Tempe resident speakers oppose rezoning of Charlemagne Golf Course, cite tree canopy and heat-island concerns

Loretta O'Connor, a Tempe resident, told the City Council on Feb. 18 that she and neighbors oppose a proposed rezoning of the Charlemagne Golf Course and urged the council to preserve the site’s mature trees and public green space.

O'Connor said she moved into the Shalimar neighborhood in 2018 and described the golf course view behind her home as “green grass, a gorgeous row of palm trees, and lots of tall shade trees.” She asked the council not to allow high-density housing that would replace the 44-acre green space with what she described as 277 units and added that the development would increase traffic, noise and local temperatures.

The resident framed her remarks against the city’s stated goals in planning documents: she referenced Tempe’s urban-forest/master-plan target to achieve a 25% tree and shade canopy and argued that converting mature parkland to dense housing would work against those objectives and worsen the local urban-heat island effect and air quality.

O'Connor said the proposed project, as currently described, would not deliver “affordable housing” and could instead introduce “cars into a 44-acre green space,” stressing that large, existing parks offer mental- and physical-health benefits, social gathering space and environmental services such as cooling and air filtration.

The speaker addressed the council during the public comment portion of the meeting; the council did not take immediate action on the Charlemagne site during the session. No city staff presentation or applicant statement about the golf-course proposal occurred during the public-comment period recorded in the transcript.

The council did not vote on rezoning during the Feb. 18 meeting; any future agenda item on the Charlemagne property would need to appear on a subsequent council agenda for formal consideration.