In 2006, Reid Butler asked the city and the surrounding neighbors to allow zoning on his 5-acre assembled property, called Cornerstone at Camelback and located at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Camelback Road, to increase from 208 to 250 feet. Neighborhood groups and the Planning Commission gave their approval, and in December of that year the Phoenix City Council gave Reid what he wanted.

Now Reid wants to bump that up to 400 feet—and this time, the parties involved are not so amenable to his request.

The developer of Cornerstone at Camelback, located at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Camelback Road, wants to increase his development height to 400 feet so he can build a 36-story, mixed-use development with 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant development, three residential towers with 750 units, and a hotel component with 300 rooms (rendering obtained from city of Phoenix planning staff report).

Reid has conducted neighborhood meetings with the St. Francis Neighborhood Association, Pierson Place Association, Medlock Place Association, Windsor Square Association and the North Central Phoenix Homeowners Association.

The association that lies adjacent to the property to the south and west is Pierson Place, which contains many old stock and historic homes it its quiet residential neighborhood.

The association has held at least two meetings to discuss the proposal with its resident members, and also planned to conduct a door-to-door survey as well. The sense from Elaine McLean, zoning chairwoman for Pierson Place, is that many of the Pierson Place homeowners would not support this height increase.

“Our board came out in support of the increase of up to 250 feet in 2006. In reality, it only went up 45 feet, and it seemed a good height and a good plan,” McLean explained. “Plus, the city promised us that nothing would go higher than 250 for the area north of Highland.”

Her own concern, reflective of many others in her neighborhood, is that “if they get 400 feet, all the other property developers sitting on land in that area—for example, Omninet—will ask for that same height, if not higher.”

Omninet Central LLC, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., owns the parcel at 4800 N. Central Ave. Current plans call for a 250-foot residential tower with 222 units, as well as 5,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor and a parking garage with 18 townhomes “wrapped” around it as a buffer to the St. Francis neighborhood.

McLean and others feel that if Cornerstone goes up, it will set a precedent allowing other developers sitting on land in the area, like Omninet, to ask for the same.

The Alhambra Village Planning Committee, which also approved Reid’s request in 2006, was set to meet on his latest petition at its May 27 meeting. Indications as of press time were that the VPC was not going to give its approval this time.

The VPC, if deciding to not recommend approval, would only be following the path of the city of Phoenix planning staff, who in their official report also recommend denial of Reid’s request.

According to the staff report, the requested height is not appropriate at this location as height waivers (for greater than 250 feet) have not been granted between the Grand Canal and Camelback Road.

The Alhambra Village Core (15th-19th avenues, Camelback to Bethany Home roads) has created guidelines that, while never officially adopted by the city, states that the area between Camelback Road and the Grand Canal, from 1st Street to 1st Avenue (“Central Corridor”) is designated for mid-rise, up to 125 feet.

The idea was to decrease height north of the Grand Canal from other high-rise development along Central Avenue south of the canal in Encanto Village. All discussion identified Camelback Road as the northern limit for all mid-rise zoning along Central Avenue.

However, two cases filed after 1985 have been granted over 125 feet: the M&I Bank site was approved for 150 feet, and the vacant parcel at the northeast corner of Highland Avenue and 1st Avenue was approved for 250 feet for a high-rise development.

Nonetheless, the staff report explains that Reid’s latest request greatly exceeds the height of comparable development or other approved high-rise sites along Central Avenue between the Grand Canal and Camelback Road. In addition, “The proposed development is not consistent with the Alhambra Village character [and] the request for additional height is not consistent with General Plan goals and policies.”

City zoning and development policy dictates that new development or redevelopment near residential areas should be compatible with existing uses and consistent with adopted plans. Further, non-residential land uses that do not serve the neighborhood and are not compatible in both scale and character with the surrounding residential area, should not be permitted adjacent to planned or existing residential development.

According to the staff report, “The proposed high-rise development will not provide a transition from the adjacent historic single-family residential neighborhood.”

The Phoenix Planning Commission is set to review the zoning request at its June 11 meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 300 W. Jefferson. The City Council will have the final say on the matter most likely at its July 2 meeting.