Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 7

The Arizona Republic B4 FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2005 SCOTTSDALE PHOENIX John D'Anna, city editor (602) 444-NEWS (6397) john.dannaiascottsdalerepublic.com Heather Urquides, assistant city editor (602) 444-NEWS (6397) heather.urquides(arizonarepublic.com Carefree Cave Creek fountain Hills Paradise Valley Arcadia Salt River Community Downtown East Phoenix North-Central South Phoenix Laveen Maryvale Sunnyslope Moon Valley Deer Valley New River -rvr -A i- 4 'i rjr-H'rTr A.1 (se gjsT- ijTlaMBesrT- Artist rendering City officials have a $3 million budget for landscaping at the city-owned Sheraton hotel, to be located along Van Buren Street between Second and Third streets. Palms to play a big part in city hotel landscaping Higgins Deelopment and the Plaza Cos. The "SkySong" is a dramatic shade feature included in the plans for the Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation. Designers hope to create a vital, urban feel. ASU Scottsdale center's designers envision vitality 'Urban street' idea pitched to council limos and other patrons who are dropping off guests.

Among the proposals: a water feature or fountain that would operate solely on condensation from the air-conditioning system. "We're not going to be taking any potable water here," Ten Eyck said. "It's water that the building would have wasted, that normally would go in the sewer." The entry area would also feature luminaria-esque ceiling lighting, and textured tiling or paving, officials said. City Councilman Doug Lingner said he was pleased with what he saw and encouraged the landscaping firm to be bold in its thinking. "We don't want this to be bland," Lingner said.

"We really want to use the color and texture of Arizona, so people remember this when they aie here." i Reach the reporter at ginger. richardsonarizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2474. Director Pat Grady said officials have a $3 million budget for landscaping at the hotel, which is considered crucial to the success of the Phoenix Civic Plaza. The convention center is undergoing its own $600 million renovation. Much of the landscaping at the property will be at street level.

Officials have planned to locate a restaurant with outdoor seating at the southeastern corner of the site and hope to create a "garden" feel by building a low fence and lining the area with plants and flowers. The site currently houses numerous full-grown palm trees, which the city said it hopes it can reuse elsewhere at the hotel. "We have an expert who is evaluating their health," Ten Eyck said. "We will save them if we can." Early plans' also call for a lot of landscaping near the hotel's entry, which features a circular driveway for cabs, By Cingcr D. Richardson The Arizona Republic PHOENIX Officials are hoping to create extensive shade and visually stimulating entry areas at the new city-owned Sheraton hotel by using desert colors, native plants and palm trees.

City officials unveiled initial proposals for landscaping at the $350 million hotel this week. Much of the emphasis focuses on creating a unique environment that also can be enjoyed by passers-by. "We're really trying to figure out how to portray, in an urban setting, this feeling of Arizona," said Christine Ten Eyck, the landscape architect working on the project. The hotel will be situated between Second and Third streets, directly west of the Arizona Center on Van Buren Street. Plans call for rows of palm trees to line the property on its southern and eastern edges.

Downtown Development ble. "This is not a suburban office park," he said. "It's a classic trade-off between open space and height." Councilwoman Betty Drake said she was disappointed that the city did not have more details about what the buildings and plan would look like and how the center would appeal to neighbors and residents. "I want to see it fully integrated into the community," she said. "What's it going to do to draw in and support neighbors who live around there?" Others on the council said they would wait for the plans to arrive on schedule in September.

Reach the reporter at lesley.wrightarizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-6883. the rezoning of the 42-acre site, which once was home to the razed Los Arcos Mall. Some of the city's leading business executives applauded the move. Drew Brown, president of DMB Associates praised the council for showing "extraordinary leadership." Former Scottsdale Healthcare CEO Max Poll said the new innovation center would fulfill the medical center's vision for downtown Scottsdale. The zoning, which was changed from suburban commercial, allows for 60 foot buildings, research and development, housing and offices, along with supporting retail and other services.

ASU Foundation trustee Steve Evans said the taller height is necessary to leave as much office space as possi By Lesley Wright The Arizona Republic SCOTTSDALE Designers of the new ASU Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation said the future project would offer a vital "urban street" to visitors and residents. The east-west divide is one of the few details that designers of the $300 million project described to Scottsdale City Council members this week before seeking a rezon-ing of the site at McDowell and Scottsdale roads. Council members on Tuesday unanimously approved Townhouse application is withdrawn BRIEFS Lightning ignites fire on Mummy Mountain PARADISE VALLEY Fire crews were working to keep a lightning-sparked fire on Mummy Mountain away from homes Thursday night. The fire began about 7:40 p.m. It burned about five acres and "was growing" at 9 p.m., said Phoenix Assistant Fire Chief Bob Khan.

About 30 Phoenix firefighters were working with RuralMetro authorities to keep the blaze from reaching homes in the area. Fire and police officials planned to launch a public-education effort during the July 4 weekend in Paradise Valley, in which officials would knock on doors to warn residents about potential fire dangers. Officials planned the program in response to the current "Cave Creek Complex" fire. Scottsdale names new planning official SCOTTSDALE Deputy City Manager Ed Gawf's newest employee is a man who used to be his boss. Scottsdale announced Thursday that Frank Gray, who oversaw Gawf when they were top planning officials in Boulder, will become general manager of Scottsdale's Planning and Development Services Department.

Gray, who is director of community planning and development for Lakewood, will become Scottsdale's top planner when he begins Aug. 29. He fills a role officially vacant since November, when then-General Manager Kroy Ekblaw became Gawf's special assistant. Ekblaw has continued to oversee the department while his replacement was being sought. Cave Creek voters to rule on arts center CAVE CREEK The Cave Creek School Board will allow voters to decide Nov.

