By Linda Milhaven
A NO vote at tonight’s City Council meeting for the Mercado Village project is a yes vote for a vacant, obsolete office building or a preference for a new medical office building that will produce five times the traffic of the current proposal.
You may have heard about this project but there has been a lot of misinformation or a lack of information. Yes. It is 255 apartments. Here are the facts.
The Mercado Village proposal is for a site on 92nd St just south of Shea. It is currently a vacant building and a vacant parcel. See the picture above of the current building and the proposed building.
- Most of the site is already zoned for apartments. Only 2 of the 6.6 acres is being rezoned from commercial to mixed use neighborhoods. The 4.6 acres along 92nd St is already zoned as mixed-use neighborhoods and already allows apartments.
- The height is less than what is allowed under current zoning. Current zoning allows for 40 feet which is 4 stories but most of the project is 3 stories – the same height as the hospital building across the street. And, it is two stories along 92nd St.
- Alternative uses will create more traffic. If apartments aren’t built here an alternative use – looking at the area – is medical office. Traffic experts predict the current proposal would increase traffic on Shea by 4/10% and a medical office building of the same size would increase traffic 2.3%. So, if you are worried about traffic on Shea, the current proposal produces less traffic.
- Water supplies are adequate to support this project. The City’s water masterplan forecasts demand and the City has sufficient supplies to support this project. Also, apartments make efficient use of water, returning over 90% of the water used as wastewater which is then treated and recycled.
- It is surrounded by commercial uses and is between two of Scottsdale’s largest employers. The Honor Heath Shea campus is across the street and the CVS campus is to the east. The Sprouts and Chompie’s shopping center is to the north and medical office buildings are to the south. Employees of these businesses who live in this project would reduce traffic throughout the City by driving shorter distances to work.
This is a perfect location for low-rise apartments – between two of Scottsdale’s largest employers, surrounded by commercial uses, creating less traffic than alternative uses, and using water efficiently.
If not this project, then what? A vacant eyesore or a use that would create more traffic? City Council should listen to citizens concerned about traffic and water and vote YES for this project.