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Council narrowly OKs Washington Street plan
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Designs to punch Washington Street through a low-income downtown Chandler neighborhood narrowly received City Council approval Thursday.
The council voted 4-3 in favor of the designs, which call for extending Washington Street from its current terminus at Fairview Street south to Pecos Road, where a signalized intersection would be created.
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City Councilmen Jeff Weninger, Matt Orlando and Rick Heumann voted against the designs. Weninger said the city is facing a dire budget forecast and must be more circumspect about how public money is allocated.
"Every project we spend money on, we have to scrutinize," Weninger said.
The approved plans mean the city will have to buy up 20 properties - mainly single-family homes - and portions of 11 other properties, according to Sharon Joyce, city real estate manager. Plans also call for the creation of a new park on the extension's east side, extending from Morelos Street to Kessler Lane. The park would replace the existing Winn Park, situated just south of the Salvation Army Chandler Corps at 85 E. Saragosa St., according to Joyce.
City officials have pegged the land acquisitions cost at about $5.3 million. So far, the city has spent $884,000 buying up several area properties. The road construction cost is estimated to run about $2 million, while the cost to build the new park has not been determined.
The Washington Street project is part of a larger master plan, called the South Arizona Avenue Entry Corridor Study, to guide how the downtown area develops in the coming decades. The district targeted for redevelopment is bounded by Chandler Boulevard, Pecos Road, South Palm Lane and South Delaware Street. The effort involves redeveloping the existing corridor into a thriving neighborhood where residents would live above shops, restaurants and offices.
The Washington Street extension is aimed at making traffic conditions safer, establishing the eastern limits of the commercial area along Arizona Avenue, providing a buffer for the neighborhood between the commercial area and the residential area, and limiting "cut-through" traffic in the neighborhood by incorporating traffic-calming devices, officials have said.
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