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Hwy 60/70 Project

Reprinted from Spring 2009.

Ask any resident of Globe and Miami why they live here, and they’ll likely give you the same response: it’s because of the people. Both towns are working class, multi-generational communities and the people that we all enjoy are as likely to be our grandmothers, uncles, and cousins as our friends or coworkers. Over the years, decades, even lifetimes, most of us have become quite content with the status quo of our little mining communities and we’ve set our collective bar—our desired standard of achievement—far too low to the ground.

If we all lived atop an Andean mountaintop, this might be the right prescription for a successful existence, a sort of monastic lock on social and economic evolution broken only by an occasional llama ride down to the corner store. The reality is that we are blessed with one of the finest geographical hubs in all of Arizona, two hill country towns strategically located on a major highway artery that leads big city people out of the smog and funnels them to ski runs, fishing lakes, and higher elevations. For the majority, however, the Globe and Miami stretch has been more of an inconvenient pinch point, known mainly as a speed trap with good Mexican food.

The irony is that our local tourism and commerce organizations have long seen the need to promote Globe and Miami as a destination and have diligently worked to attract new businesses and tourism. Yet they curiously glossed over what a growing number of us considered to be the biggest limiting factor to attracting new people and economic vibrancy: it was the lack of curb appeal, particularly along the main corridor of Highways 60 and 70. The bar that we had set for ourselves was inches, if not feet, below the standards set by our visitors, visitors who regarded us as a “pass-through” community, a place to motor through as quickly as possible, never meeting the good people that waited for them behind the vacant highway facades, under-maintained or nonexistent landscaping, and excavated and eroding hill sides.

Kim Stone talks about the inventory of trees along the creek bed.
Kim Stone talks about the inventory of trees along the creek bed.

It was the recognition of this pressing need to meet the expectations of the adoring throngs that we hoped to attract that helped spur the Curb Appeal committee into existence.

From the very first Curb Appeal committee meetings in late 2006, the Arizona Department of Commerce agreed to be an active participant, providing needed guidance and expertise. The Gila County Supervisors agreed to provide seed money that allowed us to hire a consultant to chair a series of four public meetings in 2007 that lead to the creation of the Highway 60-70 Project, a cooperative venture that welcomed all interested participants from Globe, Miami, Gila County, and the San Carlos Reservation. It was not uncommon to have citizens and even elected officials from all four of these entities in the same room at the same time, all sharing their ideas and working together for the collective benefit of the corridor from Miami to San Carlos. The Project’s primary focus was promotion (the project and the area), visual enhancement (making what we already have better), and planning and zoning. Committees were formed to represent each.

The project parameters along the Highway 60-70 corridor were formally defined as Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) right-of-way and all adjacent properties. Though maps were available for nearly everything to be found along the corridor, there were no maps of the trees, the “living assets” that contribute so much to every community but are so often taken for granted. In October 2007, we received a $10,000 matching Community Challenge grant from the Arizona Department of Urban and Community Forestry to inventory and map the trees along  the corridor. With the help of a dozen volunteers, 730 trees now have names, map coordinates, and dimensions, placing them in equal stead with sidewalks and sewer lines.

In January of 2008, we received technical assistance from the University of Arizona Drachman Institute in Tucson. They created a 40 page conceptual plan for the Highway 60-70 Project that focused on strategies for aesthetic and functional improvements and served as a guide for future development along the corridor. It contained assessments of our existing roads, green spaces, and pedestrian concerns, and proposed five gateway projects to enhance our communities.19592

Other successful accomplishments by the Curb Appeal/ Highway 60-70 committees include the planting of two wine colored planters in Miami and the sorely needed embellishment and refurbishment of the Welcome to Miami sign on Miami’s western boundary, both funded by generous donations from Miami citizens. Within the City of Globe, three Littering Unlawful signs were recently deployed along Highway 60 that boldly remind potential litterers of the $2500 fine that awaits them if their soda cup, cigarette butt, or plastic shopping bag finds its way outside the confines of their vehicle.

Perhaps the finest hour of the Highway 60-70 Project’s efforts, and certainly the most far-reaching, is the brokering of the intergovernmental agreement signed by the City of Globe, Town of Miami, and Gila County that establishes a design review program for the Highway 60-70 Project area. All new construction and major exterior remodeling along the Highway 60-70 corridor (ending at the Globe and San Carlos Reservation boundary) will now have to submit plans to a nine member Design Review Committee. This committee will review each application and make recommendations based on the design review guidelines created by Highway 60-70 Project committee members and approved by all three municipal entities. Final approval for each applicant will come from the municipality where the project will be located.

What isn’t covered in the Design Review Program, and still needs to be addressed, is the way that our hillsides have been developed, which up to now has been motivated more by men with machines and the proliferation of manufactured housing than the need to preserve the unique topography and vegetation that sets us apart from the rest of the state.

With the efforts of Globe Clean and Beautiful, the Globe Main Street Program, the Highway 60-70 Project, and other volunteer organizations, there is no question that our curb appeal has improved over the last several years. The old mindsets are beginning to fade away and, with the vastly improved political climate in both Globe and Miami, there is no question that our visitors will begin to see great strides made in quality, in class, and in professionalism.

 

“Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of a community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” — Aldo Leopold.

About Kim Stone

Kim Stone was a horticulturist, writer, and editor of several publications for the University of Arizona at Boyce Thompson Arboretum over the better part of three decades. He is now happily self-absorbed in freelance writing, travel, and content marketing.

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