Love Mesa Saturday/ P. 3
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VOTING ENDS FEB 23 BESTOF
2023
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COMMUNITY...... 18 Mesa thespians light up Limelight's new play.
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Sunday, February 19, 2023
Lehi loses battle against apartment project BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
A
contentious 222-unit apartment building proposed for northwest Mesa’s Lehi community cleared a final hurdle as Mesa City Council approved a rezone request during a Feb. 13 hearing. The hearing on the project at the Red Mountain Loop 202 Freeway and McDowell Road was deflating for Lehi residents, many of whom started leaving Council Chambers before it wrapped up and discouraged by the lack of opposition on the council. By the time council members voted unanimously to approve plans for Homestead at Lehi apartments, recently rechristened Sweetwater, see
PROJECT page 6
Marilyn Crosby, president of the Lehi Community Association, and her horse Peanut, stand on land that will soon give way to an apartment complex. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Big power lines bringing Mesa plenty of juice GET OUT.............. 32 Spring Training season arriving with full roster of games. COMMUNITY .............................. 18 BUSINESS ................................... 22 OPINION ..................................... 26 SPORTS ...................................... 30 GET OUT ...................................... 32 CLASSIFIED ............................... 39 ZONE 1
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
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ray-colored electrical poles over 100-feet tall carrying 230 kV and 69 kV lines have risen along the Loop 202 between Warner and Elliot Roads, forever changing the horizon of Southeast Mesa. The poles are part of the first phase of SRP’s Southeast Power Link project approved in 2018 and intended to help
SRP keep pace with growth in this part of Mesa. It also aims to enhance the reliability of electricity – something critical for industries seeking environmental stability for critical operations like data centers. At full build-out, 7 miles of tall overhead lines will connect two east-west running high-voltage power lines in Mesa and Queen Creek. SRP spokesperson Erica Roelfs said the first phase of 230kV lines will run from
a new substation just south of Warner Road to the high voltage lines just north of Elliot Road. The first stretch of line is on track for completion in April, Roelfs said, and workers will begin constructing the second phase of lines from the new substation toward the south later this year. The second phase will follow the State Route 24 corridor then plunge south see
POWER LINES page 12