A 'Road to Somewhere'

Brent Whiting
The Arizona Republic
Jun.24, 2005 12:00 AM

For more than a decade, Sun ValleyParkway, a symbol of development dreams gone sour, has been called the "Road to Nowhere."

Now, with explosive growth that is facing Buckeye, the 30-mile-long four-lane divided highway has finally become the "Road to Somewhere."

The thoroughfare, unspoiled by much traffic, slicesthrough the cactus- and creosote-covered desert on the northern and westernflanks of the White Tank Mountains.

The road runs from Interstate 10 onthe south to Bell Road on the north, connecting Buckeye and Surprise.

Theparkway will be the hub for a host of master-planned communities that areplanned in Buckeye, including the Tempe-size Douglas Ranch, according to Valleydevelopers.

"There's just no way of getting around it," said Greg Vogel of Scottsdale-based Arizona Land Advisors, a brokerage.

KeithWatkins, former Buckeye economic development director, said work has alreadybegun on some projects, including communities on the southern flank of the WhiteTank Mountains, making Buckeye an important player in the far West Valley.

"The land along the Sun Valley Parkway is a blankcanvas," Watkins said. "It's not encumbered by any existingdevelopment."

Watkins is an executive for JF Cos., which plans to build about 8,000 homes inits 3,000-acre Trillium development along the parkway.

It's a farcry from 1987, which marks the start of the parkway's bumpyhistory.

That's when investors spent $82 million to build the highway, hoping to carve a48,000-acre community of 300,000 residents in a valley about 40 miles northwest of Phoenix.

Instead of seeing their land leapfrog in value, theywatched a 1987 real estate crash ruin their chances for profits, resulting in alegal mess that took years to sort out.

That all has changed, said JackieMeck, a Buckeye councilman. He said the town has approved plans for more than300,000 homes, including many projects along the Sun Valley Parkway, finallymaking it the "Road to Somewhere."

Meck said he was born in Buckeye and haslived 64 years within seven miles of his birthplace but said the small townthat he has known all of his life is about to vanish forever.

"I don'tthink that's necessarily bad," Meck said. "With all of this new development,we're trying to do it right. We just want a good community built."

Phoenix No. 1 with 30,000 new neighbors in a year, from the Arizona Republic, reports thatPhoenix is attracting more new residents than any other city in the nation,according to new US Census Bureau population estimates released today. Gilbert andChandler are also ranked in the top 10 fastest-growing cities. Phoenix was 39thin growth rate, but the 29,826 new residents gave it the nation's biggestpopulation increase in terms of raw numbers. Climate, a dynamic economy and a greatquality of life were cited as reasons people are moving here. The article statesthat Chandler and Gilbert are also attracting about 1,000 new residents each month.

La Paz County primed forgrowth explosion, from the Today's NewsHerald, reports that La Paz County is getting a lot of attention from investors,land speculators and developers. Only 5.4% of La Paz County is private land."The county is on the brink of a huge explosion of growth", said Pat Wall,the former county recorder who is now in charge of the county's communitydevelopment department. "Developers are buying huge tracts of land. They've jumpedover the county line from Maricopa (County) and California to find huge tracts ofland that is mush less expensive," she said. County officials last weekreported that they've had discussions with a Phoenix area investment group interestedin developing a planned community east of Salome with 8,000 new homes and20,000 people. The proposal has drawn comparisons to Anthem and Verrado, twonew planned communities outside of Phoenix. The other area of La Paz Countythat is growing is along the Colorado River in Parker, where Californiainvestors are purchasing waterfront property and building new, high end homes.