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North Encanto News

Flood Control Meeting

The Flood Control District of Maricopa county held a meeting Tuesday, July 31st. It was an informative meeting showing the various flood-prone areas of which we are in the Cave Creek Flood plain (Interstate 17 to Central and McDowell to the Grand Canal are the rough boundaries).

They are looking at several alternatives including constructing new storm drains in 18th, 15th and 3rd avenues, reconstructing Encanto Golf Course to provide floodwater storage and enhance the playability of the course and elevating residences or providing protective berms around the property. This meeting was a way to discuss these alternatives and give feedback as to what ideas we like. They will be calling another meeting sometime in November and submitting the final alternative sometime in December.

The Cave Creek floodplain review indicates that the average depth of floodwaters within the floodplain may not warrant a floodplain designation. Floodwaters north of McDowell Road flow over a very wide area, spreading out between 19th Avenue and 7th Street. The District's study results indicate that the floodplain designation can be removed for the area between the Grand Canal and McDowell Road if the designation change is first approved by FEMA. They don't expect to hear back for the next 12 to 18 months. Once FEMA makes their decision, they will either send out information or call neighborhood meetings to disburse the information. At that time, the Flood Control District is suggesting that we call our insurance companies and request lower rates, but still keep the flood insurance as we still could be in danger of a flood. The overall flood risk for the area would not change without flood control measures being constructed regardless of whether or not the floodplain designation is removed.

For more questions, contact Afshin Ahouraiyan, P.E., the project manager from the Flood Control District of Maricopa County at (602) 506-1501 or email at afa@mail.maricopa.gov. You might also check their website for the information sheets that were handed out at the meeting at http://www.fcd.maricopa.gov/ads/MetroPhxADMP.htm

15th Avenue Collector Street Study Results

The City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department did a traffic study on 15th Avenue between Osborn and Thomas roads on June 19-21, 2007. Fifteenth Avenue is a collector street and is built slightly wider than local streets. Traffic calming devices such as speed humps on collectors increase emergency services response times and divert traffic to local streets. A typical collector street in Phoenix carries about 5,000 vehicles per day with an average speed of 31 miles per hour.

Our numbers were 5,857 cars northbound and 5,254 cars southbound per day. The average speed was 40 mph. The study results show that 15th Avenue is functioning as a major collector and is not eligible for the Collector Street Mitigation Program. The Mitigation Program is for streets with less than 5,000 cars per day to help control traffic. Since we have more than that we don't qualify.

In the meantime, if you see speeding, call Phoenix Police at (602) 534-7733 and let them know when it is more prevalent (time of day and day of week). They will set up speed traps.

Neighborhood Clean-Up from February 24

Please go to http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558199938QInkjG to see pictures of the clean-up of two alleys in Sections A and B in NENA. Starbucks Coffee brought us coffee and NENA supplied bagels, muffins and water. We had about 20 people helping including several teenagers. It's really sad to see how much construction debris is left in the alleys. The majority of a large City dumpster was filled with this debris. If you see bricks, concrete or other construction debris in the alleyway, please call the City at (602) 262-7251 and report them. You will be anonymous, but if your neighbor doesn't pick up the mess they can face fines. If you see your neighbor actively dumping or someone else dumping trash in the alley, call Crime Stop immediately at (602) 262-6151. Be able to answer these questions: What was dumped, who was dumping, what were they driving if they aren't your neighbor, have you seen the vehicle or this person before and where did they do the dumping? If you can, take pictures, but don't endanger yourself.

Groundhog's Day 2007

We have uploaded several photos taken by Jim Poulin at the annual Groundhog's Day party in the North Encanto Historic District. Please go to community.webshots.com/user/NorthEncanto to see them. Connie Tyler also took pictures and wanted to share them. Hers starts with the 2006 Groundhog's Day party and then goes into the 2007 party.