Alley spat:

The Phoenix City Council unanimously denies an appeal that sought to overturn an earlier decision by the city to abandon a downtown alleyway at the request of the new owners of the historic Barrister Building, a structure well-known for its brief cameo in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

While many neighborhoods across the Valley see alleys as crime-filled cesspools and are working to close them, one group of urban advocates is fighting to keep them open — at least in downtown Phoenix.

Sean Sweat, president of the Urban Phoenix Project, said the purpose of alleyways is simple: “The dirtier your alleys are, the cleaner your streets are.”

His group appealed a Phoenix decision to abandon a downtown alleyway at the request of the new owners of the historic Barrister Building, known for its brief cameo in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

The Phoenix City Council unanimously denied the appeal Wednesday.

It was the council’s first vote using a new set of criteria designed to protect downtown alleyways, leaving urban advocates concerned that the guidelines are “toothless” and more abandonment could be imminent.

Phoenix agreed to sell the 1915 building and adjacent land to Crescent Bay Development Services LLC in 2016. The developer plans to renovate the building and erect two additional structures

for condos, restaurants and retail.

Crescent Bay’s attorney Nick Wood told the council the developer wants the alley closed and turned into a private entrance for parking, dropoffs and deliveries for the retail and restaurants planned for the first floor of the new buildings.

About one-third of the Barrister Alley already is abandoned. The remaining 220-foot alley sits directly behind the Barrister Building on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Jefferson Street.

Sweat said downtown businesses that don’t have an alley move dumpsters and loading zones to the street front.

“It creates a terrible pedestrian environment,” Sweat said. His group advocates for making walking, biking and public transit as convenient and comfortable as driving.

The city adopted rules last year to establish guidelines for when downtown alleys should remain open. The criteria discourage the city from closing alleyways if it will negatively affect future developments or pedestrian areas.

The Urban Phoenix Project’s appeal argued that the Barrister Alley abandonment violated three of those criteria and would bring more traffic and garbage fumes to the city’s streets.

Tim Eigo, chairman of the Downtown Voices Coalition, helped craft the alley-abandonment criteria for the city. He said the Barrister Alley abandonment was the first real test of the criteria.

Although his coalition didn’t take a position, he said that he believes the criteria for giving up an alley weren’t met.

“I’d like to see the city uphold the guidelines,” he said, noting that it wouldn’t set a good precedent if the council caved the first time a developer pushed back on the criteria.

Phoenix Planning Director Alan Stephenson told the council the Barrister Alley is unique because a portion of the alleyway already is abandoned.

Dan Klocke, executive director of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, agreed. He said he concurs with the Phoenix Urban Project’s philosophy on alleys, but felt that this one deserved special consideration because it butts up against private property.

“The hard part about downtown is that literally every project can be different,” Klocke said.

While the council denied the appeal, Mayor Greg Stanton said he did not mean for this decision to set a precedent for future alley-abandonment cases.

“Under the unique criteria here where you have an alley that kind of stops halfway, under these circumstances it does make sense that we should abandon this particular alley for the quality of the project that we are getting,” Stanton said.

The city has taken several actions regarding alleys recently. Last year, the council approved a pilot project to try to revitalize downtown alleyways as spaces for shopping and restaurants, among other things.

Earlier this summer, the council approved another pilot program to add gates to some neighborhood alleyways.