On Wednesday October 19, 2022 over 100 concerned residents convened at Harolds’ Cave Creek Corral to organize a concerted effort to oppose 53 rental units which are proposed to be built behind Abrazo Hospital and Tractor Supply Co. , near the intersection of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road. The proposed rentals would be built on two separate but adjacent parcels by two different entities.
The neighborhood call for action comes on the heels of two preliminary public meetings held at Town Hall on consecutive nights last week, where the owners of said parcels sought a change of zoning from Desert Rural Residential to Commercial Buffer, which would enable multi-family development of the parcels.
While speakers and attendees at the event seemed to generally concede the need for more rentals in the area, they were vehement about the fact that the parcels in question lack the neighborhood infrastructure for 52 families. The residents stress that with existing traffic patterns they already have difficulty exiting north off 52nd Street to Carefree Highway, and the same difficulty exiting East Westland onto Cave Creek Road.
While the area has grown significantly in the past two decades, the traffic issues in the neighborhood reportedly began with the completion of the nearby Sprouts Farmers Market shopping center. Predictably, the problem is worst during “rush hour”, but neighborhood access can be a problem all day long in winter months when the Foothills’ population expands significantly with the arrival of winter visitors. Recently, the Town of Cave Creek erected a stop sign along 52nd Street in an effort to discourage commuters who using it as a shortcut and often speeding, trying to avoid traffic lights the Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road intersection.
