This is the type of building that is going in our Heritage District unless we stop it
IT’S EMBARRASSING! Because the development on the north end of the Heritage District is going to look more like a large city complex than the entrance to a Heritage District, the Redevelopment and Planning Departments want to change codes to allow large signs, made of neon lights, on the roofs of buildings, designating the area as the Heritage District. If the character of the architecture and the scale of the development was in alignment with a small-town look and feel, there would be no need for a sign.
You recognize it when you enter the historical area of Old Town Scottsdale. There is a character to the area that unmistakably has a small-town, historical, look. With the mass development planned for Gilbert’s Heritage District, it definitely won’t be able to be identified as a historical area. Putting up signs saying it is, is embarrassing. If they are going to go through with the huge development, it's better to not tell people the monstrosity is supposed to represent our view of our heritage.
With feedback from the public at the Heritage District Redevelopment Plan Update meetings, the Redevelopment and Planning Departments should be working to:
- Change codes to lower building heights to protect view of water tower and keep a small-town feel.
- Prevent any more parking garages from being built. The access roads can't handle all the traffic and parking garages do not generate a small-town feel to the area.
- Require on site or street parking for every establishment, which is what small towns do. Only allow the amount of development that on site parking will accommodate.
Instead, they are looking to:
- Raise building heights with no regard to views of the water tower.
- Put in rooftop signs (neon lit billboards) which will further pollute the views.
- Have at least 5 multi-story parking garages in an area less than six blocks long.
We need to take steps to stop them!
The Mayor and Town Council are trying to push through massive development when citizens are strongly saying they want to keep Gilbert small. Yes a town has to grow, but it should be at a slow steady pace, not the record growth Gilbert has been showing. The small-town feel of Gilbert is what makes it unique and safe.
Views of the water tower will be completely gone if buildings are over one story high.
Protect Our Views Of The Water Tower
Part of the value of our property in the Heritage District is the view of the water tower. It diminishes the value of our property by building new structures that block our views. Is the Town going to compensate us for those losses? Reidents have enjoyed the view of the water tower since 1925. The water tower views must be protected.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money went into making the water tower a special icon in the Heritage District. The water features in the park below it and the lights that make it glow in the sky at night were expensive updates. There are now Commissioners and Council Members that are saying it's not important to showcase our water tower. They are the ones who just voted to spend taxpayer's money, to make it a focal point, now they don't care if it's hidden?
The water tower is used in most of the Town marketing and has become the symbol of Gilbert. Drive down Gilbert Road and it is clearly visible from both the north and south end as you enter the Heritage District. With the new planned development, it will not be visible from Gilbert Road at all. It won't be visible from anywhere except from in the park under it. Although the maximum building heights are currently allowed to be 55 feet, and the water tower is 120’, the angle of site of a pedestrian, or someone in their car, will prevent seeing the tower unless standing under it.
To preserve the views of the Water Tower, the code needs to be changed to:
- Have larger setbacks along Gilbert Road to give a better angle of site to the tower from the road.
- Restrict building heights to 15 feet (one story) on any property in the Heritage District east of a line running down the road west of the water tower from the south end of the district, at Elliot Rd, to the north end, at Juniper.
- All other property should be a maximum of two stories and maintain the small-town look and feel that is currently represented along Gilbert Road in the Heritage District.
- Ensure that Gilbert maintains ownership of the property they currently own in the Heritage District to be able to control what types of establishments go into the area and to keep the small-town look and feel.
Recently built apartments look industrial, not historical. Why were they approved?
What Is Our Heritage?
What is the identity of the Heritage District? It’s called "heritage" yet it seems new buildings look industrial revolution, and parking ramps look like what belong in a big city. The small-town feel is nearly destroyed already. We were know as the Hay Capital of the World yet there's no ranch or farm feel to new construction. The water tower is the last historical looking project that was done and it is quickly looking out of place. We need to stop this trend.
There needs to be a cohesive feel to what is being built. The Heritage District is beginning to look like a place where a bunch of stuff is just being plopped in. For example, the plan for the north end recommends high arcade awnings, to match the very tall buildings planned. How is that cohesive with the small-town charm of the human level awnings the shops now have? It’s these kinds of inconsistencies that are making the area lose any kind of identity.
Parking is another factor that makes, or breaks, the feel of a small town. Why isn’t on site parking required? Either require business to purchase adjoining lots or have the Town include them as an incentive. Parking garages are what are found in big cities, not small towns. With a dump and junk yard less than a mile away, what makes the property in the Heritage District so valuable that the small-town charm has to be lost to five story buildings and parking ramps? To minimize traffic congestion, and keep our small-town feel, we need to keep the buildings to single story and require on-site parking.
