TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Grant Road is a major street with an impact on a lot of neighborhoods. Now the City of Tucson is looking past the Grant Road widening to consider how to make the street a better asset to the people who live along it.
KGUN9 has done a lot of stories over the years about plans to widen Grant Road, but there’s another question. What do you want by the side of the road in terms of places to shop, places to eat and places to live? The city of Tucson is working on that now.
Grant Road is one of the main ways across Tucson. That will be even more true when the widening project is done. But the city, and the neighborhoods along Grant do not want the road to be just a way to roar across town.
Garden District President Lois Pawlak wants the road to be a positive force for the neighborhoods.
“We need to see businesses that can complement the neighborhood services and businesses that people will use here. We don't need more smoke shops, more title loans. We need grocery stores, we need hair salons and laundromats . We need restaurants. We're a restaurant desert around here. All we have is fast food and junk food.”
That’s the sort of input Tucson’s Planning and Development Services is gathering for the Grant Road Development District. The city is working to develop standards for what to build and how to build new buildings along Grant. There is more background on the district at this link.
Dan Bursuck with Tucson’s Planning and Development Services says, “I think what what the people want and what we've heard from people is, they want a place that you know, the residents can go to and utilize those services, restaurants, bars, as well as a place that as people are coming by they want to stop and become patrons.”
Tucson Planning and Development is gathering information on what people want for Grant Raod through a survey at this link.
Lois Pawlak worried new development could mean highrises that would overwhelm the neighborhood atmosphere.
“We don't want anything really over two story and we love the views. Excellent views here. We would love that people are moving back into the interior neighborhood and they want amenities. We want walking. We don't have sidewalks in here. Hardly anybody does. So we need these areas that get redeveloped. During this Grant Road widening. We need them to be for the residents.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
