Vacant land owned by Queen Creek may provide temporary event space

Queen Creek is considering how vacant town-owned land can be used as temporary gathering spaces for community groups and for-profit events.

The town’s economic development department is promoting “space activation” of property just north of town hall as part of continuing efforts to bring more visitors to the area.

“Space activation refers to the practice of intentionally utilizing an underused or empty space to create a new engaging experience for the community,” Jennifer Lindley, downtown development manager, recently told the town council. “It could be as simple as just putting some benches in an underutilized area or it can be as extensive as programming with special events and art installations and things of that nature.”

The town purchased the property in 2016, and it is currently striped and prepped with more than 400 temporary parking spaces that can be used by downtown visitors.

The area is drawing more visitors now that Queen Creek has opened three new connector roads. Aldecoa Drive, Munoz Street and Summers Place opened in December, bringing connectivity between Ellsworth Road and Ellsworth Loop Road.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise, but special events do drive those tourism dollars and visitors from outside the area,” Lindley said. “They support small businesses. Sometimes these vendors eventually do become brick-and-mortar and move into locations, and they provide entertainment and family-friendly activities for our residents and our community.”

The land’s use as a public space would only be temporary until the town partners with a developer to bring something permanent to the site.

Among the events that could use the space for the time being are the Queen Creek Feastival, a regular gathering of food trucks, as well as Saturday markets, a holiday crafts fair, car shows and even drive-in movies, Lindley said.

Groups and event promoters would pay $75 an hour for use of the space.

“The event promoter must provide its own porta potties and any other necessary event setup equipment,” Lindley said. “They will also need to go through the town’s special event permit process and there will be a land license agreement which provides us some safeguards from a town perspective.”

There would also be blackout dates reserving the space for town events.

At the Feb. 19 meeting, Council Member Jeff Brown sounded a note of caution and asked staff to keep track of direct costs the town could incur as a result of the events.

“I am convinced that if you rent this space for four hours at $75 an hour, so $300, I am absolutely beyond convinced that it will cost every bit that much in staff time to manage one event of four hours,” Brown said. “I don’t know how much (for-profit event organizers) get per station or booth or whatever they have, but it’s a lot more than $300. So, in essence we are creating the situation where the private sector gets to profit on the backs of the taxpayers. We are subsidizing these events.”

Lindley said in discussions with local businesses, they expressed excitement about events bringing more people to downtown.

Beyond helping surrounding businesses, Council Member Bryan McClure also noted that the town would benefit from sales taxes generated by events.

“Overall, I think it’s very positive and I think we definitely need to make it very clear that it’s a temporary thing,” McClure said. “But also, there will be tax revenue generated from its usage.”

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