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Light Rail Transit Station Area Planning

38th St. & Washington

The 38th St. & Washington Light Rail station is located on Washington Street just west of Gateway Community College. The station planning area consists of a ½ mile area around the station. The area contains a mix of commercial, residential, industrial, educational and recreational uses and 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 38th St & Washington METRO Station. The introductory meeting was held on December 2, 2004 at Gateway Community College.

Meeting Summaries

Introductory Meeting: Approximately 30 people attended the introductory meeting at Gateway Community College on December 2, 2004. A presentation (872 KB, PDF¹)about the area around the 38th & Washington METRO Station was provided and is available in Adobe PDF format.

1st Community Workshop: The Community Workshop for 38th & Washington Station was held on February 24, 2005 at Gateway Community College. About 20 participants broke into three working groups to brainstorm with City of Phoenix planners about the implications of light rail on land use in their neighborhood. The creative ideas brought forth at the Workshop will help shape development, accessways, and public spaces. Comments included but were not limited to: building on the opportunities presented by the accessibility of the Grand Canal, Gateway Community College, Sky Harbor Airport, Dog Track, and the Swap Meet; providing pedestrian access between Van Buren Street and Washington Street immediately to the north of the Station; preserving the Native American artifacts that might be excavated during construction and incorporating them into the design of public spaces; and providing housing choices for all income levels. Participants voiced diverse opinions but were overall enthusiastic of the potential in their neighborhood for change and were willing to seize the opportunity presented by the light rail.

Panel of TOD Experts: Approximately 30 people attended the Transit Oriented Development Panel of Experts Meeting at the Gateway Community College on April 19, 2005. The three panelists, Ed Lewis, Butte Properties, Jim Pederson, Pederson Group, and Tim Sprague, Portland Place presented and answered questions from the audience on future development around the light rail stations. They addressed the importance of identifying development opportunities early, as well as the change in housing demand with the decrease in "traditional" families and the increase of smaller families. In addition, the speakers discussed developers' responsibility to answer to a range of interests, transportation as a household expense, increasing development costs for mixed use projects, TOD as a lifestyle, and the need for high density to keep units "affordable" to offset land costs. The audience showed a high level of interest and understanding of the importance of their involvement in a successful Stationary Area Plan.

2nd Community Workshop: On July 21, 2005 a community workshop was held at Gateway Community College. 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:

• Gateway Community College, Greyhound Park and the Airport are considered amenities
• Wide streets such as Washington carry more traffic/li>
• Take advantage of the canal for trails, open space
• Proximity of freeways and airport transportation system
• Vacant sites and open land uses are available for future development
• New development opportunities will improve the area
• New development will help to clean up area

Constrains identified included:

• Environmental contamination
• High crime
• Prostitution and drugs
• Poor housing stock
• Existing uses close at 5 PM
• Need more activity at night
• Future plans of airport unknown

Workshop Participants Would Like to See:

• Expansion of Gateway Community College
• Commerce Park-type development south of Washington with improved development standards
• More mixed use development with commercial and residential uses
• A park near new residential uses and the canal
• Transit line going north along 38th Street to Van Buren

3rd Community Workshop: Approximately 10 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 a number of 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 northeast across Washington Street	Looking northwest across Washington Street

Last modified on 10/30/2008 11:12:57