Alley clean up- Chandler

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by kent_moore

Bumping the thread.

So what's the purpose of these alley ways that still applies today? There is one behind my property, I went out couple of times to cut the weeds, I hated it. Our trash is collected in the curb.

If these alley ways doesn't serve any purpose, why not just sell the space to the homeowners?

There are places in Phoenix where the alleys have been abandoned and given to the adjacent homeowners. It happened recently in the Royal Palm neighborhood. I think that technically the homeowners own them, and are responsible or weeds, etc. but the city, utilities, etc. own a right of way easement.

In the historic neighborhoods, Royal Palm is NOT one, the alleys are considered part of the streetscape and the Historic Preservation folks oppose abandonment. Trash pickup is in the alley here as well. Moving the utilities is expensive. My garage opens to the alley so it would be a significant hit on my property value if the alley went away.

[belgirl]

So in our case (we don't live in Chandler anymore) it used to be for trash pickup but they did away with that and used the canisters. So at one City Council meeting it was proposed that the alley be split between our side of the neighborhood and the other neighborhood behind us--so basically, enlarging our yards--but the neighborhood behind us didn't want to do it. (who knows why not--we were part of an HOA, they were not) So there sits the empty alley to this day. Depending on how old your neighborhood is, it probably was used for trash pickup....

[kent_moore]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

There are places in Phoenix where the alleys have been abandoned and given to the adjacent homeowners. It happened recently in the Royal Palm neighborhood. I think that technically the homeowners own them, and are responsible or weeds, etc. but the city, utilities, etc. own a right of way easement.

In the historic neighborhoods, Royal Palm is NOT one, the alleys are considered part of the streetscape and the Historic Preservation folks oppose abandonment. Trash pickup is in the alley here as well. Moving the utilities is expensive. My garage opens to the alley so it would be a significant hit on my property value if the alley went away.

I dug the news about it, it says, those alleys are now closed off with secured gate. It didn't mention anything about giving the alley to the adjacent owner.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by kent_moore

I dug the news about it, it says, those alleys are now closed off with secured gate. It didn't mention anything about giving the alley to the adjacent owner.

Yeah, I think you're right on that one. It has happened like that in a few neighborhoods though.

[Thomasaz]

I know this thread is old now, but it did get bumped up and since I live in a neighborhood in Chandler that has alleys, I just want to say the city of Chandler has let those alleys become dumping areas for trash. People who live in the neighborhood or even people from outside (contractors, landscapers) working on homes in the area, just dump their trash there. The city doesn't really care because some parts of that area are really low income and run down. It's a mixed neighborhood area, where there are some really nice big ranch homes in excellent condition selling for good prices and some run down poorly maintained homes that have junkyards as their backyard. Personally, very disappointed in how poor of a job the city of Chandler has done in taking care of the public utilities and alleys in the area, especially since 2010ish. I believe the alleys are a grey zone where they are not really owned by the city but still used to garbage collection.

[gliu953]

Don't live in a neighborhood with alleys.
They seem to be magnets for filth.

[locolobo13]

Where I live the "unused" alley is considered an easement. It's access for the city and utilities to get to the sewer, power, etc. My understanding is it actually belongs to the house behind me and my property. If we fenced it off the service people would have to access such thru our yards.

The city doesn't help with cleaning it either. We have to do that ourselves. For the most part nobody pays attention to it.