Well I definitely think that the market has reached critical mass. However, the market also has to be permitted to operate without NIMBYs killing off half the proposed projects.

The project in question already has high-rise zoning from a much larger proposal by the same developer. I *highly* doubt Goode's whining is going to go anywhere.

Phoenix will never have multiple true urban centers, mostly because of fucking fuck 'tards like these fucking fucks.

Damn this shit pisses me off!

Z'Tejas plan in Phoenix drawing opposition
Some say addition of eatery would thin parking, customers
by Maria Polletta - Dec. 20, 2011 01:32 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
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Residents near 16th Street and Bethany Home Road have cheered the intersection's growth over the past few years, as businesses such as Luci's Healthy Marketplace, the Vig, Flip Dunk Sports and others have moved in and brought vibrancy to the neighborhood.

But as the intersection continues to expand -- most recently with the proposed addition of a roughly $3 million, 8,500-square-foot Z'Tejas on the southwestern corner -- some businesses and residents have begun to wonder whether there will be enough space, parking and customers to keep pace with the growth they initially welcomed.

"Any given evening, you go by (the strip mall's parking lot) and it's full already," said Colleen O'Shaughnessy, who lives at 14th Street and Rancho Drive. "I don't think it can support another restaurant."

O'Shaughnessy described the intersection as a former "eyesore" that has "slowly but surely come back through the efforts of local people." She said she'd "really hate to see anything go away because of a loss of business, be it through parking or simply the dilution of the pool of people available to eat out."

Citing similar concerns, Zipps Sports Grill, another new business in the strip mall, hired legal counsel and consultants about a month ago. The consultants went door-to-door to survey neighbors regarding the proposed Z'Tejas.

"We were asked to help walk the neighborhoods and see what the pulse was, see how many people had opposition to this and how many people were going to be impacted," said consultant Tom Bilsten. "We quickly realized it was going to be a lot."

The 16th Street-Bethany Coalition, which has 50 to 60 members, formed as a result.

Some have painted the move by Zipps as a ploy to nudge out potential competition, but Zipps principal Todd Goldman said the company "has zero issues with Z'Tejas."

"We just can't support the parking problems," he said. "You're going to have (parking) spill over into the neighborhood. You're going to have a higher intensity of users, and whatever comes along with that. With being under-parked comes traffic, and it's already a congested corner."

A zoning variance to reduce the number of parking spaces required at the strip mall from 523 to 447, as well as to increase the compact parking allowed at the site to 20 percent, was approved in 2009.

Goldman said there are now 413 parking spots, which is under the minimum outlined in the variance.

Adam Baugh, a zoning attorney who represents strip-mall owner Bethany Core LLC, confirmed that figure but said the number of overall spots will actually increase to 449 after Z'Tejas is built. Baugh said the city has signed off on the parking calculations for the restaurant, which include 30 complimentary valet-parking spaces.

He and Z'Tejas CEO Steven Micheletti expressed surprise at the "sudden" formation of the neighborhood coalition, which they view as a last-ditch attempt to derail the restaurant's plans.

"I've been working on this site for three years, and I've gotten nothing but support" from residents, Baugh said. He said the site had been a "hazard zone" prior to development and described the restaurant as a "perfect complement to the shopping center."

Lucia Schnitzer, co-owner of Luci's, agreed. Schnitzer said she was excited for a new type of restaurant to come to the intersection, since "diversity gives people choices."

The diversity of the area was what had originally attracted Z'Tejas to the neighborhood, according to Micheletti, who said the company has "been such a good neighbor in all the neighborhoods we've been in."

The restaurant is set to break ground in January and is just waiting on permits for alcohol sales and an outdoor-seating area -- to be reviewed in a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday -- to move forward.

"There's no secret about it -- we'll do what's necessary to get this restaurant built," Micheletti said.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...#ixzz1h6sv3GN3

^Bah thats annoying. That corner has really come a long way recently, and though Z'Tejas isn't the greatest thing in the world but its fine and would've added another nice bar option to the area. The idea that even with one more eatery there would be a parking shortage in that area is insane.

well there is already a parking shortage, but that's a good thing in a way because a shortage of parking creates a sense of business and more people will think 'that must be a cool corner to go to' let's go check it out.

^I guess what I meant by a parking shortage was a shortage that was hurting businesses around there, thats not the case from what I can tell. Though some of the development at that corner has happened since I've been in Boston, I haven't seen first hand how its been with Zipps there and that Trampoline place owned by the Gorilla have moved in.

It seems like additional parking could be created with some diagonal on street parking in the area somewhere, maybe charging a nominal fee for parking (which could be validated at any of the businesses) or some other creative idea. This really does just wreak of Zipps not wanting competition from Z'Tejas.

Bunch of cranky people over there.
 

That's exactly what I was thinking as I passed that intersection last night. Bethany is one of the narrower arterials with two lanes, as opposed to three, in each direction over much of its length as it travels through North Central Phoenix. As it approaches 16th St., it widens to create a dedicated right-turn lane, but the lengthy turn lane is not justified by traffic volume from what I've seen. Some of that should be converted to parallel parking, which would not only alleviate any parking shortage, but also create a buffer for pedestrians. There may be similar road diet opportunity on 16th St. since a lot of the traffic that used to travel that road is now found a quarter mile to the east on SR51.

Note that traffic on 16th explodes when Madison #1 opens and then again when students get out. Not that it impacts the potential restaurant but would be a consideration when looking at a "road diet".

Good point. Frustrating how the school commute, with kids driven by parents instead of walking or taking buses, compounds traffic, but that's another topic.

7th street and Indian School. Building torn down for?????? I forget if someone already said.

We haven't talked about any 7th St and Indian School demolitions...you're thinking 7th St and Camelback.

Permitting turns up two records:

The large-ish office building at 4045 N 7th St apparently has a permit for a total demolition. I don't get it because the permit lists it at 21,000 sqft and Loopnet lists it at 45,180 sqft.

4602, 4608, 4620, and 4626 N 7th St are also all going to be torn down.

CVS owns the building at 4045 N 7th St. Fuck everything about a 3 story office building being replaced with a single story generic pharmacy.

None of that stuff is worth anything, it won't be missed... however, it's unbelieveable that it isn't being replaced by something bigger/better/denser (4602-4626 N. 7th st might be and should be).

It isn't a pharmacy going in at 7th St. and Camelback, but a Chase Bank. Still it won't add density...

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...-february.html

It is silly that a 3-story office building would be replaced by a pharmacy...

And hopefully what replaces those mid-to-late-mid-century tiny buildings being demo'd is much denser.

Madison schools are a bit more car-intensive since they openly work to attract students who reside outside of the district. My wife works in the district office, which shares the parking lot with #1. It is a zoo if you go up there at the wrong time.

...and they made the situation even worse by opening the new Madison Traditional Academy campus without busing and in a neighborhood that lacks sidewalks. I like Madison from an educational point of view & plan to send my kids to one of their schools since we live within walking distance. From a sustainability point of view, however, the district frustrates me.

It's the Weekend
 

A special weekend at that.

Happy Holidays from Android and me

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=LcG0Ev27Qr8" target="_blank">Video Link

This. :)

16th Street definitely could be reduced to two lanes in each direction, with on street parking and a bike lane added to one side of the street. Currently, it has three lanes northbound from just south of Indian School to the terminus at Northern. This is more than the road needs; to help mitigate the intersection congestion, a right turn only lane can be maintained in both directions. The speed limit could be reduced to 35 mph as well.

--don