Light Rail Transit Station Area Planning

Central & Indian School

The Central & Indian School Light Rail station is located just north of the intersection of Indian School Road and Central Ave. The station planning area consists of a ½ mile area around the station. The area contains a mix of commercial, residential, institutional and recreational uses as well as undeveloped land. The community has a unique opportunity to create a plan to create new exciting development within this station area.

Community Meetings

The Station Area Plan will be the community's vision for how the area around the METRO Light Rail Station should develop in the future. The Station Area Planning process will bring together property owners, residents, business owners, developers and all interested persons to work together to create a plan for this Station Area. A series of community meetings will be held to create the Station Area Plan for the Central & Indian School METRO Station. The introductory meeting was held on November 15, 2004 at Burton Barr Library.

Meeting Summaries

Introductory Meeting: Approximately 20 people attended the introductory meeting at Burton Barr Library on November 15, 2004. A presentation (795 KB, PDF¹)about the area around the Central & Indian School METRO Station was provided and is available in Adobe PDF format.

1st Community Workshop: Approximately 16 people attended the second Station Area Plan meeting held on February 15, 2005 at the Black Box Theatre of Brophy Prep. This meeting was designed as a Community Workshop to begin establishing priorities, goals and objectives for the Central and Indian School Station Area Plan. Principal Planner Sandra Zwick began the meeting by reviewing the Station Area Planning process and recapping major themes of the previous Introductory meeting. Next she presented a slide show illustrating variations of successful Transit Oriented Development around the country as well as here in Phoenix.

The participants were divided into 4 working groups in which planning staff facilitated a discussion regarding neighborhood characteristics and the following themes: Mixed Use Development, Housing & Density, Pedestrian Acessways, Public Spaces, Art & Markets, and Signage. After nearly an hour of discussion, each group had a chance to share their findings with the larger workshop. Comments included favoring mixed use developments that were sensitive to existing neighborhood features, promoting variations in building height, preserving neighborhood character, emphasizing a traditional southwest motif, focusing on vehicular congestion around the station while creating safe spaces for pedestrian and bicycle activity. All of the groups conveyed a general sense of enthusiasm for the Station Area Planning process and excitement for the opportunities that exist to shape the planning and development around their station.

Panel of TOD Experts: Approximately 30 people attended the TOD Panel of Experts station area plan meeting at Burton Barr Library on April 18, 2005. The panelists described their views about the potential of Light Rail developments in Phoenix. Ed Lewis; retail property developer of Kierland Commons and Corporate Center discussed his views about keeping customers happy and following national trends where TOD developments are gaining momentum in the retail marketplace. Jim Pederson; of Pederson Group provided views about larger shopping center properties, vertical shopping centers, and new customer patterns. Trends are that only 1 out of 4 homes are purchased by traditional families that have two parents and children. Tim Sprague; from Portland Place discussed his experience and challenges with developing a TOD condominium development along the Metro Light Rail. Examples included the hurdles of financing, knowing the City processes, and the importance of forming partnerships with neighborhoods, city staff and special interest groups. The meeting ended with a question & answer session where the citizens openly discussed ideas with the panelists. Participants enjoyed hearing diverse viewpoints and development strategies that the three experts found to be successful and how the panelists envision future development along the Light Rail.

2nd Community Workshop: On July 19, 2005 a community workshop was held at the Black Box Theatre, at Brophy Preparatory Academy. The community workshop was critical in the development of the station area plan. Planning staff reviewed the discussions of the previous visioning workshop and handed out copies of the visioning results.

Workshop participants identified opportunities and constraints impacting development within the station area. In addition, participants reviewed a preliminary land use plan and recommended land use alternatives and heights for new development within the station planning area.

Opportunities identified included:

• Indian School Park
• Good freeway access
• Cohesive well established neighborhoods
• Large vacant development sites within station planning area

Constraints identified included:

• Lack of good pedestrian connections
• Vacant office buildings

Workshop Participants Would Like to See:

• More 24/7 activity
• More commercial/cultural/entertainment uses such as grocery and specialty stores
• Better pedestrian access to community facilities as well as the light rail station
• More shade
• More mixed use developments that include housing
• An increase in owner-occupied housing
• Mixed use developments along 3rd St

The next meeting will include a presentation of the alternative land use scenarios and heights. The community will identify the preferred land use and height scenario.

3rd Community Workshop: Approximately 20 people attended the community meeting for review of the opportunities and constraints and land use alternatives. Sandy Zwick provided a presentation on new urban development and how densities can be increased within transit-oriented development around the METRO stations. After discussion, planning staff presented the three (3) land use and height alternatives created in the previous community workshop. The participants asked many questions and provided comments on the land use alternatives. After discussion, the participants were asked to vote on the individual land use and height designations presented. With minor changes a preferred land use scenario was agreed upon by a majority of the participants.

Looking west across Central Avenue	Looking southeast across Central Avenue