Carefree advisory group begins public process to explore redevelopment of Town Hall site

Carefree's economic development advisory group opened a months-long conversation about the future of the town's Town Hall site, discussing whether to hold the property as short-term parking or pursue a redevelopment strategy that would let the town set conditions and solicit specific projects.

Steve, a town staff member, told the group the issue grew out of the town's strategic planning work and the village-center master plan and said the town is weighing how to structure a redevelopment process rather than rely on a standard public auction process. "When we go through [a] redevelopment process, we actually have the opportunity to set all the terms that we'd like to see," Steve said, describing how a redevelopment path would let the town require specific uses, design standards and evaluation criteria rather than sell the parcel to the highest bidder.

The nut of the discussion was whether the one-acre site should be used temporarily as a landscaped gateway parking lot or planned now for a denser, mixed-use project that could…