Voters have options for casting their ballots on Propositions 301, 302 and 303 as part of the city’s Special Election on the Tempe Entertainment District.
In November, the City Council unanimously approved the resolutions/ordinances for the Tempe Entertainment District project. Three aspects of the primarily privately funded proposal from Bluebird Development, the affiliate for the Meruelo Group and the Arizona Coyotes, were approved: a Zoning Map Amendment and a Planned Area Development (PAD) Overlay; a General Plan Amendment; and the Development and Disposition Agreement (DDA). These three aspects are going before voters now.
Submit your completed ballots in any of these ways:
- No later than tomorrow, May 16, place in a secure Maricopa County drop box. Find one at locations.maricopa.vote.
- Before 7 p.m. on Election Day, go in-person to an official vote center. Through tomorrow, May 16, there is one at the Tempe History Museum, 809 E. Southern Ave. Today the hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Election Day tomorrow, it is open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Today and tomorrow, May 16, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., drop off your completed ballot at Tempe City Hall, 31 E. Fifth St. Due to construction at City Hall, there are several free, 10-minute parking spots on the south side of Fifth Street. Residents can use those for quick ballot drop-offs. The entrance to City Hall is temporarily at the southeast corner of the pyramid. Follow the signs to the drop-off location.
At this point, do not place your ballot in the mail.
For the Tempe History Museum option, it is easiest if voters bring the ballot they received in the mail. If you do not have your ballot, bring a form of acceptable identification, such as an Arizona driver’s license, a state-issued ID or a tribal ID. The address on the ID must match your voter registration address. Voters can request replacement ballots by visiting any open voting location (found at locations.maricopa.vote) until 7 p.m. Election Day, May 16.
Bluebird Development collected and submitted in December more than the needed number of petition signatures for each of three questions to refer the project to the ballot. If voters approve all three propositions, the project can move forward to construct an Arizona Coyotes hockey arena, hotels, multi-family residential, retail and more. The developer will use largely private funding to build the development and will pay Tempe $50.3 million for the land.
Initial election results are expected to be reported after 8 p.m. on Tempe 11 on Cox cable or via the channel’s live stream at tempe.gov/tempe11.
Full details about the project are at tempe.gov/TempeEntertainmentDistrict.
