Public meeting on Loop 202 cancelled after ADOT backs out

A meeting to discuss plans for the South Mountain Loop 202 freeway and how it would impact the Lakewood development has been cancelled after the Arizona Department of Transportation decided not to attend.

The meeting, scheduled for May 21, was organized at the request of John Rodriguez, a Lakewood resident and member of ADOT's South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team. The team was organized to provide communication between ADOT and the people the freeway would serve and impact.

But on May 13, ADOT spokesman Tim Tait wrote an e-mail to Rodriguez to say:

"Upon reviewing with members of the South Mountain Study Team, previous meetings with your HOA and in light of the fact that ADOT has no new information to provide, we have decided to cancel our appearance at next week's forum. We would continue to recommend that community members use the project Web site -- available at www.azdot.gov/ValleyFreeways -- as a source of wide-ranging information on the study, including all of the materials presented to the CAT."

"So the bottom line is that ADOT is afraid to come to Lakewood," Rodriguez said Wednesday afternoon.

With 3,000 homes, Lakewood is one of the largest developments that will be impacted by the proposed freeway.

Tait will be at an Ahwatukee Foothills Village Planning Committee meeting May 19 at Pecos Community Center. Tait will brief the committee on completion of a draft environmental impact statement needed before construction can move forward. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.