Post on 25-Jan-2021
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Overview
DRAFT - March 19, 2012
FINDINGS OF CONDITIONS LEADING TO
ARRESTED GROWTH IN THE PROPOSED
DOWNTOWN/GATEWAY REDEVELOPMENT AREA
The City of Tucson is seeking to further encourage development in the downtown area. To this
end, the City is proposing a redevelopment area, being called the Downtown/Gateway
Redevelopment Area as shown on Map 1. In accordance with Arizona Revised Statutes 36-1471,
the City of Tucson has determined that the proposed redevelopment area is a slum area where
sound municipal growth is substantially arrested. Both of the following are true for this area:
There is a predominance of buildings or improvements, both residential and nonresidential and the
public health safety or welfare is threatened because of
a) dilapidated, deteriorated, aging or obsolescent buildings or improvements; and
b) the existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other causes.
Map 1- City of Tucson Proposed Downtown/Gateway Redevelopment Area
City of Tucson Proposed Downtown/Gateway
Redevelopment Area
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City of Tucson Housing & Community Development
Findings
Table 3 Housing Data
Total Housing Units Vacant Units
% vacant Owner Occupied
% owner occupied Renter Occupied
% renter occupied S011m•: Ll.·11.1H.i- f!f Popuk,tion e;.,, I lo11si1{� .. SF! data
4,654 743
16.0% 637
16.3% 3,274
83.7%
DRAFT - March 19, 2012
A. Diversity of Ownership
.An analysis of current Pima County Assessor records shows that the Downtown/Gateway Redevelopment Area is comprised of 3,799 parcels, 521 of which are government owned (Federal, State, County, City, and School District). Of the non-government owned parcels, 2,133 parcels (65.1 %) have different owners. Additionally, 37.9% of all parcels in the redevelopment area are owned by out-of-town residents or corporations and 13.3% of all parcels are owned by tax-exempt entities. Based on the City's redevelopment experience, this degree of diversity of ownership impairs and arrests sound growth due to the difficulty of consolidating developable parcels in a timely manner and an increase in land prices caused by undue overhead expense in assemblage of properties.
B. Unsanitary or Unsafe Conditions
1. Environmental Issues
City of Tucson
There are t\vo State Superfund sites (7'h Street and Arizona Avenue and Park-Euclid)within the proposed Downtown/Gateway Redevelopment Area boundaries, eachcontributing to soil and groundwater contamination in the form of volatile organiccompounds (VOCs) such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE).Other brownfields properties in the proposed redevelopment area include closedlandfills, former gas stations, dry cleaners, automotive repair facilities, abandonedindustrial and manufacturing facilities, railroad lines and spurs, and vacant/ abandonedinner city structures, businesses, and motels. The proposed redevelopment arearepresents less than 2% of the land area of the City of Tucson, yet, it is estimated thatthe redevelopment area contains 13% of point source pollution sites in the City ofTucson (235 sites) as identified by the EPA.
The City of Tucson was awarded a brownfields assessment grant in October 2010. Thetarget area for this assessment is the Empowerment Zone along with two W'eed andSeed areas: \�estside Coalition and North Tucson Coalition. Ninety percent (90%) ofthe proposed redevelopment area falls within the Brownfields Assessment Area. Asstated in the Brownfields grant application, "As a consequence of these Brownfields,target area residents suffer from many economic and social ills including lack ofmeaningful jobs, poor housing stock, insufficient alternative transportation options,exposure to prostitution and crime, alcohol use, drug use, and blight."
6 Housing & Community Development