The Hatcher Road Committee was borne out of the Sunnyslope Business Coalition, a larger group that meets quarterly to discuss and address a variety of topics related to the community, such as crime, graffiti, small business incentives from the city, and more.

    For the Hatcher Road Committee, that stretch of roadway needed a more focused effort to correct the existing problems and lay the groundwork for future improvement. The committee was charged with developing ideas to improve the visual appearance of Hatcher Road and the businesses. The group, chaired by Joel McCabe of Desert Mission Neighborhood Renewal, began meeting on a monthly basis to map out a strategy—and start looking for ways to pay for the plans.

    The overall vision of the committee is to “create a thriving economic corridor with community-oriented, family-friendly pedestrian ways and prosperous, locally owned businesses.” Areas that needed to be addressed include crime, traffic, blight, and economic revitalization/investment.

    One of the least expensive methods to address crime and curb accidents is to add additional street lighting. Working closely with the city of Phoenix Streets and Transportation Department, a funding application was recently approved by ADOT and the city of Phoenix for additional streetlights. This project adds 21 new streetlights and poles with high-pressure sodium lights to Hatcher Road. Additionally, 19 streetlights will be added to existing poles and 17 existing streetlights will be upgraded.  This award is approximately $1 million.

    In recent years, the un-signaled intersection at 11th Avenue and Hatcher was named among Arizona’s top 10 most dangerous intersections for cars and pedestrians.

    “There have been a lot of near misses as well as crashes—car to car as well as car-pedestrians—at nighttime,” says Kerry Wilcoxon, traffic engineer with the city streets department. “With additional lighting and improved wattage, cars can see pedestrians and cyclists better, and it can also improve the overall security of the area.”

    The new lighting should be installed by July.

    The committee also recently received notification of approval for a CMAQ grant through the Maricopa Association of Governments. This grant funding provides approximately $840,000 for pedestrian improvements (widening sidewalks and landscape improvements) along the portion of Hatcher Road between 3rd and 5th streets. Combined with federal and city of Phoenix grants, total funding for this project is approximately $1.2 million.

    “We are working on a streetscape plan, but lots of conflicting priorities get in the way of that,” Wilcoxon admits. “If I only wanted to make it safer and eliminate crossover traffic and left-turn accidents, we’d put median islands all the way down. But that would kill some of the businesses, because people need to be able to turn left to get to where they want to go.”

    In partnership with the North-Central Section of the Arizona Planning Association, the Hatcher Road Committee hosted a “Placemaking on a Budget” workshop/training session for planners from across the state. This process utilized Hatcher as their “real-life” example and the exercise provided the committee with recommendations for low-cost improvements and ways to redefine and rethink improvements to Hatcher without spending a lot of money.

    The next and perhaps most ambitious plan that currently is in development is The Hatcher Road Overlay Initiative, the goal of which is ultimately to guide longtime property owners and newcomers in (hopefully) less complicated ways to rehab or redevelop their properties—minus a lot of the usual municipal red tape and accompanying headaches. The first phase will target 7th Avenue to 7th Street.

    “We want The Hatcher Road Overlay to both encourage economic development as well as continue to process of creating a pedestrian-oriented streetscape,” explains committee chair McCabe. “In essence, it helps to implement what we’ve been working on in terms of an overall redevelopment plan for that area. There is such diversity along Hatcher, but a lot of people don’t know all of what is there.”

    The committee hopes to bring a final draft of the overlay plan to the North Mountain Village Planning Committee by springtime. But first, the committee has held two open houses and has met with individual business owners to explain the plan—and how it benefits businesses—in more detail. Committee members hope to have 100 percent of the property and business owners on board before bringing the plan to the city.

    Lest you think that it is only a handful of people with their own agenda who are plotting these changes for Hatcher Road, all 46 property owners and the nearly 70 businesses operating on those properties have been surveyed about the plans and asked to provide their feedback and their own ideas. In addition, the committee is working with some “heavy hitters”—Desert Mission Neighborhood Renewal entered into an agreement with the ECOSA Institute to design a comprehensive redevelopment plan for Hatcher Road. Additionally, in partnership with the Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, an asset map for Sunnyslope focusing on Hatcher is under way. The asset map will include a “walking map” for the roadway.

    “There are a lot of different projects going on to support all of our efforts on Hatcher,” McCabe says. “We’re starting to see the results of these efforts, and it’s really exciting.”

    The Hatcher Road Committee next meets at 8 a.m. at the Cowden Center, 9202 N. 2nd St. A community open house on the Hatcher Road plans will be held 6 p.m. March 11, location TBA.

    For more information about the Hatcher Road Committee and its plans, e-mail joel.mccabe@jcl.com or visit www.sunnyslopecommunity.org.