Members of the Encanto Village Planning Committee met Monday to discuss future community development, looking at ideas from local initiative PlanPHX, which has allowed for direct input from the community on how to improve Phoenix.
Josh Bednarek, the PlanPHX General Plan Update project manager, spoke to committee members about what PlanPHX set out to accomplish and how it impacts Phoenix neighborhoods.
PlanPHX was launched by the city of Phoenix in fall 2012 to update the city’s General Plan. State law requires that cities update and establish policies for physical development of the city every 10 years. PlanPHX was designed to build this plan through collaboration with Phoenix residents. Community members were given the opportunity to pitch their ideas through PlanPHX’s interactive website and at various public meetings.
“We asked two big questions,” Bednarek said, “’What do you love about Phoenix?’ and ‘What are your big ideas for our future?’”
Bednarek said that during the past 18 months, there have been more than 150 meetings, 11,500 ideas and suggestions and 1,300 online users who interacted on PlanPHX’s suggestion website.
Bednarek said that an overwhelming number of Phoenix residents loved the parks and open space, and that many residents identified increased connectivity as a big idea for the future.
From there, the vision for what Bednarek referred to as a “blueprint for a connected oasis” was formed. PlanPHX is entering the phase of reaching out to each Phoenix neighborhood and asking them what they believe will contribute to the vision of a “connected oasis.”
Jessica Koon, a geographical sciences and urban planning student at ASU, is looking forward to seeing what future plans unfold for Encanto Village’s development.
“I think biking will be a huge thing. That and the light rail, of course,” Koon said.
Central City Village and Encanto Village Planner Katherine Coles discussed those issues with ReinventPHX, the portion of the planning project that deals specifically with Phoenix’s transit-oriented development.
“Demographics show a good number of today’s society are looking more for areas of transit, and not so much the American dream of suburban homes,” Coles said.
With this in mind, many of the ideas going into ReinventPHX look to maximize community benefits in transit-oriented districts. Ideas include improving bike routes, adding tree shade and covers for high-traffic areas and using community murals and other attractive investments in the transit environment.
“It’s really important that we pay attention to our investment in the light rail,” Coles said. The ultimate goal is for the light rail to extend north, which Coles said she hopes will be more a tangible goal after ReinventPHX is fully implemented.
The ReinventPHX portion of the plan has full funding after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the city of Phoenix nearly $3 million in Sustainable Communities Grants.
Although no specific plans were set for Encanto Village, there will be another meeting in March to discuss more ideas from PlanPHX, followed by workshops designed to help implement the ideas the community put together.
Contact the reporter at jeremy.tenorio@asu.edu
