Photo Credit: Scottsdale Progress
This past week brought with it unfortunate news for the city of Scottsdale; that it has lost one of its greatest champions. Bill Walton, the landscape architect and former city councilman whose vision transformed a flood-prone marsh into one of America’s most celebrated urban greenbelts, passed away on November 3 at the age of 95.
Walton arrived in Scottsdale in 1963, fresh from Iowa State University, ready to apply his landscape architecture training to the growing desert community. What he found was a city divided by “The Slough”: a brush-choked gash that regularly flooded, threatening homes and businesses. Where others saw an engineering problem requiring concrete channels, Walton saw possibility.
It began with a letter to the editor, a simple inquiry about creating something comparable to New York’s Central Park. That night, two city council members knocked on his door at 10 p.m., asking if he’d chair a committee to explore the idea. It may have been Scottsdale’s most consequential cold call.
What followed was decades of persistence. Walton faced skepticism from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, multiple failed bond proposals, and agencies that deemed his greenbelt concept too expensive. But after a devastating 1972 flood changed public opinion, voters approved funding by a 7-1 margin. When Silverado Golf Course opened in 1999, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt was complete; providing over 63,000 residents within walking distance access to parks, golf courses, lakes, and paths.
The project earned recognition as one of the nation’s top engineering feats and was featured in international exhibitions. But Walton’s legacy extended far beyond the greenbelt. He helped develop TPC Scottsdale and bring the Phoenix Open to the city, negotiated with the PGA and federal government to create attractions generating millions in tax revenue, and worked to revitalize the McDowell corridor.
Jim Bruner, who served alongside Walton on the council despite their opposing political philosophies, captured his colleague’s essence perfectly: “Bill was a visionary, a wonderful person, and an excellent council member. Despite being on opposite sides of the political spectrum, we collaborated effectively. I had immense respect for him and valued all his contributions to our city.”
Mayor Herb Drinkwater called Walton “an institution” at his 1992 retirement party, recognizing nearly three decades of community service. Attorney Randy Nussbaum later observed that Walton was “one of the reasons Scottsdale is envied by Southwest cities.”
Bill Walton’s Scottsdale is the one we enjoy today: a city where nature and urban development coexist, where flooding gave way to recreation, and where one person’s vision became a community’s treasure. His legacy flows through every path along the greenbelt, every round of golf at TPC, and every resident who calls this remarkable desert city home.