Queen Creek waiting for signals

An ambitious developer-funded program to provide temporary traffic signals and relief to Queen Creek gridlock has sputtered out.

In 2005, a collective of Queen Creek area developers agreed to fund 12 to 14 intersections worth of portable traffic signals in Queen Creek but delivered on only two intersections last October as developers blame a slowing housing market for a lack of funding.

Meanwhile, an Iowa-based signal manufacturer that was asked to provide signals at a quick pace was left in a serious financial bind, said Lyle Stout, a technician with the company, OMJC Signal.

The company negotiated with the developer collective, and when the order fell short of expectations the company was forced to lay off nearly its entire workforce of 10 to 12 people for three weeks to ease the financial strain, he said.

“We began negotiating on this ... and then they told us they would need fast delivery,” Stout said. “So we began building up. But when the orders didn’t come in, we got in a cash-tight situation because our liquidity was tied up in goods and those weren’t moving.”

Stout said the developers weren’t tied to a contract, and the $130,000 signals are fairly generic and can be sold to other cities and towns.

Stuart Goodman, a spokesman for Vanderbilt Farms, a Tempe land investment company behind the signal program with holdings in Queen Creek and Pinal County, said the company was clear when talking with OMJC that they would only order what they could afford. Goodman said they also warned officials at OMJC that ordering additional parts and materials for construction was “a business risk.”

“From our perspective, we were cautious in repeatedly explaining we would only order those units that we could pay for,” he said. “While we certainly wanted the units we could pay for quickly, at no time did we encourage him to build units in which we did not have resources to purchase.”

Goodman said the project began about the time the real estate market started to slump, affecting the ability of some developers to contribute to the program.

Queen Creek’s special transportation projects manager Dick Schaner said the town is using the two donated signals at the intersections of Chandler Heights and Ellsworth roads.

Schaner said if the development collective delivered on signals for 12 or 14 intersections, they would have to start auctioning them off.

“We could use some more, but we’re moving ahead on permanent signals,” he said.