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ASU housing police. Pull over.

TEMPE — Arizona State University will start enforcing a new policy next fall that forces freshman students to live on-campus during their first year or else file an application for an exemption.

News that ASU will start policing campus living situations follows other headlines that show state universities shedding jobs and raising fees past the $6,000 mark next fall to cover expenses.

University Housing associate Vice President Michael Coakley said in a prepared statement that there are circumstances that will allow students to be exempt from this policy. An in-state student living with a parent or legal guardian is an automatic exception. Other students may be exempt if they are over 21 years of age, married or have extreme financial problems or medical conditions.

“Each exemption request will be handled on a case-by-case basis to ensure the best decision possible to achieve academic and personal success for the student,” Coakley says.

Michelle Gutierrez, a Residence Hall Association spokeswoman, says she is concerned there will be a long list of exemption applications.

“In my opinion, students should not have to apply to live off-campus at a public university,” Gutierrez says. “Rather, they should have the opportunity to apply to live on campus.”

She says this new policy could force some students to pay thousands of dollars to live on campus and buy a meal plan from Aramark, the university’s food provider.

Incoming ASU freshman Kara Martin says the on-campus housing rule is a good policy to enforce because it helps new students get used to the ASU campus and provides a safe way for them to live on their own for the first time.

Her mother, Sharon Martin, says that it should be up to the parents and students to decide where students live.

An Arizona resident living in the Palo Verde dormitory with the cheapest meal plan is paying an estimated $8,238 per semester for all ASU fees including tuition, according to ASU’s website. An out of state resident living under the same conditions pays an estimated $14,382 per semester for all fees including tuition. The newer Hassayampa dorm cost $700 more.

“Similar to the meal plan exemption process,” Gutierrez says, “students can find themselves stuck with a financial burden because they missed an application deadline or didn’t have a ‘good enough reason’ to be exempt from a meal plan as determined by the Aramark board.”

Economics sophmore Bryan Tharalson says he receives thousands of dollars in loans per semester from Free Application for Federal Student Aid. After paying his ASU fees, he says he only has a little bit of money left to cover rent at his off-campus apartment. He still spends money from his pocket to live on his own, and he said it would have cost him a lot more if he would have had to live on campus his freshman year.

“It adds up to thousands of dollars. If you live on campus, you have to have a meal plan, which costs more and a parking pass costs more too,” Tharalson says.

Gutierrez says there are currently about 5,000 students living on ASU’s Tempe campus in housing provided by Residential Life.

“With the addition of 1,700 additional bed spaces when the new Barrett Honors College residential facility opens in the fall of 2009,” Coakley says. “ASU will have the capacity to house all first-year students.”

Coakley said that freshmen who live on campus are more likely to graduate by living in residential halls. It also helps students become more aware and involved in the ASU community. National studies have shown that the retention rate for students who live in on-campus housing for at least one year is 20 percent higher than that of students living off-campus.

This decision is also an economic one since students who drop out are obviously not paying tuition. Coakley says this helps improve academics at the university.

“ASU is committed to ensuring the academic and personal success of our students and as such believes it is imperative for students to reside in campus housing for at least their freshman year,” he says.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Builder bets against market with Gilbert project

GILBERT — An award-winning Valley homebuilder is moving ahead with plans for a subdivision of luxury homes despite an abysmal real estate scene and reports that show plummeting sales for homes worth $500,000 or more.

Cachet Homes is building Carrara Estates near the southwest corner of Germann and Higley roads in Gilbert. Prices start in the high 500s, and the community offers homes with up to 5,055 square feet of living space and special features like game rooms and four-car garages.

But the timing is awful. Sales for resale homes have remained stagnant while sales of new homes in the same price range as Carrara Estates are down 49 percent over the past year, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.

“It has been a tough and extended housing market downturn,” says Diane Byrne, Cachet’s vice president of marketing. “Cachet has taken several steps during this period.”

The company was the first homebuilder in the Valley to hold a public auction, where 38 of its finished homes sold in about two hours, Byrne says. It also revamped its website to add better search features and photos of homes to help them sell more quickly.

The company also reduced the number of model homes, cut back on cleaning schedules and turned up thermostats. All new construction has been nearly halted with the exception of Carrara Estates and Paseo Lindo, a sister property in nearby Chandler.

And when many homebuilders were expanding in 2005, Cachet maintained a slow-but-steady pace of growth, Byrne says.

