New Housing, Parking Garage Coming To West Phoenix
New housing is coming to an established Phoenix neighborhood — and not everyone is rolling out the welcome mat.
During Wednesday’s council meeting, some residents complained about a proposal at the southeast corner of 31st and Glendale avenues. It calls for 28 single-family units that are three stories.
Gail Palmer told the council the neighborhood has mostly single story houses and privacy is a concern. He also described a worry from another resident, “She was concerned about the height of this building because she couldn’t see the cross looking across Glendale Avenue at the Love Baptist Church.”
Councilwoman Vania Guevara who represents District 5 said she spoke with a neighborhood leader and a neighborhood group that both support the plan. The council approved the rezoning request and moved three miles south to a request from Grand Canyon University.
GCU plans to tear down a single-level storage facility and build a five-story parking garage at the northeast corner of 31st Avenue and Camelback Road. Some longtime residents expressed concern about increased traffic.
GCU representative Stephen Earl told the council there would only be one way in and out– except when security personnel are present which would most likely be after events.
”And generally, if you’ve seen, we’ll have police presence there they can control the signal, they can make it longer so it allows more cars to flow out,” he explained. “And so it’s important to be able to have that option, to have a nice, safe movement that people have that it’s controlled with a traffic signal."
The council approved a zoning change for the GCU garage. Earlier this year, construction began on two student housing complexes, a business building and a club sports facility.
