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Old Posted Sep 18, 2009, 2:32 AM
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HooverDam HooverDam is offline
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Location: Country Club Park, Greater Coronado, Midtown, Phoenix, Az
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http://www.azcentral.com/community/m...teway0918.html

Quote:
Mesa struggles with first impressions from freeway views
48 comments by Jim Walsh - Sept. 17, 2009 11:52 AM
The Arizona Republic
Few would argue that Mesa's western gateway on the Loop 202 makes a good first impression.

While Scottsdale has freeway walls decorated with artistic cactus and geckos and Tempe has Town Lake, drivers entering Mesa are treated to views of a wastewater treatment plant, cement companies and sand and gravel operations.

The difference is that Scottsdale and Tempe paid for the upgrades, which Mesa can't afford. The result is that in a culture where image is everything, the first image thousands of people see when they enter the nation's 38th largest city each day isn't pretty.

Heading east on the 202, drivers coming into Mesa pass a pockmarked landscape of barren river bottom dominated by large piles of rock and heavy equipment on the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community to the north.

On the south side is the treatment plant, large stretches of bladed desert and a massive gravel pit. The only relief in the first two miles is the Mesa Riverview shopping area.

"You're right, it's ugly," said Stephanie Wright, co-chair of the Mesa Grande Community Alliance neighborhood group.

Tanya Collins, Mesa Grande's other co-chair, said that one of the biggest eyesores is "the big hole," a 100-foot deep gravel pit run by Johnson Stewart company south of Loop 202 and west of Alma School Road.

"We'd love to see it become more attractive to make that entrance to Mesa look better," Collins said.

Collins, a retired Mesa city employee, said the area needs to think big to have an appealing future. For instance, she'd love to see the gravel pit turn into a lake.

"It's been there a long time and it's been a nuisance to the neighborhood a long time," she said, recalling a time years ago when operation of a batch plant at night would create dust and noise.

A spokesman for Johnson Stewart said the 100-foot deep pit would probably be mined for another five years. Reclamation already is underway, with the part nearest Alma School getting filled with concrete and dirt.

The spokesman said the mine, which dates back to 1946 in the Johnson family, has tried to be a good neighbor by planting eucalyptus trees to block the view from nearby neighborhoods. The mine donated materials to build McLellan Road between Alma School and Country Club Drive and a runway at the former Williams Air Force Base, now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

"These are responsible operators and they're doing a great job," said Steve Trussell, executive director of the Arizona Rock Products Association.

He said the industry has helped power Arizona's growth, supplying concrete for highways, foundations for houses and other purposes. The mines need to be near transportation and markets to keep costs down.

"There are things we might not be excited about but are necessary," Trussell said.

Although Mesa may never have the money decorative sound walls along the Loop 202, the city has at least two long-term hopes for the area's transformation, but neither is a sure thing.

Drivers could be greeted by such refreshing images as kayakers navigating whitewater or surfers riding a wave if the Waveyard water resort is built near the water treatment plant.

"It's an extremely unexpected scenario," said Richard Mladick, Waveyard's co-founder. "We view all this as a tremendous opportunity. The visibility is one of things that make it such a great site."

And Va Shly'ay Akimel, a major Salt River ecosystem restoration project that has been a dream for nearly a decade, is inching closer with a major assist from $645,000 in federal stimulus money.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are hiring a consultant to design the first leg of the 14-mile project between the Loop 101 bridge and Alma School Road.

However neither Waveyard nor Va Shly'ay Akimel are certainties.

Waveyard is behind schedule from the recession and just received an extension of a development agreement from the Mesa City Council. Va Shly'ay Akimel is a $161.2 million project and whether it gets built depends on future federal expenditures.

Mike Ternak, Va Shly'ay Akimel's project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, has never been more optimistic. He said the project was authorized by Congress in 2007 through the Water Resources Development Act, clearing a path toward eventual construction.

The dusty gray scar that stretches through the east Valley would gradually turn greener and would have actual wetlands.

"I think it's going to be a great opportunity visually to improve what the river looks like," Ternak said.

Planned to reverse 100-years of degradation, the project would rechannel the river, provide reliable water sources to restore natural vegetation and create a trail system on the south side.

Even if the federal money kept flowing, it would take 10 years to gradually build Va Shly'ay Akimel in stages, Ternak said.

Ternak said the Johnson Stewart mine is outside Va Shly'ay Akimel's footprint, however other operations, particularly on the north side of the freeway, including CEMEX, Maricopa Ready Mix and Salt River Mining Group, could be affected.
I hadn't heard of this Akimel plan before but it sounds nice. The Salt River like I've said before is this amazing untapped resource and really should be a giant linear park and wetlands area through the entire stretch of urbanized area in the Valley, its nice to see Mesa planning ahead for once and perhaps doing something to make that a reality.
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