Scottsdale used a canal as its starting point to create Scottsdale Waterfront, a high-end area with shopping, restaurants and hotels.

Tempe used man-made Tempe Town Lake to create a new business and recreation hub.

Buckeye and other Southwest Valley cities hope to capitalize on the Gila River, for recreation and to spur development.

Even when lacking natural waterways, Phoenix area cities have found ways to create the desired downtown waterfront experience.

Surprise hopes to be next.

The owner of a mostly-vacant square mile marked to become the city’s downtown has plans to create the region’s next waterfront development.

Linear park with stream

The plan is to create a tree-shaded linear park from nearly Litchfield Road to Bullard Avenue. A stream would meander through the park, with ponds and other water features to create gathering places.

Development would come alongside, with the potential for shops, restaurants and office space.

The area already has a 5-acre lake at Community Park, near Bullard Avenue and Greenway Road.

Water for new features could potentially come from two sources, surface water from Lake Pleasant or reclaimed water, according to Terry Lowe, deputy city manager and water resource management director.

Lowe emphasized that the master plan is very conceptual — including the water features.

Surprise has struggled for decades to create a downtown in the suburb that seemingly sprouted overnight with master-planned communities and no traditional city center. The land owner, along with the Surprise City Council, think that adding these unique water features will be a catalyst for development.

“We have to create a way to differentiate ourselves,” said Scott Phillips, vice president of Carefree Partners, an affiliate of the land owner, Surprise Center Development Company. “Water in the desert helps to do that.”

Asked whether this is just a pipe dream, Phillips indicated the company has already started designing the park and water features. Mayor Skip Hall said he is confident the plan for the site will happen.

So, five years from now, will the water features be built?

“Oh gosh,” Phillips said. “I hope so.”

‘The City at Surprise’

About a quarter of the land envisioned for a downtown, near Bell and Litchfield roads, is already developed.

The Civic Center Complex is in the middle of the property, with City Hall, court and public safety buildings, a library, tennis center and park. Next to that is Ottawa University, which is still expanding.

Much of the strip along Bell Road is recently built retail and restaurants, and the Texas Rangers are building a new residential campus on the western edge. There are medical offices in the southeast corner.

At a Surprise City Council meeting earlier this month, Phillips presented details of the new master plan for the rest of the land. The plan labels the development “The City at Surprise.”

The tone of the meeting was much different than previous encounters between the City Council and Carefree Partners.

This may be in part because the council makeup has changed in the last year. Mayor Skip Hall replaced former Mayor Sharon Wolcott, and there are two new council members: David Sanders and Chris Judd.

Under Wolcott, in 2015, the council and the land owner became embroiled in a legal dispute over the lack of progress on the site.

Also, Wolcott wanted the city and the land owner to work together on a detailed master plan, and the council was split on a way forward.

When Phillips presented the draft plan earlier this month, though, the council was unanimously supportive. The parties noted how they were working well together.

Sanders, who represents the area, said he is optimistic for this reason. He expects more development to come soon.

“I think the city and the landowner really found some common ground,” he said. “Whatever happened previously, it’s behind us.”

The plan for ‘Luke Parkway’

Some of Phillips’ talking points at the meeting were those the community has heard before: The owners want to create a walkable downtown that creates a sense of place.

Phillips did not publicly distribute the new master plan, but gave The Arizona Republic a copy and displayed a few pages at the council meeting.

The general idea is to continue building commercial space along Bell Road, and then fill in the area below with a mix of housing, office space, shops and restaurants. More medical space and housing would come to the southeast corner.

The linear park with the creek would go just north of the Civic Center Complex. It would stretch nearly the entire site, from Bullard Avenue to Litchfield Road.

That open space would border a proposed street called Luke Parkway. The street would be one lane in each direction, with on-street parking shaded by trees.  Development would line the other side of the street.

The plans show pedestrians walking along narrow streets — a much different picture than the rest of sprawling Surprise.

Suggestions: Trees, shade, mom-and-pop shops

While some of this has been planned for years, Carefree Partners got new insight in the last eight months by holding several community meetings, Phillips said. He estimates they heard from 1,000 residents.

The company is planning to hold at least a couple more meetings soon.

In April, a couple dozen Marley Park residents attended one of the meetings. They huddled around large aerial maps of the downtown area, drawing and writing on the maps what they wanted to see in the space.

Restaurants. An amphitheater. Lots of trees. Trails for walking and biking, with shade. A long row of mom-and-pop shops. Brownstones, like in New York.

Many residents said they want new hangout spots for teenagers.

Phillips said he heard the same thing from Ottawa University students, who told him that the city “needs to look as good at night as it does during the day.”

Jack and Deborah Welch said they have four young adult children, three of whom live at home, and there is nowhere for them to go. Top Golf would be nice, one of them suggested.

Water would be recycled

Residents said there’s a need for a place where you can meander around — whether that’s past shops or along a walking path.

The linear park would have paths throughout, Phillips said.

Generally speaking, if water was to come to the site, Lowe said it would be important that it be moving water, to limit biological buildup.

Where reclaimed water is used, he said the water features would also have recharge facilities that allow the water to seep back into the ground and into the aquifer. A stream could flow from a west body of water to an east body, and either or both bodies could be recharge facilities, he said.

Downtown is a good place for this to happen, he said, since the area around it uses so much water.

Regarding the comparison to Scottsdale waterfront, Phillips said they aren’t trying to emulate another city.

“This is about creating something the people of Surprise can identify as our own.”

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or at 602-444-8763. Follow her on Twitter @JenAFifield. 

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