With growth comes change and the responsibility to manage all properly.
Desert Ridge is on many developers radar and why not? We enjoy a great reputation; we are experiencing manageable increases in real estate values, schools are well regarded, we have the Desert Ridge Marketplace and High Street with great restaurants, shopping, and entertainment, the MIM, close proximity to quality medical care, as well as easy access all over the valley.
Desert Ridge is a planned community. This means each parcel has a designation for population density. Remember this plan was developed over twenty years ago and if not for the economic implosion late last decade we may have been at our projected 20,000 homes. That plan called for additional parks, and streets entering and exiting Desert Ridge. Those parks have not been built and neither have several of the proposed access streets. Therefore we must manage the growth as best we can to prevent our own implosion caused from the weight of uncontrolled growth.
Your Desert Ridge Community Association Board in concert with FirstService Residential has been proactively communicating with city and state officials reminding them that before we add significant communities we need infrastructure to accommodate it. They have also been reminding the very same officials that we have qualified in head count for additional amenities like parks. Their unified voice has been heard, loud and clear.
Case in point is the Dog Park. While many may not view this as win, the fact the Phoenix Park District moved this project from the back burner targeting several years out to center stage with a targeted opening day of spring 2017. More encouraging is the acknowledgement that additional park amenities are now in the planning stages. The point is the open lines of communications between the Desert Ridge Community Association and the Phoenix City government is working.
A great win because City government and potential developers are showing respect for the unified effort. Enough respect to bring the team to the bargaining table, before an entity tries to forgo amicable relations in the sole pursuit of profits in Desert Ridge.
The board and FirstService Residential work because of all of us. Residents and stakeholders have not been shy in voicing their views and opinions and that is the input they need. For without knowing where we stand they cannot represent us effectively.
So continue to send in your thoughts, check the DesertRidgelifestyle.com web site, read your email blasts and feel free to ask questions, voice opinions.
Call when you want to check on a rumor. The Board and FirstService Residential is there for all of us but it’s our responsibility to speak up.
Rob Reichstein
Communications Chair
Desert Ridge Community Association
