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Tempe hearing to consider downtown streetcar plan by Derek Quizon - Sept. 21, 2010 11:34 AM The Arizona Republic The proposed downtown streetcar will likely run along a loop on Mill and Ash avenues if Valley Metro and Tempe transit officials have their way. First, they'll ask for public input at a meeting at MADCAP Theater at 6 p.m. Thursday. The committee in charge of planning the route presented its findings to the City Council at last week's meeting. The committee was looking at three options - routes that went both ways on Mill Avenue or Ash Avenue, or a route that goes north on Mill and south on Ash. The streetcar is designed to connect the light-rail route running through downtown Tempe with other parts of the city. The streetcar, scheduled for completion in 2016, is supposed to run from the light-rail station on Fifth Street to Southern Avenue. Planners were facing the dilemma of whether to put the streetcar on Mill or Ash avenues. Mill has most of the area's attractions, but many residents said they wanted to see some development downtown off of Mill. Ash was proposed as an alternate route, and planners were hoping a rail system would bring more development to the street. City Development Services Manager Chris Anaradian said businesses are more likely to invest in an area with rail transit in it because it provides a permanent stream of customers - people who are passing through on the train. "A bus can go anywhere, you can move a bus (route)," he said Thursday. "A train line doesn't move." Anaradian, deputy public works manager Jyme Sue McLaren and Valley Metro Rail Development Director Wulf Grote made the case for a loop spanning Mill and Ash. They said a loop would minimize construction along either street and avoid disrupting waterlines on the west side of Mill, planners said. It could also encourage development on Ash Avenue but still provide transportation directly to the heart of the downtown district on Mill. The plan is still in its early stages. Planners say they want input from residents at this Thursday's meeting at MADCAP. Next month, they will present a formal presentation to the City Council, which will approve of or deny the plan. Council members seemed receptive to it at last Thursday's council meeting. Mayor Hugh Hallman said he is particularly interested in spurring development on Ash Avenue to decrease the city's dependence on Mill. "Mill Avenue is not stable as an economic (center)," he said. "It's not broad enough or robust enough." Assuming the plan is approved by the council, planners will have to get approval from the Maricopa Association of Governments and the federal government, which together will provide about $162 million in initial costs. They will likely have an answer by late 2011, Grote said. First, they'll present their findings at a meeting this Thursday at MADCAP. The meeting is slated to last two hours and will be open for public comment, Anaradian said.
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