Tempe has begun its planning process for Character Area 6 with its first community meeting held Jan. 24.
Throughout the city, Tempe has eight distinctive character areas that share similarities in building design, landscape, materials and age of buildings as well as taking into account landmarks such as canals, freeways and transit lines, as explained by the city’s website.
By creating plans for these areas, the city can see what each community values most about their area and what improvements would best be included for the future, including light rail station areas, bike paths, commercial corners, housing options, historic and cultural resources and more.
Specifically, character area plans define a high-level scope, vision, character traits, design guidelines and principle and public realm principles for each area.
Six character area plans have been adopted by Tempe City Council as part of the General Plan 2040, and plans for Character Area 6 are now being developed with the final plan for Character Area 2 to be addressed in 2024-25.
Character Area 6, located in southwest Tempe, is loosely defined by US 60, I-10, Tempe’s southern boundary and Kyrene Road. Adoption hearings for the plan are anticipated to take place in the fall.
At the Jan. 24 kickoff meeting, Neighborhood Services Specialist Brenda Clark coordinated the virtual gathering with Principal City Planner Ambika Adhikari and Senior City Planner Jacob Payne leading the informational portion on Character Area 6.
Adhikari explained the planning process for character area plans, noting that they create design and planning principles for future projects, support city council priorities and also heavily involve the community to reflect their desires for the city.
“Going forward, it’s a plan for the community and stakeholders in that particular area can feel that, ‘OK it’s our plan,’” Adhikari said. “ It’s always a good feeling for the community and it’s also a reference for the developers and other stakeholders on how to design and site plan.”
He noted that character area plans are not regulatory, so they do not impact an area’s land use, density, zoning or private property rights among other issues.
Planning at a glance
Delving into Character Area 6, Adhikari provided comparative data between CA-6 and Tempe at large.
Of note, CA-6 totals 6.21 square miles, housing 28,450 Tempe residents with a median age of 33.6 and a median household income of $72,769. There are 12,630 housing units of which 30% are owner-occupied and 70% renter-occupied.
More demographic information regarding educational level, racial composition and employment was also discussed. The three largest employers for CA-6 were Kyrene School District, Honeywell and Insight Direct Inc.
Adhikari also presented images from CA-6, showing its natural landscape, canals, pathways and architectural design. He noted that while there are some older designs, it’s “a very interesting area” and is “evolving fast.” Some of the notable attractions include the Tempe Autoplex, Ikea and public amenities such as parks.
Following the overview of the area, Payne took over to discuss some initial questions that they’d like residents to provide feedback on.
For example, the city is seeking insight on what makes CA-6 unique from other areas, what improvements could be made, the public perception of affordable housing and the state of public infrastructure.
The first online survey for CA-6 is live and will be open through Feb. 16.
Payne went more in-depth into the planning timeline, noting that the engagement phase of the process will go through May, with a draft to be released in June. Once the draft is released it will go into revisions through August.
At that point, the plan will be in the finalization and adoption phase, with the city council anticipated to hold the adoption hearing in October or November. Before then, the plan will go through other departments including the Development Review Commission, Historic Preservation Commission and many more.
Community feedback
Following the presentation, Adhikari and Payne took questions and comments from attendees regarding CA-6 and its plan.
City Council Aide and Policy Advisor Cepand Alizadeh noted that one of the special characteristics of this area of Tempe is it’s one of 32 places in the country where an NFL team’s headquarters is based.
“Just throwing that out there that maybe we want to mention that as well that this is really, really unique,” Alizadeh said.
Attendee David Sokolowski also pointed to CA-6’s characteristics that set it apart from the city’s other character areas, highlighting the high number of restaurants near Priest Drive and Elliott Road.
Sokolowski also made some suggestions for the city to consider, including creating a specific plant palette that differs from the ones used in other plans and potentially working with Honeywell to integrate drone technology within the area.
Another point of interest from the attendees was the opportunity to age-in-place in the area. Resident Linda Arters brought up her concerns for this area, saying that she’d like more specific data on how many people over 60 live in CA-6 and that older populations are in need of support like with public transportation.
“We’re a very tight network here in our neighborhoods and we’ve said we don’t know if anyone’s going to be addressing some of the issues so we can age in place,” Arters said.
Residents interested in contributing to the planning process can visit tempe.gov for more information as well as to provide input on Character Area 6. The second public meeting on this area is scheduled to take place in March.
Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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