Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community…

$4.99 Winter 2016

E.L. Farmer Co. "Raises"

❄ Sculptural Architecture of Nicholas Sakellar

❄ New Life for Prescott's Henson Construction

❄ A Vicarious Trip to Mid-Century Scottsdale

❄ Phoenix Trotting Park's Past and Future

❄ Zoning in on Phoenix Planning

❄ Casa Grande "Signs" On

Celebrity Theatre

Michelle Dodds – WriterArticle on page 38Favorite AZ Restaurant: Fornoat Third Avenue and Rooseveltbecause I love Italian food andthe restaurant is surrounded bywonderful historic buildings!First job: My first professionaljob was a second grade teacherin a Catholic school.  I lovedpreparing the kids for their FirstHoly Communion.New Skill to Learn: Computerartworks/graphics.Favorite Holiday: The Fourth ofJuly because I love to celebratethe greatness of this countryand watch fireworks!Goals to Accomplish: To be apet therapy volunteer inhospitals, nursing homes andschools when I retire.  I wouldalso love to travel to eachNational Park.

Heather David – WriterArticle on page 42Favorite AZ Restaurant: Frank &Lupe’s Mexican followed by icecream at the Sugar Bowl!First Job: Junior Volunteer atthe Humane Society.New Skill to Learn: AdobeIllustrator.Favorite Holiday: Christmas.Goal to Accomplish: Publishnext book MOTEL CALIFORNIA(expected Spring 2017).

Sharon Girulat – WriterArticle on page 50Favorite AZ Restaurant: Taste ofItaly in Goodyear because it’srun by a New Yorker who makesevery dish and creates a warmfamily environment with greatfresh food, New York Italianstyle!First job: Financial ConsolidationSpecialist at age 16 in 1962.New Skill to Learn: Other thanto keep my mouth shut? I thinkI'd like to 'unlearn' a few... theplate overflows!  Maybe, learnthe 'art' of self-preservation!Favorite Holiday: Christmas -allyear long!Goals to Accomplish: ActivateBenefitAll, a charitable programto enable great charities toserve more.

Trevor Freeman – WriterArticle on page 46Favorite AZ Restaurant: I loveFour Peaks Brewing Company!First Job: Delivering telephonebooks (a bad idea in the Phoenixheat).New Skill to Learn: Learning todrive a manual transmission.Favorite Holiday: Thanksgiving,because it is all about familyand food.Goal to Accomplish: Would liketo climb the "Seven Summits ofPhoenix" at my own pace, not inthe same weekend but in thesame year.

Meet the Staff

Michelle Dodds

Heather David

Sharon Girulat

Trevor freeman

BRANDON GALLIMORE

Land Surveying ServicesConstruction Staking

O. 623.466.6640 I F. 623.879.0611

C. 623.707.7067 I E. BRANDON@METROAZ.NET

7777 N 70TH AVE

GLENDALE, AZ 85303

Winter 2016six

C O N T E N T S10. Editor’s Column: More than a Big House: Casa Grande - Douglas Towne

12. Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices

30. Back When: Phoenix’s Playhouse - Douglas Towne

32. Plowing the Cutting Edge of Construction: Evert L. Farmer - Douglas Towne

36. Phoenix’s Theatre of “Stars” and “Celebrities"Larry Bonoff

38. Phoenix: A Tale of Two Cities and Zoning Ordinances - Michelle Dodds

42. Arizona Time Machine: Part 1 - Mid-Century Scottsdale - Heather M. David

46. Ready to Answer the Call to Post: The Phoenix Trotting Park - Trevor Freeman

50. L'Hippodrome de Phoenix: Envisioning the Future of the Phoenix Trotting Park - Sharon Girulat

54. Architect’s Perspective: Nicholas Sakellar, FAIA:Mid-Century Modern - CN Dino Sakellar, AIA

56. Digging Through the Archives: Prescott’s Henson Construction Co. - William Horner

58. Bid Results - Bidjudge

Volume 5 Issue 4Winter 2016

Front Cover -Promoter

Buster Brown holdsthe brochure forthe Phoenix Star

Theatre, now calledCelebrity Theatre,

as it's being built bythe E.L. Farmer

Company,1963.

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Classes available in English and Spanish.

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Job Assessments & Consulting

Winter 2016eight

If the authors of the first Phoenix ZoningOrdinance approved in 1930 had beenasked to define a COW, they would

have thought the questioner a bit daft.Today’s ordinance writers know a COW asa “cell on wheels” or a portable wirelesscommunication facility. This example isemblematic of changes that have occurredin the Phoenix Zoning Ordinance, whichregulates what people can do with theirproperty. The first Phoenix Zoning Ordinanceand Zone Map was a simple documentabout 30 pages in length (including a 10-page index) and contained about 30definitions. It weighed a couple of ouncesand only cost 35 cents. In contrast, today'szoning ordinance involves serious weightlifting. It's a good thing we now have theinternet and don't need to lug around sucha huge document! The need for city zoning changed asPhoenix evolved as a city. When Phoenixwas incorporated in 1881, its residentsmostly lived within walking distance ofwhere they worked. The first horse-drawnstreetcars debuted in 1887, but it was the

electric trolley that changed the course ofdevelopment in 1893. Developers ran lines into areas northof downtown allowing people to live adistance from where they worked. In1926, the city took ownership of thestreetcar system and it hit the pinnacle ofits ridership in 1929 at over 6.5 millionriders who paid five cents per ride. Initially, the streetcar suburbs wereserved by small businesses located in theirneighborhoods. Examples of this patternstill exist in the Garfield and OaklandHistoric Districts, but eventually, Phoenixfollowed the trend of many other cities toseparate land uses.

