Saying they wanted to keep a promise made by the council nearly 20 years ago, the Town Council voted unanimously, 6-0, to keep Technology Drive gated at the intersection with Saguaro Boulevard. Councilman Nick DePorter was absent.

Councilman Dennis Brown made the motion to maintain the closure, saying he made a list of numerous reasons to open the access, but believes that if the council wants to keep the trust of the citizens it needs to keep promises made by previous councils.

Brown included in the motion a request to have staff evaluate what is necessary to close Technology off as a permanent dead end at Saguaro.

The motion also asked to include signage on Saguaro Boulevard south of Shea Boulevard prohibiting trucks. Staff said that request would require a review of Town Code related to specified truck routes in town.

Mayor Linda Kavanagh raised the concern regarding truck traffic possibly continuing past Technology Drive and using an alley to access Laser Drive in the industrial park.

Town Engineer Randy Harrel presented the council with results of a 90-day traffic study encompassing the Technology/Saguaro intersection and the alley further down.

Harrel told the council that traffic with trucks having three axles or more was negligible in the area. He said they counted 11 trucks a day of that size using Saguaro Boulevard in the study area. The daily average for the alley in question was four. Those counts did not change whether the gate was open or closed. During the period when the gate was open an average of one truck per day used Technology Drive.

In March of this year the council directed staff to conduct the traffic study to help them determine whether the gate should be opened or remain closed.

The study was conducted over 90 days in two 45-day periods. The counters were placed in early March and after 45 days of data collection, the gate was open with the counts taken for another 45 days.

There was little difference between the daily counts while the gate was closed and when it was open.

The study did indicate that while the gate was open 102 vehicles per day crossed the counter on Technology Drive. Nearly all of those would have used the alley, according to the study. The daily count on Saguaro Boulevard dropped from 754 per day with the gate closed to 728 while it was open. Harrel said that drop could possibly be attributed to a seasonal transition in traffic between March and June when the study done.

The design criteria for maximum traffic volume on Saguaro Boulevard are 7,000 vehicles per day, and on Technology that number is 5,000 per day. The actual count was slightly higher than 10 percent of that volume.

The alley has a design maximum of 300 vehicles per day. The count exceeded that number by 12 vehicles per day when the gate was closed.

Harrel said research found no traffic accidents in the study area in the past four years. He said they found no overriding safety or traffic concerns with gate either open or closed. Staff determined that the question was strictly a policy issue and made no recommendation to the council.

Vice Mayor Alan Magazine said he believes the question comes down to whether the council will abide by the wishes of the public.

“Can citizens depend on an agreement,” Magazine said. “I feel strongly that we need to keep the faith with citizens.

“There are no safety concerns here; it is not a numbers issue.”

The citizens in this case are primarily residents of the Mirage Cove neighborhood which is along the east/south side of Saguaro between Fire Station #2 and Last Trail Drive. They expressed concerns about traffic safety with trucks getting stranded in the area as well as lights in windows at night from cars making turns off Technology.

In a letter to the council resident Sherm Abrahamson stated, “Fountain Hills gave its word that the gate would remain in place. I would hope that the integrity of the council would be to honor previous commitments…”

Phyliss Kern, who has long advocated to open the access, said the council should weigh the benefit for the entire town against four or five residents who are impacted.

She sees it as a business decision by making access available to potential users in the industrial park area.

“This [area] was built to bring business to town,” Kern said. “This [gate] is a little hard to explain as a Realtor.”

The gate was put into place as a stipulation to the plat agreement for the Four Peaks Plaza (Target) shopping center around 2000. The plaza opened in fall of 2002.

Construction eliminated Laser Drive access to the industrial park from Saguaro Boulevard, but also added the Technology Drive access to Shea Boulevard.