Did you miss the Downtown Buckeye Streetscape meeting? Here’s everything you need to know.
The city hosted the Aug. 22 public event to discuss downtown developments. Led by Planning Manager Ken Galica, the meeting specifically detailed progress on Monroe Ave. as outlined by the Downtown Specific Area Plan (DSAP).
Council approved the DSAP in October of 2023 after approximately two years of development. It details plans and strategies for land use designation, public infrastructure and transportation projects, branding updates and economic development to attract new businesses and fill vacant buildings. It was created with three phases: short-term for the first one to three years, mid-term for years four to seven and long-term for years eight and beyond.
PLAN DEVELOPMENT
When developing the DSAP, the city sent a public survey to 4,000 recipients on a newsletter email list asking residents what they currently liked and disliked about the downtown in addition to what they wanted to see in the future. The survey yielded 865 resident responses, a number Galica said was significantly higher than anticipated. The city also sent 1,952 notices through the mail to property owners in the downtown district to notify them of public meetings. It hosted 14 engagement events and an open house with 440 participants. A stakeholder group with more than 90 business owners, students, residents, property owners and potential developers provided input on the process, as well.
“Folks that have had a chance to go out there, you’ve seen over the last 15 years both of those downtowns transform almost seemingly overnight from sleepy places not all that unlike what currently downtown buckeye looks like to what they are now which is great places to go out to dinner or for entertainment and those types of things,” he said.
MONROE AVE.
There are 29 total items in the Downtown Specific Area Plan, several of which Galica covered in the meeting including developing a consensus-built branding plot; establishing a downtown public art program; preparing for future parking needs; making roadway, streetscape and gateway improvements. Although the public art program is a mid-term goal, Galica said the city may increase its priority because of feedback on its community importance.
Updating streetscapes and adding parking downtown is an important implementation item and, while Galica said these improvements will include numerous downtown streets, Monroe Ave. was the focus of the Aug. 22 meeting.
The project is split into five stages, each with individual phases. Stage No. 1 was completed this month and included the following, according to the city.
- Remove a layer of asphalt and current pavement marking and seal cracks
- New designated truck route established
- Speed limit reduced
Phase 2:
- Seal coat street
Phase 3:
- Repaint pavement markings
- Restriping of Monroe Ave. to two lane road
- Additional parallel parking added
- Designated driveway access stripped
Phase 4:
- Painting of future Parklet areas, no parking in this area
- Crosswalk work
- Thermal painting of road markings
Remaining from Phase No. 1, there is a punch list of touch-ups and minor additions Galica noted that will be completed in the next 30-60 days. City Hall’s east parking lot is additionally currently being updated by adding 34 stalls and additional access from 6th Street, projects which are anticipated to be completed any day.
Stage No. 2 is currently in progress and includes the following:
- Introducing parklets in front of local businesses
- Temporary landscaping updates from 5th St. to 6th St. on the north and south sides of Monroe.
Landscaping demonstrations and sample parklets will be installed by mid-October for residents to view.
- Installing additional parklets
- Temporary landscape from 1st St. to 9th St.
The city has hired a consultant who will create three options for the temporary landscaping, Galica said. Residents will assist in the selection process prior to the 2025 installation. Stage No. 3 is slated to begin in 2025.
Phase No. 4 does not currently have a timeline, however is anticipated to include the following:
- Storm drain improvements for which the city is seeking grant funding to implement
- Installation of fiber lines
Phase No. 5 will include the following:
- Widening sidewalks
- Installing underground utilities
- Enhancing landscaping
Doing the improvements in these phases is important, Galica said at the meeting, as it allows for changes to the designs as needed should any issues or complications arise.
“The striping process we’re taking allows us to kind of watch the road, it’s almost like a real life laboratory where we can see if there is something that is not working as intended,” he said.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
At the conclusion of the meeting, Galica addressed several frequently-asked questions about downtown improvements.
- How will these improvements attract more people downtown?
“Most downtowns, at least the successful ones, all have kind of a certain feel to them where you are comfortable walking along the sidewalk, crossing the street, going to another shop over there, crossing back over the street. You feel comfortable, you feel like you’re in a place where you can enjoy yourself where there’s shade and it’s something that appeals to your eye. So this is the first step in attracting the businesses that like to locate in those areas that people find attractive. So it’s really the first step in becoming, hopefully, the downtown that our residents in that area, residents throughout the city, could be proud of and come to for a night out on the town or just for a lunch.”
- Will the reduction in lanes combined with new development cause traffic congestion?
“Monroe Ave. shouldn’t, in the community's view as far as what we heard during the DSAP preparation, function as a through street. We want people that are using Monroe Ave. to have a purpose of visiting a business on Monroe Ave. or going to their home a block off of Monroe Ave., but there’s really no benefit to the community of traffic that is just traveling through from Phoenix to San Diego, just passing through and not stopping at any of the businesses. So, we’ve created a truck route that would reroute the traffic that doesn't have any intention of utilizing any of these services downtown. We want, again, the traffic on Monroe Ave. to purely be local traffic.”
- Doesn’t the new truck route go through neighborhoods?
“No. The new truck route does pass by the backs of some neighborhoods like any arterial street does … but this new truck route that goes down to Hazen Rd. goes by a lot of less residences than what the Monroe truck route previously did. So, in terms of impacting residences, there is a lot less of an impact now than what there previously was.”
- Will the reduction in lanes combined with new development in the downtown delay emergency response?
“There's a lot of streets down here. It’s a grid network. In the event that Monroe is a little backed up, police and fire have a lot of different options to get to various locations in the area.”
View the full meeting on YouTube here.