The first citywide zoningcode was adopted in 1916 in New York Cityand is referred to as Euclidean zoning.Cities across the country, includingPhoenix, adopted similar codes that calledfor a separation of land uses and a set ofstandards such as setbacks, height limits,and lot coverage to regulate developmentpatterns. The 1930 Phoenix ordinance hadseven zoning districts, and there was asimple map of the city that anyone couldopen to see what the zoning was on theirproperty. Today, the zoning map is a bookof more than 170 maps. Thankfully, thosemaps are also available online. The basic zoning districts wereResidential A, B and C, Commercial A andB, and Industrial A and B. In addition tothese districts, the map also noted city andstate buildings, schools, parks, cemeteries,and churches on the zone map.Commercial uses in Phoenix were pushedto major streets. Industrial districts werelocated primarily south of Jefferson Street.

A Tale of Two Cities andZoning OrdinancesMichelle Dodds

Top right: City of Phoenix zoning map, 1930.Bottom left: Horse-drawn carriage on EastMcDowell Road, 1901.Opposite page, top left: Bank PresidentWalter Bimson and a 1912 Ford at the drivethru for the opening of the Valley NationalBank's downtown "Motor Bank," 1955.Opposite page, bottom right: Phoenix zoningannouncement at Pinchot and 36th streets,1956.

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In 1930, the ordinance was lessrestrictive in many ways. A family wasdefined as any number of individuals livingtogether as a single housekeeping unit.You could have boarders as long as theydidn't occupy more than half the rooms.Home occupations included uses such asdressmaking, millinery, hairdressing,manicuring, laundry, preserving, and homecooking. You were even allowed to housethree motor vehicles in your garage andrent one of them to someone who wasn’tan occupant. In Residence A (one family), ResidenceB (duplex) and Business A, (neighborhoodbusiness) you could build up to threestories or 40 feet. Residence C allowedapartments, hotels, bungalow courts, andhospitals all up to eight stories or 96 feet.Business B (general commercial) could beten stories or 125 feet. Industrial districtshad no limitations. As the years passed, the number ofzoning districts proliferated. Today, thereare more than 30 zoning districts, notincluding special overlay districts. Thereare also more than 500 definitions in justChapter 2 of the ordinance, with about 50of them pertaining just to signage. So, how did this “thickening” of thezoning ordinance occur? In 1930, the commercial districts wereonly a small paragraph of permitted uses.Today’s ordinance has a list of more than500 separate uses just in the three

commercial districts. Many older,outdated uses are still listed. Uses wereonly permitted in a district if they were alisted use or an interpretation wasobtained that likened them to a listed use.As technology or lifestyles changed, therewere new uses that didn't fit an existingzoning district, and so new ones werecreated. Some of those new uses neededconditions for approval or a public hearingfor approval.

In the 1950s, drive-in restaurants andtheaters became popular, and their useand definitions were added to theordinance. Later, drive-throughrestaurants proliferated. A look at usesadded to the ordinance over time tells aninteresting story of how our city haschanged. Who would ever have thoughtcell towers, pet care facilities, tanningsalons or medical marijuana facilitieswould have become listed uses in 1930? Bill Allison, local land use attorney,was hired in 1988 to be part of a team torewrite the Phoenix Zoning Ordinance. Theteam was charged with making theordinance simpler, shorter, and clearer.The comprehensive rewrite of theordinance proved to be fraught with toomany issues, and the group moved forwardwith smaller, incremental changes. Arewrite of the commercial districts fellapart in the early 1990s. Finding a balance between protectingthe interest of neighborhoods and allowingappropriate commercial development wasa challenge. Later in his career, Allisonbecame the city’s Zoning Administratorand had to interpret the zoning ordinance.He explained that applying suburbanstandards to an urban area was a realchallenge. As a practicing land useattorney today, he would still like the cityto tackle a rewrite of the commercialdistricts.

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Arizona contractor & Communitywww.Arizcc.com

Recently, there’s been a move tomore of a form-based code with theadoption of the Downtown Code with itscharacter districts in 2010 and theWalkable Urban Code with its 12 transectdistricts in 2015. The emphasis along thelight rail lines is more on the integration of

land uses and focus on the public realm.It is the form and mass of the buildings thatare important and their relationship withthe street type. Transportation has alwaysbeen linked to land use, and the light railhas certainly had a profound change onboth.

Tricia Gomes, the city’s current ZoningAdministrator, noted it is a real challengeto keep up with how uses are changing.She’s currently tackling how to handle thetiny house craze. Gomes has been in theposition for two years, and her goal isconducting an annual update to keepthings current. That job is a challenge sincethe zoning ordinance contains two typesof codes, Euclidean and form-based.Certainly, there will always be a need toupdate our codes and ordinances to keepup with new technologies and changes inpeople’s attitudes and lifestyles. Comparing Phoenix of 1930 and 2016is really like comparing two different citiesas a lot has changed in the past 86 years.Back in 1930, the city’s population was lessthan 50,000, and the city was only 6.3square miles. Today, the city’s populationis about 1.5 million and the city coversmore than 500 square miles. That’s amassive amount of homes, businesses, andland to regulate!

Michelle Dodds is the Phoenix historicpreservation officer.

Kenilworth Line Streetcar, 1920s.

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