TEMPE, Ariz. — It would have brought jobs, restaurants, apartments and the Arizona Coyotes to Tempe, but voters didn't want that to happen.
In a special election Tuesday, a majority of voters rejected three propositions that would bring the Coyotes to Tempe along with a $2.1 billion entertainment district. Now, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods said the city council is going back to the drawing board.
“The voters have spoken and we accept the results,” Woods said Wednesday.
The proposed 46-acre site near Rio Salado Parkway and Priest Drive is currently a landfill and has been that way for decades. While residents voted to keep it a landfill, they don't want it to stay that way.
Woods said starting in the fall the city council will hold public discussions about what to do with the land.
A welcome idea for members of Tempe 1st the organization that campaigned against the entertainment district.
“We need to look at all options put all options on the table which frankly, we should have done in the first place,” Lauren Kuby a former Tempe City Council member said.
She and Dawn Penich-Thacker who is also with Tempe 1st both agree folks living in Tempe need to be part of the ongoing conversation. Penich-Thacker said she has heard from some residents about what they would like to see.
“Everything from kind of nature preserves, our own central park to people clear on the opposite saying lets have some really innovative development,” Penich-Thacker said.
As for the future of the Coyotes, Xavier A. Gutierrez the President and CEO of the organization said in a statement Wednesday that the team will stay at Mullett Arena where they are currently playing for the upcoming season.
Gutierrez also said they want to stay in Arizona and have started talking with local officials and potential sites in the Valley.
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