Back in October 2004, when the Sunnyslope Business Coalition came together to identify opportunities for the community, they prioritized improvements for Hatcher Road, Sunnyslope's image and safety. Spurred by a desire to improve the visual appearance of Hatcher Road, one of the community's main corridors, the business community saw an opportunity to transition the street into a pedestrian-friendly retail and commercial destination. The committee is chaired by Joel McCabe, director of Desert Mission Neighborhood Renewal.
Turning Hatcher Road Into a Destination
Hatcher Road and the greater Sunnyslope community are a home to thousands of people who are proud of their lives and experiences in and around Sunnyslope. But there was clear consensus from the community that we should concentrate efforts of the committee to improve the safety of this vital roadway and help support business and property owners along Hatcher Road from 19th Avenue to Cave Creek Road. The community would like Hatcher Road to be a pleasant pedestrian oriented mult-iuse shopping and dining area. Creating a pedestrian destination on Hatcher Road will not only give Sunnyslope residents a sense of community pride, but it will also improve public safety, reduce neighborhood cut-through traffic and improve business.
Throughout the redevelopment planning process, stakeholders from the residential and commercial areas around Hatcher Road expressed interest in seeing new development and redevelopment along the area's commercial corridors become mixed-use. Mixed-use developments refers to developments on a single parcel or within a master plan development which contains some mix of uses, such as residential, office, retail, commercial, institutional. Mixed-use developments allow for street level retail and commercial uses close to the sidewalk and residential uses.
Success to Date
One of the least expensive methods to address crime and curb accidents is to add additional street lighting. Working closely with the City of Phoenix Streets and Transportation Department and ADOT, 21 new street lights and poles with high pressure sodium lights were added to Hatcher Road. Additionally, 19 street lights were added to existing poles and 17 existing street lights were upgraded. This provided approximately $1,000,000 in funding.
The committee also received approval for a CMAQ grant through the Maricopa Association of Governments. This grant funding provides approximately $840,000 for pedestrian improvements (widening sidewalks and landscape improvements) in the vicinity of Central Ave. & Hatcher Road. Combined with federal and City of Phoenix grants, total funding for this project is approximately $1.2 million.
The committee also completed work on an overlay for Hatcher Road Corridor to further implement the revitalization plan. The purpose of this overlay is to:
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Encourage economic development
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Allow full utilization of small or irregularly sized parcels
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Assist in unifying the overlay area as a cohesive and attractive commercial corridor
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Create a pedestrian-oriented streetscape
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Through a community driven process the overlay was adopted in July 2008 and the overlay district now provides design standards, parking options, development incentives and entitlements for existing businesses and future business/property development.
DMNR has been the proud recipient of funding to support its economic development activities and specifically the Hatcher Road process with funds from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and State Farm.
In addition to the overlay, funds have supported a walking map, and dollars are now available to support store front improvements activities, leveraging dollars available from the City of Phoenix Operation Paint and Patch Program.
For more information about the Hatcher Road Committee and its plans, email Joel McCabe or visit www.sunnyslopecommunity.org.
