By Bob Littlefield, Former Scottsdale City Councilman and TAAAZE Chairman
Scottsdale, The Apartment Capitol of Arizona.
Wait, no! That can’t be true. Doesn’t that dubious honor belong to Tempe, or maybe Phoenix?
Sadly, no. If the massive Axon apartment project – nearly 1,900 multi-family units near Hayden and the 101 – is built it would appear to create the largest apartment complex in Arizona history in terms of units built! If Axon gets its way, Scottsdale will have the unfortunate distinction of being home to the TWO largest apartment complexes in Arizona. Optima McDowell Mountain Village tips the scales at more than 1,300 units and would fall to second place. And that doesn’t even count the thousands of apartments approved by the previous City Council majority Scottsdale voters just sent packing!
This is totally contrary to what the residents of Scottsdale want for our city. You, Scottsdale voters, made that clear when you dumped the five apartment-happy Councilmembers in the last election, despite the outrageous amounts of special-interest cash they raised trying to get re-elected. That’s why our group, Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions or TAAAZE, was able to collect nearly 27,000 signatures to place this widely unpopular proposal on the ballot. And this is not a partisan issue – conservatives, liberals, and everyone in between have come together to say enough is enough. Signatures from neighborhoods came in from all over Scottsdale despite Axon’s intimidation efforts which include the use of paid “Petition Blockers” to prevent residents from exercising their rights and signing a petition to put the matter to a public vote.
It’s worth noting that TAAAZE does not oppose Axon’s previously approved plans to build its new headquarters at the site. That plan would not be subject to the referendum.
The developer’s plans (as pictured in this rendering) are too dense for Scottsdale and too unsightly for the surrounding community. Not to mention the project would massively increase Scottsdale’s traffic and water use. We can’t let that happen!
But our work is just beginning. I expect Axon to spend millions to not only try and prevent the vote but also to try and convince you that making Scottsdale the apartment capital of Arizona is a good thing. Axon may have managed to dupe some members of the outgoing Scottsdale City Council, but they have another thing coming if they think they can deceive and bully Scottsdale voters. To quote the late Tom Petty, “I won’t back down.” And I am confident that neither will Scottsdale.
I first ran for City Council 22 years ago on a platform of Keeping Scottsdale Special. And for the last ten years my wife Councilwoman Kathy has worked to achieve that same goal. I chose to continue that work by volunteering to be the Chairman of TAAAZE because I believe the massive Axon apartment project is an existential threat to the special character and high quality of life we Scottsdale residents enjoy, and thus it must be defeated. We need to not only prevent Axon’s apartments from being built, we also need to send yet another message to would be developers that Scottsdale won’t stand for any more disruptive high density apartment complexes being foisted on their neighborhoods.
Thank you to Councilman Barry Graham, my wife Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield, Councilwoman Elect Jan Dubauskas and many others for standing tall against this plan so Scottsdale doesn’t become the apartment capital of Arizona.