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June 29, 2001/Tamuz 8, 5761, Vol. 53, No.39
Campus lighting approved
BARRY COHEN
Editor
Construction plans for the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus cleared a final hurdle with a unanimous vote at a meeting of the City of Scottsdale Design Review Board, June 21.
At issue was the lighting system. At a DRB meeting Dec. 7, every aspect of the campus - architecture, traffic mitigation, playing fields and landscaping - was approved; however, campus planners were required to review the athletic field lighting system and return with plans for an improved system.
The lighting presented at the June 21 meeting was "much more state of the art ... (to) cut down the glare," said Scottsdale City Councilman Tom Silverman.
"The amount of spillage of light has been greatly reduced," said Dr. Richard Dobrusin, organizer of Friends of the Jewish Community Campus, pro-campus residents in the neighborhood surrounding the site at Scottsdale Road and Sweetwater Avenue.
"We have been struggling with the (lighting) issue with the City of Scottsdale and with the neighbors," said Ron Bookbinder, chairman of the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus Task Force. "The unanimous vote was a total relief. Now we can go forward unencumbered."
Permits have been obtained to begin site work, said Bookbinder. This includes moving dirt, working on drainage and preparing the site for construction.
After 60-90 days, the site work should be complete, said Fred Zeidman, federation assistant executive director. "Then we will able to put in the foundation and begin the shell of the building," he added.
Dobrusin said the campus would improve the quality of the neighborhood.
"The field was worthless, barren, dusty, a used car lot on the weekends," he explained.
The campus will provide streetlights and sidewalks from the neighborhood to Scottsdale Road, he added.
The 30 acre site, scheduled to open in the fall of 2002, will be home to the following organizations: Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, Bureau of Jewish Education, Council for Jews with Special Needs, Phoenix Hebrew Academy and the Jewish Community Foundation.
In the future, the campus also will house the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School and The King David School.
Now that the lighting has been approved, campus leaders are returning to raising additional funds, said Bookbinder. "Now we are concentrating on finishing up the endowment fund," he said.
The goal is $10 million. Already, $2 million has been raised, Bookbinder added.
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