Mesa business owners oppose Main St. light rail

Main Street business owners say they are not against light rail, they’re just against light rail going down their street. First Avenue seems to be the preferred choice among those Mesa business owners.

“First Avenue is not developed,” said Virginia Berg. “There is a lot of property that needs to be developed. If it goes down Main Street, it’s going to destroy the ambience in downtown.”

The latest public meeting about the future of light rail in Mesa, held at the Mesa Public Library on Tuesday night, brought a room-filling crowd and passionate concerns about livelihood and lifestyle.

Light-rail tracks that run from northwest Phoenix to west Mesa will open in December 2008.

The tracks run down Central Avenue in Phoenix, past Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, through downtown Tempe, past Arizona State University and end on Main and Sycamore in Mesa.

Valley Metro is studying the extension from Sycamore to Mesa Drive, to open in 2015.

The final route for that extension, however, is undecided.

The options are “Main-1-1”: Main Street, First Street or First Avenue.

Valley Metro is looking at details of the alternatives, but won’t have answers until next year.

Tuesday’s meeting brought questions of how long construction would take, how much the project would cost and how shops along the line would survive during construction.

“How many businesses have closed in Phoenix and Tempe since construction started?” asked Bob DeFabrizio, owner of Cash in a Flash Pawn on Main Street.

Project manager Mark Soronson said he didn’t know.

“You don’t want to answer that question,” DeFabrizio said.

The next public meeting for light rail is expected to be in spring, when Valley Metro should have more information about cost, station locations and environmental impacts.

Brent Berge said business owners feel very emotional about the issue and see construction as negative.

“If you had your life savings in a business, you’d be negative about it, too,” Berge said. “We don’t need all these people coming down to Mesa if all the businesses are closed.”

Eight years ago, the city spent millions to remodel Main Street, adding street lights, widening sidewalks and replacing waterlines.

Former city officials have said that Main Street is the preferred route and that steps were taken during the remodel to prepare the street for light rail.

The final decision will be made by the City Council in early 2009.

In the meantime, Mesa is trying to plan for the light-rail path already in place on Main Street up to Sycamore with the West Main Street Area Plan, which will go before the planning and zoning board on Thursday.

The plan would encourage dense, urban development near the light-rail station.

Planning and zoning meeting

What: The West Main Street Area Plan, which proposes to change the area near light rail to be more friendly to dense, urban development

When: Thursday, 4 p.m.

Where: City Council chambers, 57 E. First Street