Opposition brewing to stop power station

Scottsdale neighborhoods and businesses are organizing to stop the relocation of an electric substation at what's considered the western gateway of downtown.

Residents living on the western edge of downtown, both north and south of the Arizona Canal, are contacting City Council members and Salt River Project to express their displeasure with the plans for a new substation on the northeast corner of 68th Street and Indian School Road.

The proposed Solis Scottsdale Resort and Residences, formerly known as Waterview, is paying for the substation relocation so the hotel project could be built on the current substation site north and east of Scottsdale and Camelback roads along the south side of the Arizona Canal.

"Why should this person be allowed to do this? They bought their original property knowing the substation was there, had opportunities to make substantial changes there and chose not to," area resident Michael Levy said.

The business owner closest to the substation site is Tom Anderson, owner of the former Anderson's Fifth Estate, now Club Forbidden, a gay nightspot.

Anderson said the substation would hurt his property value and if he ever wanted to sell, his property could no longer be part of a mixed-use project complementing the gateway entrance.

"How can you improve Scottsdale by improving one section in the city at the expense and loss of ruining another?" Anderson said.

The $650 million Solis project is planned to include about 250 hotel rooms, about 140 residences and about 15 penthouse single-family homes, along with some office and retail space. The project stretching along the south side of the canal would include seven buildings, including four 72-foot-tall structures and two 65 feet high. It would replace aging one-story apartments, some already demolished.

Mark Madkour, Scottsdale Canal Development LLC managing partner, said the new substation site design is still being worked on, and will include a small park right at the corner.

"It will be very much of an art wall, interestingly designed with nice vegetation around it and an open park for pedestrians," Madkour said. "I think we will get a lot more support by just getting out there in the neighborhood and showing the plans."

Madkour said the neighborhood will see the plans shortly.

Councilman Ron McCullagh said he hopes the design is not only attractive in its own right, but more attractive than the alternative - a three-story building on the commercially zoned site.

"I'm anxious to see if everyone arrives at the same conclusion, but they haven't right now," McCullagh said. "I'm sympathetic to the neighbors to the extent I wouldn't like to see someone else's nuisance moved from their neighborhood to my neighborhood."

SRP spokesman Jeff Lane said the council will have to approve an alley abandonment for the substation. He said the building of a new, expanded substation with three transformers at this site, which would handle expected future growth in the area, is contingent on council approval of the new development.

If the project is approved, environmental studies would be done on the proposed substation site - formerly a gas station - prior to construction, Lane said. A water well on the site will remain and the substation would be built around it, Lane said.

The developer's initial plan was to relocate the substation at the corner of Scottsdale and Camelback roads to east of the hotel and condo project, across the street from single-family houses.

Neighbors complained, and in February the developer announced it spent $7 million to purchase the commercial property on the northeast corner of Indian School Road and 68th Street.

Madkour said he hopes to start public hearings for the Solis project this summer, possibly going to the City Council in the fall. No hearing dates have been set.