8 whether they want arts patrons to build a "cultural village" next to Cactus Shadows High School. The School Board voted 4-1 Wednesday to ask district voters to give them permission to negotiate a lease for the school land, 60th Street and Carefree Highway, with the non-profit So-noran Desert Arts Center, which plans to build the center with donations from arts patrons. The center may cost up to $80 million. "There will be no taxpayer dollars," said Gary Wykoff, a Cactus Shadows music teacher and member of a citizens advisory committee on the project. If the measure passes, it will be a clear indication that voters approve the cultural center on school land.

BRIEFS Woman is sentenced in child smuggling try PHOENIX A Phoenix woman on Thursday was sentenced to 15 months in prison for attempting to smuggle two children into the United States last year through the port of entry in Nogales, the U.S. attorney for Arizona said. As part of a guilty plea on April 15 to a felony smuggling charge, Diana Correa, 27, admitted that on Sept. 1, 2004, she used U.S. birth certificates belonging to her own children to try to smuggle two children, ages 2 and 4, into the United States, the U.S.

Attorney's Office said. The children were unrelated to her. As part of the smuggling arrangement, Correa was instructed to pick up the children at a hotel in Mexico and then take them to their mother who lives in Mesa, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. She was to be paid $500 by the mother, the U.S.

Attorney's Office said. Stretch of 1-17 to close tonight for bridge work PHOENIX Interstate 17 between Bethany Home Road and Glendale Avenue will close at 9 tonight as workers place the concrete deck on the Maryland Avenue Bicycle Bridge. The section of high way will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday. During the closure, the access roads on both sides of 1-17 from Bethany Home Road to Glendale Avenue also will be closed.

The bridge, scheduled to open in mid-August, is the city's seventh artist-designed pedestrian bridge and the only pedestrian overpass along 1-17. Sikh novelist, minister to visit Poisoned Pen PHOENIX Soul Singh, a novelist and minister in the Phoenix Sikh community, will speak June 30 at the Poisoned Pen Central Bookstore. The topic of Singh's presentation is "Creating a new mythology: From belief to experience and from romance to reality." Singh's first novel, Devil and the Divine, is in the early stages of being developed for television. The event starts at 12:15 p.m. Poisoned Pen Central is at 215 E.

Grant St. GateWay holding open registration for classes PHOENIX GateWay Community College is holding open registration for second-session summer school classes. Most classes begin on or after July 5. Classes are available in areas including math, English as a second language, biology, communication and psychology. Child care and financial aid are available to those who qualify.

Registration can be completed at www.gatewayc-c.edu. or in person, on the phone, or by fax or mail. GateWay Community College is at 40th and Washington streets. Waste plant drops appeal, won't reopen By Mary Jo Pitzl The Arizona Republic Operators of a shuttered hazardous-waste plant in south-central Phoenix have dropped their legal battle to reopen. Innovative Waste Utilization was due to file its opening brief Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Instead, the firm's attorneys withdrew their appeal altogether. State and city officials hailed the move, saying it brings to an end the firm's long and contentious operating history on South 15th Avenue at the Salt River bed. IWU attorney Dave Armstrong did not return a call seeking comment. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality revoked IWU's operating permit in February 2003 after a highly publicized drug raid at the plant. DEQ said the police investigation showed the firm had violated at least four terms of its permit, such as removing waste from containers and backfilling the barrels with sand so inspectors could not detect any change in weight.

The company appealed the loss of its permit, but a state administrative-law judge upheld DEQ's decision. IWU then went to court. DEQ Director Steve Owens said the latest action shows that the company did not have sound legal arguments to win back its operating permit. "There is no other avenue of appeal," Owens said. City officials joined DEQ in fighting the appeal, arguing that the plant was a detriment to the community.

"I think it's a huge accomplishment for that neighborhood," said Phoenix City Councilman Mike Johnson, who represents central and southwest Photjnix. By Casey Newton The Arizona Republic SCOTTSDALE Residents who attend today's open house on proposed amendments to the Scottsdale General Plan will find one fewer application under consideration. Planning Commissioner Jeffrey Schwartz and partner J. Craig Waddell of Odyssey Homes have withdrawn their application to build 'townhouses along Shea Boulevard and Sundown Drive. Their proposed project, called the Sundowner, would have turned eight existing homes on Shea into at least 74 townhouses.

That would have required neighbors to approve modifying deed restrictions on the site that allow only one home per acre. The neighbors wouldn't bite, and the partners backed out. The partners, who had the homes under contract to purchase, won't exercise the option, Waddell said. "I don't need seven rundown houses I can't do much with," said Waddell, adding that he thought only one of the eight homes on the strip was well-maintained. Waddell expressed mild disappointment at the Sundowner's early demise.

"It would have been a good project," he said. The public can see the remaining seven major General Plan proposals today at the second of two open houses this month on the topic. City staff members will be on hand to explain the proposals and answer questions. The open house takes place from 8 a.m. to noon in the first-floor conference rooms at One Civic Center, 7447 E.

Indian School Road. Reach the reporter at (602) 444-6853. Today in Scottsdale Tuesday in Phoenix What's happening What it's about What's happening What it's about Major intersection reopens. The intersection of Goldwater Boulevard and Fifth Avenue will reopen to traffic by 5 a.m. today.

It was closed this week to allow sewerline construction for the Scottsdale Waterfront project. On Thursday, the city closed Fifth Avenue between Goldwater and Marshall Way. It will remain closed through July 1 as the project continues. Downtown Phoenix Hotel Corp. meeting.

The group will hear about the marketing efforts of Starwood, the company hired to run the city-funded hotel, and see presentations on designs for the hotel rooms and landscaping. 9 a.m., main conference room of Phoenix City Hall, 200 W. Washington St. What's next Whenwhere.