Tucson, Arizona Río Nuevo Master Plan
The Vision and The Plan - continued...

• At the approximate mid-point of the planning process, the team was able to cite an understanding of certain key determinants of the evolving plan. These were as follows:

What We’ve Learned

— Substantial, but not unlimited, market strength will drive new development including a mix of residential products in and around downtown.

— Historic and cultural themes can be woven into the Master Plan as physical development.

— Limited Rio Nuevo TIF monies will need to be judiciously allocated to ensure leveraging of private sector investment.

— The Santa Cruz River can be restored in terms of riparian stabilization and beautification, limited water flow, and greening. It is not feasible to contain, or otherwise create, a large body of water.

— Major changes to I–10 (both currently planned and those which may be desired) will be pursued over the long term. Recommendations for such change, and other monumental public works projects, are not appropriate for the Rio Nuevo Master Plan 10-Year Development Plan, but are treated in the Long-Range Vision Plan.

— A critical mass of cultural attractions and other new development on the East Side is both desirable, and necessary, for downtown revitalization and leveraging of multiple new projects.

— A cultural park environment that includes significant visitor attractions and an appropriate representation of Tucson’s origins is both desirable, and necessary, for revitalization of the West Side.

— The Broadway Corridor is economically healthy, and can host mixed use development on various opportunity sites. Conversion of under­performing properties to new, highest and best uses should be encouraged.

— Connectivity between Broadway and Downtown, west of I-10 and east of I-10, will be addressed through visual, programmatic, and physical linkages. Transportation, access, and parking will be addressed on multiple levels with careful attention to neighborhood impacts.

 

• At the second public forum in early December, the planning team presented three different experience areas that would be linked in a mutually reinforcing manner. These different experiences were:

— An historical/cultural park experience mostly on the west side of I-10 which provides an enjoyable park-like environment for important elements like the restored Convento and Mission Gardens, Arizona State Museum and Arizona Historical Society, Rancho Chuk-Shon, an International Mercado, new and renovated residences, and a convenient reception/ orientation facility for first-time visitors, and other cultural attractions around a central plaza.

— A more intensively developed urban/cultural experience largely on the east side of I-10 organized around an exciting new central plaza that becomes Tucson’s new “town square.” New Cultural facilities that generate higher levels of usage would be clustered around the plaza with new retail and restaurant facilities, a new headquarters hotel for the renovated TCC, with convenient parking adjacent to and beneath the plaza.

— Renovation and upgrading of existing and new buildings along Congress and Pennington Streets, transforming Downtown Tucson’s traditional retail district into an expanded and improved arts and entertainment experience with the renovated Fox and Rialto theatres as anchor attractions.

• All three experience areas will have new and renovated “Plazas and Plazuelas” with shade and water and other user-friendly features. The plazas and plazuelas will be linked by new and improved “Calles de Verde” which favor pedestrians over vehicles (yet allow vehicles to be accommodated and parked), plus vehicle-free pedestrian ways and an extended trolley line which is fun to ride and serves to take vehicles off the streets. All three experience areas will also feature new cultural attractions, new businesses, new and renovated residential development that can be supported in the market place, and design sensitivity to authentic historic origins and appropriate building scale.

• An assessment of historical land use patterns in downtown Tucson, and a close study of photographs, drawings, and records were conducted by the Team, and utilized in conjunction with extensive input from preservationists and neighborhood groups to begin re-weaving the urban and community fabric that was torn during Urban Renewal and other periods of dislocation that preceded it. The mandate for connecting east and west areas of the City was also taken up by the Team and incorporated into the planning process. Environmental and hydrologic assessments were also conducted and the findings assimilated. These efforts resulted in additional projects, infrastructure, and design recommendations being incorporated into the Master Plan.

• Several technical transportation, parking, and access work tasks were completed during the course of the Master Planning process, and the following are summarized recommendations that emerged:

— There is a need for a shuttle or shuttles serving Rio Nuevo that are separate from SunTran.

— SunTran’s routes generally should end at the Ronstadt Transit Center and/or a new transit station near Congress and I–10, and feed the shuttle system from those locations.

— The historic trolley should be extended from Fourth Ave. through downtown to Rio Nuevo.

— A connecting shuttle to between 7,000 and 9,000 parking spaces both north and south of Rio Nuevo that would bring parking patrons to their destinations in Rio Nuevo is recommended.

— Extending/reconnecting Mission Lane across the Santa Cruz River and under I-10 to connect with Simpson St.

— Closing Mission Road between Mission Lane and Star Pass Boulevard.

— Penetration of I–10 with a pedestrian underpass.

— Extension of Clark/Cushing from the TCC to Mission Road.

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