“It’s been pretty wicked the past 12 to 18 months,” Byrne says. “The election will get things back to a more normal place.”

Economic experts at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University declined to speculate on whether Cachet’s brave plan made fiscal sense. However, senior associate dean Lee McPheters said in an email that homebuilders can still appeal to credit-crunched buyers if they’re smart.

“We are in an economic downtown, but people are still moving to Arizona,” McPheters wrote. “Ninety-five percent of people are still working, and 95 percent of Arizona homes are not in foreclosure.

“On the other hand,” he added, “many sectors of the economy (retail, construction, finance) are losing jobs and credit standards are now higher, so people may b reluctant or unable to enter into a long-term mortgage. Therefore, those builders with the best value (not necessarily cheapest, but most features per dollar), the best marketing, or the best brand (consumer image) will still have business.”

Cachet is headed in this direction with Carrara Estates, Byrne says.

“With a lot of production homes, you have to take it as it is,” she says. “We’re able to make minor adjustments, like enlarging rooms and turning a closet into a wine cellar – making a home truly unique.”

Cachet Homes has been recognized as the No. 1 homebuilder in Arizona twice by Arizona Business Magazine and as one of the top five homebuilders in Arizona since 2000.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

New City Hall may help boost downtown Chandler

CHANDLER — Local businesses and residents are welcoming Chandler’s future City Hall building as a way to rejuvenate the downtown area, but many are concerned about parking and construction problems.

The estimated cost of the Chandler City Hall building is $75 million for the 120,000-square-foot complex located between Arizona Avenue and Washington Street at Chicago Street. The development will continue despite the current economic downturn.

“Downtown Chandler is starting to walk their talk,” Images at San Marcos Salon and Day Spa co-owner Pete Pastore says. “It should help everyone.”

Downtown Chandler is a unique area because it contains a majority of small businesses and no chains. It has been easy for people to over look the downtown area because it is not appealing to the eye and not well known, Chandler resident Brian Jutting says.

“I would be more attracted to it if I heard these renovations happened,” Jutting says. “I wouldn’t have to drive very far, and it would be worth it.”

Construction of the complex is set for early next year because many of its departments are in leased space, and the leases do not expire until December 2010. It will cover nearly two city blocks, including a five-story stone and glass building, the Chandler Museum, chambers and two parking garages.

Chandler has leased office space since the early 1980s, and with an estimated population of 251,060, city leaders view a new City Hall building as essential for redeveloping downtown Chandler.

The facility will give citizens better access to many of the city’s major departments and divisions including: Mayor and Council, City Manager, City Clerk, City Attorney, Community Services, Economic Development, Human Resources, Communications and Public Affairs, Neighborhood Resources and Management Services.

Chandler City Hall building is also going “green,” intending to achieve a gold certification level within the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, a program encouraging the design of environmentally-friendly buildings.

The Downtown Chandler Community Partnership (DCCP), a nonprofit group whose mission is to promote and develop the downtown area, is doing everything it can to make downtown Chandler as successful as possible, says Kelly Wandelear, the group’s vice president of district relations and co-owner of Mind Over Splatter.

“The city sees the importance of a healthy downtown, and the City Hall building will play a major role in making downtown a destination,” Wandelear says.

The DCCP also holds events such as the Downtown Chandler Art Walk and Farmer’s Market to bring people to the area.

One of the concerns about the new building for merchants and residents is construction. Parking could become a problem because people will not know where to park due to the construction, Pastore says.

Wandelear says she was more concerned with the work underground and how it will affect the merchant’s utilities.

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>>Email the reporter at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Cautious small towns prove bigger isn’t better

TOLLESON — Like the small community banks that dot their landscapes, small cities and towns that didn’t go all in on the real estate frenzy are having an easier time weathering the economic crisis than their sprawling peers.

The housing market bust and related credit crunch has fueled a worldwide economic crisis, and the U.S. economy has been dragging them down. But you couldn’t really tell if you drove through Tolleson or strolled through City Hall.

Here, in this town of 5,000 west of Phoenix, the outlook isn’t so gloomy.

“We’re holding our own,” says Tollseon Finance director Steve Baumgardt.

Many major U.S. cities recruit developers of single-family housing and thus rely heavily on the housing market for revenues. Until recently, homeowners began scooping up property as if playing a boar