Attendees of the final informational open house event regarding a new downtown Phoenix APS power substation on Thursday evening were receptive to the idea as long as the station didn’t interfere with their daily life.
Presentation boards set up inside the Virginia G. Piper Auditorium displayed potential design elements and the eleven proposed locations. On one display, the public was able to identify which potential locations they favored and which ones they disliked.
Forms for feedback on what attendees would like to see were also available to fill out.
APS currently has two substations in the downtown area. APS Community Franchise and Outreach Consultant Kendra Lee said a new substation is necessary because downtown Phoenix’s development is driving up electricity demand.
“[The substation] increases our reliability in the downtown area… and increases our capacity and our ability to serve new customers,” Lee said.
She said the most popular locations among the public were toward Seventh Street, and that people generally favor “any site that’s not next door to their home or business.”
The selection process for the site is expected to be finished by the end of the year. Lee said that ideally, construction on the substation would start in June 2019 and finish between the middle and end of 2020.
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar owner Dwayne Allen attended the event. He said his favorite proposed location for the substation would be at Fourth and McKinley streets.
“ASU intends to build a parking garage, and I think it makes good sense to integrate the [substation and the garage],” he explained.
He said he would particularly like to see an inconspicuous substation with the sole purpose of providing power for the community and added it should blend well with the rest of the community.
As for any locations Allen would take issue with, his answer was simple: “I just don’t want it in my backyard.”
Tupac Enrique Acosta, general coordinator at the Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples Nahuacalli, said he is not yet sure what his ideal location for the substation would be. However, he said there is one location he does not want to see in particular: Seventh and McKinley Streets, where his organization’s offices are located. The offices are currently in the planning phase for redevelopment.
Acosta said he believes the rules for the new substation location specified the site couldn’t be under redevelopment or registered as historic.
If the substation were placed at Seventh and McKinley Streets, Acosta said his organization’s offices would be displaced.
“It’s just unacceptable. We would fight it,” Acosta said.
There was also one unaddressed question that concerned Acosta: The impact of the substation on the environment.
“In all of this conversation, where’s the climate context?” he asked.
Contact the reporter at Thomas.Triolo@asu.edu.
Downtown Devil's community section editor. I also write the Downtown Digest, a weekly column with things to do, with experience writing news articles and creating news videos as well. Graduating from ASU in May 2020.
