Chairman for the Camelback East Village is Jay Swart, who is here today. The Village is unique in where we have an irregulatory document for our core (24th St. and Camelback). It was last updated in 2006 and that was during the Hard Rock case.

Basically the genesis of the document and the reason we have it is to provide design guide lines, predictability for staff and elected officials, property owners and also developers. It helps guide future development within the core.

The core is essentially 16th St. as western boundary 28th St as our eastern boundary, Camelback Rd is the main thoroughfare located throughout. The different delineation on each parcel. CC1, CC2, CC3 and then CG. That is Core Center 1, 2; Core Gradient 1 and 2. The RL is in reference to the residential neighborhood - L is for low density. It is all in proximity to Camelback Rd. The meat and potatoes of the regulatory proponent of that document has to do with certain things such as the height. You have your core gradient and that is where you want to have your transition from the business to the residential. In the core center where we are now, you see the most height and density - 4 stories up to 112 feet. Now a property owner/developer can achieve more-156 feet-if they were to obtain some bonuses. Those are in the document-can be a challenge to get. Some examples of development in the core - one of the other components the core specific plan is that we have design guidelines. They focus on the open space and pedestrian environment. Also touch on some architectural themes as well. We really want what the property owners want, and a really friendly and hospitable environment so one can walk from one end of the core to the other.

Pedestrian spine is from Rt 51 to where the Hard Rock used to be. You have a really nice pedestrian environment.

We have ARC, which is the Application Review Committee. It is one of those unique things for this area and to the core specific plan. We have 5 representatives made up of different residents throughout the village. They are appointed by the 21 members from the Village. Their main charge is to review development applications. Most recent one we had is the Hillstone property. Reviewed that about a year and a half ago. Reason to do that is to make sure the design guide lines are up held. Also to make sure all those pedestrian amenities are adhered to, the architecture is adhered to, and landscaping all those sorts of issues are adhered to. Members of the committee are: Peter Paceley, Village Planning Committee Representative; Peter Drake, Residential Neighborhood Representative; Chris Winters, Registered Landscape Architect; Jack Leonard, Registered Architect; Scott Nelson, Representative with Commercial Interests in the Camelback East Primary Core.

Questions

1) Timing and Lapsing of height grants? If you are granted a certain height it runs with the land and if you sell the height change stays.

2) Any more activity for doing projects in this area? We have and you may be familiar with the Hard Rock site. The Alliance group has picked that up and going to use it as condominiums there. They have met with ARC and it is going to the Village today. A little bit west of here there is something planned, but there has not been enough to answer your question.

3) Water Pressure solved and I understand that it has and is it a forerunner for any additional development? The water pressure issue has been solved

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me at: Marc.thornton@phoenix.gov or 402-261-8701