Disney opened in 1955 and didn’t get its first parking garage until 2000. They paid maintenance and wages to cart people from massive, ground level, parking lots because parking garages are not friendly. They are so unfriendly that movies consistently use them as scenes for all sorts of crime. The Town put cameras in the newest ramp but, unless someone on site is monitoring the cameras 24/7, the cameras are ineffective. Once the crime has been committed, it is rare that a camera will help find the criminal. Besides, filming a knife going into your back isn't going to make it any less deadly. We need to be able to park in the open where there are people going by and shop owners who can see what's happening. That's what makes an area feel safe and gives it the small-town charm.
Apparently anything can be built in Gilbert's Heritage District if you own the property?
Town Needs To Retain Ownership
The Town needs to retain ownership of the property it now has in the Heritage District. Maintaining control of the property is the only way to ensure the public is getting the type of development they want. Council allowed a gated apartment complex go in. How does that add to the small-town, neighborly environment? What about Whiskey Row and our new Gopher Icon? The Town's explanation is, "It's privately owned land, we can't control what goes in." If our Heritage District Building Guidelines don’t work to keep out these undesirable entities, the Town should maintain control of the land to prevent them. The key to keeping our Heritage District a unique place to visit is keeping it under Town ownership. Then we just need to convince the Town that we don't want industrial congestion as the theme for our Heritage.
It's important for everyone to understand that, if the Town sells the property, they have absolutely NO SAY what goes on that property. There are ideas put out that would be preferred as a part of the sale but those can be overridden any time after the sale. A property owner can do anything they want as long as it isn't against the law. Having a hotel and conference facility will attract undesirable venues like strip clubs and rowdy bars. Even the Commons they promised in the Redevelopment Plan is only required to remain for ten years. After that the developer can turn it into more buildings. Even during the five years it will be on private property and the owners can restrict access. What happened to our public gathering areas?
Walking from a parking garage is something to embrace?
What Brings People To Gilbert's Heritage District?
The restaurants in the Heritage District are not large fast food establishments, yet (those will surely come with the new planned development) but none are such that they can’t be found in other areas. If we don’t keep the special small-town character, there will be nothing to attract people to the area. With the traffic congestion, 100% capacity with the development planned, no one is going to come here when they can find the same things in less congested access. The Economic Development Department should be thinking of ways to make the Heritage District something unique and special not just cram it with a bunch of buildings and offices, like every other city. We need someone in charge who has some creativity and insight rather than a tunnel vision of massive construction. Leave a comment below letting us know if you would, or wouldn't, wait in traffic for fifteen minutes then walk blocks to wait in line for an hour just to get a meal you could get somewhere else less crowded.
People should be able come to Gilbert's Heritage District for an experience they can’t get anywhere else. There is nothing special or quaint about a massive area of concentrated conference centers, hotels, apartments, and parking ramps.
The Heritage District isn’t heading in the direction of being family friendly. No eating establishment is small child friendly (quick service, things to entertain while waiting, ample room for high chairs, alcohol free...). The splash pad under the water tower is the only thing for kids to do. Gilbert's Redevelopment Administrator and key to the Heritage District Development, saying the Heritage District is a family friendly place, is like saying Vegas is a great place to take kids just because Circus Circus has a carnival area. Instead of the family friendly area portrayed in the Redevelopment Plan meetings, the Redevelopment and Planning Commissions are working with the Mayor and Town Council to create a Chicago like area in our small-town Heritage District. Nothing against Chicago, it's just not our heritage. Not sure why our Town Officials don't understand that. Those of you who know what our history is, please remind our elected officials. Their contact information is below.
Very few Historical Districts can claim to have a train. Why not capitalize on the fact Gilbert does?
What Could Bring People To Gilbert's Heritage District?
We have a train that passes right though our downtown, why aren’t we capitalizing on that? That’s not common and it fits with our heritage. We should be creating events and exhibits to celebrate the train. If the Town Developers would put a little effort into maximizing our Heritage, instead of destroying it, they could come up with some great ideas such as:
- Could work with the lumber yard to set up a platform for viewing the daily loading and unloading of railroad cars. How cool is that, especially for kids.
- Could work with the railroad to set up times when a caboose could come through the Heritage District on the train and have someone on it waving to spectators.
- Have shops selling railroad gadgets.
- Put up place cards with pictures of old trains and some of their uses.
- There is a cotton gin just sitting at the lumber yard. Why isn't it on display somewhere so everyone can see it?
These are the types of thing that show our heritage, not multistory buildings and parking garages.
Conclusion
We shouldn't let government tell us what our heritage is. Let your Town Council Members and the Mayor know if you want to keep all new construction in the Heritage District in the same theme and character as the existing, quaint, one and two-story buildings that maintain the views of the water tower. Let them know if you want to keep the unique, small-town feel to the area. See below for contact information or to leave a comment.
