"Phoenix to buy homes near airport"

Thursday, April 3, 2003

Phoenix to buy homes near airport
Residents getting choices
By Ryan F. Gabrielson
The Arizona Business Gazette


Sky Harbor International Airport is trying to become a better neighbor, but
in doing so it might eliminate the neighborhood.

After decades of subjecting residents west of the airport to the blaring
noise of jet engines, Phoenix officials have decided to offer to buy the
1,100 houses there and give those who want to move the money to do so.

While this is the city's typical mode of operation whenever it needs a piece
of property, this time the airport has no plans for the land it might buy
and is not just offering money. During at least the next three years, the
city will give some of those residents a new home in a newly redeveloped
part of town in exchange for their old one by the airport.

"This program is being implemented strictly from a quality-of-life
standpoint," said Dave Krietor, Phoenix's aviation director.

The Phoenix City Council has approved $22 million for the program to give
selected residents three options:

   The residents can remain and the city will pay for their home to be
soundproofed, which includes replacing doors and insulating parts of the
home. This noise-reduction measure costs about $20,000 per home.

   The city will exchange the residents' home for one in another part of
town that has recently been redeveloped.

   Those who want to move but do not want to be limited to certain
neighborhoods, as would happen in the exchange program, will be given fair
market value for their homes and money to cover their moving costs.

"It all depends if folks are wanting to move," said Sarah Armistead, who
works for the community noise reduction program. 

Because the program is voluntary, officials insist no resident will be
forced from a home by condemnation. 

Fifteen of the areas' homeowners - sandwiched between the airport on the
east, Seventh Street on the west, Washington Street on the north and
University Drive on the sourth - will be given the options this year as a
test run for the program. Armistead said she thinks five or six of the
residents might choose to move, giving the city's Neighborhood Services
Department a chance to see if home exchanges work.

The residents have not been told of the program yet, Armistead said, but a
meeting is set for April 24 to take these options to the neighborhoods.
Also, the city plans to survey the area to find out whether residents might
choose to move and to determine how many people live there.

Armistead said the city estimates there are about 5,000 residents.

The home exchange option may be a solution to one of the main problems
facing residents when the city works to move them. 

By law, the city must pay at least fair market value for any piece of
property. However, in blighted areas often targeted for redevelopment, fair
market value is far less than the cost of a house in the vast majority of
Phoenix neighborhoods.

Though appraisals have not been done, Armistead said the city estimates that
the average home immediately west of Sky Harbor costs $70,000. 

Any homes the city purchases will be demolished. Armistead said she did not
know what empty lots would do to the property value of the neighborhoods'
remaining homes.

City officials are able to offer new homes because they have been built and
need residents, said Roger Whitlock, Phoenix's real estate administrator.
While he said it would be ideal to be able to offer each resident the city
moves a new home, its not realistic in most scenarios because the city is
not often in a position where it can wait for homes to be built.

"Where there's time to use (home exchange), clearly we'll look at using it
in the future," Whitlock said.

Normally, there is not the funding for such an undertaking as officials have
budgets limited by what is received from grants.

Of the $22 million allotted for this program, collected from a fee tacked
onto the cost of plane tickets, $2 million can be spent this year, with $10
million set aside for each of the next two years, Armistead said.

If the program is working, Krietor said the city might spend as much as $80
million moving those residents during the next 10 years.

Additionally, $3 million in federal grant money has been secured. Rep. Ed
Pastor, D-Ariz., is working to get between $2 million and $5 million added
to the federal transportation budget for the program next year.

Pastor's niece, Sonia, is a communications director for the home exchange
program.

The dour condition of the nation's economy and the deficits plaguing many
state governments could halt the flow of any additional federal money to the
program, Pastor said.

"We'll be competing, but if you don't play you don't win," he said.


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