‘New downtown’ leaves some taxpayers confused, with buyer’s remorse

The city of Buckeye in August completed the first phase of its Downtown Specific Area Plan — a five-stage project meant to transform downtown Buckeye into a place that fosters community and economic growth. 

Phase one restriped Monroe Avenue from four lanes down to two, as it was in the 1950s, with designated left turn lanes at all traffic signals from Miller Road to Narramore Avenue. 

Buckeye’s population has grown 59-fold since the 1950s, however, and it’s going to nearly triple again in the next 15 years from 114,000 to 300,000. At full buildout, Buckeye will be more than 1.1 million in population, according to Buckeye’s Economic Development Department. 

More cars, yet fewer lanes downtown as the city works to draw more people there. 

Now, how does that work? 

Because Monroe Avenue isn’t meant to be a through street, said Ken Galicia, the planning manager for Buckeye. 

“Most downtowns, at least the successful ones, all kind of have a certain feel to them,” said Galicia during an Aug. 22 Downtown Buckeye Streetscape meeting, “where you are comfortable walking along the sidewalk, crossing the street, going to another shop over there, crossing back over the street." 

The walkability that comes with fewer traffic lanes will attract new businesses to Monroe Avenue and keep unwanted traffic out, which could reduce traffic overall, city planners argue. 

“There’s really no benefit to the community of traffic that’s just traveling from Phoenix to San Diego just passing through and not stopping at any of the businesses,” Galicia said. “We want, the traffic on Monroe to purely be local traffic.”  

He noted there were no concerns over emergency responders’ access to the area. 

Not everyone is buying the argument, though, like Cathy Porter Calvert, who has lived in Buckeye since 1967. 

“This is just about the dumbest thing I have ever seen,” Calvert said. “Local residents will avoid the downtown area like the plague. That will not help any downtown business, now or ever.”   

‘Annoying as hell’ 

According to the city, the idea was to convert the old lanes into parallel parking spaces to drive business and event tourism and create a pedestrian buffer from the street. A more walkable downtown with better parking is worth the sacrifice. 

However, the public response has not been positive. One unhappy taxpayer is Ivan Carlson, who settled in Encantada Estates in 2021. 

Carlson “didn’t really like the idea” when he first saw it, he said. But the final product was even worse. 

“It honestly doesn’t even look like the plan that they even put out,” he said. 

The city posted an educational video in August about the coming changes that garnered 260 comments from displeased and confused residents.  

“The population here is growing, so why would you restrict traffic?” Carlson asked.  

“That makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I understand the parking aspect, I totally get that, but we were managing just fine as it was.” 

Carlson said the street has already become jammed and he feels there wasn’t enough parking added — no more than four spaces to each business.  

“Even if they had just turned the parking diagonal, where there was a little bit of room to be able to come out and back into the streets,” Carlson said. “That would have made more sense than restricting it down to two lanes.”  

The Buckeye resident said driving down Monroe Avenue since the restriping has been difficult.  

“It makes driving down that street a pain,” Carlson said. “Having it to where the lanes are so restricted is causing congestion that makes no sense at all.”  

The city also reduced the speed on the street from 30 to 25 miles per hour and 15 miles per hour near Buckeye Elementary School.  

“Honestly, it’s annoying as hell,” Carlson said. “There was no reason to drop it down lanes and restrict the speed limit so much like they did.”  

You can’t park(let) there! 

The city will convert existing curbside parking spots into dining patios and retail displays called parklets in a future phase. It has painted where the parklets will be. 

These parklets and landscaping are meant to transform Monroe Avenue from a highway to a relaxed, pedestrian-friendly main street. But today, the sites are just lines in the sand or, more accurately, grey lines painted on pavement, sparking confusion about parking for some residents. 

“People park there all the time,” Carlson said. “It really just needs to go back to the way that it was. Why fix what wasn’t broke?” 

The parklets are expected to be useful during events like Buckeye Days, Glow on Monroe and the Halloween Carnival when the city shuts down the street. However, several residents said, with the road capacity halved, there’s no room for such large-scale events that safety concerns will likely push them away from downtown as they would do more harm than good to businesses there. 

Others said they feared the parklets would become homeless encampments. 

Keep on truckin’ 

DSAP’s first phase ended with a new designated truck route that will keep tractor-trailers from using Monroe Avenue as an Interstate 10 detour. The city spokesperson noted the only semi-trucks permitted on Monroe Avenue will be for local deliveries. 

Carlson gave this prong a rare nod of approval, as trucks often dropped nails and screws in the road to the detriment of unsuspecting commuters. 

However, he emphasized he — and he feels a lot of other people — want to see Monroe Avenue return to the way it was before. 

“Simply restriping it back the way it was would be perfect,” he concluded. 

The makeover is supposed to make downtown Buckeye more attractive to the city dwellers, but Carlson said he feels the cons outweigh the pros. 

“Everybody is frustrated with it,” Carlson said. “I have yet to find anyone that likes it the way it is now.”  

The first parklets and some temporary landscaping come during phase two, which is in progress and will be completed next year. Phase three adds more parklets and landscaping from First Street to Ninth Street. Three design options will be presented for public feedback this fall with the final design revealed at a public meeting this winter ahead of the 2025 installation. 

The city does not know in which year the fifth and final stage will be complete. 

Landscaping demonstrations, including a sample parklet, will be on display on Monroe Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets this month. This preview will give businesses, residents and visitors a taste of what's to come — love it or hate it.