If the Downtown Tempe Community has its way, Mill Avenue may be reduced to one lane each direction and include on-street parking.
DTC, the non-profit group that manages, promotes and represents the downtown district and its businesses, hopes these changes will give downtown a more pedestrian-friendly atmosphere.
The group is expected to present its 2002 Downtown Advancement Plan to the City Council's Finance and Economic Development Committee on May 13. The issue will then go to the council for review.
One of the most dramatic changes will be the addition of 78 on-street parallel parking spaces on Mill Avenue between Rio Salado Parkway and Seventh Street. This would reduce Mill Avenue to one lane of traffic each way beginning at University Drive.
The parking spaces would be metered, with a limit of one hour.
"It's not just about additional parking," said Rod Keeling, executive director of DTC. "More importantly, it's about changing the sidewalks and how they work."
Keeling said the parked cars will provide a physical barrier between pedestrians and moving traffic, which will help pedestrians feel safe and fosters a good environment for sidewalk cafés.
"The slower traffic moves and the less cars there are makes it a better place to sit and sip a cup of coffee or latte or wine," he said.
DTC also seeks to amend the current sidewalk café ordinance to make it easier for restaurants to have outdoor seating. Most restaurants don't have the required10-foot minimum of space that the current ordinance requires.
"The code allows for no flexibility or wiggle room," Keeling said. "We don't want an absolute 10 feet. If this goes through, we want to encourage businesses to create sidewalk cafés."
Tempe Fire Chief Cliff Jones said the fire department supports the plan but said there is a tradeoff in safety.
"Anytime that you lower the number of traffic lanes and slow the movement of traffic, it obstructs and slows fire engine movement," Jones said. "But moving the University Drive fire station to 655 South Ash has offset that to a significant degree. We would have more concern than we do now if not for the relocation."
Keeling said DTC revised the plan to address the fire department's concerns by giving a 40-foot setback from each corner and adding a bike lane to give fire engines more maneuvering room. The bike lane would run between the traffic and parked cars.
Glenn Kephart, Tempe public works manager, said the city is open to the idea but is still evaluating the situation.
"We are analyzing what the effects would be on traffic, but we don't have a strong opinion on it yet," he said.
Kephart added that the city will use computers to model the traffic scenario on Mill Avenue, which will give a good idea of how the change would work.
The plan would also reduce the downtown's 10 bus stops to six, create loading zones on each block and allow businesses in multi-tenant buildings to have unique storefronts.
DTC will host a workshop on May 6 featuring speakers and a mock-up of the plan on Mill Avenue. The mock-up will include sidewalk cafes and on-street parking.
Reach the reporter at kristina.davis@asu.edu.
