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Moon
Valley parcel to house condo units By
Rebecca I. Allen The
Arizona Republic
Neighbors
in
Moon
Valley
have watched plans for an empty 5-acre "nuisance"
lot come and go for more than 30 years.
The oddly shaped parcel surrounded by commercial and
residential development in north
Phoenix
has received zoning for everything from office space to an
assisted-living facility. In August, Noteware Development LLC
will break ground on a 66-unit condo complex north of
Thunderbird Road
and west of
Seventh Street
.
"I'm glad to see something go in there," said Roger
Clark, a member of the Moon Valley Homeowners Association.
"We've had problems with vagrants and trash in that empty
lot."
The lot has been
plagued with unsupervised use, litter and development
challenges, including drainage and fitting in with the
neighborhood, most of which was built in the late 1960s and
early '70s.
"It's had a long history," said Susan Sargent,
planner for
Phoenix
's
North
Mountain
Village
.
"Each time neighbors got together and opposed anything
that was not residential," said Paul Stark of P. Stark
Builders in
Scottsdale
.
There is a strong group overseeing development. The Moon
Valley Homeowners Association, which represents 29
subdivisions, was formed in 1969.
"We make sure that anything the city is doing or local
developers want to do is to the best benefit of our
community," said Jim Larson, association president.
Stark bought the 5-acre property three years ago and received
City Council approval for the condo development in May 2005,
but only after the neighbors gave it the thumbs up.
They went through three site plans for six three-story
buildings in the gated complex, called Sevilla. Changes
included adding trees and moving the garages to the property
line to create an additional buffer, increasing the setback to
109 feet and mandating that one building whose windows face
existing homes have only obscured glass or clerestory windows.
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